Where did we leave off? Oh yeah, it was the middle of the night on Friday, we’ve just finished eating at this little bar in Portland.
At this point we knew we HAD to get some sleep. We would be starting bright and early the next morning. Tyler, our trusty Nuun designated driver (who is a ROCK STAR) drove us to the next major exchange. Half of the team went out side and slept under the stars and the rest of us, slept in the van. Not ideal conditions but you take what you can get.
Sure enough, Erin, our first runner took off early, probably like 4:30ish? Did I mention it was FREEZING? It was. There is no WAY I would have wanted run this leg. It was SUPER hilly and did I mention FREEZING?!
By the time I got around to running, it was about 7:30. We had made it partially up a mountain of some sort. The views were amazing. I jumped out of the van long to snap a pic. Just look at all that rolling green behind me. Gorgeous!
Anyway, I took off at about 7:30 and I had layered on the clothes. Thank GOD we had sponsors like Swiftwick and ToughChik provide arm warmers! I wore both pair and the were fabulous!
This was the shortest of all my legs at 5 miles and I was happy to have a small break in the mileage. I ran this leg in about 48 min (I think) but I’ll tell you, I am SOO glad I was able to run this leg during the day. I would’ve been freaked out at night. There were very few clearings in the trees. You always felt surrounded. I did end up wearing my RoadNoise vest for all three legs. We weren’t supposed to wear earphones so it was super handy to have and use when I wanted music. I LOVE THIS VEST.
And just like the first leg, I managed to take a short but jumpy video of what I was looking at. Think woodsy, mountains. Pretty beautiful! Only thing that stunk was that there was absolutely NO cell phone reception. The entire day we were dead. Can’t you just see the anxiety cloud above a bunch of bloggers who can’t tweet/facebook/text/instagram? 🙂 I was shaking by the end of the day when we finally did get reception.
After my leg, I jumped back in the van, used a ShowerPill to clean up some, at least wipe the stink from two legs of running off.
We headed to the next transition point and on our way we saw this super cute little church that was offering a pancake breakfast. Too bad my stomach wasn’t having any of that. I could barely eat for some reason. It was painful but you just push through. The guy operating this little establishment was a very serious fella who, without meaning to, would make you laugh histerically. You could tell he was not a fan of HTC but needed it for the funds it brough to the church. It was entertaining to say the least.
Once we finally did make it to the next major transition area, I got to take a quick photo with Mason. Yes, I know he’s tall but he’s also an amazing leader and is doing great things for Nuun. I was so excited to get to know him just a little better.
By this time, I was getting a little tight, a little sore but the fun of the experience made it all go away. That and the BenGay and Tiger Tail roller that helped us soothe our sore muscles. Couldn’t have done it without those two products.
This exchange point was crazy. We were coming down the mountain and all of sudden it looked like Lake of the Ozarks Party Cove for Runners. A dirt field full of buses and runners laying all over the place…some just trying to catch a few zzzz..some eating, some socializing and MANY in the lines for the Honey Bucket (for those of us midwesterner’s, that’s what they call porta potties). I kinda like it. I stuck to eating the Kind granola we had in the van. It was super yummy and agreed with my stomach.
Once Erin, our first runner took off, we headed out to get our final legs run. Traffic was crazy coming down the mountain but we seemed to make it alright.
To Be Continued…
The third and final leg are just around the corner
Loving your recap!
Thanks! There is just so much to share!
I LOVE your videos – such a great idea! If we run next year I vote someone wear a GoPro camera the whole time and get all the (candid) action on film.
Oh Man! That would’ve been awesome! Why didn’t we think of that earlier?
I was thinking this we should have had someone run wearing a helmet cam. Your videos are pretty close 🙂 You were such an incredible trooper! It was FREEZING! Didn’t you think so? And yeah, serious DT’s during that no-signal time!
Ha! Helmet cam! Yeah it was funny. The lack of cell reception made us all talk more which was good.
Loving your recaps! And I absolutely love the idea of the RoadNoise Vest. Have been eyeing one myself.
Loving these recaps!!!!