Hood to Coast and the legacy of #suckitpoverty

I always go into these things skeptically. And I'm even more skeptical when surrounded by true believers. And this Team World Vision thing had tons of true believers. I just wanted to run.

Let me back up. I care about the work. Team World Vision is raising funds to provide clean water all over the world, and specifically in South Sudan with this Hood to Coast race. I care about people made in the image of God having the opportunity to drink clean water without traveling miles a day for access. But I was still unsure about all this.

It all started last year when Katie and I ran the KC Half Marathon with our 10 and 12 year old sons. At the expo we came across a booth for World Vision and memories of 30 Hour Famines and child sponsorship made me stop. I met Nick Muroki and signed up for more information. I mean, why not do some good while running? That led to a meeting where I was invited to get my church involved in Team World Vision, where we would run/walk the KC Marathon/Half and raise money for this clean water initiative. And as I shared about my own ultrarunning, Nick had an idea; maybe there was room for me to run Hood to Coast.

The fundraising would be the hard part for me. I am not a good fundraiser. I don't like putting people on the spot, or making them feel pressured. And especially in my position, I don't want people to think they're obligated to give because I'm their pastor. So I put it out there on social media and planned for the race.

What a race it was. Over 19k racers, 3k volunteers, and a ton of vans made their way to Mt. Hood to begin the 199 miles run to the beach at Seaside, OR. By the time the race began, Team World Vision's 11 teams had already broken $1 million for South Sudan. We would eventually eclipse $1.1 million; the most in TWV's Hood to Coast history. Each of our teams had 12 runners, including an Honorary Captain that we'd "drafted" weeks earlier. My team from Kansas City called "#suckitpoverty" had chosen Brianne Theisen-Eaton as our Honorary Captain. Brianne was the Bronze medalist in the Heptathlon in the 2016 summer Olympics. (As the ultrarunner of the team, I was hoping for Michael Wardian to join us, but luckily I was outvoted.) Brianne was a great teammate, a joy to have in the race with us, and a killer on the course. She was a perfect choice for our team. (I did get to meet Michael Wardian and he is awesome too.)

The race is broken up into 36 legs, with each participant responsible for 3. I made sure in our choosing that I had the most miles and most difficult legs. I mean, if I'm not the great fundraiser, at least I can run the worst stuff. So I was in Van 1 with the first 6 runners, and I ran leg 5, 17, and 29.

My vanmates were great. Brett Rinker took on the first leg, with a 2000 foot decline in a short 5 miles. It had to be a killer on his quads. Then Susan Mohn took off on leg 2 with a bunch more decline; handing off to Sean O'Donnell for his first leg. The 4th leg was a long 7 miler and Brianne let Corey Mohn - team captain and driver - get in on the action taking over for her first leg.


My first leg was a 6 miler that gained about 400 ft of elevation. As usual I started off too fast and had to adjust a bit, but was glad to find a solid pace; and more importantly started getting some "kills". "Roadkills" are what it's called at HTC whenever you pass someone on your leg. Many racers add up their kills in each leg and write them on their vans. I was all about the kills. Instead of worrying how far I had to go or how fast I was running, I just kept reeling in the runners in front of me. It made each leg seem faster and easier than usual. In my first leg I ended up with 19 kills. This was getting fun.

I handed off my slap bracelet baton to Katy MacMann and she was off and running to the next exchange. It was there that we would meet our teammates in Van 2 for their turn to run the next 6 legs.

Now we had time to go get some food. Brianne took us to a nice little restaurant to eat and then what I think has become a tradition for her, taking her team to Salt & Straw for ice cream. Soon we were back on our way to meet Van 2 for our second legs starting in downtown Portland.

After a great meetup in Portland with all of our team, Brett was off for his second leg, running across the city bridges as the sun finished setting. It was now time for our nighttime runs. My second leg started at 12:30am and I had an 8 mile stretch with little elevation change. I was going to fly! This was my fastest leg. After getting "killed" by a couple guys at the beginning of the leg, I had 27 of my own kills the rest of the run, including the guys that passed me early. The sun was down, the weather was nice, and it was a great run. After handing off to Katy, our van was almost done with leg 2. Maybe we could soon get some sleep.

Nope. There was not much sleep to be had on this night. After handing off to Van 2 and heading to the next major exchange, we tried to catch a few hours of sleep. Several from the van went out to sleep on the ground in their sleeping bags, Katy was feeling sick and went to the first aid tent, and a few of us tried to sleep in the van. I laid down on the seat with my sweatshirt as a pillow and slept; but not much and not well.

Our final legs would pick up in the morning and this set would get complicated. As the race got further along, the van traffic got worse and worse. By the time we sent Brianne off on her last leg, we were so backed up that she ended up passing us while we were a couple of miles away from the exchange. Finally, when we were still a mile and a half out, I just got out and ran. Brianne was likely already at the handoff and we weren't hardly moving. So on my hardest leg of the race, I added a warmup. I would regret it.

When I got to Brianne and took the handoff, I was off for the most elevation gain I would have to endure. The first few miles all made their way up and the lack of sleep and long day and night in the van had its effect. I was tired. My legs were burning. I was over this. But finally, I reached the top of the hill and knew that the rest would be down. Here we go.

It's amazing how much you can recover going down. After letting my legs get their strength back on the way down, I was able to take off. As I ran hard downhill for the last 3 miles, it started to mist outside and I made up time. With 35 kills on my last leg, I was finally done. Even better, Katy rallied from being sick and was able to finish her last leg as well. We would meet Van 2 for our last exchange and head to beach for the finish.




The beach at Seaside. What an event! Food, drinks, music, tents for merchandise; there was a lot going on. Our van got there in time for a few hours of downtime before Van 2 would make their way to us. After eating, getting some HTC swag, and playing in the ocean, we were excited to find our teammates come in just in time to meet Rebecca as she finished the last leg. As a team we ran through the finish line; finishing in 32.5 hours.

This was an amazing experience. I am proud of my team of runners and the great job they all did. Corey Mohn and Darrell Bolton were great drivers, with the hardest job of any of us. Our KC team raised over $100k for South Sudan and we got an incredible relay race experience too. Thanks to Team World Vision for this opportunity.

I can't wait for the next opportunity to "run for water; run for life."


#suckitpoverty HTC Team: Bret Rinker, Susan Mohn, Sean O'Donnell, Brianne Theisen-Eaton, Regan Stoops, Katy MacMann, Jonathan Going, Adahm Faehn, Kat Mallett, Tammy McCalla, Missy Wolfe, Rebecca Dawson, Corey Mohn, Darrell Bolton