Hood to Coast

I have so many pictures from different things to post (Wisconsin trip, Hood to Coast, summer in general) that I'm actually going to just chip away at it one post at a time. So these next few posts may not be in chronological order : )

Hood to Coast last weekend was a total blast. 200 miles on foot, 12 team members, two vans, 30+ hours with no sleep, and running three legs for total of 16+ miles. The six women in my van were super awesome and much harder core runners than I am, but they were super inspiring. One of them ran over 6 miles at 8 minute miles - in a taco costume.... Our team name was I love tacos (from a favorite taco restaurant in our part of town) so van decorations, costumes, etc. were all that theme. Some teams get costumed up, others take the relay SUPER seriously, and some do both (like the other van in our group, which I'm very glad I wasn't in).
Here are some photos in no particular order:

7am - met at our house in Portland. Drove up to Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood in the team van.

Van 1 of team I love tacos at the start at Timberline.

Team at the starting line (with some other random costumed guy)

I loved these costumes. I do not know how they ran in them?

This is my favorite team by far. I would wear a mask too if I was running almost 20 miles in a white Speedo. Although check out how ripped Darth Vader is (in black mask, sports bra, etc.)

At the start (none of us ran the first leg, so we weren't running for another couple hours).

Great team name. From Colorado.

Porta potties in the mist at 5am (in the middle of nowhere in the Coast Range).

Early morning exchange - right before my third and last leg of the relay.

Generally it was totally different than I expected - way less crowded, since the teams are so spread out over such a long distance. There were so many people from so far away as well (at dinner the next day in Portland by our house, the two men at the table next to us came all the way from Scotland to do the relay! Third year in a row). I would definitely do it again, although maybe not next year...