Posts Tagged ‘giveaways’

Mark your Twitter calendars for the next #runchat for 8 p.m. ET this Sunday. This week Scott (@iRunnerBlog) and I are pleased to announce EverStride as the sponsor. Simply by taking part in #runchat this week you’ll have a chance to win a runners kit from EverStride, complete with Foot Cream, Fungus Defense and the Chafe Stick.

For complete details on the giveaway and how to be entered to win, check out Scott’s entry here. If you’re unfamiliar with #runchat or need a refresher on what it is, check out my #runchat page here.

Please note that in the past two #runchat sessions we’ve had some trouble with TweetChat not updating in real time. I highly recommend using TweetDeck or HootSuite. If you want to filter out posts from me and Scott, feel free to follow my #runchat moderators list and import that column. By doing that you can see our questions easier.

A big THANK YOU to everyone who participated in the #runchat questions giveaway this week. We now have a great list of questions heading into Sunday’s #runchat (8 p.m. ET) and future #runchat sessions. Please keep in mind that we are keeping all the questions in a database, so if you don’t see your question this week, I am sure we’ll use it sometime over the next few months since we generally only have 6-7 questions for each chat.

Congratulations to Michael (@MichaelNic2 on Twitter) for winning the case of POM Wonderful juice. The random number generator picked No. 20 out of 24 total comments.

Don’t forget that the next #runchat is at 8 p.m. ET Sunday with me (@RunningBecause) and Scott (@iRunnerBlog) on Twitter. For another awesome giveaway this weekend, be sure to check out Scott’s post.

In mid-2010, Scott with iRunnerBlog.com and I launched #runchat — a simple hour-long Q&A on Twitter about running. The response was fantastic. After a few growing pains and rearranging of when the chat is, we now do #runchat twice a month — the second and fourth Sundays of the month at 8 p.m. ET.

Now that we’re several months into it, we want #runchat to be a go-to place for runners on Twitter. And I mean all runners — whether you’re just starting out with running your first few miles or if you’re a seasoned marathoner or a race winner, we want the chat to be a community for everyone. All shapes, sizes, colors and experiences welcome.

For #runchat to remain successful and to grow, we want your help. Scott and I want to know: what questions would you like to see featured on #runchat? If there are questions you’d like to chat about with other runners, this is your chance to speak up!

To submit a question, all you have to do is leave a question in the comments section below. If you’re on Twitter, please leave your screen name so we can give you a shout-out when/if your question is asked in future #runchat sessions. For every question that is submitted, you will be entered to win a case of POM Wonderful juice. A case consists of 8 8-ounce bottles of pomegranate juice — great for drinking and cooking.

A winner will be chosen using the Random Number Generator from random.org at 8 p.m. ET Friday, Jan. 7. You may enter up to two questions — each question left as a comment counts as one entry. Multiple questions in one comment count as only one entry. Please do not repeat questions from other users. Questions from previous #runchat sessions are accepted. Also, please leave a valid email address so I can contact you regarding the giveaway.

JAN. 4 UPDATE!
The giveaways for #runchat don’t stop here. Check out Scott’s post here on a giveaway for this week’s #runchat, sponsored by Road ID.

At 8 p.m. ET Sunday, Scott from iRunnerBlog and I have an awesome giveaway for #runchat on Twitter from Ryders Eyewear — a pair of VTX Sunglasses. To be entered to win, all you have to do is take part in #runchat, a twice-a-month chat all about running moderated by me and Scott.

The VTX from Ryders feature an interchangeable lens system that allows for versatility as conditions and activities change. The ultra-lightweight frames and anti-slip, hydrophilic nose pads keep them secure, while scratch-resistant lenses provide 100 percent UVA, B and C protection.

If you’re unfamiliar with #runchat, here are the details. At 8 p.m. ET Sunday, Dec. 12, Scott and I will begin asking running-related questions on Twitter using the #runchat tag. Then the conversations just go. Answer our questions; re-tweet our questions if you’d like; re-tweet other people’s answers that you like; and feed off other people’s responses to create conversations. That’s all. Really. It’s that simple.

Scott and I both use TweetChat to follow the conversations — that site makes it really easy to follow along. You can also create a #runchat column in HootSuite or TweetDeck, or create a #runchat saved search on regular old-fashioned Twitter. (Is Twitter old enough for something to be old-fashion yet?) Whatever you use, use the #runchat tag in each of your posts so we can follow the responses and to be eligible to win the sunglasses.

#runchat lasts an hour. We’ll post a new question every 5-10 minutes, depending on the nature of the conversations. All “official” questions will come from Scott (@iRunnerBlog) and me (@RunningBecause).

Last spring I called the Blue Ridge Half Marathon an “instant classic” and it appears many others had twice as much fun doing the full marathon that day. Well, the second National College Blue Ridge Marathon on the Parkway is coming around in April and I’m here to give you a chance to run it for FREE. Yes, free.

Before you get too excited, be sure you know what you’re entering. Next year’s race is being dubbed as “America’s Toughest Road Marathon.” The 2011 course includes 3,620 feet of total elevation gain and 7,234 feet of total elevation change. That’s 600 additional feet of elevation gain compared to the inaugural race. This is by no means a “normal” marathon. And before you enter, make sure you’re available to travel to Roanoke, Va., that weekend. The race is Saturday, April 16, 2011. Visit blueridgemarathon.com for full details.

You can enter up to three times in the comments section below. The first way is to leave a comment. Any comment. Say “hi.” Say “I want to run this race.” Say anything. It will count as one entry. The second way to enter is to become a “fan” of the Blue Ridge Marathon on Facebook and then leave a comment below telling me you’re a fan. (If you’re already a fan, that’s fine; just let me know below.) The third way is to follow @brm26pt2 on Twitter and then leave a comment below telling me you’re following that account. (If you’re already following, that’s fine too; just let me know below.)

I will pick a winner using the random number generator on Random.org at 8 p.m. ET on Nov. 30. Good luck!

Note: Please leave an accurate email address below so I can contact you. Comments without an email address will be deleted immediately. If you are picked as the winner and do not respond within a week, comments related to that email address will be deleted and a new winner will be chosen.

* I have started the 100 push-ups program AGAIN. Two days into it, I’m full of regret having not done hardly any upper body workouts in the past couple of months.

* Awesome by August is going OK. I went from 187.6 to 186 in the first week to then maintaining this week. Maintenance is a victory, but a loss would have been better. My biggest issue is what I eat on the weekends. If I could move beyond just a few bad choices, I’ll see another loss. That means no Dairy Queen this weekend. My eating during the week has been pretty good.

* My long run this week was 11 miles. That’s the longest non-racing run since a run of 11 miles this past winter. Pretty soon I’ll be hitting distances I haven’t seen in three years. I’m both nervous and excited about that.

* Unless something bizarre happens in the next week, I will hit 90 miles for the month and 600 miles for the year by July 31. I’m keeping right on pace to be above 1,000 miles for the year, with even higher mileage coming. I’ve said this before, but if I train like I should for the marathon and barring any injuries, I should hit 1,000 miles sometime in November.

* Want to win a pair of sunglasses? Check out a contest at iRunnerBlog to enter a chance to win a pair of Ryders Cirrus sunglasses. The deadline to enter is noon (ET) July 30.

One of the biggest lessons I have learned in six years of racing is that not every event will be the best ever. Today, I took that lesson to heart as some pretty crazy humidity was on hand for the Percival’s Island 5 Miler in Lynchburg.

I had a nice warm-up and was feeling pretty good as the race got under way, but a mile into it, I knew that pushing myself to set a PR wasn’t smart. After hitting the first mile in 7:22, I settled into a pretty good pace for the rest of the race, finishing in 39:32 (8th in my age group among 17; 63rd overall among 200 runners).

Instead of taking the chance to injure myself or beat myself for running hard and not getting a personal best, I turned this into a nice tempo training run. My lack of speed work was evident today on top of the humidity, but that certainly didn’t stop me from enjoying myself, the shaded trails, the views of the James River, running with a large group of people and getting in a solid, solid run.

While it wasn’t anywhere close to my PR of 36:59, this race was quite possibly the smartest race I have ever done. And that’s really all I have to say about this experience.

***

The winner of the POM Wonderful competition for guessing my race time is Danny, who guessed a time of 38:40. Danny’s blog is one of the first ones I started reading a few years ago. You can head over to his blog to follow his training for the New York City Marathon. Thanks to everyone who guessed some times that I was certainly hoping for!

“You have to wonder at times what you’re doing out there. Over the years, I’ve given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement.” - Steve Prefontaine

While running is often about self-satisfaction, it’s always fun to get others involved in the activity. For the second time ever, I did a guess-my-time contest for tomorrow’s Percival’s Island 5 Miler in Lynchburg, and I’m thrilled to have had so many guesses. I also want to thank POM for getting involved in this to and posting a link on Twitter to yesterday’s post. It’s exciting to have so many people helping push me to do the best I can possibly do.

You can view all the guesses in the Comments section. Thanks to everyone for dropping by! Good luck.

When I launched this site back in April, I promised to have some contests and giveaways, but unfortunately I haven’t done too much of that beyond giving away an awesome book (Thanks Steve!) and a failed attempt at giving away an event T-shirt (Half of Jess and another Steve let me keep it, and I actually have worn it quite a bit).

So fast forward to now … I’m ready to do contest No. 3 — a free case of POM Wonderful juice. Talk about some good stuff — in addition to drinking it, it’s good for cooking too. Even my 20-month-old son enjoys it.

So, how do you win it? Predict my time in Saturday’s Percival’s Island 5 Miler, being held along a flat paved trail in my almost-hometown of Lynchburg, Va. It’s really that simple — the person closest to my time to the nearest second over or under wins. If there happens to be a tie, the person under my time wins (kind of like “Price is Right”). If two people happen to predict the same time, I’ll use Random.org to determine the winner.

To help you out, I’ll give you some background to help predict the time. This is one of my favorite community races that I’ve done. The only problem is I haven’t done this race in three years. Back in 2007, I finished in 36:59, a huge improvement from 2006, when I had a time of 41:07. 2007, just like this year, was full of PRs. I’m not really shooting for a PR though — I’m really just continuing this test of how fast I can go in races and, right now, use them as speed work for marathon training.

The PRs I have set this year have come in the half marathon in March (1:42:52), the 5k in April (21:41) and the mile early this month (6:15). I’ll save you some homework: plug all those numbers into race predicting calculators and the times range from about 36 minutes to just under 38 minutes for a 5 miler. Would I like to set a PR? Definitely. I’ll see how I feel a couple of miles into it whether or not it’s realistic. One huge factor will be the weather. Saturday looks to be muggy, but not all that bad temperature wise. Also keep in mind that I have to run hills all the time, and this race is very flat.

To enter this contest, simply leave a comment below by 9 p.m. (ET) Friday. If you do not want the case of POM, please do not enter. Predictions given over Facebook or Twitter will not be accepted. Please leave a valid email address so I can contact you if you’re the winner.

Good luck!

That's me in the green nearing the finish line, probably costing myself an extra second. Thanks to my friend Travis, who I usually run with, for taking this photo. He was a spectator today to watch his wife race.

I’ve left myself speechless. I did 22:41 in today’s Race for Life 5K in Lynchburg, Va. That’s a PR by 1 second - ONE SECOND - breaking my time of 22:42 in August 2007.

There’s not too much to say about this really — I did what I planned on doing. With the first mile being down hill, I just went for it. I hit the first mile in 6:48. The second mile finished going down hill and flattened out a bit: 7:15. The third mile … well, I wasn’t speechless then. I talked to myself out loud for the first time ever in a race. Heading up the hill in the last mile I told myself several times, “You can do this. Just do it.” I dug deep coming up that hill, and I did it. It was one of the toughest ends to a race I have ever done.

My time put me in 45th overall out of 467 racers - a HUGE crowd for Lynchburg. It was great to see so many people taking part in this event today. The volunteers were awesome - they can’t get enough thanks. And there was plenty of food and drink to go around too. I also want to give a shout-out to Dr. David Wimmer of Wimmer Chiropractic who was there. (Full disclaimer, my wife is a patient of his.) I got a free analysis of my back to discover that I’m mostly OK.

My only complaint is that this race has gotten fairly large for a very crammed start with too many people starting toward the front that probably shouldn’t be there. That’s not a bad thing though - it’s a sign of how popular races are becoming around here. That being said, my first quarter mile was slowed a bit because I had to get off the trail to pass people. I could have been a tad faster at the beginning.

But I’m not really complaining. After all, I’ve had two races this year and I’ve had two PRs.

***

Lastly, Jess of the blog Half of Jess, was the official winner of the Shirt Off My Back contest for this race, but she doesn’t want it. I am totally fine with that - it was great to have her guess a time that was 11 seconds of my official time. So, to do the right thing in the contest, I’ll give the shirt to the second closest finisher, Steve of 265andFalling, who was 18 seconds off. If his name sounds familiar to you, it’s because just the other day he did a Q&A with me on this site.

But to all of you who guessed my time, you need to step it up a bit next time I do this. My mom guessed 22:45 last night. Mother does know best!