Oh Hood to Coast, how I love to hate you. I really have mixed feelings about Hood to Coast, but Susan loves it so being a good friend and running partner I agreed to do it again this year. Besides running on the road, getting no sleeping, sitting in traffic jams and inhaling exhaust, Hood to Coast is awesome! Seriously the thing I really love about Hood to Coast is getting to be part of an awesome team of your friends and family and all sharing the running experience together. Unfortunately vans 1 and 2 don't get to spend a lot of time together, so make sure you get all the good people in your van. ;)
I started to get anxious about not sleeping and being in charge of the van a week before Hood to Coast, so to help my anxiety I created daily memes and posted them on Facebook.
I was in van 2 this year, the previous time I was in van 1. I prefer van 2 because you get to run on more back roads, van 1 you run more on Highway 26 and 30.
Everyone in our van got along great, Rick even serenaded us! Sally switched a leg with Rick when his calf started to hurt, she traded my longer leg with me when my stomach got upset. I traded my dad's "hilly" leg with him, since I love hills and he doesn't. I know this is against the rules, but I thought it was awesome as a team we were able to make adjustments to make sure everyone was comfortable with what they were running.
Running on the roads isn't too bad when you average an 8:20 pace.
Maybe next year I can convince Susan to do the Cascade Lakes Relay , if not we better be in the same Hood to Coast van.
Me and Rick in front of the Honey Buckets - Our team name is Honey Bucks and Buckettes
Relay hand off with Dad
Susan and Melinda doing a hand off. A rare moment between van 1 and van 2.
Well hello there — is anyone still reading this thing? Despite not really blogging at all in the last two years, we are still running and having lots of adventures. And, unsurprisingly, a lot has happened in that time. Torres del Paine Susan got divorced, is solo parenting, adopted a few new cats, lost her job at Nike, and is leaning into some much-needed “me” time. We sold our house in Portland and moved to Bellingham in February (2025). I quit my very stable job and joined a startup. I had a birthday and officially aged into a new race category. I also started outrigger canoeing. Susan, Cedar, and I also welcomed a few more humans and dogs into our pack — Billy (dog), his human Rachael, Miriam, and Kellen. How we all met and became friends definitely deserves its own blog post. To keep this post to something I might actually finish, I’m going to stick to monthly highlights from 2025. And without further ado… January My sister Courtney, Susan, and I traveled to Chile and Argentina...
Mt. Baker Back in Portland, I never ran races on Forest Park trails. Why would I pay to run trails I already ran every day? Plus, I had plenty of running friends to explore with. Bellingham is different. I moved here in February 2025, and I'm still figuring out the trails. And I don't really have running friends yet. So when I saw the Galbraith Mountain Trail Series — three races on the 2nd Saturday of November, December, and January — I thought: maybe this is how I do both. Learn the trails AND meet people. Due to my schedule, I was able to partake in the last race in the series. I picked the long course: 15.6 miles, about 2,600 feet of climbing (according to my Strava ). Classic PNW winter conditions — cloudy, 43 degrees, muddy. Me at the start The long race was tiny, maybe 15-20 people. Most of them took off at the start, and I never saw them again. Things spread out fast. So I didn't really get a chance to chat with anyone during the race, but honestly? It was nice to...
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