Yesterday (July 26th, 2014) was packet pickup for all local teams for "The Mother Of All Relays". This is my first year running Hood To Coast and my unlucky team mates get me as a team captain. (You might recall I won a contest... on my birthday no less... to get into the elusive, lottery based race.)
I am a sucker for packet pick ups for races. Some are just go in, look up your name and number and walk out with your bib.... others are a big festival of an event.
Packet pickup was in the open sun at Providence Park. As you can see, this is right at a MAX stop so no need to locate a spot to park.
Once I made my way into the park, I was greeted by a volunteer ticking people on a counter and handed a pack of ten blue drawstring bags.
My 11th bag was at a table full of puffed corn goodies..
Once I made my way into the park, I was greeted by a volunteer ticking people on a counter and handed a pack of ten blue drawstring bags.
My 11th bag was at a table full of puffed corn goodies..
Photo courtesy of Hood To Coast's facebook page
And the 12th bag to complete my set for all 12 team mates was at the check in point to claim my team handbooks and official race shirts.
Team "Heart N Sole" checked in runners and gave us our handbooks and bag of shirts.
(You should know them if you watched the movie documentary "Hood To Coast". It is worth a watch! Very fun, funny and heart wrenching too. I think I'll go watch it, again.)
If you watch the one minute intro to the team below, the lady who puts on the dragon temporary tattoo was the friendly volunteer who helped me with my packet. (0:56 mark below... but watch the whole thing... it's so cute.)
(You should know them if you watched the movie documentary "Hood To Coast". It is worth a watch! Very fun, funny and heart wrenching too. I think I'll go watch it, again.)
If you watch the one minute intro to the team below, the lady who puts on the dragon temporary tattoo was the friendly volunteer who helped me with my packet. (0:56 mark below... but watch the whole thing... it's so cute.)
She pulled up my team name:
Robin From The Hood and Her Coastal Van of Misfits
And she was really excited about it.... which made me happy about it because I'm not too sure that everyone on my team loves it. Ha! She even called to Cathy and Linda "This is Robin. Captain of 'Robin From The Hood and Her Coastal Van of Misfits'! Isn't that cute? You need misfit names." I felt like a star to have these movie starts fawning over the team name. ;)
We better get on that. With my heel striking, can I be "Monster Stomper" besides "Robin From The Hood" ?
After that adventure, I sorted out sizes of the shirts given to be compared to the sizes written on my team roster. There were a couple mistakes that were no big deal.... easy to exchange, but it was made harder by two people walking by and trying to walk off with some of my shirts.
We better get on that. With my heel striking, can I be "Monster Stomper" besides "Robin From The Hood" ?
After that adventure, I sorted out sizes of the shirts given to be compared to the sizes written on my team roster. There were a couple mistakes that were no big deal.... easy to exchange, but it was made harder by two people walking by and trying to walk off with some of my shirts.
"Excuse me. These are mine. For MY team."
"Well then. How am I supposed to get shirts for my volunteers?"
Maybe by not stealing and asking? I decided to check. Shirts would be fun for volunteers who work so hard for the team. If a local team does not provide 3 volunteers for race support that team will be disqualified and finisher medals withheld.
Social media is already exploding with pleas of help to get volunteers. I want mine to feel extra special and know how important they are!
No dice. No shirts for volunteers. Well, I guess I know why people were trying to steal mine as I laid them out and organized by size to see who was missing which shirt.
Then I ran into a friend I made on my first (awful) half marathon! It was so good to see you, Karen!
We got in line and I claimed my free beers and headed with her to the "Team Captain's Meeting".
"Well then. How am I supposed to get shirts for my volunteers?"
Maybe by not stealing and asking? I decided to check. Shirts would be fun for volunteers who work so hard for the team. If a local team does not provide 3 volunteers for race support that team will be disqualified and finisher medals withheld.
Social media is already exploding with pleas of help to get volunteers. I want mine to feel extra special and know how important they are!
No dice. No shirts for volunteers. Well, I guess I know why people were trying to steal mine as I laid them out and organized by size to see who was missing which shirt.
Then I ran into a friend I made on my first (awful) half marathon! It was so good to see you, Karen!
We got in line and I claimed my free beers and headed with her to the "Team Captain's Meeting".
Bob Foote started the meeting with explaining a new way they are seeding teams this year and then introduced his daughter who is the race committee President.
After logistics and rules were discussed, a state trooper was giving us information about traffic laws and construction zones when he closed with sharing about how many years ago... his team was seeded too late and his team CHEATED (!) in order to finish in time... They finished in 20 hours, and he said that in a way that suggested that cheating still didn't help his team much. I was laughing because Bob didn't look overly amused at his colleague to admit this to a bunch of team captains... but it was really amusing to me that 20 hours was a big deal somehow, like it was still a very long time... I'm slotted to finish in 33 1/2 hours!
Then a Providence Team member stood up and spoke about her team and the fundraising efforts Hood To Coast now does with Providence and cancer research.... and she felt the need to share how her team had cheated.
Now it was feeling like an awkward confession time or "pick on Bob Foote" time for the way he seeds his teams and wave times.
It will be interesting to see how the new seeding program works. I'm thrilled to have a start time of 7:45am. i can't imagine the difficulty of trying to sort out teams, their paces the after party and the congestion between the start and finish. That alone has to be a full time job between race dates.
After logistics and rules were discussed, a state trooper was giving us information about traffic laws and construction zones when he closed with sharing about how many years ago... his team was seeded too late and his team CHEATED (!) in order to finish in time... They finished in 20 hours, and he said that in a way that suggested that cheating still didn't help his team much. I was laughing because Bob didn't look overly amused at his colleague to admit this to a bunch of team captains... but it was really amusing to me that 20 hours was a big deal somehow, like it was still a very long time... I'm slotted to finish in 33 1/2 hours!
Then a Providence Team member stood up and spoke about her team and the fundraising efforts Hood To Coast now does with Providence and cancer research.... and she felt the need to share how her team had cheated.
Now it was feeling like an awkward confession time or "pick on Bob Foote" time for the way he seeds his teams and wave times.
It will be interesting to see how the new seeding program works. I'm thrilled to have a start time of 7:45am. i can't imagine the difficulty of trying to sort out teams, their paces the after party and the congestion between the start and finish. That alone has to be a full time job between race dates.
I am so so so very excited and looking forward to this adventure with some good friends, new friends and friends i need to get to know better....
Our race shirts!
Here's the official 2014 race shirt! My initial reaction was love, but it also has a bit of a quirky quality to the design. I don't care what others think of it, I think I'll wear it everyday. :) It's pretty comfy too! (But word to the wise, "woman's fitted" tends to run a smidge on the "small side". Not sure about the unisex cut, but my shirt still fits if not as loose as I was hoping. That's okay.)
I'm getting some funny comments from team mates about the race shirt design. It's funny the things they are coming up with to describe it... maybe a dash of 70's vintage with some holiday sweater. It was pointed out that the chevron design on the bottom was supposed to be the ocean. i didn't know that. Oops.
What do you think of it?
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