Running Equipment

Managed to get two runs in this week, so I’m slowly working back up to where I was before I got sick. Earlier this week, I hopped on the treadmill and ran a mile right away without stopping again. I couldn’t do it again after that, only a half or 3/4’s of a mile – but I was really happy that I hadn’t completely gotten out of shape in the week+ I took off for being sick. Yesterday I wanted to run again, but I really didn’t want to go back to the gym. I missed being able to run outside, and my silly issue of not being able to get a drink while running was seriously bugging me. So I ran out and made yet another exercise purchase. Here’s what I’ve gotten to date:

Polar F7 Heart Rate Monitor
This has been instrumental in my being able to understand exactly how many calories I’m burning when I’m working out and how my body is reacting to the exercise. I can see when my heart rate is going too high and I need to pull back a bit, and I can see when it’s gone too low and I need to step it up a bit. My major complaint with it is that I’ve not been able to get it to work in the water. No matter how tight I make the chest band, no matter what I do. It thinks I’m dead in the water and gives me a heart rate of 0. Heh. Otherwise, love it.

iPod/iPhone Armband Holder
Obviously this is very handy. I keep my iphone in it, even though it has the plastic shield, it still registers when I use the touch screen.

Chain Timer iPhone App
When I’m doing my “Run 3 mins / Walk 2 mins” rotations, this app is invaluable! You can set custom chained timers and then it buzzes or plays a sound to let you know when to switch. I play my music in the background and then run this app.

Altec Lansing Backbeat Bluetooth Headset
Originally, I had been using the wired headphones with my iPhone, but the wires bouncing around while I ran really annoyed me. If I had a call come in, I’d have to disconnect everything to take the call. And of course the volume controls were on the phone itself, so to raise or lower the volume meant again, fumbling with the phone. With this headset, all these controls are on the headset itself, and no annoying wire. Take a call, change the volume, pause music play even, all with an easy click on the headset. It also will filter the ambient sound when you have the music paused, so you don’t have to take the headphones out in order to hear when people are talking to you.

And now my most recent purchase:
a Water Bottle Belt
This has been a major issue for me running outside. I can’t run for more than 5 minutes before I need to rehydrate. Not wanting to carry a bottle around in my hand, I hadn’t been bringing any water with me, which would usually lead to me feeling sick at the end of the run. This belt is really comfortable, I actually push it around and wear it on my back. It has a little pouch too so I can put keys etc. in there. I bought this last night and then ran out of the house to try it out. Very happy with it.

I also bought a Camelbak Water Bottle Sara had recommended. Worked ok. I was going to use it with the straw – but it almost immediately fell off inside. Tried to get it to stay – wouldn’t. Not sure if that’s a problem with these bottles in general, or just mine. But I did like the bottle anyway. 😀

(Isn’t it ironic that with all my exercise/running purchases, I still haven’t gotten a fancy pair of running shoes? LOL! The ones I’m using I got from Costco – they were cheap but they seem pretty good.)

Totally Awesome Hair Accessory Giveaway from CoverYourHair.com!!

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You’ve seen my hair, right? Up in the picture above. It’s big. It’s curly. It’s unmanageable. It’s all over the place. I love the way it looks when I wear it down (on the rare occasion it also decides to behave), but it is a total pain in the neck. People love curly hair… when they don’t have it themselves. One major problem I have is my hair is always falling into my face. It would be the Cousin Itt effect if I wasn’t constantly pushing it aside. To deal with this, almost every day, I wear it back in a ponytail. But this look is getting really old and really boring.

When CoverYourHair.com contacted me about doing a review and a giveaway of their product, I knew, with my unmanageable hair, I was perfect for the job! The Pre-tied Bandanna’s are really fun, look cool and they do a great job of keeping my hair out of my face. I’ve also tried their wide headbands. You can bunch up the material all together to have it look more like a standard headband, or if you spread out the material, it looks a bit like a head scarf. There’s tons of other types of head gear on their site. Here’s an example of one of their pre-tied bandannas:

So, would you like to win a box of surprise hair accessories from CoverYourHair.com worth $25?

A basic entry is really simple to do. Just go to CoverYourHair.com and find your favorite hair accessory on the site, then come back here and leave a comment on this post telling me about it. That’s it! (Make sure you use a valid email address when you leave your comment – I will be using that email address to contact you if you win!) Only one entry per person can be done this way and you must complete this before you can enter via the additional methods I’ll talk about next.

If you’d like to better your chances at winning – here are a few more ways to get additional entries in: (When you’ve done one or more of the following, come back here and leave another comment and let me know. You can only get one additional entry per method I list below)

1) Join CoverYourHair.com Google Friend Connect:
Go to CoverYourHair.com, Scroll down their home page and click “join this site” in the Google Friend Connect box.

2) Become a Fan of CoverYourHair on Facebook.

3) Follow CoverYourHair on twitter and tweet about the giveaway.

4) Follow TheWorkingMom on twitter and tweet about the giveaway.
(If you follow both CoverYourHair and TheWorkingMom – you can just do one tweet. I won’t make you spam your followers)

5) If you have a blog or website, make a post (or put a note in your sidebar) about this giveaway and link back to this post.

This giveaway will end August 23nd at 11:59pm MST. There is no purchase necessary to enter the contest. I will be using random.org to choose the winner. I’ll contact the winner via email, and he/she will have 48 hours to respond. After 48 hours, another winner will be chosen.

Greatest Tomato Sauce EVER!

So I discovered a great find the other day. I was poking around Whole Foods looking for yummy low calorie stuff and found this tomato sauce:

It has the lowest number of calories I’ve seen in an off-the-shelf sauce (only 35 calories for 1/2 a cup), probably because it has no added sugar! Of course I had to buy it and try it and it tasted fantastic!! You’ve seriously got to try it if it’s sold near you. (I had it with some polenta – which turns out is much lower calorie than I realized, and it made a great dinner!)

Here’s a link to the company’s website so you can find it near you: Cucina Antica (I got their Garlic Marinara flavor)

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince: Movie Review

I had the pleasure and honor of seeing the latest Harry Potter movie the day before it was released thanks to DigiCert. They sell SSL certificates. If you’re a web developer that handles that end of things, you should definitely check them out!

Before I tell you about the movie, I have to state up front that I am a huge Harry Potter fan. I’ve seen every movie, most of them a few times. It would be hard to disappoint me. However, I am also coming from the standpoint that I have not read any of the books. (I know I really should). So with that said, here’s what I thought of the movie (no spoilers I promise!)

I definitely liked the movie – in fact I liked it a lot. I’m not sure if I could categorize it as my favorite in the series, but I still enjoyed it. In all the movies, there always felt like there were parts of the story that had been left out of the movie. This has been more and more noticeable as the series has gone on. The Half Blood Prince is probably the one where I noticed it the most. At the same time, I’m coming in to the movie, knowing that it’s based off a book, one that I have not read – and I sort of accept the fact that there will be far more in the book than they could ever squeeze into the movie. I was able to follow the story along just fine without the missing pieces, and if I wanted to know more about some of the details that appeared to be left out, I should pick up a copy of the book and read it. I’m not sure everyone in the world would be able to accept that. It’s possible that maybe you do have to be a Harry Potter fan in order to accept that.

As in the books (or so I’m told), the story gets darker and darker with each in the series. There are some scenes that would be scary and hard to accept for a younger audience. Depending on the kid, 11 or 12 is probably the youngest I would bring to the movie. (Take that with a grain of salt. My (almost) 9 year old is very skittish about movies – so I’m basing it on the fact that I probably wouldn’t bring her to see the movie unless she were a few years older. Another kid her same age might do just fine.)

I love the world that J.K.Rowling created – so any invitation to visit it and see the characters again is a treat. If you’re not a Harry Potter fan, but have liked the movies in the past, I think you’ll still enjoy this one. If you are a Harry Potter fan, this movie won’t disappoint.