giveaways

5 things I’m loving lately and a giveaway!

May 18, 2018 by Michelle 46 Comments

Happy Friday!

To kick this Friday off I thought I’d share a few things I’ve been loving lately. (This post contains some affiliate links).

Headsweats headbands – I have always loved Headsweats hats and as ambassador, I have had the chance to try out some other products in their line. One of my new favorites is their Ultra Bands. While I wear it mostly as a headband, the design is pretty versatile and it could be anything from a wristband to a face mask. If you want to check out the Ultra Band or any of the Headsweats products, don’t forget to use code ATTITUDE25 to save 25%.

I just got this one – Isn’t this Purple Haze pattern awesome?

Lotta Breeze Skirt– You all know how much I love my Skirt Sports skirts and my go-to style is the Gym Girl Ultra but I recently tried the Lotta Breeze and I’m hooked. It’s so comfortable with a drawstring at the waist that ensures it doesn’t slip and 5.5″ shorties so there’s no risk of chafing. After my first run, I immediately bought another and now I’m eagerly awaiting new patterns. Use code 218Dixo to save 15% when you place an order.

Dynamic Tape – I have Marcia to thank for this find. Dynamic Tape (Affiliate link!) stays put and provides great support – and the tattoo pattern is kinda fun, don’t ya think?!

Spring Energy Gel – Before I had to cut back a bit on mileage, I had started testing out different fuel options on my long runs. I received a tube of Spring Energy Gel (Affiliate link!) in a recent StrideBox. I really like that Spring Energy is made with real food – it was easy on my stomach, had no aftertaste, and kept me feeling good through eight miles.

StrideBox – And speaking of StrideBox, if you’ve been around here for a bit or follow me on Instagram then you know that I’m a big fan of StrideBox. It’s such a great mix of runner goodies, and I swear each box has just been getting better and better. And for just $15 per month, it’s a great deal.

So thanks to the awesome folks at StrideBox, I’ve got a box to give away! The giveaway is open to residents in the U.S. only and will run from now until 11:59 p.m. on 5/22. If you don’t want to wait, use code MICHELLE10OFF to save $10 on your first box! This code is good until 5/31 so don’t wait!

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I’m joining Rachel and Lacey & Meranda for the Friday Five link-up!

Filed Under: #skirtsports, #StrideBox, #TeamHeadsweats, Friday Five, giveaways

Run Utah – A Giveaway!

February 10, 2017 by Michelle 22 Comments

I’m telling you that there’s nothing worse than receiving an invitation to a great destination race and not be able to take advantage of it! Such is the case with the Utah Valley Marathon, Half Marathon and 10K.

Utah is just beautiful, isn’t it?

When I think of traveling to Utah my first thoughts turn towards skiing and memories of a great family vacation we had there. We always said we wanted to head back, so when I got an email from the nice folks at Utah Valley Marathon, I knew this would be a trip I’d have no problem convincing my husband to take!

A few reasons to run:

The Utah Valley Marathon was named a TOP 10 race in America by Runner’s World Magazine in 2014
In honor of their 10th anniversary, they’re handing out race jackets instead of a T-shirt
A fast downhill course – no uphill people! (the marathon is a Boston qualifier)
Offers a marathon, half marathon, and 10K options, plus a kids 1K

Sounds great right? So why am I not booking my flights…because come June 10th, we will be in the thick of a lacrosse tournament in the RWA household. And, given that I’m helping to coordinate the tourney, disappearing for a race is just not in the cards. But I’ve already penciled it in for 2018 🙂 (Did I mention no uphills!)

So what’s a girl to do with a race entry she can’t use? Host a giveaway of course 🙂 I’ve actually got not one but two entries!

Want to run the Utah Valley Marathon/Half Marathon/10k? Then enter below – or, if you’re just ready to register, you can use code rwa15 to get 15% off any distance! (This is an affiliate code.)

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Disclaimer: I received the two free race entries and discount code courtesy of the Utah Valley Marathon. I will receive a small payment for all registrations made using my discount code.

Filed Under: bucket list, giveaways

Hemp Hearts Review & Giveaway

November 6, 2015 by Michelle 3 Comments

This post is sponsored by Manitoba Harvest through my affiliation with Sweat Pink. As always, the opinions expressed here are completely my own.

I was recently offered the opportunity to try Hemp Hearts. Since I’m always looking for an easy way to add a little extra protein into my diet, so I was eager to give them a try.

Hemp Hearts are raw, shelled hemp seeds. These little seeds pack 10g of protein and 10g of health omegas into a 30g serving. In fact, they deliver more protein and omegas and less carbs than the same serving size of either chia or flax seeds. They have a light, nutty taste, and, as I quickly learned, you can use them on just about anything.

I tried them sprinkled in yogurt and on salads. I also substituted them in my smoothies in place of my usual flax seed. I especially liked them sprinkled on top of a bowl of oatmeal along with a little Macintosh apple.

Manitoba Harvest also offers a wide range of recipes on their website – you can check them out HERE. I’m planning to try the pumpkin hemp pancakes this weekend!

Want to try them for yourself?

The nice folks at Manitoba Harvest are offering a bag to one lucky RWA reader. This giveaway is open to US and Canada residents. If you win this giveaway, and have already won another prize from Manitoba Harvest through another blog, please disclose that you have already won so another winner can be chosen.

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Filed Under: giveaways, product reviews

Journal Menu Review & Giveaway

July 27, 2015 by Michelle 11 Comments

Journal Menu provided me with a Running Journal in exchange for a product review. As always, all opinions are my own.

I’ve shared here many times that I am a bit a planner obsessed – using my planner is a key part of my morning routine, helping me to stay on top of a busy family schedule, work, to do’s and long-term goals. When I first started running I use to track my workouts and progress in my planner, but it quickly became too much and I switched to using a separate training log. I like having one place dedicated to my running, and I’ve kept a training journal for each of the last 4 years. So when Erica from Journal Menu reached out to me and offered me a customized journal, there was no way I could turn her down!

Well, let me just come right out and say that there’s so much to love about this running journal! There are sections for:

goal planning
sample training plans and space for your training plans
race planning and reviews
pace charts
interval training
personal records
inspirational quotes throughout, and
the daily entry covers everything from food journal, weather, pace, mileage and notes

Best of all is the level of customization Journal Menu provides – you pick the cover art, the pages to be included and the tracking template. Journal Menu also offers journals for yoga, triathlons, general fitness and a running/crossfit hybrid. Each journal is unique – you build it the way you want it. Seriously, what’s not to love!?

After spending these past couple of months working my way back from injury, this journal’s already got me dreaming big for next year!

So how’s you like the chance to create your own customized journal? Thanks to Journal Menu one lucky RWA reader will win their very own customized running journal!

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Good Luck!

Filed Under: giveaways, product reviews

Wahoo Fitness Review & Giveaway

June 16, 2015 by Michelle 16 Comments

I received the Wahoo Tickr X for the purpose of a review. As always, all opinions expressed here are my own.

With school year-end events, the boys lacrosse tournaments, work and life in general, I am sometimes finding myself needing to be more flexible than usual to get a workout in. And in these situations of late, my go to workout has been to strap on my Wahoo Tickr X and crank out a few rounds of their 7-minute workout.

The Tickr X is a heart rate monitor with lots of fun features. With the Wahoo Fitness App (both iPhone and Android), the Tickr X syncs with your phone to track your workouts, runs, cycling and swimming. Best of all, it has up to 16 hours of memory so you still track a workout sans phone and sync up later. The Tickr X measures your movement so beyond your heart rate, it will track your distance and stride rate when running and your cadence when cycling.

Since I’ve only just returned to running I haven’t tried the run features yet – but I plan to! What I have really enjoyed is using the Tickr X with Wahoo’s 7 Minute Workout App. This was my first time working with a heart rate monitor of any kind – I’ve always been leery of the whole chest strap thing. The Tickr X band is soft plastic and much more comfortable then I anticipated, and once I got moving I quickly forgot about it.

The 7 Minute Workout app features 12 high-intensity bodyweight exercises, counts reps for each 30 second interval, tells you when to rest and congratulates you when you set a new personal best. At the end of the 7 minutes, it gives you a great recap to show you if you’ve completed more (or fewer) reps than the previous workout and your heart rate throughout. For me, 2 -3 rounds made for a good workout and I was still done in well under a half hour. Perfect for when you’re short on time! There is also an alternative 7 minute workout and a 7 minute Pilates workout available for 99 cents each if you want to mix it up a bit.

So what do you think? Want to try one for yourself?

Win it! The great folks at Wahoo Fitness are giving away one Tickr X to a lucky RWA reader!

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Filed Under: #Tickrx, #Wahoo, giveaways, product reviews

WIN Detergent Review and Giveaway

November 22, 2014 by Michelle 3 Comments

I received samples of WIN Detergent for the purpose of a review through my affiliation with Sweat Pink. As always, all opinions express here are my own.

If you follow RWA on Facebook (and really you should!) then you may have seen this photo in my feed a couple of weeks ago. It made me laugh because this is often what laundry looks like in my house. Between my husband’s workout clothes, my oldest son playing football, while the youngest is playing hockey, plus my own workout clothes, you can easily see how this pic is far from fiction! And if any of you have kids who play sports, you know just how ripe their clothes can be…we won’t even discuss my husband’s stuff!

Suffice it to say, we sweat hard in the RWA house, so when I was offered a chance to test out WIN Sports Detergent I couldn’t wait to try it. I received two bottles of Win – the original and Win green.

WIN offered a nice light scent, while WIN Green, as you might expect had no fragrance at all. When put to the test, both formulas delivered on de-stinking the clothes. The green formula wash smelled “clean,” while the original formula left the clothes with a pleasant fresh scent, without the cloyingly perfumey smell of other brands I’ve tried that do more to cover than remove the stink. The original formula did fall short on removing the stains from my son’s hockey socks, and does make me wonder how it might fair against the grass stains of my boys lacrosse clothes come spring. (I only tried WIN Green on my running gear – so no stain-removal required).

Want to see if WIN can stand up to the test of your workout clothes? WIN is giving me the opportunity to do a giveaway for all RWA readers. One winner will receive a full sized bottle of each, the original and the green formulas. If you don’t want to wait for the giveaway and want to buy it now, you can also use the coupon code WINGIVE1 for $1 off a bottle of WIN.

To enter the giveaway, please follow the Rafflecopter instructions below:

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Filed Under: giveaways, product reviews, WIN detergent

Training Update & Nuun Winner

August 18, 2014 by Michelle 15 Comments

Week 4 of my Philadelphia Half training is done! Here’s a quick recap:

Monday: 3 miles with negative split

Tuesday: Spent a fun day with my mom – lots of walking

Wednesday: Pilates Barre

Thursday: 5.75 miles – tough run! My legs felt so heavy, I seriously wanted to stop a mere mile in, but stuck it out.

Friday: Rest and a massage

Saturday: 6.5 miles on a very hilly loop. My legs felt so much better!

Sunday: Hip strengthening exercises and core work

After Saturday’s run, I’m feeling much more upbeat going into this week. I’ll be adding more hip strengthening work this week, as well as some T25.

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After a great response to my Nuun Giveaway, the winner is Samantha S! Congrats!

A big thanks to Nuun for sponsoring!

Filed Under: giveaways, half marathon training

Nuun Energy Review & Giveaway

August 13, 2014 by Michelle 22 Comments

This post and giveaway are sponsored by Nuun. As always, all opinions expressed here are my own.

Since I started my half marathon training plan, I’ve also started testing out different options for fueling my runs. In the past, a big area where I’ve fallen short is hydration. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been getting better with some help from Nuun.

Just as I was getting ready to start my half training, Nuun reached out to see if I was interested in testing out their newest product line Nuun Energy – perfect timing! I had tried the original Nuun tablets out a couple of times last summer and found them to be a nice alternative to traditional sports drinks – which my stomach just wants no part of! So why didn’t I stick with them? Pure laziness on my part truthfully – I got so obsessed with trying to figure which gel/Chomp/etc. to use that my hydration plan kinda took a backseat and I went back to just water.

But knowing my hydration needs some extra attention while training in the summer I knew I wanted more than water. Enter Nuun Energy! I’m happy to say that the best things I liked about the original Nuun haven’t been changed – all natural with no added sugars and less than 12 calories. Nuun Energy provides 40 mg. of caffeine and 5 essential B vitamins for more sustained energy. It comes in Wild Berry, Cherry Limeade, and Lemon-lime — I tried out the last two flavors and was especially fond of the Cherry Limeade. Overall, it’s light, refreshing and easy on my stomach – a definite win for my workouts! Additionally, I’ve actually taken to drinking it in the late afternoon when I typically start to fade and begin dreaming of iced coffee concoctions!

Ready to try it out for yourself? One lucky reader will win Nuun Energy tablets. The giveaway will run from now until midnight on 8/16. A winner will be announced on Monday, August 18th. Good luck!

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Filed Under: fave things, giveaways, hydration, Nuun

Stay Ahead of Holiday Madness and a Giveaway

October 14, 2013 by Michelle 5 Comments

As I sit here recovering from Sunday’s race (recap coming soon), I’ve been sorting through the mail ~~that seemed to grow over night~~ that I let pile up this week and I cannot believe how many catalogs I have! Each one urging me to take advantage of their great sale, to not wait before that perfect holiday gift sells out! Seriously – it’s only mid October. Combine the catalog deluge with the four different notices my boys recently brought home announcing various school holiday activities/events and I can feel the first tinges of holiday madness starting to seep in.

And, before you think I’m jumping the gun on holiday panic – there are just 44 days until Hanukkah, 45 days until Thanksgiving and 72 days until Christmas. And, as my fellow moms know, keeping track of all of the school activities, family events and finding the perfect gift for each and everyone on our list can add quite a bit to an already packed to do list!

So how do you find/maintain some balance going into the holidays? Today I’m collaborating with a few other bloggers, sharing tips for maintaining health and fitness priorities when things get crazy. For me I find a couple of things are a must:

Keep moving — Commit to carving out time each day to move. Some days you may have time for your regular run, but other times you won’t so have some quick back-ups ready – like planks or a few sun salutes. And, remember every little bit counts so take the stairs when you can or park at the far end of the parking lot when you’re out shopping.
Take a moment to breathe — This time of year is when I pay special attention to not fall off the meditation bandwagon. If you don’t have a meditation practice, just taking a few times throughout the day to stop and breathe can help slow a mind overwhelmed by to do’s.
Get enough sleep — As hard as it may be, don’t sacrifice sleep in the name of getting more done. Try to maintain your normal bedtime – your mind and body will thank you.
Remember to eat — In your daily running around trying to cram in all that needs to get done, it is very easy to skip a meal for the sake of time. Don’t do it! Feed your body and feed it well. You’ll be less tempted to down that extra cookie and you’ll have the energy you need to get all of those “to do’s” done.
Treat yourself — One of my favorite things to do around the holidays is plan a get together with a friend or two where we grab coffee together and then go for a mani/pedi! It’s a great way to grab a little girl-time. Check out Coupons.com for Spa Finder coupon codes good for big discounts on spa services and day spas.