Hood to Coast

This is a late post, but last weekend, I participated in the Hood to Coast Relay. I think that the relay is almost 200 miles, starting at Mt Hood and ending in Seaside, with 12 participants on each team. I have been so busy this summer, so I was really worried about how I would do since I knew that I wouldn't be in great shape for it.
Here are some highlights from the race:
*The ladies on my team were so great, and it was so nice to get to know them all better. Most of the ladies were from Corvallis, but there was one lady who came up from San Diego.
*My first leg was a 6.5 mile leg running through a trail in Gresham. I surprised myself and did better than I thought in this leg.
*Leg #2 (where my journey ended :(). My next leg was running 7 miles at 3 in the morning in the pitch black forest (except for an occasional runner passing). Yes folks... 3 in the morning. The first 1.5 miles were all uphill (which I suck at hills in general), so I was very happy that the remainder was downhill. With about 2 miles left, a car came towards me with its' brights on. I was running pretty fast down the hill, so with the light and momentum of going down the hill, I totally biffed it down the hill trying to get over to the shoulder as the car passed. I fell and couldn't get up at first. Two ladies passed, and after trying to reassure them that I would be okay, they left me. As I was trying to stand up, Peter from Lake Oswego passed. He asked if he could help, and I tried to reassure him that I was fine, although it was very obvious that I probably wasn't. He told me that if his wife were in this situation, he would hope that someone would help her, and he insisted that he wasn't going to leave me. Then nice old Peter, stayed with me to help me gain my balance, start walking, and eventually run again. After 10 minutes of running with me on a sprained ankle, I insisted that he go ahead of me and finish. Peter from Lake Oswego, seriously saved the day. If he would not have stayed to help distract me from the pain in my ankle, I don't think I would have been able to finish. It is so nice to see that there are Good Samaritan's out there still who care more about helping someone than the race. I was really touched by his kindness.
*So, the end of my second leg ended my hood to coast career (at least for the year). There is no way that I could have run my last leg (the easiest leg... dang it). The ladies on my team all did so well, and I hope that I will be able to do the race again someday!