Posts Tagged by nuun

I have a confession. I don’t really love it when people stretch out their race recaps over a period of days (or weeks!). When they make you wait forever before they tell you how everything went, and drag it all out into 50 different blog posts. Yet here I am, weeks after getting home from Oregon and I still haven’t finished my Hood to Coast recap. And at this point, I can’t even say for sure that you care enough to read it.

But since I like things that have closure, I’m going to finally write this last chapter of my Hood to Coast experience. It’s sort of bittersweet, really. I guess now I actually have to admit that it’s over.

I will be adding all my HTC posts to the {ontherun}Relays page in the near future, but for now if you’re catching up:

The Power of a Relay

The Top 10 Things I Learned from Hood to Coast

10 Bloggers, 200 Miles, and 25 Tubes of Nuun: Part 1

Part II

When I left off, Van 1 of After-NUUN Delight had finished fueling up on pizza and was getting ready to kick off our second legs of the relay. But as we pulled into the van exchange, my body was feeling ready to sleep – not run. I knew I needed an intervention fast.

And by intervention, I mean caffeine.

Luckily, our fearless driver offered to accompany on my quest for coffee. Problem is, there was none to be found. The only coffee shop we came across told me that the only coffee they had was brewed so long ago that it wouldn’t taste very good. They may not be good sales people, but at least they were honest! Instead they sent us to the restuarant across the street, saying they might have coffee available for take-out.

Although the people at the counter thought I was crazy when I gave them my request, they did oblige with the only thing they had – an iced Americano in a take out soup container. Or as Mason deemed it – “espresso soup.”

A few sips of this caffinated delicacy, and I was ready to go. Just like magic.

The Second Legs

Nuun staff – Kimberly, Mason, and Alex – Van 1 driver for Nuun Platuun

As the second set of legs started up, it was pretty clear that our driver was getting antsy. Put a sub-3 hour marathoner in a van with a bunch of runners for the day, and you get someone who is practically dying to run. So when Jocelyn mentioned that she wouldn’t mind company on her night leg, Mason practically jumped at the chance. We told him he could jump in on one condition – he don a pink sparkle skirt for the miles.

Fortunately, if you haven’t figured this out already – Mason is a pretty awesome guy. He didn’t even hesitate.

It is rumored that Mason and I may have been wearing the same size skirt. To which I say – no comment.

As Mason and Jocelyn took off on their leg Emily and I made a quick decision – if, when it was our turn to run, our driver wanted to keep going, we would let him. It was the least we could do to thank him for putting up with our craziness all weekend.

My second leg was 5.23 miles, rated Hard. Probably because the run was a steady uphill climb. But I’m going to let you in on a little secret of relay running: uphill climbs at night always feel easier than uphill climbs in the daylight. When you can’t actually see what’s in front of you, it never seems quite as tough.

Not surprisingly, when Emily came up the shoot for the hand off to me, Mason was still with her. I grabbed the slap bracelet and as I started to run I turned back and yelled, “Do you want to keep running?”

At this point Mason had already done about 12 miles. Apparently that wasn’t far enough. After a quick conversation with our vanmates to tell them to pick him up a few miles in, he came sprinting after me.

Okay, so this is actually Mason sprinting off after Jocelyn. But you get the idea.

Unfortunately for Mason, after only a few minutes in, a race volunteer made him stop and wait at a stoplight until the light turned. I was actually pretty shocked by this – in every other relay I’ve run, the organizers have police guiding traffic. So if a runner needs to cross, they let them go before the cars. I had never actually seen someone get stopped before.

For a few seconds, I thought about taking off and seeing what Mason was really made of. His legs are about 3 times as long as mine – he should’ve been able to catch me no problem! But I took pity on him and slowed down crawl, practically jogging in place so he could catch up.

The first mile was nice and easy. After waiting for Mason, we soon saw Lisa off in the distance – my Nuun Platuun counter-part that I used for motivation during runs (thanks for being a good sport about it Lisa!!). We caught up to her and chatted for a little while before parting ways.

At this point, the run turned off a highway and onto an old logging road. The air was peaceful, the night was cool(er), and my espresso soup had kicked in full force. I fell into stride beside Mason, using him to help keep me running strong. As each footfall echoed against the pavement, I found myself loving the run more and more. I didn’t even notice the hill as we flew through the night.

I’m not sure if Mason was loving it quite as much. His grand plan to be picked up a couple miles into the run was foiled when our route turned onto a different street than the vans could follow. Which meant he was stuck with me for all 5 miles. If he was thirsty or tired, though, you couldn’t tell. He ran 17 miles that night, without slowing a bit.

During the last mile, the hill finally caught up to me. Things got steeper, I stopped feeling super-human, and it was all I could do to just try and hang on to a quick pace. By this point I was running through pitch black darkness. By my watch, I knew the transition had to be somewhere close. But in my mind, that last bit seemed to stretch out forever. There were no lights, no crowd – nothing to tell me that the end was near.

Finally, almost suddenly, I came on top of a cluster of people waiting for the hand-off. I sprinted in, and my leg was done!

Final Stats:

5.22 miles in 37:56 (7:16/mile)

7:39, 7:21, 6:57, 7:06, 7:15, 1:35 (7:18 pace)

And that’s when the pizza caught up to me. I finished and made a bee-line for the van in search of some Pepto. We were finally able to score some off of Nuun Platuun Van 1, who were kind enough to let us borrow their bottle for the night.

And so commenced a celebratory round of pepto shots. Team bonding = taking swigs out of a communal bottle of Pepto.

Finally – it was time to sleep. Well…after a 20-minute frantic search for the van keys that somehow managed to fall out of Dorothy‘s sweatshirt while she was waiting for me to finish. After a frantic hunt in the dark parking lot, the keys were finally retrieved and we took off for the next transition – ready for some shut eye.

The Tale of Traffic Begins

Unfortunately, the race had other plans for us. A few miles outside of Mist, we got stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic. It was so bad, that runners were leaving the transition point and arriving at the exchange before we could drive the few miles between them.

This year Hood to Coast had added 250 extra teams – which means 500 extra vans trying to get to the van exchanges. The roads weren’t always built for this kind of traffic – and the volunteers didn’t help. We finally made it up to the transition point only to find plenty of parking spaces available, and a volunteer who was holding everything up and doing an awful job of directing traffic.

By the time we pulled into Mist, we only had about 1 hour to sleep until Van 2 was projected to make the hand off. So we all curled up in the van as best we could. I spent the night cuddled up next to Emily. Lucky for me, she was a good sport about it.

On our Last Legs

6:30 am came way too soon. But I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to run!

Sort of.

I modeled my awesome tatt crossed off my leg from the night before, and got ready to run one final time

But, like always, as my leg drew nearer and nearer I got increasingly nervous. The stomach issues hadn’t really gone away during my hour of sleep. So I took a few more swigs of that pink delishousness and crossed my fingers that it’d be enough to keep the problems at bay.

When the four of us start a band, this will be our album cover.

Fortunately, all it took for my excitement to come rushing back was to watch each runner in our van finish their third and final leg. Their feelings of relief and excitement after finishing were contagious. I wanted that to be me!

With each leg, the terrain got more mountainous. Until we reached Emily’s final leg – which was 3 miles up the side of a mountain, and then 3 miles back down the other side.

It looked grueling. But Emily is a champ – she powered up that hill with a smile on her face, and finished the leg feeling on top of the world.

Which meant it was finally my time to run again.

5.35 miles, rated Moderate.

From looking at the leg profiles and reading the descriptions, this was the leg I had been most excited about all weekend.

Gradual uphill and steep downhill on winding narrow back road with minimum shoulder.

Yes please. In my case, Hood to Coast really had saved the best for last.

Emily came sprinting into the transition point neck and neck with another team. She handed that snap bracelet to me and I took off as fast as I could. That runner was going to have to work if she wanted to keep up.

The first couple of miles were rolling, with one tough uphill climb. Unfortunately my Garmin decided it didn’t really want to cooperate on this leg. It had had trouble finding the satellites before the run and was now showing me paces that were impossibly fast.

5:13 for the first mile? I don’t think so. If that were the case, I just got a new mile PR.

After that, the paces on my watch just kept jumping around and looking weird. I had no idea if I could trust it – which meant that I didn’t know how far I had gone or how much further I had to go. So I just ran, focusing on the sights around me instead of what pace I was running.

And let me tell you – those sights were glorious! The sun was shining, the leg was peaceful, and I was feeling awesome. We crested a hill around mile 2.5, came around the corner and the world opened up before me. I had almost 400 feet to drop in just a mile. And it was my last leg. So I leaned into that hill and just let myself fly – all thoughts of protecting my quads from being completely shredded out the window.

Two thumbs up – this leg is awesome!

The further I ran, the greater the views were. Sometimes I’d be running through forests of tall pine trees – other times it would open up, and I’d see mountains in front of me. If there ever was a time I was drunk on relay love, this was it.

No I didn’t take this photo while running. But these are the types of views I got for 5 miles.

I may or may not have even yelled out “This is AMAZING!!!” to my team as they drove by in the van. But I can’t really be responsible for my actions. I was high on Hood to Coast.

Unfortunately for the team – the traffic problems had caught up to us again. Less than halfway into my leg, Dorothy ran out of the van to hand me our team stopwatch. They were stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic and didn’t think they’d make it to the transition in time. This situation was probably frustrating for them, but it was pretty cool for me. Team vans lined the course for miles, blaring music and cheering for the runners. It was just one more thing that made my leg feel so amazing.

All to soon, the transition point appeared. My final leg of Hood to Coast was done.

Final Stats:

(take these with a grain of salt – they’re probably off)

5.67 miles in 35:53 (6:20*/mile) *I’m guessing my pace was probably closer to 6:30-something/6:40.

There are really no words to describe how glorious this last leg was. I honestly loved every single minute of it and wished I could have run longer. Which is a first for the last leg of a relay when you’ve gotten 1 hour of sleep in the past 30. I can safely say that not only was this my favorite leg of Hood to Coast, but it was also my favorite leg of any relay I’ve ever done.

The Celebration

The high I had gotten from my final leg didn’t wear off any time soon. In fact, it kept me buzzing until about 8:00 pm, when I mistakenly drank a margarita with dinner. A few sips of hard alcohol, and I was out.

Fortunately, we had had plenty of time to celebrate before that. And celebrate we did!

It’s not everyday you get to hang out with Bart Yasso after a race and talk about how it went.

Or get access to the VIP food line.

Or the VIP beer tent.

And it’s definitely not everyday that you get to spend a weekend with a group as amazing as my vanmates. These people have a very special place in my heart.

Unfortunately, Van 2 did not have the same smooth sailing to the finish as we did. The traffic throughout the day kept getting worse, and by the time they left the last transition to head to the finish, the back up was well over an hour. They were still stuck in traffic when Megan finished the race.

I can’t even imagine how frustrating this must have been for them and I know many people raised very vocal complaints to the Hood to Coast organizers.

But finally, after a long trip for our Van 2 teammates, the vans were reunited and it was time to join together for a team finish!

Over 28 hours after starting at Mount Hood, we had finally done it! We had reached the finish line.

Final Team Stats

Time: 28:12:46

Overall place: 323

Division place: 5/11 *which means we got an award…supposedly…

Even weeks later, when we’ve all gone back to lives that don’t involve sleeping in a van and running every few hours, the feelings of gratitude and excitement about Nuun and Hood to Coast have not faded. I am so blessed to have been given this opportunity of a lifetime.

Thank you Nuun for being such an amazing company. And thank you to all the bloggers who joined Team Nuun and made this a weekend I will never ever forget!

 

The Tale of Our Journey from Mt. Hood to the Oregon Coast.

Part 1

I know I’ve kept you all on the edge of your seats, waiting for more details about my experience running the Hood to Coast relay. Beyond my obvious love for my team and Nuun, I’m sure you’ve been dying to know what it was really like to run HTC, and what my splits were. No….just Lizzy? Well, that’s okay because I’m going to tell you anyway.

I tried to keep this as short as you can possibly keep a race recap that covers over 24 hours of running and cheering. But if you know me and my penchant for wordiness, you’ll know that that’s pretty impossible. So to prevent it from turning into a novel that no one but my parents would ever read, I decided to split this up into 2 posts. Come back tomorrow if you want to read it all together!

The Preparations

I arrived in Seattle late on Wednesday night before the relay. After a restful sleep in a beautiful 5-star hotel The Red Roof Inn, Susan and I met up with Alyssa to enjoy breakfast at an amazing local diner. Okay, so we ate at Denny’s. But it was near the airport, cheap, and we were starving. It’s all in the name of carbo-loading, right?

We spent that day exploring Seattle, meeting up with bloggers (including Alma, who took us on a little tour), and of course, eating more food.

Alma, Alyssa, Susan and I in front of the first Starbucks (shamelessly stolen off of Alyssa’s blog)

Susan, Emily and I chowing down on Greek wraps

Then it was time to decorate the vans. I’ve talked before about how crucial a well-decorated van is to a successful relay and this one topped them all.

Thanks to some very creative women on our team, and the generosity of Build-a-Sign to donate awesome car magnets with our logo, head shots, and blog addresses printed on them, I can safely say that this was the most decked out van I’ve ever had the pleasure of riding in. We were flashy, and I loved it.

Once the decorations were finished, we headed up to the Nuun offices to eat pizza, go over last minute details, and grab a few last-minute samples of nuun to take home with us. Then it was time for a restless night of sleep.

The Start

I probably slept for about 2 hours that night. Even though I have run relays before, Hood to Coast was a whole new ball game. I was so anxious and excited that I sprung out of bed at 4:30 in the morning, ready to hit the road. We loaded up our very full van (containing 5 bloggers, 2 nuun staff, and one videographer who apparently needed the entire back seat to sleep for his work), made a pit stop for the essentials (read: bagels and coffee) and were on our way to Mount Hood.

This was at 6am on Friday morning. We were going to be in that van for the next 30 hours – and I’d be awake for 29 of them.

After a very long trip that included multiple Tweet-requests to @RunHydrated for pit stops (yes, it is appropriate to Tweet the president of a company when you are sitting 10 feet away from him in a van),

Mount Hood finally came into view. And I will tell you – nothing prepared me for that first, breath-taking glimpse of the mountain. Seeing Mt. Hood on a movie screen does not even compare to seeing it in real life.

They don’t make those where I come from.

All too soon, 12:30 arrived and it was time to start.

Alanna and Tricia took off down the mountain, and Hood to Coast had begun!

Quick note: I’m not going to talk in depth about any of the legs but my own. If you want to read about how amazing the rest of my team and the Nuun Platuun runners all did, you should visit each of their blogs.

Team AfterNUUN Delight:

Van 1: Alanna, Dorothy, Kimberly, Jocelyn, Emily, and I

Van 2: Jen, Carrie, Tall Mom Mel, Melody, Kelly, and Megan

The First Legs

In past relays, I’m usually pretty early in the rotation – like runner Number 2 or 3. This time, I was bringing up the rear. As Runner #6 in Van 1, I had to wait almost as long as the girls in Van 2 did to run. Only difference is – I was watching everyone else run as I waited. I spent that whole first afternoon just itching to get started.

Finally, at about 4:30 on Friday afternoon, Emily came racing down Highway 26 with the snap bracelet and it was my time to go.

6.75 miles – rated Hard

If I had to use only 3 words to describe my first leg, they’d be: hot, sun, and highway.

The leg ran along the shoulder of Highway 26. Not particularly scenic and not the least bit shady. At this point, the temperature was somewhere in the mid/high 80s, and the pavement had been baking in the sun all day long. You’d think that since I had been waiting so long to get my chance to run, I would have been ecstatic by the time I took off on that leg. But the truth is – as I started off down the long stretch of highway, it was pretty easy for my thoughts to turn negative. It was so incredibly hot, the route wasn’t pretty, and my Team Sparkle skirt kept bouncing around everywhere, twisting and getting in my way (I had second-guessed my own measurements and ordered a size too big). Every time a big car or truck passed by, the skirt flew up. Our van wasn’t the only flashy thing on that leg.

But all I had to do when I found my thoughts start to run down that negative track was to give myself a little perspective. Over and over in my head, I repeated “You are running the effing Hood to Coast Relay! You are in Oregon! This is amazing.”

You’d be surprised what a little time spent yelling at yourself can do for your attitude. I can’t pretend like I felt the happiest I ever had running during that leg, but the constant reminder of what I was doing was all it took to make it bearable. Well, that, and getting water dumped on me twice during the run – once by my teammates about halfway through the leg, and again around mile 6 by some kind guy at a gas station. Water had never felt so good.

Finally, the finish came into view. I was never so excited to make a hand off.

Judging by this guy’s face, whatever I am doing in this picture is apparently pretty disturbing.

Van 1 passed off to the girls in Van 2, and we were done!! (for a few hours, anyway…)

Final stats:

6.71 miles in 47:05 (7:00/mile)

6:48, 6:44, 7:06, 7:18, 7:03, 7:13, 4:51 (6:48 pace)

With about 4 hours or so until we got the baton again, it was time for Van 1 to get some food. We headed to Pizzicato in Portland, a cute little pizza place that had a wide variety of pizzas to choose from. Mason, Emily, Alanna, and I split 2 large pizzas. We may have over-estimated our hunger level just a bit.

We finished up dinner and drove to the next Van Exchange just as darkness was falling. Suddenly, all the nervous energy and excitement that had been building up all day began to fade. And the 17 slices of pizza I had eaten at dinner began to kick in. I was ready to curl up in a ball in the back of the van and sleep.

But, alas… I still had miles to go.

To be continued…

You may not believe it, but I’m still riding that Hood to Coast high. Not sure what they put in the water nuun this past weekend – but it was addicting! So intoxicating, in fact, that when I finally ran yesterday for the first time since HTC, I felt like I was floating. It didn’t matter that my knee hurt and my hamstrings were so tight they were screaming…it just felt amazing to be out there running. That’s something I haven’t felt in a long time.

Yep, I’m definitely still smoking the HTC-pipe. And so I present to you Part 2 in what I’ve just decided will be a 3 part series of posts about my experience running Hood to Coast. I hope you’re not sick of me talking about it…because I feel like I’ve got so much to say!

The Top 10 Things I Learned from Hood to Coast

1.) Team uniforms make you run faster.

Particularly when that uniform is a Team Sparkle Skirt (which Kelly and Carrie generously donated to our team). Not only could we spot our sparkling teammates from a mile away, but  other teams soon started recognizing us as the “Nuun girls.” And like I said, passing people while wearing a sparkle skirt was pretty fun….particularly if that person was a male.

2.) It is possible to meet people for the very first time, yet feel like you’ve known them your entire life.

Although Sweaty Emily and I go “way back” to the National Marathon, I had never met anyone else on my team before. Yet by the time Van 1 had made it’s way from Seattle, WA to majestic Mount Hood, it felt as though I had known my van-mates for years. Apparently a shared passion for running, Twitter, chocolate covered almonds, and nuun is all it takes to become instant friends.

3.) Never underestimate the power of a short, simple mantra.

For whatever reason, lately I’ve been struggling a little bit with belief – on many different levels in my life. So when Endorphin Warrior offered to donate Warrior Training Bracelets to our team, I knew exactly which bracelet I would choose.

I loved having that constant, one word reminder every time I looked down at my wrist. I still haven’t taken the bracelet off, and I’m not sure I ever will.

4.) Nuun is amazing.

And I’m not just talking about the product, which I truly believe in. It’s the only thing besides water that I can drink while running and will actually quench my thirst while keeping my hydrated.

No, nuun is amazing because in part because the company is amazing.

Every single person in that company went above and beyond for us last weekend. And the second I walked into the pizza dinner they arranged for us the night before, I knew we were in for a treat.

From Mason, the president of the company, who volunteered his time to drive us around all weekend, patiently took me on a trek to find coffee (or rather  - espresso soup!) on the outskirts of Portland at night, and hopped out of the van to run 17 miles (3 consecutive legs) with his nuunmates in the middle of the night…all while wearing a pink sparkle skirt. If that’s not dedication to a team, I’m not sure what is!

And Kimberly, who organized every last detail, made sure we were provided with everything we’d need during the relay, and who allowed us to teach her the glory of Twitter (and consequently, get her addicted to it in the time it took to run one set of legs).

To all the other drivers, who gave up their weekends to drive around 20 crazy female bloggers, looked out for us, and helped us get through our runs.

To Kim, who took in the HTC stragglers, and not only allowed Alyssa, Susan and I to stay at her house for a couple of nights, but fed us and acted as an excellent tour guide.

I know I was chosen for this opportunity to represent nuun, and I was excited about that going in. I just didn’t know how in love with nuun I’d fall in the course of one weekend. Or how much gratitude I’d feel in my heart for all the wonderful people who made this happen.

5.) Pink and green are my new racing colors.

All of my fellow Afternuun Delight runners were colors of the rainbow – just like the flavors of nuun. My original intent was to be “lemon lime” but when I saw that the kelly green skirt matched my shoes perfectly, I knew I had to have it.

I spent the entire weekend racing in my new signature colors. There might not be an actual watermelon nuun flavor, but I think it’s an excellent racing look.

6.) Sometimes it’s good to save the best for last.

My first leg of Hood to Coast was a scorcher. High 80s, not a cloud in the sky, and down a long stretch of highway that had been baking in the sun all day. This leg was more about surviving than it was about soaking it all in. But each leg after that got better, until we reached my final leg. It was breathtakingly beautiful with a long stretch of amazing downhills – hills that will tear apart your quads if you race down them at top speeds. Which is what I proceeded to do, of course. And I loved every minute of it. There may or may not have been some tears of joy shed along the way.

7.) The west coast is a wonderful place.

In June, I took a trip out to San Diego and fell in love. My time in Seattle and Oregon only confirmed what I already knew – the west coast is a great place to be. The people, the scenery, the culture…it’s all pretty wonderful. This East Coast girl has a new love.

8.) One weekend really can change everything.

It’s no secret that the past couple of weeks have been low ones for me in terms of my running. Fatigue, leg pain, negativity. All of those things were weighing me down before I headed out to the Seattle for the weekend. But once I stepped off that plane, all the stress and worry of my daily life melted away. And it didn’t matter if my legs were sore or I felt tired – I was there to run. And run, I did! While Hood to Coast didn’t exactly help with the pain in my legs, it revived me. The relay gave me new perspective, and ultimately, got me pumped up about running again.

 

9.) In the end, a relay is just a relay.

It can’t be denied that the views on Mount Hood are unlike anything we ever see in Rhode Island. Running HTC is worth it just for the start alone. And it was also neat to be surrounded by so many teams, to be a part of such a huge event. But besides that, there were many times when the route we were running could be anywhere in the US. And we still had the same issues you face on any other relay – traffic, lack of sleep, stomach issues, leg cramps. Those things weren’t going to change just because we were competing in the Boston of all relays.

 

10.) It’s the people that make it.

Ultimately, that doesn’t matter. Because when it comes down to it – a relay may be just a relay, but it’s the people you run it with who make it really special. I couldn’t have asked for a better team. The excitement of all the bloggers and nuun staff just for being at Hood to Coast was palpable. As the weekend went on, that excitement only grew. I fed off all that positive energy, and ended up having the time of my life.

Dear Bart – I love you

I loved all the nuunies I met this weekend, but there will always be a special place in my heart for the members of Afternuun Delight, Van 1 – Mason, Kimberly, Jocelyn, Dorothy, Emily, and Alanna.

Next time I’ll actually tell you about my legs and the experience of the race. And then I’ll stop blabbering on and on about Hood to Coast and nuun. For now…