First Run of the New Year! [Review + Giveaway]

Update: Congratulations to Shawn! Please check your email for details on how to claim your prize.

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This morning, after finally dragging myself out of bed several hours later than I had planned (What? I’m on vacation! I totally get to sleep in), I headed out for my first run of the New Year. And, well, my first run in a month or so, really. And it was awesome. The weather was cool and crisp and it felt great to be outside, even if I had to tackle a couple of small hills.

And, yes, you read that right. Today was the first time I’d gone for a run in a month or so. When I decided to take a break from running at the end of the semester (mostly because it became clear that trying to do so was just making me stressed and nutty), I decided that I wasn’t going to run until we got back from our holiday travels. Which meant no packing running shoes. No packing a ton of gear to be prepared for all possible weather in three different states. No bringing the Garmin along.

It was really nice, actually, to not have to worry about it. Even after the semester was done and I was on “vacation,” I could just relax and hang out and visit with everyone. Or sleep all day. (I made a sort of half-assed attempt to keep up with the P90X while we traveled, but that didn’t actually happen. But it required far less gear than outdoor running in a variety of conditions!) It worked out well. It worked out so well, in fact, that there was a gorgeous, sunny, 60-degree day in New Jersey where all I could think was, “Man, I’d love to get out for a run today.”

Which was exactly what my plan was. Ditch running just long enough so that I’d really want to do it again. And thusly, today was awesome. More so than usual because for the first time, I actually did some sort of cardio during my running break. The P90X videos got me in decent enough shape that I didn’t feel like I was sucking wind the entire time, despite the long layoff.

Like I said: awesome.

The other thing that made this morning’s run super fun? I had new gear to try out! The friendly folks at Bondi Band sent me one of their pigtail hats and one of their ponytail hats last month. One was for me to try out and keep, and the other was for me to give away. What did I think about it? Find out in the video:

If you want a chance to win the black ponytail hat, just leave a comment below. I’ll leave the comments open until midnight (Pacific time) on Thursday, January 12. If you’d like an extra entry, you can also leave a comment on the video’s YouTube page. I’ll be picking one winner randomly from all of the comments posted here and at YouTube.

If you like their headbands and want to stock up, they also sent me the following coupon codes:

Enter coupon code ONE at checkout to buy three headbands and get a fourth free
Enter coupon code FIVE at checkout to get five headbands for $25

Sadly, the coupon codes aren’t good for the hats – just the headbands.

You can also check out Bondi Band on Facebook and Twitter.

Good luck!

Disclosure: Both hats were provided at no cost to me by BondiBand. All opinions are entirely my own.