Paper: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR)
Title: Starting is hard part of Hood to Coast
Date: August 27, 2005

SUMMARY: The first leg of the world's biggest relay often goes to a newcomer, who doesn't know any better or who doesn't have any choiceThey're the sacrificial lambs, the newbies, the short straws.


They're the ones nursing sore knees and cramped quadriceps as the 24th Fred Meyer Hood to Coast Relay storms into Seaside today at the end of its 196-mile journey from Timberline on Mount Hood to the Pacific Ocean.


Someone has to start the biggest relay race in the world and, for dozens of runners, that meant charging down Leg One -- 6.05 miles that most agree is the toughest, and most beautiful, stretch of the course.


And as the crisp mountain air turned toward sultry heat Friday morning, the opening leg took its toll. Runners who left Timberline in a burst of adrenalized excitement jogged into the first transition area at Government Camp red-faced, sweaty and wondering how they would fare with two more legs to run and more than 24 hours in a cramped van.


Running downhill seems like it has gravitational advantages, but that same gravity can turn your quads into hamburger and pound yours knees into submission.


"I asked for downhills and flats," acknowledged Fred Fischer, who made his Hood to Coast debut as a member of the Portland-based Keenan's Kats team. "But that last hill drove spikes into my legs."


The Hood to Coast Relay -- and the Portland to Coast Relay walk and Nationwide Insurance Portland to Coast High School Challenge, a shorter relay for high schoolers -- covers a range of terrain, from alpine forests to busy, urban sidewalks to lonely, coast roads.


One thousand running teams -- 12,000 runners -- left Mount Hood throughout Friday. The fastest teams will begin arriving in Seaside this afternoon, with the rest -- sore, sleep-deprived, stinky -- arriving into the night.


The shorter relays add another 5,400 runners and walkers to the mix.


Hood to Coast has 36 legs, with each runner completing three legs of four to seven miles and ranging from easy to very hard before handing off a slap bracelet to a teammate.


The opening leg of the race plunges 2,000 feet -- from about 6,000 feet -- in about five miles. It is beautiful. And brutal.


Traditionally, few veterans volunteer for the opening stretch, even though the other two legs for runner No. 1 are short and easy. The punishment of the opening leg makes the rest of the race even more grueling, veterans know.


So many of the runners who kicked off the relay either signed up for the first leg not realizing its difficulty -- or were given no choice in the matter.


"I haven't done it before and I didn't pick it," said Quynh Nguyen, a second-time participant running with the Living Dead team out of Portland. "The good part is it wasn't uphill."


Nguyen planned to spend the next few hours drinking water. "And stretching," she said.


Benita Sanchez, running with the Nike-sponsored Six Buff Amazons and a Half-Dozen Boys, was doing the relay for the third time. Given the choice between starting with Leg One or Leg Five, which would have required her to run another nightmare section on Leg 29 through the Coast Range, Sanchez chose the downhill.


"I went with it. They say, 'Go with the hill,' " she said. "Basically, keep running and try not to tighten your quads.


"Yeah, it's fun," Sanchez said, with emphasis. "And it's good it's only once a year."


Ashley Hickerson has run tougher races out of her hometown of Boise, but she wasn't looking forward to the coming hours in her first Hood to Coast relay, with the team Sea Slugs, sponsored by the Alaska Tanker Co. Muscles grow tight and sore sitting in a van.


"That's the hardest part, I think," she said. "Not the downhill."


Fischer ran the fastest six-plus miles in his life, but felt it.


"You really have to pay attention," he said. "You have to make sure your heels hit."


Erica Thygesen, running for the Outside/In team, said the excitement of starting made the opening leg that much tougher.


"You feel compelled to race down the hill and you know it's going to hurt that much harder at the end," the first-time relayer said.


Thygesen was unsure what she would do to stay comfortable in the hours ahead.


"Lots of coffee, maybe?"


Abby Haight: 503-221-8198; abhaight@aol.com


ILLUSTRATION:  Color Photo by ROGER JENSEN / The Oregonian