Oh Hood to Coast, how I love to hate you. I really have mixed feelings about Hood to Coast, but Susan loves it so being a good friend and running partner I agreed to do it again this year. Besides running on the road, getting no sleeping, sitting in traffic jams and inhaling exhaust, Hood to Coast is awesome! Seriously the thing I really love about Hood to Coast is getting to be part of an awesome team of your friends and family and all sharing the running experience together. Unfortunately vans 1 and 2 don't get to spend a lot of time together, so make sure you get all the good people in your van. ;)
I started to get anxious about not sleeping and being in charge of the van a week before Hood to Coast, so to help my anxiety I created daily memes and posted them on Facebook.
I was in van 2 this year, the previous time I was in van 1. I prefer van 2 because you get to run on more back roads, van 1 you run more on Highway 26 and 30.
Everyone in our van got along great, Rick even serenaded us! Sally switched a leg with Rick when his calf started to hurt, she traded my longer leg with me when my stomach got upset. I traded my dad's "hilly" leg with him, since I love hills and he doesn't. I know this is against the rules, but I thought it was awesome as a team we were able to make adjustments to make sure everyone was comfortable with what they were running.
Running on the roads isn't too bad when you average an 8:20 pace.
Maybe next year I can convince Susan to do the Cascade Lakes Relay , if not we better be in the same Hood to Coast van.
Me and Rick in front of the Honey Buckets - Our team name is Honey Bucks and Buckettes
Relay hand off with Dad
Susan and Melinda doing a hand off. A rare moment between van 1 and van 2.
Our family hiking trip this year was to the Dolomites, more specifically Alta Via 1. John and I have done several hut to hut hiking trips in the Alps and planned them all ourselves, we never had any problems. As I started to plan our trip to the Dolomites, it became clear to me that it might be easier if we used a local company to help us book our accommodations and transportation. That way when questions came up from family members there was someone we could ask. Also letting the ultrarunner of the group plan the daily hiking itinerary probably isn't the best idea.
I ended up contacting Dolomite Mountains, I sent them my itinerary, the places I had already booked and a few other specifications and Monica created an agenda pretty similar to the one I already had in mind. As much as I like to plan things myself, it was nice to have someone local and not feel responsible for 5 other people's vacation. Plus if they thought the hike was too hard they couldn't blame me.
My husband John, Cedar and I recently spent a week in Boulder working, running, and snowboarding/skiing. We decided to drive our Sprinter from Portland to Boulder to see what all the hype was about. Since we were working while we were in Boulder we had to limit our exploring time to before and after work and the weekends on the drive to and from Boulder. So our days were broken down into 3 areas: working, activities and eating & drinking.
Working: The company I work for has an office in Boulder with free food. John and I would work from the Airbnb in the morning and head over to the office around lunch for free food and to work the rest of the afternoon. We did find a place called The Rayback Collective that had a great indoor area for co-working, it also had an amazing beer garden with several food carts. We especially liked the Indian food cart, I wished I remembered the name, they had so many tasty bite size items for $1-$2.
Eating & Drinking: We went to several different bre…
I took the whole week off for spring break, which I spent in Austin, TX, with my family. But just before we left I realized that we'd be back Thursday evening, which left Friday free for a long run!
Ann checked on the Wilson River Trail, which we tried (and failed) to run last month due to the amount of snow blocking the trailhead and covering the hilly trail itself. All clear!
The Peterson Ridge Rumble is a classic laid back community trail race that takes place in Sisters, Oregon. Almost every trail runner we know has run it at least once, most people at least few times. The trails are at a low enough elevation that snow normally isn't an issue and you get amazing views of the central Cascades. It's a race that people hangout for hours after they cross the finish line cheering people on and catching up with friends. It is a great way to kick of the season.
Susan and I have ran the Peterson Ridge Rumble 40 mile race twice, but now that we a four legged trail runner as part of our pack we decided to include him. The 40 mile race does not allow dogs but the 20 mile does. I was so excited when I signed Cedar up for the race, I was equally as excited to run the shorter distance.
I had a work trip to San Francisco the week before the Rumble, but luckily there is a direct flight from SFO to Redmond/Bend. My husband and Cedar drove down in the van and pick…
Ann's story (the planning)
Ever since I did my first multi-day
backpacking trip 10 years ago, I have wanted to circumnavigate Mt. Hood. We
actually planned a backpacking trip to do in 2007, but after doing some
research realized part of the trail had been washed out and was closed. So the Mt.
Hood circumnavigation was put on the back burner until I started running long
distances.
I mentioned to Susan last summer that we should do it, but it wasn’t
until early this year when we were trying to find a race during the summer that
was 40 – 50 miles and fit both of our schedules that I mentioned we should just do Mt. Hood. It worked out great, since we could do it during
the week when there is less traffic on the trail and we wouldn’t have to give up a
weekend day with our families.
I really love planning hiking, backpacking, and running routes / trips. I loved being able to pull out all my maps and books, and comb through them for training runs and the circumnavigation, but single
mo…
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