{Laying the Groundwork} 2011 Hood to Coast Relay – Nuun-style: The Miniseries, Part I

After the prologue... Team Nuun Women Bloggers Invade Seattle...in which we saw the runners like me and Major Miles...

picture courtesy of Sweaty Emily

wandering the streets of the city..

The Nuuners went back to the hotel where we decorated our vans...our awesomely huge and comfy vans! Nuun really did their homework on what to get... 12-passenger vans with a big cargo area behind the last benchseat! Spacious and gracious... for your entertaining pleasure. Functioning A/C. Outlets for our chargers to help feed our smartphone-powered, social media addictions...

Let the creativity begin...

AfterNUUN Delight!

colorful, noticeable, flashy...

and the flip-side...

so awesome how we wrote it so you would read it backward in your rear-view :P

yeah... we're thinkers...

but we had a super hot hood ornament!

We spent a little more time hugging and planning than we did actually decorating.

Such amazing, genuine smiles... matching their personalities...really... love these ladies!

front to back: Sgt. Style, Pvt. Chafe, Maj. Miles, Lt. Love

"You didn't see anything..."

Stealth, camouflaged... 

you never see us coming and you never know what hit you :)

Once we were satisfied with our decorations... or out of paint... each team had a little pow-wow and gear meeting of sorts. Some of the ladies have connections, and we all were lucky enough to be hooked up with stuff like...

Tommie Copper compression sleeves 

(ended up saving my legs),

Road ID dogtags (!),

and Moving Comfort bras (!!).

It was then time for dinner and our briefing. We journeyed on foot to Nuun HQ... where they had a really cool thing to sit on...

I think it's some kind of filter deal.

Way cool.

And LOTS of Nuun...

which they told us help ourselves to.

And you know runners... and bloggers...

this is what happened...

decimated.

Our group LOVES us some Nuun!

We got to meet the people who are the inner workings of the company. It is a very friendly, relaxed group of hard-working, fun people. As this 'image' was maintained through the entire odyssey of the weekend, clearly it is not an 'image'... it is genuine :) They are truly an amazing group.

The woman who put this together for us...

Kimberly

She organized the whole deal and also ran with AfterNuun Delight in Van 1!

And I found out she is a Granny's Gadgets fan! She has given me a challenge...

use a particular item from my Hood to Coast 2011 experience as a gadget!

You know I can't refuse this challenge :)

Mason

The new company president.

AfterNuun Delight's Van Numero Uno Driver Extraordinaire...

...and Sparkle Skirt Aficionado.

Not only did he sport one for the photo-op, 

he even ran a couple of legs with runners in his van in the sparkle skirt!

Additionally, he promised me a copy of the Nuun Cocktails Recipe Book...

I'm looking forward to posting some of these on here :)

Casey

Nuun Platuun's Van 2 Driver/Coach/Sounding Board/Fearless Leader

and company CFO.

This guy seems to never stop smiling. 

This guy has more energy than I do... and he, like me, is not caffeinated.

When the going got tough for Sgt. Style out there in her third leg... the brutal 35... 

Casey jumped out and ran her in for the last 2 miles.

We all LOVED this guy.

LOVED.

KIM!!!

My newest hero.

The Nuun Staffer running Leg 8 for Nuun Platuun...

This woman is an accomplished runner who really knows how to put the pedal to the metal and GO!

Watching her crank up the dusty hill in the dark on Leg 20 was incredibly inspiring.

No contacts, no glasses, no complaints... just powering up the course in a real cloud of dust.

She shared with us words of wisdom primarily directed at running but that carry over into life.

We all felt so incredibly fortunate to have shared this empowering, life-changing experience with her.

She saved me from passing out on the beach after the race and walked me back to the hotel.

No! I hadn't been drinking... I had been running! As I have been putting it...

Every cent I had, I spent on the road at this relay.

As redundant as it is...

We all LOVED this woman!

LOVED her.

Guess I oughtn't put it in the past tense :P

Alex and Ken

The other drivers.

Ha!

No... these guys deserve waaaayyyyyy more recognition than that!

Youthful energy and earnest attitudes... exactly what you need in a driver who will be staying up ALL night and dealing major traffic clusterthingies... no cussing on the blog ;-)

These guys were AWESOME!

Ken even donned a sparkle skirt in support of his AfterNuun Delight Van 2 runners. Alex got decked out in costume for Nuun Platuun, but somehow camo and warpaint doesn't seem like such a guy-stretch :P Point being... both guys really rose to the occasion and gave their all toward the success of the weekend :)

Rounding out the bunch are 

Caitlin

the latent powerhouse in Nuun Platuun's Van 1.

This girl gave it her all in every way :)

I wish I had gotten to spend more time with her.

and

Jenn

powered by Nuun!

Always smiling and full of energy...

Nuun provided pretty much everything we needed from food to water to NUUN (!) to wipes and sunscreen and toilet paper. I was so impressed by how thoroughly prepared they were for us. It was such a treat to need to just show up and run and have FUN! I felt so taken care of... it was a strange role reversal for me :) and I loved it! 

The weather was super hot during the days and even into the first night... it must've been in the 70's and was very humid when I ran my first leg after 9 p.m. on Friday. I found Nuun to be a great way to keep me hydrated during the day while waiting for my turn to go and then to replace my electrolytes after sweating my butt off out there in the sticky, mugginess. As this was the most I had run in a very long time, I was very concerned as to how things would go in terms of fueling and hydration. Using Nuun, I had no problems whatsoever. Based on my experience with Nuun, I have to give both people and product two thumbs way up :)

When I think back to my silly nun-running-at-noon video, I know that I was completely unaware that Hood to Coast Relay would be such a mind-blowing, life-altering experience. I was excited to be picked... grateful even. But now that I have lived it... and been through it with such an amazing and supportive company such as Nuun and the ladies they picked to represent them, my gratitude has deepened. This experience tapped into the essence of my being. I felt renewed and alive. Maybe it is my age... maybe it is the years off from injury... I never thought I would get to be a part of something like this again. What am I talking about? Remember my video? 

Being a part of something bigger than myself. 

I got it.

Hood to Coast 2011... courtesy of Mason, Kimberly, Kim, Casey, Alex, Ken, Caitlin, Jenn, and the rest of the good people at Nuun... and the amazing women of AfterNuun Delight and Nuun Platuun! 

Unforgettable and forever grateful :)

Thank you so much!

********************************

Thus begins the miniseries... Hood to Coast 2011. More details coming soon!