I underestimated how difficult it would be to prepare for Hood to Coast this year. However, I made a commitment to my team and I had been looking forward to HTC for 10 months now so regardless of how prepared I did or didn't feel, I wasn't about the throw in the towel!
The days leading up to HTC, I was pretty emotional. It would be the first time I would spend an entire night away from Hanley. Even though it was going to be hard, I knew it was a good thing for everyone. My night away taught me that Hanley can survive without me and it gave him and Cody a chance to spend some special one-on-one time together.
This year, I didn't make any "rookie" mistakes like I did when I ran HTC 2011. I stretched out and re-hydrated properly after each run. It made a world of a difference and I felt great! I remember being so sore last time, I felt like I couldn't walk for 2 days. After my 17 miles this year, I didn't really feel sore at all. Heck, I was about to go for a run the next day!
I had the extra challenge of pumping in the van every 4 hours. Bless my teammates for being so easy going about it and letting me hog so much space in the cooler!
We got less than 2 hours of "sleep" during the second major exchanges. By "sleep" I mean laying in a wet, lumpy field as it rained on us at 2am. Despite the lack of sleep, I felt good running my 3rd leg. I guess motherhood has prepared me well to function off little to no sleep!
Since I was in Van 1, we finished early and headed to Astoria for lunch. After a 36 hour diet of Cliff bars, PB & J sandwiches, water and chocolate milk... a REAL lunch sounded amazing! After lunch we did some sight seeing. Since Whitney flew in from Texas for HTC the team decided to show her around Astoria. We checked out The Goonies house and the school from Kindergarten Cop then made our way to Seaside to run across the finish line as a team!
When I got home, I jumped out of Tyler's truck and RAN across the street and up the driveway to hug my little man. I missed him so much that tears started rolling down my cheeks.
It turns out Cody is one heck of a Mr. Mom! I came home to a happy little man who slept through the night for Daddy and had another tooth!
I was happy to be home with both my boys but really enjoyed doing something just for myself.
Thanks Team SWIWS for another great year!
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| Van 1 at Timberline: Me, Courtney, Nicole, Whitney, Tyler, Cord |
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