Hood To Coast Packet pickup

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..

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.

Photo courtesy of Hood To Coast's facebook page

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.)

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.  

"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".

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.

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?

Race Recap: Helvetia Half Marathon, 10K and Kids' Dash

Race Recap:  Helvetia Half Marathon and 10K and kid's dash. June, 7th, 2014.

It's hard not to compare this race to Hippie Chicks Half, because both are put on by Better Series events, they have the same start and finish line and were 26 days apart.

2,055 racers participated in the half or 10k distance for Helvetia (while 2,287 were at Hippie Chick.  It seemed like the Helvetia Half was a lot smaller, but when looking at the numbers, there isn't a big difference.  Maybe there were less people there for support, like family and friends to cheer?).

There were some vendors offering samples before and after the race and allstate was giving out cowbells...  We got our cowbell.

After the extremely quick bagcheck, I met with some friends before the race for some photos and then off to get Bugaboo and Squeakers ready for the kids' dash.  

Hippie Chick's Kids' dash had us run through the finish gate and off the field and down the sidewalk, (watch out for cars turning into the event parking lot!) and around the corner to who knows where for how long.  Bugaboo had started crying because she was clearly one of the youngest and the racers ahead were all gone.  She didn't want to go anymore and I wasn't going to force her.

I didn't know what to expect at Helvetia.... but I was looking at the kids' dash with trepidation.  At least it was Free?  

We queued up at the finish gate again and this time it was a nice lap around the stadium track.

No traffic.
Cheers from all the people finishing their warm up or hanging out for the race to start.
One lap.

 Bugaboo told me her legs were "too short" when we started, but I told her "Mama is gonna run with you.  I'll stay with you."    And she seemed to ease into her race and have fun instead of worry about not finishing it.

Squeakers was the youngest runner there and refused any help with her race.  She is approaching 20 months in age (very independent)  and she ran the 1/4 mile herself hollering "ZOOOOOM!" and carrying her cowbell.

Apparently people on the sideline cheered "We need more cowbell!" and she'd stop to ring it for them.  It goes without saying that the announcer broadcasted that the kids' dash was over and Squeakers was still out on the course.  She rounded the corner and I screamed and cheered like a proud mama and told the announcer "Here comes my baby!" and he got on the PA for everyone to cheer her in.  She got to the end, got some photos with her sister, awarded her medal and took off for a second lap.  Dad had to reel her back in.

The kids' who participated got a meal voucher for The Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant and a medal.  I was so excited for them and thought about the pride on their faces with their medal during my race.   They got the same medal that I would get when I finished.

A friend of mine ran the 10K and was also thrilled and surprised when she was awarded her medal at the finish line.  The website explains that there are medals for all half marathon finishers.  What a nice treat for all the racers.

Ribbons and mugs were given to the top three male and female finishers in each age group.

The webpage explained that pace groups would be provided by Team Athena, but I looked for a pacer and didn't see any.  (At Hippie Chicks, the Team Athena pacers were easily marked with a sign at the start line with their pace and wearing a helium balloon tied to them while running.)  

The course is hilly, and I admit that I have not been doing hill training like I should be... but I found the course extremely beautiful and the hills were a fun challenge.  The race is billed as one where we "leave the city behind" and we really do.  Hippie Chicks had some pretty farm views and fields of clover, but for Helvetia, we travelled North of Highway 26 and passed the Helvetia Tavern and The Roloff Farm along our route.

  

The half marathoners passed through rolling hills, steep hills, winding roads and back to the Hillsboro Stadium.   We passed by llamas, horses, fields of clover, fields of grass, Christmas tree farms, farms selling produce, a quaint little white church and cemetery, through a shady forest full of ferns and chirping birds...  IT WAS AMAZING!

3rd half and 6th race in 26 days... I finished slow.  But i finished! 

Between the two races, I know where I'd put my money.  Despite there being less pre race vendors and freebies, the race not having pacers or perhaps the post race food being located beyond the gate where alcohol was allowed (thus needing to find a safe place to put my beer to go get my burger)... Better Series went above and beyond to correct the problems that occurred at Hippie Chicks.  They did a great job at more organized and taking care of the issues from Hippie Chicks in the 26 day period.

There was plenty of water and water stations, porta potties were set up prior to the event (instead of during the event), the kids' dash was more realistic and safer (by staying on the stadium track and not crossing the event parking entrance), the post race food was amazing (Helvetia Tavern donated veggie and beef burgers), there was plenty of water after the race and the medals were much better.  I even saw a race photographer at the finish line and a couple out on the course within the first few miles.  

Will you be there next year to "leave the city behind"?  I'm curious, have you ran this event in the past?  How was it different (if at all) from past events?  

Race Review: Hippie Chick Quarter and Half Marathon

For this recap, I'm pleased to share with you not just one runner's review of events... but two!  As you may already know, my co leader for my Moms RUN This Town club is also a guest blogger on here now and then... and I am so proud of her as she not only tackled her first half marathon, but did so with speed and strength! 

We both took on the "Hippie Chick Quarter and Half Marathon" put on by Better Series on Saturday May 10th.

Mariah's first half marathon experience:

On Saturday I ran my first half marathon! It was a long time in coming as I had gotten plantar fasciitis 8 days before what was supposed to be my first half in February. By the time Hippie Chick Half finally rolled around in May, I was chomping at the bit!

I met with Robin and some other friends in our running group for a group pic in the morning.  Then I headed down for some quick warm-up drills and to the start line. There I found my coach, Nikki Rafie, who introduced me to the pacers for the 8:18 pace group and gave me some last minute advice. I wanted to run about 8:12-8:15 so I was planning to ditch them after 4-6 miles. The gun went off and I started thinking they were going kind of fast. My Garmin beeped for mile 1 - 8:03! WTF? My mantra for the first half of the race was "Keep calm, run on" and I started using it at this point. Mile 2 according to Garmin: 8:00. *#$&#*! If I wanted to blow my wad too soon I could have done that on my own!! I was starting to get worried. Mile 3: 8:00. My mantra was no longer effective so I decided to say it with a British accent. There, much better.

Then we start running into a headwind and I was thinking, ok, if we're going to run this fast I will try to draft off of the pace group leaders. Unfortunately, they're all so petite that's just not happening. They are from Team Athena, but I was the only Athena in sight. Plus their balloons kept bonking me on the head. Abort mission. At least we slowed down to around 8:05 with the headwind. 

We turned in a direction I was not expecting to go. I had told my hubs and everyone else who was cheer-leading when to be where based on the course that was posted on their site, which they did in reverse. My husband was supposed to hand me a bottle of Cocogo at mile 8 since I can't tolerate gels or most sports drinks, but no Cocogo for me. *Sigh*. Keep calm, run on.

Miles ticked off around 8:04-8:08 as we hit some small hills. About mile 7, Nikki popped out of nowhere and paced me for about a mile. We sped up a bit, because well, you don't run slow in Nikki Rafie's presence. Beep: 7:59!! Nikki made a comment about us being ahead of schedule. The pacers asked if I want to slow down. "No!" I shouted emphatically, then I thought "Did I just say that?" At the 9.3 mark I looked at my Garmin and saw that I hit a 15K PR. I wasn't sure whether to be excited or very, very afraid so I was both. At the 10 mile mark we were down to only 2 racers and 3 pacers hanging with the group, so the pacers said we could split up and go at whatever pace we wanted. I turned on the full and absolute beast mode and pulled slightly ahead with my 2 personal pacers the rest of the race. At the 11 mile mark I asked one of them to tell me a joke. She told me a story about a friend who ran a marathon and thought she was eating Gu, but instead she ate Vasoline. That distracted me for 30 seconds and then I got back to being miserable.

Next thing I know it's mile 12 and there is a friend of mine with her cowbell! I was thinking "Draw energy from the bell" and then tried to keep thinking of the bell but then all I could think about was how many minutes until I could stop running. And then I started counting breaths and going through my various mantras. There was the finish line! I beat my husband and daughter there by about a minute. I had no fuel but a few sips of Nuun and water but I seemed to do ok with that. My official time was 1:47:09 which came out to 8:10 per mile. My Garmin said I ran 13.27 at 8:04 avg. Apparently I was weaving a lot.

I found my family and got some food, and then I had the chance to see Robin cross the finish with MaryAlicia, right on her stretch goal pace!

After the race I enjoyed the food but I had a hard time finding water. Every station seemed to have only Nuun, so I ended up getting water from the bathroom sink. It reminded me of a scene from Idiocracy. "Water? Like out the toilet?"

Mariah at the finish!  (photo credit to her lovely husband)

My take on the event and festivities:

I was under trained and dehydrated from being sick earlier in the week but neglect to mention those things as I my friend Maryalicia (from Run Oregon) who had generously agreed to pace me for this race.  :)  I have always been too slow to be in a race where a pacing group was available for my race pace.

I had ran "Run Like Hell" in October with a 2:38 finishing time and wanted to go for a 2:30 this time.  :)

Let me just say, that if you haven't heard of or tried the Galloway Method, you have got to give it a try!  She set her timer for intervals of running for 30 seconds and walking for 15 seconds.  It took some getting used to, but before the race was done, I was certainly looking forward to those walk breaks (which really aren't a break... I was busting my butt to move forward towards the finish!).

We picked up a couple people along the route and they joined us too for a bit on our adventures with run/walk intervals.  I have to tell you though, when you are going to start walking, get to the right so faster people can pass on the left and watch behind you so that you don't cause an accident of people running into you when you suddenly stop running and move to a walk.  We would raise a hand in the air and shout "walking now!"

We skipped the long lines at the porta potties and queued up for the race.  Before I knew it, we were off and running!  Weeee!  (okay.  Maybe I should have gone and risked a later start time?)

There was a porta potty at the first aid station, but the line was already way too long.  "That's okay"  I told myself... "I probably really don't have to go anyway. Just running nerves..."

I packed my Nathan QuickShot  for the race, but planned to rely on the ample water stations the race webpage had described on the course.

The first aid station, the volunteers had the water in large bowls and they were dipping the cups into the bowls... getting their ungloved hands into the water!!!  EWWW!

The marshy, farm land smell did not help my gag reflex on that one.  

Keep moving forward.  We passed a couple more water stations and I tried to ignore if there were pitchers, bowls of water or large coolers.... I just needed to stay hydrated.

By mile 5 there is no denying I need to pee.  Next port a potty, I'm getting in line.  

Where are the porta potties?

The next aid station around mile 7 is just getting a truck load of porta potties dropped off!  If we had been any faster, we would have missed them and had to wait until the finish line.  The speedy racers missed out if they had to go...

Likewise, those of us with an 8 minute mile pace or greater had no water at the next station.  Mile 8 was out of water.

The volunteers up and left their station and the resident who owned the farm behind the aid station had come out with a water cooler on the back of one of his vehicles.  We grabbed a dixie cup and got in line as he filled our cups and I thanked him profusely.

That hiccup aside, the course was very beautiful, a few slight hills and lots of people to cheer and be cheered by!  i loved that aspect of it.

If there was one thing I could change, it would be that at the finish through the parking lot to get to the finishing gate, there are too many zigs-and-zags.  It isn't a straight shot from the road and into the stadium track.  I had to dig deep to finish and I could hear in Maryalicia's voice that her encouragement "Almost there!"  also was saying "It's just about 2:30:00 now... can you dig any deeper?"

Then, running all out, as hard as I can, I have to also slow to turn and weave through the parking lot and the curbs.  GAH!  But....   digging as deep as I can and asking Maryalicia to drag me to the finish if i should fall over and try to die....

photo credit: Mariah's lovely husband with his super neato camera

I made it through the finish line!!  Maryalicia warned me not to get discouraged when I saw the clock... "Gun Time" I mumbled between gasps of air.  But when I approached the timing pads on the ground, my heart leapt as I saw the time read 2:30:00.... the next timing pad was sooooooo far away...... MILES!  Would i get to it in the next 60 seconds?

Logic would have reminded me that this was the gun time and that anything under 2:38:00 was a PR, but I was illogical at that point.  I made it!  Official chip time is 2:29:45!!

Our finisher's medals are a bit on the underwhelming side, but the event is geared towards ladies (men can register but their times and results are not tracked and they are not offered any awards.) and so being geared towards the female population, the race gave out necklaces with a 1 1/4 inch charm (including the hoop) and approx 1/4 inch wide.

I don't know if I'm being a spoiled brat, but for pushing so dang hard to cross that finish line, I wanted some bling!!  If the bling is so tiny, it had better at least be silver plated.  This is not.  oh well.  

From a male spectator point of view, the husband had a lot of fun with the kiddos as they waited for mommy to finish.  A clown provided entertainment and kids who were in the kids' dash could partake in the pancake breakfast that was also available for the finishers for the quarter and half.

Bathrooms were all converted to women's restrooms except one small men's room outside of the stadium.  The husband found this terribly inconvenient as he needed to change a diaper while I was out on the run.  And there wasn't a changing table in there anyway once he got in there.   So, making the event a little more "dad friendly" would have been nice for a women's event held on mother's day weekend.  All in all, the kids had fun.  I ate my pancakes and drank half my free beer before the kiddos kicked it over as i got my free massage.  I enjoyed myself and am over the moon with my PR, running with my friend and future Hood To Coast team mate and making new friends out on the course.  (This event happens to be hosted by the same company who puts on Hood To Coast.)

 Would I do it again?  likely not.  The event is a little pricy for the overall experience.  But I am so glad I got the experience to do this and owe my amazing PR to Maryalicia and her experience and advice on my (lacking) running form and showing me the ropes with the run/walk method.

Thanks Maryalicia!!