Community Energy’s committed staff works hard to advance renewable energy as our way of preserving the environment.  In our free time, we work equally hard to better ourselves and take advantage of all that nature has to offer.  Over the summer a few staff members got involved in a particularly challenging activity. 

Portland, Oregon plays host to one of the world’s largest relay races every summer, a grueling 197 mile course spanning from the top of Mt. Hood all the way to the Pacific Ocean in Seaside, OR.  Known as the Hood to Coast Relay, this event takes place over a 36 hour period in late August, with teams of 12 competing against one another and the elements to reach the finish line.  Never ones to miss out on a good time, three CEI team members shoved off for Portland this summer to join in the fun.  Led by their fearless vice president, Amy McGinty, Dale Cocca and Philip Craig set forth on the strenuous adventure with nothing but their legs and their tolerance for vans packed with smelly runners to protect them. 

Amy, a veteran of many long-distance races including a recent half Iron Man, had little problem conquering her portion of the run, saying of the experience, “It was a great way to see the countryside.  Oregon is exquisitely beautiful, which made the run go by a lot faster.”

Philip didn’t have quite so easy a time of it saying “the run beat me up a bit, but you can’t match the experience of running alongside a peaceful river at 2 o’clock in the morning.  I didn’t sleep for a day and a half, but it was all worthwhile when I got to throw a back flip off the town bridge at the finish line before grabbing some barbecue at the beach party.”

Overall, the trio returned home full of wonderful memories and images of the beautiful Oregon landscape.  Now they just have to convince their coworkers to come run nearly 200 miles with them again next summer!