Friday Favorites plus a Giveaway!!

First off I’d like to thank everyone for entering the Fruit of the Loom giveaway!! The $25 Prize pack goes to:

Congrats on your win, please email me your info (mailing address, bra and panty size) to runninglovingliving@gmail.com and Fruit of the Loom will mail out your prize pack!

This week has been rough! After the first week of school both my daughters were sick with a terrible cold and by Tuesday my husband had it too. I managed to escape the cold but either picked up a stomach virus or ate something bad because I was sick all day Tuesday. Even with a germ filled house I managed to follow my Shakeology challenge and exercise the whole week excluding Tuesday which I used as a rest day. Thankfully everyone is finally starting to feel better!

Today’s blog is dedicated to some new favorites I discovered this week! Here they are:

Shakeology: I am not a big fan of protein/energy shakes but when Maria, the Fitness Zealot (also from Huff and Buff and Two Belles Fitness) posted on Facebook a 5 day Shakeology challenge I jumped at the chance. I always like a challenge plus I needed some motivation to get my diet back on track…..little did I know I would like Shakeology so much. Not only does it taste good but it keeps me full all morning and energized all day!!! If you are interested in future challenges check out Maria’s Facebook page here.

nuun: nuun is my new favorite recovery drink after working out and running. I have heard lots of good things about nuun but only first got to try it at the Virginia Beach Rock ‘N’ Roll Half Marathon Expo. I loved the lemon lime and strawberry lemonade flavors so I bought a tube of each and they rock!!! Nuun is an electrolyte enhanced drink tab that you drop into water for an instant sports drink. These tabs are not only easy portable but they are low in calorie (6 calories per tab), contain no sugar, taste great and leave absolutely no aftertaste in your mouth. After working out when I drink nuun I feel refreshed and energized!!!

Warrior Crunch Granola: I purchased Warrior Crunch Granola at the 2011 Healthy Living Summit and have just gotten around to trying it this week……it is awesome. The best part of this granola is that Nuts About Granola teamed up with Cancer Warrior to launch this granola in an effort to raise money for cancer research. Sadly quite recently a Susan the blogger behind The Great Balancing Act was diagnosed with Lymphoma and the blogging community held a fundraiser to help her pay for the uncovered medical costs she will incur from this illness and her battle to fight it. From 8/1/11-10/31/11 all proceeds from Warrior Crunch will go to Susan, so if you like granola you definitely need to check out Warrior Crunch because not only do the proceeds go to a good cause but the granola is delicious.

ExerciseTV’s 10 Pound Slimdown Workouts: I have been doing these workouts for the last couple weeks and they are awesome!!! I am drenching in sweat after each and every workout! Chris Freytag is an awesome trainer and she makes you want to workout!!!!

Fit Chicks Blog: This blog rocks!!!! It is an awesome blog that posts some great workouts, mostly very hard workouts that are Crossfit style. If you are looking for a challenge or just to try something new you need to check this blog out now!!! You can also fine Fit Chicks on Facebook here.

Now on to my special giveaway. I reached an astounding 300 likes on Facebook this week and I am thrilled. I was one of those kids in high school who didn’t have many friends mostly because I was prettier and smarter than everyone else…LOL! Anyhow it is a great accomplishment in my book that I have achieved over 300 likes so to thank all of my loyal readers and likers on Facebook I have a special giveaway for you.

The giveaway consists of my last Running, Loving, Living Bondi Band plus a $15 iTunes gift certificate you can use for fitness apps or to update your music library.