2012 Hood to Coast Relay Race

 Here I am as the sun began rising. We arrived in the middle of the night at 0 dark 30, but there was plenty of action to keep us awake.

 I am giving this runner the good news that the exchange point is just around the corner and her leg would be over. Below is the Nehalem  River that was right behind where we were standing.

We got up at 0200 this morning so we could report to our volunteer spot on the route of the Hood to Coast relay race.  The race begins at Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood and winds through 199 miles of countryside until it reaches the finish line on the beach in Seaside Oregon. Teams are made up of 12 people who split up into 2  vans and everyone runs about 4  legs of up to 8 miles each. Legs are not all equal; some are quite difficult like the legs that run down Mt. Hood!  Each team must put 3 volunteers on the course in order to be eligible to run, and could be disqualified if your volunteers don't show up for duty. The race begins on Friday morning and ends on Sunday afternoon. There is also a walking relay that begins in Portland and ends on the beach in Seaside. We were stationed at the Natal Grange outside of Mist Oregon at exchange 23(Out of 35). Our job was to direct the runners and vans to the exchange which was about  200 meters down the road.  It was cold and misty near Mist, and I found that I wished I had been smart enough to bring gloves. We had our flashlights, coffee and snacks as there was no breaks for 4 hours until our replacements arrived.  We were representing team #100 called It's All Downhill....on average; made up of employees of the Oregon State Employment Department. This is the 15th year that Martin has volunteered for the race and the second time in 8 years that he and I were at this exchange.