Portland to Coast - 2008

I participated in the Portland to Coast relay walk with 11 other ladies on August 22 & 23. It was an amazing and exhausting experience. Our goal was to have fun {which we defiantly did - we laughed hard and often} and finish. We found out later that we did better than just finish. Out of 145 teams in our category we finished 49 {the top 1/3 rd}. We didn't place but it was much better than I thought we had done, especially since I was constantly "road kill". Road kill is when you pass someone and I was passed often {I road killed only 4 people on my two legs}. We did have some fast walkers on our team and shaved off an hour and an half of our projected time though. 

Jane and I got up at the crack of dawn, stopped at Starbucks and got coffee {we are the Walking Lattes after all} for van #1 who's start time was 5:45 am with Jennifer being the first walker.

Jane and I then headed back to her house and tried to rest a bit {no such luck} and then met up with the other ladies in van #2 to head out to the area where we would begin our first portion of the walk.

Van #2  {left one is me getting ready to walk my first leg}

Aideen, Jane, & Molly walking their legs

We met up again with van #1 for the second exchange where van 1 would begin walking through the night while we drove to Mist to eat {I am embarrassed to admit I actually ate 2, yes 2, burgers} and get some sleep {yeah, right} and wait for the next exchange to walk our second legs. I think I am being generous if I say any of us got more than two hours of sleep between our accommodations {a Suburban with 6 people in it} the people talking outside and eventually the runners and walkers coming through the exchange.

I had the second to last leg {and second longest leg at 7.29 miles - the .29 part was the killer} and Aimee had the last leg. We all ran across the finish line together and it was an amazing accomplishment and I couldn't have asked for a better group of women to complete it with. After we got our medals {yes, participation medals} and had our pictures taken we headed to the beer garden - however once I sat down in the sun, with only 5 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours - I hit the wall. I was seriously considering curling up in the sand and going to sleep. I lasted a couple of hours {with some head bobs and doing my best impression of being awake} and then we headed to our rented house. I was so tired I just could no longer function and crashed for several hours - I don't think I have ever felt that tired but we are already talking about doing it again next year - SIGN ME UP, I HAD A BLAST!