The hoopla surrounding this even was HUGE, but when you strip it down to fundamentals, was it really that big a deal? People run relays all the time. The story of 12 strangers, pulled together, living in a van and running their hearts out isn’t that unusual. Among a sea of thousands of runners, our faces were just a few.
But to us, it WAS monumental.
This blogging community has been a blessing in my life. It has offered me support, accountability, inspiration and most importantly friendship. Hood to Coast, and nuun brought together a group of ladies who had similar hobbies and passions and made real life friends out of them. The bond we now share is something special, something that could only be forged over 200 miles of sweaty, stinky fun.
Nuun Platuun finished those 200 miles in:
27:59:17
We placed 7th in the Womens Open division.
Less than 28 hours after we started that adventure, we celebrated on the beach with shots of NUUN, of course. 
We met Hood to Coast race founder Bob Foote
as well as the ladies from Heart and Sole. (if you’ve seen the HTC movie,they should be familiar to you)
spread the Nuun love (almost positive I’m pointing to his nuun tatt, NOT fondling his muscles)
Celebrated some more….(cover your eyes mom, I’m drinking beer)
Added an honorary team member, Amanda from RunningHood with Nuun Platuun.
After much errr…celebrating, and still un-showered, we left the beach for some food. Post dinner with Jess from Blonde Ponytail.
Late Saturday night, with tired legs and full hearts we tucked into our Seaside hotel to FINALLY get some sleep. That morning we loaded up, and started the drive back to Seattle.
Sunday night Tonia and I stayed with Mel’s house. Monday morning we were given a tour of Seattle by Zoe and Chelsea. We had coffee at the original Starbucks:
I got frisky with a fish at Pikes Place Market(nasty)
Visited the Space Needle
And just generally enjoyed the last of my time with this amazing group of bloggers
The morning flew by and I was soon boarding a plane back to Austin. The trip home was full of delays and oversold flights, but at 12:30am Tuesday morning I was finally home with my boys.
Thanks again to nuun for providing this amazing opportunity. Hood to Coast was the experience of a life time….lets repeat it next year, ok?
Hey Tricia,
I'm not tired of reading about HtC at all. It's been very exciting and interesting to read about. I wondered if you would consider a post about the charity that HtC supports.
I don't blame you guys at all for writing report after report for HTC. I did the same thing when I ran the New England Relay. It REALLY is monumental and so much fun! As we put it “It's the closest 12 strangers can get in 2 days.”
Feel perfectly free to revel in the stories!
what an interesting journey and a once in a lifetime experience you'll NEVER forget!
Great pictures to capture all of those fun, exciting moments!
Great pics – I adore the one of you kissing the fish. The guys watching you in the background cracked me up.
I have really been enjoying all of your (and the other other bloggers') HTC recaps! I really REALLY wish I could have done it this year, but you know, this whole baby belly gets in the way.
Next year for sure!
I also love that you extended your trip for a few days to soak up some of the local sites in Seattle. I have never been to Seattle but the Space Needle would be at the top of my “go see” list!
And all I'm saying is that next year…if anyone needs an extra teammate, count me in!!
I loved reading the race reports! I especially love that you met up with Heart and Sole. They are one of the groups that had me in tears watching HTC. Congrats on a great accomplishment!
I love this.
Repeat next year, for sure!!
I love hearing all the Hood to Coast stories! It looks like so much fun!
Such an awesome event and story. Well done to all who competed and helped out and also for sharing it with us xx
I'm not tired of reading about HtC either! I was very proud of you for running it. (I did wave… generally… as the runners passed by heading west.) It's fun to read about your experiences! But I'm also glad you're home with the boys now
What an amazing experience. I haven't managed to comment on all of the reports, but I've read them all. It just looks like a blast…Girl Scout camp on steriods.
It sounds like you had a really great time. Congratulations! I think it is fun to hear all the stories about it.
So awesome! It sounds like you had a blast!
i have LOVED reading all the recaps and can only imagine how incredible of an experience this was!
Awesome! So bummed I missed the activities after
I'm also not tired of reading about it. I'll NEVER in a million years have the ability or the opportunity to do it so I have loved soaking up all of your posts about it! What an opportunity of a lifetime and an extremely amazing accomplishment!!!
Congrats on a fabulous event!!!!
I loved reading all about this amazing race. What of really want to know though is what kind of special camera you use that makes everyone look tall, thin and beautiful? I need to get one of those.
What an amazing experience you all had. I enjoyed reading all about it and am so glad you all had so much fun!
NO! I don't want it to end!!!! I miss you and am so thankful we have VEGAS!!!
I so wish we couldve arrived to the beach sooner…I want some shots of “nuun”!
Awesome! It sounds like you had a blast!
That's a really great way to end the relay! What fun.
How fun! And what an amazing experience.
Nah, don't let haters keep you from sharing your experiences. Hood to Coast is epic and it's hard to articulate what it's like in one succinct post. Trust me, I was there last year.
It's still got a spot in my heart, even though I'd never run it again. It makes me emotional talking about my experiences. But I am glad I did it.
Love this! I miss you! I will miss reading all the recaps.
Doing a relay of any kind, I think, is extremely monumental. I got a tattoo after doing Ragnar for the first time in 2010 because it was such an important experience for me.
Congrats again! HTC is on my bucket list.