Monday, September 16, 2013

Biggest Loser 10k Race Recap

Hopefully I can remember everything since I am writing this about a billion years afterward but here is the recap of the Biggest Loser 10k!

The race took place in Charleston, West Virginia which is about an hour and a half from my house.  It didn't start until 9am (I think- memory loss. LOL) so technically we could have driven down that morning but we went ahead and stayed in Charleston that night.  My mom took Rex for the weekend, my dad had Curly, and my husband's cousin stayed at the house to take care of the pups so the night before we got down there around 5:30 or 6 and headed to the Civic center to pick up our packets.

When we got there Michael Dorsey from season 14 was there speaking.  I got a picture but it disappeared from my phone =(

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The packet pickup went on for 5-6 hours that day so when we got there, there were maybe 50 people there and all of them were listening to Michael speak so we had no line to pick up our packet.  It was very quick and we got our numbers, a drawstring backpack, and some coupons and information about the festival that was going on, and our shirts.

We then went to the hotel, checked in, and went to get some dinner.  I mentioned in the giveaway post that I had changed my diet and went low carb about 8 days before the race.  I had done one 5 mile run and a couple short runs between starting the diet and the race and they went TERRIBLY.  My energy levels were awful and I would just hit a wall around 2 miles.  I couldn't believe how much it effected my running so I knew that this race was not going to be what I wanted it to be.

We got up the morning of the race and since we hadn't brought anything with us for breakfast, we ran through a drive through and got breakfast sandwiches.  I ate the meat, egg, and cheese from mine while we were heading toward the race.  It was very easy to find parking in a parking garage (it was free! woohoo!) and then we made our way to the race start.  The starting line was near a lakefront park with an outdoor pavilion and an actual building with real restrooms! That is always exciting.

We hung around for about 45 minutes and then lined up.  The line up was VERY chaotic.  The 5k and 10k took off together and they had pacers but they were all in random spots.  I stood with the 10:00min/mile pacer and literally 2 people in front of me was the 8:30 10k pacer.  Then on top of that, they were doing a wave start but didn't really announce it all that well, so about 5 minutes before start time they raised a rope in front of us but there were hundreds of people behind us that didn't really know about it.  It kind of unnerved me because I was afraid they would start without announcing it and we would be trampled.  Thankfully just about a minute before start they finally let everyone know about the ropes.

The race starts and our wave goes out and the pacer I was staying with was going a lot faster than I thought she would.  I think the first mile was around a 9:33 which is obviously pretty far off from what I was expecting.  I managed to run the first half but after that I hit a MAJOR wall! I was out of energy and couldn't run very far at all before I needed to walk.  I started grabbing Gatorade at the water stops and hoping to finish in a halfway decent time.  I was so very frustrated because 2 weeks before I had flown through my 5 mile run and thought I had a pretty good chance at having a good time and then I went low carb.  I know this is a good decision on my part for now but I am definitely planning to add back in fruits and sweet potatoes before I up my mileage again.




My time ended up being 1:10:44.  I was so mad at myself and frustrated but I am looking forward to running another for redemption in the near future. The husband however, had a great race at 1:02:43.  His best time yet and a 5 minute PR!!

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Protein Bakery Review and Giveaway!

This has to be, by far, the most delicious giveaway I have done on this blog.  If you haven't already be introduced, let me introduce you to the pure deliciousness of The Protein Bakery!
First off I want to let you know about a promotion The Protein Bakery is doing right now called "Show Us Your Muscle."   Anyone who orders a product and sends them a photo of you holding the product and making a muscle gets entered to win a free baker's gift set and t-shirt!  Pictures should be sent to
info@proteinbakery.com  .  If you win you will get their biggest gift set, the tshirt, and your photo featured on their website.  Even better, you are eligible to enter this contest using the goodies you win from me! 

The box I got.  You will notice the mini black and white blondie is gone.  It didn't last 5 minutes!

The Protein Bakery has lots of goodies like brownies, blondies, and various cookies!  In the box I got, it came with 1 mini Black and White Blondie, 1 mini Peanut Butter brownie, 2 packs of Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies, Chocolate Chocolate White Chip Cookies, and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, and a large Black and White Blondie and a Walnut Brownie.  So far we have sampled everything but the Walnut Brownie and I am saving that for my cheat day this weekend!  So far everything has been soooo good but I have to say that the Black and White Blondies were by far my favorite and I was very glad there were 2 in the box! =)
Yummy, delicious Black and white blondie- the large version


I had to share with The Husband so we each tried each one.  One night after dinner, when it was a cheat night, this is what he found.

He was glad to try 2 kinds that night =)


Why should you want to try these goodies? Well, there are a bunch of reasons but the ones that jumped out at me the most are from the info I got from the Protein Bakery:

 Higher In Muscle-Building Protein
Whey protein is more easily absorbed by the body.
Preferred by most nutritionists and healthy living experts.
Some of our baked goods have more protein than an egg or a glass of milk.

and

Higher in dietary fiber to satisfy your hunger
Some of our treats have as much fiber as a bowl of oatmeal.
No wheat flour used and very low in gluten
Many people have an intolerance for white flour and gluten.
And for everyone else, it's just a healthier bite.

Those are very high points for me and these are seriously good! Not what you would expect of some of the products out there that are low gluten/gluten free.
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Even the minis aren't that small!


The winner of this giveaway will be getting a taste of Protein Bakery (an assortment of 2 brownies/blondies, 2 cookie 2-packs and 2 mini's) $45.00 value with shipping!

Enter below through the rafflecopter.  Sorry but we can only ship within the mainland of the US and not to PO Boxes or APO addresses.


 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**Disclaimer: I was not compensated in any way for this giveaway.  I was provided product for review and all opinions are my won.**