Super Crazy Hydration Effort of Excellence and Chaos

Whoa.

On Saturday the plan was that I was going to spectate for the first time ever at a race! The race of choice: Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle.

But things unexpectedly changed. What was supposed to be a “viewing party,” at the Nuun headquarters (with some tables of Nuun set up for runners who may want it) became a super crazy hydration effort of excellence and chaos…to say the least.

We had a few tables set up with cups of Nuun at mile 2 along the route, figuring that maybe some people would want to stop…no biggy. Um. Except TONS of people stopped. They even waited in line because, well, we weren’t quite prepared for all that, so we were filling cups and handing them off immediately and feeling bad that we couldn’t fill them faster. We were trying to be speedy and we got covered in Nuun. Every time we thought it might be near the end of the crowd, we’d look up…and see huge masses of people still on the way. It was chaos! But fun chaos.

This is what it was like at the very END. I didn’t get a good picture of the chaos because, well, I was too busy crazily filling cups of Nuun.

I had hoped to see some of my NUUNKOTB teammates, but since I was filling cups and trying to keep up with the crazy demand for Nuun, I only saw Lauren. She looked great! Way to go on your 9^th half-marathon, Lauren! I also looked up from my cup-filling long enough to see Nicole, and she was her energetic happy self! Way to go on a sub-4 marathon, Nicole!

Four of my NUUNKOTB teammates ran yesterday who I didn’t see at the race: Alanna, Holly, Stacie, and Dawn. BUT I did get to meet Alanna, Stacie, and Dawn at dinner on Friday night, which was exciting! (And they were nice to me too!). Tasha was also in Seattle cheering the ladies on, but I didn’t get to see her either. Hopefully she was able to see more of the ladies running than I was!

As the last few runners passed the Nuun headquarters, I realized: We may be to the end of the runners, but we have a bit of cleaning up to do:

We had created a bit of a cup problem in the streets of Seattle.

Crazy, huh?

I asked Caitlin, a Nuun employee, if there was a broom to sweep the cups with, when two huge Penske trucks pulled up. And guess what jumped out? Tons of guys with rakes! They cleaned up all the cups in a matter of minutes, while we stared at them in shock. It was a marathon miracle!

The amazing helper guys who magically appeared from a Penske truck!

Since we were at mile 2, the race was still going on, so I decided to go do some spectating.

I felt bad that the runners couldn’t see the beauty behind them. One elderly couple chose to run backwards for awhile so that they could see the skyline! It was so cute!

Most of the people I knew running the half were finished by this time, but I was hopeful that I would see Nicole from Ricole Runs, since she was running the full marathon. Unfortunately, before I saw her, my husband called; he was downtown and ready to pick me up. I was walking to find him when I saw Nicole. Guys, she was moving well and looked strong, except her face. (Remember how at mile 2 she was happy and energetic? Not anymore). Her face made it clear that she was miserable. It honestly kind of terrified me seeing her agony, and I questioned my ability to finish a marathon in a few months. I shouted for her, but she didn’t hear me. She was running with someone who was coaching her through. The coach was reassuring her of something; I’m sure telling her how close she was and that she would make it. What a nice coach!

I didn’t have my camera ready when I saw Nicole, so I only managed to snap this picture of Nicole and her coach:

What a good friend I was to snap this picture for them!
(I actually had really hoped to have been able to get a photo of her with the skyline from above, but the timing was off…)

I later learned that the coach was Robyn of Run Birdie Run. What a great friend! I’m sad that I didn’t get to meet her!

Were you racing or spectating this weekend? How’d it go? Is finishing 26.2 miles pure agony???

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NUUNKOTB!!!

Alright, the Nuun Ragnar Northwest Passage team has made it official: We are the NUUN Kids on the Block (NUUNKOTB).

Why is that important?

Well, because now we have to plan wardrobe! We’re pretty much going as a team of New Kids on the Block fans…except instead of being fans of Danny, Donny, Jonathon, Jordan, and Joey, we’re fans of hydration! (Except, just to clarify, I AM still a fan of Jordan Knight. Yes. My 2^nd grade crush will never die).

So, we’re going for an 80s/90s look.

Looking at what I’ve already got, I do have 2 items that will work for this:

My day-glow yellow/green sports bra. ($10 on clearance at Target)

Ada the Dog was NOT pleased to be my model.

My hot pink shades. ($1 at Target. I got these for my bridesmaids and I at our wedding).

So. I’ve got a base. And now I need to build things up from here.

I’d like to have a NUUNKOTB t-shirt with a wide neck so that my bright yellow/green bra can peek out. Of course, I’ll also knot it to the side at the waist.

Now, what I would really like is an acid wash jean jacket and an acid wash jean skirt. However, these items don’t sound very practical for running. So instead I want some spandex/lycra fabric that looks like acid wash jeans, which I will fashion into a running skirt.

Does anyone have some acid wash jeans-look spandex/lycra fabric out there? It should be relatively easy to find, right?

Any fabulous costume ideas for us? Van decoration ideas? Who was your favorite NKOTB member?

P.S. Use the code “bloggerslovenuun” for 15% off at the Nuun website! A discount on fabulous electrolytes! Yay!

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Team Slacker

Runnah Numbah Five!

For those of you who didn’t catch it, that’s supposed to sound like “Mambo Number Five.” See? It’s my running leg theme song.

Yesterday we were given our running leg assignments for the Nuun Ragnar Northwest Passage Team. We had been told to pick our top 3 choices and then our Nuun friend, Caitlin, told us who was to run each leg.

Well…in picking my 3, I was super confused for what to look for. I knew I shouldn’t try to do anything crazy like try to run the longest distance or the steepest hills, since I’m currently not even running. But, at the same time I didn’t want to be a slacker and choose the easiest legs.

So, I picked the two legs I would have most liked to run, #9 and #10, because they looked like they’d be pretty and somewhat challenging. I also decided to play it safe with #5, which is listed on the Ragnar website as consisting of 1 moderate leg and 2 easy legs.

Well, the results came out today and I’m Runnah Numbah Five! I looked back at what I was running and realized…I am literally running the easiest leg.

Oh no! I’m the team slacker!

I’m honestly a little bit embarrassed about it! I was actually uncomfortable picking my legs, because I’m a nice little Midwestern girl. Usually when it comes to teams or group assignments, I let everyone else pick what works for them, and I say, “Okay, I’ll do whatever no one else wants to do.” I now realize that I always do that because I’m completely uncomfortable with taking the easy road. Even though (hopefully) none of my teammates will think of me as “Slacker Becky.”

Me slacking while my teammates run.

Fuel Belt

For the first time in my life, I ran with hydration!

Keep in mind, the farthest I’ve ever run was 13.1 miles, and that was during a race, where there were water stands. So, it’s not as bad as it sounds that I have never run with hydration. But it’s still kind of bad.

I figured that if I’m going to start running farther than 10 miles, I’m going to need to bring along some hydration. I wasn’t sure what to carry my hydration in for these longer runs. I definitely could not carry a bottle, even if it had a clever carrying strap, because my hands are already very full with Ada the Dog’s leash, Ada the Dog’s poop when I’m not lucky (don’t worry, I carry it in plastic bags…otherwise that would be really icky), keys, and my phone. I told Husband Saign that I wanted to get a belt with some water bottles, and he got me a Fuel Belt!

My Fuel Belt has two bottles that are a little over 7 oz, and a little zip-up pocket. It seemed pretty great (though I’d love it if it had a pocket big enough for my phone), but I wasn’t sure how I’d end up actually liking it on my run.

On Saturday I went for an 8 mile run, and used the Fuel Belt for the first time. I thought it would be fine to use half-tabs of Nuun in my <8 oz bottles, which I did. (A half-tab of Nuun is meant to be mixed with 8 oz of water) The Nuun was a little overpowering, since it was mixed strong, so I think next time I’ll do one bottle with strong Nuun and one with water.

I wasn’t sure where the Fuel Belt should sit, but I thought it made sense to put it on my hips. This worked out wonderfully…until I started running and my slippery shorts allowed the belt to slide up and then bounce around with each step.

This is where the belt was sitting prior to me hiking it up. Do you like the self-portait of my butt? Awesome.

I ended up tightening the belt at my natural waistline…like Steve Urkel would wear a Fuel Belt, if he were a runner. Yep. But that made the thing stop bouncing, and it worked out well from there.

I really liked running with hydration! Every 15-20 minutes I stopped and took a few sips while walking, and then went back on my merry way. I felt energized!

I can’t believe I’ve gone my whole life not carrying hydration. Why didn’t anyone tell me how great it would be?

I also realized while running that my Fuel Belt has some elastic in the belt which I didn’t notice at first, which helps make it more comfortable and flexible while running.

So, I’m sticking with the Fuel Belt! I really liked it!

How do you carry hydration while you run? Any tips?

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Nuun Ragnar Team

I announced last week that I will be running Ragnar Northwest Passage with Nuun. I realize that this is somewhat confusing for people. So, I’m writing this post to clear things up. Here’s a little question and answer session about the event. And just to clarify, I made up all the questions and answers. I apologize if my questions or answers don’t suit your fancy.

What is Ragnar?
Ragnar is a series of running relay races that take place throughout the US. They are all around 200 miles long. It takes a long time to run 200 miles, so these races take place over two days, and the running continues overnight (with the runners wearing safety vests and headlamps). Teams range from Ultra teams which are teams of 6 or less, to regular teams which are teams of 12. Most teams have 12 members, and each member runs 3 different “legs” of the race. Legs range from 3-8 miles. While people run, their teammates drive/ride around in a van and cheer them on and meet them wherever they’re supposed to meet them to hand-off the (slap bracelet) baton for the next leg of the race. Rumor has it that no one sleeps, everyone smells, and it’s just amazing. Oh! And there’s costumes! (My favorite). Teams often dress silly according to some theme, and decorate their vans according to the theme. Yess!!!

What is Nuun?
Nuun is a tab of magic that you can put in your water to add flavor and electrolytes to fuel you through the race. The reason Nuun is particularly special is that unlike many sports drinks, it’s not sugary. Sugar + running hard = puking for me, so Nuun happily solves the problem of needing to refuel with electrolytes without making nice girls pukey.

What is Ragnar Northwest Passage?
Ragnar Northwest Passage is a Ragnar race, as defined above, that starts in a place in Washington near Canada called Blaine, and then it travels through beautiful scenery to Whidbey Island. According to Wikipedia, Blaine Washington borders Canada and contains something called the “Peace Arch.” According to Wikipedia, Whidbey Island is 30 miles from Seattle and is the fourth largest island in the contiguous US.

What is the Nuun Ragnar Northwest Passage team?
Historically the Nuun Ragnar Northwest Passage team was an employee team. However, this year, Nuun unexpectedly decided to throw a bone to some of the Pacific Northwest bloggers who applied to run Hood to Coast with them, but weren’t chosen. We were all surprised and ecstatic to be invited! Here are the lovely blogger ladies on my team:

Alanna – http://lovemyrunners.com/

Arielle – http://onthewaytoironman.wordpress.com/ (Arielle is a Nuun employee with a great blog, though she may not run with us, rumor has it that she will come along).

Becky – http://www.runfundone.wordpress.com/  (that’s me)

Dawn – http://www.runningatdawn.com/blog/

Holly – http://www.myleaps.blogspot.com/

Jenny – http://jennypennysue.wordpress.com/

Lauren – http://marathonlar.blogspot.com/

Megan – http://www.dailysweatblog.com/

Meghan – http://meghanswanderings.blogspot.com/

Stacie – http://skippinginseattle.wordpress.com/

Tasha – http://healthydivacooking.blogspot.com/

We are searching of a team name! It must involve the word “Nuun” (pronounced “noon.”) The best names combine “Nuun” with another word…like “Nuunicycles” if we were going to race on unicycles… We welcome your amazing suggestions.

So What?

Well, that’s a mean question! It’s very exciting to be on the Nuun Ragnar team! Since it’s too late for anyone new to join, you can follow the excitement on Twitter. I don’t really know how to use Twitter in a proper way (I’m scared of hashtags), but my handle is @RunFunDone.

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The Best News of The Century!

My heart was broken last week when I learned that I would not be on the Nuun Hood to Coast team. I tried really hard to not be too sad, but I really was so sad. I wanted to have a crazy adventure with other runners, run an amazing course, get really exhausted, push myself, encourage my team, all while sipping on Nuun and having the best time ever.

So, I was sad. Very sad.

So sad that I even told Nuun how they had broken my heart…

This is the email I sent to Nuun in response to my rejection letter. To clarify, Nuun had written me an email offering to send me some treats…I’m not a crazy beggar lady asking for treats.

Well, the craziest, most unexpected thing happened to me this week. I got an email from Nuun inviting me to be part of their Ragnar Northwest Passage team!

What? Are you kidding me? Really?

I told Nuun that if they’d send me some treats maybe my heart wouldn’t be broken, but running a relay with Nuun is even better than treats!

I’m so relieved, because once upon a time I almost puked after drinking a sugary electrolyte drink during a race, and I really was afraid of what I might be forced to hydrate with if Nuun and I couldn’t be in love.

I went from this:

(Devastated)

To this:

(ecstatic)

I feel so happy!

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