Winner of Adidas miCoach competition announced!
Thanks to everyone who entered the Adidas miCoach competition. The random number generator has been clicked and the lucky winner is:
Stuart Walker
Well done, Stuart!
Category: Competitions
Win a place in the inaugural Red Bull Steeplechase!
Test yourself against the Great British countryside in this unique knockout race
The Red Bull Steeplechase is giving you the opportunity to win a place to take part in a good old-fashioned test of British grit and determination across the beautiful peaks of the Pennines on Sunday 7th October.
Following a 21 mile running course, across 4 stages, taking runners from steeple to steeple across the Peak District’s fields, woods and trails, 250 contestants will battle to stay ahead of the pack and ultimately being cut from the trailing group. In a competitive twist to the experience, the lowest 50 places to arrive at each stage marker will be cut from the event meaning that competitors will be pitted against each other in a bid to stay in the running!
The application process for the challenge is now closed due to demand Red Bull is giving wings to distance runners through this new and totally unique race.
I’ve teamed up with Red Bull to give away 10 final places to lucky entrants. Got the spirit?
Answer this question:
Which of these is not a stage on the Red Bull Steeplechase:
-A) Edale
-B) Glossop
-C) Hope
-D) Bamford
Email your answer to cathy@jog-blog.co.uk with ‘Steeplechase’ as the subject and the winners will be chosen at random after the competition ends at midnight Friday 28 September 2012.
Visit the Red Bull Steeplechase website here for more information.
Competition: Train with Jessica Ennis!
My VFF competition ends today (you’ve got until midnight tonight to enter if you haven’t already) but fear not, I’ve got another competition for you.
Here’s your chance to train with Jessica Ennis. Ok, not the living, breathing, hot as hell skin and bones version, but on an adidas miCoach game thingy. I don’t know a single goddamn thing much about game thingies, so here’s the official blurb:
Hot off the heels (quite literally!) of Great Britain’s recent success, we are giving you the chance to win a copy of adidas miCoach Game, starring Jessica Ennis.
Learn the individual techniques of globally recognised athletes, while they help you to reach your fitness and training goals.
miCoach features 18 of adidas’ athletes across 6 different sports, including Kaka, Manuel Neuer, Jessica Ennis, Ana Ivanovic, Will Genia and Ma’a Nonu for you to train side by side with.
Every athlete also presents a master class specific to their sport and there’s a special bonus master class from the manager of current La Liga Champions, Real Madrid’s, Jose Mourinho.
Find out more about miCoach here: http://micoachgame.com/, watch the trailer or check out their Facebook and Twitter profiles.
miCoach is available on Kinect for Xbox360 and PS3 Move.
To enter simply tell me which sport Jessica Ennis competes in, by emailing your answer to me at cathy@jog-blog.co.uk with ‘miCoach comp’ as the subject. Competition ends on: midnight Friday 14 September 2012.
Vibram FiveFingers Clinics & a chance to win a pair!
Starting this week, minimalist footwear brand Vibram FiveFingers® will be hosting a fortnight-long series of Runners’ Drop-In Clinics across London. They are all FREE to attend and most take place in the evening or early morning so that people can come along either before or after work. It’s a great opportunity to get an introduction to the basics of minimalist running, including getting advice on getting started and on selecting minimalist footwear.
Present at each of the events will be the Vibram FiveFingers® Tester Team, including Corrado Giambalvo one of the world’s top minimalist running coaches. The Team will be on hand to advise on training and running for all levels of runner from beginner through to highly experienced. After the clinic sessions there’ll be the option of joining a FREE group run, which will also be the perfect opportunity for anyone wishing to try out the shoes for the first time to run in them under expert supervision.
You can also get your hands on a pair of Vibram FiveFingers® absolutely free by winning this competition.
Just answer the following question:
Which city are the Vibram FiveFingers® clinics being held in?
A. Cardiff
B. Edinburgh
C. London
Email the answer to me at cathy@jog-blog.co.uk with ‘VFF competition’ as the subject and I’ll pick a winner at random after the closing date.
Competition closes midnight, Friday 31 August 2012.
In the meantime to keep up to date with the Vibram FiveFingers® clinics and run, head to the dedicated blog at http://www.fitnessrocks.co.uk/blogs/julia-b
List of Vibram FiveFingers® Runners’ Drop-In Clinics
Thurs 2nd August – 7.30am
Sweaty Betty- Harrods
Run only
Thurs 2nd August – 6.30pm
Run & Become- Victoria
Run only
Fri 3rd August – 6.30pm
Iso Store
Clinic & run
Monday 6th August – 6.30pm (I’ll be at this one if you want to come and say hello)
Runners Need- Holborn
Clinic & Run
Tues 7th August – 6.30pm
Runners Need- Canary Wharf
Clinic & Run
Weds 8th August – 7.30am
Sweaty Betty- Harrods
Run only
Weds 8th August – 6.30pm
Sweaty Betty- Kings Road
Run only
Thurs 9th August – 6.30pm
Altimus- Holland Park
Clinic & run
Friday 10th August – 7.30am
Sweaty Betty- Kensington
Run only
New Balance Giveaway–Winner Announced!
I couldn’t choose one of the haikus, they were all so good. So I asked Highway Kind – what with him being a highly respected member of the running community and that and who undoubtedly would be impartial and not just choose one of his mates – if he would choose a winner and he suggested that I choose my favourite six, then randomly select one.
But even that was too difficult, so I pulled a number from the virtual hat at random.org and the winner was:
Well done, Jules! Email me your address and shoe size, and I’ll pass it on to the giveaway people so they can send you your trainers direct.
Giveaway: New Balance 1080 NBX Running Shoes
Juneathon. Oh yes. Kind of bolloxed that up at the end, really. I totally blame Helen and Cassie for making me get drunk. They did Juneathon though by doing bar press-ups – Cassie did hers in my local
and Helen did hers in a pub in Hythe.
Cassie was also especially hardcore and Juneathoned by doing a Dressing Gown Dash in my dressing gown in my garden.
Anyway, well done everyone who successfully (or not so successfully) completed Juneathon. As you’ve probably worn out your trainers with all that running, here’s a chance to win a new pair.
Sweatband have asked me to give away a pair of New Balance 1080 NBX Running Shoes – you can choose from either women’s
or men’s.
All you have to do to win a pair is write a Juneathon haiku and leave it in the comments box and I’ll choose the winner (or get Shaun to do it).
A haiku is a three line poem, consisting of 17 syllables in a 5-7-5 format.
Here’s an example:
A month of running
Every day for Juneathon
I am knackered now
Terms:
UK entries only
Competition closes midnight 31 July 2012
Winner announced! Win an iPod Shuffle and VIP tickets for the Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon
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!
Run for Mind and win an iPod Shuffle
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.
Have you won? Cram Alert Sport ID giveaway winners announced
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.
Cram Alert Sport ID Giveaway
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