Hood to Coast Relay

Whew! We did it!


Kyle first mentioned the Hood to Coast relay last September, and applied for a team nearly a year ago. We were lucky to get a spot, since over half the teams that go into the lottery system are turned away. We were excited to get a team, but very unaware of what was in store for us! We went to family first, and found a lot of interest in running it, and then added a few friends and our Bishop from our Provo ward a few years ago to the team. Lucky for us, a documentary had just been filmed about the Hood to Coast race the year before, and by November we were able to see it in theaters! The movie was helpful, and we gained a better understanding of how the relay worked, what happened during the 30 hours you are running it, and what we would go through as a team. It was also very funny! Also, we learned that Hood to Coast is unique because of it's topography. As a team of 12 we start at Mt. Hood which sits at 5,960 feet. We then make our way into the city of Portland, move onto the major mountain range of the Cascades, covered in forest, then down to sea level at Seaside, OR where the finish line is literally on the beach! The last 200 yards is ran on the sand and out to the Pacific Ocean! 

Over the 11 months we had to prepare for this huge race, we encountered injuries, drop outs, drop ins and had several team meetings to decide our legs, team name, t-shirts and our travel arrangements. I loved our team, all but one of us had never run this relay before, and everyone was really excited and ready to have a good time along the way. Uncle Troy came up with "Running Scared" for our team name, and his wife Toni got some help to design T-shirts for us! Kyle was the team captain and sent out tons of emails with updates and information over the last year. 

The night before the race each group of 6 met with their van and packed it with food, clothing and shelter items for the next two days. Most of us had kids who were going to be babysat by family members, so there was a lot of planning and preparation to do the day before the race. It was difficult to sleep that night, and Kyle and I both only got 3-4 hours before we had to be up and out the door.

Van 1: Cami (Toni's friend), Stacie (Toni's friend), Toni & Troy (Aunt and Uncle), Stu (cousin), Lori (cousin)

Cami, Stacie, Toni

Lori & Stuart (siblings!)

Van 2: Kyle & Becca, Kristi Rutter (neighbor friend), Melanie and Dan (cousins), and Jeremy Gines 

(Bishop/Friend from Utah) 

Dan & Melanie

Kyle, Jeremy, Dan

Friday morning we met with our Van 2 at 5:30 a.m. and made the 40 minute drive to our first exchange with Van 1, who were already running their first set of legs up on Mt. Hood (they began their runs at 3:30 A.M.!!!) We drove to Sandy, OR where we met with Van 1 in a Safeway parking lot for our first exchange. We were all visibly anxious and nervous for our first leg of the race, but since all the teams were meeting in the same area, we were buoyed up by the excitement in the air, and music blasting from the other team's decorated vans! Van 1 made it to the exchange point, and they all looked extremely tired! That made us nervous, as it was only leg 1, and they had 2 more to go!! They told us about a huge storm on the mountain, all the donuts they ate the night before the race (nice one, guys!), and how one of our runners was caught in the middle of a downpour during her run! Apparently they didn't get any sleep the night before either, and the early a.m. start time was tough on them. However, they gave us some encouragement and left us for a few hours of rest in the van.

Dan (Kyle's cousin) started us off and ran well through his first leg. The map we had received from HTC headquarters didn't do his leg justice. I believe they described his leg as having "rolling hills"....well he probably covered 8-10 steep hills throughout his 6 mile run! It was beautiful countryside though, covering a lot of grape fields and wineries.

Everyone was feeling great and ran our first legs well. I had leg 10, the fourth runner in our van and I started at about 11:15 a.m. We had heard that it was going to be hot that day, and it WAS. I didn't think I'd have trouble so early in the day with the heat, but my route was 5 miles along Springwater Trail, which is a isolated greenbelt, asphalt paved, with no shade or breeze to keep cool. It got up to 78 degrees while I was running, but I could have sworn it was 95 degrees that day. Without protective clouds in the sky, the sun was just relentless on my shoulders, head and back. The asphalt seemed to radiate heat into my feet, and my left foot went completely numb about 3 miles in. I started to zig-zag across the trail whenever I could catch some shade (bad idea, waste of energy).  After 45 minutes, I caught up to another runner who told me we only had a quarter mile to go. With that boost, I sprinted to the exchange and had never been so happy to cross a finish line!  I got a huge rush of 'runners high' after completing my first leg, it was one of the best feelings ever!!

After that first leg, we all felt more comfortable in the race and were able to relax a little. We had the best van, everyone was so positive and encouraging, easy-going, and cheerful! It didn't hurt that I was running with my best friend and spouse, as was our cousins Mel and Dan. It was awesome to share an experience like that with Kyle, it was one of the most strengthening things we have done in our marriage!

Without going through all the details, here are some of the memorable things that happened along the way...

--Our 2nd legs were run around midnight up in the Cascade Mountain Range. With a backdrop of black forest, much cooler temperatures, and millions of stars to see, this was everyone's favorite run.

--We finished our 2nd legs around 2 a.m., and decided to stop at a local high school where we paid for cafeteria food and a place to sleep in their gymnasium. We must have been REALLY tired. With just a sleeping bag and pillow, Kyle and I found a spot to sleep on the hard floor under the volleyball net, in the middle of the gym! It was so bizarre, but we got some rest for a couple hours!

--We had made it to all of our exchange points on time except for our last exchange. Traffic was miserable near the end of the race, and we were nearly an hour late meeting Van 1 for the last time!  We felt horrible, but we heard post-race that most teams were 2-3 hours behind their exchanges during the race.

--Our van was healthy and well most of the time. A few of us, me included, felt the worst right before we were to run our 3rd leg. I felt sick to my stomach, tired and dizzy after sleeping on the gym floor for a couple hours. Dan felt similar, and we all had to really push through our last leg! I had an easy 3 1/2 miler, and my awesome husband ran the last mile with me!  

--We dropped Kyle (our last runner) off at his exchange, and headed to the beach where we would meet him. It was crazy at Seaside! It looked like a huge festival had arrived for the weekend! Tents, food vendors, activities, a stage with a live band playing, and a most welcome FINISH sign! We found our van 1, and once Kyle was on the beach, all 12 of us ran through the finish line together!

After a lot of hugs, high-five's, pictures, and story-telling,  we received our medals and each van slowly made the journey back to Portland (about 1.5 hour drive). I fell asleep almost immediately on the way home--leaning against the seat belt..ugh! We stopped to get some food and ice cream before each family set off for home and some much needed and well deserved REST!

The Hood to Coast Relay was a great experience for Kyle and I. Almost all of our team agrees, and we are applying for a team next year! The event, however, is very tough and I wouldn't run with anyone who wasn't family or friends! I probably wouldn't run it without Kyle either. The relay is meant to test your emotional and physical strength, and you'd want to be with people you love and who love you--and who don't complain!!! :) Luckily we had no whiners in our van, which made all the difference! In fact, I felt like I got to know members of our Monson family who I'd hadn't been close to before. I was so impressed by everyone that I now look at them in a different way than I had before, which is really neat. 

This was a huge personal goal I had set to accomplish. Since becoming a mom, I have felt that parts of my identity have been lost in the daily tasks and shuffle of diapers, cereal, cleaning, laundry and caretaking. Although it may sound selfish, I really wanted to do something to push myself out of that zone. Something that I could take time each day to work on and set a goal to finish. Also, I feel like 'mom' is the only title I practice, and it was nice to be an 'athlete' or 'runner' again for awhile. I was proud of myself, I have never been a real runner and this was very difficult for me! I also lost about 15 lbs through training, and my heart rate is down to 58 BPM. I feel healthy, strong, and I am a better mom because I achieved this goal!