| Portland to Coast 1998 | |
The Hip Hippity Hoppers bettered their time on the 8th annual 126 mile Portland to Coast Relay by an hour this year. The faces change, but the spirit of fun remains the same. This year we came in a little higher up the list of 400 walking teams, but at the 32 hrs 12 minutes rate we are DEFINITELY just walking for fun, not to beat the pack. The Hood to Coast Run/Portland to Coast Walk is the largest relay in the world and the longest major relay in North America. There are 18,000 participants and 4000 volunteers, with at least 3000 vans and vehicles traveling tiny country mountain roads to support the racers.
Teams are made of up to 12 walkers and usually split between two vanloads (unless you have a giant van). The team must walk in order and complete 24 designated legs of 3.9 - 7.1 miles. The walk starts at Delta Park in north Portland and ends 126 miles later in Seaside, Oregon among a crowd of 64,000 cheering and tired folks. The walk is a sister event of the Hood to Coast run, which begins at Timberline Lodge at Mt. Hood and ends at Seaside.
You call THAT a VAN?
Our team was organized by Cleo with VA Medical Center
employees, family, and friends. Not having any vans that we owned, we rented.
Our "vans" turned out to be Lincoln Navigator SUVs, luxurious to say the least
but with zero cargo room when loaded with six walkers. As the only registered
driver of our vehicle, I had the pleasure of driving it and must say it was wonderful -
and I don't normally like driving a big car. I love my own Subaru Legacy wagon, but it
won't carry six walkers.
Friday dawned warm and sunny. Our Hip Hippity
Hopper Van 1 got an early start time at 5:20 am. Teams have staggered start times
from 5 am - 9 am to reduce congestion on the route, which is along highways and backroads
open to vehicle traffic. I was in Van 2, and we loaded up at 10 am. Our van
included:
Jim: a walker who called me earlier in the year looking for a mens master team to join.
Instead, he became the only man on our team.
Denise: A nurse practioner at the VA.
Kathy: A walker who saw me at a walk in July and wondered if I knew a team she could
join. We had a dropout and we welcomed her.
Dawn and DeeAnn: Sisters and VA employees.
Everyone was efficient in loading the van and of good cheer throughout the next two days.
Really a great bunch, especially since most of us had either just met or had only
limited acquaintance beforehand. I was the only Portland to Coast veteran.
Our Van 1 made excellent progress and ended their set of 6 legs two hours ahead of schedule. We were ready and waiting at the van exchange point in St. Helens, after having a "real lunch" at the Burgerville USA in St. Helens, using the coupons they gave to all participants. This was to be our last meal for over 24 hours. Renting the Lincoln Navigators turned out to be a blessing, since Van 1 was easy to spot among the sea of vans at the exchange.
Strategy and Tactics
My van policy for monitoring the walkers is to check on
them the first mile and then every two miles unless they want to be monitored more
closely. It is difficult in many areas to find a place to pull over - completely off
the pavement with all four wheels according to the rules. And when you do see one
there are already several vans there! Our legs were all on tiny two-lane country roads, with some gravel. We
checked with Jim who walked the first leg - lots of uphill, and gave him water, then would
pull ahead a couple of miles to check again. He did great. Denise and Dawn
walked the next two legs, the road turning to gravel. They had it tougher - loose
gravel plus the dust from the passing vans. There was very, very little traffic
other than the 400 vans for the walkers - but that is enough!!!!
Exchange points for the walkers require some strategy. Whereas during the legs done by Van 1 in the morning there is plenty of parking, once you get into the Coast Range they are simply wide spots along the road with minimal parking for the number of vans involved. This year the organizers had a portapotty at the exchange JUST for the walkers waiting to start, then a group of portapotties for everybody else. That was a big help. Teams are disqualified if they use Nature rather than portapotties. We would often have to park the van 1/8 to 1/4 mile from the exchange. The potties usually had waterless handsoap and all still had toilet paper - a big plus for the walkers. By the time the runner came by hours later, I'm sure it was gone! Teams also carry all of their own water and provisions.
This area is in the mountains and is generally forest, most of it in private or corporate hands and used to produce lumber. It is beautiful and peaceful when not disturbed by 1400 vans (400 walking teams and 1000 running teams). The locals generally do not enjoy the event coming through, but the organizers work hard each year to make it happen.
Kathy got the break of the road being paved, but she had some definite uphill. We were now about an hour ahead of schedule, three hours ahead total. The day was hot - around 85, but now we were in the coast range surrounded by trees and there was a cool breeze.
Walkin' Wendy!
I had the fifth leg for our van, and it was a great one
- paved and most of it with a slight downhill slope. I employed my semi-racewalk
technique and huffed and puffed throughout the 6 miles. I put in 13 minute miles
overall. I was hoping for faster, but I guess I need to work on the technique.
I did pass several other walkers and kept up with the only gal who passed me. It was
twilight as I passed off the DeeAnn. Denise walked with her for encouragement and to
stretch out her own legs. We were unable to raise Van 1 on the cell phone to tell
them we were coming in, ahead of schedule. This is typical for Portland to Coast due
to the mountains.
The Hunt for Red Navigator
We dropped Kathy off at the van exchange point to hunt
for Van 1, and went back to keep tabs on our walkers. We gave water and
encouragement and prayed somebody would be there to make the exchange. The exchange
point is in Mist, Oregon, a tiny logging community. Imagine 800 vans parked in your
one-street town - for the walkers. Imagine 2000 vans for the runners the next
morning. Now imagine looking for ONE van among those 800......
When DeeAnn had about a mile left, we pulled into the van exchange area and parked, then went in search of Van 1, Kathy, Denise and DeeAnn. We found them!!! We traded Cleo the timesheet, gave her our extra lighted sashes and well wishes, and made a date to meet in the morning. We finished our legs around 10:30 pm, then drove up Hwy 47 to Hwy 30 and then down 101 to Seaside. We picked up the key for our hotel room from our volunteers who had already checked in.
Showers! Beds!
Each team must provide three volunteers, who are
assigned jobs at the exchange points, start/finish, etc. They get to do lots of
traffic direction and other jobs - although they may pull a shift at 2 am in the middle of
the coast range. We give our volunteers a free room at Seaside for the weekend, and
rent two others for the team. Teams are disqualified if their volunteers don't show
up.
We had to be up at 4 am to get back to the second van exchange point. It was a joy to take a shower, but sleep was difficult. The others complained of the footsteps overhead and a whining dog. I had aches and pains and didn't take any ibuprofen soon enough, and being tense it was hard to drift off to sleep. We all agreed that a few hours, clean and in a real bed, was worth the extra drive though, even if we didn't get much real sleep. The alternative is parking somewhere and risking other vans squishing you if you sleep outside, or the cramped and now-smelly quarters inside the van for six people.
Up Again at O-Dark-Thirty
It's a REAL credit than none of the vanmates complained
about getting up at 3:30 am to get back into the van. We drove to Odell and decided
to see what was brewing at the Odell store. It turned out to be good coffee, and
most of us bought a burrito and heated it in the microwave as breakfast. The store
proprieters were in good spirits - they were used to serving hunters and fisherpeople
early in the morning. Us crazy walkers were fine by them. They had
portapotties outside and we used them - with NO LINE! We thanked them lots and
headed to the exchange point.
Still unable to raise Van 1 by phone, all we could do in the dark was pray we were in time for the exchange. We dropped off Jim and told him to just wait at the exchange line. Then we looked through the exchange for their van - a horribly congested area. Didn't see them, so went back down the road. There was no room on the road for vans going both directions, plus the walkers, plus the vans parked alongside the road. It was an accident waiting to happen. I think they shouldn't let people park along that stretch next year.
We pulled up ahead a mile or so where there was a portapotty and just waited. In less than half an hour, Jim and Van 1 came by! Hooray! We traded hotel key and timesheet with Van 1 and told them to see us at the finish in 8 hours. They said to call when our last leg was started. Now the terrain was coastal rainforest as we headed south towards Seaside. We finished the previous night in good shape - a few blisters and hot spots but nothing that prevented good walking. And so the second set of legs went well also, except for the traffic congestion.
Drive it or Park It!!!!
As we approached exchanges now, the backup could be over a
mile long getting through. Runners began to come through, although this
year the Portland to Coast Run was eliminated except for 42 high school teams.
I think that helped relieve the congestion a bit. Last year we were at the
back of the pack since we had a late start and we were a slow team. This
time we seemed to be right in there with many walkers. I think it also
ensured that walkers actually WALKED, since they couldn't pretend they were
runners.
My leg was 6.7 miles on a private logging road. It was flat and half paved, half gravel-over-pavement. It was a great surface and perfect for speed, but I kept right at those 13 minute miles. I passed a few people and was passed by a couple, including a very fast racewalker. Finally in the last mile I was passed by the first Hood to Coast Runner, who was preceeded by a pace car. This was the first year Nike didn't field the elite Mambu Baddu team, so an Adidas team made up of Bucknell University alums won the event. The Nike Limp Swooshes were their top placing running team. Because the vans couldn't support their walkers on this stretch, I carried water but actually got enough at the two water stops provided along the way.
Victory on the Beach
DeeAnn took the wristwrap for the final leg, uphill,
then steeply down, then through town, over a shaky temporary pedestrian bridge across Hwy
101, to finish on the sandy beach. We tried calling Van 1 and finally found
them by calling the hotel room. We told them to get on down to the beach. They
ran into the traffic-jam-and-no-parking problem. We found a spot about 10 blocks
from the beach and made it down to the beach ahead of DeeAnn. Unfortunately, Van 1
was five minutes late, so only six of us walked in together through the finish line.
I realized we had left the timesheet back in the van, so I got to stretch my
muscles and walk back there to retrieve it so we could officially finish.
We all had a drink in the beergarden. I had a cola since I was still the driver and couldn't afford to buy the Navigator! We shopped through the trinket booth and then headed to the hotel to clean up, rest, and go for dinner later. We skipped my favorite parts - listening to the other teams' names and seeing their costumes at the finish, then dancing to Johnny Limbo and the Lugnuts and other bands. But the cloud cover kept things cool and my vanmates were tired, so no problem.
We Be Winners
Among the walking teams, the first place finishers were
Caminata USA Racewalking Northwest, including champion Ian Whatley who walked a 7:13
minute mile pace. They broke the walking team record by 42 minutes at 20:08:26.
That's overall 9:35 minute miles. Near the top I also see Team Wolfpack,
organized by some of my walking friends. There were four breast cancer survivor
teams walking, including one captained by a member of my Tough Trail Trompers club.
I saw many walking friends along the route and said Hi to them. Our overall team
pace was 15:19 miles. Best of all, everybody on our team could still walk the next
day, and we all felt the personal triumph of having made it. Thanks to Cleo and the
volunteers for making it possible.
Everyone is a winner on the Portland to Coast. Everybody gets a medal, with no big prizes - the top six teams per category are recognized at the awards ceremony. The other walkers and runners are very supportive. It is an experience that becomes addicting - the fun and effort and camaraderie, and being cheered on the beach by a huge crowd.
Portland to Coast Official site.
1999 Portland to Coast with Team http://walking.about.com
