You may have seen that I runfessed on Friday that I was running the Hood to Coast relay with some hesitation. Hood to Coast is a 199 mile, 12 person relay race in hilly (well… mountainous) Oregon. I live in the flatlands and have run 550+ days in a row. I’m also 13 years older than the last time I did it – and it wasn’t easy then. I also agreed to run an extra leg (4 instead of 3) since we had an injured runner in our van. Oh, and the delta variant was of concern. You may have been following along on Instagram, but if not, read on!
Luckily, our fully vaxxed team all tested negative for COVID and had no travel snafus. Eight of us met and stayed in Government Camp right by the first relay exchange – about 6 miles down from the start at Mt. Hood. We stayed at a kitschy ski condo called Edelweiss, cooked a feast for dinner and got to know each other. The team was 6 friends from Chicago and 6 friends from Los Angeles, Seattle and Portland. Ken from of our Chicago crew moved to Los Angeles and befriended Richie, our captain. Ken was unable to run, but came and drove the van, provided a ton of moral support and laughs and took awesome photos.
In the morning, we went out to cheer at the exchange for the early start runners. Our start time was a nerve wracking 2:30 PM. I was the first runner in Van 2. I didn’t start running until 7:00 PM. We had a hearty breakfast, made sandwiches, got the vans ready and headed up the mountain to cheer on Van 1.
The race went off in two waves from 3:00 AM – 8:30 AM and then from 12:30 PM to 2:45 PM. They did a great job of spacing out runners so that no transitions were overcrowded. We were pleasantly surprised that we caught a lot of teams and still enjoyed the interactions and camaraderie along the way.
The morning was drizzly and chilly, but the clouds burned off and we had a stunning view at Mt. Hood. We checked in and cheered on a bunch of waves of starters. We saw some Chicago friends and chatted with folks from all over the country. It was fun to check out all of the funny team names and costumes. Spirits were high and there was a lot of energy and good vibes.
We cheered all of the waves on and took photos. Our leg 1 runner, Jessie, went off at 2:30 and Van 1 went down to the second exchange. We hung around for all of the starts and then went to the exchange point. If you’ve never done one of these, the first van runs legs 1 – 6 and then the second van runs 7 – 12. The first van leap frogs and meets the second van at the 12 to 13 exchange and then you repeat that twice.
We headed out to the exchange at Sandy High School and waited. It was just a few hours, but it felt like a long time. It’s like waiting for the start of a marathon. Once your van starts, the time flies by as you have to run, change, refuel and/or get to the next exchange point.
I was the first runner in Van 2. We followed the progress of Van 1 in our What’s App group. All of the runners did great and we were ahead of schedule. I started my first leg at around 7:00 PM. It was 5.25 miles and rated “moderate” difficulty because of the hills. There were a bunch of runners around me so a few of us worked together to pass others. My end pace was 8:03/mile which I was very pleased with. I started a bit too fast but was able to keep up a good clip.
When I handed of to Phlip, it started to get dark. The remaining legs flew by as we made our way to Portland. We had to hustle to get to each transition and get our runners in and out, The next van transition was after leg 12. Phlip ran 8 and 12 because we only had five runners. He did great. We met up with Van 1 and exchanged stories of our first legs. We sent them off at about 11:30 PM and drove to the next major transition to get some “sleep.”
Since we had the Eurovan, we had two people in the sleeper top, two on the bed in the back and two camping out the back. We got some rest and were getting updates that our runners were coming quicker than expected. It felt nice to get some rest but Fitbit told me I only got 50 minutes of sleep. Yikes! Since I was the first runner, I got up, went to the bathroom and had a banana and a couple of Frooze Balls at 3:00 AM!
My second run was rated “Very Hard” and I was pretty nervous about it. It was 5.9 miles all up and down with a big climb in the last .9. It was pitch dark (thus no photos) and nice and cool out. I had on my head lamp, reflective vest and blinker light. My strategy was to run comfortably and to run hard on the downhills. I was so pumped about the cool temps and felt great from start to finish. I passed 6 runners (a/k/a got 6 “kills”) and was passed by only one. I came in at 8:53/mile. The dark helped because I couldn’t see the top of the hills but I the elevation gain was 614 ft with 200 ft in the last 8/10 of a mile.
At the transition, I got a middle of the night coffee and we were off! Phlip’s leg was marked “Very Hard,” too, but it also had gravel and a ton of dust. So, it was Very Harder. He did great and then Lance headed off for a downhill 5 miler on a ton of gravel.
Daniela got the sunrise for her longest leg. Stacy had her 4 miler and before we knew it, Lance was off running his double duty leg. When he came in, we leapfrogged to the final transition area.
There was virtually no cell service, so we went ahead to the last major transition point and relaxed. Unfortunately, there was not a lot of great food options anywhere around. A local laughed when we asked and told us we were “in the boonies.” Luckily we had some bread and PB & J and plenty of snacks from Werner Jerky and G2G Bar.
My third leg was my shortest – just under 4 miles and “easiest.” It was pretty hot and sunny and I was a bit unprepared when Erin came in. I missed hitting my timer, but I think I was about 8:15 – 8:20 pace which I was happy with. I rested up and ate some gummy bears to prepare for the anchor leg – it was my turn to do double duty.
Everyone did great despite the rising heat and hills. Before I knew it, we were waiting for Stacy on her longest leg (7 miles) and I was ready to close things out. The final leg is 5 miles. It started on a trail and up hill on a road. Then it had 2 steep downhill miles and 2 flat miles to get to the beach. I was grateful for the downhill and the nice ocean breeze. I passed 6 runners and was running alone until a very fast man passed me around mile 4. I tried to keep him in sight and pushed myself to get to the end. My pace was about 8:25/mile – better than I expected.
I ran through the finish after being cheered on by so many teams coming into the beach. It was sort of confusing because of the safety changes so I wound up getting stopped and having an hilarious conversation with this poor volunteer. It was cleared up quickly and I was reunited with my teammates.
We came in at 26:39:20.2 (8:02/mile!) We were 8th of 96 teams in Mixed Submasters. We had one runner under 40. We were 101 out of 867 teams. Not bad! Most importantly, everyone finished feeling good and had a ton of fun. We took a few photos, got a coffee and got out of dodge. There was a small finish line party but Seaside was pretty packed. We went to Rockaway Beach to clean up, eat and celebrate the run.
After reading my post from Friday, Ken asked how I felt after the race. I told him that I feel like I can do hard things and with age and experience, I’m smarter about how and with whom I do them. After further consideration, this event reminded me how much I love running, a fun challenge and having experiences with great people. I’m so grateful that I said “yes” when I was invited in early 2020. Despite some COVID safety changes with waves and wearing masks in transition areas, this felt surprisingly normal. And that was amazing!
Have you ever done an overnight relay? Do you think you’d do it better with age?