portland to coast 2011

Most days I am a runner.

But once a year, I get my racewalk on and participate in the Portland to Coast Relay with my Late for Lattes friends.   Portland to Coast is the sister event to Hood to Coast; we start at leg #13 early Friday morning, and walk 130 miles to the beach - each taking two legs of the journey.  The course is the same as the running version; we just move a bit slower along the way.  

This was my 10th year doing the walk.  I have only ran Hood to Coast once, in 1997, and I found it to be a crowded, crazy adventure.  By contrast, the Portland to Coast offers less crowded exchanges and more time to support your walker along the way.  And since finding a wonderful team, it has been difficult to imagine enjoying the race with anyone else.

Van #1 ready to start.

For the past six years, I had been in Van #2, acting as driver and van captain.  But after selling my minivan this past spring, I was a "free woman"...and we decided to assign legs based on walking pace and distance.  Thus I found myself in Van #1.

Now the tales from van #1 have been legendary.  Dancing at midnight, adventures with other teams, loads of laughs...the list goes on.  Not only that, Van #1 is the one who gets to have their team photo taken post shower...what's not to love?

I should explain that this team was originally formed by dance team members from the local high schools - both dancers and coaches coming together to walk this race.  They hear a song and bust out a routine in unison; it is something to behold.  I did my best to keep up.

We danced early and often.

 We may walk fast, but we also goof around a lot.  Here is our second walker doing her "peel the banana" dance...one we would see all weekend.

As we waited for our walker to pull up to us for water, we realized she had a strange hat on her head.  A vulture hat, saved from being lost along the side of the road.  There was no way this wasn't from another team...and now we had something to ransom!

 The miles ticked off quickly.  We would drive up ahead of the walker, wait for her to pass, offer water, cheers, dances...and then leapfrog ahead.  The clouds quickly lifted and the heat came on like wildfire.

The race vehicle. Our latte cup's foam lights up at night.

Walker 3 passes off to Walker 4

 Before I knew it, my leg was next. 7.13 miles along busy Hwy 30, with no shade and plenty of heat.  I focused on my cadence, counting "1,2,3,4" and trying to keep the beat fast.

My leg was hot. Hot, hot, hot.

 Such relief to hit the exchange.

The hardest part of race walking is getting the leg positioning right.
I actually have correct form here.

 After all six walkers are finished, we hand off to Van #2.  Here we are getting them ready to start.
While they walk, we attempted to rest in a blistering hot field.  Needless to say, there wasn't much sleep to be had.  Mostly I wanted to get going again.

Meeting up with van #2 for our first major exchange.

 After Van #2 finished their legs, they informed us that a major rivalry with Road Kill Grill had started.  Turns out it was their vulture we had found.

"I have yet to go out the sunroof!"

 As evening started to fall, our spirits rose.  We started hooting and hollering at the other walkers, getting punchy as only the tired can.

My second leg left me a bit nervous.  We were getting out in front of all the other teams, and fellow walkers were few and far between.  It was dark (I started walking near midnight), and the section I was walking was a lonely hill.  At one point, I could hear something in the bushes, moving along with me.  I thought about yelling, but instead picked up the pace.  Finally I passed it by.  The extra adrenaline helped me power up the hill.

Kristina and her "babies". We stole a second vulture while parked at an exchange.

We all walked strong on our second legs; by 2 am, we were done with our legs and were headed to the beach cabin for a couple hours of sleep.

Morning breaks on the lake where we slept. So beautiful.

Thankfully we were able to drive right in to Seaside, find a parking spot, and headed to the beach to wait for our walker.  Finishing for most Hood to Coast teams would be nowhere as easy.  We crossed the finish line about 8:40 am.

Heading to the finish.

 Our friends from Road Kill Grill, who had been very fun in the entire vulture-napping incident, finished about the same time.  So of course we had to have a little more fun.  They did let us keep the vulture hats, which will be incorporated into next year's decorations, I'm sure.

A little more heckling before we go.

We spent most of the day in the beer garden, eagerly awaiting our results.

They were well worth the wait.  Turns out we placed 5th in our division, 20th overall, with a 12:12 avg pace. Podium, baby!!