Why Portland to Coast is a Blast!

I’ve been posting about our team t-shirt for awhile, since none of us wanted to wear an actual bustier – we ARE the Sherwood Forest Wenches, after all!

Needless to say, we got a TON of attention at the finish in Seaside, especially double-takes. Because if you give the shirt a cursory glance, the goods appear to be real. And since I’ve always been…modestly endowed, I’ve NEVER received that many chest-level stares in my entire life.

I have to say, it was a bit fun. Total strangers posed with us for pictures or took pictures of the entire group of these friends and neighbors, who finished the 127 mile race in 31 HOURS!

Since we had never participated before, the Sherwood Wenches had no idea how awesome we would do, and Hood to Coast estimated that it would take us 39 hours to complete. Well, we blew that estimate out of the water!

So, why should you endure the Portland to Coast walking relay race???

1. Support Cancer CURE – DetermiNation is a great website where you can build your personal profile and locate

Water Break for Me (on the right)!

your fundraising all in one place. THANK YOU to those of you who donated for this cause!!!! (If you still want to donate a couple of bucks, here’s my DetermiNation page!)

2. Bonding and Friendships – Being in a van for 31 hours will certainly help you get to know people. So about halfway into it, when I farted into the silence and then said, “What? I had to fart,” it was a surprise to no one. And of course, they humored me with the reaction I was looking for!

3. Entertainment – the creativity and resourceful of the variety of teams was awesome and vastly entertaining. Some of the highlights:

• Disco Divas – dressed in full disco regalia
• Bootcamp Barbies – Plastic large decorated heads on top of their van
• Two Sole Survivors and their Arch Supports
• Geeks in Sneeks (one van got stuck in a ditch, but someone must have gotten them out because they were in Seaside for the finish)
• Perinatal nurses dressed in full fairy costumes.

Those are just a few (this is a family blog, so I won’t go into the more – ahem – creative ones…)!

4. Training – there’s nothing like the idea of a 6-mile-leg-entirely-uphill-where-the-road-turns-to-gravel-halfway-through to get you in the mood for working out. In May, I joined a gym and started going 3 to 4 times a week, and it helped a ton during my race legs. So if you want to get in shape, this is a good motivator!

If you’re on the fence about joining or forming a Portland to Coast team, hopefully you’ll take a chance – it’s totally worth it!