For The Dogs & Their Running Humans | Stunt Puppy Review

Disclaimer: I received the Stunt Puppy Stunt Runner Leash in exchange for my review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador) and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!

Just in time for Valentine's Day, a little something arrived in the mail for our special four-legged family member:


Our border collie, Saul, has been my running partner since he joined our family in 2014. Granted, he was running a lot faster four years ago. Now at 12 years old, running slowly around the block or a nice long walk is his exercise of choice.

The old retractable leash we used was guaranteed to wrap around either his legs, the stroller or one of the kids on our family walks or runs around the neighborhood. As a BibRave Pro, I was then introduced to the Stunt Runner hands-free leash from Stunt Puppy and it has been a game-changer!


Hands-free? Really? YES!

The Stunt Runner connects human to dog with a strong yet stretchable bungee connector  (strength from 42" to 66") allows for differing strides, speed or direction. Saul, a border collie, is a medium-sized dog and this leash would easily work for dogs smaller or larger than him as well.

First things first, I clip on the waist belt which that easily adjusts from 28" to 49". After adjusting the waste belt, I clip the hook onto Saul's leash and we're off.


Saul and I both hardly notice the leash is there on our walks or runs! The Stunt Puppy Alpha™ hardware is very lightweight without sacrificing strength. The floating D-ring on the waist belt allow your dog to move at their own speed without tugging on the waist belt.


The leash material is a soft to the touch, strong and durable tubular webbing that is fit for a king (or queen) pup. Saul is a pretty modest guy but he knows he looks handsome in his red Stunt Runner! We are able to cover the miles together while keeping my hands free to grab the mail, push the stroller or just enjoy a relaxing quiet stroll.

Stunt Puppy is a Minnesota-based business that understands dogs and their running humans. I have been so impressed with all of their products and highly recommend them!

- Stunt Runner Hands-Free Leash Specs -

  • Duraflex® Buckles
  • Biothane® Waterproof Material
  • One-Hand Swivel Snap Hooks
  • Available Colors: Silver, Orange, Black, Blue, Red
  • Made in Minnesota!
  • Price: $44 on Stunt Puppy's website


Let's Connect!




Linking up with Holly and Wendy's Weekly Wrap Up.

Super On-The-Go Snacks | Food Groove Mission Review

Disclaimer: I received a variety box of Food Groove Mission's Super Food Bites in exchange for my review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador) and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!

Life seems to be always on the run doesn't it? The kids and I are often grabbing a snack to take with in the car here or there. Sometimes it's crackers and peanut butter, other times it's granola bars or dry cereal. Planning ahead with a snack for the road is smart though these snacks seem to lack much "substance".

As a BibRave Pro, I received a variety box of Super Food Bites from Food Groove Mission and they happened to arrive just as we were off to Urgent Care when our middle son was sick (he's 100% recovered now, no worries!).


After reading the nice little note from the FGM Team, I grabbed a bag of the "Nutty Adventurer" flavor and ran out the door, Kleenexes and all. This combo of dates, peanut butter, and variety of other nuts and seeds held me over through the afternoon, as we ended up sitting in the waiting room and pharmacy for quite a while. Turns out the 3-year-old likes super food bites, too!


The variety box came with a few samples of each flavor: four Mother Earth, three The Nutty Adventurer, and three Holy Truffle Punch. The super food bites are full of ingredients that provide essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants while still being "free" of gluten, dairy, soy, grain and added sugars.

Dates are the main flavor that I notice in the super food bites which I like in moderation. The Mother Earth flavor with a blend of berries, seeds and nuts tasted the best in my opinion and I could see myself enjoying super food bites as an occasional snack.
The quality of ingredients is super, that's for sure: *Dates, *Pumpkin Seeds, *Goji Berries, *Golden Berries, *Cacao Nibs, Almond Protein (Non-GMO), *Unsweetened Coconut Chips (Coconut), *Almonds, *Almond Flour (Almonds), *Açaí Powder, *Chia Seeds, *Rooibos Powder, New Zealand Manuka Honey UMF 16+ (*denotes organic ingredient) (Ingredients listed for the Mother Earth bites on Food Groove Mission website)

The Super Bites Variety Box is $39.90 and shipping is free on orders over $39. Use discount code "BIBRAVE15" for 15% off an entire order (one use per customer).

Race Report: Frozen Feat 10k 2019

When I find a race I like, I keep coming back year after year. The Frozen Feat 5k/10k in Grand Forks, ND is one of those races!


I returned to run this race for my third consecutive year because it's close to home (only 45 minute drive), parking is easy, the race is well-organized and the weather in February is about as close to gambling as I ever get.

The 2017 race was around 40°F, making an icy, slushy mess. The 2018 race was about 18°F above zero; just right if you ask me. And this year... the 2019 race ended up being -16°F actual temp with a windchill I'm not sure of. Though that didn't set any race day temp records. It has been colder!

On race morning, I took off at 7:45 am and drove to Grand Forks by myself. Whoa. My husband and the three boys had some "man time" at home while I was off for a "relaxing" mom's day out. Relaxing ;)

I cranked the tunes on the way to the race while sipping coffee and enjoying the absolutely perfect driving conditions. While it was very cold, there wasn't a blizzard in sight for the first time in a long time. This race has a public parking ramp nearby for participants and when I pulled in, the temp in my van said -12F... even sheltered in the parking ramp. Oh boy, here we go!

My running attire for the day included layers and lots of 'em. About three pairs of tights topped with sweat pants, a few shirts of different sleeve lengths, my running jacket, a vest, two pairs of gloves, two neck gaiters, one pair of normal socks, one pair of compression/taller socks, a hat and the trendiest ski goggles I could pawn off my husband.

Warm enough? For sure! Overdressed? Likely.

After an indoor National Anthem, the 10k-er's proceeded outside to dance around at the starting line before taking off. We took off in a herd that thinned out very quickly. The course was icy but well-cleared of loose snow; runners were all warned to wear appropriate footing for traction. I used my trusty YakTrax that haven't let me land on my butt yet.

My goal for this race: Beat last year. Considering I was 3-months postpartum after our 3rd son in 2018, this goal wasn't overly ambitious.


I always take off too fast but gradually fall into a more realistic pace after a mile or so. Running in all of these layers made me feel so slow and sluggish!

As I glanced at my watch 1-mile in, I thought I saw "8:19/mile" for the pace and thought to myself, this is going to be a rough one. Not that 8:19 is a bad pace to run, but because 8:19 shouldn't feel as hard as it did. Turns out that was a 7:07-mile... that's why I was tired. Were the fogging goggles messing with my vision already?!

Mile 1 - 7:07
Mile 2 - 7:20
Mile 3 - 7:46

Finally half way. Good. Because I can't see through these fogging goggles and the ice on my gaiter is blocking my breathing! Thankfully the man in front of me had a red jacket on, so I followed him as the foggy goggles continued to narrow my vision.

Mile 4 - 7:51
Mile 5 - 7:45
Mile 6 - 7:50
Mile .19 - 7:09

My pace was anything but consistent in this race but I was surprised to finish in 46:56 (7:36/mile avg). This ended up being my personal fastest Frozen Feat 10k time thus far, though I felt like a (blind) polar bear barreling down the path! This course was an out-and-back and WOW did I see some frosted, frozen faces on the home stretch.

In hind sight, I would have ditched a top layer and bottom layer. And the goggles? Well, my face and eyes stayed quite toasty, so maybe I would keep those. The style points for being one of the few goggled-nerds on the course were just through the roof!

I ran straight from the finish line directly to my van to grab dry clothes. Changing into them before sitting down was awesome - because, seriously I was drenched. In sweat or condensation or who knows what? (probably sweat)

Yes, there is a person under all those layers.

The post-race food included a couple warm soup/chili choices along with the holy grail of carbohydrates: the Texas Roadhouse BUNS and large amounts of that special cinnamon butter. Amazing. Delicious. Awesome.

The soup warmed me up and then I ate three buns. I probably could have eaten a half dozen!


Race swag this year included a pair of Frozen Feat Fitsoks (my favorite!), gloves, and a neck gaiter along with the finisher's medal. A Finisher's Shirt was optional this year for an additional cost. They also present mugs with gift cards to the Top 3 male/female finisher and the age group winners for for each distance along with flowers for the "Love Birds" couples winners at the end of the race festivities.


I ended up finishing 4th female overall, missing that top-3 spot, though I did manage to snag a mug for winning my age group this year. I was happy to grow my mug collection as they have such cool designs each year! And I love coffee.

The Frozen Feat 5k/10k is the perfect pick-me-up after a loooong, stinkin' cold Midwest winter and a great one to kick off spring marathon training! Speaking of marathon training, I should probably get on that...

----------- Welcome to the Weekly Wrap -----------

I have the pleasure of guest co-hosting again this week at the Weekly Wrap, a weekly fitness-related blogging community headed up by Holly and Wendy!


Link-up your fitness-related post and stop by to support your fellow bloggers:



Let's Connect!

Finally Forced Outside

This week went by in a blur. A blur that included more crazy cold temps, another blizzard and the sinus cold that just won't quit. The Frozen Feat 10k was this Saturday and I felt very tempted to DNS due to being sick lately and to the crazy cold weather...

Against my better judgment, I put on my big "Midwest runner" pants and showed up anyways and I'm SO glad I did! The actual temp at race time was -14°F with a 4 mph breeze, so I bundled up and ran the distance.

In the right running attire, these temps weren't so bad minus my face mask continually freezing up over my nose and mouth and my husband's ski goggles fogging up.


My full race report is coming up next week!


Weekly Wrap: Fargo 26.2, W4

SUN: Off - Recovering from being sick; sinuses stuffed up and my husband has the flu. The kids came with me to teach Sunday School and we went home after that, called it a day.

MON: (Treadmill) Easy 4.33 mi, 36:58 @ 8:34/mi feeling better but still weak as the sinus cold lingers. Strength: Atlas core x 1 circuit.

TUES: (Treadmill) Easy 5.08 mi, 42:36 @ 8:23/mi avg with 1 mile at 7:30. This is usually a speed work day but I cut the run intensity down as I'm still not feeling 100%.

WED: No running. Strength: Poseidon full body x 2 circuits.

THURS: (Treadmill) Tempo 5.01 mi, 41:46; 1 mi WU, 1 @ 7:30, 1 mi easy, 1 @ 7:30, 1 mi easy. I needed a little speed pickup before Saturday's 10k but seriously contemplating not running due to being sick and the weather looking really cold. Strength: Bia hips x 1 circuit.

FRI: Off. With the blizzard finally being over, the kids and I went to get my haircut, run some errands and then I ended up going to the clinic to get checked for strep throat again. I had strep throat in December and this felt much the same; thankfully I checked out negative. Hopefully whatever this is clears up quickly...

SAT: RACE DAY. Frozen Feat 10k, 6.2 mi, 46:56 @ 7:36/mi. Race deets to come next week :)

Total Mileage => 20.62 miles


Let's Connect!




Linking up with Holly and Wendy's Weekly Wrap Up.

Chillin' in the Polar Vortex

Hey all! If you're reading this post, that means we have survived a water outage, sick kids, the Polar Vortex 2019 and more sick in our house.

Whew. It's been a long two weeks and I'm breathing a sigh of relief as it's time for the Weekly Wrap link-up! I am excited to have the opportunity to guest co-host this week :) Check out the link-up at the bottom of my post and here's my wrap up for (technically the past two) week(s).
.....................

As you have likely heard (and felt) week, the good ole' Polar Vortex put the Midwest in a deep freeze on Tuesday and Wednesday. Brrr. Seriously. BRRR!


In our part of northern MN, the worst we saw was a windchill of around -57°F; a low that hasn't been touched in at least a decade they say. Honestly I don't remember the last time it's been this cold!


While the water was out for 24 hours in our neighborhood during this past two-week stint, thankfully our electricity stayed put and our houses were warm and cozy. Just so happens our middle boy threw up the night of the water outage. Isn't that the way it works!

I nominated the Polar Vortex week to also be called "Treadmill Appreciation Week". As there is no other way I would have gotten any miles in, with sick kids nor the cold, without our faithful Proform! Up until I got the stomach flu myself (Thursday), I kept up with regular marathon training runs via the 'mill.


Currently we're staying cozy here and the temps are warming slightly, to a glorious +15°F, so the older kids went outside. The public school cancelled two days this week but we managed to finish a full week of homeschool, even with mom being sick! I'm still recovering from the flu and my husband is now sick.

Oh, and we're closing on our house and likely moving this month, too. I should be packing right now.

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment, can you tell?!

Baking our way through the Polar Vortex :)

Let the winter crazies continue and by God's grace our family is making a slow return to full health. Look on the bright side: We made it to February, there's hope in March and maybe even t-shirt weather in April.

Just get me out of this winter sickness funk!

Boy #3 and Boy #2 sledding in the slow-cooker during the Polar Vortex

Weekly Wrap: Fargo 26.2 Training Week 3

SUN: (Treadmill) Easy 6.2 mi, 54:29 @ 8:47/mi. Strength: Hams/Glutes.

MON: (Treadmill) Speedwork 5.00 mi, 41:33 @ 8:16. 1 mi WU, 4x400m @ 7:30/mi, 4x400m @ 7:00/mi with 400m easy pace recovery. Strength: Lunges and squats.

TUES: No running; finished the Poseidon full-body strength workout from yesterday. I can see slight improvements in my upper body strength; like actually being able to do "real" pushups now!

WED: (Treadmill) Tempo 5.01 mi, 42:02 @ 8:23 avg. 1 mi WU, 1 mi @ 7:30, 1 mi easy, 1 mi @ 7:30, 1 mi easy. Feeling exhausted, like I'm coming down with something. Strength: Bia hip strength circuit.

THURS: Woke up at 5 am with the stomach flu. Gah! Basically laid around all day, watching kids while trying to "rest" and not pass out.

FRI: I felt much better though very weak this morning and dedicated all energy that had returned to sanitizing our house. Hope to resume running tomorrow.

SAT: Flu "Recovery" Run 3.12 mi, 25:31 @ 8:11/mi, feeling okay but still weak and stuffed up in my sinuses. Strength: Hams & glutes.

Total Miles: 19.33 miles

----------- Welcome to the Weekly Wrap -----------

I'm the guest co-hosting this week at the Weekly Wrap, a weekly fitness-related blogging community headed up by Holly and Wendy! My first time linking up with the Weekly Wrap was back in April 2016, almost 3 years ago (whoa!), and I keep coming back because this community of women is so encouraging and supportive. These Weekly Wrappers are a wonderful crew :)

Link-up your fitness-related post and stop by to visit the other bloggers:




Let's Connect!