If you’re anything like me, you probably see all sorts of articles about coffee. This week it’s good for preventing colon cancer, last week it was bad for your heart or your stomach or something. I’m going to start filing those studies and read the actual papers…later. In practice, I LOVE coffee. In moderation, of course.
Speaking of courses, if you’ve read my reviews for Rock ‘n’ Roll Dallas and Rock ‘n’ Roll San Francisco, you know I’m not above making a java stop during a race. It turns out there are others out there who firmly believe that coffee and running (hello, coffee and anything!) are a great mix. At one of my recent races, my goody bag had a flyer for Hammer Strength Nutrition coffee. No joke! Nice to know I’m not the only one crossing the streams.
Then something crossed my social media stream called the Rook Run 5k. The logo was so cute that I just HAD to look for more information. (A little rook bird wearing a headband and sneakers!)
Seriously, is this not adorable? (Credit: Rook Run website.)
A wee bit of research reveals that the run is not only a charity run for a worthy cause–The Valerie Fund, which helps provide comprehensive care for children with cancer and blood disorders–but the “Rook” part is a coffee company. If I lived in New Jersey, I’d be there like white on rice. (By the way, you can donate to The Rook Run’s fundraising for The Valerie Fund by clicking here.)
I knew right away I had to order some coffee from Rook. (You should, too. Rook Coffee turned out to be delicious!) Rook offers light, medium, and dark roasts. Since I add a little hot chocolate (or cocoa and sugar) and about as much milk as coffee, I tend to stick to dark roasts. After reading the coffee descriptions, I settled on the Bali roast.
Two very cool things about ordering from Rook Coffee: One, shipping is FREE. Two, you can choose from whole beans or ground coffee, and if you want it ground you can specify fine, drip, auto drip, french press, espresso, electric percolator, or stovetop percolater. Did I mention you can also order a five pound bag? Since I’m just testing–and I plan to be trying a lot of coffee over the next few months–I decided to stick with the 12 oz. bag.
When the coffee arrived, I was impressed to discover it had a birthdate on it! (Okay, technically it isn’t labelled birthdate. If you’re a coffee lover, you know that coffee can actually go bad, and freshly roasted coffee is way better than stale coffee.) It was roasted pretty much right before they put it into the package to send to me.
Birth date AND social
It also came with a hand-written note. Seriously, when is the last time you ordered something online and it came with a note from a real person?
A coffee love note!
The beans are a gorgeous, dark color. The Bali coffee has such a delicious scent that I kind of wanted to just sit around and sniff the bag. Actually, I could smell the coffee perfume before I even opened the package. I could have just hugged it. But I had to make some coffee with the beans! Fortunately, grinding the beans also releases that delectable scent, so I got to savor the scent as I made my first cup.
Rook Coffee before it was roasted
While I’m not sure I get the strawberries (go read the description), I do get the chocolate. Rook’s Bali coffee is quite delicious with just a smidge of chocolate and some milk. I can’t quite go as far as to say this is my favorite coffee, but it is definitely right in my coffee-love-wheelhouse.
In celebration of all things #CoffeeYesCoffee, why not take a trip around a few other cofffee-related blog posts? Think of it as a Coffee Shop Blog Hop. Next in line is MCM Mama Runs. Rumor has it she’s writing about coffee beans, too. (Bonus: head there next, then follow the link at the bottom of her post…you’ll eventually end up back here.)
So really, which coffee do I try next? Do you have a running-related coffee to recommend?
But if you absolutely insist on going out of order, here are a few other coffee-ish delights to caffeinate your Monday…
Disclosure: I presented Legal Advice for Bloggers at IDEA World BlogFest 2015 and am a member in good standing of IDEA. This post and the accompanying giveaway are unrelated to my presenter duties, and are not sponsored by IDEA, Sweat Pink, or any other entity. All opinions are my own–you know I’ve got plenty to go around!
BlogFest and IDEAWorld gave me enough to write about for a year (but not the extra hours in the week to #writealltheposts). This is just a re-cap of my top take-aways from the BlogFest portion.
Be your own flower
#1: Authenticity is the new buzzword.
The word “authenticity” must have come up at least as many times as I am years old. As an undefined intangible in a culture that highly values individuality, it’s a perfect addition to the word collection that includes “disruptor” (formerly known as “paradigm shift”). Everyone said “authenticity” and no one defined it. At the risk of being glib, I would say it is now-speak for “be honest.”
One of my great teachers once said, “Be yourself. All the other jobs are taken.” (Yoga, philosophy, and Sanskrit expert and academic, Douglas R. Brooks.) It is just as true in the blogging world as it is in every other part of the world. The world is filled with blogs, but trying to imitate another blog (or another blogger) is pointless. You can never be as good as they are at being them. Why not be yourself? When I created my blog, I sat down and thought about what is important to me, who I am, and how to keep my blog in line with me.
For example, I’m not obsessed with partnering with brands or accruing swag (not going to lie, I do like both), and it doesn’t make sense to me to pretend to be something or someone I’m not in order to land a partnership. Seriously, if a brand wants a hardcore dedicated runner, they’re going to be disappointed. Even if the brand and product seem like a good fit, I will only promote products and services I use and truly believe in (my recommendation is my reputation, so why would I throw that away for someone else?). Another example is that I don’t like reading “breakfast lunch and dinner” posts (it seems we are calling them “lifecasting” today) so I’m not going to write them. I just don’t enjoy it. If you do, that’s fine–go be you!
Not everyone is going to love you, and that’s okay. Love yourself, be yourself, and remember that what other people think of you is largely none of your business.
Just like lunch, there is plenty to go around.
#2: Stop living in a scarcity mentality.
No one expressly stated this during BlogFest, or at any session I attended at IDEA, yet I thought about it all weekend.
There is enough of EVERYTHING to go around. No matter what you hope to get from your blog–a job, an ambassadorship, a certain number of regular readers, a pat on the back–there is enough for you, and me, and every other blogger. (This is, in part, because we are all different–that pesky “authenticity” thing–so we’re not really competing against each other.)
When I started teacher training at Yoga Kula in Berkeley, one of the teachers there used to collect information on all of the yoga classes in that style taught all over the Bay Area and put them into a single schedule including all teachers and all studios and locations. Some people thought she was nuts (“won’t that drive students to other classes?”) but she explained that (1) that is a scarcity mentality, based on the assumption that there are not enough students to fill all those classes, and (2) there is no “my students,” because you don’t own or control who decides to come to your class. The same is true of blogging. Sharing, promoting, or helping another blogger is not going to drive “your readers” or “your partnerships” away, and you know what they are not really YOURS in the first place! If anything, helping someone else benefits you; you look good for being kind and helpful, and you stick to being who you are and what you do best. Everyone wins.
I regularly tell my yoga students, “hey, I’m an acquired taste. If you don’t like me or don’t like my class, come talk to me. I’ll help you find another teacher and another class that better suits your needs.” Trying to keep every single student happy and returning to my class is exhausting and doesn’t serve me, but more importantly it does not serve my students. There is lots of yoga in the world. To help more people do yoga, the best thing I can do is help them find their yoga. The same is true in blogging. Sure, I know I’m going to keep evolving over time and things may change, but it’s not in my nature to write very short posts (I have Twitter for that!), I don’t rock a highly artistic and sensually beautiful design, and I’m not going to promote meat-based recipes (dude, I’m a vegetarian). If that means my blog is not for you, thanks for visiting. There’s a blog out there for you to read. If you tell me what you’re looking for and I know where you might find it, I’ll tell you.
A rising tide lifts all boats, says the proverb. As the blogging community grows and each of us gets better at what we do, we all win.
Rise and shine!
#3: Commit and Follow-Through:
Hard work is always in style.
Ignore the “under promise and over deliver” mantra of the “I’m too cool to sleep” decade. Instead, do what you say you are going to do. If you have time to throw in some bonuses, great. If not, don’t fret.
Personally, it is important to me to follow-through on what I say I am going to do. It is like keeping a promise: the best way to ensure you keep it is to think carefully about what you are committing to do before you make the promise, and then creating a plan to get it done. I’m always surprised when I hear that bloggers who committed to a campaign, or event, or whatever, simply flaked and didn’t do the work. What the what? Guys, unless something truly serious and unanticipated happens–thing emergency, injury, computer goes for a swim in the ocean–follow through on what you say you will do.
It’s ridiculously easy. For example, as a member of the BibRave Pro team, I am sometimes given the opportunity to test out products or services (or run races) related to running. If I accept an assignment, I know that means I am responsible for tweeting about the item/event, attending the #bibchat sponsored by that item/event, writing a blog post, and tracking my social media engagement. If I can’t do those things for whatever reason (maybe the time frame is wrong, for example), I don’t accept the assignment. Going back to point #2, there is plenty to go around. I don’t need to do everything, but the things I do, I need to do well.
#4: So are genuine kindness and generosity.
This weekend many people generously shared their stories, their advice, their experience, and their knowledge. “Generosity” means freely giving what you are able to offer, without any expectation that the recipient(s) will reciprocate. Mom used to explain to me that life puts you in situations where you are absolutely forced to ask for help or rely on others. (This was definitely true when I was in high school and in a serious car accident that put me in the hospital for two weeks. My terrified parents came to visit me every day. While they were away, other people cooked meals for the family, did the laundry and the dishes, drove my brothers to sports practice and to pick out a new coat; it was actually Mom’s first day at a new job, and the man she was to replace stayed on longer in order to let her spend her time with me. Some of these others were neighbors and close family friends, but even people we did not know well at all–people who were friends of friends of friends–stepped in and did things.) Realistically, there is no way you will ever get to pay back all the people you “borrow” from, and in many cases you won’t even know who they are. Instead, Mom would say, you “pay back” by lending a hand to anyone who needs it when you are able to offer it. (This was long before “pay it forward.” I guess it is a similar idea though.)
During BlogFest, bloggers taught how to do many things (grow a social media following on different platforms, optimize SEO, work with brands). In most cases, this was less textbook information and more “secret sauce”-like things that these bloggers learned by trial and error and trying again. Sometimes it was specialized knowledge from experience in a specific industry, such as my presentation on basics of law for bloggers.
When I first started blogging, I had no idea what I was doing. I don’t have a technical background, and each new thing I try to do still involves some learning and moments of painful frustration. Heck, I still run into “why does the picture keep doing that weird thing?” and “how do I do that?” I’m fortunate to have developed a nice network through Sweat Pink, FitBloggin‘, and groups like Rock ‘n’ Blog, and when I have a question, I ask. If by some miracle there is a question I can answer, I do.
My favorite slide from BlogFest. Thanks, Melissa Burton!
#5: Page Views and Followers: Not The Only Thing (Maybe Not A Thing)
If you are a blogger, you know that any discussion of blogging inevitable includes at least some mention of SEO (search engine optimization), promoting your blog, and analytics. It kind of makes sense, because most people writing a blog would like it if other people read the blog. New bloggers often find this aspect overwhelming (especially if the actual blogging is already more than enough work!). Going back to that scarcity mentality, many bloggers also worry that their low page-views will prevent them from getting the “good” opportunities.
Seriously, that can’t be the case–because I’ve scored some great opportunities and I don’t have a huge readership. I’m fortunate to have had the opportunity to try and review new Clif Bar products, serve as a Nuun ambassador, and be on Team Rock ‘n’ Blog. If all opportunities were based just on page views, I’d probably never have any of that because when I applied I didn’t even have an analytics widget installed.
Several of the presenters at BlogFest brought up the idea that bloggers and companies are catching onto the reality of blogging: it’s not a numbers game. One of the presenters, Katy Widrick, asked, “would you rather inspire 10 people, or have 10,000 pass through your blog?” Sure, we’d all like BOTH. But if you had to pick, which would you choose?
Bonus #6: each one of these points is applicable to the unwritten blog that is your life.
Two winners will share these goodies.
BlogFest “wish you were here” pack giveaway!
Please note that to win this giveaway you must NOT have been at BlogFest. (If you were there, you already have this stuff–so share the love! Invite your friends who were not there to win some swag.) By entering this contest, you expressly and affirmatively state that you were not at BlogFest 2015. I am obsessed with water bottles, and they are starting to take over my kitchen. Because of this, I’m going to give away the two water bottles I got at BlogFest. I’m throwing in a bunch of freebies, coupons, and swag too.
Important tip: if you win, you might have to wait a little while before I am able to ship the goods. Patience, grasshopper! a Rafflecopter giveaway
On Sunday, April 12, 2015 I joined a small group of runners at the Novato Wild Horses Half Marathon & 5k. Produced by Titanium Racing, this is the first of the three events that make up the Triple Crown Series (all of which are part of the 2015 California Half and Full Marathon Series).
Not wild, but still horses
Novato is in Marin County, which has designated a huge amount of land for permanent preservation through a variety of means, such as the Marin Agricultural Land Trust. As you might imagine, that has driven property values through the roof, but it has resulted in some gorgeous places to run.
Part of the course runs through a park
The Triple Crown Series races do not have an expo. Instead, you can pick up your bib at one of the designated sponsor locations. This year, that was Whole Foods in Novato and Road Runner Sports in Berkeley. That’s all you pick up, just the bib–the other swag is waiting at the race.
Wild Horses starts and ends at the San Marin High School. Given the smaller size of the race, this is an ideal location: plenty of parking and an accessible building for swag pickup and post-race refreshments.
I’m sure the locals thought I was nuts as I talked to the horses and took this picture
I thought I had a picture of the starting line, but it turns out I don’t. You can get a good idea of the size of the field by looking at the picture on the Wild Horses Half Marathon website. It’s a pretty small group, so if you’re a faster runner, your chances of taking home one of the awards. The course is an out-and-back, mostly along paved roads but also on some blacktop. It winds through residential areas, and by the College of Marin Indian Valley Campus. It’s a mostly flat course, with actual “gentle rolling hills” (not a euphemism for once, but an accurate description). Many of the homes are on large lots with animals; I like imagining what they think of the parade of runners.
Not a horse, but still a cutie!
The course ends back at San Marin High School, where you do a victory lap around the school’s track before crossing the finish line. I have to say, it is pretty awesome to end the run on a softer surface! Also, race staff were there to run in the very last runners, which I really appreciated.
Titanium racing has a history of good-looking race shirts. The long-sleeved shirts for the Tiburon Half Marathon, for example, have side panels in contrasting colors. The Wild Horses shirt featured a full-face design this year.
Mr. Potter, inspecting the race shirt
The medal and cinch-sack feature the same race logo. Runners were treated to a variety of snacks at the finish line, including Nuun hydration. Whole Foods provided a take-away bag filled with goodies including Purity Juices and Hint water.
There were more snacks, but I eated them. #RunAllTheRaces #EatAllTheFoods
This year, Titanium Racing also hosted a virtual run option for those unable to attend the race in person. I found out about it by accident, when I received a virtual kit in the mail–cinch-sack, medal, and shirt. I contacted the race organizers to send them back, but they said I should keep them.
Race medal featuring a fancy ribbon
So…got a little runner in your life? Or a horse-crazed girl? Or some other good purpose for a medal, a cinch-sack, and a race shirt? a Rafflecopter giveaway
If you haven’t checked out the Run Where I Live Tour, hop over to Live Run Grow and start your tour in Cape Cod, then follow the links to see where your fellow runners run. (Maybe bookmark a few for your next vacation?) Since runners love to eat, the topic of running local easily leads to eating local. So I’m dedicating my first “what I ate Wednesday” post to edibles for runners (and other athletic types). Read on to learn about my newest discoveries, and to win some of your own!
Disclaimer: I received the products reviewed in this post from Clif Bar & Company. Clif Bar did not ask me to publish a review (though they are probably hoping for at least a shout-out). Clif Bar did not ask me to use these products in a giveaway (so count yourself lucky that I’m not greedy and that I promise not to eat all the coconut-flavored samples!). All opinions are my own. Trust me, I have so many opinions I don’t need to borrow anyone else’s.
Clif Bar & Company is headquartered in Emeryville, the “rottenest city on Earth” according to Earl Warren, about two blocks from my first California apartment. If that’s not local food, I don’t want to hear about it. Ha! The original Clif Bar in coconut chocolate chip kept the rumbly-in-my-tumbly from disturbing my classmates when I had 12-hour days in grad school. I love the relatively new Clif Mojo Bars, so I was excited to get the opportunity to try the new Clif Organic Trail Mix Bars, which debuted in April 2015.
According to the Clif website, “Clif Organic Trail Mix Bar is made for mixing it up and discovering all the good stuff the day has to offer. Combining simple and organic ingredients that are good for both our bodies and the planet, our trail mix bar comes in flavors for just about every occasion no matter where the trail takes you.” If you like Clif Mojo Bars, chances are very good you will also like the Clif Organic Trail Mix Bars. Mojo Bars inspired the Organic Trail Mix Bars, which have 95% organic ingredients (Mojo is 70% organic).
These bars? I eated them. (LOL. All of them.) But I have another one of each flavor just for you!
Clif Organic Trail Mix Bars are gluten free, certified kosher, and delicious! These wouldn’t be a go-to running food for me, exactly, because you have to chew them and I’ve got a talent for choking on things, but they make a great post-run snack. Or a hiking fuel snack (nuts + chocolate = protein, fat, and carbs). I have a stash in my desk so I can successfully treat myself to something healthy instead of grabbing a donut at the cafe. Each is at or under 200 calories, so it is a good size for a snack. The protein and fats from the nuts up the satiety factor (you actually feel like you ate something).
Don’t you love it when you look at food, and you can tell what it is?
My favorite flavor is the coconut almond peanut. (I’m still a sucker for coconut.) Just look at it, and you can tell most of what is in it. The dark chocolate almond sea salt is a close second, because it’s a little bit like a candy bar–chocolate and almonds, right?–but without the candy bar fake ingredients. Dark chocolate peanut butter rounds out the top three for my favorites, but I think dark chocolate cherry almond deserves an honorable mention; it has cherries in it, so I need it for muscle recovery, right?
Clif seems to have a flavor for everyone in the Organic Trail Mix Bar, with or without chocolate. The other flavors are cranberry almond, wild blueberry almond, and dark chocolate pomegranate raspberry. (If you enter my giveaway below, you could win a box with one of each flavor!) Certified USDA organic, the ingredients list for my favorite illustrates what is inside:
Good stuff! Clif Organic Trail Bars are available in a variety of grocery stores, sporting goods stores, Target, and online through companies like The Feed. MSRP for a single bar is $1.69-$1.79 but you might as well buy a box (it’s more cost-effective, and you know you’re going to want more than one…and if you don’t want more than one, just send me your leftovers and I will take care of them for you).
If you’ve been to any race expos in the past year, you’ve probably noticed an interesting trend in athletic fuel. While athletes have used itty-bitty pouches for years (think Gu, Clif Shots, Honey Stinger, Hammer Gel), the larger pouches have been reserved for toddlers (think Mott’s Snack & Go, GoGO Squeeze, Chobani Tots). Until now.
Pizza parlor-themed sample presentation
When I opened the box with samples of Clif Organic Energy Food I was excited, but also a little bit terrified. The pack was super cute and pizza, themed, complete with a red and white checked napkin and seeds to grow basil, oregano, and tomato.
Organic seeds to grow organic ingredients
Then I looked at the contents. Pizza Margherita? Really? My runner friends who found the pizza and the Sweet Potato with Sea Salt flavors were quick to snap a selfie and post an expression of similar skepticism. Is this for real? I love pizza as much as the next runner, but pizza squeeze? Yum or Ew? (The answer is yum, by the way, but I’m getting to that part.)
That’s my hand, so you can see the size. Have you seen these? Would you eat them in a box? Would you eat them with a fox?
Clif Organic Energy Food comes in four flavors. According to the Clif website, these were inspired by recipes used by Clif athletes. The two you would thing of as “more normal” (banana mango with coconut, and banana beet with ginger) are sweet, like you expect runner food to be, and come in at 90g and 100 calories per pouch. They taste just like you’d expect them to taste (only if you expect to get a vegetable flavor from the beet, that’s not quite right.) The two savory flavors (sweet potato with sea salt, and pizza margherita) have a higher protein and fat content and are 120g per pouch, with the sweet potato at 200 calories and the pizza at 160, making them more suitable for longer activity. But let’s take a look at that freaky-sounding pizza flavor, shall we? What the heck is inside?
What is NOT inside? GMOs, trans-fat, partially hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, weird fake sugars, preservatives, artificial colors, and artificial flavors. Okay, so far, so good.
Since I didn’t want to try a new food on a race day, but I also didn’t want to open a pouch and risk throwing most of it away just to get a taste–with no preservatives, these foods are designed to open and eat immediately, not be served up as leftovers–I decided to make my own version of the recipe for Scott Jurek’s Long Run Pizza Bread included in the box. But first, a taste of the Clif Organic Energy Food:
Looks like baby food, no artificial colors here!
It tastes like pizza. Not like “pizza flavor” but like you took a bite of pizza toppings and chewed it up. Most of my Instagramming and Facebooking friends doubted that they would want to consume anything tomato-based while running. This doesn’t have the acidic, sharp flavor of pureed tomatoes. Notice the second ingredient is actually carrot, which gives the Pizza Margherita a smooth, creamy texture. The starch from the carrot balances out the tart tomato. So I was happy to make myself some dinner!
Clif Organic Energy Food in Pizza Margherita, a Prezilla bun, and a little dish of cheese. (Just add wine and it’s dinner!)
I sliced the Pretzilla in half and toasted it, cut side up, in the toaster oven. After it started to tan, I pulled it out and spread a generous heap of the Clif Organic Energy Food on top. (It looked really orange–not like tomato sauce.) Then I topped each half off with a sprinkle of shredded pizza cheese, and popped it back into the toaster oven until the cheese started to melt.
Yes, it’s an indulgent dinner. But hey, it’s actually Monday as I’m eating this.
Moral of the story? Your parents were right: try it, you might like it. (This recipe used about half of a pouch. While you’re supposed to consume it and toss the leftovers, I’m going to take a calculated risk. I put the remaining half pouch in the refrigerator, and plan to put it on eggs and potatoes for breakfast.)
By the way, another aspect of the Clif Organic Energy Food I really approve of: the lid can be recycled, and Clif partners with Terracycle so you can upcycle the pouch itself.
Clif Organic Energy Food is available in a variety of locations. Check your local running store first, then your grocery store. MSRP for the sweet flavors (90g) is $2.29 and MSRP for the savory flavors (120g) is $2.99.
Do you want to win some Clif Organic Trail Mix Bars AND Clif Organic Energy Food? One lucky winner will get a prize pack that includes one of each flavor of bar, and one of each flavor of Organic Energy Food.
