Hood to Coast 2019 – Single Van Insanity

This was my third year doing Hood to Coast and we decided to do something that I’ve always been intrigued by, but that I knew would be a little crazy: combine two vans into one.

We did this for a few reasons:

  • There was a death in the family right before the relay, and we thought it would be better if we were all together (this was a family team).
  • Because of the death, 1 person had to drop out last minute. This meant we had one less runner whose running we’d need to cover. It also ruined our original van line-up and made the responsible driver situation tougher. One less runner made one van a little less daunting since there would be 11 people instead of 12.
  • Finally, we just thought it would be interesting, in a twisted way. And no one wanted to miss out on the party.

Those that have done a 12-person road relay know that the advantage of two vans is that one van can take a break (~3-5 hours) while the other van runs legs. Van 1 gets 2 solid breaks and Van 2 will basically get one break in the middle of the night (and start later the first day). Thus, without two vans, there would be no breaks. Knowing this going into the relay and given that we were using my Ford Transit, I assumed I would get nearly zero sleep. I was correct.

Talking after our pre-race dinner the night before the Relay

To make matters worse, we had a fairly late start time of 10:45am. We planned out our legs on Thursday night after agreeing on one van. We switched things around a bit so that three of us could cover a second leg. The coverage would occur by running two legs back to back instead of running 4 separate legs. On Friday morning the 11 of us piled into the van and headed to Mt Hood.

Our revised leg assignments

Kara was team captain and took Leg 1 because she wanted to start off with some fast downhill. She was followed by Ben (the only person not in our family) and then Chad. Chad was followed by my immediate family: Paisley, then me, then Cyndi.

Hood to Coast Leg 5

My run went well. I pushed pretty hard and ran it slightly faster than I did last year (I ran the same leg last year). It started with a little downhill then had a decent climb during the second half of the run.

Pro tip: After each leg in a relay, immediately drink a chocolate milk. It tastes sooooo good and it calms your stomach down. Especially if it’s fully loaded (full fat). Keeping your stomach calm during a relay is vital to a good experience.

During Cyndi’s leg we stopped at Safeway to grab some food. I got a roasted chicken, some rolls, and some JoJo’s for $10 to share with Cyndi, Paisley, and Ben. It was an excellent meal in my opinion, with plenty of good protein and some carbs. I overate a bit.

When everyone is in one van, the major exchanges (6, 12, 18, 24, 30) are not as major. Usually this would be the few minutes you get to see the other van and everyone is excited. If you’re in one van, it’s just another exchange. It does have a lot of people at it which makes it a little more interesting I suppose.

Cyndi handing off to Brenden at Exchange 6

Brenden came next, then Jaci, Kelsey, Kaden, and Tyrel. Tyrel ended up running legs 11 and 12 to cover for our missing runner, Christy. He did a good job and knocked out 12 miles despite having never ran that far. Ever.

Cyndi and Paisley at Exchange 12

During one of these legs I was able to lay down and just rest for a while, although I don’t think I actually slept. Although we were all in a van together, I tried to be more supportive of runners 1-6 and rest more during runners 7-11. All the in and out of the van and standing and waiting can really drain me, so I was purposeful about being supportive to the other runners about half the time.

Exchange 13, just after dusk

Hood to Coast Leg 17

As night approached I started dreading my second leg a bit. I was tired and didn’t feel like running very much. This is pretty typical. During the night is primarily when relays really start to wear me down. Nevertheless, I put on some tunes to pump me up a bit (The Final Countdown) and got into the mood the best I could.

Also, I was driving for most of this time. The only time I didn’t drive was during legs 4, 5, and 6. That was while I was getting ready to run, running, and just finishing.

My Leg 17 run started just after 12:30am. It was a flat 7.85 miler along a 4-lane highway. It took me about a mile to warm up my legs, particularly my Achilles which has been giving me trouble for a few months. Once I was warmed up I tried to maintain a strong pace. My goal was to hit 6:30/mile. For the most part I was passing people the whole time. I was surprised when an older gentleman came up behind me 2-3 miles into the leg and proceeded to pass me. He must have been going at a 6:00 pace and he had to be around 50 years old. I was impressed. I increased my pace for a while, but I wasn’t dumb enough to try to keep up for very long. I stayed under 6:30 for most of the first 5 miles. However, I realized during the last third of the leg that I still had a tough long run ahead of me (Legs 29 and 30 combined). As I grew more fatigued, I decided to back off and reduced my pace during the last 2 miles to upper 6:00’s. That would hopefully leave me with some energy for my last run. There’s a stoplight right near the end of Leg 17 which is really annoying, so after stopping at that I finished strong and gave Cyndi a kiss as I handed off to her.

One thing I insisted on before running my leg was that I would be taking a shower at Exchange 17. The showers in Hood to Coast are in unusual and seemingly random places. Some people don’t worry about taking showers during relay races. I love them — it feels so good to get all the sweat off my skin and to feel clean again. It helps me rest better and loosens me up. (I also try to jump into lakes after a day of backpacking for the same reason.)

After I took a quick shower, a couple of our runners grabbed food, I grabbed my chocolate milk, and we continued to Exchange 18 which is a “major” exchange. There were lots of people there and I was still awake and alert so I got out to get Cyndi from the big crowd.

I knew I needed to eat more so that I’d have energy for my big run later in the morning, so I asked Jaci to make me a PBJ. She doesn’t like peanut butter, but I told her to load it on. It ended up being the most peanut buttery sandwich I’d ever eaten. Delicious.

By about 3am I was feeling really tired and I asked someone else to drive. I took a back seat and laid down for an hour or two. I didn’t sleep a lot, maybe 10 minutes, but it was good to lay down.

Eventually we got to Exchange 24, which is another major exchange. I whipped out my backpacking stove and made a few of our team some hot cocoa and myself some hot oatmeal. Warm meals are wonderful to eat during relay races. I was informed by a volunteer that stoves weren’t allowed, but fortunately I was done anyways. (This was a green, grassy, wet field so I don’t know what the problem was.)

Hood to Coast Leg 29 and Leg 30

Eventually it was approaching my turn to run again. We were starting to hit some traffic. With 2.5 miles of Leg 28 left we hit bumper-to-bumper traffic. I got my shoes on and jumped out to warm up right before Paisley, our Leg 28 runner, approached us. This meant that I ran 2.5 miles with her, then my 5.97 mile Leg 29, then 5.32 mile Leg 30.

I took it pretty easy with Paisley during the last part of Leg 28. Leg 29 begins with a 3.5 mile uphill stretch. I was pushing pretty hard and passing people. About a mile from the top I heard someone approaching behind me, so I started running harder. Once we crested the summit, I continued a hard pace and the other runner stayed right behind me. I gave just about everything I had to hold him off — we ran two miles at about 5:33/mile. We eventually caught up to another line of cars in traffic and many of them were yelling funny things as us as we charged by. It was actually quite fun, but it pushed me to my limit. With about a mile to go I broke. I justified slowing down a bit since I knew I still needed to run another leg. My competitor finally passed me and I thanked him for pushing me.

He finished the leg about 50 yards ahead of me, and then I ran through the exchange as I started Leg 30. By this time it was raining and I became fully drenched. With all the traffic, I was wondering how long I’d be waiting at Exchange 30. I slowed down to ~7:00/mile for this leg and I was starting to feel tired from all the running and lack of sleep.

I finished the 13.91 mile run and was happy to be done. Amazingly, our van pulled up about 1 minute later, and I hopped in as our next runner, Brenden, hopped out and started running. I learned that our van had been in bumper-to-bumper traffic the entire time, and they were going crazy.

Can I just say that the traffic at Hood to Coast is awful? It’s really a problem, and maybe the organizers have tried everything to solve it, but it makes the Hood to Coast Relay almost unbearable. I remember how much I hated it the first year and how it ruined my experience. These past two years I’ve been more prepared for it, but it still grates on me. I feel like the issue is primarily how the traffic is controlled at some of the later exchanges. I don’t think some of the volunteers understand how holding up cars can really back things up. I think the organizers should put some very efficient people at the later exchanges and figure out how to get the traffic flowing the best way possible.

During my run I passed 92 runners! That’s about 8% of the teams, although I’m not sure how the walking and high school teams factor in. It’s crazy to me that all those teams were packed in the course that tightly.

We finished our last 6 legs without too much excitement. Kaden had a great run and Tyrel cramped a bit, but we finally made it across the finish line at the beach at about 5:45pm. Since it was so late, we just spent about an hour walking around town and then we headed home.

Finish Line

Finish line after a long night

Another Hood to Coast Relay in the bag. Going in one van was pretty crazy, but also pretty fun. I have an idea of how I can add in a little sleeping area in the back of my van for next time which would space things out a bit better. I think I’m going to try one van again…

Hood to Coast Relay 2018

Before this year, my father-in-law had run in the Hood to Coast Relay 19 times. His birthday is in late August, which is right around the time Hood to Coast takes place. So this year he put together a family team for his 70th birthday and 20th Hood to Coast. I got to run Leg 5 and I had a great time!

Hood to Coast is a 199 mile relay that begins at the base of Mt Hood and ends in Seaside, OR. It starts with some steep downhill on a highway in the forest, continues through some smaller towns amidst farmland, then into Portland, along the Columbia River, through windy forest roads, and finally onto the finish line at the beach.

Hood to Coast is truly the “mother of all relays”. It boasts 1200 teams, and triple that many team applications. It has some elite teams sponsored by Nike and others that finish at just over 5:00/mile pace. Hood to Coast is the relay that inspired the creators of the Ragnar relays.

Our kids had already started school before the race, so we waited until Thursday after school to head from Idaho to the Portland area to meet up with family. The drive went pretty well and we pulled into town around 11pm, so we basically went right to bed.

The next morning we woke up and I hopped in with Van 1 to head to Mt. Hood. It was quite chilly and breezy at the base of Mt. Hood, but it was a fun atmosphere. This was my 4th big road relay, but it was my first time in Van 1. It was great to be there at the start as we started our journey across a large chunk of Oregon. My father-in-law, Jerry, ran Leg 1.

Photo op at the starting area at the base of Mt Hood

Jerry handed off to Cyndi for Leg 2.

Jerry passing to Cyndi

The first few legs of Hood to Coast are pretty steep downhill. However, I was running Leg 5 which had a decent amount of uphill to it. I was targeting a ~6:30 pace for the whole race, so I figured I might take it easy on my first leg. I ended up feeling pretty good and hitting a 6:23 pace. All three of our volunteers were on my leg, so that was pretty fun. Two of them were handing out water and the third was at Exchange 5. Overall it was a nice first leg.

I handed off to Monte, who was 2-3 minutes late to the exchange thanks to a long line of traffic. I promptly drank my first chocolate milk, which I now believe is the secret to keeping my stomach calm during a relay.

We met up with Van 2 at Exchange 6. They were excited to be starting their first legs. We had some spectators who met us there as well. Also, we substituted a few runners in and out. Since it was Jerry’s 70th birthday, he wanted to give a some of his 34 (?) grandkids an opportunity to run, and they couldn’t all handle three legs. Also, Cyndi had just delivered a baby ~7 weeks earlier, so she only ran one leg. This isn’t exactly up to regulation, but we weren’t exactly a competitive team.

All the team and spectators at Exchange 6

Van 1 stopped for a while at a nearby Wendy’s and we met up with our volunteers there. My daughter, Paisley, was now in the van in Cyndi’s place, and we each had a baked potato. That was probably the nicest meal I’ve ever had during a road relay. After relaxing for a while, we endured rush hour traffic through Portland to get to Exchange 12.

Paisley would be running Leg 13, but since it’s on the river front (with a river front type of crowd mulling around) and it would be getting dark, I ran with her for her 4+ miles. It was a nice and easy pace, so it felt pretty good. She was super nervous to take the hand off in front of the big Exchange 12 crowd under the overpass.

Paisley getting ready to take the hand off

Paisley nervously awaiting the hand off before Leg 13

She had a nice finish and was really excited to be part of the relay team.

I gobbled a Kind bar and a breakfast bar to refuel before my next run.

Jerry ran Leg 14, then Tyrel ran Leg 15, then Christy ran leg 16. The Hood to Coast traffic was starting to back up considerably at some of the exchanges. We had to wait a long time before Christy could get out of the van to meet Tyrel.

It was back to me for Leg 17. While I was waiting in line at the Honey Bucket, I had a nice conversation with a Marathon Maniac. He said he was getting too old to run, and he had lost count of how many marathons he’d done.

I was a little nervous for my third run in the last 12 or hours. It would be my longest, and I wasn’t sure how fast I’d be able to go. Fortunately it was a nice temperature with little wind and I ended up feeling just fine. I went faster than expected — hitting 6:10/mile (excluding the annoying 37 second stop I had to make at a crosswalk right before the end).

At this point I really wanted to take a shower, and there was one at this exchange, but we had to move to Exchange 18. It annoyed me that all the showers were basically unavailable to the 5th and 6th runner in Van 1.

I don’t remember Exchange 18 very well, except that Van 2 complained that we had kept them awake by texting at each of our exchanges. I asked them if they were familiar with “airplane mode” and I also reminded them that at Exchange 6 they had complained that we didn’t give them enough information. It was pretty funny to me, although I do feel bad they didn’t get to sleep as much as expected.

We made the drive to exchange 24. When we got there we were all very tired. It was foggy and dark and this would be our one chance to sleep. We had planned on having a big tent set up, but there was a miscommunication and it didn’t work out. I ended up just placing a tarp on the ground and rolling out my pad and sleeping bag on top of it. None of the other people in my car came with me, so I just set my alarm to make sure I could find them before it was time to go. There was some risk of getting lost in this huge, dark exchange.

I was able to get a couple hours of decent and much needed sleep when it came time to wake up. I went to the car and found the rest of our runners packed inside. In a previous relay race I learned that sleeping with everyone in the car is a bad idea, so I’m glad I wasn’t squished in there as well.

Eventually our other van arrived and we found them despite the lack of cell phone reception. I didn’t even see their runner come in because I was getting ready to get back in the car. Christy started running just before 6am, right as dawn approached.

Jerry and Tyrel both ran about 6 miles. Traffic was getting bad, and Jerry had to wait a few minutes for Tyrel to use the Honey Bucket. Tyrel had a strong run and passed loads of runners that were slowing down on their final leg. Paisley went really fast on her run, and traffic was such that I jogged the last half mile with her at a 7:30 pace.

I then reset my watch and headed out for Leg 29, my most challenging leg: a 6 mile run with 566 ft vertical. I hit it really hard. I was trying to pass as many people as possible to keep up with all the people Tyrel passed, but that didn’t happen. I passed a couple dozen people, but overall everyone was pushing hard up the hill. At the top of the hill there was a small of people cheering, including my van. That made this leg extra fun. I pushed hard down the hill as well and I came in at a 6:11 pace, which I was very happy with.

Monte took the baton and our van headed to the last big exchange before the finish. There were tons of people, and we had been running faster than expected, so we spread out to find our other van and give them a heads up. I eventually found them and they were surprised to see us. They had been battling traffic and had only been at the exchange for 30 minutes or so, so they weren’t thrilled to see us. They got going and Van 1 was very happy to be done.

Some of us took a much needed shower at Seaside and then spent some time at the beach waiting for our team. We all finished together and we celebrated with a delicious seafood lunch.

The team at the finish line

I’ve learned a few things during previous relays that helped make this one my most successful in terms of comfort level:

  • Drink a big chocolate milk immediately after each leg you run
  • Have a good plan for warm, substantial food
  • Don’t try to sleep in the van at major exchanges. Bring a sleeping bag and use it.
  • Backpacking gear can be very useful

Relays aren’t exactly my favorite type of race, but they can definitely be fun and challenging. I’m sure I’ll do more in the future, and I hope Hood 2 Coast is included in that.