Winner of the FUEL THE FIRE Giveaway announced!

We’re in the midst of a lot of traveling to spend quality time with family spread out all over these great United States, and before I go any further, I just want to pause a second to say, “Thank you,” to all of the men and women who have fought for our freedoms. For those who have paid the ultimate price by laying your lives down for us, I pray we never forget your sacrifice.  To those who have returned from battle weary, worn, scarred and struggling – I pray for your peace of mind, and once again, I thank you for your sacrifice. 

Old Glory proudly flying on my porch

I pray for our Country, for her leaders, for peace and that we should always be the land of the free and the home of the brave.

I hope that today, on this Memorial Day, you pause to reflect on what this day means. I hope that you pray for the fallen, the wounded, our beautiful United States of America,  and our leaders.

Now, here’s the big announcement…

The winner of the the FUEL THE FIRE Giveaway – Jacqueline W.!!

CONGRATULATIONS!

I hope you enjoy your goodies!!

FUEL THE FIRE: PocketFuel Review & Giveaway Preview

I had talked myself out of running before I even rolled out of bed. My first alarm went off and I got up just long enough to silence it. Two hours later, my “for real this time, get your butt out of bed” alarm went off. I dragged myself towards the kitchen for a cup of coffee and noticed the sun was shining oddly bright this day. Letting the dogs out to do their business, I was shocked at the absence of cold. Sun? Warmth? What is this voodoo?

As I trudged on into the kitchen and started sipping my coffee, I noticed a package on the counter. I LOVE getting packages in the mail. It always feels like Christmas when I get packages in the mail. It REALLY felt like Christmas when I looked in the box to find a huge hunkin’ handful of PocketFuel! These folks are crazy generous with their sample sizes!

As I flipped through the packets, looking at the flavors and ingredients, my mouth began to drool. I HAD to test these babies out STAT! Oh yeh, I was going for a run!

Since I was skipping breakfast, for my first trial I went with the most breakfast-y flavor – Banana Blueberry. I didn’t really taste banana OR blueberry. What I did taste was creamy, nutty deliciousness.

It was such a beautiful day I even got baby girl out in the jogging stroller.

She napped most of the run.

I was scheduled for 6 miles of intervals, but the stroller slowed me down (can someone say FEEL THE BURN! I mean SERIOUSLY – my arms were BURNING a mile in!) especially on the hills. I ended up going a slow 3.24, powering up the hills to try to make up for the decreased distance.

I never felt an energy spike, nor did I ever feel a crash – just a steady flow of energy.

Later that night, at work, instead of being forced to choose between eating or working out, I got to get in a yoga session AND eat some yummy PocketFuel – coconut cherry, this time…

And this time, I could definitely taste the coconut AND the cherry. Mmmmm mmmmmm good!

On my second day of Christmas, I mean PocketFuel testing, I hit the mother load – CHOCOLATE ESPRESSO. Oh my sweet deliciousness.

Hello. My name is Jennifer. I’m a coffee addict. I love Starbucks, dark chocolate, and all things espresso. I have been clean for zero days.

Oh yes, I’m sure you guessed it – this is by far my favorite flavor. The only bad thing about this flavor is that I don’t have a one gallon ice cream tub filled with it. Except, well, that’s probably a good thing.

This choco espresso goodness got me through another lunchbreak (that’s actually supper time for most folks) yoga session, and was a nice pick-me-up to get through the rest of the night shift.

I parted ways with Vanilla Haze, gifting it to a co-worker who suffers from Celiac disease. He had never heard of PocketFuel before. I’m happy to report he now likes these little packets of whole food deliciousness much as I do!

For my long run test, I drizzled Chia Goji & Honey over a sliced banana on bread which was a yummy pre-run snack.

The only thing I didn’t like during my run is that I had to carry a sandwich bag to put my packet in once I emptied it – to keep my pocket clean. This is an issue with gels, too. PocketFuel actually makes reusable pouches, though, eliminating the issue altogether.

Long story short, PocketFuel is a wonderfuel whole food product that has many applications for my (and I’m sure your) life. Whether I’m trying to squeeze too much into one day or cranking out a long run, I don’t have to sacrifice my taste buds or my nutritional well-being on the altar of time. PocketFuel is the rocket in my pocket that keeps me in orbit! 🙂

In addition to providing me with these tasty samples to review here, the awesome folks at PocketFuel have also offered to provide samples for one lucky reader in an upcoming giveaway. Its coming very soon, so stay tuned for a wonderfuel giveaway!

FUEL THE FIRE: Cedars Frostbite Race Recap & EnergyBits Review

This week’s scheduled 14 mile long run coincided with The Cedars Frostbite Half Marathon, an insanely inexpensive and fairly local-to-me race that runs through the Cedars of Lebanon State Park in Lebanon, TN.

For this race, I fueled SOLELY with EnergyBits, which is 100% pure organic spirulina algae. These one-ingredient bits of real food contain the highest concentration of protein in the world, over 40 nutrients, and have nearly twice the antioxidants of goji berries. EnergyBits meets FDA regulations (I tried to do some fact checking on the consumer-unfriendly FDA website, but gave up after two hours of searching only produced a non-comprehensive database (that may or may not have even been what I was really looking for) that I couldn’t access because the .xls spreadsheet had “too many cells” for my iPad to handle). Anyhow, moving on…

EnergyBits algae is grown organically in fresh water tanks. I was impressed by what NASA has to say about algae: “1 kg of algae has the nutritional value of 1,000 kg of fruits and vegetables.” Apparently astronauts and Olympians have been eating algae for decades. And here I just thought it was a hippy thing!

Honestly, I probably never would’ve tried EnergyBits if not for their wonderful Brand Manager, Jonathan, reaching out and offering a free sample. I normally use gels for fuel, and I was fairly content with them… except for the sticky mess they make when I put the empty packets in my pocket. When Jonathan reached out and I started learning about EnergyBits, I became excited at the idea of an organic, real food alternative. And…. well, I struggle with eating enough fruits and veggies, so this could really help me in that department, too.

THE GOOD

Yes, I’ve already stated lots of good, but here we go with some good I personally experienced in my own little trials. Originally, I planned to test EnergyBits on a short run, and then my race. but then…

Life happened.

Sometimes it sucks when “life happens” and sometimes something great happens. This time, something great happened. My first trial ended up being 13.1 miles on the treadmill early in the morning before working my 7 am shift. I took 20 bits just minutes before running… and I forgot all other forms of backup fuel in my locker downstairs. I was not about to quit my run to go get any gels, so I decided that this would be a truly good test.

I never felt an energy spike. I never felt an energy crash, or lull of any kind. Throughout the entire run, powered by only 20 bits at the start, I felt like a well-oiled machine. Just a steady energy flow. My knee gave out before my energy did!

So, I felt extremely confident in my choice of fuel leading up to the Cedars Frostbite Half Marathon…

It is one of the last stops on the Tennessee Running Tour race schedule, and all of the races on their calendar have the same fee – $20 with a tech tee, or $8 without. I sprang the extra $12 for the tee, and ordered mine 2 sizes larger than usual. I’m glad I did, because it is perfectly oversized, soft and supremely comfortable. I’m wearing it now as I lounge around, icing my ankle and typing this.

Another good point, for me, was the small crowd. I don’t know how many runners there actually were, but it was a small pack of runners from my view. I was near the back of the pack at the start, and you see how close I was to the starting line.

This was nice as it allowed us to really thin out on into the race. Not being stuck in the midst of a crowd allowed for greater enjoyment of the forest, and running in general.

I absolutely loved that, just past the first aid station, not quite 4 miles in, we turned onto a dirt/limestone/gravel/mud road that made for a much nicer trail than road.

We stayed on that for a few miles and I had fun squishing along and jumping mud puddles.

The feeling of being off the pavement did wonders for my legs and put a smile on my face. My right ankle had been stiff and sore (the reason I’m icing it now) causing my left hip to hurt for all the compensating it was doing. Leaping, hopping, and just enjoying the mud seemed to ease the pain and was refreshing.

At mile 6 I took my second helping of EnergyBits. I had swallowed 20 or so little discs of algae without chewing about 20 minutes before starting the race. I knew an aid station was coming up after the 6.5 mile marker, so I decided to experiment… and chew my bits.

THE BAD

First, the bad with the race… Nothing much to report here, except for only two things.

1. When I entered online I forgot to change the year on my birthdate on the electronic form. I caught the error on my confirmation email (it had my birth year as 2014). I immediately emailed the contact listed on the Cedars Frostbite website, notifying them of the issue. I received a reply that my birth year would be updated in their files. Last night, I saw an email from a different person with Cedars Frostbite, asking for my age. I emailed back, but today, when I went to check results on the board, I was listed as “unknown” for the age groups. Honestly, it didn’t matter on this day, as my time would’ve put me in the 20th spot in my age group, but it is definitely something to keep in mind for the future – DOUBLE CHECK ALL FORM FIELDS BEFORE CLICKING THE SUBMIT BUTTON!

2. They ran out of pizza. Huge bummer. I actually got to the counter just in time for the last slice. I felt bad for all the runners still coming in. There were some cookies, oranges and lots of bananas still left, but nothing beats pizza after a long run like that. It’s so good, we stopped on the way home and got a couple for supper!

Now, then, I’ll address the only bad thing I found about EnergyBits – the annoying rattle of the bits inside their tin. I noticed a few looks from other runners as I rattled along, but I just acted oblivious. About 2 miles in, my head was sweating, so I pulled my beanie off and stuffed it in my pocket (so now you know why it looks like my belly is pooched out in that photo above!). That nicely muffled the noise. On my next run with EnergyBits I will try putting cotton balls in the tin to keep the bits still and silenced.

THE UGLY

Picking them out of my tin left my fingers covered in green, but that wasn’t really that bad. I just wiped them on my jacket – it’s getting washed after this run anyhow. I had been warned about the taste. Some say EnergyBits taste very GREEN, others call it earthy. I’d agree with earthy. It’s really not bad. The really ugly part was my teeth!

So, THIS is why I say “It’s ok to swallow!”

As I chewed, they seemed to grow in my mouth, becoming a big wad of cow cud that stuck in my teeth, coated my mouth and made my lips green. (Hmmmm, sounds great for a Shamrock Shuffle!) I was picking at my teeth for the next 3 miles, trying to clear them out and get every bit of nutritious goodness into my belly where it could do some good. By the time I finished the race, my teeth were mostly clear of all the algae, but my tongue was still green!

SUMMING IT UP

Coming in at 2:18:08, I finished the run in the 2:15 – 2:20 time range I had HOPED for. My 13.1 treadmill run two weeks ago took me 2:25:00, and that was with my knee acting up in the final mile, causing me to mix in some walking. I didn’t know how many hills this course would have and how big they would be or how they would affect me… or how my knee would behave. My knee was fine throughout the run, thankfully. This time it was my ankle and hips, but I pushed through. The hills weren’t bad at all – nothing like the ones I train on. I did walk some on the hills, though, trying to find relief for my ankle.

All my little personal pains aside, this is definitely a race I would do again. It had a friendly, laid-back atmosphere and was family-friendly. There was a big playground near the start/finish, so I know in the future baby girl could be having fun with that while I run. There are also lots of trails to explore. On this day, Mr. Incredible enjoyed about 5 miles of the hiking trails while I ran. It really meant a lot to me that we both got to enjoy the great outdoors.

As for the EnergyBits, I’m sold on them. Once again, I experienced a steady energy flow and never felt like I needed something extra. On my treadmill run, I was absolutely starving afterwards and INHALED my breakfast. This time, though, the second portion of bits sustained me even after the run. I took my time stretching, I ambled over to the results printouts, I shuffled through the crowd to get a plate of food… all without feeling hungry, much less starving like before. Hunger came a little later, but by then I had my pizza in hand… and a bagel with peanut butter… and a banana… and a peanut butter Clif bar… and later a few more slices of pizza at home. Hmmmm, maybe next time I should eat a few more EnergyBits post-run and see if that helps the pizza craving?

STAY TUNED

I know as I increase my distance to the marathon, and onwards to my plans of running Ultras, I’ll need more calories to fuel my run. So, I’m experimenting as I go, and I’ll share with you what I find as I test more products. Hopefully, I’ll find some more companies as generous as EnergyBits so that I can share more than just words of experience. So, keep your eyes peeled for more to come in the FUEL THE FIRE series!

And, stay tuned for a FUEL THE FIRE giveaway in March! I’ve teamed up with some other bloggers for a Blog Hop Giveaway in March, and I’m putting together some goodies for you so that you can FUEL THE FIRE in you! If you want to give EnergyBits a try, then this is a giveaway you will want to enter as the friendly EnergyBits team has offered a sample to include in the prize package. If you’d like to know more about EnergyBits, visit their website at www.energybits.com.

So, tell me, did you run this weekend? How did you FUEL THE FIRE?