An update on the Honey Stinger Giveaway, we have a winner!
Congrats to Courtney! DM me your address and I’ll have these sent out right away.
It’s my last week before marathon training begins, and I’m still putting together the final touches on my schedule. As the day gets closer, I’m already starting to get nervous for the long runs. Any tips on what’s absolutely necessary for my training?
I am a creature of habit when it comes to my race routine. Throughout high school and college I would do the exact same race prep every week. My Saturday morning’s consisted of Lemon Lime Powerade, a chocolate chip Chewy bar, Apple & Cinnamon Quakes and covering myself in Icy Hot. This year I’ve ventured out a lot and completely changed my pre race strategy. I nixed everything and started fresh. Now I start with a chocolate chip Clif Bar, Lemon Lime Gatorade, and Strawberry Banana Gu. Ok, so maybe not a lot has changed, but I feel better prepared when I step up to that line.
Right before Cleveland, I checked out the Gu stock at Second Sole and noticed Honey Stingers Energy Chews. They were new to the store and were pretty new to the staff as well. They offered to let me try a few, and I promised I’d give a review on how I thought they were.
The first pack I tried out was Caffeinated Lime-Ade. Because I love lemon lime flavors so much I figured this would be a hit. You’re supposed to eat about 5 for every hour you exercise. I had originally planned to do a long run, so I ate a few before and put them in my race belt to save for later. I loved the flavor, but I think because I drink it so much, I was caught off guard that I had to chew. I could feel the extra energy and wanted to run for hours. Unfortunately my legs were pretty sore from hills so I had to cut the run short. Overall I felt like I had a lot more energy than normal, which I believe came from the extra caffeine. Downside, I was thirsty the entire run, but this could have been from the heat as well.
The second one I tried was Fruit Smoothie. Honestly these taste just like fruit snacks and I love it. I had to slow myself down so I wouldn’t eat the entire pack. My energy didn’t feel as high, like it previously did with the caffeinated chews, but my energy was consistent. I enjoyed this flavor better and even though I ate a ton, I didn’t feel it weighing down my stomach.
Overall I thought these were a great change from my routine. I’m looking forward to experimenting with other flavors and trying out other products. They’re healthy snacks that are light on the stomach and come in a variety of flavors to please everyone. In fact, Honey Stinger tells you up front just how healthy they are.
“Honey Stinger Organic Energy Chews are formulated specifically for health-conscious individuals and athletes seeking a great tasting energy snack. Honey Stinger Organic Energy Chews are unique as they are the first to include naturally occurring fiber and protein derived from 100% organic tapioca syrup and honey (Lime-Ade chews are 95% organic). Smaller and softer than other chews.
Made with USDA certified Organic ingredients. Gluten-free, dairy-free, non-GMO ingredients. 0g Trans Fats and no partially hydrogenated oils. 100% RDA Vitamin C along with 1g protein and 1g fibre per package.”
So what to do with the last pack? That’s yours to win! I’ll be giving away one pack of the Cherry Blossom flavor.
Want to win? Leave a separate comment for each entry. You’ll have four chances to win!
Disclosure: I was given Honey Stinger Energy Chews to try out and review on my own time. The opinions are my own and not influenced by Second Sole or Honey Stinger.
Throughout the month of March I participated in the March photo a day challenge on instagram. I really enjoyed being creative and finding pictures to take everyday. Some of the words were easy, some were hard and some were just not something I wanted to find (one of the days was “trash”). I only missed three days, not bad. Here are my favorite pictures from the month…
Vermilion Lighthouse
Word: smile. Lighthouses make me smile.
Little Ralphie
Word: Animal. My wild little animal.
Country roads
Words: Where you relax. Running on the country roads in Wooster.
I had so much fun this month, I decided to do it again in April. I’ll be traveling every weekend, so I’m excited to see what kind of photos I can find while I’m out of town. So here’s the challenge:
If you want to see all of my challenge photos, just look me up! “Masher52”
As a fair warning, the roads on the west side of Cleveland are safe for just one more year, my little younger sister turns 15 today! Claire is about as opposite of me as they come. We’re 9 years apart and some how she’s now the same height as me. She is a pretty awesome high schooler, and I’m lucky to have her as my sister.
Cutest little toddler
Look out boys!
Not so “little” sister
Happy 15th Birthday Claire-bear, love you!
I’m so excited to have my first guest blogger. I asked one of my oldest and closest friends to write a post, I was pretty pumped when she agreed.
While this won’t be your typical running post, Elayna has a lot of great topics to talk about. Here’s your chance to hear about what she has to say….
Having worked in the hospital for a week and a half now, it didn’t take me long to realize that ordinary days in the hospital can turn into extra-ordinary days in a matter of moments. We still have our good days and bad days in the hospital. After learning that one of our patients had passed away earlier in the day, and another one was given a terminal diagnosis of cancer, I thought my emotional rollercoaster was over—it was just a bad day in the clinic. But instead I found myself reflecting on how even after the darkest days, the sun will rise…and that’s exactly what happened in the clinic today. Below, I reflect on three individuals’ decisions to transform one of life’s most unfortunate experiences—death—into something that brings new life to those in need: organ donation.
You see, I am a physical therapy student in my first acute care (inpatient) clinical rotation in a hospital. My clinical instructor is a 30-something physical therapist and Cleveland native. She is the most patient, kind-hearted PT I’ve met in the field—and her smile is just about as big as her heart. There’s something about the way she manages her patient-care that I can’t quite quantify or put words to… but I hope that someday I’ll be able to reflect the quality of her care in my practice. She has two young boys and a loving husband who was placed onto the kidney transplant list about 8 years ago or so. They have spent the last 8 years waiting.
I was sitting in the nurses’ station, charting up our treatments for the final patients of the day…when something extra-ordinary happened. While we were finishing up our documentation and getting ready to end the day, she received a page from her husband that read: “23 911 911.” Now, “23” happens to be their anniversary date—a code they use to designate good news. (The 911 meant there was an imminent situation on their hands.) She immediately called her husband and received the news—after 8 years of waiting, they had a kidney. A 60-something year-old man had chosen to donate his organs.
Earlier in the week, on Monday February 27th, a very unfortunate incident at Chardon High School lead to the death of 3 students, while another victim holds a medical status that has yet to be determined. Two of the three students who were killed by this tragic shooting, Russell King Jr. and Demetrius Hewlin (aged 16 and 17) chose to be organ donors. Their matured decisions to be organ donors led to gifts of renewed life for up to sixteen individuals in the Greater Cleveland area in waiting. While few people anticipate death in a constructive way, especially at such a young age, both Russell and Demetrius made a commitment to life by pledging their bodies to those in need.
You can do this too—if you are not already an organ donor, you have the power to register at this link. To learn more information about organ donation, please visit http://www.organdonor.gov/index.html.
Elayna is a student in The Ohio State University’s Doctorate of Physical Therapy Program and native Clevelander. Her interests are in wellness, volunteering, food&drink, and all things Cleveland. If you like what you’ve read, please visit her blog at enowak.blogspot.com.
It’s time for my blog to change, grow and become something that I hope will be better than ever. I missed my first blogiversary (remind me next January 5th) but now I’m looking at what amazing things I can add in year two. The main focus for my blog has been and will be my running. But hearing about the miles I run, or the races I tell myself I’m going to do can become repetitive. So I’ve come up with a few ideas on ways to expand my blog….
This past weekend was a pretty fun one. The fact that Valentine’s Day fell on a week day and the hour distance made it a little hard for Darren and I to get together. We also have our anniversary coming up in a week, but someone decided they wanted to go snowboarding in Colorado that weekend (hint: not me) So we celebrated both Valentine’s Day and our anniversary this weekend.
We started Saturday with a trip to the new Greater Cleveland Aquarium. It was super busy, we had to wait an hour in line just to get our tickets. The structure was absolutely amazing and I loved seeing all of the sea creatures. It is definitely a place for those of you who have kids, they will love it.
My favorite
Check out those teeth!
“Can I swim with him?”
After the aquarium we headed to the IX Center for the Cleveland Golf Show. This part of the day was purely for Darren, I still don’t think I understand golf any better than before. But he had fun, and I was content after I found a giant glass of wine to keep me company.
“Look how good I am”
After a long day we headed to Nemo Grille, absolutely amazing. This is defitenly a date night restaurant, and everything on the menu is superb!
Yumm…Salmon 🙂
It was a fantastic weekend, tons of fun on our day dates, an amazing dinner and exchange of a few gifts. I’d say I’m pretty lucky 🙂
While I’m in Canada, I wanted to fill you in a few fun things.
This past weekend we hit the slopes to enjoy the most recent snow storm. Last year I tried snowboarding and after remembering my large amount of falls, I wanted to try something easier and safer. So I decided that I’d spend a few hours skiing. I’ve never done downhill, but I grew up doing cross-country skiing, so I felt I kind of had an idea of what I was doing (not really). I took the beginners lesson so I wouldn’t completely embarrass myself. I definitely learned the basics and felt comfortable going down the easy hills. However, an 8-year-old in the group showed me up and was better than me the first time down, he also didn’t believe that I was in my mid-20’s so I had lost all faith from him. I spent a couple of hours on the easy slopes until Darren tricked me to try a harder one. Sorry buddy, it wasn’t easy and I pretty much had a panic attack on the top of the mountain.
Notice the harder hill I was tricked into
Somehow I made it down, secretly proud of myself that I could do it after just a few hours of learning, but didn’t want to try it again that day. I plan on going a few more times this year, and eventually investing in making it my winter sport. Of course nothing compares to running.
Skiing 101= Survival
Next up, I’m running Cleveland Half for a reason. I’ve decided that the Cleveland Half marathon will be dedicated to running for Team JDRF, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. My goal is to raise $500 by Cleveland to help support those who are looking to cure this disease. No surprise, the reason I’m doing this is for Darren, who was diagnosed with Diabetes when he was just 3 years old. I appreciate any donations and encourage you to learn more about Diabetes.
The final and maybe most exciting thing is….there are 3 more days until Columbus registration opens up! I haven’t even started training or planning for this, but I’m already getting excited, I can’t help but get goose bumps every time I think about it. 2012 is the year of races!
2011 was pretty awesome, but I hope 2012 can be even better. I’ve made goals and plans and hopes for the next year. Of course these will change as the year goes on, but I think I can take on anything that comes my way. Here’s my goals and plans for the next year!
Goals
Plans
So far a lot of traveling, but I’m looking forward to every trip. And like I said, I’m sure more will be added, but I’d say I have some pretty exciting things to look forward to!
What are your goals or plans for 2012?
Here it is almost 2012, and looking back at 2011, it was an amazing year. So much happened to help me grow, discover new possibilities and create new challenges for the future. I’ve learned so much and I can only hope to do so much in the next year to make it just as great. Here’s my 2011:
I honestly can’t believe how crazy this past year has been. I can’t wait for 2012. Happy New Year everyone!
What was your favorite memory of 2011?
Masher Runs 