Forward Foot Strides

Friday, April 13, 2012

The Ultimate Beginner's Running Guide Giveaway Winners!

Sorry to be so late in announcing the winners of the book giveaway. I've been busy with some personal stuff and find I really don't have time to devote the attention this blog needs anymore, so this will be the last post. I would however like to say thanks for reading over the past couple of years.

As for the giveaway winners, random.org selected 3 and 5, so that means the winners are:

Haley @ Climb Run Lift Mom

and

Terzah

Please send your e-mail address to me at forwardfootstrides@yahoo.com and I will pass your info onto the author!

Thanks,

Katherine

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Book Giveaway plus Review + Sneak Peek Gift Card Winner

This giveaway has now ended, results can be viewed HERE.

Firstly, congratulations to Julia V on winning the Sneak Peeq Gift Card Giveaway that was held a couple of weeks ago! Julia, I've sent you an e-mail as well.

Also, Ryan Robert, author of The Ultimate Beginner's Running Guide has generously offered to give two lucky winners a copy of his book! This is the Kindle version of the book, but if you don't have a Kindle you can still download the book straight to your computer (or iPhone app even, very cool).

Ryan provided me with a copy of the book to read and review as well, and I must say that despite the fact that I've been running for years, I learned some interesting tips from this book.

There is a multitude of helpful information in this book, but something important that I personally took away is new knowledge about stretching, and that we are not necessarily looking to stretch, but rather to warm up and increase oxygen and blood flow, to loosen up our muscles, joints and tendons. So rather than stretching out, movement like windmills with our arms, shoulder shrugging, and neck rolls are more appropriate.

Something else that struck a chord with me was "quiet running", which consists of "placing" your feet on the ground as you run, rather than heavily pounding the ground with your feet. Quiet running may come naturally to the people who run simply because they enjoy it, but for the many people that run to relieve stress or a bad day at work or whatever else, the tendency to pound it all out on the pavement can happen very easily. It's hard on your feet though, and won't allow you to run as fast or as far. Duly noted!

I really liked that this book was short - I LOVE reading, but for a guide book I think it's important that there aren't a ridiculous amount of pages to flip through every time you want to look something up.

I found The Ultimate Beginner's Running Guide informative and am actually going to keep it stored on my Kindle app for quick future reference. The only thing that might give me an even better understanding of warming up and running form, would be some pictures, but I'm a visual person so that might just be me.

Thank you for sponsoring this review and giveaway Ryan!

Disclosure: The author provided me a copy of this book at no charge, for the purpose of reading and reviewing it. I was not compensated financially or otherwise for this review and the opinions expressed are my own.

I'm making the giveaway super easy to enter, just leave a comment below by 11:59 PM EST, Tuesday, April 3, 2012! On April 4th I'll draw and announce the two winners!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

$25 sneakpeeq Gift Card GIVEAWAY!

This giveaway has now ended, results can be found HERE.

Actually, I'm going to call this the Bad Blogger/$25 sneakpeeq Gift Card Giveaway because I'm feeling bad about having been away so long. Not only because it sucks for all of you, but because I hold myself to a higher standard than updating once every 3 weeks. Thanks for your patience, stay tuned for weekly updates starting again soon.

Right now, here is a chance to win something awesome - a $25 sneakpeeq gift card!

First of all, a little bit about sneakpeeq (this is straight from their website):

"They bring you new discoveries every day, from gourmet foods to home products to accessories and apparel at prices so low they have to keep them private." You CAN however see the prices after you "peeq" at an item, and I must say I am impressed, the savings are HUGE! I was drawn to some healthy food they had on there (and the chocolate too of course), but there is LOTS of other stuff to choose from as well.

Plus, the more active you are on the site - for example by sharing and peeqing at prices - more discounts become available to you!

The prices do have the British Pound symbol in front of them, but I've verified with sneakpeeq that the prices are in fact in U.S. Dollars.

The FAQ section of the website has some great info too if you want to learn how to get the most out of your shopping.

As for the giveaway:

sneakpeeq is giving away 20% off your next purchase just for entering, plus a chance at the Grand Prize: one winner will receive a $25 gift card to use on your favorite food, style and home products—that goes a long way in sneakpeeq’s amazingly low-priced boutiques! Check out all the things you love but haven’t discovered. sneakpeeq only has New Products that you have never seen before!

HOW TO ENTER:

Enter the giveaway by clicking on this link: http://bit.ly/ACn0pv and joining sneakpeeq! (Please note you have to have a facebook account as that is how you sign up for sneakpeeq.)

Good news - you don't have to do anything other than sign up using the link above - not even a comment below! sneakpeeq will send me the names of everyone who signed up using the link above, and I will pick one winner using random.org.

Entries must be received by Tuesday, March 20th, 2012 11:59 PM EST please! sneakpeeq.com is limted to U.S. residents, therefore this giveaway is also limited to U.S. residents, my apologies to everyone outside of the U.S.

Existing sneakpeeq members are not eligible for this promotion and giveaway.

Winner will be announced on my blog on Wednesday, March 21st, 2012!

Monday, February 20, 2012

Pure Fit Nutrition Bars Review + Newest Giveaway Listings

Add me to the list of lucky bloggers who received a sample of PureFit Nutrition Bars to test out and review!

Each of the 5 flavours they sent me have roughly the same nutritional info (you can see the info sheet they sent me at the bottom of this review), so I like that it's consistent. These bars are fairly low in calories too - just marginally higher than lowest calorie content ones I've had - and they tasted considerably better. You can see from the nutritional info that they have a good nutritional mix for after a workout, so I'm going to focus my review on taste, in the order that I liked them of course!

As a side note, one thing I like about protein bars is that they're portable, which is important for me since I do many of my workouts at the gym.

On to the taste test!

Chocolate Brownie.

LOVED this one. If I end up buying these myself, Chocolate Brownie is the flavour I will buy. The texture was almost like an EatMore bar, so the chocolate flavour just worked. Plus I love all things chocolatey.
Almond Crunch

and
Peanut Butter Crunch

I'm grouping those two together because I couldn't really differentiate between the two. They tasted like I expected they would - like peanut butter and like almond butter. Again the texture worked well with these flavours, so they were a close second favourite.
Granola Crunch

I was glad that this was NOT like a granola bar. I like granola bars, but immediately after a workout it's not what I'm looking for. This was soft and chewy like the other bars, but had a nice bit of crunch to it. The reason it's number 4 on my list is that it's flavour wasn't as intense as the previous ones. It wasn't bland or anything, just in comparison to the other bars it didn't stick with me.
Berry Almond Crunch

This is the only bar that I didn't love. I think the main issue is that I LOVE fruit in it's purest form, and not really in anything else. Except smoothies.

I also like that these bars are vegan, even though I'm not. And for some added social responsibility points, the packaging has a little message on it saying to adopt your next pet!

Overall I was really impressed with the bars. I've tried a lot of other ones that were less chewy and more cake like, so these were a welcome alternative.

PureFit also provided a coupon code, so you can buy some of your own at http://www.purefit.com/ at a 25% discount, just enter PROMO25 in the coupon section of the shopping cart!

Here is the snapshot of the nutritional info as well:

(Click to Enlarge.)

Disclosure: PureFit provided me the bars at no charge for the purposes of testing and reviewing. I did not receive compensation, financial or otherwise and the opinions expressed are my own.

As usual, there are giveaways and virtual races happening around the internet! Here are the latest ones:
(Master list can be viewed here.)

GIVEAWAYS:

E-Book: "The Ultimate Beginner's Running Guide: (Ends February 21st)

Protein Powder (Ends February 22nd)

See-Me-Run Reflective Iron-On Decals (Ends February 22nd)

YMX Long Sleeve Tech Shirt (Ends February 24th)

GO Sport ID (End Date Unknown)

VIRTUAL RACES:

Grandma Lil's Happy 95th Virtual 10k or Half-Marathon (February 18th - 27th)

Spring Fever Virtual 5k or 10k (March 1st - 15th)

If you don't see your giveaway or virtual race here or in the master list, feel free to post it in the comment section below!