For Van 2, Friday began with a few extra hours of anticipation to hit the road and begin the relay! We left the hotel at 11:15, dropped off extra bags at Nuun, and set off for Sandy, Oregon, the first major van exchange. The van 1 vs. van 2 Twitterfest began around then, as we finally had time to check in with the world…however, there was no where else we would rather be, so we basically made everyone else jealous 140 characters at a time, and checked in with the other vans searching for #teamwatermelon, #teamlemonade, #teamcherrylimeade, and #nuunhtc. I was learning so much. It was like Twitter 101 (TWI101?). After a stop for safety pins/fathers (cc: Lisa) and a stop for food, we arrived in Sandy just in time for me to get ready totally spaz out that I wouldn’t have enough time to get ready for my first leg. I was the first runner to be on the road after 6:00, meaning I had to wear all the reflective gear and lights. It seemed silly and excessive since it was still sunny out, and because I hate wearing extra…anything, but it was a rule so I put it all on. Sparkle shirt: check. Nuun tattoos: check. Garmin ready: check. Bathroom: check. Spotted Dead Jocks in a Box pulling out of the parking lot: check. I ran up to the exchange zone with Lisa, Devon, and Lindsay, and pretty soon, Catey was rolling in strong! I snapped on the bracelet and was on my way to start the first leg for van 2!
1. Leg 7: Hard & “Boring” My first leg wasn’t actually boring, it was a lot of fun. But, it was through the “town” of Boring, Oregon. It was rated H (hard), and began with a fairly steep downhill. There were then some sharp turns and some pretty significant uphills, which undoubtedly slowed my pace. I was thinking it would be cool to average under 7:00/mile for my legs, maybe add 15 or 20 seconds if there were a lot of hills though. Somehow, my Garmin was not on auto-lap for the first time…I didn’t realize this until I was over a mile in and it had not beeped. Oops. It was okay, though, I figured out my splits online later. My van pulled over a few times to cheer me on, which made me excited. It also made me feel as if I couldn’t get out of the game and slow down, because they were sure to be on the side of the road up ahead waiting to see me go by.
Leg 7, my first leg.
Random things that happened during this leg…a volunteer at a corner yelled after me, “I like your dress. I had one of those once” (referring to the sparkle shirt). I witnessed a runner getting reprimanded for wearing headphones and trying to run away from an angry volunteer. I noticed that the sparkle skirt did not quite make for the most comfortable running attire, at least when paired with spandex shorts (you would think that would be the preferred combination…it is actually not). It was my first glimpse at the other vans in the relay, so it was entertaining to see what vans passed me, and what was written on them. I got five roadkills – that is, passed five people – on this leg, and was passed by one speedy guy towards the end. The hills were a bit rough; I haven’t exactly trained on hills since my injury this summer, so I just tried my best to hang on and power up steadily until each one was over. I gave the slap bracelet to Megan at the end of my leg, and successfully completed the first stage for van 2! The stats: 6.38 miles in 45:57, giving me an average pace of 7:12. I was a little disappointed by this, and I did not really feel like myself…didn’t have that excited feeling I had after most runs, didn’t feel that great physically. Which was disappointing, because this was Hood to Coast, dammit. I knew what the problem was, though, and there wasn’t anything I could do about it. In the spirit of Jesica and Jenny, and the nature of a 200-mile relay itself, I will be honest and share that I did not get so lucky when it came to my time of the month…as in, I was greeted with an untimely (and unexpected) surprise Friday morning that pretty much affected me only for the hours of the relay. I’ve always been so lucky so I hardly knew what to do…I was suddenly much more nervous about how I would feel while running, and in the van in between legs. Hence, the not-so-hot feeling since before leg 1. Ohhh well.
It was fun to ride in the van and cheer on Megan, Laura, Lisa, Lindsay, and Devon as they ran their first legs and the sun started to set. Some of the exchanges were relatively far away from the parking areas, and so we did a little extra running ourselves to get there in time! If I was feeling a bit better, I would’ve been having a blast, like it was a big running camping trip or something. I still was having a lot of fun, but my mind was definitely partially on what I should do to feel better for the second leg, because whatever I was doing then (um, nothing) was not feeling good. After Devon’s leg, we were almost in Portland. We drove to the Hopworks Brewery, where apparently the van 1s had already visited. Going to a brewery mid-relay was a strange experience…I couldn’t look at the beer list because then I’d want one! Also, the food you would get after running is wayyy different than that you would prefer to order before running. Normally, my choice would be nothing, being the next runner up after our break, but I thought I should have something, so I got a grilled chicken sandwich and kept it simple and light. As soon as we got back in the van, I reserved a bench where I could lay down…there was no way my stomach was going to be happy if I didn’t get horizontal ASAP. The next thing I knew, it was about 2:30 in the morning, and I woke up to find rain and dew on the windows, a temperature drop of what felt like 20 degrees to me, and being told I would have to run soon. Ouch.
In what seemed like some kind of dream, I got out of the van and stepped into the eerie “Van City” that was exchange zone 18, changed into what I was wearing for my next leg, put on my reflective gear and bib number, used a Honey Bucket, and ran up to the exchange zone with a couple girls to wait for Catey. The air was thick with moisture, and it had definitely rained while I was sleeping. Here goes.
2. Leg 19: Surreal, hilly, and rough
Van 1 was there also, so I knew Catey was coming in soon. She flew in and gave me the bracelet I slapped it on and set off at who knows what pace. Running at night is always strange pace-wise, because your depth perception is so off. I had never tried to run a hard effort at night without being in a lit area, so this was all new to me. I could see the blinking lights and reflective vests of the runners ahead of me, and passed a couple immediately. There was never a time I did not see a runner ahead of me, which was nice; I had been worried about that. Also, there was plenty of van traffic on the opposite side, heading toward the next exchange, which provided some light and company in a sense. I have to admit, there were parts of this leg that made me question my sanity as a runner. I think a lot of runners experience this during the second, night leg of an overnight relay….It wasn’t so much that I hated it, or wondered why I was out there…but more like,
I can’t see where my feet are going, I don’t know where this road goes at all, I don’t know if there is an uphill or downhill ahead or behind me, I’m not sure when I’ll be done, I don’t know what pace this is or feels like, my body is so confused it’s stopped rebelling completely against what it’s being forced to do, this actually may be better than sleeping, not going to lie. Is someone messing with me right now, why do I feel so slow all of a sudden?
Second leg (19).
Yeah, some thought process like that happened. I had thought this was rated VH (very hard) initially, but the sheet we had in the van had said H (hard). I was confused about why this was not very hard while I was running it, but it made it less intimidating probably. Truth: the sheet had a typo. According to every other source, Leg 19 was in fact VH. Finally the 5.89 miles were over, I passed off to Megan, and stopped to breathe. I felt better than I did when I started, so that was good! My watch said 4:03 AM or so when I finished. Yikes. We were in a strange time, a very strange time…definitely not really late at night. Definitely not very early in the morning. It was the dead zone. Speaking of dead zone, I went to tweet that I had finished my second leg after I returned to the van, but somewhere during my leg, we had actually entered a dead zone for cell service. We would stay in that dead zone for…about 11 more hours. Leg 2: 5.91 miles in 44:40, 7:33 pace.
Chariots of Tired & Portland Fire Dragons in the foggy morning at exchange 22, around 7:00 AM.
Megan’s leg was also brutal – not only was it uphill, but halfway through the road turned to gravel. It was a peculiar scene: runners getting dust and dirt kicked up in their faces, lights flashing on the left side of the road, vans crawling along in a traffic jam, stirring up the gravel and creating dusty clouds on the right side. When Megan handed off to Laura, the dirt road was still in effect. That was when the heavy traffic leading up to the exchanges began, and parking at the exchange zones got ugly. When the clock in the van read 5:30 AM, I announced that we were now in “semi-normal time!” By this, I meant that people who woke up to start their day at 5:30 weren’t totally crazy, for the most part. Before that, woof. I got sleepy again all of a sudden, and ended up stealing a little nap during leg 23…I felt like I was missing out on something though, and felt bad for sleeping while people in my van were running, so I didn’t sleep for long! We were hoping for a pretty Oregon sunrise, but unfortunately it was overcast as the sky brightened. Once I realized it was officially no longer dark, and we had therefore made it through the night, I started to feel a little sad. We made it through the night. We would finish in Seaside “soon!” The craziness that was running through the night during Hood to Coast was over, and we only had daylight to conquer from here on out. I wanted to make the most of it, stretch it out as long as possible in my mind.
Total white van chaos at exchange 24. This is exactly why there are designated sleeping areas.
We spent awhile at exchange 24, the next major van exchange where we handed off to van 1 runners. Dick’s Sporting Goods had set up a literal campsite there, complete with rows of tents. We weren’t sure how one got to reserve one of those….It was at this exchange that it was decided we needed to start acting silly. Even without Twitter to write ridiculous updates, we must continue taking pictures, videos, and preaching the word of Nuun to other teams. It had to happen. Lindsay and I started this by initiating a rolling station – we got down on the ground with our TigerTails, my quadballer, and my TP massage ball and got to work. While recording soundbites on her GoPro, of course. I must say, rolling doesn’t usually affect me much, but this time it hurt. Wow. Others came up to us asking if they could use our little tools, and we “interviewed” them about Hood to Coast so far. Eventually we stopped and set off to sing “happy birthday” to someone (he wrote that it was his birthday on the van window), and give him the gift of Nuun samples. Best birthday ever, right? We eventually rounded up the troops and drove off. We stopped to cheer on Mallory during her leg, and even sang Ke$ha for her. That became the new theme: blast every runner’s favorite music out of the van window and slow down as we drove past. Hannah got some Taylor Swift, and a power arch! Feeling a little more energetic at this hour (about 10:30 AM), we took some jumping photos with the Oregon hillside as a backdrop. We may not have gotten to go to Mt. Hood, but in person, these views were also stunning. We used our quackers from the duck boat tour to cheer on runners also…I don’t blame them if they were confused….
Leg 29. Oh my. Warrior Sarah had this one, and it was a killer. We passed her at the beginning of it and cheered out the window, then continued our climb up to get to my exchange. I felt like we were just climbing and climbing, it was insane. At the top, people were out of their vans standing in the runners’ path with an unraveled roll of toilet paper, so the runner would get to “break the tape!” So cool! I’d wanted to play “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus (spring 2009…anyone?), but I didn’t have it on my mp3 player anymore. I was marveling at the huge trees and steep, winding roads…I had never been anywhere like this before. Then…we hit traffic. It was worse here than it had been before any other exchange, and we were basically at a standstill as runners zipped by us. I was thinking I should warm up a little for this last leg anyway, so I hopped out of the van with Lisa and Megan and we started jogging to the exchange. I am very, very glad I did this! Not only did it warm me up, but I wouldn’t have had time to use the bathroom before running if I’d stayed in the van (um, a runner’s worst fear). I wasn’t even on the road when I heard the announcer yell, “seven one five!” I sprinted to the exchange zone and grabbed the bracelet from Catey. Andddd I bolted.
3. Leg 31: guts & glory
I really wanted to average under 7:00/mile for this last, M( medium) – rated 4.00 mile leg. My projected finish pace was 6:59 (I had been right on for the first two, give or take literally a second…I don’t know how you did that, HTC people!). I started out feeling pretty darn good. Somewhere in the second mile, or maybe even before, reality set in: I was tired. This was going to hurt. I focused on picking off other runners (roadkill = 10!), particularly if they were playing music through speakers, and just not letting go of my pace goal, because this was my final leg of Hood to Coast! Sub-7 hurt like never before, but after this I would be done continuing to my awesome team, and just supporting the rest of them all the way to Seaside. I had to make this count. With less than a mile to go, I saw my van. I was worried at first that Megan was still in it and wouldn’t be at the exchange, but Casey assured me immediately that she was there waiting for me already (she had ran out early like I had). A van just ahead of my van had been cheering on their male runner at the same time. I ran past him a few seconds later, and he just muttered an expletive under his breath. It probably had to do with the fact that I was wearing a sparkle skirt. Both teams were there to witness this moment, and if it doesn’t define “chicked,” I don’t know what does. 😉
Splits for my last leg. Total: 27:28 for 4.00 miles, average pace of 6:52!
I let it all go and put on a mean pain face at the end as I saw Megan waiting at the exchange. Some girl I was about to pass that clearly had not been working as hard the entire leg sprinted ahead of me at the last second when I was at my highest gear and couldn’t match her speed…but I’m sure Megan passed her teammate immediately, so it’s all good. I ended up walking back with Lisa, who had been at that exchange with Megan (I’m convinced she ran around 3 extra warmup miles), to the van, hopping in, and just moving on to the next exchange…so much van traffic! At that exchange, I realized that my quads were totally spent, in such a glorious way.
Van 2 girls minus Laura, who was out running leg 33!
The rest of the journey to Seaside went pretty smoothly…highlights included:
– lame rules and pissed-off volunteers at exchange 33
– running out of water at exchange 34…how the Nuun team ran out of water is beyond me, but that happened
– supplying Laura with Nuun as she ROCKED her long, hot, and hilly last leg and steadily roadkilled a bunch of runners
– Lindsay getting through her long last leg on a trail without any van support and officially finishing her part of HTC in one piece!
– sending Devon off to run the final leg to Seaside, and supplying her with her favorite Heart song through the van speakers!
Final exchange! Almost to the beach!
It was down to a matter of seconds whether or not we would get to Seaside in time to see Devon finish! We jumped out of the van when we got close to the beach, and Casey went to park. As tiring as it was, we ran to the finish line and just missed her. We found her, though, as well as our Van 1 teammates. We all got to cross the line together, but it was much less of a spectacle than we had expected – we didn’t get to run by ourselves, and it was way too crowded. We got our medals and took our official team picture, then just hung out and shared our stories from the adventure in the beer garden.
We finally headed to the condos Nuun had rented us for the night (thank you, thank you, they were so nice and I wanted to stay allll week!) to continue the celebration with all three teams. I headed out with some other girls later to touch the Pacific Ocean for the first time! That was probably one of my favorite parts of the day. Others went to get ice cream following that, but I, being from Van 2, was dying for a shower, so unfortunately I took care of that business instead.
In the Pacific!
The next morning was bittersweet, as we separated into different vans after breakfast to head back to Seattle and said our goodbyes. It was such a short time and we all ended up feeling like we knew each other so well! I definitely want to try to make an effort to keep in touch with these wonderful ladies online, so that we can hopefully meet up again at races and maybe even other relays in the future!
I am about as bad at saying goodbye as I am writing the end of this recap…no words can really express how it all felt! One thing that sticks out in my mind though is this: it was really great, and really special, to feel like so many different girls understood me at the same time. Not all of my friends are runners, and even those who are don’t necessarily “get me” when I say or do certain things. All of these girls did. We all came from different backgrounds and different parts of the country: some of us started running in high school, others a year or two ago, others to lose weight, and still others began in their twenties, maybe because their friends were running. Some were mothers, some were engaged, some were single, some worked a lot, some worked a little, some were loud, some were quiet, some were confident, some were insecure. Yet, there was not a single person I spoke to (and I tried to meet everyone) who I did not feel as if I could invite for a run and coffee (er, wait, I don’t like coffee…recurring theme on this trip) and have endless things to share and discuss. That’s pretty darn cool.
I flew out of Philadelphia early on Wednesday morning. I hadn’t been on a plane in almost six years, but everything went smoothly and I found myself taking off, in a seat, in one piece. Apparently you had to pay for wireless internet, and I didn’t bring a book, so I read all of the US Airways magazine. Good stuff.
About six hours later, I landed at SEA-TAC and attempted to find five girls I had never met before in person. Let me tell you, this is a difficult task. I managed to do it though, and hung out in baggage claim chatting with Kristen, Mallory, and Karen until Lindsay and Sarah came. Megan was outside with a van, so once we were all there we headed out and set off for the Nuun office. We were pretty quiet on the van ride; I tried to start some conversation and for the most part succeeded. I knew that pretty soon, we would all be talking like we had known each other forever, because that’s what is bound to happen when you stick a bunch of runners together for several days! So, the initial silence was actually pretty comical.
Exploring Seattle: Pike Place
We arrived at Nuun and put down our bags. Megan took off for another airport pickup, and the rest of us decided to go leave the office and go explore Seattle! We headed toward Pike Place Market, which was a bit of a hike since Nuun is near the stadiums south of downtown. I was so excited to be in a new, major city; I realized it had been over two years since I had (when I went to Boston for the first time). A couple girls wanted to go to Seattle Center to visit the EMP and the space needle, but most of us wanted to stay at Pike and get some food. We tried to take our food closer to the water to sit and eat…but finished it before we got there of course. We browsed around a quirky gift shop by the Ferris wheel , and took some photos by the water!
Leslie, me, Mal, Kristen, and Catey
Camp Brooks
Love it.
I had been in touch with Daniel, who is a rep for Moving Comfort, throughout the day, and I really wanted to go check out the Brooks/Moving Comfort HQ while I had time that day! I didn’t want to leave everyone else as soon as I met them though…so I got the idea that maybe they could come as well? I texted this to Daniel and he said of course! Fast-forward twenty minutes and the five of us were standing on the side of the road looking for his little blue Rio (as Leslie sang his name. I knew they were going to get along). A little directional snafu led us to running down the street and into his illegally parked car, then stuffing ourselves into it and zipping through Seattle towards HQ. What made the car ride more hilarious was that Daniel announced he was selling the car that afternoon, so it was certainly going out with an exciting last ride! I had successfully added a running-nerd activity to our itinerary! Bonus points for that! It turned out Brooks was in such a hurry to move out of Bothell and into Seattle that they didn’t wait for their official new headquarters to be built…therefore they are temporarily stationed a little farther up the street at “Camp Brooks!” After a stop at the candy drawer closet and a photoshoot in a shoe or two, Daniel showed us around the place. My favorite floor: “where the magic happens.” We got to see designers working on big sketches, parts of shoes all over the place, big computer screens, fabrics, and designs that never made the cut. I wasn’t allowed to take any pictures in there, but I definitely felt the familiar flurry of creativity in the air, and it was awesome! After our exclusive tour of Camp, we hopped back into Daniel’s car and he drove us back to Nuun. By now, nearly everyone had arrived in Seattle.
Fun times at Camp Brooks!
Garage
We got in the vans and headed to Garage, a cool place with bowling, billiards, and a bar. It reminded me a lot of Kings in Boston, but a little classier. There, it was nice to chill and talk with everyone. I was getting very sleepy by the time we left (3 hour time change…I technically woke up at 2 AM PT!) but I could’ve stayed there longer, it was really fun! The hotel at which we stayed was also really nice. There was a pool on the roof we all said we would go to, but ended up being too tired at night and skipping it unfortunately. I roomed with Katie and Kimberly, and we adopted Dorothy as well.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 22
Oiselle + run at Green Lake
Thursday morning we all woke up early; 8:30 AM somehow felt late! We met at that time in the lobby to drive to Oiselle! Or as they say, the Nest. I didn’t (past tense!) own any Oiselle tops, so I just wore my signature Oiselle stride shorts and a Brooks top. Sally wasn’t there when we arrived, so we decided to go for a run first, then meet back at the office after. I kind of ran in between two groups of runners unfortunately, so I didn’t talk most of the run. As I mentioned, everything was physically feeling less than decent as of Tuesday night…I wanted to use this run to shake all the bad stuff out and gain some confidence for the next day(s) of running. For the most part, the run served its purpose; I felt much better after than I did before. I just did a three-mile loop around Green Lake. I thought about doing four or five, but then thought I should just save myself for Hood to Coast! We hit up Starbucks after, a stop I
Ravennas represent!
mostly used to stretch, drink water, and take a picture with the RAVENNA BLVD sign across the street in honor of my Ravennas! We walked back to Oiselle after, where Sally spoke to us about the company and their Hood to Coast Team (for Every Mother Counts). She also brought out two stripey long sleeve tees and asked who was the youngest here and who traveled the farthest to get here. It turned out I was the youngest! I kind of figured this, as it happens a lot….Holly is from Jacksonville, Florida, so she got the second one! I put mine on before we posed for a huge group photo!
Nuun takes over the Nest!
Ride the Ducks!
Practicing our quacking before the ride.
We went back to the hotel to shower and get lunch, and then reconvened at 1:00 to drive to Seattle Center to RIDE THE DUCKS!!! I must say, this was probably my favorite part of the trip besides the relay. It is a really touristy thing to do, and normally I don’t like being the tourist, but hey – I was! So why not!? I wouldn’t do it in Philly, Boston, or NYC, because I feel like I know the cities well, but it truly was a great way to see the most sights around Seattle. Our driver was hilarious, which I’m pretty sure is in his job description, and he made us laugh the whole time. If I didn’t already mention this at some point, there is something you should know about me: I really, really like boats. When I am on them. I like feeling the breeze, and the water splashing, and viewing the world from the water versus the land, something you don’t usually get to do. I tend to take about 156,415,456 photos while on the water, consequently. Highlights of the water portion of the trip included a dance contest with the other boat HTC-ers were riding, while we circled
Nuun HTC duck boat dance contest. Duck C vs. Duck D. I’m not sure who won….
each other and probably got too close to one another…a moody drunk sailor…a couple making out on two paddleboards even after we yelled at them over the mic…and just everything else too, because Lake Union was freaking awesome. I was sad to drive out of the water and head back through the city on wheels. Oh, and if you were wondering, yes, we did all have duck noisemakers. They served a dual purpose: relay cheering! People probably thought we were crazy (what happened to cowbells?). Mason was really good at expressing “womp-womp” via duck beak; I couldn’t seem to master it.
Taco bar & van decorating!
I present this with an exclamation point, since things were definitely getting more crazy and exciting leading up to the relay, just the way I wanted it to be! After spending some time just chilling in the hotel room, we walked to Nuun to have dinner and decorate the vans! We got our bags of gifts as soon as we arrived, and Mason talked to us about the history of Nuun’s involvement in Hood to Coast, and previous years’ teams.
– Barlean’s Omega 3 supplement (I had to leave mine in airport security…anyone want to send me theirs? Specifically strawberry banana?)
– Endorphin Warrior bracelet (mine says “RELENTLESS”…as soon as I saw the choices I knew that was mine)
– Swiftwick socks, low cut and knee-high compression…these will come in handy in the winter!
Also, Catey gave everyone on Team Watermelon a special gift: a little green bag with a necklace that says: “She believed she could, and so she did”, plus headbands and ribbon ties! So sweet! I’m not sure how you had the time to even think of being so thoughtful when you are busy with nine kids, let alone put all of that together for us! BIG thank you!
I’m not sure what was so funny….
We attacked the taco bar and the beer fridge, and then got to work outside the loading dock decorating our vans. I am usually the artsy one in the group, so I was all set to take on the design and drawing aspects of our van, when I realized everyone else here was just like me! So, we split things up evenly and managed to all bring our ideas to life on the van. It was a 15-passenger van, after all…plenty of space to write and draw! I ended up drawing lots and lots of black seeds on the sides of the van, and on every watermelon, since I had the black crayon for so long. We shared lots of laughs and came up with some great sayings and puns – you put six bloggers/runners together and creativity flows!
When we were done, some Nuunies drove us back to the hotel since it was getting dark. Except…apparently I missed the memo when I was in the bathroom, and went out to find the vans gone and Emily, Holly R., and Meghan (Nuun ambassador on another HTC team who stopped by to give us delicious cupcakes – thanks!) standing there asking if I wanted to meet Mason at a nearby brewery with them. Ummm, yes? By means of Twitter, a few others ended up showing up later, and we ended up staying fairly late (9:30ish…it’s relative). Van 2 didn’t have to leave until 11:30 AM, so it was all good…or so we thought. My room was mostly Van 1 runners, so there was no hope in sleeping in when they were getting ready to go at 6. It was okay though, I was excited too, and wished we were leaving earlier!
Team Watermelon Van 2 with our masterpiece!
Next post: THE MOTHER OF ALL RELAYS!!! Friday, August 23 – Saturday, August 24.
This time last week, I was still sitting in a white van, which was decorated with oversized watermelons and a half-dozen names and Twitter handles on the windows, and fully stocked with Nuun, snacks, and runners having the time of our lives. Hood to Coast was one of those experiences I knew was going to be amazing, and a huge privilege to be a part of…so much that with each leg that passed, I simultaneously dreaded the end amidst the bliss.
At the risk of saying the exact same thing as everyone else, I need to start by giving a HUGE THANK YOU to Nuun!!! The chance to run Hood to Coast with such an incredible company and wonderful group of people was such a dream come true; the experience was even better than what I had expected! Nuun is definitely more than just electrolyte tabs – they are truly a small company that practices what they preach and goes above and beyond to extend their support to athletes striving to accomplish any goal, small or big. Nuun’s invitation to female bloggers for spots on their Hood to Coast teams is a perfect example and reflection of that. As someone (I forget who) said after Mason gave his little speech Thursday night, they could have easily formed a team or two made up of just their office employees, representatives, and ambassadors, but instead they opened it up for all of us – runners from all over the country with all different running backgrounds and experiences. I have to admit, when I submitted my application video, regardless of the many, many hours I put into it, I was worried I wouldn’t be seen as a “legit blogger” – I had just started my blog in February, some of my posts didn’t even have one reader comment, I wasn’t all over Twitter communicating with lots of other bloggers each day. The truth is, it is easier for me to meet people in person, and the whole internet-blogger-friend thing was still new and foreign to me. But, I wanted to break into that world. I love writing, especially about running. I love taking photos and choosing which ones to use on my blog. I obviously love running, and I feel my experiences could help others if I shared them. And I loved Nuun, and was already marketing it to my friends, family and running community. So, I hoped that would be enough! When I found out it was, I was surprised and ecstatic. I felt instantly connected to the other women as we formed a Facebook group, followed each other on Twitter, became Facebook friends, and commented on each other’s blog posts. I couldn’t wait to actually meet everyone in real life!
After my marathon, when I hurt my ITB pretty badly, I was stressed when the other runners mentioned Hood to Coast. I needed to be healthy in time. There was absolutely no alternative. And…I wanted to give it my all. It was Hood to Coast, after all. I worried that I would have to tell people, “well, 2013 was going perfectly, but then I had to stay home and not run Hood to Coast with Nuun,” and I would have to fall off the blogosphere to avoid seeing what I missed, etc., etc. Yes, I am dramatic, but I know myself too well and that is most likely what I would have had to do. By some miracle, my return to running was full of…races. In which I PRed, medaled, and surprised myself like never before, after little training. I didn’t have 15 milers under my belt before heading to the west coast. Or 10 milers, actually. All that had happened since July 3rd when I began running again gave me nothing short of 100% confidence in my ability to cover the distances and to cover them reasonably fast.
I have some other specific thank yous to give before I launch into my posts about the actual HTC experience!
Mason – thank you, thank you, thank you for everything! You essentially opened up the entire office for us to raid for several days, and made us feel right at home. Last week probably felt like a 120 hour sleepless relay for you, and you were so chill the whole time. Props for being my first blog stalker to meet me IRL, by the way. 😉 See you in Boston!
Megan F. – you are a workhorse! I can’t imagine the organization involved with making HTC a success! For everything from assigning teams, vans, and hotel rooms to arranging our goodie bags – thank you for organizing and having everything go so smoothly the entire weekend! While I don’t have kids like lots of the other runners, it was still so nice to drop all responsibilities and stresses once I got to Seattle and let someone else do the planning! Now, take a day off. 🙂
Casey – I would nominate you for best driver! I don’t know how you managed to stay awake all that time with no coffee (really, I don’t remember you having any?!), plus deal with six girls at the same time! We were never even late to an exchange or had any extremely close calls in that department…or hit any cars or anything…that is quite an accomplishment! Curb-hopping, however….(just kidding). Also, apologies for telling you my life story in like five minutes on the beach (thanks for listening)! Thank you!!!
Up next: activities in Seattle Wednesday and Thursday before the relay (non-running stuff…well not really, anyway)!
First, they chose me to be on their 2013 Hood to Coast Team. That should be enough of a reason, no?
But seriously, Nuun as a product is awesome. I have never taken a liking to any other sports/electrolyte drink out there, finding them too sugary, too heavy, too light, too…not better than water. So, I used to only hydrate with water. Clearly, that isn’t good enough on hot and humid summer days in New Jersey, and so that fact, plus stocking Nuun at work, led me to try it. And…the Boston expo in 2012, when our Running Company booth was two booths away from Nuun, and the water fountain was about 150 meters and 1,500 people away. I’ve managed to try nearly every flavor, and my favorites are…
Watermelon, Tropical, Banana, Grape (actually in the opposite order, oops).
I could say lots of good things about Nuun, but here’s what Nuun has to say themselves:
“Nuun Active Hydration is the #1 selling sports drink tab in the cycling, running and outdoor specialty marketplaces. As education about hydration and wellness grows, Nuun has become more accessible to a wider range of people. In response, Nuun has expanded its product line from sports performance hydration to include two all natural, vitamin-enhanced products for every day use, Nuun All Day Hydration and U Natural Hydration. Be it a bike ride, a long day at the office, or a day at home juggling kids, Nuun has a tablet and flavor customized to help you stay healthy and hydrated.” – from Nuun.com
Speaking of Nuun All Day, I’ve actually started to drink it in place of a multivitamin (since I can’t swallow big pills and chewable ones taste gross…)! I recommend Blueberry Pomegranate.
So…I promised a giveaway of this good stuff. This is my first giveaway on my blog, and I’m not going to do it without providing a catch! As an introduction to the catch…you may recall my last blog post about the 5k I did on Saturday. There is a good reason I’m not linking to the post. See, I mentioned how I was 99% sure that in the age group photo that was taken of me and the winner with the National team (most of whom I personally know, so that makes this worse, I think), I looked at the second camera instead of the right one (she was wearing a USRowing staff shirt!). Well, I saw the thumbnail and it looked like I was right. I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal, because it was just on a Flickr sight nobody visits. But of course, it had to be chosen for the homepage of a website. Greattt. And I thought no one would ever see it. So, that was awful. No one should go searching for it, by the way. I have hardly looked at it and I refuse to.
My point: I would like you to share with me (in a comment on this post) a story of when something ( a photo or the like) came back to haunt you/embarrass you online! Running-related or not.The best story wins a 4-pack of Nuun!Also add which flavor you would like to try!
To distract you from searching for me online, here is a lovely Nuun photo that was floating around on my computer….
And THIS, which I saw upon visiting the Nuun website!!!
This is such a dream come true! It is so awesome to work really hard for something I want and get the reward as well…it’s been awhile! Like I said, I had so much fun making my video application. I jump at any opportunity to be creative, and this was a new and exciting form of creativity that I ended up having tons of fun with. Thank you SO MUCH to Nuun for liking my video and selecting me to their Hood to Coast team!
As I have been working nonstop and catching up on sleep and other things post-Boston, I have gotten lots of new Twitter and blog followers, was invited to the Nuun HTC Facebook group, and received comments and messages I haven’t had a chance to respond to yet! I am really excited to go watch every single video and read the blogs of the other ladies on the team, who sound awesome. The relay might not be until August, but there’s a lot of blogging to be done until then, and a lot more doors in the running and blogging community to open!
On another note, what do you think of the new Cherry Limeade??? I’m a fan, especially of the words “caffeine enhanced”…..
Next up: 18-miler and its effects…plus an inside look on the coveted skill of cowbelling. Spoiler: I have a cowbell blister. You don’t want to miss this.
I planned on writing a post to go along with my Nuun Hood to Coast application…after all, now Nuun is checking up on me…and probably lots of other bloggers! Stress! Just kidding. Life kind of got crazy between uploading my video application to Youtube and now, so this is Catch-up Post #2 of the week! I should have done it earlier since I want this opportunity SO BADLY. Hopefully that won’t affect things. It’s 75 degrees and sunny now, so this is a great time to sit outside between work and my run and share this. 🙂
Like I admit in my video, I cannot stress how much FUN I had making this. I am not a half-ass person: I do it well or I don’t do it. And I will go to great measures to do it well, such as…stay at work until 1:30am filming and editing, driving across town for five seconds of footage, contacting numerous friends for help, etc. I was also constantly coming up with new ideas, so many, in fact, that I could not include all of them in the actual video. There were some clips I didn’t use, and clips I never ended up getting out of my head and on film, but here is the final result!
Thanks for watching! I sold way more Nuun at the store recently, this just made me so excited! Nuun seems like a really cool company, from what I have seen in videos and blog posts from previous Nuun HTC relay teams. It seems like an unforgettable weekend full of things I love, so I am crossing my fingers until the 17th that I get selected!!!
Twitter
I am pretty new to Twitter, but I started using it more this past week by hashtagging “nuunhtc.” I found lots of other bloggers who applied for the team that way, and it was fun to watch their applications and read their blogs (which I’m now following)! I definitely need to spend more time using such a great tool for “meeting”/interacting with other runners. It is so different than Facebook, where you wouldn’t friend someone you don’t know in person (at least, I don’t…). I have found myself following runners just like me who have inspiring, entertaining things to say. I still think I’m much better meeting people face-to-face and engaging in conversation with total strangers, but it’s still cool…and different than that kind of “meeting,” anyway. It sounds funny to say I need to spend more time online…I have too many failed technological devices to be hooked to the internet, but I’ll make a greater effort now that I have entered the blog world.
Speaking of failed technological devices, is there a remedy for phone heatstroke? ‘Tis the technology issue of the day…..
Shoe Stories 