How Runners Can #TurnItGreen and Win $5000!

The following post is sponsored by REPREVE

More and more I'm hearing talk about how we can help the planet through recycling.

In my house we recycle all the time. I live in a town where recycling is heavily encouraged and residents take their trash to a transfer station for sorting. At the school where I work, students and faculty are also encouraged to recycle.

Runners can follow some simple tips to go green too!

#TurnItGreen X Games contest: UPDATED!! Dates: Jan. 17 - Feb. 2.

Grand Prize: $5,000 cash

To celebrate the X Games, REPREVE invites you to share how you "turn it green", or how you live a more sustainable life by recycling or reusing materials, by sharing an image or video on Twitter, Instagram or Vine with the #TurnItGreen hashtag to be eligible.

Once you share the image or video with the hashtag, you will be entered into a sweepstakes where five entries will be randomly selected as the Top Five. Those five will be voted on by visitors to Repreve[dot]com where the image or video with the most votes will win a $5,000 cash prize. The other four video entries will receive a REPREVE Jacket and a Go-Pro camera (retail valued at over $350). More info available here.

**If you submitted an entry before Jan. 17, REPREVE is asking you to resubmit your entry**

How will you #TurnItGreen?

Now let me say congratulations to the REPREVE green beanie giveaway winner: 

Louise Bourque Cunningham 

Please email me your mailing address and I will get your beanie to you right away!

Fitness Friday: Five Favorites of 2013

Even though 2013 didn't play out exactly as I had hoped it would in the running department, I still had a great year and found tons to love about it. Today though, I just want to share my top five favorite things from 2013.

Wave Rider 17s - I probably say this about every new pair of Mizunos that I get (hey, I can't help it if the shoes are THAT good), but this pair seems to be a combination of everything I loved about the 16s and the Sayonaras rolled into one shoe. Lightweight, fast, and super comfortable. You can check out my full review here.

Oofos Recovery Shoes - I first told you about these shoes back in September, but what I haven't told you is that they have barely come off my feet since then. These shoes are so comfortable to walk around in especially after a run. Even in the bitter cold of New Hampshire's winter, I am sporting these around the house.

Ninja Professional Blender - In 2013 I discovered smoothies and then promptly blew up the blender. I have been so happy with my new Ninja. It has an oversized pitcher or the option to blend into an individual cup that can be taken on the go. It's powerful, quick, and not nearly as loud as my last one!

Challenges - I participated in a ton of challenges throughout the year and loved everything about them. I was so motivated by them that I decided to host my own for the 2nd Annual Chilly Challenge. As a matter of fact, today is the day to announce the winner! Congratulations to @nicowhat! Please email me your mailing address and shoe size so I can make arrangements for you to get your new Wave Rider 17s!

(shoe color may be different than pictured)

Giveaways - Who doesn't love free stuff? Last year I was fortunate enough to host giveaways for an assortment of fit gear from headbands to calendars. Some of you found yourselves trying new protein or using a free race registration. 2014 is off to a promising start too. Check out how you can get your hands on a free eco-friendly beanie.

What was your favorite thing about 2013?

Training Truths: Rebuilding the Runner in Me

Let me start by sharing the results of the fitness calendars giveaway. The winners are:

Presley - Complete Runner's Day-By-Day Calendar Log

Allie - Runner's High 2014 Day-to-Day Calendar

Congratulations!

Check your inbox for an email from me!

Last week I continued to rebuild the runner in me. I'm at day 49 of my #squatstreak and I added a few days of wall sits also. The #sweataday challenge has been getting a little tougher, but I'm using the modifications and pushing to increase my upper body strength. Fortunately the mini-workouts often include upper body exercises, like the reverse burpees I tried on Friday.

See that terrible form? Time to build up some strength!

Monday - I started the day with a nice two mile run with my veteran. I decided to go back to avoiding hills until all the muscles in my hamstring and quad are back to 100%. This "flat" out and back was much speedier than I expected, but felt good.

Wednesday - After 30 minutes of ART, I learned that my IT band is tight. Now I have a new stretch to add to my routine and more reason to stay focused on strengthening my hips and glutes.

Thursday - I ran two miles after school on the same route as Monday and felt awesome. Again, I was speedier than I expected which felt good, but I'm pretty sure that I need to continue to restore the base mileage first.

Saturday - mr.C joined me for a 3.5 mile run along the river. I was very happy with my run, and even though I went out too fast, I managed to reign myself in and almost hit my goal pace of 9:30. Afterwards I tested out some new trail shoes for a review.

Sunday - I joined up with the NH Bloggers and Tweeters at Strength in Balance NH for Booty Barre class and I had a blast! Like SurfSet this class is a great cross training option. This class was a perfect strength session with tons of stretching (especially the hips) worked in.

You know I like a good reward challenge and logging miles to win prizes is about as easy as it gets. I was recently contacted by Nick from the National Running Challenge - a challenge that rewards you for running races. The NRC is basically a series challenge that assigns points for the miles you run in races. You submit your races during the current series. At the end of a series, winners are chosen. You can learn more here. Even though I'm not running many races right now, I know a lot of friends who are piling on the miles and would probably win some prizes!


What are you rebuilding?

Training Truths: ZOOMA Week 11

My second "test" run last week did not go as I hoped, so my plans to run the ZOOMA Cape Cod 10K have been scrapped. However, I have plans to make race day just as fun as ever. Stay tuned!

Last week, I spent more time with my strength training and more time doing what I can do without pain: WALK. My friends in the running community keep telling me that hamstring injuries take a long time to heal, so I've decided to walk on the days that I used to run.

Monday - 50 squats. PT after school followed by a workout at home: Good Morning Circuit from Lorna Jane and the Knee Strength Workout from Christine.

Tuesday - 50 squats. Ran two slow painful miles on the trail after school and then sat through a soccer game. My adductor was not happy for about a day and a half.

Wednesday - 50 squats. Spider man pushups, straight leg bicycles, and the 8 minute belly buster circuit.

Thursday - 50 squats. Normally a run day, I took a 5K walk to the beach with mr. C and the dog. The view was gorgeous so I did some spontaneous side plank crunches for the Under Armour daily challenge.

Friday - 50 squats. Saw the dermatologist after school and he took a small spot from my cheek. Long day, emotional day = rest day.

Saturday - 50 squats. Walked, instead of ran, the My Dogs Are Barking 5K course with mr. C and the retired-loyal hound. Knee strength routine and got caught up on some daily challenge exercises.

Sunday - 50 squats. Needed to work the abs, so I did the 4 Minute Ninja Abs circuit and then added some glute strength exercises as well.

Waiting out this hamstring/adductor injury is by far one of the hardest things I've had to do in a while. If you have been in my shoes, I'd love to hear your advice/tips. This week, I'm looking forward to some good walks and then we head down to Cape Cod for a ZOOMA filled weekend!

Last, but not least, the winner of the Oofos Recovery Shoe giveaway! Please email me your Oofos recovery shoe selection and size.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Training Truths: ZOOMA Week 6

It was not a good week - except for those of you who won some protein from Designer Whey! Check the list of winners at the bottom of this post.

In my last training truths post, I told you my plan to give my cranky hamstring the break it needed to cheer up. No such luck.

My plans for running 3 days instead of 4 last week went out the window on Monday when I found my little hamstring/hip problem had worsened and I could not walk without pain. So instead of logging miles, I was rolling, icing, and popping ibuprofen.

Monday & Tuesday - lots of TLC, and some easy core challenge work. I spent 48 hours thinking that I should not have run 9 miles on Sunday.

Wednesday - finally feeling some improvement, I walked 2.14 miles on the treadmill while working on the computer plus completed my daily dose of core work.

Thursday - rolled & iced before spending about 6+ hours in the car driving to Maine to pick up my step daughter from her summer job.

Friday - walked 2.1 miles on the TM and got caught up on my core challenges. I made the bad decision to do skater jumps which fired the hip pain up again.

Saturday - took a complete rest day from all exercise. (but I really wanted to lace up my Mizunos and go for a run).

Sunday - Early morning core workout for two days and an afternoon walking workout of 3.5 miles on the TM.

As much as I want to run today, I'm forcing myself to wait until I see my chiropractor on Tuesday. I am hoping that I will feel better after my adjustment and can go for a run.

What is the longest break you have taken from your running/sport? The longest for me was after the RnR Providence in 2011.


Congratulations to the Designer Whey giveaway winners!

#31 Katie
#9   Desiree
#15 Amy @Long Drive Journey
#20 Jordan Dunne
#10 Mary Beth Scimemi
#12 Casey

Please email me at by 10AM Wednesday August 21, 2013 with your mailing address so I can forward your information.

Where I Run: Loveland Bike Trail

First let's get some giveaway business out of the way...

The winner of the Reebok Spartan Race entry is Karen Zehner! Congratulations!

If you didn't win, you can still grab a discount code here. 

I'm linking up with some of my running blogger friends to showcase some of the places we spend time in our running shoes. As runners, we run all over the place. Sometimes we return to the same routes out of convenience or because we fall in love with them. Some places we never go back to or only get to experience once.

I thought it would be fun to highlight one of the places I have run recently. Last week I was back home in Cincinnati trying to squeeze in my training runs while visiting my family and friends. While looking for a place to run near my Gpa's, my stepdad asked if I'd ever run the Loveland Bike Trail.

The Loveland Bike Trail is part of the Little Miami Scenic Trail which makes up 78 miles of the southern leg of the Ohio to Erie Trail. Like many of the trails near where I live in New Hampshire, the Little Miami Scenic Trail follows an old railroad bed.

There are many trailheads, but we decided to access the trail from Miami Riverview Park because there would be easy parking and restrooms available. We were not disappointed. The park was empty because it was a rainy morning, but the restrooms were open and clean.

A path led us right out of the park and across the road connecting directly to the trail. Most of the trail was a paved flat path through lush green vegetation. Every so often we caught glimpses of the Little Miami River,  or passed by smaller play areas, and picnic areas.

The trail passed through downtown historic Loveland where we found restaurants offering outdoor seating along the trail, bike rentals, and shopping. There was also access to public restrooms and smaller parks.

We ran an easy paced out and back 8 miles on the trail. After changing into dry clothes in those incredibly clean park restrooms, we made our way back to downtown Loveland to have brunch at Paxton's Grille right of the trail. You know you're in a good place when they go ahead and serve you breakfast even though it's technically now lunch. I'd love to go back and sit outside on a sunny day.

After lunch we walked across the street to my favorite running store in Cincinnati, The Running Spot, set up in the old train station. We made some small purchases at their sale and grabbed a copy of the trail map.

Most of us have seen nicely paved bike trails as a great place to run. What makes the Loveland Bike Trail so brilliant is the way the local businesses and community embrace it and make it part of the everyday culture. Who wouldn't want to stop for an ice cream cone or read up on an infamous train robbery?

This is the kind of trail where you will find something new and fascinating each time you go.

#WhereIRun Link Up!!

Join the link up by adding a link to your own post below:

Sweaty Challenge 2013

Back in June, Anne - a member of the Chilly Challenge - asked if anyone wanted to do a Sweaty Challenge. Instead of doing teams, it was to be a fun individual challenge. Twenty-nine participants signed up and for the month of July we have been logging our miles running and walking, outside and on the elliptical or treadmill too.

When everyone signed up it was simply for PRIDE, not PRIZES. People just wanted to be active, stay active, and find encouragement. None of these people knew that they would in fact be rewarded.

As the month started winding down, Anne offered the winner a crocheted beanie to the person with the most miles! On Monday, I was thrilled to let the Sweaty Challenge group know that someone would be winning a pair of Mizuno's brand new running shoe, the Wave Sayonara.

Today I am announcing that winner.

Using the random.org widget to select a Sweaty Challenge winner, congratulations to: #21 Elle!! Please email me your running shoe size and mailing address so that I can get your prize to you asap!

Thank you to Anne for getting this summer challenge started and Mizuno for sponsoring a prize.

Fitness Friday: Summer Favorites

Happy Friday! 

Everyone looks forward to summer and I'm no different. It's been very hot and humid here in New England and the bugs (deer flies) have been making me a little crabby. So today, I thought I would think about some of my summer favorites and bring back the happy!

Swimming - it doesn't matter if it's a pool, a lake, or the ocean. I love to swim when it's super hot and jumping in the water makes you feel so refreshed.

Exploring - in the summer there is more time to go exploring. Whether we are walking around town or going for a walk in the woods, I love seeing new things in old places or checking out new spaces.

Traveling - Summertime means weekend trips to Newport, maybe a race-cation, and going home. I always try to spend at least one week in Cincinnati visiting with family and friends.

Reading - I have always been a reader. It's hard to read for pleasure during the school year when you're an English teacher, so I love diving into books of all kinds in the summer. Between the bookshelves at the library and the local transfer station, I can stock up.

Racerbacks - It wouldn't be right if I didn't mention some of my favorite summertime running attire. With the high temperatures and a decent tan, racer back tanks are most comfortable to wear in the summer. One of my current favorites is the Go Long Tank from Oiselle.

What brings a smile to your face during the hot sticky months of summer?

Now, some giveaway business. Congratulations to Emma Cross Moyer! You are the winner of the Allstate 13.1 giveaway. You should receive an email from my pal Dom with details on how to claim your race entry.

TrainingTruths: Got My Groove Back

First I want to announce that Happy Fit Mama is the winner of the Bestowed giveaway! Congrats! Please email me so I can put you in touch with your prize.

Even though I was in school an extra week (darn snow days!) and the heat arrived in New Hampshire with a vengeance, last week I was able to get my running groove back. I think I was able to finally sweat out all remnants of the nasty cold I picked up the week before and that gave me my energy back.

After a day spent proctoring exams on Tuesday, I convinced mr. C to join me for a 4 mile loop. This took some work because it was feels-like 90 degrees. Once the clouds moved in, we hit the door and managed to avoid the storm that arrived later. I wore a new racerback that I picked up from Corey Vines with my Earndit reward and loved it. It was super soft and lightweight, perfect for the hot weather. This run went much better than I thought it would in the high temperatures.

We ran again on Wednesday morning before work thinking the temperature would be better. It was cooler at 70, but the humidity was 65% making the sweat factor nearly the same as the night before. My Oiselle mesh tank helped keep me comfortable in the muggy air, but it didn't make breathing any easier. 

To celebrate the end of the school year (finally) on Friday, we snuck in a short run between downpours. It started off with a comfortable cool breeze, but then the humidity rolled back in making the last mile really tough. Taking a first run in my new Mizuno Wave Sayonaras that I received to preview as a member of the Mezamashii Run Project raised the fun factor a bit though.

It was time for another #SurfSet class on Saturday. This urban surfing workout was an intense mix of strength and cardio with a lot of squats and ab work. Afterwards we grabbed some to-go smoothies and breakfast sandwiches from our favorite downtown eatery. We rounded out the day with a 3 mile dog walk, first swim at Scobie Beach, and some yoga for runners.

We got a later start than I would have liked for our long run on Sunday and paid for it. It was a really tough run complete with dripping sweat, attacking flies, and stomach cramping in the warm and humid air. We walked more than I would have liked, but enjoyed a cool dip in the water at Scobie Beach afterwards to cool off.

The start to summer vacation has helped me get back on track. I upped my mileage for the week to 17 and added a bunch of cross training. It's looking like the summer will be full of fitness adventures and I love that! This week kicks off the start of the Sweaty Challenge, a spin off of the Chilly Challenge from January, where we log our miles and offer each other encouragement and support. Join in the fun here. 

Hope you had a good week too!

A Race Not to Miss: ZOOMA Cape Cod

On Saturday I worked for a couple of hours in the ZOOMA Women's Race Series booth at the Run to Remember Half Marathon expo in Boston.

Part of my role as a Cape Cod Ambassador is to promote the race, so hanging out with other Ambassadors, like super fun Andrea from I Run For Donuts, and talking to people at a race expo was easy peasy!

Hanging with Andrea

It was so much fun talking to (mostly) women about how much fun the ZOOMA races are and why they should sign up for the 10K or half marathon. 

Michelle and Andrea

Here are some of the highlights:

1. THE SETTING: Spend the weekend hanging out and running around the Sea Crest Beach Hotel on the Cape. 

2. THE BLING: What woman doesn't love a gorgeous race medal that you can wear around your neck all the time? 

3. THE AFTER PARTY: Massages, music, wine, and hundreds of your best new girlfriends just hanging out and celebrating together.

4. THE COURSE: Both the 10K and half marathon courses offer stunning water views and start/finish just steps from the resort doors.

I ran the inaugural half marathon last year (you can read my recap here) and now I'm looking forward to returning to do it all again. If you are thinking about joining me, enter my ambassador code CCAMB3 when you register to save 10% off the 10K or the half marathon registration price. 

What race do you consider a NOT TO MISS?

_____________________________________________________________________

Congratulations to the 1BandID giveaway winners

 Jill F & Sheena

Check your email for details!

Not a winner? Don't worry, you can still save 15% on every band you order by using my code
runesc15
Just enter the code during the checkout process!