Hood To Coast 2013 - Packing for HTC with Matt

As promised, I present to you my personal packing list for Hood To Coast 2013. First and most important is team Slow Dip Ahead. This year's roster goes something like this:

1-Jason 

2-Amy

3-Morgan

4-Marc

5-Dan

6-Naomi

7-Adidas

8-Burke

9-Shawn

10-Matt

11-Lisa

12-Rachel

New additions include Jason and Adidas. Rachel (sister) knows Jason from high school and Adidas is a friend of Burke's from work. And Burke is Mike Burke who came on board in 2011 on a dare from team captain, Rachel (sister). I'm not even sure anyone else calls him Burke. It's entirely possible that Van 2 decided he was Burke and so he was. Amy and Dan (brother) are friends from Cal Poly SLO, which neither of them are. Morgan is my niece. Marc is my brother-in-law, recently married to Naomi (sister). That leaves only Shawn (brother) and Lisa (sister-in-law). So you see, family, friends and strangers. For 24-29 hours they will be a team. They will move, motivate, warm up, warm down and water with and for each other. They will sleep on the ground and will make way too many meals of PBJ and Gatorade. In short, it will be epic.

So for that time you will need some things. You'll need food, water, wet wipes, sure but you'll need a lot more to reduce the potential misery that an experience like this can present. Here's what I'm bringin':

This year I'm getting a little greedy with the van space and I'm bringing a sleeping pad along with my sleeping bag. My XPed camping pad is small, comfortable and can be pumped up by hand (not mouth) just by pushing on it in the right spot.

Basic Essentials:

2 Reflective vests. 2 is the minimum for a team but it should be the absolute minimum for a van unless you want to be doing a vest hand off as well as a baton hand off for all of the night legs. Also, the more vests you have the more time they have to dry in between runners. You are also required to have a headlamp and an LED flasher on your night legs. I have a light hat but the LED is pretty weak sauce and doesn't do much. My new headlamp is made by Black Diamond and has a red LED flasher in the back so it's a two-in-one. I'm also bringing along a couple of really bright, easy-to-carry flashlights. If you are responsible for your own lights and vest, you'll be less likely to be covered in someone else's sweat.

Electronics:

I'm bringing my iPod Shuffle and my Nano. The new Nano is terrible for running. The buttons get pressed too easily and it is too easy to press the wrong button and become very frustrated. I'll be using my Shuffle as a default but if I have to have some specific album, I'll run with the Nano. Maybe I can sweat it death. I've done it before. I'm bringing my running headphones. I shouldn't. I should leave them at home. They are against the rules. I'm bringing them anyway. I'm also bringing my mini-speaker for my mobile hydration belt sound system. I'm bringing my Kindle, as well. Maybe that isn't thought through. Reading would make me car sick. Okay, maybe the Kindle and the headphones stay home.

Running Stuff, Comfort Stuff and/or Placebos:

Hydration belt, electrolytes and carbs concoctions, candy, crappy disposable/lose-able sunglasses, KT Tape, Ben Gay, a toothbrush; whatever you need to run reliably and feel good. Bring it. Bring safety pins. You will need lots of safety pins and will be stoked to have some. I'm bringing my Stick and My TheraCane. A little self-massage goes a long way. Some non-disposable water bottles that are identifiable as yours are awesome. And a backpack. 

Of course I'm bringing the team shirts, a hot pink tutu and something else...

I bought an over the closet door shoe rack at Target. I cut it in half and strung some shoelaces to the tops of the halves. I figure I can hang them over the back of the passenger seat in the mini-van and each runner will have two pockets for various items that are often lost.

And one more thing...

I am determined to keep from throwing up. Ginger root save me!

Hood To Coast 2013 - Slow Dip Ahead - Preparing for Battle

Team Slow Dip Ahead is gearing up for yet another Hood To Coast. This will be the 4th HTC as Slow Dip Ahead. Technically it's our 3rd as we were Team Under Domination one year (Underwhelm, Under Impress, Under Dominate). It's 36 days until the race and the team roster is set as of today. As with every HTC, we have strangers on board. Poor, poor, hapless strangers.

We are in the competitive category I would call "Proof Of Life". We run not to relive past glories (okay maybe a little) or to put in personal bests or roadkill other runners. We run to have fun. We run to support each other. We run, most of all, to prove to ourselves we can.

Slow Dip Ahead is, roughly, a family team. I have 4 siblings that run long distances. This is our 4th Hood To Coast as a family team. We've run 2007, 2009 and 2011 (some of us have run more but none have run less). So, the odd years. Which is fitting as we are an odd team. We fill out our team with significant others, friends, co-workers and poor bastards recruited through acquaintances. Through the years, a lot of those people have stuck around.

I really want people to experience Hood To Coast, I do. It's just that I feel I can't recruit someone into the sheer awesomeness of it without revealing the horror as well. We had a teammate one year who hated it and hated us from the beginning. It wasn't fun. She complained about us openly on her cell phone, had us remove everything from the van so she wouldn't have to sleep on the ground and then fell in a ditch and wrecked her ankle (right before the marathon she was training for so that sucks). We never saw her again. It was mutual. Maybe that's not the best example but it shows that the race is only fun if you make an effort to make it fun and truly join a team.

Every year we try to break up planning duties but, inevitably, our Portland contingent ends up with an unfair amount of the work. So our captain managed our entry, the beach housing and the vans and recruiting. No small tasks. Houses and vans get rented even before acceptances are sent out. Pro Tip: Pick up your rental as soon as you are able to avoid getting a lemon. Car rental agencies bring in tons of vans from wherever they can for Hood To Coast and some have... problems.

This year I took on the task of team running shirts. It was my year. This is a tough task because you are going to have to eat just about every penny of the costs. But I don't mind because I have at least 3 other team shirts that I doubt were ever recompensed.

With that, I present team Slow Dip Ahead's 2013 Hood To Coast race shirts:

I am also trying to keep excitement going and to motivate training. In the past we've tried google spreadsheets, Nike+ and emails. This year half of us are on Garmin watches and so we're using Garmin Connect for training. I'm a data geek so it is totally awesome for me to go through the data from my teammates' runs. You can see where people stopped at stoplights, ran up a brutally steep hill, flew like some kind of fast flying thing in circles around a track. Way cool. Wearing a brick strapped to my wrist is less cool but I would do it forever to never have to see the Nike+ website again.

Part of my personal plan to motivate myself is what my stylist calls The Donaldson. If you aren't an A's fan, I pity you and your foolish life choices. If you are an A's fan you know Josh Donaldson, 3rd baseman. I can't grow facial hair so an epic mountain man beard is out. I can grow head hair like a friggin' expert, however, so I will soon be rocking this:

Holy crap! That's my stylist! I'm in good hands, I guess.

Rock. I've been wanting a real mohawk for a while. Being a 36 year old man with a professional career, a mohawk is allowed but it's not really welcomed by the groaning machine churning through dead and dying souls 24 hours a day. So Hood To Coast is the perfect excuse for some impudence.

I had also planned on another secret motivational weapon of some kind. Maybe a speedo. Maybe a skirt. Possibly pool floaties. But then a discussion on Facebook about The Tour De France, no less, devolved remembrances of HTC costumes we'd seen in the past and before I knew it I was buying a hot pink tutu on Amazon. It's arriving today.

I ordered some Nuun too. I'm interested in trying it. As I've gotten old, I've gotten crampy. Unlike most running blogs that mention Nuun, I do not work for nor am I compensated by Nuun. Have you seen the number of stealth Nuun blogs out there? It's kind of sick. I understand wanting a social media presence but the fake blog is the most insidious and stupid form of online advertising. It just makes me hate the product. Still, runners like it and so I will try it.

I am certain that other tutus have been ordered, as well as fuzzy leg warmers and probably some sort of candy raver LED vest but I won't know for sure until race day.

Team Slow Dip Ahead: We may cry. We may barf. But, dammit, we'll do it in the best damned race in the world and in hot pink tutus.

Next Time: Matt's Hood To Coast Packing List (sneak peek: No Body Glide!)

Hood To Coast Sound System: Part 2

In the last installment, I rambled on about road racing safety and audio setups for music loving runners. In this installment I will share with you my Hood To Coast 2013 solution. This solution has not been road tested because, well, I think it would annoy the crap out of the other people on the trails and the folks in the neighborhoods.

First, the sub-structure: I'd needed a new hydration belt because the belt I was using sucked. I guess I wasn't even really using it. The couple of races I'd busted out on had been hellish as I'd tried to keep the thing cinched around my waist, with the water inside of the bottle and not all over my ass and without getting a rash. Failed on all goals. I doubted any hydration belts were worth a damn and had no hope that the one I'd ordered on Amazon would do anything but suck. I was wrong.

Meet the Nathan Speed 2R Hydration Belt:
http://www.amazon.com/Nathan-Auto-Cant-Hydration--Medium--Nathan/dp/B00CEW81FS/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1373048063&sr=8-5&keywords=nathan+speed+2r

This belt is comfortable, easy to adjust and it stays put. I've taken it out on many jostling trail runs and it just stays in place. No cinching it around my ribcage, no adjusting it as it makes an orbit around my body every mile. Strap it on (a little low in the hips) with the stretchy but comfortable velcro strap and you're good to go. It has a funny metal disc in it that looks like it would hurt but you won't feel it. That's the magic. That makes it so everything can move in a way that keeps this thing from driving you nuts. At least that is how I like to imagine it.

Add the AYL Mini Speaker:
http://www.amazon.com/AYL-Portable-Speaker-Rechargeable-Battery/dp/B007OY5V68/ref=sr_1_10?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1373048526&sr=1-10&keywords=mini+mp3+speakers+AYL

I didn't but this strictly for Hood To Coast. In fact, I didn't buy it at all, I put it on my Elfster wish list and got it for Secret Macabee. (Yes, my life is culturally diverse.) My friend had recommended it to me for camping trips. Just charge it up in the car with the USB and it pumps out big sound (you'll be amazed of what it can do). I use it outside regularly while I wash the car, rake leaves, dance around my pagan altar, whatever. It's awesome.

Plus the MP3 player of your choice and you've got a soundsystem booming from below. I should note that the way I have it linked above, it costs more that the Road Noise Vest which my brother has purchased and is happy with. I, personally, did not pay as much as the price Amazon lists above for these items (well, the speaker was $20 but the belt was only $30). So there are good options out there. The true test will come on race day. Hopefully I'll be in the same van as my brother so we can compare and contrast.