Stridebox - September

Stridebox day is always one of my favorite days of the month.

A3 Sports Bar - Honey Graham S'mores flavor. 110 cal, 3.5g fat, 125mg sodium, 17g carbs, 1g fiber, 5g protein.

(I love Pro Bar! I've had these before and I love them!) Pro Bar Bolt Organic Energy Chews - Strawberry flavor. (Serving is 4-5 chews. per package 2) Per serving: 90 cal, 0g fat, 60mg sodium, 24g carbs, 0g fiber, 0g protein.

Happy Squeeze Coco Coconut Milk - Orange Mango flavor (x2 Thanks Stridebox!) 90 cal, 1g fat, 5mg sodium, 20g carbs, 1g fiber, <1g protein.

Aero Shot Energy - Green Apple flavor. Air-Based energy shot/dietary supplement. Contains 100% of your daily Niacin, Vitamin B6 & Vitamin B12. Also has 100mg of caffeine. Seems you pull it open "breath" it in and get a boost of energy. We'll see about this one...

 EBoost Daily Health Booster - Orange flavor. Another product that I've had opportunity to use. I got a sample of this at one of my races. It is a drink mix (add to 8 oz of water) to boost energy & immunity. Just took a look at the nutritional facts and get this - one pack has 1667% of your daily Vitamin C AND 41,667% of your daily Vitamin B12. That was not a typo - 41,667%. Take that Aero Shot with your paltry "100%".

Fuel 100 Electro-Bites - Salty Vinegar flavor. Gluten & Soy free. 90 cal, 4.5g fat, 160mg sodium, 12g carbs, (no fiber listed), 0g protein. 

Also sent this 12 week training log to record distance, time, route & take notes.

Good things I'm looking forward to trying!

Favorite Gear #2

WARNING: Prepare yourself for more Nike fawning.

I am currently using a couple of apps to help in my training.

The first is 5K Runner by Clear Sky Apps LTD.

It cost $2.99 and I consider it well worth it. (There is a free version to try but I believe it only has one run on it)

The runs vary from 25 minutes to 45 minutes. There is 24 different runs. 8 weeks/3 days per week.  Each day includes a 5 minute warm up and cool down. Then each day includes a run that builds in length and intensity. For example Week 1/Day 1 is 5 minute warm up then 20 minutes worth of run 1 minute - walk 1.5 minutes then 5 minutes cool down. As you go on the runs get longer and the walking gets shorter until you are running the whole time.

App includes an audio "coach" that will ding a bell and tell you if you need to run or walk. (Very helpful)

App will play the music on your phone/ipod.

Every few days you earn a "badge" for your progess. And it will keep track of your "wins" (completed runs and badges) any of which you can share via Facebook, Twitter or email.

This app is available from the iTunes store for $2.99 AND there is follow up apps including 10K Runner & 21K Runner (which is a half marathon). I am hoping for a Marathon runner eventually)

In addition to that I also use the Nike+ Running app.

This app keeps track of all of your runs including, when, how far & how fast.

Home screen keeps a running total of your miles, Nike Fuel and your average speed per mile. Also lets you link to friends to see how their runs are going (excellent for friendly competition).

The app lets you set the paramiters for your run. You can set a specific length or time and it will give you audio cues as to how you are doing (each mile, when you are half done, etc.).  During the run the screen keeps track of how far you have gone, how long and what your current speed is.

After each run it will ask you how it felt and what kind of surface you were running on. Then it keeps a history for you including what the weather was like while you were running.

This app also quite nicely asks you to "tag" which pair of shoes you were running. (You can pick nicknames for them) and it keeps track of the mileage on each of your pairs of shoes!

The app is available from iTunes and is FREE! (Thanks Nike!)

I like to run both apps at the same time with a male voice on one and a female voice on the other.

Keeps track of all my runs and trains me at the same time. I love it!

5K Foam Fest - Salt Lake City, UT - August 31, 2013

My sister, my mother, several of my friends a I just participated in the 5K Foam Fest in Salt Lake City and we had a great time!

Batman (Tasha) & Robin (Robyn) ready for action!

Justice League Unite!

The whole group. (Me, Tasha, Jeanette, Robyn, Mom (Julie), Sister (Heidi))

The race provided several photographers on the course that took pictures and had a photo tent at the finish line. These pictures were then put \up on their website for download. We got ours for free because one of the obstacles was unavailable at our race.

We were given a shirt at the finish line. They were nice enough to give me one of the mens because I didn't really care for womens.

Super nice finisher medal included!

Starting to look like an actual runner.

Not without injury! Knees and elbows got scrapped up pretty good. (Crawling through the mud and doing 50 foot slip and slides will do that). But it was totally worth it!  Cannot wait to do this one again next year.

FYI - our shirts were obliterated and our bibs were torn to shreds. I may suggest wearing the bib on the back if you don't want it destroyed (something I normally consider race blasphemy), but the pictures and tagged by bib number. Something that is equally hard to do if its destroyed early in the race. Its a mixed bag - proceed with caution.

Also bib pins were being torn out and lost all over the course and we did see someone come out of the slip & slide with one very firmly imbedded in their hand.

You will come out of this race dirty, wet and injured! If you are okay with those things - rock on. We sure did.

Run with the Horses 1/2 Marathon - Green River, WY - August 17, 2013

I just ran my second 1/2 marathon. It was a tough one but I had a great time.

 At the start line. Oh man does 6 in the morning come early. That is Castle Rock in the background there.

2 miles in and about to leave the pavement headed up Wild Horse Canyon and about to gain over 1000 feet in elevation. It was a rough climb.

About 4 miles in - nice view.

Had a great view of Green River on my way back. (That's the town I started in and had to run back to BTW)

Finally done and ready for a nap..or five. (Side note: I wore the Spiders from July's Stridebox and they worked GREAT. My shins didn't hurt AT ALL the whole race. Should have covered my legs with them.)

Got another bib and a new medal!

Nice new tech shirt

This is the pile of rocks I had to take out of the tread on my shoes. I wondered why it was hurting my feet so much. Note to self. Check the size of tread before running on gravel roads.

I saw this gentleman at the beginning of the race. There was a sign on either side of his"horse". One said "50th State" and the other said "400th Marathon". Then he proceeded to run faster than I possibly could WITH the horse costume on. I should be so lucky. Congratulations buddy!

This was a tough race that I probably wasn't ready for. I am glad I did it, but oh man did it hurt. Gotta keep on training I guess. Next couple are 5Ks - thank heavens.

Stridebox - August

Another great Stridebox this month. Also the first month my sister and mother got their boxes as well.

2nd Surge Ultra Energy Gel - Double Espresso flavor. 90 cal,  0g fat, 115mg sodium, 18g carbs, 0g fiber, 3g protein.

Health Warrior Chia Bar - Acai Berry flavor. Is 100% natural, soy free, dairy free, gluten free and vegan. 100 cal, 4.5g fat, 45mg sodium, 15g carbs, 4g fiber, 3g protein. Also has an AMAZING 1000mg Omega-3.

Gatorade is one of those brands I love and trust. (Not every flavor, but most) This box included some of their new "Endurance" line which I had actually been looking for in stores. It is made for use during training and racing. Thanks Stridebox! This is Thirst Quencher Powder - Lemon Lime flavor. Just add to 24 oz of water. 160 cal, 0g fat, 620mg sodium, 44g carbs, 0g fiber, 0g protein.

Gatorade Endurance Carb Energy Chews - Fruit Punch AND Orange flavors. There are 4 chews per package. 120 cal, 0g fat, 105mg sodium, 31g carbs, 0g fiber, 0g protein.

They were the first to go and I must say, delicious. Can't wait to get more.

Kind Nuts & Spices bar - Maple Glazed Pecan & Sea Salt flavor. 210 cal, 16g fat, 140mg sodium, 13g carbs, 5g fiber, 6g protein.

The box also included this excellent Post-Run Cooling Towel!

Anther great showing with some great products! Thanks again Stridebox - can't wait for next months.