Van 1 finished its 1st

Van 1 finished its 1st legs at 1:00 pm, and heading to Annie's for food, shower and rest. Ended up almost 10 min ahead of schedule.

Flashbacks......HORRIBLE flashbacks

Flashbacks......HORRIBLE flashbacks

Really scared

Really scared

I'm still scared

I'm scared

I'm scared

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A Little Beach Time

Doesn't Dave look like a runner? Is it the headband, the water bottle, or the bib number on his chest?
Where did we find this ringer? Jeff was a great addition to our team. He was the Roadkill King!
Michelle made it to the beach in record time...nowhere near the speed of Mickey last year, but probably before everyone expected her. She had to look around for the rest of the team so we could all cross the Finish Line at once.

Michelle's commentary after Van 1 was done...

"It was rough, but I am done!" What the heck were we thinking? "Yeah, I did it, no problem"
"Where are our other van members? We are done and we want to get to the beach and take a shower"

Van 2 First Legs

No need to explain these photos...

The beatiful view of Mt. Hood...as we waited for our start time, we could not remember the pain after our third leg last year...still excited and pumped up...ok we were all dead tired because we only got 5 hours sleep...too late to turn back now!

Finally Posting!

I am finally getting around to updating the blog with my (Michelle) pictures.










The trip down to Portland was pretty fun for us girls. We had some fun and started to prepare for the adventure ahead. A little stop off at Cousin's during fair week! Shonny was Grand Champion with her horse and Michelle is Best in Show with her pig Wilma.

Us at the Finish. We may be the Dade, but we all survived. We had our fair share of adversity and challenge along the way, but everyone dug deep and got it done. We did things for each other that we wouldn't have done for ourselves. That's the best part of Hood to Coast.

In front left to right - Annie, Shondra, Karlene, Raene. In back Greg, Jeff, Dave, Katy, Tracy, Eric, Michelle and Shauna.

So here comes Katy - 5:30-ish Friday afternoon. She puts her happy face on, which seems to confuse Jeff there on the left. It's mid-80's with the sun in her face, so he's thinking it's some kind of stroke.

OK, back out on the course. We're waiting for Katy to come through so we can give her some water when these relay wranglers came through. That horse has got me locked in!

Michelle, Tracy, Jeff and Katy waiting for the start.............Jeff has got a "deer in the headlights" look about him, don't you think?

A common site all along the course - lines to the blue rooms. Because we were in the second start wave the lines were short. Later in the day, and further along the course, the lines became.......a problem.

Revisiting the start at Mt Hood. Here we see Shauna clearly pleased that she is not the one who needs to run down from Timberline.

Annie (formerly known as gravity girl) is off in a flash of light. Van 2 now has 5 hours off while Van 1 covers its second legs. Hmmm, what will we do with the time? Eat, find a shower, try/but fail to sleep? Sure, lets do that!

Double click on this picture to enlarge it - here is Michelle coming in to the exchange with Annie. This is also the Van exchange - Michelle is the last runner in Van 2 and Annie is the first runner in Van 1. Van 2 runners are finishing their first legs, and Van 1 runners are just starting their second legs. Sure it's confusing. Around 7:00 pm Friday evening.

Here is Tracy handing off to Shondra during our (Van 2's) first legs Friday afternoon. You can see Michelle recording the time behind them to the right.

The Grateful Dade were known up and down the course for their precision exchanges. Here Shondra hands off to Katy for her 1st leg. Five-ish Friday afternoon.

Shondra cruzes in at the end of her first leg - around 5:00 Friday afternoon. She came in right on target. Way to go Shondra! Thats Tracy on the left recording her time.

Five miles into his 1st leg Tracy said he felt pretty good (the top picture). 2:30 Friday.

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We made it and all survived with minor injuries :) GREAT JOB TEAM!