JogBlog running blog

A couple of weeks ago, I gave a reader the chance to win an iPod Shuffle and VIP tickets for the Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon. All you had to do was register to run the race for Team Mind and then tell me what your top running tune was.

Helen Tamblyn won with Meat Loaf’s Bat Out Of Hell.

Helen said:

“Yes, it’s a long song, but when you’re nearing the end of a tough run and you want something to power you through the last mile, this is the perfect length and who can help but run faster to the lyrics “like a bat out of hell I’ll be gone, gone, gone.”

Well done Helen!

Despite not having blogged any runs for ages, I have been running. Just very very slowly. I hope I get a bit quicker, as Folkestone Half is in six weeks and I’ve arranged to meet Travelling Hopefully, Helsbels, Fit Artist, Tom Roper and Highway Kind afterwards for lunch, but at this rate I’m not even sure I’d make it in time for dinner.

Two weeks after Folkestone, is the Royal Parks Half, where I’ll be meeting up with fairweatherrunner, Helsbels and abradypus for drinks after (I don’t do races just for the socialising afterwards, honest). Speaking of the Royal Parks Half, if you didn’t get in the ballot and still fancy doing it, if you register to run for it through Mind, you can enter their competition to win an iPod Shuffle and tickets for the VIP tent (where you will get fed after the race).

The competition

Mind would like you help them to create the ultimate feel-good running playlist on Spotify. From pumping energiser to guilty pleasure, we’ve all got a favourite exercise soundtrack, and they want you to tell them what your top running tunes are.

To enter the competition and be in with a chance of winning 1 of 5 iPod Shuffles and a pair of VIP tickets, all you need to do is leave a comment on this blog post including:

- Name of artist

- Song title

- Why this song makes you feel-good

- Entrant’s name

Even if you don’t want to run for Team Mind, they would still love to know what your favourite exercise tracks are, so please leave a comment anyway.

Info:

To register to run for Team Mind, visit their Royal Parks web page.

You can read the full terms and conditions of the competition here.

The competition closes on 26 August 2011 and the winners will be announced on 31 August 2011.

About three weeks ago, I held a competition for five people to win a Cram Alert Sport ID pack worth £15.95. Each pack contains a wristband and either a travel tag, key fob or mobile property ID. Also included is a year’s free registration.

All you had to do to be in with a chance of winning one of the packs was to let me know which superhero you’d like to be rescued by.

The winners thrown up by the random number generator are:

1. Maggie

“I want Mr. Incredible to rescue me. It’s not that I particularly fancy Mr. Incredible but I do fancy being Elastagirl. I think that these ID tags are a great idea and I’m very conscious that, like you, I often go out with no ID at all.”

2. Kieron C

“I’d like to be rescued by Ellie Harrison in heels and a bodysuit. But before she got pregnant. So some sort of time machine would need to be arranged too. Ooooo Ellie in the DeLorean. With a big pack of pickled onion monster munch.”

3. Michelle

“Does your servant feed you grapes wearing nothing but a thong, because that would be just the best image.

I would have to be rescued by my all time super hero, Rowan Atkinson, he would ride up on a huge black stallion wearing his amazing codpiece dressed as Edmund Blackadder. Throw me over his shoulder and gallop off with me clinging to him like a leech”

4. Millie

“Erm, I don’t know, I think as my total knowledge superhereo’s is quite small, I think I’d like to be rescued by Yoda.

He’s a super hero right?
I just need one of these packs to stop the canal murders when I’m out on my long runs, well not stop them, I’m not certain that the ID bracelets have magic invulnerability powers, but at least the police will be able to inform my family when they find me.”

5. Andrew Ross

“Wow Daisy Duke, providing it’s not the real-life aged version, can rescue me!”

Well done! Email me your addresses and I’ll get the packs off to you.

The review

I run with no ID on me. None at all. All I have on me (apart from my clothes of course) is my iPod, my Garmin and my house keys. I suppose the emergency services could find out my identification by plugging my Garmin into a computer and seeing on Google Earth where I started my run and knocking on the doors of the houses in the vicinity to see if any of them had lost a female runner, or taking the Tesco Clubcard key-fob to Tesco to ask them who it belongs to, but that still doesn’t give them access to the phone number of someone to phone in an emergency.

Cram Alert Sport ID is a wristband carrying contact information and finder instructions (they also do travel tags, key fobs and mobile property ID) that you register on the website, so if you do have an accident while out running, cycling, walking, etc. as soon as you are found your next of kin will be informed and the emergency services made aware of any necessary medical information that would assist in caring for you.

I decided to register my wristband this morning before going out for a run. I would have registered my travel tag, key fob and mobile property ID too, but didn’t realise at first that they all have different ID numbers on them (it explains why on the FAQ page) and so couldn’t be bothered to do all of them then, but you can go back and add other devices later.

It took me a long time to find out where to register on the website. Eventually, I found a link under the ‘Cram Alert In Action’ menu, which told me to go to the log-in page. I would have liked a nice big ‘register here’ sign on the home page.

Registering your devices is straightforward. You enter the ID number and then add your family members who you’d like to be contacted in an emergency. They give a helpful list of definitions of ‘family’.

1) Husband, wife and children.

2) All blood relations.

3) All who live in the same household including servants and relatives, with some person or persons directing this economic and social unit.

4) Civil partnerships.

5) Common law relationships.

6) Stepchildren and foster children.

So, that means that Shaun is lower than a servant. Excellent.

The rest of the registration process is simple (well, it is if, like me, you have no allergies or special medical needs the emergency services need to be aware of and all you need to do is give them the phone number of your servant boyfriend).

While I don’t really need anything else on my wrists while I’m out running, it’s a good-looking band and is comfortably rubbery. It was a bit of a struggle getting it on the first time, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it. The wristband is adjustable and once you know how long you need it to be, you can cut the overlap off with a pair of scissors (if this really is beyond you, you can see step-by-step photographs, or even watch a youtube video of how to do this on their FAQ page).

Without being run over by a tractor, I can’t say whether the Cram Alert works or not and my dedication in the name of research doesn’t really stretch that far. Plus, if I did get run over by a tractor, the emergency services wouldn’t be much help; a man with a big shovel to scrape me off the road would be of more use.

The Cram Alert wristband costs £9.97 and if you buy any other items, they will be discounted by 40%. The first year’s family registration is free, thereafter a £15 per annum administration fee applies.

Unless you have a long list of medical requirements and/or want to register a number of family members, I can’t really see that this has many benefits over a cheaper ID band with no yearly registration fee.

The giveaway

I’ve got 5 Cram Alert packs (worth £15.95 each) to give away. Each pack contains 2 devices:  1 x Cram Alert wristband and 1 x either a travel tag, key fob or mobile property ID. Also included is a year’s free registration.

I mentioned on Twitter that I was going to try out the Cram Alert wristband and runningokintheuk asked if it had superpowers. I said not unless the number goes through to Superman’s hotline and he comes to rescue me, which gave me the inspiration for today’s giveaway.

For a chance to win one of 5 packs of Cram Alert ID, leave a comment here letting me know which superhero you’d like to come and rescue you (it doesn’t have to be a superhero: if you want The Hoff to come and rescue you in Kit, that’s fine with me. Or maybe Daisy Duke is more your thing. Maybe I should stop showing my age).

Terms and conditions
Closing date midnight Friday 12 August
5 winners will be chosen by an internet random number picker
UK entries only
Superhero not included

Ok, so this has nothing to do with running but I know how much you all like to eat, and judging by the amount of entries I got for my limerick competition, it seems you like to write limericks too, so what better than a food based limerick competition?

For a chance to win a voucher for an Innocent Veg Pot, please see my veggie blog, Planet Veggie.

Good luck!

A few days ago I held a limerick competition to win a copy of Born to Run by Christopher McDougall.

After receiving twenty six brilliant entries, I decided to pass the choosing of the winner to the Independent Adjudicator.

Personally, I’d have been very strict about the meter but it wasn’t up to me and so the Independent Adjudicator has spoken, and in his own words:

Frances Green has to be the winner for the pink dressing gown, despite it not strictly adhering to the limerick definition. Hels was ok but she can’t win just because.

Mark would have won for his Kent based theme but for having read the book and Suzie for name-checking Local Adventures are worthy of a mention in despatches but Frances gets it.

So, well done Frances, you win the book. And well done to the runners up. You don’t win anything though, sorry.

The winning poem, by Frances Green

There once was a runner from Kent
Whose time was haphazardly spent
racing miles through the town
in a pink dressing gown
turning heads in each street where he went

The runners up

Hels’ limerick

There once was a runner from Kent
A lovely free book she was sent
She said, “freebies, ta”
Then went to a bar
To ask for a free beer, she went

Mark’s limerick

There once was a runner in Kent
Round Chatham and Margate she went
Five miles past Dover
She nearly keeled over
And by Ashford was totally spent

Suzie’s limerick

There once was a runner in Kent
Who always ran at 100 percent
So when juneathon came
and local adventures abstained
He thought “I could win this event!”

After saying to Tom that I’d look forward to his Juneathon sestina (after being promised one for Janathon, dum de dum…), Tom asked if I would make do with a limerick instead.

I said no.

But, it did inspire me to have a bit of fun before the hard work of Juneathon commences and hold a competition, so I’m giving away a copy of Born to Run by Christopher McDougall.

I’m not much of a book reviewer (and it’s been a while since I read it) but it’s a book about a bloke who goes running with those Tarahumara dudes in Mexico. It’s a highly entertaining read and a brilliantly written book, as you can see from the glowing reviews on amazon.

To win a copy, all you have to do is write a limerick and post it below. The one I like the best, wins.

To start you off, here’s the first line:

There once was a runner in Kent

Off you go then!

Terms and conditions
Competition closes midnight Tuesday 31 May 2011
UK entrants only (unless you want to pay the postage)

Tomorrow (Thursday 10 September) Sainsbury’s are giving away an 8GB  silver Apple iPod Nano as part of a competition that is simple and free to enter.

To be in with a chance of winning all you need to do is answer a really simple question which will be posted on Thursday morning at mirrorcashback.co.uk/sainsburys.

As the competition for this product is only running for one day there is a great opportunity to win.

Thanks to those of you who entered my competition to win a copy of The Crisis Cookbook.  There were a couple of good jokes there, but my favourite was Paul HC’s donkey joke:

Man goes for job at a blacksmiths:

“Do you have any experience shoeing horses?”

“No but I once told a donkey to **** off”

Well done Paul, email me your address and I’ll send the book off to you.

Another day, another Juneathon, and with the weather we’ve had the past couple of days, it could well be called a Decemberthon, apart from the fact that it’s not actually December.

I couldn’t really be bothered to do anything today but rules are rules and I don’t want anyone to call me a slacker so the little trusty steed and I went up to the tree and back.  And in case you’re wondering why, if I moved to the countryside, there’s only one tree, there is actually more than one but this one’s at a handy little junction.

And for those of you that only looked at this post because the title mentions a competition and therefore freebies, here’s today’s competition.

In the goody bag for Thursday’s Crisis Square Mile Run was The Crisis Cook Book.  I’m giving mine away because a) Shaun got one too and we don’t need two of them; and b) it’s full of meat recipes like Spiced Partridge Pilaf and Roast Bone Marrow and as you know, I’m one of those fussy vegetarian types.

Blurb from the book:

The Crisis Cook Book has been edited by Nicholas Lander who has had the enviable job of being the Financial Times restaurant correspondent for the past 18 years and is a long time supporter of Crisis, the homeless charity. During this period he has made the acquaintance of many of the top chefs around the world who have generously donated three recipes their favourite starter, main course and dessert for this book. The Crisis Cook Book comprises 84 recipes from 28 top chefs including Mario Batali, Paul Bocuse, Sally Clarke, Alain Ducasse, Chris Galvin, Mark Hix, Ken Hom, Simon Hopkinson, Tom Kitchin, Joel Robuchon, Rick Stein and Alice Waters, which have been converted into an easy-to-follow format by cookery writer, Silvija Davidson. The second section includes ten introductory essays on wine by Jancis Robinson.

It also says the other main objective of this book is to raise funds for Crisis, the homelessness charity www.crisis.org.uk which will receive a significant proportion from each book sold.

Although obviously not from the 2,700 copies they gave away on Thursday.

So, if you want to make such mouthwatering recipes as Squid and Mackerel Burger or Chicken Liver Terrine with Juniper all you have to do is post a joke and the one I like best wins.

Rules
UK entries only please (unless you have a UK friend who will post it overseas to you)
Competition ends Friday 12 June 2009

Stats (cycling)
Distance: 2.19 miles
Time: 14:01
Speed: 9.4mph
Calories: 62
Weight: 9st 4
Juneathons completed: 6/30
Competitions: 1