My Hood to Coast Adventure with Team Nuun (part 1)

My Hood to Coast adventure was a challenge. An experience both mentally and physically demanding. And I loved every minute of it! I owe my amazing experience to the best host a runner could ask for: Nuun!

As a member of Team Nuun, I received the opportunity to join two Nuun-sponsored Hood to Coast Teams. And they truly made us feel right at home. Twenty Team Nuun members from all over the U.S. flew into Seattle one by one, meeting each other at the airport and eventually all joining together at the hotel on Wednesday (two days before the race). It felt like being on a reality tv show like the “Real World” for runners! The selfies started rather quickly. :)

We had all evening Wednesday and all day Thursday to get to know the Nuun employees and our fellow teammates. We all quickly bonded over our passion for running, and over our love of Nuun. And Nuun was a spectacular host. 

A shakeout run to the waterfront....

A very entertaining "duck boat" tour of the city on land and on water...

And of course... plenty of great local spots to eat and drink! That included local donuts and lots of brews.

What I loved most from this experience was that it wasn’t just the Team Nuun members running together during this race, we each had Nuun employees driving in our van and running on the team with us. The CEO of Nuun, Kevin Rutherford, was even the one driving MY van! How awesome is that?! It really helped me realize just how incredible a company Nuun is, how much they care for everyone from their customers to their ambassadors and employees.

My favorite finale of the Seattle-portion of this adventure? Touring Nuun Headquarters!

There we got to relax and really get to know the Nuun employees even more. And see what it's like working for such a great company first-hand.

Getting a little TOO comfortable behind Brian's desk! ;-)

Some have asked: "Did you get to try new Nuun flavors or anything?". No, this was mostly about relaxing with beers from the beer fridge (yeah, that's right, they have a beer fridge in the office!) and continuing to get to know each other a little more. And we also got to spend a little time decorating the vans.

The extra days in Seattle were just spectacular. For those who have never ran a relay race, you tend to only really end up bonding with those in your van. You rarely get to interact with the other vans or even any other teams. The extra time we spent together really helped both teams get to know each other and bond before we ever hit the starting line.

We arrived in Seattle as mostly strangers, but by the time it was ready for the race to begin, we were already friends. And would only get closer in the days to come.

Click HERE for Part 2 of the Adventure: The RACE!