July 29, 2014

10 Facts about Hood to Coast and Running with Team Nuun

This summer I've been telling people how excited I am to go out to Seattle & Portland and have heard multiple times "oh that's for some running thing, right?". YES. Some running thing with that hydration company I love and promote. 
Some running thing a.k.a. the largest relay in the world, nbd. 



With the increased popularity of series such as Ragnar, runners have become more familiar with relay races. I didn't know too much about Hood to Coast before I was officially running, besides that it was big, awesome, and on the west coast. That's all still true, but I thought I'd fill you in on more facts about the race since I'll be talking about it a lot in the upcoming weeks. 

I've been crazy excited because the relay is less than 30 days away!



1. Hood to Coast is a 200 mile (technically 199!) "mother of all relays" race that began in 1982 with only 8 teams and has grown with this year's relay race having 1,050 teams!

2. Hood to Coast (HTC) is the largest relay IN THE WORLD with a capped team limit for the past 22 years. They've filled the team cap on registration's opening day for the past 16 years straight!


3. Each team consists of 12 runners (a minimum of 8 required), who spend 24 hours in the vans and take turns running their legs of the race along with the team timing chip. 

For the 2014 relay, Nuun has two teams of 12 made up of Nuun ambassadors and employees on either team- Nuun Energy Lemon Lime (my team!) or Nuun Energy Wild Berry. Meet the HTC Nuun Ambassador team members here!

I always use my Nuun energy on runs!
4. This year's HTC relay is from August 22-23, 2014. 

5. The race starts at Timberline Lodge on the top of Oregon's tallest mountain, Mt. Hood (11,234 ft) and ends at Seaside Oregon, on the beaches of the Pacific Ocean. 

6. There are 36 legs in the relay race and each runner completes 3 legs ranging from 3-8 miles each.  You can see all the runner and leg details here

7. I'm Runner 7 which includes legs 7,19,31. Leg 7 is 5.21 miles in the sun at a medium difficulty, leg 19 is 5.89 miles at a very hard difficulty, and leg 31 is 4 miles at a medium difficulty in quiet zone.  I'll be running a total of 15.1 miles in 24 hours! 


The legs are ranked by mileage and difficulty for the relay race. Nuun asked us our preferences and decided the runner assignments from there. 

8. There are many rules and regulations for safety in place including that from 6 PM through 9 AM all runners must wear a reflective vest, carry a flashlight or headlamp, and wear one front & back LED flasher. 


9. Hood to Coast is an environmentally-friendly event  with recycling at all runner exchanges, recycle-friendly race bibs, and paperless online registration. 
10. I'm flying out to Seattle to meet all my fellow HTC Nuun runners and hang out with the Nuun team (Seattle is Nuun's headquarters!) a couple days before we drive to Oregon to start the relay.
 I'm not so secretly hoping we get to hang out with Kara Goucher, a newer member of the Nuun family. 
That time I met Kara at the Nuun booth at the Boston Marathon Expo and didn't know what to say.


Oh, and I CAN'T WAIT to head out west for Hood to Coast! 

All information about Hood to Coast can be found on their website and by following the hashtag #nuunhtc on Twitter to see the Nuun team's adventures before, during, and after Hood to Coast!
Disclaimer: I am a Nuun brand ambassador who receives a discount on their products along with other various incentives and opportunities throughout the year, such as the chance to run Hood to Coast with team Nuun.  I honestly love the product and don't receive compensation for posts. As always, all opinions are my own.

19 comments:

  1. so excited for you to get to run this out here!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks I can't wait to see a new part of the country!

      Delete
  2. Great post. I enjoyed reading all the facts. See you soon in Seattle!

    ReplyDelete
  3. How exciting! This race sounds super fun - a Ragnar style race is definitely on my bucket list!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm so excited! I'll let you know how it goes :)

      Delete
  4. This looks like an incredible amount of fun. I can't wait for your recap!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I can't... I would do anything to do Hood to Coast. So, so, so jealous. Just was in Seaside over the weekend, it was gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  6. How exciting! This looks like a really fun race!! Have fun!!

    WhatTheHeckWhyNot?

    ReplyDelete
  7. AHHHHH!!!!! This is so very exciting!!! The travel, the race, the possibility of meeting Kara again! I can't wait to hear all about your experience. I would literally jump at the chance to do this race AND with NUUN! That is a huge win/win. Have so much fun!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much-it was definitely something I couldn't turn down!

      Delete
  8. This sounds so fun!! I've always wanted to run a Ragnar or something similar!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much-it's been on my wishlist too so I'm excited for such a unique experience!

      Delete
  9. This sounds like so much fun! I can't wait to hear all about it!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Sounds awesome, can't wait to hear the recap!

    ReplyDelete