Hood to Coast 2008: We Need a Mama Runner!

UPDATE: Thanks to Merry for responding to our plea.  We have found our 12th teammate!

We're down to the wire, excited and thrilled about running for our third Hood to Coast. Maybe you've read about our previous exploits from years one and two. Maybe you are still holding on to hope of joining a team this late in the game, since inevitably something happens that disrupts the best of well-laid plans.  Well, something last minute has happened to one of our teammates who will will dearly miss running with us this year!  We are sad, and now we are scrambling for our 12th teammate.  Are you interested?  Can you make the 8:30 am start time?  Are you interested in running Leg 4 (7.18mi running around noon on Friday near Zig Zag), Leg 16 (3.53mi running around 10:30pm Friday on Highway 30), and Leg 28 (4.19mi around 8:40 am on Saturday toward the coastal range)?  Send us an email at urbanmamas@gmail.com. 

HTC Recap: No Rest for the Weary

Just as I was preparing to upload a photoblog of our Hood to Coast progress during our rest stop, we got a call from Van 2.  Tracy's scheduled to arrive in 50 minutes.  Wait.  Say that again?  5-0 minutes.  Van 1 rushed around Shetha's in-laws house, gathered up most of our belongings and hit the road.  Darn.  No live updates!  Oh well.  I'm sure you're all tired of our HTC talk anyway.  But it would be a let down to not give you a peak of how it turned out.

At 12:15 pm on Friday afternoon, we are at Timberline, ready and anxious to start.  Here is half of our lovely, mama team:

We grooved to the music and cheered on the runners:

**Edited to add** Here is the mama behind the camera who also ran her patootie off, and did so in style:

Supporting our fellow mamas who pushed hard, and ran strong.  Olivia was especially fleet of foot averaging 7:15 on one of her legs.  She truly was inspirational:

We overcame odds.  Like running during the early stages of pregnancy:

Or recovering 6 weeks post-partum:

We ran in the most stunning terrain:

29 hours 56 minutes and 43 seconds later (with an average team pace of 9:07), we finished at Seaside:

We beat last year's time by over an hour.  We were ecstatic about exceeding our personal goals, and reveled in the experience.  Keep on running mamas, we cannot wait for next year!

Starting time...12:15pm

It is 12:30pm and Van 1 has officially begun our HTC 2007 run. In typical Erica fashion, I'm trying to get in as much stuff as possible at the very last minute (which is also why I tend to be writing my papers at 2am the night before they are due). I'm still burning some CD's for our van, finishing up laundry, and just purchased a hat for the run; this was all after heading downtown to purchase some Ben Harper tickets. Having just finished up my double americano for the day, I'm also revved up and getting ready to run. I've been resting the legs for the last couple of days and even skipped biking Jackson so school this morning, despite his protests. My legs are itching to run. Am I prepared? Did those hills in Forest Park do the trick, my leg is supposed to be a doozy. Those cowbells better work some magic. With the urbanMamas split between the two vans, we should be able to get some pics up mid route. Check in again later (if you're not completely over the HTC coverage).

I Could Use A Little More Cowbell

We gathered last night, both the Run Mama Run and urbanPapas teams to feast, divvy up our sponsored-goods and get out our pre-race jitters.  We were absolutely enthused about the Oregon Live bells that will be dinging as we cheer all of the runners on.  We could use a little more time for training, but heck, a little more cowbell to get us through will have to suffice.  We will try to blog our progress along the way so you can share in the journey with us.  We've got our iPods loaded up with inspirational running tunes, and the van loaded with food and fuel to replenish us along the way. Lastly, since all five of the urbanMamas will be running this year, you can see that we are indeed a bit preoccupied by all things Hood to Coast. 

Run MAMA Run - We're OFF!

We've been pounding the pavement hard for the past few months, and - in earnest - over the past few weeks.  We've written some of our training secrets, mama-style.  We've reminisced about how scary-but-fun it was last year.  With all that and a little bit of hype, we're off again!

Wish the Run Mama Run team lots of luck and fresh-feeling legs as they kiss their babes goodbye for over a day, as they run-mam-run the 197.2 miles from Timberline Lodge all the way down to the beach at Seaside.  We should be cruising through Portland around 10:30-11PM on Friday night, so if anyone is up past their bedtime, come cheer us on at the Hawthorne Bridge!

We'll try to check in with some pics mid-way....  in true urbanMama fashion, never far from a wifi connection!

Run Mama Run: Hood to Coast 2007

With just a week to go, 12 urbanMamas rest their legs and ready themselves for Hood-to-Coast.  Run Mama Run is our team, and it's not our first appearance in the largest relay in the U.S.  197 miles, 12 mamas, 20 kids (though they're not coming for the ride!), 2 vans, 30 or so hours.  Is it fun?  Heck, we've birthed kids, so what's 197 miles, just a few hours of sleep, and 30 hours of on and off running?  If you like momraderie, then - YES - it is most definitely fun.  Expect chatting, laughing, butterflies in stomachs.  Start on Mt. Hood and miraculously end at Seaside.  It's the moment we've all been training for.

This year, Run Mama Run is being supported by some great folks at OregonLive, so check us out over at RunOregon and read all about some of our mama running secrets.  Run Mama Run also send e-shout-outs to Lara for fueling us with Larabars and to Virginia for juicing us up with VitaminWater.

We aren't the only mamas running this thing.  Last year, we counted several other mama teams: "37 kids and still counting", "I want my mommy", "Moms on the Run", "Running from our kids", "Hoochie Mamas", "Dolly Mamas".  Anyone else running Hood to Coast this year??

Running Mamas Join the Fun

For the second year in a row, we've assembled a group of mamas (and papas) for the Hood To Coast.  This year, we thought we'd try for more team unity by participating in the Nike+ Challenge.  Larissa has started a Nike+ Challenge team for the urbanMamas so we can run our way to some snazzy gear.  Only a handful of us mamas are Nike+ equipped so we are hoping for your help to up our mileage.  We're currently at 4.79 miles (yes, that's progress) but can we beat a bunch of Nike-sponsored teams?  Or, if you have some gear you'd love to donate to our fabulous team of runners, we'd certainly love to hear from you!

Hood To Coast Updates: A Photo Essay

running scared in Hood-to-Coast

I just said 'goodbye' to Erica and Jackson; I'd just come from Larissa's house. We're all (me chiefest among them) a little terrified. Along with Hau, Olivia, and a bunch of other wonderful urbanMamas, we'll be running the Hood-to-Coast tomorrow (and Saturday). Our start time: 8:45 a.m., and if we go according to our estimates, Larissa will be running through Portland between 6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., handing off to Hau around the Hawthorne Bridge (check out the map in today's Oregonian, the back of the Sports section, or see the PDF of the route here).

I'm amazed that we're doing this all together, it seems wild, crazy, and oh-my-god-what-was-I-thinking. But I realized while I was sitting at my computer, worrying and wondering how we would make it through: we have a secret! Haha. Not only are we accustomed to marathon-style pain (we all gave birth, after all, many to more than one baby), but we're fabulous at operating at peak efficiency for days on end without any sleep to speak of.

They say women who have given birth in the past year are far better at the marathon than women of similar age, but no small babies. I think our recent connection to the highly difficult time of pregnancy, birth and early childhood makes us beyond prepared for the road ahead.

Here's to us, and to all of you who've trained with us and cheered us on. And here's to being an urbanMama, possibly the best training program in the world ... for anything!

Running for Our Lives

In a posh beach house where we held our urbanFamily retreat over a year ago, an idea was hatched in the middle of doing cat and cow poses as our children straddled our backs. The three other urbanMamas and me were reflecting and dreaming, and discussing the anticipation of two impending births. Sarah was enduring contractions throughout the stay without making us aware, a warrior perhaps inspired by Ina May. As the pregnant mamas revealed our apprehension and worries about returning to “self” after the births, we formulated a plan. We discussed the possibility of running together as a group, and perhaps training for a marathon. What a brilliant enough strategy for losing that post-baby weight! But how difficult it is to go for that first slow and agonizing jog, it is baby steps indeed.

After both Sarah and I had second sons, and some time to adjust to life with newborns, we took the plunge and started the journey of recovery. Shetha started the urbanmamasrun yahoo group to allow us to communicate; and Erica found a race for us to run and created a training plan to get us ready for the Run Like Hell Half Marathon. Fast forward to today. The urbanmamasrun group has expanded to include so many lovely mamas. What started out of necessity has blossomed into scheduled Saturday morning social runs sometimes topped off with coffee and scones. It’s not all about the running even though we do sometimes put in some serious mileage. It’s mostly about the friendships and support we get from one another. Running has become fun, and my fellow mamas have been the best motivator to date. If you need some motivation to start moving again, join us on a Saturday morning run or at one of these upcoming local events:

• Cascade Runoff 15 K – Sunday, July 23. Downtown, Portland. There’s still time to register!
• All Women’s Triathalon / Duathalon – Saturday, Aug. 5, Blue Lake
• Hood to Coast – Come and cheer on the all mama team along the way! The 25th anniversy of the event probably means a whole lot of celebration.  Larissa has been blogging about her training. We’ll be posting our starting time and approximate running times.

Running with the urbanMamas

This past fall, we had assembled a perfect team of mamas for what we were hoping to be our inaugural Hood To Coast race. After many weeks of waiting anxiously to see if we were one of the lucky few, we were sadly not chosen. It was heartbreaking, we were devastated. We had our window of opportunity with enough (non-pregnant) mamas to make a team, and in a flash, it was gone.

So, when the HTC Director emailed me the other week mentioning that they had a rare opportunity - a spot opened up, we jumped on the chance.  However, it looks like we are a few mamas short of a full team!  For those not familiar with HTC, it's a relay race from Mt. Hood to Seaside with a team of up to 12 runners.  We are looking for 5 running mamas (and 3 volunteers) who would like to be a part of our Hood to Coast team.  It's their 25th anniversary, and the race will sure to be quite enjoyable.  Does this sound like you?  If so, please email me at urbanmamas@gmail.com!