Hood to Coast

Another milestone in my running career : Last weekend Aug28-29th, ran "Hood to coast 2009", the mother of all relay races. 197 miles of pure joy or pain however you want to put it. I had the privilege to run on behalf of my adidas corporate group as part of team of 12 runners.


We had a decent finish #20 out of 120 corporate teams with a race time of 25 hrs:39 min:11sec, and I did set my personal best record covering a distance of 14.74 miles. I ran my legs at 8PM (7+mile), 3AM (4mi), next day 11AM (4mi) all with nothing but 2 hrs of sleep during the 28 hrs we were moving from one point to another in van stuffed with six team members.

When we started at Timberline lodge, on top of the Mt.Hood , the oregon's tallest peak, it was a wonderful weather and beautiful scenary. My first race leg was 7.2 miles of knee breaking downhill descent from 1600 ft on Mt.Hood highway 26, then followed by next leg at 3AM on Hwy 30 to St.Helens. That was the creepy portion of run, you couldn't see more than few feet ahead in pitch black darkness. All I can hear are my own foot steps hitting the road, deafening silence, faraway other runner's head lamps.. and your mind start to play games with you. What those piercing eyes looking at you from forest could be ? wolves, coyotes, bears, or blood sucking vampires? what ever it was, ran like hell ! Then we managed to catch two hrs of sleep before we hit the road again for the final run in up hills leading to Astoria. In the end when we were done with all legs, stepped into the freezing ocean waters at Seaside to soak those tired legs, it was heaven !! Ofcourse the beach party and some real food at adidas tent.. worth it all.

It was painful - but hey, no gain without pain right !! I am able to check off one items on my list of "100 things to do before I die". For more about this legendary race, view this video. A total of 49 states and 36 countries are represented this year on Hood to Coast teams.

Apart from self-discovery, this run has been a mainly a part of my “Run for India” campaign to raise funds for my favorite charity, and hope that every step I take ultimately makes a difference to someone’s life in the world elsewhere.