I've been hearing a lot about this product lately and perhaps you have too. I'm not sure how far out of the running circle it has gotten, so if you haven't heard of it yet, don't be surprised. The only reason I've been hearing so much about it is because it seems like everyone in the running group I'm part of on FB is talking about it. Normally I'm not one to follow trends (or maybe I am, when it comes to running, I don't know) but I really wanted to try this one. Tailwind is a nutritional supplement that you mix in with water. It's supposed to increase endurance and lower the need for mid-run snacks like GUs or sports beans. So far, everyone in the running group has only good things to say about the stuff, so I figured I would give a try myself. Unfortunately, it's hard to find in stores, so I had to order it online. Not that it's not sold in stores, but, for example, the closest store to me was way out in the Worcester area, which is a good hour from my house. At that point, it was just easier to order it online. I put my order in on Sunday and the package arrived via regular old mail yesterday. So as far as shipping turnaround goes, not too bad. Now, I ordered a 5 pack variety because I didn't want to buy a giant bag of one flavor and then find out that I hated that flavor. Seemed like that would be a poor choice when a variety pack was an option. The variety pack came with the five flavors; lemon, mandarin orange, raspberry buzz (which is caffeinated), naked unflavored, and berry. Each one is a 200 calorie pack with the option to shake out only half for 100 calories. So far it seems like a good investment. However, I have yet to actually put this in my water and try it out, because yesterday was my off day and today I'm only doing 3 miles. Saturday is our long run, so I plan to try it out then. Not sure which flavor I'm going with though. Actually I'm not sure how to determine how much to put in the water. The website recommended putting it in a 20 - 24 oz bottle. Obviously I have a bottle this size for running, as every long runner usually does, but I'm a little nervous about the flavor. Some people have mentioned that it's a little milky or chalky. I don't want to pour the whole pack into the water and then end up stuck trying to force down a drink that makes me gag. I'm sure you're all thinking that the obvious solution is to just pour in half and then go from there, which is accurate. That doesn't mean that the flavor will be better though, because I don't know how much other people have put in their water that led to the milk/chalk flavor. As always though, live and learn. No way to know until I try it, so after tomorrow, keep an eye out for a review of how the product actually works, as opposed to what the product is and how fast it shipped!
And here's a picture of my new Hoka shoe(s) and one of the tailwind. I will say that I expected a little better packaging on the Tailwind. I figured they would at least come wrapped in a bag or something. Instead I got a priority mail box with 5 loose packets. Not the end of the world, I just figured they would have been slightly more protected than they were.
Oh yea, and since the new school year starts next week, I thought I'd throw in a picture of my back to school door. It was fairly easy to create, just some blue and yellow fadeless paper, a set of die-cut letters that I got for $1 at Target, a piece of white copy paper, crayons, and some black construction paper. All I did was cut out two circles for the eyes and color in brown pupils. I also drew a mouth, but I"m sure you could just print one out if you have a color printer. Then I cut out some larger black circles for the goggles and taped the eyes on. Using scraps I made the goggle straps and the minion hair. After that, stick the eyes and mouth on the yellow, measure out the blue, and just tape it all together on the door. The emblem in the middle is an M for math, with both teacher names on it. The hardest part of all was coming up with a saying to put on the door. I really wanted to relate it to math facts, as well as a new year, but I couldn't come up with anything specifically math related. This was the closest I came, but it still works. When fall rolls around next month, I intend to change the door into something fall or Halloween related. I'll probably go Halloween related first, and then fall for the month of November. We'll see how that works out though. It's always easier to think about this before the year actually starts and the work takes over.
