Hood to Coast. It's AWESOME.

I mentioned in a previous post that I was going to see the movie "Hood to Coast," a film that documents several teams' experiences running the almost 200 mile relay race that runs from Portland's Mt. Hood down to the coast.

I am suppressing the urge here to type in all caps because I am so excited about how fun and inspiring this movie was! I loved following the people running this amazing relay. There were veterans, elites, casual runners all the way down to people who had NO idea what they were getting into. Young people, old people, ridiculously fit people and ridiculously unfit people. There was Kathy, with 75 marathons under her belt , who had a heart attack during her last attempt to run the relay and came back for another try after triple bypass surgery. In one scene, she brings her cardiologist the elevation and description of the legs she wants to run. He looks at her and says, "I don't know what you're smoking, but you're NOT running leg one." Of course, she does. Then there was Rachel, a casual runner who believes it's better not too train to much and isn't sure what they do for bathroom breaks during a race. She's certain they wouldn't have people running at midnight and then ends up running one of the toughest legs of the race at 1:30 in the morning. When she's done she can't stop saying how awesome it was.

For those unfamiliar with the Hood to Coast Relay, you basically gather a team of 12 runners who each run three legs of the race. The legs vary in difficulty and length and continue all day, all night and into the second day until your team finally reaches the finish line at the beach. After seeing the movie, I TOTALLY WANT TO DO IT! (Sorry. I tried to suppress the urge to scream with adrenaline-filled enthusiasm, but I can't even type quietly about it.) Apparently, it sells out yearly and entry is through a random drawing, so just getting in might be a challenge. It's on the bucket list, though. For sure. And while I have some running down time, it gives me something exciting to dream about. Check out the Hood to Coast and other relays like it. You might want to put one on your bucket list, too!