Kudos For You!! {Review & Instagram Giveaway}

Hope everyone stateside had a Happy Thanksgiving!! So Americans know the day after Thanksgiving is a big shopping day….well, here on my blog, today is all about things FREEEEE!!!!

I was given the opportunity to try out a product called Kudos Coaster and I have an extra one to giveaway to those living in the contiguous United States!! This giveaway is on my Instagram only, but I made a blog post to really give you info on the product:)

We all wonder what to do with the medals we accumulate, and the people at Kudos Coaster thought of a GENIUS idea to use them for something productive! And while runners/athletes can use the coaster for medals, there are SO many other uses.

Of course, I went the medal route 😀 Lucky for me, The box has thorough instructions as does the website on how pull it together. I didn’t want my medal to rattle, and I saw that adding enough inserts would make it snug enough.

The hardest part was really choosing the medal, lol! You can see that it has to be a certain shape/size and a lot of race companies are deviating from traditional round medals. Yet, I still had quite a few to choose from:)

 

For details on how you can win a FREE Kudos Coaster Plus, head over to my Instagram page at @hellyontherun! If you don’t want to wait to see if you win, well, it is Black Friday 😉

Deal only for 11/23/2018.

–What are some fun ways you’ve re-purposed your medals??

–What is your current favorite medal?

 

Phoenix Marathon Course Preview and a Race Entry GIVEAWAY!!!

This past weekend I ventured out to the start of the Phoenix Marathon course to get a “feel” for the first part of the race.

As you can see, the beginning part of it is a nice downhill followed by a not-so-nice uphill, lol. I have no “real” goal for this race, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t hope to PR. I’m hoping with my NYC Marathon fitness, the downhillish course, and home court advantage will help me lower my sub 4 marathon time. 😀

Okay, fine #realtalk Whenever I think of Phoenix Marathon, I don’t remember my very first ever marathon. Instead, I remember that cold February morning back in 2015 dropping out a little past mile 12 😦 My DNF that year is not how I want to remember this race. So that’s the biggest reason I want to do well. REVENGE.

I was able to have a running buddy venture out to the start with me (the race is a point to point that begins far out in Mesa in the middle of the beautiful desert, lol) and he joined me for the first 6 miles of the course. My plan was to do the downhill part and the hill–loop around a circle doing the hill a few times for 16 miles total (my first Hanson’s 20 of this cycle).

Unfortunately, I took an early turn and ended up doing a lot of little loops and the Phoenix hill a few more times than planned, jaja!!! I chalked it up to more training for the course, lol!

I should've kept on going to Eaglecrest instead of turning left....oh wells..

I should’ve kept on going to Eaglecrest instead of turning left….oh wells..

Doooown, and then up, and then down, and then up and then down

Doooown, and then up, and then down, and then up and then down

Anyway, it was a good, hard run that left me confident about next month’s race. I’m actually excited. I think because I have a sub 4 already, I don’t have the major pressure of that goal hovering over me. Also, I have a nice, long break awaiting after this race that I’m very much looking forward to 😀

And because I’m a Phoenix Marathon Ambassador, I get “rewarded” with extra entries the more times people use my code (Helly10 for $10 off the half or full). Because everyone is awesome and using it, I’ve managed to snag an entry to giveaway for any distance the race offers–10k, 1/2, or full!! YAY!!

This giveaway is on my Instagram so make sure you check out the deets there to enter. Doesn’t a spontaneous trip to warmer weather sound amazing??? 😀 ❤

–Have you ever won a race entry?

–Do you ever practice/train on the course you will race? (this was actually the first time I’ve done that)

 

Scottsdale Half Marathon News!!! {and Giveaway}

Happy Friday!!!

I feel so much excitement this weekend for a variety of reasons but a big one is because my very good friend Jen is running the Chicago Marathon this weekend!!! There so many people I know running that race (good luck Courtney!) and I love tracking them and getting updates.

Speaking of good races, I was recently chosen as an ambassador for one of my favorite local races here in the Phoenix valley. It used to be called the Fiesta Bowl Half Marathon and 5k because it was a sub-event of the Fiesta Bowl (college football game) here in Phoenix. But, the race is a month before the game so it kinda didn’t really make sense for the race to be affiliated it. Plus, the race has became such a local favorite, and since it’s run in the heart of Scottsdale, Az, the race director finally decided to make the big change and make it

 

This change will really give the city ownership of the race as it’s become a favorite for everyone to do. I’ve done this race every year since I started running “competitively” (i.e. seriously) getting an at the time 5k PR there in 2013 and at the time 1/2 marathon PR there in 2014. I had to skip out last year because of my injury but my husband ran it (and got a PR).

He makes it look so easy.

He makes it look so easy.

It’s a flat, fast course which is a big reason why I love it, lol! It goes through neighborhoods I frequented as I worked at a high school near the area for 8 years. It’s also in mid-December and the weather here in Arizona is cause for envy (for us though it’s cold lol!! especially last year, hence my husband’s running gear–I think it was freezing somewhere around the high 40s 😀 ) The race is also suuuuper family friendly–I took my kids last year to cheer dad on 🙂 I just love this race…

And because I love it so much, I want to give YOU a chance to run it! This giveaway will be on my Facebook page (<—linky here or search Helly on the Run). It’ll run through Wednesday and I’ll announce a winner there that morning. The giveaway is for race entry only–sorry, you’ll have to figure out lodging and transportation if you’re an out-of-towner.

If you don’t wanna wait to see if you win, you can register now at their super low price (seriously, this is one of the most inexpensive but AWESOME races out there). The 1/2 marathon is currently $65 with time chip, medal, gender specific shirt, and beanie–and the 5k is $25 with time chip, gender specific shirt, and medal. Isn’t that amazing?? Prices go up ten bucks for each race on October 16th for the half marathon and November 1st for the 5k.

–Do you like smaller, home-towney feeling races? I do!! I also don’t mind big races either (hello Chicago and New York!!)