Fat burning coffee (or tea) winner!!!

Before I tell you who the winner is, I just want to give a special shout out to all you moms out there who are sending a baby off to school for the first time. I see your posts on FB and I remember how tough it was leaving that classroom on my oldest daughter’s first day. Yes, there were tears (mine, not hers) and I may or may not have been able to do little more than drive around the block the school was located for the entire time she was there.

Now fast forward to this year, where I will literally be taking the Tiger to her first day of pre-school, dropping her off, wishing the teacher good luck, running out the door and turning off my cell phone. Ok, ok, I’m exaggerating. All I’m saying is that it does seem to get a little easier (which is easily said when the Tiger’s first day is still two+ weeks out. Ask me the day of and I may be singing a different tune).

Stay strong mamas and know that your little one is going to be full of excited stories to tell you when you pick them up and waiting with the biggest hug you’ve ever had. Seeing my daughter’s big eyes and terrific smile whenever I walked through the door to pick her up at school fast became some of my most favorite mom moments. I hope that’ll be true for you too!

BUT ENOUGH ALREADY!!! The winner of Boresha’s fat burning coffee (or tea, winner’s choice) is…

SARAH @ A RUNNER’S HEART

Congratulations Sarah! Send me an email at runfastmommy@gmail.com and I’ll fill you in on all the details. If you’re not Sarah and you’d still like to give that fat burning coffee or tea a try, you can read all about it and/or order some up for yourself here. OR feel free to send my husband an email at ocollins2@gmail.com. He’s more than happy to tell people all about how he cut all that weight (pictures here) and answer questions PLUS if you tell him that I sent you, that certainly ought to be good for a free sample or two. You may not lose 30 lbs with just a sample or two, but hey, at least you can see if you like it.

As always, more giveaways to come! Stay tuned…

The ONE thing I’d really like all running moms to stop saying

Ok, I’m finally gonna do it. I’ve stayed silent on the matter long enough. I’m going to make this plea and beg you all to stop saying something. I hear it far too frequently in my many many conversations with running moms and quite frankly, it’s just not true. And I’m going to kindly ask you all to rethink this statement just a little bit. It’s this one (or some variation of it):

“Running is the one thing I do just for me.”

No, it isn’t. Even if you think it is, it isn’t.

Now, I get the sentiment behind the statement. TRUST ME. I get it. As a mom, you pretty much spend every waking minute (and often many of those minutes which you intend to NOT be awake) in dedication to the little people in your life that you adore. You give of yourself until there’s nothing left and then you find a way to give some more. I know this. Running seems like the one thing where you leave it all behind and just take care of you and your needs.

But here’s the thing ladies, even though you might intend for your runs to be “just for you,” by default they aren’t. Every time you set foot out that door or onto the treadmill, you are doing something that benefits not just you, but your entire family.

For starters, your kids NEED a healthy mama not only to keep up with them on a daily basis, but so that you’ll be around for a long time. I realize that tomorrow is promised to no one, but we all know that a regular exercise routine, in our case running, is good for you and can help prolong your life. Recent studies have shown that runners typically live longer than non-runners. (Yay for us!)

And don’t forget about the way you FEEL when you come back in from a run. Refreshed, energized, ready to tackle the world or that toilet that your 3 year old clogged with three rolls of toilet paper and your entire family’s toothbrushes while on your husband’s watch when you were gone. For me personally, I clearly have more energy, patience and I’d even say mental clarity after I run. All things crucial to surviving those days when my kiddos are perhaps not at their finest and really putting my mothering skills to the test.

But hands down, in my opinion, the MOST IMPORTANT reason we all need to stop saying that running is “just for us” is this: childhood obesity is at near epidemic proportions in the U.S. and that doesn’t go away by changing what the school cafeteria serves at lunch or holding classroom sessions on nutrition. Changing that problem, starts with us moms. Period.

You and I both know that our children are watching our every move. If we are eating healthy, they are too. They don’t have much choice in the matter since we put it on their plates. If we are exercising, they are too. Now, every kid’s different and running may not be the exercise of choice for yours, but every time you run, you are at the very least setting an example of health and fitness for your child (and for that matter, everyone around you, including that mom of three that just passed you by in her car.) You are showing them that yes, it IS important to exercise, but it is not uncommon for your little ones to want to jump on the running bandwagon too. I’ve seen it time and again.

Even on the days you DON’T want to go run and it’s not all happy happy joy joy as you prepare to do so, you are STILL teaching your kids an important lesson. You’re teaching them that everything in life is not always fun. Sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do just because it’s important and/or the right thing to do. And for all of us, there are days when running is one of those things.

But I’m not done. Through running you teach your kids about: goal setting, the importance of training and preparedness for meeting those goals, perseverance, determination, commitment, hard work, good sportsmanship, the list could really go on and on. Become a charity runner and a whole world of possibilities of things to teach your children opens up. Far more than just giving = good, not that that’s a bad lesson for them to learn, but also learning about various issues that effect this planet and everyone on it, money management, saving, fundraising, writing, public speaking, empathy, to name just a few.

So I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news here mamas, but whether you like it or not, running is NOT the one thing you do just for yourself. Your runs are important for your entire family. (Remember THAT the next time the couch is calling or you feel like your running shoes have turned to cinder blocks on a tough run. It’ll be far more difficult to succumb to the temptation at hand).

But the good news is now you need to go pick something else to do just for you!  A nap, coffee with a girlfriend, a movie with your sister, a trip to the spa for a much needed pedicure or massage, or even just a 15 minute bubble bath with a good book, those are things just for you.

Although, now that I’m thinking about it, taking a little mental break and doing something like the above, is probably necessary for maintaining sanity while raising children, so even those too may be more for the fam than it actually is for mom. Oh man, is it even possible for a mom to do something just for herself? Hmmm…
 


P.S. Time is running out on the giveaway for Boresha’s fat burning coffee or tea (AND to see the before and after pictures of my husband and tell him what a stud he is)! Be sure to get in now before you miss your chance!

Train Like A Mother Winners & The Story Behind the Picture

So first off, you have to know THAT is not the ocean, THAT is the beautiful shoreline of Lake Michigan. Yep, we’ve got white sandy beaches here in MI and large gorgeous bodies of water with no fish like animals that could eat you in them. If you’ve never been here, seriously, you should consider it. Here I’ll help you. Here’s our tourism link. You will not be disappointed. I promise you that!

Basically the story to the picture you’ve all been captioning goes: we were vacationing on Lake Michigan and like most children on vacation, my little Tiger of a 3 year old had a rough time falling asleep in the hotel. She was far too excited. So every night she’d stay up way later than she should and every morning we’d wake her up to get on with the day. On this day in particular, she had been bouncing around “stomping seaweed” (there wasn’t any, but that’s what she said she was doing anyway) and right in the middle of a serious seaweed stomp, came this huge yawn. I just happened to have my camera handy. You are seeing a rare childhood moment here where exhaustion and excitement have collided. Now you know, “the rest of the story”…

But I know, I know, what you REALLY want to know is who won Train Like A Mother?! Right? Well, let me tell you…

The winner of drawing #1, which everybody and anybody who wanted to be included in the giveaway was, IS…

CHRISTINE JENSEN

Now, on the bonus drawing, we took the captions with the top 5 votes on FB and chose one winner. First, I know you all want to hear the winning captions. So here they are…

Bobby Brigman: This sand is going to absolutely destroy my mani-pedi!

Keighty Brigman: WAIT... This ISN'T where Finding Nemo 2 was filmed?!

Shannon Johnson Allstott: Oh.My.Gawd. You did *not* just splash me.

Teri L Stevens: Would someone please pull the fish out of my bathing suit NOW!!

Anne Erickson Harms: This ocean is way colder than the bath tub, Mom!

 

Funny eh?  And the winner of the bonus drawing is…

TERI STEVENS

 

For those of you who are wondering, winners were randomly selected by my 6 year old from a big bowl of names written on little slips. If you happen to be one of those two winners, congratulations! And please email me at runfastmommy@gmail.com and I’ll fill you in on the details. If not, no worries. More giveaways to come shortly of course! And you could always order yourself a copy right over here.

Thank-you to everyone who participated this time around. You all had me cracking up on pretty much a daily basis! And thank-you also to the fine ladies of Train Like A Mother, Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea, for sending me the book and letting me give a copy away. If you are not following along on their adventures, you should be. They are informative, hilarious, inspiring, AND they give away tons of free stuff. The pool’s bigger to chose the winners from, but the gear is seriously good. You can find the pair and a bevy of mother runners on FB here.

 

P.S. There’s still time to get in on the giveaway for some of Boresha’s “fat burning” coffee and/or tea. Right now, odds are looking pretty good! Don’t miss out!

Change of Plans

So…you might have noticed, I didn’t run the Warrior Dash.

I’m also not going to be able to run that marathon I’ve been training for in Marquette next month.

Nor am I going to be running that FREE entry to the Brooksie Way Half Marathon I bugged you all mercilessly to help me win.

In fact, I haven’t even run at all in almost two weeks.

I’m pregnant. SURPRISE! :-)

We had some tense moments at the beginning and my doctor substantially cut my mileage back to no more than 3-4 miles at an easy pace. Me being the worry wart that I am decided maybe I just ought to put things on hold until we knew more.

But I went back to see the doc yesterday and all signs look good! He said based off of the training I had been doing, even with the little hiatus these past couple weeks, I could keep running, 8-10 miles max, keep it easy, although I’m thinking more along the lines of 3-5 and taking that extra time I would have been running and just SLEEPING. Either way it looks like that gorgeous fall marathon I was looking so forward to running will have to happen some other time. For now, I’ve got another more important marathon to tackle.

Besides, I know you all love those pregnant running posts of mine and were going through withdrawls, so I’m really just trying to keep my target audience happy, that’s all ;-)

 

P.S. Don’t forget to get in on the giveaways! Win one of two copies of Train Like a Mother by Sarah Bowen Shea and Dimity McDowell here. Win a box of Boresha’s fat burning coffee or tea here. Good luck!

Review & Giveaway: Boresha Fat Burning Coffee & Tea

So…looks like I may have some explaining to do. It’s entirely my own fault. I should have known better. One FB post matching up the words fat burning, with America’s favorite morning beverage, coffee, and I should have known there’d be questions

For those of you who aren’t following along on FB (which you could do here btw if you’re so inclined), I recently posted a before and after picture of my husband, RunDad.  I was pretty excited because he won the grand prize in Boresha’s 90 day weight loss challenge, not only did he shed some unwanted pounds that he had been struggling with by using their fat burning coffee and tea, but also he won an all expenses paid trip to San Francisco which meant that I got to tag a long too.  And if you know anything about me, you know that even just ONE night out without the kids is a rarity. So I was pretty stoked.

PLUS by all expenses, we’re talking all expenses here. Air fare, two nights at the Ritz Carlton with $100 on tab for breakfast or whatever our hearts desired, Dinner at Vic Stewart’s with the best prime rib around, Lunch at Neptune’s on Pier 39 (clam chowder in a bread bowl anyone?), Ride on a Rocket Boat, $500 in gift cards for shopping at Macy’s in Union Square, another $500 in cash for incidentals, and limousine transportation for the majority of our travels while we were there. They weren’t messin’ around. It was a ridiculously good time. Here’s us with the other challenge winners…

But some of you want me to explain what exactly fat burning coffee and/or tea is and how you can get your hands on some. Rather than just keep answering the same FB messages and emails, I figure’d I’d just knock it off here.

And let me be frank, because I know what some of you out there who are skeptical at heart like I am are thinking. Trust me. I had those same thoughts too. My husband was actually introduced to these products about a year and a half ago. Notice, my silence on the matter up until now. You can go look through my archives if you don’t believe me. Not. A. Word.

The thing is, when he came home one afternoon and told me about this “coffee that burns fat” I had two words for him. The first one was bull. The second stinks. I’ll let you figure it out.

“Coffee does not burn fat. This is a rip off.” I told him.  Exercise more. Eat less. Eat healthy. And eventually, with enough hard work, you’ll lose weight. That’s pretty much always been my motto. And yes, I know that is MUCH easier said than done and it can be challenging, frustrating, and disappointing to not be cutting those pounds as quickly as one would like, but in my experience, most of the time products that sound too good to be true, are. They either don’t work or have weird side effects. I was not excited my husband wanted to give “fat burning coffee” a go. It sounded ridiculous.

But he researched up one side and down the other of this coffee, the science behind it as well as the background of the company founders. While much of what he told me was interesting, I still wasn’t convinced. Surely, this was a marketing ploy to play on the hopes of those aspiring to live a healthier lifestyle.

Then my Aunt lost 30 lbs…

Then my diabetic nephew (in law) lost 10 pounds AND even more impressive, he was able to sleep through the night for the first time in his life because he didn’t have to get up and eat something. He was also able to cut his insulin down by 2 shots, approximately 22 units a day because of how the tea regulated his blood sugar.

Then my couch potato dad lost 65ish pounds

 

Not to mention he’s reclaimed his life. What once was a man stuck on the sidelines as the support crew, has now become quite the competitor. He’s  done century rides (that’s 100 miles on a bicycle if you’re not familiar with the term) any number of 5ks and other races on the way to his first half marathon this fall.  Last weekend he even ran the Warrior Dash finishing in the top half of his age group.

It was getting tough to argue with results. I mean how do I keep saying, “that won’t work” when you’re looking right at the proof in front of you it has.

So I shut up. January 1^st, my husband started his 90 day challenge. He drank their tea and raspberry latte and for those of you who missed the FB post. Here’s the before and after (and two of my three adorable kiddos).

 

I swear this is 90 days. In fact, I believe that first picture was taken in November, just BEFORE the holiday eatfest so he was probably a little heavier when he actually started his 90 day challenge at the beginning of January. The second picture was taken at the beginning of April specifically for the contest. He lost 30lbs and 6 inches around his waist. Impressive eh?

Now, I still think exercise and eating a healthy diet is important (says the woman who had McDonald’s for breakfast this morning. Sssshhhh!!! No one tell! ). But I am definitely a believer now that these products could give a person an extra boost if they’ve been struggling to lose weight. I’ve seen them in action.

Now, you have my solemn oath, I am not going to become spam a lot here and endlessly inundate you with posts about this company just because my husband is involved. BUT being that I am in tight with one of Boresha’s distributors (who’s lookin’ mighty fine these days), I did score one of you a FREE box of either the coffee or tea (I told him running a giveaway on my blog would be a good business move on his part. See how I am. I’m even trying to score you all free products from my own family members. HA!) So if you’re skeptical at heart like me and you’d like to give these products a shot with no money out of pocket to start, you are definitely going to want to get in on this one!

GiVEAWAY DETAILS

Required

1) Follow this blog. Through a reader, on Facebook, Twitter, via email, somewhere, just so that you are paying attention at least a little bit. That way you can find out if you’re the winner.

2) Leave me a comment to let me know which you would prefer if you won the coffee or the tea.

And that’s it! If you’d like to better your odds, you’ll receive one extra entry if you tweet, post, blog, email, or somehow otherwise promote this contest to someone. Just let me know in your comment what exactly you did and I’ll put your name in the big bowl of names I’m going to let one of my little girlies draw the winner out of TWICE instead of once. All entries must be received by 11:59:59 PM on August 20th, 2012. We’ll announce the winner the next day.

If you just can’t wait that long and you’d like to get started on some fat burning coffee or tea RIGHT NOW or you’d like a little more information, you can visit my husband’s website here. I believe his contact information is listed as well if you have a question. Don’t tell him I told you this (he always says I’m too long in my posts, and I can almost guarantee you if he did actually start reading this post, he’s no longer with us. It’s ok, I don’t mind. That’s why I put all the good stuff here at the bottom ), if you’d like a sample before you order, you can probably talk him into it pretty easily. Now, don’t get too excited. I seriously doubt you’re going to cut any weight after one or two teas or cups of coffee, but you can at least see if you like how it tastes before ordering.

If you’re afraid of emailing my husband and feel more comfortable sending your question to me, you know the drill! You’re all welcome to email me anytime, fat burning coffee or otherwise, at runfastmommy@gmail.com. 

(NOTE: Because my husband is a distributor, if you click that link above and make a purchase, he will earn credit which translates into bonus money for him. Since he kind of likes me and we share a lot of the same things-food, house, car, um…kids, etc, this means that your purchase will benefit me also. So if you don’t like me or you’re just a meanie pants, you can still click that link, but you might want to find someone you DO like to order your product from).

 

 

P.S. I have tasted the tea. It was pretty good! I have not however used the products for weight loss. First, I was pregnant. Then, I was breastfeeding. And now, well, you’ll find out soon enough

P.P.S. If you do decide you’d just like to get going now, I’d HIGHLY recommend you sign up for that 90 day challenge. If you decide the products aren’t for you, no big deal. Just bow out. BUT if you do like the results you’re getting, you’ll already be in the running for some fabulous prizes, ipads, flat screen tvs, and yes, that fabulous trip I went on is up for grabs again too!