I’m a little late with this {recap} – but better late than never, right?!

The 1st Annual Dominion Trail Mix was a great success, despite a massive storm (complete with {scary} thunder and lightening). While we had to cancel The Great Skedaddle for safety reasons, Hail the Trail and Trailfest were a huge hit. More than 250 people volunteered to clean-up the Washington & Old Dominion Trail – the largest clean-up in the trail’s history!

The sun came out around 2pm and festival-goers were able to enjoy nice weather, yummy food, face painting & more. Trailfest featured free performances by awesome performers, including the country band Gloriana, The Jenny Leigh Band, and the local teen group A+ Dropouts.

A HUGE thank you to all of our volunteers – we couldn’t have done it without you!
{as the Director of Volunteers, I especially thank YOU!}

We encourage you to continue to celebrate The Washington and Old Dominion Trail by utilizing the trail throughout the year for fitness and environmental related activities with family and friends.

Stay tuned for more information on the 2012 Dominion Trail Mix!

web: www.dominiontrailmix.com
twitter: @domtrailmix

Do you love (and utilize) the W&OD; Trail? What’s your favorite memory or adventure on this trail?

I have 2 {favorite} memories: my (now) husband proposed to me, on a run, on the W&OD; Trail and training for my 1st marathon on the W&OD; (I logged a lot of hours on that trail).

It’s hard to believe that Hood to Coast was almost 2 weeks ago. I mean, where does the time go?! When nuun first announced the team in June, August 26-27 seemed like years away… Now, it’s September and back to reality (and trying to convince BJ to let me run HTC again next year).

There are few races that leave me totally in awe – and Hood to Coast was one of them. Running this epic relay was an adventure that I will never forgot, one that will go down in the history books (or at least, my running book). Everything about this race was cool and I am incredibly thankful that nuun picked me to be a part of it.

Hood to Coast {Top 10}
(in no particular order)

1) Nuun

Yes, I am a strawberry lemonade – citrus fruit – lemon tea addict and I had access to an endless supply of {free} nuun, but that’s not why I really love nuun (even though it helps). I really love nuun because of the people, the company and what they represent. Nuun went above and beyond for 20 female bloggers – people they had never met. From a dinner party, to hotel rooms, to race logistics/support, to cool gear, to the best 12-passenger vans a runner could dream of – nuun thought of it all. Thank you, nuun, for an amazing experience.

2) Leg 22 (Run #2)
Leg 22 was ranked the hardest of my 3 legs, yet it was the most fun & (what felt like) the easiest. My leg started at 5:15 am, completely in the dark, and ended just as the sun was starting to rise. It was beautiful. Even though I was running on no sleep and very little food, I remember thinking: Thank you, God, for this run, for this earth, for this memory (there’s a lot that one can think about on a 6.81 mile run in the dark).

One of my nuun-mates said the nicest thing ever about watching me run leg 22 (the van passed me a couple of times on this run). XLMIC, thank you for making my day!

“I loved watching you motor past EVERYONE in sight during that leg in the dark… pink sparkles flashing as your legs turned over faster than the Roadrunner! Poetry in motion you are :)”

6.81 miles – 46:18 (6:48 pace)

3) Roadkill
Roadkill
-noun
A runner that has been passed by another runner (term most often used during a relay race)

I had no idea how fun and motivating it would be to “roadkill” runners. Not in a mean way, but in a fun-friendly-competitive sort of way. We would joke, we would encourage each other, and we would talk about my pink sparkle skirt. It was also fun to tally up & see other vans mark their roadkill, too.

My HTC Roadkill (RK)
Leg 1: 22 RK
Leg 2: 33 RK
Leg 3: 18 RK
Total: 73 RK

Sorry buddy, I just “chicked” you!

4) My {pink} sparkle skirt
When I found out that the Team Sparkle owners were on my team, I couldn’t ask for Team Sparkle skirts fast enough. Not only are the skirts super cute, they are totally comfortable and I forgot I was wearing a skirt (while running). People started to recognize us: “oh, those girls are from nuun” and “those are the after-nuun delight girls”. People loved our skirts (and it was kind of fun passing people, especially men, while wearing a pink skirt – sorry fellas)

Check out Team Sparkle skirts {HERE}

5) Leg 10 (Run #1)
I was nervous. I was excited. I had no idea what to expect. But, as soon as Mel handed the baton to me, I took off. I couldn’t believe that I was running the Hood to Coast relay; that my 1st leg had finally arrived. It was kind of a boring leg – on a paved path with no place for vans to pull-off to cheer or provide water – but it went fast. And, as soon as I handed off to Kelly, I couldn’t wait for Leg 22!

5.04 miles – 34:31 (6:51 pace)

6) The Van
You couldn’t miss After-NUUN Delight – our van was a “tie-dyed” psychedelic piece of art.

Carrie designed our {awesome} logo & Mel had {awesome} car magnets made based on our theme/logo. From there, we painted our van and added headshots, twitter handles, and blog url’s.

Our van pretty much rocked. A huge “Thank You” to Build-A-Sign for designing our car magnets – those were the icing on the {van} cake.

7) New Friends
I love meeting new people. As a former Army-brat, I moved around most of my life – I was always the new girl and always trying to make new friends. This was no different.

I loved meeting the incredible women that made up the Nuun relay teams. 20 amazing, talented and very cool women. It was such an honor to meet moms to beautiful children, entrepreneurs, social media experts, teachers, event planners, coaches, etc. My only wish is that I could have spent more time getting to know everyone.

8) Leg 34 (Run #3)
My last leg. 3.52 miles, rated Easy. After 26 hours of very little sleep, I was ready for an easy run. Well, about 5 minutes in, this run proved to be the hardest of the 3. Maybe it was hard because it was Run #3 in 24 hours, or because it was extremely hot, on pavement with absolutely no shade – either way, I was thankful that it was short. My teammates stopped at mile 2 and hooked me up with some water & cheers (thank you) – I needed it. I was glad to be done (and ready to celebrate at the Finish – with beer, duh!)

3.52 miles – 24:05 (6:50 pace)

9) Ken & “Pumped Up Kicks”
Ahhh, Ken (!!!) – our fearless van driver. No Hood to Coast race report would be complete without including Ken. He totally rocked, got us to every exchange in time and navigated his way through traffic, runners, and mountains. He also made us some mixed CDs, including Foster the People. “Pumped up Kicks” quickly became our theme-song for the weekend, and Ken didn’t mind when we asked him to play it on repeat.

Ken, thank you for putting up with us and driving us (safely) for 200 miles!

10) Other Companies
Our team was sponsored by nuun, and provided everything our hearts could desire. We were, however, lucky enough to have the support of other companies, too. A huge thanks to the following companies:

Team Sparkle – sparkle skirts
Nathan Sports – Power Shower body wipes
Build-A-Sign – car magnets
One Love Collections – Rainbow headband
Endorphin Warrior – Warrior Training bracelet (I picked “Believe”)
Insperspire Towels – customized towels (I picked “Sweat is Sexy”)

Hood to Coast was an unforgettable adventure – if you ever have the chance to run, I highly recommend it. Nuun was a gracious sponsor & I’ve met new friends that I hope to see again soon (Marine Corps & Boston Marathons).

If your interested in trying nuun, use “afternuundelight” at check-out for 25% off. Spend $50 & get free shipping.

I’m back in Virginia after an amazing trip to Washington & Oregon.

Hood to Coast was one of the most amazing races I’ve ever experienced. It was hard, it was fun, it was exhausting – and I wouldn’t change anything about it!

It was such an honor to race for Nuun & meet the {incredible} women that made up my team. I kind of really wish we were still hanging out…

Full race report & photos to come – but here are some of my favorites from the weekend

After-NUUN Delight van decoration:

VAN #2, rockin’ our Team Sparkle skirts

Run #1 – Leg #10: 5.04 miles, Moderate, 6:51 pace

Run #2 – Leg #22: 6.81 miles, Hard, 6:48 pace

Run #3 – Leg #34: 3.52 miles, Easy, 6:55 pace

The “Mel’s”: 

The FINISH:

If you like nuun as much as I {obviously} do, check out my giveaway {} 

I’m starting to get really excited about Hood to Coast. I’m almost done packing, created 2 informational packets (one for me, one for BJ) containing important stats, including leg order, mileage, start time, proposed finish time, team phone numbers, etc., and have butterflies in my stomach every time I think about HTC. {I even have them right now}

I can’t wait to run 10, 22, 34 – my legs for HTC. I’m really excited to hang with Van #2 (I’m in a van with some pretty amazing women). And thank my lucky stars {and God} that I’m not running in the middle of the night {don’t laugh at me – but I’m really afraid of what can happen in the dark}

I’ve totally got this – and plan on running my heart out for Team AfterNUUN Delight

Leg 10: 5.04 miles, Moderate
Leg 22: 6.81 miles, Hard
Leg 34: 3.52 miles, Easy
Total: 15.37 miles

Start Time: 12:30pm on Friday, August 26

Follow our journey on our Facebook pages {HERE} & {HERE} and on Twitter at @NUUNDelight and @run4margaritas

If you’ve ever run 10, 22, 34 at Hood to Coast – share your thoughts with me. {I want the inside scoop}

In honor of nuun & hood to coast, enter my giveaway {} 

On September 3, 2011, the Greater Washington Sports Alliance, the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority and Dominion Virginia Power will come together to host a signature environmental event to highlight the tremendous, unique, natural resource that exists in Northern Virginia — The Washington and Old Dominion (W&OD;) Trail. The event will feature the largest community service project in the trail’s history and will culminate with a festival off the trail that encompasses themes of active lifestyles, recreation, the environment and our community. Dominion Trail Mix will be a family themed event which will not only celebrate the Trail, but also our community as a whole.

Dominion Trail Mix is a family themed event which will not only celebrate the W&OD; Trail, but also our community as a whole. There will be three main components to the day’s activities:

• Hail The Trail:
The Largest Cleanup in the History of the W&OD; Trail
• The Great Skedaddle: 
Run, Walk, and Bike the W&OD; Trail
• Trailfest: 
A {free} Community Festival to Celebrate the W&OD; Trail

We need volunteers to help make the Dominion Trail Mix a success!

~Do you live in the Northern Virginia/DC area?
~Are you free on September 3, 2011?
~Morning (8am-noon) & Afternoon (noon-5pm) shifts are available.

Consider volunteering for the Dominion Trail Mix

For more information about the event, visit www.dominiontrailmix.com
To register as a volunteer, visit: http://dominiontrailmix.com/volunteer.htm

Email questions to dominiontrailmix@gmail.com

Come to Volunteer, Stay to Celebrate