Major Love for Nuun Hood to Coast Right Here!

I hope you all aren't already tired of all my #nuunhtc tweets, facebook posts, and instagram photos yet cause there is so much more comin at you!  The women, the stories, the running, the companies, the whole experience...it is all still totally swirling around in my brain right now and I honestly have NO idea how to even being to write it all down.

Van 1 Team Lemonade at the start!

BUT, I wanted to post as soon as possible to make sure I got out my biggest feeling of all first...GRATITUDE!  Being able to run the mother of all relays with the mother of all hydration companies, Nuun, was truly an experience of a lifetime.  I feel so lucky to be part of the Nuun family and help out as co-pilot for this adventure, I've already offered my co-piloting services for every single relay in the future ;).

I'll be recapping the actual running part eventually, but after experiencing all that is Hood to Coast this weekend the running is really such a SMALL part of it.  Thanks goes out to all 35 runners, 6 drivers, and every single employee at Nuun that helped make this all possible.  Let's thank some very specific peeps shall we?!

1. MEGAN at Nuun - She gets the number 1 spot for very obvious reasons...she organized the whole shebang! 3 teams, pre-race events, post-race events and everything in between. I can't even being to imagine how many hours she spent prepping for this event and then worked 4 days pretty much straight to ensure everything went off without ONE hitch!  THANKS MEGAN!!

Megan and I got to start off the relay for Team Watermelon and Lemonade!

2. My VAN MATES - When you throw 6 women into a van having never met and having no idea what their personalities are like you really have no idea what will happen. I can honestly say we all got along absolutely perfectly and I consider them all great friends for life!

Leslie - This girl made us laugh so hard I'm pretty sure that is why my abs are still sore today! She has the most spunky outgoing attitude I've ever encountered and I found myself crying from laughing so hard on multiple occasions.  Whenever the van was quiet we all questioned whether Leslie was in the van!  Thanks for the laughs, the yeah-yaaas, and your amazing use of the F-word ;).

Kristen and Leslie getting delirious at night!

Lisa - Sweetest lady ever!  She always had a positive attitude despite some middle of the night GI issues and always had a smile on her face and a sparkle skirt to match whatever outfit she was running in.  She was even sweet when a random stranger asked to take our photo and then proceeded to take like 10 before we were finally like "enough dude".  Let's make cupcakes together soon!

Lisa with her permanent smile on :)

Jolene - Truly one of the most caring people I've ever met.  She has an amazing story of just how caring she is on her blog right now and that is a true testament to her personality.  She described herself as an introvert but I'd like to think we brought out the extrovert in her a little this weekend...because introvert is not a world I would use to describe her.  Thanks for taking care of all of us and everyone around you!

This is her GO time face!

Andrea - Oh man, Dre, how I love thee! She had literally the hardest runs of the entire relay and I'm pretty sure she went uphill for about 90% of her legs.  She rocked every single of one of them and provided constant entertainment shaking her booty in a sparkle skirt.  When she wasn't sparkling up a mountain she was cheering her heart out for every single runner on the relay course.  XOXO girl!

Kristen - This girl anchored our van like a boss! When we saw her out on her first run we all instantly thought "DANG, that girl has some guns on her"so we made her spill her fitness secrets as soon as she got back in the van :).  She was always a positive attitude and provided van entertainment with stories of her husbands love for race shirts...hehe!

You can see her guns from here!

3. VAN DRIVER JAY - Oh man Jay, where do I even start! He was the baby of the group but acted like our dad the whole time. Whatever we needed, Jay was the man.  He took his van driving/time keeping job very seriously but still provided non-stop entertainment via his thick Boston accent and sparkle skirt wearing.  We shared some quality time together trying to stay up on the way to a sleeping field while everyone else was passed out in the van that may or may not have involved almost running into the van in front of us (while going 2mph) and talking in incoherent sentences from being so tired.  Thanks for everything Jay!

Partners in crime, leading Van 1 to the finish line!

Rocking a sparkle skirt AND running Dre's 2nd leg with her!

4. NUUN! - I'm pretty sure it goes without saying that I thank Nuun times a million.  After trying Nuun out a couple years ago I fell in love, but after meeting the people behind it I became a full on stalker of all things Nuun.  Thanks to Mason and everyone at the Nuun family for letting me be a part of this experience that I will never ever forget!

Parts of team Lemonade and Watermelon with Nuun CEO/President Mason

5. OTHER COMPANIES - So many other companies helped us along our Hood to Coast Journey! They included amazing team clothes from Oiselle, sparkle skirts from Sparkle Athletic, socks from Swiftwick, best smelling sunscreen ever from Naawk, inspirational bracelets from Endorphin Warrior, hydration packs and reflective gear from Amphipod, between run and recovery from Tigertail.  Man I really hope I'm not missing anyone...THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!

Oh man this was much longer than I was anticipating and I haven't even started writing about the actual running part...sorry for the multitude of posts to come...but not really ;).