My Nuun H2C Team Application (Hint: It’s Not a Video)

I sent my “creative” application in for Nuun‘s all-blogger, all-female Hood to Coast Team a couple of weeks ago. (You can apply, too! You just need to be a running blogger and a woman. Go HERE for more info. DUE BY TOMORROW…YIKES!) Everyone seems to be doing a video, but I went with my “strength,” which is writing.

The one thing I neglected to talk about in my story (below), however, is that I love to encourage others, which makes me a pretty darn good teammate, I think. Remember my cowbell injury from Seattle Rock ‘N’ Roll last year?

Anyway, I wanted to tell a story. I think I would be really good at “re-telling” the Nuun Hood to Coast team’s adventure.

Here’s my application:

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Running is how I get my adventure-fix.

On June 25th, come hell or stress fracture, I will finish my first full marathon. I’ve been on a quest since July 2009. But what will I do when it’s over? What will I do with all five minutes of my free time? What will I write about on my blog? I’ll have to change the name from Mom vs. Marathon to Mom vs. Boredom.

Wait, what is this? An e-mail from Nuun. An all-blogger, all-female Hood to Coast team? Why, yes thank you, I’ll apply.

But the next thing I read completely stumped me: “Submit a creative application.”

I work in a creative industry. I’m a copywriter. Okay, some would argue that copywriting has lost its creativeness what with the Internet and keywords and the demand for search-optimized content. But there’s still more creativity involved than, say…oh, I don’t know…data processing. It’s a close call, but I think copywriting wins by an em-dash.

But when I saw the word “creative,” my brain couldn’t compute. Creative? Creative? What do they mean by “creative”? Painting? Acting? Should I make a film? Where is my video camera? How exactly does it work? Okay, maybe I should compose a memorable piece of music. I can’t sing, but maybe I could get someone else to. I wonder if Taylor Swift is busy. Shoot. I know, I’ll forward this to my running buddy, Mel, and ask what her what I should do.

I did just that and on our next lunch-hour run, I asked my blogging-powerhouse friend, Mel (AKA Tall Mom), “What should I do for my creative application?”

She thought for a few strides, then answered: “Play to your strengths.”

I nodded and said, “Okay.” But while we ran, I thought: Play to my strengths? Play to my strengths? What kind of answer is that? What are my strengths? Geez. I should have asked someone else.

And it wasn’t until a week later that I knew she was right and that I needed to put the idea of making the next film-festival award-winner out of my head. And Taylor Swift’s people won’t call me back anyway.

I needed to write.

My strength is writing. Writing has helped me in my life more times than I can count. Feeling sad? Write. Feeling mad? Just write. Need to get in shape? Write. In fact, writing on my blog is what helped motivate me to run in the beginning. Still does on some days.

Writing is my magic elixir. Kind of like Nuun on my long runs.

I’m not kidding here. I’m not kissing ass. I absolutely refuse to run long without Nuun. Experience has taught me this. I don’t even drink plain water. On Sunday, May 29, I conquered my first-ever 20-miler with nothing but Weird Al, a few gel packets and two Lemon+Lime tablets to keep me company over three hours and twenty-six minutes of running.

So here I am. This is my version of creativity. I’m a writer. I’m a mother, too. And a wife. And the owner of three big dogs. I have a job. I drive a minivan. I wash dishes. And laundry. Occasionally, I actually fold it. A few times a week, I need a little adventure, so I put on my running shoes.

But sometimes I need a BIG adventure. For that, I need Nuun.

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Some amazing blogger-runners are applying for this and I would feel honored to be on the same team as them! Thank you, Nuun, for putting this together!