Hood to Coast

Hood to Coast was a blast! We put together a really fun team of friends and came up with a wacky name after an agonizing process of suggestions around multiple campfires during the summer.

Cliff decided it really should have the word "sweaty" in it... preferably "sweaty bot." I think Brett suggested "giblets" would be a good word... Andrew, getting tired of two nights of messing around without choosing a name, started campfire #3 off by announcing that we would all get one suggestion and then we would vote on our favorites. He started us off with his statement: "In all seriousness, my suggestion is "Happy Slappy Cakes."

Well, of course the crowd erupted in laughter and began a three hour epic "conversation" about the name. Jill was horrified that she would be running with these people and was politely trying to suggest less ridiculous names while simultaneously texting Matt, our fearless leader, updating him on our downward slide. We got to roaring so loudly that the park ranger came into our campsite to quiet us down.

In the end, we (ironically Jill came up with most of it and it ended up backfiring for her :) decided on the name Bruce's Giblet Wagon "Slap Me Some Happy."

We borrowed the church's kid's camp mascot Bruce the Chicken, purchased some high five foam hands from the internet and viola! We had our van decorations.

Two years ago when we ran HTC I did not train well at all. I was hurting so much. So this year I resolved to train much better. Since I had leg #1 (downhill from Timberline to Govt. Camp) I practiced by running down a really steep hill near our house. Cliff would drive me back up when I reached the bottom. A couple of other friends joined in too. Jason was on a different team but had my same leg, and Anne-Marie had a crazy uphill leg so she ran up while we ran down and we all got our training in. I couldn't walk normally for 4 days after the first run, but each consecutive week (I did it 4 times) was easier and easier.

Then 6 days before the race, Cliff started us on a pre-race diet that almost killed me... Days 6, 5, and 4 before the race, you eat NO carbohydrates, thus depleting your stores of carbs in your body. On these days you have to exercise 2 hours in some form or another. Hard to do without carbs... By the third day of this I couldn't run anymore, I could only walk. Then Days 3, 2, and 1 before the race, you eat carbs as 70% of your diet and don't exercise at all. I don't know that I would do it again because I got so nauseous on the no carb days, but I felt so good throughout the race that maybe I would consider it again.

We were in van 1 with Andrew and Anne-Marie and Matt and Michelle. Such a fun crowd! Andrew downloaded some songs about chickens by some group with Giblets in the name,



we decorated the van, and headed up to Timberline!






I was first and came up with my strategy while I was running :) I had planned to hang back and not use too much energy too soon, but I felt so good I kept passing people. I would visit with someone for a while and then move on to visit with someone else. I didn't want to be too annoying to people, so I didn't do this too long :) This strategy was great for me though because it made the time pass really quickly.



I thought there would be a couple of more miles to go when I rounded that last bend and saw Hwy 26! My jaw dropped open I was so surprised! I kicked into high gear and finished with a time faster than my normal. Good old adrenaline!


Matt was next. Then Andrew, Michelle, Anne-Marie and Cliff.


We cheered each other on and "slapped" them with our foam hands. At the exchange parking lots, we got plenty of high fives from other teams, and learned to love the port-a-potties :)



After our first legs were done and we passed off to van 2's runners, we rested at my parent's house, where my mom fed us soup and bread and a crisp before letting us camp out of their lawn to snooze for a while. Then we drove downtown for our next exchange. It's amazing we got there after Cliff kept taking pictures with a flash of Andrew while he was driving...

After our night legs we stayed with a friend of a friend who gave us showers when we got there, let us sleep on her living room floor, and made cinnamon roles and scones with hot coffee in the morning. Yum!

Here are a few more shots of us on the road.






An odd highlight of mine was that I passed "The Devils" with their flashing red headband horns twice! It felt like some odd but fun spiritual experience :) I couldn't let the Devil get me down! I needed to pass them up. Later I found out that they were assigned the number 666 and I felt kind of bad, but not too bad :) The weather was perfect! Not too hot or cold or windy or dusty (except Ashley's leg got really dusty) We ended strong, drove to the coast to wait for our team and enjoyed some fish and chips at some restaurant Andrew loves...



hung out on the beach, listened to live music, picked up a bunch of samples,


joined a chicken band... Yeah. we were just walking along, when all of a sudden, these two guys wearing chicken heads saw Cliff with the Bruce head propped on top of his head, and called out "Brethren!" Cliff had been talking to my mom about Kaiah and a diabetes intervention and interrupted her to say, "Uh, I gotta go. There are some chicken guys here. Talk to you later." Then he immediately got his Bruce head on, got down in his chicken stance and bawked while the guys played their guitars and sang. People were putting money in while they were performing! Odd.



We all ran through the finish line with Brett, but were disappointed that the announcer gave up on our name half way through :) Here's the team! Great Job Bruce's Giblet Wagon "Slap Me Some Happy." I think we got 400 and something place! Not too shabby. Ha!

Enjoying dinner at Camp 18

Already planning for next year! Hope we get in. It is such a fun race!