Portland to Coast 2014

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Two weeks, prior to the event a family friend asked if I would like to walk in the relay race as one member had to step down. I contemplated it for a short while and responded "Yes". I then attended our team meeting where I would find out that I was walking two of the twenty four sections of the relay race. We would be camping overnight along the route and the finish line was in Seaside. I knew this family friend had walked the event in the past and about half of the twelve member team was doing this walk for the 1st time. I saw this event as a great motivator to get me back into working out on a regular basis, do something I enjoyed before Motherhood and it would be fun to take part in such a local event.



Many people may have heard of Hood to Coast where a twelve person relay team runs from Timberline Lodge at the top of Mt Hood down through Portland and ends in Seaside. Well Portland to Coast walks the exact route of the runners but we walk and start in Portland at the base of the Hawthorne Bridge. This year was the 34th annual event for Hood to Coast with 14,000 runners and 24th annual event for Portland to Coast with 4,000 walkers all participating for cancer research.



Our team name was For Tits & Giggles as the team was started when our leader's mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. I am glad to say she is a Survivor and was 1 of 3 of our team volunteers who handed out completion medals at the finish line.



I was in Van 2 which started around 12:30pm near Scappoose, OR at the Columbia County Fairgrounds. Van 1 had started at 5am and walked under our estimated time. When teams register they have to give an estimated completion time and you can't arrive 2 hours before or after your estimated completion time. Our van consisted of 2 veteran walkers and 4 first time walkers. We walked a range of legs from 3 to almost 8 miles a piece across the OR countryside. Our van completed our first of two sections around 8:30pm when we handed the race snap bracelet back to Van 1 near Mist, OR. We came in around an hour under our estimated time. We then crashed at the major van exchange 24 and got two 3 person tents to sleep in that evening. It was on a first come first serve basis so we were quite excited.



Most of the race we had little to no cell phone coverage among T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon. I was a little nervous as it was my first time being away from Bennett overnight. I think the longest I had been away from him was less than 3-4 hours. I did pretty well as I knew he was in good hands with his Daddy & Granny was there to assist also. In ways I think it was a blessing that we didn't have reception because if our Baby Boy wasn't doing well I was far away and couldn't assist anyways. Plus, I think I would have felt "Mommy Guilt" and this was a good event for me to get out and have a fun time. When one gets married I feel it is healthy to still have your individual time and now after joining Team Parenthood I feel it even more after 4 months of no date nights or much time to myself to relax.



Ok back to the evening of Day 1. Three of us ladies ended the night with a Mike's Hard Pink Lemonade and then crashed in our tent. When I say crashed what I meant was collapsed and wished I had ear plugs. That was on my list to bring but couldn't find any and then forgot to buy them at the store. The thing about the race is it goes 24 hours a day so teams were staggered at the starting line across multiple hours and by 1:30am the running teams were catching up to the walking teams.



When a team is entering an exchange area the volunteers call out the team number so the next team member can be ready. Needless to say I heard team numbers being called most of the night, neighboring tents snoring, laughing and celebrating with popping champagne bottles. Then I heard a familiar voice, a team member's husband, was running Hood to Coast and I heard his voice. He and two of his teammates were sleeping on a tarp at the end of our tent row due to there being no available tents left. Such a small world as I mentioned we didn't have cell reception so they had no idea we were there let along which tent we were in.



Our alarm went off at 3am to get up and head to the next exchange where Van 1 would complete their section of the relay race and we would continue on with our final legs. We were estimating to exchange around 4:30am but traffic was backed up and our fellow teammates walked quickly through the night as they completed at 4:12am and were waiting for us when our van arrived. It was pitch black still and Meighan was off on her 2nd leg in the cold, early morning weather. I was the 5th out of 6 team members to walk in our van. I was lucky enough to walk a little more than 4 miles in the evening before the sun went down on Day 1 and walked 7.2 miles around mid morning on Day 2. At mile 4 the coastal overcast had lifted and it was sunny as could be. When I started it was so overcast there was no way the sun would appear so I didn't put any sunscreen on but wished I had by the end of my leg. Luckily, I didn't get burnt but I was tired and started to feel blisters on the inside of both my heels.



Once I handed off the snap bracelet to our final team member we got in the van and made it to a church parking lot then hopped on a trolley to the finish line. It was so cool to see the end after our walking journey through pretty remote parts of Oregon. I had a blast and so did my teammates. We celebrated with beers at the end and a team photo. When I saw my husband and son at the beach it was so cool to be reunited with them. I hope to walk this event next year as it is quite exclusive to enter the race.




For Tits & Giggles finished 60th out of 130 teams in the Women's Walking Division, 195th out of 400 teams overall with an official time of 30 hours and 57 minutes.

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Photos

Start of Van 2 legs at Columbia County Fairgrounds
we have no idea what we are getting ourselves into

don't mind me, just cleaning out my breast pump
Since I was away from Bennett I still needed to pump every 3-4 hours

Ready for bed...it was cold that night
Camping is not really my style but it was so much fun as it felt like Amazing Race & Survivor all in one

Reunited with our Baby Boy
apart for 27 hours

Finish Line Celebration in Seaside, OR
2 vans, 12 women, 24 legs no pun intended, 132 miles walked = FUN