Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining
Missing out on running with Nuun here…
…means I get to run with Nuun here.
It’s hard to be {too} disappointed.
More to come.
“Feelings are much like waves, we can’t stop them from coming but we can choose which one to surf.” ~ Jonatan Mårtensson
(thanks Mel for posting this today)
Team Nuun HTC Applications Index
Time’s up! Pencils down! If you didn’t get your Hood to Coast application in to Nuun by the time you’re reading this it’s too late. Applications were due by the end of Monday.
If you applied like I did you are probably on pins and needles and wondering how you’ll ever make it to April 24th. Please tell me you aren’t super calm about this – I don’t want to be the only nervous wreck… The more I read blogs, Twitter, and Facebook, the more worried I get! There are some spectacular entries out there.
In order to while away the hours while Nuun has the unenviable task of narrowing it down to three teams I’ve decided to provide a space for you to link up your own application. Since there isn’t a way to influence the outcome everyone could probably do with a little moral support right now!
Either email me at alanna @ lovemyrunners . com or post the link in the comments and I’ll move it to the master list in the post.
We ALL Wanna Run:
Alanna – Love My Runners (alumna)
Amanda – Runninghood
Becky – RunFunDone
Caroline – Canadian Runner In Exile
Corey – Schnoodles of Fun
Dawn – Running At Dawn
Dorothy – Mile Posts (alumna)
Falon – Falon Does Marathon
Harmony – Keep On Keeping On (alumna)
Holly – Leaps of Faith
Jess – Blonde Ponytail (alumna)
Jessica – Pace of Me
Jocelyn – Enthusiastic Runner (alumna)
Kerrie – Mom vs Marathon (alumna)
Laura – Absolut(ly) Fit
Laura W. – Girls Gone Sporty
Lindsay – Lindsay On The Go
Mattie – Comfy & Confident
Meggie – The Thinks I Can Think
Melanie – Tall Mom on the Run (alumna)
Melissa – Melissa Runs
Rachel – Running in Real Life
Ricole – Ricole Runs
Sarah – Once Upon a Lime
Sarah – Running Starfish
Susan – Nurse On The Run (alumna)
Tasha – Healthy Diva
The MF Dre – The MF Dre
Tonia – Racing With Babes (alumna)
Tricia – Tricia Minnic (alumna)
Vanessa – Gourmet Runner
XLMIC – Taking It On (alumna)
Please mention this, RT it, send up smoke signals or let carrier pigeons do the work for you – I’d love to get as many links up as possible.
It’s On Like Donkey Kong!
BREAKING NEWS: I Wanna Run {Again!}
ThankYouThankYouThankYou
If you watched the Hood To Coast video yesterday (if not, go do it NOW) to the very end you saw that we had a lot of support from other companies. It’s amazing how many connections some of the other ladies have! I totally benefited and got awesome goodies – loot, really – so it’s only fair that I thank them, especially since I’ve thanked Nuun more than enough (well, probably not, but you get what I mean).
Not only were Kelly and Carrie amazing teammates – unfortunately not in my van – they also gave us each a wicked skirt.
I chose “gunmetal” since I could wear it with most of my tops. Two reasons these skirts are awesome: 1) easily identifiable – we could pick out our runners in crowds and from far away and 2) you can wear them over your own bottoms as they aren’t lined. This is excellent when travelling in a van and not wanting to wear the same bottoms each leg.
Check back next month: you could win your own Team Sparkle skirt.
We were fortunate enough to have BuildASign.com on board with us (literally). They made us fantastic car magnets that held on for more than the 200 miles. We didn’t lose a single one during the entire trip. They were well made (strong) and went so well with our van.
I LOVE my bracelet. I’ve known about them for awhile, but never had the chance to order one for myself. So when Kelly asked what saying we wanted on ours I knew right away: FOCUS. I chose it because that’s what I fight with the most in my running. I think it’s come off a grand total of 3 times since August.
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| Made of metal and leather… pretty hard to ruin it running. |
Almond butter in handy single serve packs. I know I got a packet – I had to claim one before they were all gone, but don’t remember eating it. Now, this isn’t because it’s forgettable. I was told it was excellent. But either I ate it when I was too tired to notice or I brought it home and have promptly lost it.
GU:
It amazes me that we had a box of Raspberry Chocolate Roctane in the van the entire time and we forgot about it. The bonus to that, of course, is that there were lots of leftovers when we got back to Nuun HQ. Even better (for me), most of the people who were around either didn’t like it or couldn’t eat it. I now have a dozen of them to use once training starts back up again. Hooray!
Hood To Coast Video
Remember how I mentioned that we had a videographer following us for 200 miles? Well, here is the finished product. It’s amazing and captures the essence of our experience in 4 minutes. I love that I get to see the other runners since we rarely saw them on course.
Did you spot me? Because I’m a huge dork you can find me at 00:36, 00:46, 00:49, 00:51, 01:01, 01:39-01:41, 02:58, and 03:08.
Hood To Coast – The End
I must admit that this last recap of Hood To Coast is going to be a little picture intensive. Not sure how much there is to say about spending an afternoon on the beach! I don’t remember what time we actually got to Seaside. Thankfully we didn’t have to sit in traffic for very long – if you’ve read other recaps you’ll already know that it turned into a major parking lot. As Van #1 we were able to get to the beach with plenty of time to get settled and wander around.
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| I must have taken this shot – note the slightly skewed horizon. |
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| Mason, Jocelyn, Emily, Lauren, me – it’s hard to pretend to eat penne… |
There were lots of things to see:
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| A bunch of us with Hood To Coast founder Bob Foote, left in blue, and random dude (behind me). |
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| Lauren with Bart Yasso of Yasso 800s fame. |
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| Megan running to the finish |
I’d love to be able to tell you that this is the absolute last post about HTC. Unfortunately I can’t do that just yet. I have at least 2 more and they’re important: a huge thank-you to all of the companies that supported us (no, it wasn’t just Nuun) and what I learned during what can only be described as a whirlwind trip.
Hood To Coast Leg #25 – And The Ugly
Saturday 27 August 2011 – Very Early A.M.
Much of the evening after my second run is a blur. Mostly because I was fading fast. The longer it was dark out the more I wanted to go to sleep. Unfortunately my body didn’t want to let me. I would have been chugging Pepto sooner – yes, the now infamous pizza strikes again – but our other van needed it too. I had to wait until we could steal some out of Nuun Platuun’s van. My dinner was sitting like a lead weight in my stomach and there was nothing I could do about it. At one point I seriously considered making myself throw up just so I would feel better.
Once we got to the van transition (and after finding our keys) we decided not to spend the night there, but drive on to the next one and catch a few hours there. A good idea in theory, but not in practice. Once we were close to Mist – the site of my 3rd run – we hit traffic. Yes, in a relay there is the possibility of a traffic jam at 3 in the morning. It took us 2-1/2 hours to go about 31 miles/50km. It should have only taken us an hour total. Thank goodness we didn’t sleep at the last transition. We would have been S.O.L. the next morning and most likely would have missed our exchange.
Once we moved along I was finally able to get a little sleep. I think I was out for about an hour during Kimberly’s leg just curled up on the back bench. It was nice to both sleep and sleep off the disappointment of my run. After that I was able to enjoy the rest of the legs and once we were all done we were off to Seaside!
Next: Saturday 27 August 2011 – P.M. aka Things Are All Good Again
Hood To Coast Leg #13 – The Bad
Friday 26 August – P.M.
Once we finishing up our first 6 legs we decided to travel on to Portland in search of food. We’d decided on pizza, but Twitter kept displacing the need to settle on a location. It took a while – eventually light-headedness won out over debating how good the place should be – but we stumbled across Pizzacato. Seriously good pizza. And it was meant to be because when we walked in we discovered that they had a gluten-free crust option and their menu’s “new” logo was a Nuun-esque N in a circle.
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| Excellent one-time-only parallel park by Mason. |
If you are wondering about the title of my post and why I labelled this leg “The Bad” the pizza started it off. Yes, it was absolutely delicious, but apparently relays – and the ensuing starvation – will make you forget things. Like how much peppers (in this case red roasted ones) fight with your gastrointestinal system. Relays also mess with your time management skills. We ate around 6pm maybe, but I seriously thought that I was running again around 10:30 or 11. Umm, no. Try 9:30pm. The 3rd piece of pizza let me know it was a bad idea later on.
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| Took a picture so I could remember the name next time I’m in PDX. |
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| Like my fashion sense? Who wouldn’t want to be seen in compression socks, long shorts and a sparkle skirt? |
Once we finished up with dinner we figured it would be a good idea to get ourselves to the next van transition area. It only took us a couple of wrong turns and bridge crossings before we found it! Since I was running I made sure I was all set with my lights, vest and other various necessities. I somehow managed to lose my team for a few minutes – my idea to look for Mason was thwarted by the fact that most of the guys there were tall… – but I eventually rejoined them.
My hip started to give me grief so Kimberly was kind enough to tape it up. I thought I’d try a little jog across the parking lot and back before my run and knew something was up. The tape was doing its job, but my knee was starting to twinge a bit. I thought that maybe it was just the after-effect of my long downhill and then sitting for hours in the van. I thought I could tough it out and then tape it up too after the run. I should have known better…
The transition area was very busy and for all the looking for Megan that we did we still ended up not hearing our number. All of a sudden she was there and I was yelling, “Hey, hey, hey” like an idiot as she passed me. I took off like a shot and had high hopes for my second leg. I met up with Becker (our photographer) on the deck of the Hawthorne Bridge and he took shots of my crossing. Unfortunately I got to the middle of the bridge and discovered that the gates were going down for the bridge to go up. ARRGGHH!!! I was (along with about 20 other runners) delayed by 6 minutes for a sail boat to take it’s sweet time going down the river. Once the gates were up we all were on our way again. However, this is when I knew that my run wasn’t going to go all that well.
When ever I get knee pain – generally below my knee cap – it’s my shoes. Seriously?!? What worse time could they go? I knew I had a lot of mileage on them, but really thought that they would last until after the relay. I guess the run down Mt. Hood and the lack of time for the foam to rebound really killed them.
Leg 13 runs along the river through Portland. It really was a nice route – lots of people were out for the evening so it wasn’t too scary. I knew that I was pretty much at the back of the pack from the bridge, but I followed the blinking lights in front of me at pretty much the same pace. At one point I had to cross some train tracks and am very thankful that I ran my little heart out to beat the train coming off the bridge (it was about 100m away). Tricia told me after that she got stuck there for 13 minutes! After I passed that point my knee was killing me so it was walk-run all the way to the exchange. It was frustrating to say the very least. Not only had I been delayed by the bridge, but now I was adding quite a bit of time simply because it hurt to run. For as much as we all said that this wasn’t a race and it was for fun it sucked to think that I was letting the team down. I hated knowing that they were standing around wondering where I’d gotten to. I was having quite a little pity party until Nuun Platuun’s van drove by and cheered for me. After that I started making deals with myself about how far I’d run before I would allow myself to walk. Since I was running blind (no GPS and I think in km not miles) I was so grateful to see the exchange. I handed the baton/bracelet to Dorothy and I was done!
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| You can’t say you didn’t see me coming! (headlamp, vest w/blinkers, fluorescent sleeves, shoe blinkers and reflective laces) |
This run was a struggle. As said above, it’s hard to feel as though you’ve let down your teammates in some way. I’m not the fastest runner by any means and I know that I was probably the slowest runner in the van. To come in 10 minutes (at least) over the predicted time was crushing. Obviously I made an effort at the end because everyone thought that I looked like I was doing really well. The pizza that was so good a few hours ago also wanted in on the party and kept trying to come back up. A few hours later I would have been pleased if it had… Hard to stay positive when the only word you can come up with when you’re asked how the run went is “shit”.
The interesting thing about a relay is that you can’t dwell on things for long. The run blew. There’s no other word for it. Yes, there were extenuating circumstances. I couldn’t control the bridge and I thought the shoes would be okay. But it wasn’t like I could sit down and cry about it (stand, yes). You just climb back into the van and hope you get to the next exchange when your runner does.
Next: Saturday 27 August 2011 – A.M. aka You Thought The Last Leg Was A Soul Killer
Hood To Coast Leg #1 – The Good
26 August 2011 – A.M. Mt. Hood To Portland
Friday, as noted previously, started bright and early! It was Hood To Coast Day!!! We posed for the obligatory team shot.
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| Mason, Jocelyn, Emily, Dorothy, Kimberly, Me, Lauren |
It was at this point that I “lost” my first item. Of course, it was my camera. I knew that I’d thrown it down on my seat, but for the life of me couldn’t see it when I got back into the van. I wasn’t able to locate it until we stopped for coffee a while later. Turned out that it was under the front bench and I just didn’t look hard enough (which would be a continuing theme for the next 2 days).
Once we were packed in like sardines – between ourselves, our gear, 2 photographers and their stuff (including a bike we loved to hate) it was tight – we were off. It’s a long drive to Mt. Hood. Generally our time was taken up stopping for coffee or bathrooms and learning the ins and outs of Twitter. I learned a great deal, but mostly felt out of the loop since I don’t have a phone that can use it. My iPod was my friend after a while…
I honestly have no idea how long it took to get up to Mt. Hood. But the reality of what was going to happen started to kick in once we started seeing vans for other teams as well as transitions and runners. It was crazy to think that people had been on the road since 3:30 am!
It was at this point that I put in my music and started to zone out. Yes, I could see the mountain looming larger, but I was happy to just shut it all out. It’s not that I didn’t appreciate the beauty of the route or want to see what all the legs looked like (albeit backwards). I just didn’t want to psych myself out and it looks an awful lot like British Columbia anyways.
We got to the top at about 11:45 and since I was set to start us off at 12:30 we didn’t have a lot of time to look around and take pictures. All of us made sure we had our Nuun tattoos and we took a few group shots. Other than that it was making sure I had all of my stuff together – a quick sprint back to the van for sunscreen was absolutely necessary – and getting to the start line. Tricia and I both got to the line and before we knew it we were off!
Team Nuun Tuesday – Let The Reports Begin
I can’t quite bring myself to say that this is the last Team Nuun Tuesday. I’m pretty sure that I’ll have enough to write about until at least next week! Let’s begin with a recap of Thursday’s activities, shall we?
25 August 2011
I had the luxury of driving down to Seattle to begin my epic weekend. While to sign telling us that the border wait was 50 minutes was accurate it wasn’t any fun. Especially when we discovered that the lane we were in was not the one that splits to go to the other booths at the end. And it’s even less fun when all three of us started with the requests for the washroom with about 20 minutes to go.
There’s a sign when you enter the United States that shows a bunch of national landmarks and Spud wanted to know what all of them were. Thank goodness the Space Needle was on there because he kept asking to go see them. Sorry, Bud, but the Statue of Liberty and St. Louis Arch are a little too far to drive today. Guess what Colin got to do after they dropped me off? After waiting so long to cross the line I decided that it didn’t much matter if I got to Seattle too early. I’d already missed the first of the bunch that came in on early flights and knew that even if we drove straight down I probably wouldn’t have that much time to hang out. It turned out alright, though, since I got to spend about half the day with my boys.
We’ve been down to Seattle enough to roughly know our way around. I figured out about 1/2 hour outside of downtown that while I knew the address and which side of the freeway the Nuun office was on I didn’t actually have a map. Oops! The other problem was that we usually are able to take the express lane and it has different exits than the regular road so we didn’t see the one we were looking for. Thankfully I’d remembered that they were near the medical centre so I knew to go north… and we drove by the hotel on the way there too. Our fears were all for naught since we got where we needed to be with minimal aimless driving. After circling their block to find parking in a slightly sketchy area of town we went up and I got to meet Kim (event marketing and Nuun-Platuun-er) for the first time. It was a brief introduction and then Colin and Spud walked me to the hotel. They didn’t have time to stick around because of parking so we said our goodbyes and I did my very best not to cry. Tear up, yes. Outright cry, no.
I think I waited about an hour – reading the free Seattle magazine – before Melody called me and said they were on their way back from Pike Place Market. I felt bad because it was hot (PNW hot, that is) and the walk was uphill. In the meantime Tonia (toe-knee-ahh if you need the intensive or just call her T) arrived and got settled into our room. She was very nice about me butchering her name at least 3 times! We decided to go downstairs to wait for everyone in the lobby and I was pleasantly surprised to see about half a dozen bloggers sitting around chatting. It amazes me how not awkward it was to meet everyone.
Once most of us were at the hotel we started with van decorations. Let me just first say that our team went with an “ignorance is bliss” and “it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to get permission” attitude. We hadn’t been told an outright no in terms of writing on the vans and not just the windows with our markers. This is what we came up with:
I loved our design. We made sure that people knew we were from Nuun as well as letting them know they could follow along/contact us during the race. And I loved that it was rainbow-y. It turned out to be really easy to spot out on the road and in the middle of a field parking lot. I’m a little bummed that the photographer/videographer wasn’t there to document our decorating abilities since we did have a lot of fun doing it.
Once we were done it was time to head over the Nuun office to meet everyone and have dinner. I have to admit that I love their office. It’s on the fourth floor of a warehouse conversion and it’s just cool. Yes, that is the historian in me talking… We were introduced to the staff that would be joining us (Kimberly, Kim, Caitlin, Mason, Casey, Alex and Ken) as well as those that were just still around for the day. After a round of get-to-know-you with everyone it was time for pizza and salads, beer and Nuun. Ask Megan what happens when water accidentally gets into a Nuun tube and the lid is put back on! After a couple of hours and a gift exchange – I got a sweet Austin, TX shirt from Tricia – we all headed back to the hotel. I thought I wasn’t tired, but with an early wake up call (5:30 – ew!) I ended up going to bed at quarter after 9. Since I was paranoid about missing my alarm on my watch I woke up at least 4 times before it went off…
Next up: Friday 26 August 2011 aka The Day I Started “Losing” Stuff
Monday Musings: HTC 2011
This is by no means a recap of this past weekend at Hood To Coast with Nuun. I’m pretty sure it’s going to take a week’s worth of posts to get all that down! Here are just a few random things to tide you over….
- I am actually not that sore. Surprising, considering that I ran down a freaking mountain. It must have been the almost 3 hours of rolling with the stick I did sitting in the border line up waiting to get home last night.
- I am emotionally overloaded right now. There were so many ups and downs (both literally and figuratively) this weekend that I’m trying to process. Being the most introverted person in the van will bring that on. Holy overwhelmed, Batman.
- Canada needs better data plans (re: cheaper). My sad little flip phone was a slight embarrassment when everyone else had a pretty iPhone/Blackberry to tweet with. I mostly just read over their shoulders and listened to my iPod.
- I had an amazing team and I wish I got to spend more time with Van 2. It felt like we only saw them for a couple of hours during the whole event.
- How many companies do you know of where the president is game to not only wear, but run, in a sparkly pink skirt?
- We had an official photographer/videographer for the weekend. I love this shot:
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| Taken on Becker’s iPhone |
- Watch for Nuun to be bringing out new flavours some time in the near-ish future. We’ve been sworn to secrecy since they’re still testing, but there were a couple of good ones in the batch we got to try. Sorry, Mason, but you know that one was just gross. And, yes, I know that you didn’t force me to try it…
- Our team finished (unofficially) in 28:12:46, which was good enough for 4th in the Women’s Corporate Division! That should mean an official invite to come back next year. So, Nuun, do we get to make up the team again?!? You know we’re all game!
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Thank you again (and always) Nuun for choosing me!
It really was an adventure of a lifetime!
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Sorry, I Can’t Blog Right Now. I’m Busy Running Hood To Coast!
What? You didn’t know I was running a 200 mile relay this weekend? Have you been living under a rock or do you not read every post I write? If you’re on Facebook you have no excuse not to know – 90% of my updates have been HTC related since the end of June!
Anywho.
Hood To Coast starts on Friday! Guess it’s finally real since my stuff is all packed up and ready to go. I’m not sure if I’ll even have time to think once things are underway. Luckily both Nuun teams – After-Nuun Delight and Nuun Platuun – have the same, non-cringe-inducing start time of 12:30pm (it’s a staggered start from 3:30am – 6:15pm). We received our detailed itinerary and, while most things are looked after, there are things expected of us. Yes, we need to bring our own general supplies and such stuff, but we need to make Nuun look good too. As Ambassadors we’ll be responsible for promoting Nuun and educating other runners about their product. It’s actually quite a big responsibility if you think about it!*
Obviously I will be incommunicado over the next few days. I don’t have a fancy, or even not-so-fancy, smartphone. And even if I did I would have such a huge long distance/roaming charge that it wouldn’t be worth my while. Here are a bunch of ways to follow along:
Facebook: Nuun
Twitter: @ministryofnuun and #nuun
The whole team on Facebook: Bloggers Spreading the Nuun Love Hood to Coast
After-Nuun Delight Twitter: @AfterNUUNDelite
Nuun Platuun Twitter: @NuunPlatuun
For official HTC updates:
Facebook: Hood & Portland To Coast Relays
Twitter: @HTCRelay and #HTCRelay
To specifically follow me you can check at approximately the following times:
12:30pm (Leg 1)
9:30pm-ish (Leg 2) Based on HTC predictor.
6:40am-ish (Leg 3) Based on HTC predictor.
Check back often and look for references to #alanna (for all you Twitter-illiterates like me you can type that into the search) – that’s me!
* Hopefully some of you have learned something new in the last couple of months too…
Team Nuun Tuesday Thursday
Okay, so life got in the way the other day. Spud had a playdate in the morning and the mail I was waiting for finally arrived in the afternoon, so we got to trek all the way to Colin’s work (thanks, Mum!) to deliver it to him. I didn’t even log onto the computer until after 9pm. I may have lost out on a ticket to Pearl Jam because of it – please cross your fingers and toes that I didn’t because I love them – but not getting around to being online once in a while isn’t really a bad thing…
So on to Team Nuun whatever-day-it-happens-to-be. Fun and exciting things all around. It’s hard to believe that it’s only 8 days until race start! It does not seem like it’s been 2 months since I found out that I made the team. Now I feel like I have to pack a million things into too short a period of time! I have runs to do, things to pack, things to buy, etc., etc., etc.
∗ Here’s what makes it more real:
We have a logo! Aw, crap, I’m running from a mountain to the ocean. And not like here where it’s a 10 minute drive. 200 miles. Really?!? I begged and pleaded to do this? Sorry, my head just barfed that out through my hands. No worries – it’ll be fine!
∗ There are (almost) a million-and-one ways to follow us during the relay! We have a dedicated Facebook page, individual Facebook pages (yes, I did jump on that bandwagon – come join the 11 other people who “like” me), twitter and, of course, our regular blogs.
Follow along!
My fb page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Running-42km/264470343579390 (I won’t actually be updating next week because a) my phone isn’t capable and b) even if it was I’d have a monstrous roaming bill when I got home).
Our unified fb page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bloggers-spreading-the-Nuun-Love-Hood-to-Coast-2011/135670549857284
Nuun’s fb page: https://www.facebook.com/nuunhydration
Nuun’s twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/ministryofnuun
After-Nuun Delight twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/AfterNUUNDelite
Nuun Platuun twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/NuunPlatuun
∗ We got our itinerary recently and it looks like we’ll be having so much fun. Mainly because we aren’t the ones planning it! It is amazing how much work has gone into this as well as how much Nuun is willing to provide for us. Other than bringing along specific foods (if we want/need them) and personal items we really do pretty much only have to get ourselves to Seattle. I thought that I was going to have to go out and find ice packs, but even those are on the list.
∗ Hood To Coast released the shirt design today. How awesome is this?
I’m really hoping that it’s red not orange otherwise I’ll probably look like death wearing it. I know I’ll wear this one til it’s worn out, though, even if I look bad.
∗ Members of my team have totally gone above and beyond in terms of getting us free stuff. I feel bad that I have zero connections… I’m going to have to have a post solely dedicated to the amazingly generous vendors once the relay is over! And, believe me, it’s going to be long!
∗ I went out and bought new running stuff today! I might have to talk Colin into letting me keep it all, but everything really is necessary. Especially considering it’s recommended to have new outfits for each leg and I have enough for about 1-1/2. Thank goodness I work in retail and can get a discount on this stuff!
∗ Only one more downhill training run! I’ll probably run the same route as last Friday. Need to focus on my form and think of being, as one friend recommended, “light on my feet.” I guess technically I’m tapering!
Extra-Wordy Wednesday: Meet The Team!
Mel has done an insane amount of work to introduce all the Nuun team members to you and to each other! Click the photo to read all about us!
Team Nuun Tuesday
1. Thanks to the talented and extremely patient Carrie team After-NUUN Delight now has a logo for Hood to Coast:
2. Back at the start of this adventure, and when we all had ideas coming out the wazoo, we thought it would be great to have a team shirt. Well, there is no longer a need. Nuun has come up with a sweet design – it’s Nuun, not team name, specific – and I am so excited to be getting a couple of them! I hate being secretive, but I don’t think that they’re for the public quite yet. Let me just say that their design team is exceptionally creative!
3. Bought your Nuun yet? Don’t forget to use coupon code: afternuundelight to receive 25% off.
4. Hill training started last week so I should have a fairly good base going into HTC. I just need to make sure that I do a couple of runs where I focus on my downhill technique. I still want to try to run down Mt. Seymour, but will need some assistance from my friends. Hopefully at least one person is as nuts as I am – I don’t really want to have to run it alone. More from a wildlife encounter perspective than anything else.
That’s about it for this week. Things should be swinging into full gear soon enough since there are only 22 days until I have to be in Seattle to meet my teammates. I know that HTC should be announcing start times on the 6th so that’s what I’m looking forward to for the next few days.
Team Nuun Tuesday
⇒ The big news for the week is that Team #2 is now officially Nuun Platuun. I think that it is a great name, especially with already built-in costume ideas! And it is totally the opposite from us. When I saw it the first thing that popped into my mind was that Team Nuun Platuun vs. Team After-Nuun Delight has a very late-60s Hawks vs. Doves feel to it. We’ll be the mellow, “have a try, man” team and, in my head at least, they’ll be the “drop and give me 20 and then we’ll see if you deserve it” team. I’m sure it won’t be quite like that, but it gave me a laugh.
They “released” their top secret info last week: each blogger had the same post consisting of bios of all of the members. You can check it out at XLMIC’s blog, Taking It On. She did the compilation so that’s the link you get.
⇒ Plans are underway for our van design. Nothing is set in stone quite yet, but think 70s, rainbows, flower power or disco (that’s the sticking point, but it looks like flower power is winning), paisley, etc. Lots of colour! You should be able to see our van a mile away! I’m a little freaked out by having my face plastered to the side of the van, but there’s no I in Team! Ha!
⇒ Loving my new flavours of Nuun! So far Tropical and Grape are the front runners. I still haven’t worked up the courage to try the Banana. It really does scare me.
⇒ Hood To Coast is one month away!!! That makes it sound so close. The major issue was my passport and it should be here in about 2 weeks. Other than that I guess I should start hauling stuff out of cupboards and drawers.
Team Nuun Tuesday
Not a lot to report this week. The 2 things I want to talk about in depth are either unannounced or have not arrived yet. So here’s the pathetically short synopsis.
1. Team #2 has a name. I found out purely accidentally when their new group showed up in my Facebook news feed. However, I can’t in good conscience spoil it for them. I really want to spill the beans, but that would make me a bad word of the highest order. And a really crappy teammate. Let’s just say that it’s great and, even though I love our name, I kind of wish we’d thought of it. If Team #2 is reading – What’s taking so long?!?*
2. Nuun sent out a gift pack of sorts to team members. There has been much talk about it on Facebook. Unfortunately I do not get to benefit from the USPS’s efficient service. While everyone is either ripping theirs open or giving it away (I may or may not be that generous) I am patiently waiting. That would be the downside to living in another country. I get to guess when Canada Border Services Agency and Canada Post will get their acts together and deliver my package already!
*Seriously, I’m only half joking. I can keep a secret (well, Colin knows), but still. If the suspense is killing me, think about how everyone else is feeling… 🙂
Team Nuun Tuesday
Big news on the Team Nuun front! Okay, so it’s big news if you’re on the team… Team #1 has decided on a name!
Melody was both kind and pro-active enough to put together a survey of all the names we’d brainstormed and tally the votes. While we’re definitely a creative bunch the favourite name won by a landslide. It was actually the first name suggested, which may or may not have been the reason we loved it. Henceforth (my big word for the day) we shall no longer be known as Team Nuun #1, but
More fun stuff; again, if you are on the team (or living vicariously through us):
Team Outfits:
Kelly and Carrie are on Team #1 and have graciously said that they will provide us with Team Sparkle skirts. Of course, it helps that they own the company! We’re going to go with different colours for each runner and they’ll each represent a Nuun flavour.
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| How freaking cute are these?!? |
Nuun is providing shirts for us and we can customize them as we see fit once we get them.
Contests:
Nuun’s been thinking up contests to run between teams 1 and 2 during the relay. They totally sound like fun, but I’m not going to share them quite yet since there hasn’t been complete confirmation. Let’s just say that the ladies on Team #1 are going to try their hardest to win any prizes that are up for grabs…
“Back to School”:
I’m going to need to memorize some facts! Since we are essentially Nuun reps for the weekend it’s kind of important that I know what I’m talking about.
T³
1. Where the heck is summer around here? Mother Nature is waffling. It’s like she’s saying to herself, “Hmm, I really did enjoy spring this year. Maybe it shouldn’t be summer even though it says so on the calendar.” The last few days were beautiful: sunny, hot, verging on being just this side of unpleasant. Today we get this:
2. My first ever 2-a-day went so well! I took Spud out for a 7.5km steady hour long jog in the morning on Tuesday. It was a little later than I should have been out simply because I was a hot, beet red, sweaty mess by the end of it. I completed my second run (a tempo) with my clinic, going 3.2km in 19:46. That’s about a 6:10/km average. I was good until about 2km and then ran with a friend who I know is faster for the last bit. I was about ready to die, but I blame that mostly on the earlier run. My legs felt heavy, but I was super pleased. Best thing of all was that I felt fine the next morning.
3. I didn’t mention it in my post on Tuesday because things were still being decided, but here are my teammates for Hood To Coast. Make sure you check them all out – they are an amazing bunch of women and I’m so excited to meet them all!
Van #1:
Leg #1: Me
Leg #2: Dorothy @ Mile Posts
Leg #3: Nuun Staffer
Leg #4: Jocelyn @ Enthusiastic Runner
Leg #5: Emily @ Sweat Once A Day
Leg #6: Lauren @ Health On The Run
Van #2:
Leg #7: Nuun Staffer
Leg #8: Carrie @ This Mama Makes Stuff
Leg #9: Mel @ Tall Mom On The Run
Leg #10: Melody @ I Run Like A Girl
Leg #11: Kelly @ According To Kelly
Leg #12: Megan @ Watch MeGo Run
Team Nuun Tuesday
Welcome to my new Tuesday feature where I discuss all things relating to my Hood To Coast adventure with Team Nuun.
“Team Nuun Tuesday” has a nice ring to it so I thought that I could condense all of my ramblings and thoughts into one post a week rather than have a smattering about it here and there. It puts it all together nicely and, if you are sick to death of reading about HTC, then you can just avoid my blog on Tuesdays until the end of August!
Fun and exciting things that happened this week:
* We received our leg assignments! Drum roll please and hip, hip, hooray: I’m running Leg #1 (13 and 25)!!! This was my first choice and I am extremely excited to have gotten it. It’s listed as the least difficult and has the lowest mileage, but that isn’t why I chose it. I wanted to do it because leg #1 runs down the side of Mt. Hood. Literally. It’s a steep road and there is a 2000ft elevation LOSS in 5.64mi/9km.
* One of the reasons I’m happy with my assignment is that I can train for it. All I need now is to find one or two of my real life friends who are willing to help me out. If anyone wants to run down Mt. Seymour Parkway with me or at least drop me off 9km up the road let me know! I’m not joking.
* I came home from work on Friday to find not only 2 emails from Nuun regarding placements, but 21 other messages from teammates! We are all apparently very proactive. So far we’re brainstorming team names and slogans to write on our vans.
* I found out my teammates and couldn’t be happier! Lots of amazing women and I’ll get to know the ones who aren’t in my van in the time before and after the race.
* Today marks my first ever 2-a-day! Like many things running, if you’d asked me 2 years ago if I thought that it was a good idea to run twice in one day I would have looked at you like you were nuts. I ran a steady and slow 7.5km in about an hour this morning with Spud and will do a 3km tempo run with my half clinic this evening.
Love My Runners 
