The Hood to Coast Relay is a 196 mile relay from Mt. Hood to Seaside, Oregon. There are 1000 teams of 12 runners each. Each runner runs 3 legs that vary in length from 3.3 to 8 miles and most runners end up running a bit more than 17 miles for the whole race.
Our team started off the mountain at 12:45pm on Friday, Aug. 27th. Every 15 minutes from 8:00am to around 8:00pm, 25 teams are started. The start is at Timberline Lodge and there is a great party going on all day long. The first leg is about 5.5 miles and drops 2,500 feet in elevation so the ol' quads are burning when the runners finish!
My first leg was a 3.95 mile run at about 3:00 in the afternoon, with a total elevation drop of 400 feet. I've never done much running on downhills in this race but I think I like it! My mile pace was 6:32, even with having to slow way down over the last half mile to wait for our next runner to get to the exchange, due to an accident on the road that had all the vans delayed. I have NEVER run that fast over that distance so Im thinking that I'm going to sign up for any downhill race I can find!
My second run was at about 12:30 in the morning, along a highway, with lots of rolling hills that were more of a pain than I thought they would be. This run was 7.4 miles, in the pitch dark with only a headlamp and occasional headlights to show the shoulder of the road. You also always see the lights of other runners ahead of you which is a pretty cool sight. The night was cool with a beautiful full moon which was a nice distraction from the sore muscles that hadn't had time to recover from the first run. This was my best run of the race I think. I passed the 10k mark with a better time than any other 10k I've ever run, at 46:45. My knee bothered me a little bit on this run so I had to stop and stretch a bit twice but still finished with a 7:42 pace for the 7.4 miles.
The last run, which is always really hard mentally and physically, really beat me up. By this time, at about 8:00 in the morning, I'd had a grand total of 1 hour and 45 minutes sleep since the previous morning at 7:00. Combine that with all the running and sitting in a cramped Suburban with 5 other runners and a crazy driver and you can understand a little bit about how tough this leg always is. This one was 5.9 miles in length and not many hills. Mostly flat through some really pretty countryside. About 4 minutes into the run, my left knee, which NEVER bothers me, just about exploded. I thought my ITB was going to blow out the side of my leg. But, there's no stopping in this race unless you have a leg missing...and then I'm not too sure about that. I think my teammates would have thrown me a set of crutches and told me to buck up! Anyway, I slowed way down and kept dragging my left leg along and pretty soon, as my hamstrings warmed up, my knee quit hurting. By 3 miles it was ok and I could take off again. Of course by that time I was really dragging so "taking off" is a bit of a stretch. I finished though, and with an 8:08 pace per mile for that run which all things considered, I have to be happy with. Overall, I kept a 7:35 pace for the 17.25 miles that I ran.
Our team was a bit slower this year than last but we really don't race to win, just to have a great time with 12,000 other crazy runners and then to enjoy the party at the beach. We did finish 98th out of about 300 teams in our division so we all celebrated that together. The party at the beach lasted until midnight, with a killer band and much dancing and beer drinking. By that time, that hour and 45 minutes of sleep was getting pretty thin so we trooped back to the hotel and collapsed. One benefit of the party is that the dancing is a good, 4 hour warm-down and really helps out the soreness the next morning.
Today I'm back at home and able to walk up and down stairs with not too much problem so by tomorrow I should be back to the training again, at a mild pace for the next week or so. Then I'll start really working the bike to get ready for skiing! Thanks to all of you guys for keeping me motivated to train this summer and keeping me motivated to keep this up for many years to come. And if any of you are looking for a race that you'll remember for the rest of your lives, get a team together for the Hood to Coast Relay, last weekend of August, 2005!!

Largest relay race in the world. 196 miles from Mt. Hood to Seaside, Oregon!