Submitted by Eric Seitz
This was my first time going to the Portland to Coast Race but I believe this was the Kilbreth's 6th time going.
My overall view of the trip was amazing. I knew that I was going on the trip about four or five months in advance and was very excited to go. The trip exceeded my expectations. I knew I would enjoy going to see where Steve Prefontaine started it all at Hayward Field. The University of Oregon has a gorgeous campus. The Nike campus was great too; there employees are treated like Kings. They are encouraged to exercise during the day in one of there workout facilities. They also have a 2.5 mile jogging path around their beautiful campus. They have swimming pools, basketball and racquetball courts, restaurants, a beauty salon, and even a daycare facility for their kids. We also went to the employee store where all Nike products were half price. The kids loved that! They even bought things for family members.
The race was phenomenal and definitely exceeded my expectations. It was like 24 cross country races squeezed into one. The kids were very involved in the race as it was very team oriented. They had to run their best so they did not let their teammates down. Each athlete had to run two of the 24 legs so they would get about six to seven hours rest between legs to recover (eat, drink, sleep all in a mini van). At one checkpoint in the race we were in fourth or fifth place (10 minutes and 12 seconds behind the leading team). You might think some of the kids would give up, but they did not. They believed in their teammates and sucked it up! Over the next three checkpoints we made up the time and took the lead. We kept the lead and ended up winning by about 17 minutes. It took us 14 hours 43 minutes to complete the 128 mile course. That's 17 minutes faster than our goal time. Even though some hadn't slept in over 30 hours the excitement was evident as they went into the Pacific Ocean. (Air temp= 60 degrees, Water temp= 55 degrees).
It was an extremely exciting race and the kids learned so much about themselves and their teammates. The mental aspect of running when you're tired is something they now understand!
All in all I think the trip will mentally help them with their running careers but more importantly in life itself. Hard work pays off!
See more photographs from the team's trip and read one athlete's view of the trip at wavexc.com.