1BandID - maybe you need one too!

As a wife, mom, daughter, friend, etc. I am a big fan of the RoadID idea... always have your info on your person so that if something happens while you are out running or riding you've all the necessary info with you.

If you think about it, how many times are you out there on your own?

or even when riding with friends, do they even know your emergency contact?  I've ridden with groups before that I bet might not even know that I'm married, let alone my husband's first name and contact info!

So I went ahead an got my RoadID... first a very good friend gave me one for a Christmas gift.  It fit on my running shoe, which was great for running...

My husband got me the bracelet one for when I was riding my bike...

Great! Except that...

I KEPT LEAVING IT AT HOME!

I know a lot of folks that wear their's all the time, but that's just wasn't working for me either...

Then I saw my friend Jamie's twitter post about his 1BandID!

It fits on your watch band!

GENIUS!!

I mean, I always have my watch on me! running and riding AND open water swimming!

I did have a question about it though... my wrists are fairly small and I wasn't sure if there was enough real estate on my watch band.

I contacted the awesome folks at 1BandID and asked the question, have they ever had an issue with it not fitting on someone's watch?

Joe told me that they haven't had any issues, but that I could send him a picture of my watch on my wrist and he'd let me know if he thought it would fit.

Joe's response was very honest... he wasn't sure if it would fit.  He offered to send me one so that I could try it out before I purchased.

How awesome is that?!?!

So I gave him all my info and in the end he actually just made it for me and sent it to me to try out.

My first time running with it I loved it.  What ended up happening is that where the band wraps around my watch band, it ends of making my wrist "bigger" and making the watch actually fit more comfortably!  So while my watch as I had it before wouldn't have "fit" the ID, once I had the cushion it made the band big enough.

So happy!!!

I wore it during the Goofy Challenge last weekend, no chaffing, and to be honest I didn't even notice that I had my watch on during the race! Usually it bugs me a little because it bounces around and starts to bruise my wrist when I run a marathon.  This was 39.3 miles in two days and it was perfect!

Thanks 1BandID! I love how comfy this made my watch and now I'll never leave home without my In Case of Emergency info!!

Disclosure: As a tester I received my 1BandID free of charge.

Project ReUseIt - Challenge

So excited my awesome Rev3 Triathlon teammate Laura has joined the challenge!!

Laura, awesome teammate and inspiration!!

Check out her post about it here (as usual she was much more compelling about it than me! haha)

So far things have been going well; except that my husband delights in pointing out all the things he can technically buy USED but are completely not in our budget (race cars, hunting rifles, bikes, etc.)  I've had to point out that he doesn't get to just buy anything he wants as long as it is "previously owned", it still needs to be in the budget. haha

My biggest challenge to date has been finding my 7 yo swim flippers that he needs for swim team.  Before the start of ReUseIt I had purchased him new swim flippers, but they are too big for him and fall off in the pool

Poor kid, I made him dive 7 ft down in the pool to retrieve them because we happened to be trying them out at the pool on a day when I didn't have my bathing suit :D He did it though!!

So if anyone has a pair of size 12-13 swim flips, and you need a size 1-3 pair, I'll trade ya!!

I did have to buy something new that I was trying to avoid and that was DIAPERS.  My 3 yo is potty trained, but still wears a diaper overnight, so I moved him to cloth diapers and everything is great!  Unfortunately, the pool that we swim at requires a suit AND swim diaper for any child under the age of 4.   In the interest of time, I purchased a rubber swim diaper from the store at the gym.  Strike one!

So to follow in Laura's footsteps... who want to join us?!?!

Also, Laura challeged a wager, and since I already have one strike, I say we keep a running tally on anything we have to buy new (agreed run shoes, bike tires, etc. are freebies) and then see who wins at the end!

If Laura wins donate $25 to Rev3Tri Run Across America.  If I win, PLEASE donate to Rev3Tri Run Across America!!

What? You haven't heard about Rev3Tri Run Across America?!?!  Well, my super awesome team and the fine Staff of Revolution 3 Triathlon are RUNNING ACROSS AMERICA, to raise money for Ulman Cancer Fund.

They are taking 21 days to run 2,300+ miles.  It's going to be excited and there are going to be lots of challenges along the way... i.e. can YOU find a group of people to run a cumulative total of MORE miles during the same 21 day period?!?!?

I'll have more details about the challenges and such here, but go check out the Rev3 Page for all the DETAILS!!!

My Big 2012 Goal - ReUseIt

Project ReUseIt

If there is one thing that I didn't like about Ironman training it was HOW MUCH I USED...  from clothes, nutrition, gear, etc. it seemed like every month was a new purchase...

So my big goal this year is to go the next six months without buying anything NEW.  It wouldn't really work if I did this by myself, so my poor family is getting pulled in with me.  

So far the rules that I have come up with (and my lovely husband Alex has agreed to) are as follows:

1) Nothing brand new - i.e. purchased from the store

2) Exceptions will be anything that you can't reuse, resell or borrow such as Food, Vitamins, Underwear (I have my limits haha), toilet paper, gasoline, car engine oil... I'll might have to add as we think of stuff...

3) If we need something (clothes, electronics, furniture, HRM!!) we must find it used (i.e. second hand shops, garage sales, reclamation, etc.) but the whole idea is to really examine if we need it.  If it's more difficult to obtain, we might find another solution.

4) Food: I guess part of the impetus of this idea is to have less environmental impact so we are going to go for at least 3 vegetarian meals a week and buying local and seasonal fruit and veg.  I plan to hit up the new store, Roswell Provisions, as it's on our way home from my son's school and our other local awesome food store: Harry's Farmer's Market Alpharetta.

This is what I'll be using to start my vegetarian journey! Wish me luck!!

5) Paper products - aside from toilet paper the goal is to not buy any new paper products (I have some in the house, but once they are used up, that's it!).  This includes paper towels, napkins, notebooks (ack!!), printer paper, etc.

6) Workout clothes - first of all, no, I am not planning on buying second hand workout clothes. Gross!! however, I am committing to nothing new for 6 months unless my bathing suit and tri shorts become see-thru... nobody needs to see that!! I will curb any "it's just so cute" purchases though.  Guess that first trip to lululemon will have to wait until July!!

7) The rest of my tri-gear...  oh boy, tough to say... but everything else will follow the same rules, if something breaks in the next 6 months, I'll be going used! Excepting my helmet, safety first!

If I break a rule, then I have to post about it and why I broke it... so I'd better have a good reason.

I'm curious to see what challenges this leads to...

The one staring me in the face is that my 7 year old son needs a watch for school...  will I be able to find one at a second hand shop?  Let's see!!

What other rules do you think I should add?