Hood to Coast Relay Race

      Participating in the Hood to Coast Relay Race was by far the toughest challenge I have ever tackled.  It was tough because running, for me, is not only a physical challenge, but a mental one as well.  I KNOW my body is capable of running great distances, but mentally I fight it every step of the way.  But, I love to challenge myself physically, and so no matter how much anxiety or blood, sweat and tears it was going to take, I knew I wanted to participate in this relay race.  And I did!  And I learned a valuable lesson; That even though I may not have a natural ability to run, with hard work and discipline, I became a good runner! 

      My overall experience with Hood to Coast was amazing!  It was fun; it was exhausting; and it was interesting!  Having never participated in an event like this before, I had a lot of anxiety wondering what it was going to be like spending 36 hours in a van with 5 other people, most of whom I barely knew!?  But now that all is said and done I couldn't have hand picked a better team than what was given to me.  These guys were awesome!

      I was the final runner on my team, which meant I ran legs 12, 24 & 36.  I chose this leg because it sounded exciting to be the one to run through the finish line in Seaside.  And also because it was relatively one of the easiest legs overall.  Running in the middle of the night with a head lamp on as your only light was pretty cool.  I thought it might be intimidating, but it was actually really peaceful.  The hardest part of the entire race was the lack of sleep.  I think I got about a total of 3 hours of sleep the entire time.  But adrenaline is a funny thing, it can keep you going for a long while. Here is a breakdown of my times:

• Leg 12 (5:15 p.m.):  3.07 miles  Average Pace:  8.51 min/mile  (6 kills)
• Leg 24 (4:00 a.m.):  4.92 miles  Average Pace:  9:03 min/mile  (12 kills)
• Leg 36 (3:45 p.m.):  5.23 miles  Average Pace:  8:54 min/mile  (12 kills)