2014 January

ZOOMA Florida Half Marathon

January 30, 2014 · By Kristin Smith · 9 Comments

Disclosure: As an ambassador, I received a free entry to the half marathon, as well as several freebies from ZOOMA sponsors. All travel accommodations and meals were paid for by me. All opinions are my own.

I’ve been looking forward to this race weekend since August, when I applied to be an ambassador for the ZOOMA Florida race. A weekend away with some of my girlfriends, eating at yummy restaurants, running a half in a gorgeous location, an after party old and new friends, lots of wine, massages, yoga, and awesome swag.. who wouldn’t??

As soon as I got off of work on Friday, I tossed my suitcase in the car and headed out to Amelia Island. I meet up with Jenn and Aleisha and headed over to the expo to pick up our race packets and check out the vendors.

I didn’t get a picture, but ZOOMA has the best race swag of any race I’ve ever run, by far. We got reusable bags, Luna Bars, Hint Water, a RUN hat (you can see it on two of the girls in the ambassador photo below!), a pair of Feetures! socks, and of course the adorable race shirt. We chatted with some of our runner friends, sampled some Cabot cheese, and did a bit of shopping.

We worked up quite the appetite, so we headed to dinner at Ciao Italian Bistro in downtown Amelia Island. Aleisha lives in the area and recommended it and it was delicious. We had the Arancini (fried cheese balls) while we waited for Jessi to arrive, then for dinner I had Gnocchi Ai Quattro Formaggio — not my typical dinner for the night before a race, but I’m so glad I ordered it. It was delicious! I already told Adam we need to plan a date night out there soon with Aleisha and her husband (already working on those 2014 Goals)!

We finished up dinner and walked a few doors down to a little candy shop to get some sweets for the hotel room (dark chocolate caramels and milk chocolate covered pretzels for me!) then Jenn, Jessi and I headed back to the Ritz-Carlton in time to make it back for the Honest Tea Mocktail Party. The GPS on my phone was not cooperating so we ended up getting to the party about a half an hour after it started, but we finally got the chance to meet up with some of the other ambassadors that we’ve been chatting with for the last few months. They’re such a fun group of ladies!

After the party, we went back to our room to get our stuff ready for the morning and chatted for a bit. I’m pretty sure that Jessi and I almost had Jenn convinced to run a marathon with us next year..

We were up bright and early the next morning (which was practically sleeping in by Disney race standards — so nice!) and were in the lobby by about 10 ’til 7, when the first shuttle was leaving for the race start. They were leaving right on time, but I was in desperate need of coffee. The Ritz-Carlton had a great little coffee station set up in the lobby, but I think they underestimated the number of coffee-loving runners they’d have on their hands. We were emptying the urns as fast as they could fill them! While I waited, Brooke urged us to go outside and check out the sunrise. It was absolutely stunning (and freezing!!).

We made one last potty stop, then Jenn, Jessi, and I boarded the bus to get to the starting line. One really great thing about this race is the size – it’s not huge so you can really take your time in the morning and enjoy chatting with other runners. It’s not one of those races where you have to be up hours in advance, stress over parking and potties, the ZOOMA ladies thought of all of it and it really takes the stress out of the morning.

The one thing they couldn’t control was the weather. It was perfect for running in, but absolutely frigid to stand around waiting in. There was some sort of cage structure with some viney looking plants growing on it and most of us huddled around it to share the body heat and block the wind from blowing directly on us. I’m not kidding when I tell you that my thighs were like ice cubes when they called us over to the starting line to get ready to go!

I didn’t really have a time goal for this race since I was 6 days post-marathon, I just wanted to run with my friends and have fun. Jessi was thinking about shooting for all sub-10 minute miles so I figured I’d start with her and see how I felt. We found the 2:10 pacer, introduced ourselves to her, and planned to stay somewhat close to her during the race.

The first 2-ish miles took us through downtown Amelia Island and it was gorgeous. I did a bit of window shopping as we ran by and made a mental note to come back later in the afternoon to check out some of the shops!

1 – 9:41

2 – 9:36

Miles 3 through 7 took us through Fort Clinch State Park. It was a paved, tree-lined road, and fabulous for running on. There were only 2 cars that passed us the entire time, and there was a short out and back section where we got to see and cheer for the other runners — I love that! We took a short walk break during mile 4 so I could take a Gu and played a lovely game of catch with the 2:10 pacer. We’d pass her, then she’d pass us. The weather was perfect and I rolled my sleeves up because I had warmed up and I was thinking I really wished I had worn a tank top under my long sleeved shirt.

3 – 9:43

4 – 10:13 <– gu stop

5 – 10:07

6 – 10:04

7 – 9:49

As we ran out of the park, we made a left and then a quick right to South Fletcher Avenue, which runs right along the ocean. My legs were screaming at me, but I was trying really hard to keep up with Jessi. When I mentioned it to her, she said she could use a walk break too, so we took one and slowed our pace down a good bit.

8 – 11:29

Just after the mile 9 marker, I needed to make a potty pit stop. We ran past a house that was under construction with a port-o-potty out front and I told Jess I was going to stop really quick and I’d catch up. She needed to go too, so we both went and chatted with the guys there working for a second (they were laying tile and nearly scared us half to death when they walked out of the house as Jess was going into the port-o-potty!)

9 – 13:08 <– potty break

After our stop, we figured we were way off pace for the 2:10 finish so we decided we’d just enjoy the rest of the run. Instead of pushing ourselves to the point where we were struggling to keep going, we ran at an easy pace, chatted about lots of fun stuff, planned a few trips, admired the gorgeous houses, and decided to run 3/4 of a mile, then walk 1/4.

10 – 11:34

11 – 10:59

12 – 12:45

13 – 11:55

Last .2 – 4:17

We kept up with those intervals until the last little stretch where you make a turn onto sand and it’s a straight shot to the finish line. A few weeks ago, some of us were chatting with Brooke (ZOOMA’s Director of Operations) at the ZOOMA and Mom’s Run This Town happy hour and she told us they had some complaints about the finish line last year, that it was hard to sprint to the finish since it was on sand. They re-routed it this year and it was supposed to be on more firmly packed sand so that it was easier to manage.

It was not. Well, I didn’t run last year so I can’t compare, but it was not hard packed sand. It wasn’t the super soft powdery stuff that’s hard to walk in, but it was still difficult to run in. Jess and I slowed down to walk and a guy ran up behind us and said something along the lines of “Aw come on, you can’t walk now! The finish line is just ahead! You aren’t going to let me pass you, are you?”.. no, we weren’t! We took off running for the finish and thank goodness there was a narrow wooden pathway that led almost the entire way to the finish line so running was much easier!

We crossed the finish line together with a time of 2:22:31 for an average pace of 10:53. I think this is my slowest half marathon time, but it was absolutely the most fun I’ve had running one! I’m smiling in every single one of my race pictures. My only goal going into this race was to finish and have fun and I definitely accomplished that. It’s really hard to beat running with a friend, especially in such a gorgeous location!

We grabbed a banana and some water and stayed close to the finish line so we could see Aleisha and Jenn finish. Poor Aleisha came down with a terrible stomach bug the night before, but this was her first half and she was determined to run it since she had trained so hard. She was up sick most of the night, but still ran the race — talk about hardcore!!

Me, Jessi, Aleisha, Jenn

We walked over to the post-race party and grabbed some snacks and muscle milk and watched the awards ceremony. Two of the other ambassadors, Jesica and Krissy, took first place in their age group!

Then we met up with the rest of the ambassadors to chat and for some pictures. It was so great to finally meet some of these ladies and to see how their in-person personalities compared to what I get when I read their blogs. They were all incredibly nice and a lot of fun. My only regret for the weekend is that we didn’t get more time to just relax and hang out together — perhaps next year?

Once we finished up our ambassador duties, we made our way back down to the finish line to watch another friend of ours finish. Kelly ran her very first half marathon today, too! (I forgot to mention, this was Jessi’s first half as well. She’s run several 5K’s, a marathon, and even an Ironman, but never a half!)

Seriously, how gorgeous is this finish line? And that’s just an iPhone picture, totally does not do it justice.

After Kelly finished, we were all completely frozen so we headed back to our room to thaw out and take showers. Jess had other plans for the rest of the weekend, so Jenn and I changed into our super cute and comfy Altra Zero Drop shoes (Cannot wait to run in these!! Thanks ZOOMA & Altra for sending them to me to try out!) and headed back to the downtown area for lunch and shopping.

The night before, Aleisha pointed out Tasty’s and said they had the best burgers on the island. Jesica had mentioned wanting a burger after her huge PR and since I was starving at the time, a burger was all I could think about. They definitely did not disappoint and I have been dreaming of those spicy sweet potato fries..

We grabbed milkshakes on the way out and were going to check out some of the shops in the area, but we couldn’t go in with our shakes and we didn’t want to give them up, so we made plans to have another Tasty’s lunch date and shopping trip in the near future. We said our goodbyes and both headed home.

This race is definitely going on my race calendar again next year — especially if I can talk more of my girlfriends into running it with us!

I loved working with the fabulous ZOOMA ladies and meeting the other ambassadors was the icing on the cake of an already amazing weekend! Be sure to stop by their blogs to check out their recap of the race too!

Presley - Run Pretty Blog
Jesica – rUnladylike
Cori – Olive To Run
Jen – Runs with Pugs
Meghan – Little Girl in the Big World
Krissy – Shiawase Life
Rachel – Runners Tales

Filed Under: Race Recap · Tagged: fitness, friends, half marathon, race recap, run jax, run zooma, running

Walt Disney World Marathon

January 23, 2014 · By Kristin Smith · 28 Comments

Like I mentioned in my post about the day before the race, I’d really been looking forward to this race since the Space Coast Marathon. I’d really been beating myself up about how I performed there and knew that I could do a lot better. I think there were a lot of things that contributed to me not really being very motivated to push myself that day — I was bored, the hills were annoying, and I really just didn’t feel up to it. That wasn’t the case the morning of the Disney Marathon. I really wanted to do better, I wanted to do what I knew I was capable of and what I had trained for.

That being said, I went into the race with three goals:

A – 4:45

B – Under 5

C – Finish

They’re a bit slower than my goals were at Space Coast, but I had a better idea of what I was getting myself in to and I wanted to be realistic. A 4:45 finish would be a nearly 30 minute PR so I knew it was a lofty goal, but I thought it was within reach. I thought 5 was definitely within reach. And I knew that barring some crazy thing happening, I’d finish.

The Disney Marathon starts just outside of Epcot, heads over to the Magic Kingdom, then around the Speedway, past the waste facility, through Animal Kingdom, down a long, boring stretch of highway, into the Wide World of Sports, then on to Hollywood Studios, loops back around the Boardwalk, then finally around the World Showcase and ends in the parking lot at Epcot.

Since Disney added in new corrals to try to ease the congestion on the course, I had a bit of a wait once we made it to the corral. It was about 30 minutes from the time the first runners started until my corral went. I thought it was a little weird — I was in A for the Princess race with a slower time, but J for this race. It ended up working out well because it kept me from starting too fast.

The first five miles took us right up to the Magic Kingdom. I was well rested, well tapered, and full of energy so my legs just wanted to go. I remembered all to well what it felt like to use up all of my energy in the first part of the Space Coast Marathon, so I tried really hard to keep myself at a slow, steady pace. To hit my A goal, I needed to try to keep it around 10:53. I kept checking my watch to make sure I stayed close to it without going over.

Mile 1 – 10:37

Mile 2 – 10:15

Mile 3 – 10:40

Mile 4 – 10:25

Mile 5 – 10:34

We hit Main Street in the Magic Kingdom right after Mile 5. That’s probably my most favorite mile of the entire race — I love running through the places we spend so much time with the kiddos, we have so many great memories there. Add in the massive amounts of spectators cheering for you and it’s really easy to zone out and just run.

Mile 6 – 10:34

The next two miles take you backstage at Magic Kingdom, then past the Grand Floridian and Polynesian. I ran past Andrea’s parents here and yelled hi, but they missed me in the crowd of runners. I was feeling really great and struggling to keep it slow.

Mile 7 – 10:23

Mile 8 – 9:59

Going into the Speedway there was an inverted hill. It was so steep that most of us slowed to walk so we didn’t fall down it. Then the uphill was equally steep. Thankfully it was short. A lot of the other runners were frustrated that we slowed so much (the course narrowed considerably with the steep drop) but I’d rather take it easy than risk injury.

I caught up with Andrea on the Speedway as she shifted to a walk break (she’s a Galloway runner), so I walked with her for a minute to see how she was feeling since she went into the race with an injury, she was doing great so we snapped a quick picture and I was on my way.

Mile 9 – 10:55

My knee was starting to bug me, so when I got to the water station right after the Mile 9 marker, I stopped to take some Advil. It took FOREVER for me to figure out which pocket of my skirt I’d stashed it in. I finally found it, took it, washed it down with some water and took off.

Mile 10 – 11:08

I couldn’t decide if I should run a little faster to try to make up for the time I was stopped or if I should just keep going at a comfortable pace. I decided to run at a comfortable pace, I kept reminding myself – go slow. When you look at the course map, this part looks like you’re running through the woods. It was just a 2-lane road without much going on.

Mile 11 – 10:17

Mile 12 – 11:11

The next mile took us through Animal Kingdom. There were handlers out with some of the animals, which was kind of fun to see. I loved running through the park and especially loved that there were real bathrooms! I saw one that was literally steps off the course and popped in really quick. I think I probably over hydrated the day before.. oops. A huge perk of Disney races is that there are actual bathrooms on the course - yay for not trying to get everything back in place while also trying not to touch anything in a port-o-potty.

Mile 13 – 10:31

I knew Adam was waiting for me outside of Animal Kingdom, so I started looking out for him as I exited the park. I stopped to chat with him, told him I was feeling really great, and grabbed a bottle of nuun from him. Disney provides Powerade on the course, but after having stomach issues at Wine & Dine, I decided to stick with what I knew worked for me.

I also stopped at the medical tent right before Mile 14 to put BioFreeze on my thighs. I am actually not sure what made me decide to stop at that point, but I remembered my friend Carter telling me how good it felt and I was a few minutes ahead of the 4:45 pace group, so I figured why not. He was right, it was amazing. I even texted Andrea to tell her that she needed to try it too.

Mile 14 – 11:25

The next few miles are where you start to hit the overpasses and you’re running on a highway and to be honest, it was boring. I knew the hills at Space Coast wore me out, so I decided I’d walk up them. There was a pretty long hill going into the Wide World of Sports and I walked the entire thing. I could have run and in hindsight, probably should have, but I remembered how I felt at Mile 18 before and I didn’t want to hit the wall again.

Mile 15 – 11:13

Mile 16 – 12:17

Mile 17 – 12:04

Right around Mile 17, they were passing out ice cold wash cloths. I had a flashback to how amazing that little blue cloth was at Space Coast and was so, so happy. One minor difference though, it wasn’t hot. I started to wipe my arms off and got a chill. So instead I wiped my face, then decided I’d run with it in case I changed my mind and wanted it later. Dumb idea, Kristin.

The next five miles were the worst of the race. Not awful, but the constant twisting and turning on the sidewalks and the narrow paths, and random terrain in the Wide World of Sports was kind of annoying, then the ramp going into Hollywood Studios, it was just blah. I stopped during Mile 19 for another potty break and took a minute to splash some water on my face and stretch. I stopped again in Mile 22 to put more BioFreeze on my legs and chatted for a minute with another runner. I felt bad for her, she was hurt and wasn’t going to be able to finish.. I felt really bad leaving her behind.

Mile 18 – 11:44

Mile 19 – 12:32

Mile 20 – 11:54

Mile 21 – 11:35

Mile 22 – 12:43

Around this time is when I realized that carrying the soaking wet wash cloth was not smart. It kept dripping water into my shoes, so now my feet were all soggy and wet and sore. Mile 22 also had an on ramp, so I walked up it. I was actually pretty proud of myself because up until that point, I’d been running most of the way without stopping except for walking at the water stops and up hills, to use the bathroom, and for BioFreeze. Okay now it sounds like a lot, but it didn’t feel that way!

Mile 23 – 11:50

Just before Mile 23, the 5:00 pacer caught up with me. I heard her telling her group that there was chocolate up ahead and to only take one or two pieces because any more may make you sick to your stomach. I’m not really a fan of Hershey’s miniatures, but those things were so, so good. I decided to be a rebel and not just take one or two, I grabbed one of each flavor (so 4 mini’s) and took a little break to enjoy them. At that point, I also decided I’d let myself walk if I felt like it. I knew I wasn’t catching up to the 4:45 time I wanted but I figured if I was around the 5:00 group here and felt okay, then I’d hit my B goal and I was good with that.

I soaked it all in going through Hollywood Studios, I gave lots of high-five’s to the kids out cheering. It was a lot of fun.

Mile 24 – 12:00

The next mile took us through the Boardwalk, which is always fun! I ran past some of our friends (hi Mike & Rachelle!) who ran the half the day before, and past our hotel — and didn’t even have the urge to stop! There was a sweet lady here handing out pretzel rods and I took one, and took a quick second to reminisce about Mr. Pretzel at Mile 21 of Space Coast.

Mile 25 – 12:04

The last mile was through Epcot and I loved it. There were a lot of people out cheering, so much to look at and take in. So many amazingly delicious smells. I realized I was really, really hungry. I ran through China and seriously considered making a pit stop to get a snack, it smelled wonderful. My friend Jessi ran the Disney Marathon in 2010 and she said all she wanted when she got to Epcot was a margarita and a turkey leg. I totally understand now! I really don’t know why this split was so slow, I don’t know what I was doing.

Mile 26 – 12:38

Oh wait, yes I do. I was staring at my watch. I was so, so annoyed. I hit 26.2 miles and my watch was at 4:56. I STILL HAD HALF A MILE TO GO!! I literally stopped in the middle of running, took a [blurry] picture of my watch, and was just annoyed. Who does that?! Apparently I do! I remember getting to the gate right after you hit the Mile 26 marker and thinking to myself “You’re not going to be officially under 5 hours, so you might as well look good and strong when you finish!” There was a fence just before you make the turn where all of the finish line spectators can see you, so I stopped for a second to stretch my legs and took off!

I high-fived Donald at the finish line and immediately started wondering when I could do it again. Runners are crazy like that :) Seriously though, I want an official time that starts with a 4, gosh darnit. Actually, being honest, I still want 4:30 but that’s going to take some time and training. I know I’ll get there, eventually.

I really wanted to stick around and wait for Andrea and Cori to finish since it was their first marathon, but we had to get back to the hotel to shower and check-out. We did that and headed back to Epcot to eat.

And I finally got the Chinese food that smelled SO good when I ran past it. It tasted as good as it smelled too! I’m not sure what was on those noodles, I think it was a spicy sesame dressing, but it was delicious and I’ve been craving it ever since.

Now that I have two marathons under my belt, I feel like I’ve learned a lot. I told Adam after I finished that I knew I could do better. The distance still intimidates me though, so I really struggle mentally. I’m so scared to push too hard and run out of gas long before the finish line. I’m not planning to run another marathon until next fall, so I think I’m going to take some time to really work on improving my mental game. I need to start making myself work hard on my long training runs so I can hit my time goals for long races.

Also, I can’t decide if I’m calling this a B or C goal day. Maybe a B-? Technically I did run 26.2 miles in under 5 hours, but.. my official time was 5:01:04. What really gets me though is all of the random times I stopped that I didn’t need to (the 2nd potty break, for BioFreeze, chatting with the injured runner, chatting with Adam) because I know all of that adds up to well over a minute and 4 seconds. So yes, I’m kicking myself again. Don’t get me wrong, I had a great time and that’s what is important, but I still want to be under 5 hours!

The fun part will be deciding which marathon will be next one where I try to do it..

What’s your favorite marathon?

Do you use your official race time or the time from your watch when determing if you met a goal?

Filed Under: Race Recap · Tagged: adam, disney, fitness, kristin, marathon, race recap, run disney, running

Almost Time for Marathon #2

January 22, 2014 · By Kristin Smith · 2 Comments

I’ve been looking forward to this race since approximately 5.78 seconds after I crossed the finish line at the Space Coast Marathon. When I finished feeling great, with a huge smile on my face, I knew I could have done better. Much, much better. I finished though, and for your first marathon, that’s all that really matters. I learned a lot, but most of all learned to respect the distance. In case you didn’t know, 26.2 miles is a really long way to run.

We headed down to Disney Friday afternoon — Adam ran the half on Saturday morning, so we had to get there in time to pick up his packet and grab dinner before checking into the hotel. He had an early morning, so we both took advantage of the lack of crazy kids running around the hotel room (big thanks to my mom and dad for watching them!) and went to bed early. Adam’s alarm was set to go off at 2:30 AM.. or was it?

Fast forward to the next morning and I wake up to an “Oh no…” so of course, being a mom, I bolted out of bed thinking someone was sick or had an accident. Then I realized where I was and Adam told me his alarm didn’t go off. He forgot to switch it so it was still set for weekdays only. Thankfully it was only 3:30 AM so he got ready quickly, I threw on some jeans and called the valet guys to bring the car around, and instead of him catching the shuttle to the race start, he had his own personal driver. We made it just in time! I went back to the hotel to go back to bed while he ran, then got up and met him at the finish line. He ran a great race, although it was pretty humid. I was silently hoping that the weather reports were right and it would be much cooler the next morning.

Adam showered and we headed over to Downtown Disney to wander around for a bit — we checked out the new Fit 2 Run store, picked up some goodies for the kids, then had lunch at Splitsville

After lunch, we went over to the movie theater to see Catching Fire. I was excited to check out the theater — I’d heard that it was set up so that you could eat dinner while watching a movie and I had dreams of a big glass of wine being delivered to my seat while I enjoyed the movie. Not so much… or maybe just not in the theater we were in, since it wasn’t a new release. Instead, I sipped on a big bottle of water and made three trips to the potty. Pre-race hydration, check!

We met our friend Jessi for dinner (she was in town for work) and I loaded up on carbs, then we headed back to the hotel to get to bed since we had another early wake up call. Notice the “we”. Adam volunteered to drive me over to the starting area instead of making me catch the shuttle, since I’d done the same for him.

Lets rewind for a second though. See the skirt? I really wanted to get a new skirt for the race and pretty much they only thing I’ll wear anymore when I run are pacesetter skirts from lululemon because they hold a good amount of stuff, fit well, the shorts don’t ride up, and they don’t chafe. I was trying to decide between the one shown and the hot pink one, once I finally decided and went to the local store to buy it — no luck, they were out of my size in both! Boo! Oh well, I figured I’d just order it when I got home. No luck there either, since the earliest I could have it delivered was the day after the race.

I emailed the store at the Mall of Millenia since it was on our way into town and they had one left in my size but couldn’t hold it until Friday.. they did offer to hold it until the end of the day, but it’s a 2 hour drive and work and kids and.. it wasn’t happening. I offered to call and pay for it using my credit card over the phone, but they couldn’t do that since it wasn’t secure.. so they told me not to worry, they wanted me to have what I needed to be ready for my race, so they were buying the skirt for me. My jaw literally hit the ground when I read it, as I totally did NOT expect it.

We stopped by the store on our way into town and the staff there was so great. They had the skirt set aside for me, and all wished me luck on my race. They also had a cheer station set up around mile 22 and it was so nice to see them out there supporting us! Since we were there, I picked up a few more cool racerback tanks — they’re my absolute favorite tops to run in. So long story short — if you’re in Orlando, stop by and say hi to them, they’re really great!

Back to race day. We got there early, so I wandered around on my own for a bit and ate my bagel with peanut butter. I found coffee too, yay! Those who know me well know that I do not function well without coffee in the morning. And lets be honest here, it has some other helpful effects, that are particularly beneficial when you’re going to be running for quite a while.. After about 20 minutes, Andrea and Cori got there with some friends and we all chatted until it was time to head over to the corrals.

Andrea was a few corrals ahead of us, so Cori and I made a port-o-potty pit stop, then got comfy in our corral to wait for the start of the race..

I’ll be back later today or tomorrow with the full race recap! I’m tired and it’s way past my bedtime!

Filed Under: Us · Tagged: adam, disney, kristin, marathon, run disney, running

Product Review and Giveaway: Armpocket

January 22, 2014 · By Kristin Smith · 41 Comments

Disclosure: Armpocket provided me with an Armpocket i-25. The opinions are my own based on my experience with their product.

When I first started running, I had a neoprene armband to carry my phone in. It lasted for a few weeks, but as my runs got longer, it became more and more annoying. It bounced, it was hard to get to my phone, I couldn’t change my music easily, and it didn’t hold anything except my phone. I figured all armbands were going to irritate me like this one did so I never really paid any attention to them at race expos.

A few months ago, my husband was asking a friend about her Armpocket and decided he wanted one. She raved about it, so when we were at the expo for Disney’s Tower of Terror race, he picked one up. He loves it too.

Fast forward to not-too-long-ago, and I was asked if I’d like to review an Armpocket. I jumped at the opportunity to try out an armband again, especially since my long runs were becoming quite long with marathon training, which required me to carry a lot of stuff with me.

According to their site..

What makes an Armpocket^® armband the ultimate armband^®? It’s not any one thing. It’s everything! The ultimate armband is comfortable to wear, stays put, protects your device, has enough space for a variety of items and is made of quality materials that last.

The vented strap with bamboo-rayon edges and high quality Sport VelcroTM ensures even compression around your arm. Combined with the no-slip memory foam, every Armpocket armband stays put without sliding or twisting during your workout.

Armpocket armbands are comfortable to wear as a result of the ultra soft, moisture wicking bamboo-rayon mesh fabric. For added comfort, there’s a layer of soft, breathable memory foam sandwiched between the water-proof barrier for the internal compartments and the moisture wicking mesh fabric that hugs your arm.

On the inside, depending on the model, there are multiple compartments to hold keys, cash, an ID and of course, your mobile device. You’ll find dual audio ports on either to top or bottom of the armband and a slip resistant silicone strap to secure your device and hold it in place.

The touch control window not only protects your device from the elements and allows you to see the screen, it also gives you full control over all of your device’s functions without removing it from the armband.

Armpocket was kind enough to send me their i-25 to review. I picked the black one, since I figured it wouldn’t show dirt as easily and would match most of my running stuff. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that this thing holds a TON. I wore it for the Disney Marathon (recap SOON!) and I stuffed it with a Clif bar, Anker rechargeable battery, power cord for the battery, 2 gels, my drivers license, credit card, some cash, and two single serving packets of nuun.

The Armpocket does have a window that allows you to see and use your phone while it’s in the armband, but I prefer to carry my phone for races. I have used the Armpocket to carry my phone while I’m doing shorter runs outside, where I’m not as likely to want to change the music or text my husband.

So, what did I think?

I loved it! I was really worried about wearing it for the marathon. I was scared it would chafe, bounce around, or somehow annoy me. It didn’t and I forgot that I was wearing it until I needed something out of it! I love that it holds so much, but I think that my favorite thing of all is that it’s machine washable. We all know that runners tend to be a little smelly after sweating outside for a few hours, and our clothes/gear can be quite funky. I love that I can toss it in with my running clothes and wash the stink away!

Would you like to try out an Armpocket too? They have agreed to send one of my readers and Armpocket to try! All you have to do is enter using the Rafflecopter below! I’ll choose a winner on the 29th! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway