Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Hood To Coast Relay

October must the month of reconnection.  Because just a week after meeting up with my old friend Paul Shustak, my phone rang tonight with a call from an even older friend named Colin Sears.  I've known Colin since the late '80's - he was the drummer in one of my favorite bands from the old days, and then later we played in another band together for a few years.

Colin's now living up in Portland.  Like I am with Paul, Colin and I are Facebook friends.  Colin has been seriously running for about a year, with three 1/2 marathons under his belt.  He must have noticed all my posts about training and racing triathlon,  because the phone call basically went like this:

Colin:  Hey Patrick, it's Colin...

Me:  Hey Colin, how ya doing?  What's been happening?

Colin:  Same old stuff and I want to catch up.  But first I wanted to ask you something real quick...

Me:  Of course, shoot...

Colin: OK, I'm putting together a team for.....(Ian starts talking to me so I couldn't hear Colin)....race, which is.....need 12 people....relay....next August.

Me:  I'm in.

Colin:  Cool, this should be good.

Me:  Yeah I'm stoked, thanks for thinking of me.


Colin:  No problem, it made sense since I've been seeing all your stuff on Facebook.  We'll have a lot of stuff to figure out.


Me:  Totally....Hey Colin, what did I just commit to?

I turns out that what I had just committed to was being part of a potential 12 person team for the Hood To Coast relay race.  The race, which is held every year in August, is a 36 leg/197 mile running race from Mount Hood to coastal Oregon.  The race is apparently the biggest relay event in the world with 12,000 runners.  Right now this is all I know.  But, if you divide 197 by 36 you get 5.47.  If you multiply 5.47 by 3, you get 16.42.  And if all the legs are more or less equal in distance, this is how many miles I'll be responsible for running.


I say I am part of a "potential" team because Colin had to send in the application today and teams are chosen on a lottery basis.  I'm not sure how the lottery works, but I'm assuming that within a few weeks I'll be getting the go/no-go call.  If I get the "go" call I owe Colin $110.00.

Do you ever have those days when you wake up, blissfully ignorant to the existence of something, only to find out about that "something" during the day and then suddenly find yourself really enthralled?  Well, I'm having one of those days.  I got off the phone with Colin about an hour ago and now I'm sitting here really hoping we get in.  And I'm not even sure who "we" is past Colin and I.  Colin said something about a woman from Germany and some "crazy marathoners" from his work.  Whatever, it's all cool to me.

So between this race and Ironman 70.3 Hawaii, next year could be shaping up to be an adventurous year.  So far I've only traveled as far as San Diego to race.  Now it looks like I'm taking my game on the road.  There's something that I find exciting about that.

21 comments:

Chris K said...

I have always wanted to do something like that. I hope you guys get in. I have a feeling it would be a fantastic weekend if you did. Oregon? C'mon, Oregon is beautiful.

ajh said...

I"ve always wanted to do that relay. Hope you get in!

Jennifer said...

Keeping my fingers crossed for ya! I hear it is a great race. I know what you mean about the ignorance. I had that happen with the Mississippi50, never really thought about it until I spent 30 min on the phone with the race director, now I can't wait to run my little legs off (probably literally...)

KovasP said...

Dag that's Nasty! Heard nothing but cool things about that race, hope you get in. If not, there's a potential of me running the Ragnar Madison to Chicago Relay next summer.

Jeffrey said...

I really hope you get in. I got the same request from a friend a few years back and turned it down - one of my many regrets! I'm trying to get in for next year - luck to us both!

Anonymous said...

Sorry to interject the "woman" in here, but that is very male to commit before you even knew what it was. I ask 100 questions and research first. ;-) But I still would've totally been in for that. Texas has a relay like that (it's 200 miles, 12 people). Unfortunately I can't do it in 2011 but maybe, just maybe 2012 (and yes, I plan that far in advance). Here's to hoping you get in this one, cause I'm looking forward to the race report.

Diana Tries-A-Tri! said...

A really good friend of mine up here in Washington did that relay this year. She had a ton of fun. She works for Brooks so they had tons of sweet gear too ... lucky. You'll have so much fun!

Big Daddy Diesel said...

I did something similar on the bike, my best advice is keep loose and warmuped up. After doing your leg and then resting, the body will start to tighten up on you and each turn gets a little tougher to get going, but once your going and in your grove, you will be fine

Pahla said...

How exciting!!

Unknown said...

Did you change the layout on your blog? Looks nice! My cousin has done the Hood to Coast for the past two years and she's had a great time and I'm sure you will too.

Lucas R. Tucker said...

That race sounds like a ton of fun.

Alisa said...

I live in Portland and really really want to do this race some year. The hardest thing is getting my friends on board and organized!

TRI714 said...

freakin awesome !!! Hell yeah !!

Laurie said...

Awesome! I'm doing Hood to Coast next year and am super excited. (I'm going to be on a team that has been doing it forever so I'm guaranteed an in.) Good luck to getting the draw!

Unknown said...

That sounds cool..probably an awesome finishers medal too?

misszippy said...

Very cool. My friends and I actually mulled this one over too...one of these days!

Jill said...

I was actually invited last year to join a team who lost a female member for this year's team...but my CO Outward Bound relay was the same weekend and I thus had to say no. Turns out, I ran neither due to an injury - SUCKED!! Hope you get in, relays are so fun (and exhausting)!

DRog said...

Well this is "THE ROAD" after all!!!
hope you get in that sounds Awesome

D

Aimee said...

Awesome! I had a friend that did the relay and he loved it! I hope your team gets in!

Unknown said...

I've heard great things about this! Hope you guys get in!!!

track coach and adorable wife said...

lucky! If you get in! My friends and I totally want to do it, but have been discouraged to try since it is so hard to get in, maybe next year! Plus we are about 9 people short! Good luck!

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