Post-Hood to Coast mortem is unlike any post-race depression I’ve felt before. It’s a strange concept, post-race depression. You’d think after working so hard over many months for a race, you’d actually be happy for it to be over. This is not the case with Hood to Coast. And this is especially not the case when you’re running with Team Nuun. I spent five days with 36 women (and six fearless men who drove us around) and I never wanted it to end.

The friendships I made over the five days in the PNW will for sure last a lifetime. At the risk of being cliché and sounding like a college student who just got back from studying abroad, I know the memories we made along the nearly 200 miles of the Hood to Coast course reignited not only my passion for running but my faith in the strength of the running community.

While I’m still deep in the throws of my Hood to Coast hangover, I wanted to do a very quick post to thank Nuun for the incredibly life-changing experience I had this past weekend. Thank you to Mason, CEO and President of Nuun, for creating such an incredible experience for all of us and teaching us more about Nuun and your company’s dedication to all runners. Thank you to Megan for organizing all of us and making sure we still had fun along the way! Thank you to all of our van drivers, especially Jeantel, for putting up with our stink and getting us where we needed to be.

And a special thank you to my Team Watermelon Van 1 teammates- Sarah, Mallory, Kara, Catey, and Megan– you all truly made this experience memorable and if I don’t take anything else away from this experience I’ll always have: What would Ke$ha do? :)

I will have a full race report to come very soon this week but to start, here is a photo recap of the week!

We arrived (slightly disheveled) to the PNW, notice the flipped over backpack strap. (Photo credit: Megan from megrunnergirl.com)

We explored Seattle, namely Pike’s Place Market and the original Starbuck (cha-ching!) because runners love coffee.

We bowled, a.k.a. cross-trained.

We visited Oiselle, and flew. (Photo credit: Sally Bergesen from Oiselle)

We quacked our way through Seattle on Duck Boats. Quack, quack! (Photo credit: Jesica from runladylike.com)

We decorated our vans with highly appropriate sayings like “Spit Don’t Swallow” with Team Watermelon. (Photo credit: Megan Fay)

We woke up very early, packed, and embarked on our journey to Timberline Lodge at the summit of Mt. Hood. (Photo credit: Lindsay from twistedrunning.com)

We reached the top of Mt. Hood. So beautiful!

We got (Nuun) tat, tat, tatted up in our highly efficient tattoo train line. (Photo credit: Megan Fay)

We began our 198-mile journey…

Check back for a full recap later on this week when I’ve finally processed the entire experience!