The Low-Down on Hood to Coast

The 197 mile (317 km) Hood to Coast course consists of 36 legs, of which each team member must run at least three in rotation. The legs vary in length from 3.52 miles (5.66 km) to 7.79 miles (12.53 km), and the terrain for each leg can vary from level terrain to steep uphills and/or downhills. Consequently, a runner may total between 13.61 miles (21.90 km) and 19.68 miles (31.67 km). Teams in Hood to Coast must complete the course within a 31 hour time limit (an average team pace of 9 minutes 30 seconds per mile).

2007 Portland to Coast traffic at night on Highway 202 near Mist.

Start times on Friday are staggered between 6:30 a.m. and 6:45 p.m. in waves of approximatley 20 teams every 15 minutes.^[6] Teams are computer seeded based on self-reported 10K times for each team member's submitted roster. Thus the flow of teams through the 36 exchange points and finish line are even, with all teams finishing the race by the closing time of 9 p.m. on Saturday.^[7]

The course starts at Timberline Lodge at the 6,000-foot (1,800 m) level of Mount Hood, and proceeds down Timberline Road to Government Camp. This first leg drops 2,000 feet (610 m) in elevation over about 6 miles (9.7 km); the next two legs from Government Camp to Rhododendron have a combined elevation drop of 2,300 feet (700 m) over about 10 miles (16 km).

Runners proceed west along U.S. Route 26 to the towns of Sandy and Gresham, where the route proceeds along the Springwater Corridor to the Sellwood neighborhood in southeast Portland. The route then proceeds north through city streets and crosses the Hawthorne Bridge west into downtown Portland.

After crossing the Hawthorne Bridge, runners proceed north along Naito Parkway in downtown Portland along the west bank of the Willamette River and onto U.S. Route 30 to St. Helens. From there onward, the route passes through hilly rural and sometimes unpaved backroads through the communities of Mist and Birkenfeld on the way to the finish line in Seaside.

The Portland to Coast Walk Relay and the High School Challenge Relay follow the last 24 legs (127 miles) of the course, starting from the Hawthorne Bridge in downtown Portland. Each participant in these relays walk or run at least two legs in rotation.

[edit] Logistics and atmosphere

Each twelve-person team is allowed two vehicles no larger than a standard-sized van. While the vans generally follow the race course in support of their runners, certain narrower portions of the course require one van to make a detour to alleviate traffic congestion. Teams usually give themselves funny or original names and decorate their vehicles according to a theme. Race organizers announce the winners for best team name, best van design, best team outfit, and outstanding volunteer, (as voted by teams) at the PTC Awards Ceremony, Saturday evening, and on the HTC website.^[8]

Teams are expected to provide their own provisions, including food and water, and to ensure their own safety; there are no promised aid stations or police protection on the course,^[9] nor is there prize money for the winners. ^[10] However, local schools and churches along the route provide sleeping areas, food, and showers at nominal cost to participants as fundraisers. Teams compete in divisions based on gender (men, women, and mixed) age (based on the age of the youngest participant) or corporate sponsor.

All teams that include at least one member living within a 90-mile (140 km) radius of Portland are required to provide three volunteers to ensure adequate personnel at turns and exchanges along the course race.

A Good Example

Last Friday my mom called to say that she was feeling well and wondered if she and Dad could come and stay overnight with us. They like to do this from time to time because from our house it is only a short drive to San Francisco. They enjoy spending the day there, and this particular time Mom was looking forward to trying out her new "Sidewalk Warrior", her motorized scooter. Sometimes they plan to come and Mom doesn't feel well enough, so when she is having a good day it makes sense to get in the car and go.

Early Saturday morning I got up to go and have my quiet time in the living room and guess who was already there! My dad was there. He was meeting with the Lord and thinking through some things he has been writing. He immediately began to share with me the lessons the Lord has brought to his mind for this project and I was so blessed to hear about it.

I can hardly express the joy I felt when I saw my dad sitting so near my quiet time spot. He is the one who first taught me how to have a quiet time simply by doing it himself. I have so many memories of finding him sitting quietly with his Bible in his lap, deep in prayer when I got up in the morning. There were so many nights that we knew he got up to pray while we were sleeping and then returned to bed for a little more rest before he went off to work. His vigilence in personal prayer and the study of God's word have been foundational to the health and well-being of our whole family. We have depended upon his prayers and spiritual leadership as he has depended upon the Lord.

It is no wonder that I think of God as loving and faithful. No wonder I never doubt that he is with me in all the circumstances of my life. I have had my dad as an example of these things and his life has created the portrait of the Heavenly Father that fills my heart.

Perhaps best of all, whenever I come upon Dad in his meetings with God there is always such a peace and joy about him that it makes me want to know God myself. No matter how tough life has gotten for our family, no matter what depths of sorrow we faced, my dad in his quiet time moments has shown us that there is authentic joy in the Lord. One of the many notes Dad pinned to the refrigerator door some years ago pretty well sums it up:

Joy is the flag that flies over the heart when the Master is in residence.

That is the legacy of relationship with God that I crave. That is one of the reasons I get up to meet the Lord every day myself.

Thanks, Dad, and thank you, God for shaping this man to lead our family.

Good News from Central Asia

Bern and I received an encouraging note from Woody Busse this week. His wife Barbara was instrumental in taking us to Central Asia in 2006 where we taught Biblical Peacemaking for two weeks. The following is a report from the Presbyterian Church USA Missions prayer guide about results from the work we did there. God certainly blessed that short time among the people, many of whom are of another faith but who were willing to receive biblical truth.

Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study, Friday, August 21
Republics of Central Asia

Rashid felt torn. For the past several days he and his colleagues at a development organization in Tajikistan had been participating in a workshop on biblical conflict resolution taught by a team from a Presbyterian church in California. During the workshop, they had learned practical biblical principles and skills for dealing with personal conflict. Rashid was one of the few Christians on a mostly Muslim staff, and he felt the Holy Spirit tugging on his heart to deal with a conflict with a colleague.

All kinds of excuses came to his mind - it happened a long time ago; most people in the office don't even know about it; this isn't the right time or place. But God spoke to his heart: "If not now, when?" So Rashid stood and announced he wanted to apologize for disrespecting his colleague several months previously.

As he was speaking, the other man stood up and received his apology and the relationship was healed. Over the next weeks, several other staff members experienced reconciliation in strained relationships as they put what they learned into practice.

Yusuf realized for the first time how he had contributed to a feud that had been going on for years. He realized that his negative thoughts toward a neighbor had kept him from seeing anything positive about him. So he decided to invite the neighbor to a party at his home where they ate and talked together. In Tajik culture, eating with someone is a sign of friendship and acceptance, and through this act the two were reconciled. As a result of these experiences, staff members began insisting that this training be shared with other villages, and they incorporated it into their project proposals.

Gracious and loving God, may the Prince of Peace reign in our hearts and in the hearts of the people of Tajikistan. Help us to be effective peacemakers in our personal relationships as well as in the larger conflicts throughout the world. Amen.

Katie and Teresa take a walk down the aisle

From Katie and Andrew Koetsier's wedding, July 25, 2009

Make Friends with a Lonely Atheist

This morning I read a story about atheists who have decided that atheism should be more than a stance, it should be a cause they promote. I can understand them doing this because atheism must be a lonely experience, all in all. They naturally would like to build around themselves a community of others who feel the way they do.

Who wants to be the only one in his neighborhood with his fingers in his ears, shouting "blah, blah, blah" at all the stuff about God that surrounds him and his family? It would be so much more comforting to take the kids to atheist camp and sing songs of free thought around the campfire, songs like "Don't kum byah, non-existent Lord, don't kum byah".

The most interesting thing I saw in the article was words that are on a billboard the atheists put up. It said,

"Being a good person doesn't require God.

Don't believe in God?

You're not alone!"

I would dispute the "not alone" part because I think that not believing in God probably leads to loneliness on a profound and cosmic level. However, much more interesting and thought-provoking to me is the question of what they mean by "good person". By what standard do they evaluate what a good person is? I think they would probably point to the good works they do, but why are those considered good?

I went to an atheists' website and saw lots of pictures of atheists picking trash up by the highway and going on walks for cancer cures. Why is that good? It looks like a lot of time-wasting, sweaty activity that leads to sore muscles. Yet they believe they are good people who don't need God because they do these things that benefit other people.

How did that standard for good come to be? It must have come from someplace outside of themselves because left to themselves with no outside influences to make them think better of it, people generally would not put on a silly orange vest and stab filthy trash all day while cars rushed by just inches from their elbows. Yet, there they are in the picture with piles of black trash bags in front of them.

If I could sit one of those good atheists down and have a friendly talk, I would ask her where she got her idea of "good". She might attribute it to the general knowledge that all people have in their hearts about what is right or wrong. She might say that over the course of human evolution people have learned what works and what doesn't for our survival. Doing nice things for each other contributes to the perpetuation of the species. But why care about that if we all only have one shot at life? Who cares about the perpetuation of the species? Once an atheist's life has poofed out, why would she care if even the whole world comes to an end?

I think that my hypothetical atheist friend probably does good works, not to help perpetuate the species, but out of concern for the quality of her own life. Maybe she lives in fear; fear of being ostracized from other people, fear of not being remembered well, fear of bad "karma". The very thing she criticizes God-believers for doing, acting out of fear (in this case, of God), is what she does.

No matter who is determining what is "good", good has to be measured by some set of standards. Unfortunately for atheists, the generally agreed upon standards were first recorded a long time ago in the Bible. In fact, they were recorded so long ago, so early in human experience, they didn't have time to evolve with the species. The most sophisticated and perfect instructions in good behavior were originally handed down to tribal people who were "not a people" yet. The Israelites, who became a "people" as a result of the laws they received. Then they published the law of their God, the world had its standards for goodness.

It is hard on atheists to try and prove they are good without God. Any good thing they can think of to do, He already thought up. He authored the Book of Goodness. So, maybe they can be good people and pretend the Book is useless and the Author isn't there, but it seems silly. Most of us know better than to think up something that doesn't exist and spend our lives protesting and trying to demonstrate its non-existence.

If there is a very high percentage of the populationwho claim to have a personal relationship with God, and their claims have persisted since the dawn of time, there may be something to it. My sympathies go out to atheists who disagree so vehemently with those claims. It is hard to keep on saying to believers "No, you don't have a relationship with God. He doesn't exist!" and then have them all look back at you like you are crazy.

No wonder they're lonely.

Healthy Food?

This is the carrot I could not eat for lunch today. ..too much like a severed finger. It went straight to the compost pile.

ACT-ion Figures

I saw this on the plane from Chicago to Denver. It's quite amazing and it made me think of my action figure loving family members. Very interesting story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZGZZlM-AJo