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Through a strange stream of karmic events, I participated in the Hood to Coast Relay with a Kaiser Team. It was a crazy big adventure. 12,000 runners, 2,000 vans. People setting small personal goals for themselves. (Such not puking, followed by not puking in the van). This is the largest relay race in North America. It starts on Mt. Hood and stretches 197 miles down to the Pacific Ocean, in Seaside, Oregon. It is so popular that it sells out the first day.

One of the things I didn’t anticipate was how hard it was to get to the next exchange point on time. The exchange points are total chaos with people and vans everywhere. We got caught in road construction and almost didn’t make our Front Avenue exchange point before our runner. The second thing I didn’t anticipate was how smelly & sweaty it would be. Kelly brought wet-wipes and it saved our lives.

We got a full 2.5 hours of ‘rest’ between leg 2 & 3. We sent our first runner out (Jean) for her four mile run and the van wouldn’t start. It was dark 5:30 am. No way to get word to Jean we were stuck. A GI Joes van with jumper cables pulled up. Wouldn’t jump. A second van pulled up next to us. The drivers said he used to have a van like ours. The trick was to take the case off the started located under the driver’s seat and smack the starter with a crow-bar. I have never ever been in a situation where the answer is to hit something with a crowbar. Started right up and we were only 10 min. late.

There is a sense of urgency at the exchange point.

Sunday, Aug 29 at 7:23 AM #