NCARS 2 Adventure Race Report

Posted on May 15, 2012 by endurogirl

May 12 was the NCARS 2 at Lake Norman State Park. The Waterlogged Dogwoods team was represented by yours truly and David Parsons-Foresi, otherwise known as the ‘hyphenates’. This was our first time navigating outside of Umstead (which we don’t really count) and opted to do the five-hour race. We left at 5am and headed to Lake Norman where the race started on time after a pre-race briefing. During the Q&A, a guy asked if he could drive his car to the O-course. He wasn’t joking. Doug handled it well and since this was a beginner-friendly event, I’m sure after the race the guy understood why it was funny question!

I decided that our strategy should be to do the O-course first, followed by the paddle and leave our strongest discipline, the bike, for last. This turned out to be a good decision. We biked down to the O-course and after finding the first one right away, had trouble with the second. David held the map most of the time but we looked at it equally. When we were walking around for what I decided was too long, we opted to go up to the road where we could see where we were and use our compass to get a bearing (first thing – know where you are!). David did a great job and we walked about 300 meters straight toward it. Fortunately, there was a guy there already because I may have walked past it since it was under a log and not as visible from the direction I was walking.

We then tried to get CP12 but after searching too long, I decided that we were losing too much time and needed to get back to the road and try for CP11. As much as i wanted to keep hunting for this one, Marcey’s call on spending too much time on it was correct and we had to scoot. Excellent call Marcey (DPF) This one had David getting another bearing from the road and we didn’t waste too much time. We ran back to the TA because I felt like we were spending too much time on the O-course and we needed to hustle. We only got 3 of 6 CPs but I felt good that I kept an eye on the clock.

We rode back to the paddle TA and hopped in and decided we would only get one mandatory point of the three CPs to make sure we had time to get the bike points. We paddled as far as we felt we could in the shallow water. I almost took Marcey’s head off not turning the canoe fast enough. Sorry Marcey (DPF). This is true. I was almost decapitated but thankfully limbo skills were A+ that day. We jumped out and made our way around knee deep muddy grass for about 150 meters. I’m sure we scared a few snakes. I spotted the CP and we headed back to the TA. Jay Anderson (volunteer) said we had time to get another and encouraged us to go. I’m glad we did because we also found it pretty quick. I’m not often the first to spot the CP flags so yesterday I felt great that I found so many. The energy burst is better than a double-shot!

The last bit was the bike course and it was FUN!!!! Kudos to the course designer, Mike Dickinson, for forcing people to ride the sweet, flowy singletrack at Lake Norman. The singletrack is killer – well worth a day drip from the 919 (DPF). The CPs were not far off of the trails and there weren’t so many that it felt like we didn’t get to ride. David went ahead since he was faster. At one point he hopped off the trail too early and I passed him but we didn’t know it. We got a little separated and he had scary visions of me lying by the side of the trail needing emergency help from being eaten by a snake, bit by a spider or knocked out cold. In reality I was waiting at the CP wondering if he had stopped to get a pedicure. I was having a serious oh BOY moment – where’s Marcey and is she okay? She was fine, waiting for me. (DPF) It was about 9 miles in distance and about 1.25 hours for us to ride and get the CPs. Many points I forgot I was racing I had so much fun just riding the trails. YEP!!(DPF) This was, by far, my favorite part of the race. I always feel bummed when I am on a course with great singletrack and my navigator makes me bikewhack most of it (yes, I’m talking to you, Major). Anyway, David and I felt like kids and can’t wait to go back and ride those trails again!

We came in at 4hrs and 35 minutes and felt that our strategy for the day was the right one. At first I was disappointed that we didn’t get more O-points but then I realized that it is also knowing when to bag it and deciding which points are possible in the alotted time frame. I have no idea how we finished and get impatient waiting to post my report so let’s just say we didn’t win but I don’t think we were last either! I needed to be racing with Bob because I realized after we finished I didn’t take a single picture

I conjured Don Childrey and Bob May throughout the race and there were several times that I said ‘Look what I did!’ to Don since he has been patiently teaching me to navigate. David did a great job with the compass and once again we had a great race together and complement each other well. I have raced NCARS races 4-5 times and have never been an official finisher due to mechanical issues, DQs, not getting a mandatory point etc. so it was great to finally finish an NCARS! This was my first NCARS race and I’m looking forward to my next!! (DPF)

On the ride home I decided I needed a post-race milkshake since the last one I had was at Nationals in October when David and I were driving back. I was mildly obsessed with getting one at Chik-fil-A because I had one there two years ago but it was too far away so we stopped at DQ for a small peanut butter frozen hot chocolate (OMG) for me and a small butterfinger blizzard for David. We needed smalls because, well, it’s bikini season for David Bikini season indeed. Marcey is an excellent teammate and enjoy racing with her and the car ride to and fro is always good car time. DPF

Our only picture

For Lisa - one gal's cool is another gal's cadaver!

Filed under: race reports | Tagged: Action Learning Adventure, Bob May, David Parsons-Foresi, Don Childrey, Doug Gray, Jay Anderson, Lake Norman State Park, Mike Dickinson, NC Adventure Race, NCARS 2, North Caroline Adventure Racing Series, Waterlogged Dogwoods | 7 Comments »

MST 50k Trail Run

Posted on April 28, 2012 by endurogirl

April 15 I completed the Mountains to Sea Trail 50k ‘race’. Originally I was supposed to complete this two weeks prior but instead paced my winter running partner, Jay Spadie (aka Spadieman) the last 50k of the Umstead 100. For those of you who don’t know what 50k is, it is 31.06 miles. Since I had signed up for the race, I went to packet pick-up and got my shirt, but refused to wear it until I deserved it, meaning ‘finished the race’.
Two short weeks after the Umstead 100 I wanted to get this off my ‘to do’ list because I needed to start focusing on training for Adventure Racing and the Fools Gold 100 mile MTB race. I’m not really in 50k shape so I knew it wasn’t going to be a breeze. Plus, two 50ks in two weeks is a bit ambitious!
Spadieman agreed to come out of retirement to do the trail with me, even though I would have completely understood if he never wanted to run another step again, because he felt he owed it to me for missing the race to pace him. It was no secret I was glad about this because the trail is pretty isolated and is an out and back from Blue Jay Park to the dam and I wouldn’t have felt completely comfortable doing it alone.

Start of the run - Blue Jay Park

I set my little Runkeeper App and we took off at 7:58am. The run out was pretty steady and I felt good except for a blister popping up on my pinkie toe. Spadieman had extra kinesiotape so I bandaged it up and never felt it again. We turned around at the dam and started making our way back. I’m not sure if our route around the dam area was correct and we stopped to take in some of the views but I’m sure it was close.

Spadieman's art. He has a foot in there somewhere.

Proof - I reached the dam!

Drop bag courtesy of Spadieman

My time back was slower and the last 6 miles seemed soooo long. This route is almost all singletrack except for a few stretches of bridge (I dislike those stretches). I also had a cheering section of horseflies and mosquitoes pretty much the entire run while Spadieman had NONE. I entertained him by maniacally swatting at them with my hat. If I was kidnapped and tortured, just put me in a room with mosquitos and horseflies and I will succumb in an instant.
When we got back to Blue Jay Park we ran around the parking lot until the Runkeeper lady said we had ran 50k. I did five burpees and hobbled to the car to put on my shirt.

Burpees!

My total time was 6:43, a 13 minute pace. I celebrated with a Spadieman PB&J (heavy on the PB) and a java chip frappucino to go. I thought I would get a bunch done around the house when I got home but the only thing I accomplished was an Epsom Salt bath and a hammock encounter.

Finish!

Next up – Race Directing the GEC Duathlon today, racing the NCARS2 Adventure Race and Old Dominion Riverrock Festival in May.

Filed under: race reports, training | Tagged: 50k, Blue Jay Park, Bull City Running, GEC Duathlon, Jay Spadie, Mountains To Sea, Umstead 100 | 1 Comment »

Sleep or Die

Posted on March 11, 2012 by endurogirl

When I am stressed it shows in my sleep. I haven’t slept well more than I have slept well in about six months. Lavender oil, prescription meds, warm baths, food concoctions, no digital for two hours….I have tried it all. I go to sleep easy and then wake up and can’t shut off my brain. Sometimes I am awake for hours. This infographic was timely and informative. I have read studies that people who work the night shift tend to have more body fat than people who work regular hours. The ‘Driving on Fumes’ part speaks to adventure racers who go much longer than that without sleep. In a 24 hour race you are easily awake for 30+ hours. I have always said the most dangerous part of a 24+ hour race is the drive home. No matter how jacked up you are on caffeine you are still driving like you are drunk. I usually don’t stay for awards or prizes because I want to hit the road while I still have adrenalin to drive me. About two hours post I hit the danger zone. What’s the longest you have gone with no sleep? I think mine was 42 hours. zzzzzzzz…….

Via: YourLocalSecurity.com

Filed under: training | Tagged: adventure racing, Ambien, Drive Network, insomnia, lack of sleep, sleep aids, sleep and weight gain, sleep deprivation | 1 Comment »

Bushwhack Adventures Gleneagles Challenge and Off-Road Du

Posted on February 20, 2012 by endurogirl

It’s that time of year again and Bushwhack Adventures and the Waterlogged Dogwoods, aka Bob and Marcey, are gearing up for another round of the Gleneagles Challenge sprint adventure race April 28 at Harris Lake County Park. New for this year is an off-road duathlon, race directed by Endurogirl and a kids off-road duathlon for little ones who aren’t quite ready for an adventure race.

I am super psyched that GU Energy is sponsoring us again as well as…..Gear Pockets! If you have seen my review, you know I LOOOOOVE Gear Pockets. Gear Pockets will be giving one of three pockets away to three randomly selected cars with 3+ people in them. We want to encourage carpooling for all the obvious reasons. The three people can include racers, spectators and kids but they must include 3 or more.

Super-cool pingback today from Osprey Media Spot.

Filed under: race reports, training | Tagged: Bob May, Bushwhack Adventures, christy hicks, Gear Pockets, Gleneagles Challenge, Go Bushwhack, GU Energy, Harris Lake County Park, Hydration Pack Review, NC adventure racing, off-road duathlon, Osprey, Osprey Pack, Simply Stashed, Waterlogged Dogwoods | Leave a Comment »

Uwharrie 40 mile trail run race report

Posted on February 6, 2012 by endurogirl

It is about 36 hours post Uwharrie and I am sitting in Whole Foods feeling like a rock star and looking back on such a great weekend. On Friday afternoon I took off towards Asheboro with besties Beth Hancock (running the 8 mile for the first time and a client of mine for this race) and Kris Kobza (running the 8 mile for the second time). It was totally a ‘girls night’ type of thing as our topics ranged from the race, pooing in the woods, work, what we wear to bed and how we were going to kick Uwharrie in the Vag (we know Uwharrie is a woman because she is so TOUGH!). We checked into the hotel and had dinner at the Pizza Hut – thin and crispy veggie lover’s with half the cheese. We were in bed at 8:30 trying to stop talking because we were laughing and I didn’t want to get too riled up.

Endurogirls

Didn’t work though. According to Shasta, my sleep monitor, I slept a total of 2.5 hours. I felt it too. I was a total zombie. I have insomnia due to work and I have a hard time shutting my brain off. I had considered taking an Ambien before bed but it makes me feel hungover and I had to be up at 5:00am so I weighed it and made the decision not too.
At one point, I wrote K and B a note since I wasn’t sure if I would be seeing them.

Uwharrie Letter

My friend Jay ‘the man with no plan’ Spadie, who is training for the Umstead 100, and his very gracious wife Kirsty (she was Victoria in Cats!) picked me up at 5:45 and we drove to the start about 25 minutes away. It was a little chilly but so much better than last year. We were all ready to go at the start when a shuttle bus pulled up late due to parking issues. This is the second year we got started 20 minutes later. Irritating just because it was cold and I had already taken off my throw-away sweatshirt.

The race started with about .75 miles of rocky, rooty gnarly singletrack. It was hard to pass people and stay upright so I didn’t take too many opportunities and knew it would spread out eventually. The best description of the trail can be found here. Jay took off on his own about 15 minutes into the race after he did a strip tease and decided that mid-40s was shirt-free weather. I never saw him again until the turnaround.

I felt good the whole way through the first 20 miles. I fast walked the really steep uphills and this is where I would gain time on people behind me. I have short legs and I can’t bushwhack well but give me a trail and a mission and I can make up some time! It started raining about 10 miles in but not enough to soak my clothes. The trails from about 15-25 miles were pretty mucky and muddy (I doubt they EVER dry out) and there were a few creek crossings that my midget legs couldn’t get over without just stepping in the water. At the 20 mile point I pretty much just grabbed a few GUs out of my drop bag and turned around.

The nice thing about the Uwharrie is that it is an out and back so I could count what place I was in by the women coming back. At the 20, I was in 13th place. I lost one place about 24 miles in when I crossed the stream only to realize that I crossed at the wrong place and had to cross back over. The poor guy that followed me probably wasn’t happy either. I made one bio stop after 5 hours and kept truckin’. I never really stopped at aid stations, preferring to keep all I needed on my person. I would grab a cookie, a dixie cup of trail mix and a piece of boiled potato but that was about as long as I took. I went into every aid station with a smile because they were all so helpful and I was so happy. I got a ton of compliments or comments on my bright outfit, planned so that no hunter would mistake me for lunch

About 10 miles to go I was still feeling good and knew there was a girl (Erika Ebright) behind me. I had no idea who she was so it was nothing personal, I just knew I didn’t want to let her pass me because I had already lost one place due to a bio break (only 2 the whole race) at the 8 mile. She would gain on me on the downhills and I would make some time on the hikes uphill. There was one three mile section that I swear was all uphill because it took me about 50 minutes! I pretended like she was Sasquatch chasing me because I knew he was out there somewhere….waiting to get me. When it came down to the last two miles I had to really kick it in. I picked up the pace and could hear her behind me. It is an incredibly rocky, steep up and then down to the finish. I ended up coming in 24 seconds ahead of her and waited at the finish to high-five her and tell her that she kept me on my toes!

Right after the race I was hungry and all I saw were meat hotdogs, chips and cookies. Nothing that I wanted to eat so we started walking toward the car. I got cold really fast and within 20 minutes of finishing I was changed, had a GU Recovery Brew and was driving toward the nearest Subway. There are really not a lot of options and by the time I got to the Subway, I was feeling sick and needed to eat. I hear there was soup at the end but I didn’t see it and I don’t believe the race had any of the famous Uwharrie cookies. They did have some delicious cranberry cookies, one of which I had on the course.

The Uwharrie race has fantastic aid stations and the best volunteers of any race I have ever done. I heard that the Park Ranger gave the RD a hard time because of some people parking illegally at the finish. Really? The area probably makes more money on that day than they do in months because unlike Pisgah, there really isn’t much around the Uwharrie’s.

A dinner at Porter’s was derailed by a lack of reservation (who knew?) so I ended up having two small mediocre enchiladas two doors down. It was ok because I get really full really fast after a race and it is always the next day I am hungry. Both Kevin and I were in bed and asleep at 8:30 and no amount of insomnia could wake me up for a full 10 hours. It was the best sleep I had in months.

I actually felt good on Sunday and still do. I didn’t really have any soreness and was just fatigued. I owe this to proper nutrition, training and a great chiropractor, Allen Ashforth. My big meal celebration was at Beth’s house where we inhaled Chubby’s quesadillas (my favorite post-race celebration food).

I was really happy with my performance, finishing 54th out of 148 overall (men and women) and 11th out of 28 women. My goal time was 10 hours and I beat it, finishing in 8:42. Also, Sasquatch must not have thought I had enough meat on my bones and devoured some other poor Uwharrie runner.

Finish Line!

Jay got 26th place our of 148 and 23rd in the male division. I had no idea he was that fast and still don’t know why he runs with me.

Jay bringin' it home

In the 8-mile race, Beth got 42 out of 231 overall men and women!! and 5th place out of 112 women!- Holy Mother of Pizza! This actually makes me more happy than my own finish. I coached Beth for her longest and her toughest race and could not be more proud of her.

Kris got 75 out of 112 gals and 181 out of 231 overall. That is great for someone who thinks she isn’t a runner and spent the previous night convincing us how awful she was.

They both got me a Sasquatch shirt at the Eldorado Outpost which I will wear with pride. It was a great weekend with my friends, followed by a delicious lunch the next day and a super-supportive husband the entire weekend.

Beth and Kris, you were awesome. We showed Uwharrie where she can stick it and next time you have any doubts, any doubts at all, just remember

We’re not just any girls……

ENDUROGIRLS CHEER!

WE’RE ENDUROGIRLS!!!!!

Filed under: race reports, reviews, training | Tagged: Allen Ashforth, Ashforth Chiropractic, Beth Fazekas, Beth Hancock, Big Foot, Brooks Cascadia, Bull City Running, Chubby's Tacos, CW-X Ventilator Tight, dirty girl gaiters, Eldorado Outpost, Erika Ebright, GU Brew, GU Energy, gypsy wrap, Jay Spadie, Kirsty Spadie, Kris Kobza, Lincoln Hancock, nathan running vest, NC Dance Institute, Sasquatch, the north face gloves, The Yoga Gypsy, Ultra run, Uwharrie 40, Uwharrie National Forest, Uwharrie Race Report | 11 Comments »

Gear Pockets Review

Posted on February 2, 2012 by endurogirl

I love these Gear Pockets. I now own four and bought a Simply Stashed for my studio and one for a friend. This really appeals to my love for organization. I gave them lots of kudos when ordering so they asked me to do a video. It wasn’t hard to do it since I love them so much!

Endurogirl Gear Pockets Video

Filed under: reviews | Tagged: adventure racing, christy hicks, gear junkie, Gear Pockets, Mountain Biking, organization system, Simply Stashed | Leave a Comment »

Back for 2011 Wrap-Up and 2012 Peek

Posted on January 30, 2012 by endurogirl

Happy New Year Enduropals! My year ended better than I could have expected as it was the first year my family completed the 25 in 25 exercise challenge! My husband did it by playing disc golf every day. My dad walks, rides his bike, lifts weights and does the bowflex. I call him my ‘star’ because he always emails or calls me with what he has done. My mom ran and did Wii Fit on top of a very demanding work schedule. My sister, who has two small girls, decided to move her elliptical machine to her bedroom which made a big difference. Her daughter Ava, who is four, decided that she needed to do her exercises too and said that “Aunt Marcey said I need to do 46 minutes”. The next day she said “46 hours”. Is this a future expedition racer??? My brother, who has never completed, managed to finish strong with his girlfriend, who was not an exerciser. It is well worth the extra $$$ I spent this year at Christmas! Prizes were: Disc golf retriever, cycling liner shorts, reflective gloves, exercise tank, flexible LED light and flatpacker.

I got a lot out of my digital hiatus from social media and email of two weeks. I had a couple of people ask me if I was actually going to do it and I did. What I found was that I didn’t miss it at all. NONE! Not once did I wonder what someone’s status was or if I had any emails. It was really liberating. The only thing I found hard was that I had come to rely on doing things while checking my smartphone. I learned that I don’t have to be multitasking all of the time (multitasking is a myth anyway) and sometimes when I was checking things on my smartphone it was actually taking me LONGER to do whatever it was I was doing! There is a lot of good research pointing to how when we receive an email or text it stimulates a pleasure center in our brain ‘people want me! I’m needed! I’m special!’. This kind of research really interests me. Anyway, I’m not saying that email or social media is bad because I am still doing it but using it in a different way. And, I am certainly not saying that you should do the same!
New life guide for me includes:

Only checking FB once per week. I had already taken my ‘friends’ down to 25 or less. I feel I can’t keep up with more than that and I really only want to know the day to day of a few different people or maybe they happen to post links or videos to things I am interested in or make me laugh. Other rules – over 18, they have to post too (no voyeurs), but they can’t post excessively. If you are just telling me you had a tuna sandwich, you are going to work, you just got home, etc., it bores me and I really don’t need to read about that! I still have my Endurogirl FB page but probably won’t be updating more than once per week. Will it hurt me? Who knows, but it is a guideline I gave to myself. Do I think other people should do this? No, not if you use it wisely or you don’t mind the timesuck. Are you upset because you aren’t one of the 25? Ask yourself if I would be in YOUR 25 if you had to narrow it down Remember, it doesn’t mean I don’t like you, or even love you, just that I don’t want to read that you posted ‘Mondays suck’.

Only checking personal email four times per day. I have already been doing this with work for over a year now. Checking more often was usually out of boredom or to take a break from work. If something is urgent, it wouldn’t be emailed anyway. Some days I have a hard time with this because I sit in front of the hypnotizer all day long.

Email-free weekends. I have done this before on occasion but I think I am going to try to do it every weekend. My job is not to be Endurogirl. My job is to sit in front of a computer all day, most of which is reading/responding to emails (boring) or talking on the phone in conference calls. The last thing I want to do is sit at the computer even more.

As the great and funny Louis C.K. said ‘live your life, don’t tweet about it’

2012 look ahead….

I have been wanting to write but my day job has been so busy the last thing I want to do is sit at the computer when all I have done is sit at the computer. I probably won’t be posting as often but still hope you come visit me!

A couple of weeks ago I ran in the Little River Trail Run 10 miler. It is a great race put on by a great group. I really like that they encourage car pooling, bringing your own water bottle and coffee mug and have bins for recycling, trash and COMPOSTING! Wow! I had a strong race and finished 3rd out of 40+ and 15th out of about 120 women. Even more important is that my friend, who I was coaching, finished 2nd in our age group. This was her longest race ever. She is built for speed whereas I am built for endurance so 10 miles for her was a big deal. She is training for the Uwharrie 8-miler (tougher than this 10 miler) while I will be trotting along doing the 40.

This is NOT good running form!

Speaking of that….this weekend is the Uwharrie 8, 20 and 40 mile trail runs. I’ll be doing the 40 for the first time after doing the 20 a few years. This is the best description I have found of the trails there so I am not even going to try to compete with this.
Walking into Mordor

Filed under: training | Tagged: 25 in 25, Beth Hancock, digital hiatus, Little River 10 miler, trailheads.org, Uwharrie, Uwharrie trail run | 2 Comments »

Holiday Travel Workout and an Endurogirl Hiatus

Posted on December 17, 2011 by endurogirl

There is no excuse not to get a quick workout in after watching my video below. I am exercising in a very tight space between a bed and a wall with no equipment needed. The space is so tight, my husband had a hard time getting my whole body in during the jumps! You can do level one all the way through, advance throughout the interval…however you feel that day. Six minutes isn’t very long so you can replay it a couple of times for a longer workout. If you aren’t breathing heavy by the end, even after six minutes….I’ll be impressed! Take note of Pele the cat video debut. He always has to have the last word.

On another note, I am taking a website, email, facebook, twitter hiatus starting Monday, December 19 until January 1. It’s time for me to reevaluate what I want to do in several aspects of my life, including this website. Do I want to continue? Will anyone miss it? Should I just stick with the reviews and videos on my YouTube channel since I get the most traffic there? I’ll see.

I also have been overwhelmed lately with the digital world. I find I subscribe to too many blogs, RSS feeds, emails and websites and my personality is that I have to read all of them if they are on my computer. I’m unsubscribing from all of them and I’ll see what I miss and what I don’t. I’ve taken digital vacations before, when I was actually on vacation, and found it really refreshing. This will be my longest one, and certainly at a time of year where people are posting pictures, the latest steal and deal and tips and recipes for the holidays. I’ll miss them all but I think I’ll still be alive to miss it

I started this website one year ago on January 1. It has been a great learning experience and I appreciate every comment, visit and forward. We’ll see what happens in 2012.

So, over the next two weeks: make a choice and move your arse. Talk doesn’t cook rice and if you aren’t cookin’ then your body and mind are going to go hungry

Happy New Year!

Filed under: training | Tagged: body weight workout, digital vacation, exercise while traveling, Holiday workout, hotel workout, travel workout | 9 Comments »

Homemade Date Chews

Posted on December 14, 2011 by endurogirl

Date Chews
I found a recipe in Thrive in 30 days for date chews. I am trying to eat more whole foods and foods I prepare so I thought I would try my hand at some energy chews. It was a simple recipe and tasted great but was a mess while I was out running. I think next time I’ll make the shape a little thicker and then wrap them individually in saran wrap.

10 dates (remove the pit). High glucose, immediately available to liver, doesn’t have to be broken down, but burns quickly. Best suited for high-intensity exercise of short duration.
4 Tablespoons of coconut oil (I used Trader Joe’s virgin coconut oil). Superfood! Medium-chain triglycerides go directly to your liver to deliver their energy, without having to be processed first.
Lemon juice to taste
Blend in a food processor until smooth. I then placed it on a sheet of waxed paper and smoothed it out and froze it.
My mistakes:
1) I needed to make it thicker so it would be easier to cut. I made mine more like a thin pancake.
2) It doesn’t freeze (probably because of the coconut oil) which makes it readily accessible to eat but didn’t help with my flat pancake so it broke into pieces.
3) Wrapping it in wax paper. Next time I’ll use saran wrap.

They taste delicious and are easy to eat. I have had some before an 85 minute interval trainer ride and also tested at hour 2 of my 4 hour run yesterday just to see if they taste good and settle well while running. They worked for me!

Filed under: training | Tagged: Brendan Brazier, date chews, energy recipes, The Thrive Diet, vegan energy source, vegan recipe | Leave a Comment »

Jawbone Up Review Update

Posted on December 11, 2011 by endurogirl

As the end of the year approaches, my cash-flow job has me busy working 10-12 hours a day making extraneous, fun tasks like working on a blog for free get pushed aside. What hasn’t been pushed aside? Exercise! As a matter of fact, I’m training for the Uwharrie 40-mile trail run so I’m definitely putting in some time. If you are busy, I hope you can at least get your 25 in 25 in and if you haven’t started, than what are you waiting for? Santa is not going to bring you a healthy body and mind, no matter how many times you ask. Only you can do that.

As an update to my Jawbone Up review, where I didn’t think the Jawbone Up was a very good product, but I did praise the customer service and support, I received a letter from the CEO. Hosain Rahman recognized the issues that Jawbone Up was facing and offered a full refund to all purchasers of the Up, no questions asked! I thought this was an incredible move on their part as some people were happy with their Up and experiencing no issues. They are working on fixing the sync and hardware issues and maybe they will come out with a better product in 2012.
Unfortunately, I already returned mine however I don’t know what I would have done with it anyway since it didn’t work well. I think the move by Jawbone is a smart one and may save them down the road. I also think that moving into an area for the first time without the proper testing is something that a start-up might do, not a company with a rich history in having great electronics. I had offered by phone three times to help test the Up last spring and summer and had hoped to compare it to my Exerspy. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one. Jawbone could have saved themselves a lot of time and money.
I like the phrase Underpromise and Overdeliver. Jawbone definitely Overpromised and Underdelivered on this one, however their follow-up, customer support and full refund might make a big difference in the longevity of the product.

Filed under: other fun stuff, reviews | Tagged: 25 in 25, Calorie counting device, Exerspy, Hosain Rahman, Jawbone, Jawbone Up, product review, Uwharrie trail run | Leave a Comment »