Hood to Coast 2011 is in the book and team Run, I will (a Yoda specialty) rocked it!
This year the traffic was a serious problem from leg 24 to the finish, which caused us to get literally zero minutes of sleep, as it took 3 hours to get from 24 to the sleeping field (leaving just 45 minutes before our runner had to start, just enough time to get ready and chug some caffeine). Vans were repeatedly not being able to go fast enough to meet their runner during this time and at the finish we were about an hour late while we just sat in horrible traffic. Apparently they added 250 teams this year and that greedy move probably caused this. We tried not to let it get us down though, and of course we still had a blast! I loved our van, we had the best group of awesome rockin' girls. Although we seemed to constantly FAIL at many of the tasks (such as driving, following directions, drinking enough, sleeping, etc.) we DOMINATED the actual running part. Lisa was especially a trooper as she picked up an extra leg! Everyone was just amazing and they are all my heroes.
Leg #1 - Friday, 3:49pm, Gresham, OR, Springwater Corridor Trail
One word to describe it = HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT. The car says it was 92-94 degrees, and I felt it! We saw about 15
ambulances (including one on my leg) carting heat exhausted runners off
the course. This run was on the road for about .5-1 mile, then on 3
miles of terrible rocky gravel (which it did NOT say in the course handbook!)
and then 3 more miles on the paved trail. Some shade because of all the
trees and blackberry bushes which was nice, kind of boring scenery but I liked it, very nice and flat! I only passed 3 people and
I got passed by a lot of people, I was hot and the weakest link in this
leg - I was the one who was 8 minutes over their prediction! I had to
wait at a stoplight for 30 seconds or a minute so that was probably in
mile 2's time. My water bottle (I am never running without a handheld
water bottle again, I love that thing!) was gone by the end and I was seriously thirsty, but they did have a water stop which I used to throw on my head, which seriously gave me a boost for mile 6 (my fastest time).
TT: 1:01:32 TD: 6.97 miles AP: 8:49
Splits: 8:52, 9:13, 8:38, 8:50, 8:53, 8:36, 8:44 After our first set of legs Kasey was nice enough to let us crash in her condo, where we enjoyed some Pizza Schmizza, took showers, and laid on her couch for a bit. Then we picked up Laura (we had a runner drop at the last minute so we were able to snag a great runner from last year!) and headed to the St. Helens fairgrounds.
Leg #2 - Saturday, 2:37am, The middle of absolute nowhere, Vernonia, OR One word to describe it = TERRIFYING. I absolutely hated this leg, which was a shame because the gravel wasn't as bad as I thought it would be (yes, all on gravel, very loose in spots which was very hard but most of the time was decent, the problem was seeing the bigger rocks and potholes so you could avoid them), I didn't even wear the bandana I stole from Cooper, though I did wear it around my neck just like he does, and the weather was absolutely perfect (it said 54 but I though it felt warmer than that, I was still warm while running even in just a tshirt and shorts). But it was DARK. As dark as dark gets. I guess because there was no moon, we were literally on a tiny gravel road in the middle of nowhere forest in Oregon (you should have seen the stars!), and I was pretty much waiting for a coyote / bear / bobcat / etc. to jump out of the woods 1 foot from me and take me down (it didn't help that I kept hearing rustling!). I had been warned about hillbillies and shacks (ha!) but that was not an issue, just the complete darkness so much so that I could barely run because I couldn't see where my feet were landing or what was ahead of me. I wish I'd carried more light somehow. I passed one lady almost immediately (one of my only 2 roadkills on this leg) and I knew I should just slow way down and run with her but I'm stupid and didn't because I just wanted it to be over. In the first mile I felt extremely alone and wanted to cry and even walked for a bit because I couldn't see ANYTHING. Then I took my headlamp off and used it like a flashlight instead and then I could at least see a little. After that I would try and keep up with the guys that would pass me for as long as I could, desperately wanting a buddy and some extra light from their headlamps, but I just couldn't keep up. Every time they came or a van came (rarely!) I would sprint while I had the light. I've never been so happy to be done! It's a shame I was so slow because I felt like I was going as fast as I possibly could since I just wanted to be done! I guess the gravel, the darkness, and I think it was a gradual uphill the second half, took its toll.
TT: 43:30 TD: 5.00 miles AP: 8:42 Splits: 9:02, 8:35, 8:29, 8:30, 8:57
Leg #3 - Saturday, 11:41am, the middle of nowhere, Astoria, OR One word to describe it = HILLY. I need to upload my splits to the computer so I can see my ascent. Definitely challenging rolling hills, you were either always going up or going down, and the leg was so long that this never seemed like it was going to end! It was about 75 outside which felt great if you were just hanging out but running plus the direct overhead sun made it quite hot. Thank you handheld water bottle again. Some kids were spraying runners with water which was greatly appreciated except the last set of two boys who whipped out their POWER SPRAYER and sprayed me at point-blank range (felt like they were beating me up!) and then violently threw two cups of water as hard-as-they-possibly-could right in my face! The spectators (there were several at this point!) were very entertained by me getting beat up by two little boys and water. I ended up passing 20 people here which made me feel way better (until Jordanne passed 20 people on a leg half as long as this!), although by now we were catching up with some of the walkers. The scenery on this leg was beautiful - beautiful sun and blue skies, cows, rivers, meadows, etc. General loveliness, except for the hills!
TT: 1:07:52 TD: 7.73 miles AP: 8:47 Splits: 9:03, 9:12, 8:43, 8:28, 8:41, 8:49, 8:48, 8:25 Then we headed to Seaside - so glad we stayed the night there this year. Our room was very luxurious and we could see the fireworks from the balcony!
Wow, what consistency throughout those 3 legs! I ran way way WAY faster last year which makes me a little sad (I do feel more out of shape this year in terms of speed, I think Singapore killed it) but in my defense, the heat, gravel, and hills really played a factor as well. Too bad this can't count as a real 20 miler, since I think I've decided on doing a fall marathon! Whoops... Justin's going to kill me! Another epic adventure, can't wait until next year already!
| 