Ross "Roadkill" Priewe hands off to Scobel Wiggins during the Hood-to-Coast Relay.
For most of the past decade, I’ve spent this last Saturday night of August at the beach. Specifically, the beach in Seaside — the finish line for the annual Hood-to-Coast Relay.
This is one of the few times in the past 10 years that I haven’t done the 197-mile relay from Timberline Lodge atop Mount Hood, through Portland, and on to the beach. I look forward to the event each year. Frankly, it gives me a reason to run each summer.
I have to admit, I was still kind of hoping to get a call Thursday from a team seeking a last-minute sub to fill in for some unfortunate runner who came up lame in the hours before the Friday morning start.
Shawn McKinney checks our team's progress as Capt. Phartlek, Brian Skaar, readies for his next leg.
While I’m not in the best running shape, heck, I could gut out HTC. After all, I did 5 miles, including getting to the top of Bald Hill in Corvallis, on Thursday morning.
Why do I look forward to Hood to Coast every summer? Aside from keeping me motivated to run, I can’t count all the fine memories of taking part in the event. And they generally aren’t about the running.
Rather, it’s about spending three days in a van with family and friends, and simply enjoying the “adventure,” as race organizers like to describe it.
Some of my favorite times include:
- Opportunities to run not only with my best running partner, Diane, but also my daughter Alison (twice) and my son Ross (once). My son Reid will get his turn, I’m sure.
- Sharing a beach house and a beer with friends in Rockaway Beach after several editions.
- Running buddy Shawn McKinney passing the Nads’ last runner on the final approach into Seaside. (Our team had been chasing the dreaded Nads from Texas for 24 hours!)
- Decorating the vans with clever and not-so-clever words of wisdom and laughing at the creativity of the other teams.
- One year getting four hours of un-interrupted sleep in St. Helens, waking up refreshed, and enjoying warm showers and an all-you-can-eat breakfast — then realizing, “Oh, shit!” that we had miscalculated the next van hand-off. Boy, were we in trouble with the sweaty, sleepless ladies in Van 1 when we finally arrived!
- Racking up the “roadkill” during the fast years, and not caring how many teams passed us most of the other legs (though we never seemed to tally as many as the Christian team named “Roadkill for Christ.”)
- Surprising ourselves by often running faster than expected, seldom hating it (only two excruciating legs in the blazing sun in all these years!)
- Savoring those last legs on the way to the finish, though feeling a bit sad that it would soon be over for another year.
You can bet I’ll be sending in our team’s check in October in hopes that the Philomath Phans of the Phartlek will be back in the relay next year.
Update: Oregonlive — HTC provides miles of footage for documentary
-rp-
p.s. Our team motto: “Start slow and taper off…”