What a great day to finish off my last day at work for Nike. Any Portland local is familiar with the Hood to Coast relay, often abbreviated to H2C. It is acclaimed as the largest running relay race in the world. It covers 197 miles, from Timberline at Mt. Hood, all the way to the Oregon Coast. Relay teams consist of 12 runners, each running 3 different legs of the course. On race day, everyone decorates their vans with window paint, wacky slogans, and other creative extras. Team names such as Office Pace, Women in Black, Soul Sisters, Great Bowels of Fire, and the voted favorite(our team name), Victorious Secret.
Here I am taking the slap bracelet baton from John on my first leg.
Nike has been the long time sponsor of the event, so roughly 100 of the 1000 teams are made up of Nike employees. A co-worker texted me late on a Sunday night asking if I wanted to run in H2C. I said sure, not knowing at all what I was getting myself into. Little did I know that my combination of legs was the longest of them all and rated #1 for difficulty. I guess that’s what I get for doing a favor for my co-worker.
Here’s a cool night shot right before I start my second leg…at 2:30 in the morning!
Yeah, as you might have assumed, this being a relay and all, the running doesn’t stop until we get to the coast. So whenever it’s our turn, we run. This being said, half of the fun is in coordination with the van drivers to pickup and drop off at the right exchange point in a timely manner. You want to make sure that all the runners are in their places on time, but you also don’t want to drop them off way to early, leaving them to sit around and wait. The coordination was amazing, and we were able to make all of our exchanges on time.
The race was a blast. In total I ran over 19 miles. The sense of accomplishment was amazining. Last but not least, Becky thought I was crazy for signing up, and I proved to her I could finish what I started. Here are some more pics:
Our team, from left: Meghan, Me, Justine, Tami, Michelle, and John
A rare smile from me, considering its 3:00 in the morning, I got one hour of sleep, and just fninshed a five mile run!
It’s all good in the Hood…staying warm as we wait our turn
Hanging out in the Nike tent after crossing the finish line. What a relief!
Becky with John Stuart, one of my relay partners