Hood to Coast Movie

I ran Hood to Coast this past August and I was ecstatic when I found out this movie was coming to theaters. I met up with a couple of my Hood to Coast teammates on Tuesday night to see it & I also dragged Todd along, but luckily he actually seemed to really enjoy it.

This documentary/movie followed 4 teams from the 2008 Hood to Coast Relay. If you aren't familiar with this race, it's a 197 mile 12-person relay that takes you from Mt. Hood to the coast of Oregon over the span of about 30 hours. The 4 teams consisted of a veteran team that had been running as a team for 20+ years, a newbie team who trained by drinking beer & eating pizza, a family & friends team running for a son/husband that had passed away the year before, and an older all-female team who had one of their runners need medical attention during the relay the year before. The stories were inspiring and heartbreaking.

I personally loved the movie because it took me back to my experience just a few months ago....and it made me realize how crazy we were for running it! I was glad Todd was able to see it because it showed him what I went through since I'm sure the stories I told him didn't do it justice. Yes, you're running in the middle of the night along the shoulder of the road with cars & trucks flying by on no sleep and having eaten next to nothing. Yes, I loved every second of it and can't wait to do another relay. I also liked it because, as a veteran of riding in van 1, I never got to see the legs that my teammates in van 2 ran. I had heard about terrible leg 20 that consists of 5 miles uphill on a dusty dirt road but I didn't really understand how painful that leg must have been until I saw it in the movie.

I highly recommend seeing this movie even if you've never done Hood to Coast. It's an amazing experience and this movie proves that anyone can run if you put your mind to it.