This weekend I ran about 18 miles, slept no more than five hours, and drank several warm, neon-colored Gatorades. I also used more port-o-potties in the span of 24 hours than anyone should have to use in an entire year. Alas, I was not even close to the only person behaving in such strange, seemingly unhealthy ways this weekend. In fact, close to 12,000 other runners were doing the very same thing as me, because those things are part of what makes Hood to Coast “The Mother of All Relays.”
The 28-year-old long distance relay race starts at Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood, and by way of 12-person teams, runners travel 197 miles to Seaside, Oregon, where the finish line waits on the beach itself. Each team has two vans, each carrying six runners who are assigned to a set of three runs (legs) along the stretch. Each individual leg can be anywhere from about three miles to just over seven, and the time between legs is usually close to 8 hours, depending on how collectively fast a team is. While one runner does their leg, the rest of the team follows along in the van, meeting the runner at the following exchange, where the baton (a slap-on bracelet of sorts) is passed. Most teams take an average of 30 hours to complete the race, and each runner ends up logging about 15 to 18 miles of total running distance by the end.
But the real fun of the race is obviously not just in the running… It’s in the fact that for the weekend, no one (except the elite runners) takes themselves seriously. People wear ridiculous costumes, paint and write all over giant vans, and drink endless energy drinks, and, yes, sometimes even beer and/or tequila. So despite the excessive running necessary to complete the race, the reason most people want to do Hood to Coast is so that they can see what it’s like to participate in weekend full of madness, lack of sleep and seriously strange characters. I mean, put a bunch of crazy runners together for the longest relay race in the world, and you’re bound to have a fun, bizarre time!
