200 Miles in 29.5 Hours: Hood to Coast - The Mother of All Relays
3:45 A.M. came early (which I suppose is to be expected) and we rolled off our benches to prep for the approaching insanity. Half of team "Hood to Whose Idea Was This" climbed in and Van 1 of 2 was off and rolling out of Hood River towards Mt. Hood. The mountain was still enveloped in darkness as we parked near the relay's starting point. A quick check of the weather confirms that my run was going to be quite brisk at 36 degrees. Nerves and excitement set in as team names are announced over the loud speaker and the sun began to peak over Mt. Hood's conical snow line. This is it... we try to wrap our minds around the fact that some time tomorrow afternoon we're going to have run as a team to the Oregon Coast 200 miles away, as long as we can actually make it. We were about to attempt the possibly impossible task of completing the Hood to Coast Relay along with 12,816 other runners. Read more
