A Year Of Running

So I'm not a professional athlete. I had wanted to run for years, but had others tell me I wasn't exactly "runner material". With my asthma, bad knee and other health issues I even had a doctor laugh when I brought it up. I felt frustrated and defeated, then January of last year rolled around and the Air Force marathon popped up in my feed. I thought "Why couldn't I just try?' So I looked into what with would take to prepare for the 10k and signed up that week. Unfortunately I broke a rib and a toe prior to the race, but I was still determined to finish. I was in a lot of pain by the time I crossed the finish line, but I did finish.

A week after the marathon, I went to New York for a week and a half. During that time I was determined to continue my training while trying to be mindful of my current injuries. Lucky for me, the weather was perfect my whole trip (Except my last day) and I was able to start my day with a run in central park. If you haven't had the chance to do this, I highly recommend it at some point. (I will elaborate on this in a later post about my trip)

By far, my favorite race I did in 2018 has to be the Hot Chocolate 15k in Columbus,OH. Not only is it my farthest official race to date, the overall theme was so much fun, the medal is so adorable and its sponsored by my favorite hydration product (Nuun). The expo for the Columbus race is a little smaller than others I have been to, but there is still so much to enjoy! The crowd participation and ‘cheerleaders’ were wonderful too, from handing out little sweet snacks and water/nuun to the amazing signs they made!

I completed 6 races in 2018, determined to prove not only to myself, but to others that I could be a runner at any age, size or health condition. This year I've decided to do 12 races this year while also upping my training program. The goal is to average one race a month, ranging in different distances to keep my training interesting and give myself checkpoints to measure my progress. One of the 12 races I will be running will also be my first half marathon, which will be in the Rock n’ Roll series!

So the moral of this story is, no matter what people say, do not let them tell you or try to determine what your future is for you. It's your life. You are at the wheel, not anyone else. If there is something you have been wanting to do, take those first steps today towards that goal. Shut out the toxic negativity of others and believe that not only is you goal possible, but you are worthy of it.

My Nuun Experience

During my year of running, I was on a mission to find things to help fuel my body before, during and after training and races. A lot of trial and error happened during this period of time, trying almost all of the electrolyte based products i could get my hands on

Most hydration products that I found had a lot of sugar and other additives your body doesn't need, a few of the biggest names in sports drinks ended up being the worst for it. Several products I tried ended up giving me stomach and abdominal issues after a workout, or just left me feeling gross in general after. I was starting to truly get frustrated with my lack of options in cleaner sports products.

I started asking around to see if others were having the same issues I was having or if they had any suggestions of products to try. Many of the hard core runners/triathlon athletes I knew suggested a product called Nuun and told me about a few retailers that carried it.

The first bottle I picked up was the cherry-limeade flavor at Fresh Thyme, where they have a huge selection to choose from. I also noticed that there were several different types of Nuun: Sport, Sport with natural Caffeine, Vitamins, Immunity and Performance. All types are kosher with no preservatives, the ingredients are all clean and as close to nature as possible. After discovering these, I decided to do further research to see what the difference was… here's what I found:

Nuun Sport (Electrolyte): This type is meant to hydrate for any workout 90 min or longer with the following ingredients: 300 mg of sodium, 150 of potassium, 13 mg of calcium, 1g of sugar, 25 mg of magnesium and only 15 calories. The current flavors: citrus fruit, fruit punch, grape, lemon lime, orange, strawberry lemonade, tri-berry, tropical and watermelon.

Nuun Sport +Caffeine (+Energy): Basically all of the same stuff featured in Nuun Sport, but with the boost of natural caffeine from green tea. The current flavors: cherry limeade, fresh lime, mango orange, and wild berry.

Nuun Vitamins: You don't need as many electrolytes on days when you are active for less than 90 min. There's 100 mg of sodium, more potassium and a blend of other daily vitamins that your body needs. The great thing about this daily tablet is that they don't add too much of the vitamins and minerals, so your body doesn't waste it. Current flavors: blackberry citrus, blueberry pomegranate, ginger lemonade, grapefruit orange, strawberry melon and tangerine lime.

Nuun Immunity: This one supports your body and immune system during those hard training times or if you catch something during cold and flu season. This particular tablet includes electrolytes, Vitamins (A,C,D and E), antioxidants, a proprietary botanical blend of elderberry & echinacea, plus the anti-inflammatory ingredients turmeric and ginger. This formula uses the 3 prong advantage of anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and electrolytes to give your system a boost. Another bonus is that it’s also non-gmo and non-modified. The current flavors are: Orange citrus.

Nuun Performance: Now I have never seen this one in stores, but I have seen it on line in the Nuun shop in the bag and single serve pouches. This product is the only product in it’s line that isn't in the signature table, but a powder form instead. This performance formula is made with more intense workouts in mind (century rides, ultra, marathon, triathlon, etc) to work with what your body needs to perform at its best. With that in mind, this formula has 380mg of sodium, 200mg of potassium, 15mg of calcium, 12g of sugar, 20mg of magnesium, 80mg of chloride and 60 calories. The current flavors: blueberry strawberry and orange mango. After finding all of this information, I decided to compare Nuun to the other popular sports drinks that had made me feel so terrible. It was absolutely shocking how much sugar and other additives these other drinks had that are hard for your body to process. I also saw that these can cause the exact stomach and abdominal issues that I had been experiencing, not to mention the sugar crash. Many of these products had more sugar in them than two scoops of ice cream!

Another thing that really liked about this brand is its “clean up your drink, clean up the planet” mission. They encourage the use of reusable bottles with their products along with the up-cycling of the tablet tubes when they are empty. They also have a program in place for you to send the tubes back to be recycled as well. So after all of the research and comparison of products, I was ready to use my Nuun on a 5k I had coming up. I figured It would be best to try on a shorter run just in case I had the same result as I did with other drinks. I was quite surprised to find that not only did I have a run free of the typical stomach/abdominal issues, but I actually felt better after the race! I even gave it a try in another race with a further distance and got the same result! Ever since then, I have consistently kept a supply of Nuun on me at all times.

It has been over a year since I started to use Nuun, the product being huge help during my first full year of running. Since was doubling my amount of races this year, there was no doubt that Nuun was going to be a big part of that as well, before and after the race. Luckily for me, at the beginning of the year, I was presented with a wonderful opportunity to become an ambassador for the brand. After all the research I had done and the results I have had, it was a no brainier! So I’m very excited and proud to say that I am a 2019 Nuun Ambassador! So don’t be surprised if you see me sporting some Nuun gear at a race, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask!