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.
A the beginning of a typical dry, hot September in 2017, a teenager threw fireworks into Eagle Creek Canyon, setting off a t hree month long blaze that destroyed 50,000 acres of beautiful forested wilderness in the Columbia River Gorge. Many parts of the Gorge have been closed ever since, as burned areas and the subsequent dead trees lead to many issues like increased erosion, flooding, and invasive species. While trails have been slowly opening (like Angel's Rest ), many of us who love the Gorge have been holding our breath for the reopening of the Eagle Creek Trail . Eagle Creek was the first place I ever went hiking with my now husband over 20 years ago and one of the first trails I took Susan running on outside of Forest Park. It happened on Friday, 1 January 2021-- perhaps proof that this year will be better than the last. As soon as I found out I pinged Susan and said we need to take a day off and go run Eagle Creek. We decided on Thursday, January 7th hoping that it would
Mt Rainier, glaciers, alpine forests, and a trail through the heart of it all 16-18 Aug 2015 No run has reshaped the borders of my soul like circumnavigating Mt Rainier. No run has infiltrated my dreams like spending three days just running and not much else, in the middle of the longest summer in the Pacific Northwest's recent memory. No run has made me fall so deeply in love with the magical combination of mountains, wilderness, and summertime. Like all of our great long runs, Ann researched and planned this one. She discovered that most people run the 93-mile Wonderland Trail clockwise, and that we could split the route into three days with a cushy hotel stay each night. We, however, would run the route counterclockwise to start with the longest day of running first. We had a beer with our friend Heather McGrath, who had run around Rainier the previous year, to hear more about her trip, get tips, and make sure that our plan wasn't too crazy.
Gorge Waterfalls 2013 courtesy @stevenmortinson Gorge Waterfalls 2022 courtesy @stevenmortinson When we ran the Gorge Waterfalls 50k nine years ago , in 2013, we were still new to the sport. It was a big deal for us to run the distance, and we had some good luck superstitions like wearing our Performance Enhancing Kokopellis (PEKs). The course was out-and-back, which isn't normally a favorite, but allowed us to be a bit starstruck seeing some of our favorite runners as they ran back past us. While we enjoyed the route, there was a sizable amount of painful road, and since we already run in the Columbia River Gorge regularly, we didn't consider the race again for a while. Selfie at the finish line while waiting for the shuttle The massive Eagle Creek fire destroyed much of Gorge in 2017, and the race was cancelled for a few years. Then, of course, the COVID pandemic put a halt to all events. So when we learned the event would be held this year, in 2022, on a modified course
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