Recap

We did it!

Hood To Coast was AMAZING. Oh my gosh, what an awesome, awesome race. I had such a blast running in this relay and I am already looking forward to running in it next year. I'm hooked!

The adventure started Thursday night with a kick-off, carb-loading dinner. Got to meet the entire team for the first time and get even more pumped about the race. We had two vans to decorate and some of the kids ended up doing it (something I think we all regret and won't allow to happen on whatever teams we all end up on next year...ok, ok, it wasn't too bad, we just weren't as proud of our vans as some teams probably were).

Van 1 started up at Timberline around 9am on Friday. I was in Van 2 and we drove up to Sandy to meet Van 1 and start our first runner around noon. I ran my first leg of the race Friday around 2pm. It was 4.55 miles and described in the HTC handbook as "easy". It also said that it was mostly downhill, rolling hills and limited paved shoulder. Definitely wasn't "mostly downhill" but it was a nice run, awesome weather, etc. I finished with a 8:14 pace which was a personal record!!

My second run:

Yeah. And on a gravel road. At 2:30am. Trucks passing on my right. I had to use my bandana a couple times so I didn't inhale all the dust. I was tired, dirty and ended up being passed by two guys while running on the first downhill. (Booo) It was crazy though because I was excited to be out there. It was so fun. Really fun.

Oh, a crazy little thing happened while being out there. I had gotten a side ache/stitch on my first leg but ran through it because, HELLO, this is a race. It ended up not going away all evening, even when I was all rested up. As I was ready to jump out of the suburban to start my second run I asked the group if they would just say a prayer that it would go away because it was going to be hell out there if it didn't. Started running and didn't even think about it until half-way through when I realized that I didn't have any pain!! In fact it didn't start up again until right after that leg. Pretty neat, huh?

My third and final leg was a "moderate" run but only 4.09 so I wasn't even worried about finishing. I was worried that I'd start running and my legs would turn to jello. I ended up getting behind this guy and liked the pace he was running so decided to keep up with him. I even tried passing him a couple times but he would speed up. Finally at the end I was frustrated that he was still in front of me and gave one last effort and passed him right before the exchange. I was pretty excited but even more excited when I learned I ran with an 8:04 pace!!! NEW PERSONAL RECORD. I couldn't believe it! First, this is really fast for me and second I felt a pang of disappointment that it wasn't under 8 min. So close and something to shoot for next time. :)

We met up with the rest of the team at Seaside and headed over to a team member's beach house to celebrate with showers and a yummy BBQ. Eric and the boys met me in Seaside and I was so happy to see them! I really, really missed all my boys. Eric did a great job holding down the fort here and I'm pretty sure he had the harder end of the deal. THANK YOU HONEY!! :)

So yeah, it was such an awesome few days and I definitely want to run again next year!!

Final Count

Roadkill: 54

Me being roadkill: 5

(yay!)