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!