Hood to Coast 2013

I haven't written all that much about the race, primarily because this is a blog about dogs.  But, I was away from "the girls" for two nights and envied people on Cannon Beach with their dogs, so surely this qualifies, right?

Hood to Coast.  The Mother of All Relays.

My friend, Tad, had talked about this relay race for years.  And even though I have run almost every day for over 30 years, I never thought I could or would do a relay from Mt. Hood to Seaside, Oregon.

Last April, Tad asked me to join his team.  His team...a bunch of former track stars from Wisconsin, Williams, West Point, Santa Clara...this year they were adding two women, which means we were still going to run in the "open" group, we were going co-ed!

So, after thinking about for, oh, a minute, I agreed.  I haven't done anything like this in ions, but I wanted a challenge.

Ok.

198 miles.  12 team members.  2 vans.  Each of us run 6 legs.  Average mileage per leg: 5 miles.  Race never stops, so you run like crazy all over northern Oregon for 24 hours.

What's not to like?

I was going to run legs 10, 22, 34.  Moderate, hard, and "easy."

I was in Van 2.

Our start time was 3:15.  Which means the race organizers thought we were fast, but not an elite team, but still fast.  Slower teams start earlier, with the earliest start time at 6:00 AM.

Oh dear.  I am slow.

Murphy's Day.