Pretty Muddy Race Recap

Saturday, June 1st was the Dallas Pretty Muddy Women's Run! It was the first time this race had been done in Dallas and it was exciting all around. For this event, Pretty Muddy partnered with Susan G. Komen as their charitable partner, and Old Navy came along as a sponsor and offered a ton of goodies for participants. Breast cancer survivors (250) were offered free entry into the race, and Old Navy gave away free stuff for every participant. A tote bag, a shirt and pair of flip flops.

As a blogger Ambassador for the race, I was given a free entry into the race. Normally it costs $69.50 which seemed like a lot to me. After looking up other 5k's and mud runs, it really wasn't that much more. Plus Pretty Muddy sent out several codes for $10 off or $15 off depending on when you registered or how many people were registering together. For example, Run or Dye is $50, The Original Mud Run is also $50.

When we first arrived, we drove up to Skyline Ranch, saw guys on horses everywhere (I Love Texas!), and paid our parking fee. Were forced to back up park, which I made my boyfriend do because the girl before me did a horrible job and I did NOT want to be laughed at). We saw huge purple tents with Pretty Muddy all over the place on our walk up. Lots of loud, crazy music, and people covered in mud at the finish line. We stopped at registration which took 5 seconds. Handed in our waivers, got our race bibs, and our tee shirt! Part of the race bib had a tear off Pretty Muddy logo that was our free beer ticket.

Back of shirt

Shirts are cute, and pretty comfy. Thankfully my boyfriend was there to be tortured holding stuff for me.

And in the main area: Dancing!!! All of these ladies were in front of the stage, following an instructor and dancing like crazy. 

It was super cloudy at this point but look at them! I'm so uncoordinated.

Next, I had to find the stage. Our Pretty Muddy contact person sent out an email about an Old Navy activewear fashion show. I responded immediately! Mostly for the free outfit they would be providing us. Yes, I love free stuff! As the day got closer, and closer, I started freaking out about the fact that I had to go on a stage and try not to fall. I didn't fall and I had fun and met some wonderful ladies! I also received an awesome tank, a sports bra, and a pair of amazing compression pants! Seriously, I had never really messed with compression pants, but these were amazing. I ended up wearing them for my run and even when coated with mud, didn't sag or feel weighted down. The bra...well, it wasn't made for anyone very well-endowed let's put it that way.

Missing Allison of Running True who was on stage first!

My outfit. In love with the shirt and pants.

None of us fell. We all survived and basically stood there ogling each other's outfit. Most of the other ladies were super friendly and I made a couple of new friends in the area.

Pre Race with my friend Liz

One of the obstacles, and my favorite one! Taken from Pretty Muddy Facebook page.

Post Race. Yes I'm a dork.

It was a lot of fun and all of the other ladies were super supportive. Loved the clothes I received as well as the free stuff pictured below that every participant received! Different items for different sizes.

It was windy and the changing stations blew around a bit, but not horrible. It was all ladies so most of us didn't care. 

Would I do this race again? Yes, but I'd want to put together a bigger group as that seemed to be the most fun. I ended up running/participating with two ladies I met there plus my friend. My only concern was price, but if you register early, it's much cheaper like any race. 

Friday fun again! A mix of informative and ridiculous, photos.

Just randomness from the web! 

If you have cats, you understand.

Box subscription review

Conscious Box
Probably the most expensive of the boxes. I loved it and paid for a 3 month subscription with a 50% off code they sent out a while back. $19.95 a month shipped is the regular price. It included a few full size products, and all of their boxes are all natural, no GMO and BPA free. They also offer Vegan and Gluten free boxes. Use code FIRSTBOXFREE to get a free box, you pay shipping $7.95. If you like it, they usually have a discount code for subscriptions.

This is what as in it. A coupon for a free product (not available in my state though), a full size toothpaste, two bottles of dream water, and lots of smaller samples to try. My kiddo immediately stole the milkshake.










Bulu Box
$10 a month, always a free box code, or half off subscription codes, floating around. This is what was in my last month's (April) Bulu Box. A pack of gum, the Cocoa Via sample pack, Omega Swirl, a Barre bar, an Eboost natural energy supplement and Neo-Chill pills.

Bad phone picture, sorry!

Kona Kase
$15 a month and you can usually find a half off one month code. For some reason I lost my picture of this box...It was a great box though! It contained a Zing bar in Chocolate coconut and a cashew one, a Picky Bar, a TRACHealth Chia + Portable drink mix, a Rickland Orchards granola bar, a Power Bar Energy Blend sample, Rosemary Cashews, a Soyjoy bar and a Journey bar. This was probably my favorite box this month; so delicious! Here's a picture from the Kona Kase Facebook page of the box, exactly the same except I had a hibiscus chia drink:

Goodies Company
This one requires an invite (you can request one on their site), but I also know a lot of people are against shopping at Wal-mart, and it is owned by them. One of the cheaper box subscriptions, and comes with quite a bit for $7 shipped. I received a few months worth, and while I have it suspended right now (since I may be moving in the next month) it's a good one. There are always at least 3 full-sized products and several small. Contents are mostly the same from person to person, though flavors are usually different. As you review things, and receive boxes, you earn points that you can redeem for free boxes. This box would be best for more than one person for sure. And if you solely eat clean in your house, it is not for you! It's basically all treats.

Image stolen from a Walmart press release but is exactly what I received in one of my boxes.

Bulu Box was the first subscription box service I ever signed up for and was what first encouraged me to try out different supplements and see what works for me. I also have to remember, with each of these boxes, that I won't always like everything in them each month.  Kona Kase is a good mix of health minded and workout related. Goodies is just fun! Conscious is a bit expensive but if you are looking for more ways to be organic/non-GMO and such, it's perfect! I love finding out about new products, and I love getting crazy stuff in the mail so if I could, I would definitely keep getting all of them. Though I really want to try a few other boxes I keep hearing about as well.

Disclaimer: I paid for all of these, and all opinions are my own. The last two pictures are from the company websites, while the first two I took. 

PumpUp App review

iTunes App store

Only available for iPhone. :(

Use code PRO30 for a free 30 day upgrade to the pro version.

This was brought to my attention from Sweat Pink and it is really neat. 

First screen

The mascot reminds me of the water people from Futurama. If you don't watch that show, here's my proof:

Okay, so here is how it works. When you log on, you'll create an account. Select new workout and then proceed through the screens below.

After you select At Home or In the Gym, the bottom menu pops up:

Optional add-ons to your workout.

I like that it asks what equipment you have

Only issue I've had so far, and a few others have had as well, is that the app crashes sometimes. Usually in between the download of your workout being complete, and opening it. I restarted my phone (which I can't even remember the last time I did that...) and it opened up perfectly so might have been user error ha ha.

Update (a few days later.) I am loving this app. They did a few updates during the last week and it runs smoothly now, the workouts load faster. No crashing. It's a great app! I've been lazy with planning my workouts post-injury and this has helped tremendously! Her voice can get a little annoying on the voice coaching but it's easy to turn off if you aren't in the mood for a cheerleader. Oh and you can swap an exercise out if you don't like it and view all of your exercises with reps and weights, at the end if you need to record them for logs and progress.

If you have an iPhone, definitely check out this app.

Disclaimer: I was given a code to try the Pro version for a longer period of time as part of Sweat Pink. I didn't have to do a review but we were asked to do so if we wanted to so here's mine. All thoughts and opinions are my own! Pictures taken through screenshots on my phone.

Vitacost Aro Black Series-initial review

When the giant box from UPS arrived a few weeks ago, I was super excited. Except for the part where I had a rolled ankle that still hadn't quite healed up. :( So I had to let the fun stuff sit there for a while. And that bummed me out. You get new stuff, you wanna play!

Thanks to this lovely lady, I got a chance to try out Vitacosts's new line of supplements! Included was Chocolate Peanut Butter Whey Protein Complex, Natural Chocolate Casein, Pink Lemonade Pre-Workout, Natural Fruit Punch Glutamine, Natural Lemon Lime BCAA's, and Natural Blue Razz Creatine Monohydrate. Loads of fun stuff! The black and silver containers look pretty awesome too and nothing is over $25 in this stack!

This week, thanks to this Vitacost stack, I am starting a new workout routine and I couldn't be more excited. I haven't really gotten a chance to lift in almost a month, so this gave me more motivation to do so. I'll update  on how each tastes and at the end of the cycle, whenever I'm done with any one product, I will post a final review of how these products worked for me overall.

Tonight I did a workout at home. Thankfully I have a barbell so I loaded it and did a small leg workout. I haven't worked out in a month so baby steps.

Barbell squats 3x10
Glute Barbell Bridge 3x10
Lunges 3x10
Sumo Squat 3x12
Rear Leg Raise 3x10
Front Leg Raise 3x10
Calf Raises 3x15
Glute Kickback 3x12
Stretching

I mixed a scoop of the BCAA's and drank half of it before my workout, and sipped the rest of it throughout. I also took half a serving of Creatine beforehand. Post workout, I mixed a scoop of the Casein into a blender bottle with water.

BCAA-tasted like Country Time lemonade. Seriously, I actually didn't mind it and compared to other BCAA's I've tried, it mixed really well and no gagging while drinking it. (Note to others, never take unflavored BCAA's, *shudders). Was bright yellow in the cup.

The Creatine was Blue Raspberry flavored and since I diluted it more than I was supposed to, it tasted like grapes to me. I liked it and it didn't really have a color.

The Casein was my favorite flavor wise. It tasted like chocolate cake mix. I used a blender bottle for mixing, and while it was still kind of chunky, it's expected for Casein since it's harder to dissolve. The texture was thicker than normal but serving size is also slightly larger than other Casein proteins I have tried.

Glutamine was a bright rose pink color! I don't know why that intrigued me. The flavor was Fruit Punch and that was EXACTLY what it tasted like. Delicious. It reminded me of candy. Glutamine is supposed to be used post-workout to aid in recovery and is an Amino Acid. From the sites I've looked at, most recommend taking it before and after your workout, and before bed. Since I took BCAA's before/during/after, my workout tonight, I am taking it before bed.

I loved them so far. I didn't feel ick after taking any of the supplements, and that was great for me. I'll be trying the Whey protein and Pre-workout later this week.