Friday Favorites

I can't believe it! This weekend we don't have anything planned! It's a Christmas miracle! I doubt we will just be laying at home for the entire time, but it does feel nice to not have places to go or things to do filling our schedule like we've had for the past six or so weeks. Anyway, enough about the weekend, it's time to recap some of the things I'm loving lately.

Charity Miles Feature

I was contacted by Charity Miles a while back to see if they could do a little feature on me for their blog. I was honored to be included and of course signed on for the "interview". The post went live a couple days ago and I wanted to share it in case you haven't had a chance to give it a read. PS If you aren't using Charity Miles yet, you need to be! Honestly, you can get money donated to the charity of your choice on your behalf for something you are doing already (walking, biking, running, hiking, etc) and it costs you nothing! It's a win-win, so download the app already!

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Brooks Ambassador Post

And while we are on the subject of blog features, I've gotta share this Brooks blog post. There are 29 of us on the Brooks Ambassador team this year and as a way to introduce us to the world we did a little interview with all of us. Meet the team and get to know the Run Happy Ambassadors HERE.

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Giving Back to Girls on the Run

If you were "following" me last year, you may remember that I participated in the Lexus LaceUp race series. I'm not currently registered for any of the races this year, but I am still on their email list and get updates occasionally. One of the recent emails I received mentioned that for the next two weeks,  they will be donating $5 from every LaceUp Orange County and Riverside Reindeer Run registration to Girls on the Run Orange County and Girls on the Run Riverside. If you are thinking about running either of these races, why not register now and have part of your registration fee go to the girls?! You can read my race recap from the Orange County race HERE and the Riverside run HERE.

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Run It Forward Challenge

Brooks recently released a challenge on Strava, asking folks to run as many miles as they can between May 15th and June 5th (which is Global Running Day). If you hit 21 miles, you earn a nifty Strava badge, but that's not all. Every 10,000 miles collectively run (up to 2 million miles), Brooks will donate gear to a high school runner in need via their Booster Club program. You know I love to give back whenever possible, and this is a FREE TO YOU way to help out some kids in need - so let's run it forward! All you need to do is "join" the Strava Challenge and track your workouts - EASY PEASY!

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Nathan Handhelds

If I am running over 3 miles, I tend to have a handheld of water with me (I usually only switch to a hydration vest if there isn't somewhere for me to refill my handheld - like on the trails - or if I need the storage for things like fuel or additional layers of clothes) - and the only handhelds I use are from Nathan. My two go-to handhelds are the SpeedDraw Plus Insulated Flask and the Speedmax Plus Flask. Anywho, they recently released new colorways and graphics, so I figured it was time to spread the word. PS If you use the code VIBRANT you can score free shipping on the handhelds (and for a limited time, if you spend more than $75 you get a free Hipster waist belt with your order). {FYI - I am not an ambassador for this brand [although I'd definitely be open to it, hint hint, Nathan ;)], nor do I get anything from mentioning them, I just wanted to share the discount code I saw in my email, along with the news of the new snazzy color options.}

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PS I happen to know the "model" in this Nathan video so I thought I'd share it as well ;) YAY Andrea!

What are you loving lately?