Team Gab Virtual Race!!

It's a new year, everyone is training for something, right?

Put those miles to good use!

If you're new around here, Gabby, that kid ^^, is my 5 year old daughter. She was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in January, 2011. I am fundraising for the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation, and will be running the PCRF Cinco de Mayo Half Marathon in May with Team Gab.

If you're in SoCal, you can join me, Skinny Runner, Once Upon A (L)ime, Caro from Canadian Runner in Exile, and my friend Leigh on May 6th in Irvine - there is a 5K, 10K, a half marathon, and a Bike Tour.

What's that? You don't have the incredible luck of living here?

1. I'm sorry.
2. Run with us anyway!

When: Starts Monday, 1/16/12, through Friday, 2/17/12 - that's a full month to fit in your race!
Where: Wherever you feel like racing
Who: Everyone is invited to the party - I am a friendly type.

Here's where the fundraising comes in.

$5 donation = 5K = 1 entry
$10 donation = 10K = 2 entries
$25 donation = half marathon (13.1 miles, yo) = 5 entries
$40 donation = FULL marathon (26.2) = 10 entries

HOW THIS IS GOING TO WORK (hopefully):

1. Choose your distance - obviously you can donate the amount you are comfortable with, and extra donations are happily accepted. (Additional entries 1 = $5 donated beyond the amount noted above. Ex: Run a 5K and donate $15, receive 1 entry ($5 for the 5K) + 2 entries (for the additional $10) = 3 total)
2. Click HERE to donate to PCRF and Team Gab.
3. Leave a comment or email me (GoTeamGab@gmail.com) with your race distance and donation amount (I will calculate your number of entries, but fair warning, I took college algebra three times - so you could include the number of entries based on your donation amount, and I wouldn't hate it). Maybe I'll send you a bib. Maybe not, I'm pretty not good with creating things, but it could happen!
4. Snag that snazzy picture up there, and link back to this post if you're so inclined (but I'd really like it).
5. Share the race on FB, Twitter, whatever floats your boat (again not mandatory, but it'd be swell).
6. Run your race (or bike, or hike, or swim - I don't care, just move yourself!) take some pictures, write a race report, and email it, send me the link, or comment.

I'll post a link to all of the race reports once compiled.

Now, the million dollar question....

WHAT do you get out of this?

You can sleep peacefully knowing you've done your part to help fund pediatric cancer research.

Oh. You also will get entered to win some of these cool prizes...


1. <------- GONE!, by Skinny Runner
A Tough Chik cotton tee of your choice. You may have noticed my cool new banner over there ->
Tough Chik is performance and casual apparel for active women. I love their philosophy, and I'm excited to be a part of Team Tough Chik... but more excited to share the Tough Chik love.

2.
Tommie Copper sleeves and hat! Winner can select from knee, elbow, ankle, calf sleeves.

3. <----- TAKEN, by Bobbi!
Team Sparkle skirt and Race Legs!! It is no secret how much I LOVE Team Sparkle. Their skirts are made to be worn over your favorite shorts/tights, and are seriously THE cutest.

4.
VII A.D. angel pendant. VII A.D. believes there are those who wear art and have the right to wear the finest quality of unique, designer art pieces. Sevan, the founder of VII A.D., also happens to be married to a lovely friend of mine. He creates each piece individually! Edit: Sevan is awesome, and actually is upping his donation to this more expensive piece. Because they're awesome.

5.
iFitness belts! Two belts to giveaway...

Double Pouch Belt

Single Pouch belt

6. <------ Taken by Karen, week 3!!
GU Performance Energy Sampler - includes 9 GU Original Gels, 5 Roctane Gels, 2 Chomps, 2 Electrolyte Brew Packs, 1 Recovery Pack, and 3 Individual Electrolyte Tablets. I LOVE GU, so the winner of this will be sideyed HARD when I give this away.

7.
A $35 Road ID Gift Card. We all have heard about SUAR's cousin, Sherry, who went missing on her run several days ago. Be safe!

8. <------ TAKEN by Rose!
Allied Medal Hanger! Allied makes TONS of options...



Winner can select from their online store, or go with a custom option!

9. <----Black, Gold, and White taken by Elizabeth! Balance snagged by T! THESE ARE GONE :D
Two sets of BIC Bands! There are 6 total, so I'll split these into 2 separate prizes, first winner can select their three favorites.

10.
Arctic Ease Cryotherapy Wraps. GIANT set of 4 packs of 4"x60" wraps, and 2 packs of three 4"x6" cooling pads.

Pretty nice spread, huh?

A winner will be selected every FRIDAY beginning Jan. 20th, until prizes are GONE, using Random.org.

ADDITIONAL PRIZES MAY BE GIVEN FOR:
1. Best outfit. You guys know I'm a sucker for obnoxious, shiny clothes.
2. BEST race report. Do something crazy. I like crazy.
3. Whatever else strikes my fancy.

****NOTE**** If you've already donated, THANK YOU, and there is NO NEED to donate again to join the race. I'd still love it if you shared the race info, though :)

aaaand, the disclaimer: all of these items were donated to me by those fantastic companies. That's pretty awesome, right? ALL of those companies agreed to help fund pediatric cancer research. We should go thank them. All of the opinions are my own. I only approached companies that I personally use and love.

Alright. I know this was really, really long, so if you've made it this far, here's my contribution to Funny Friday Photos or whatever it is this week.

iFitness Belt Winners!

Um. So, there were two entrants and two belts. THANKFULLY, I got a bunch of donations to PCRF out of this, but only two chicks want an awesome iFitness Belt? Weirdos.


Anyway, Little Fruit Fly and Dee - I know you'll both be at Princess weekend, lemme know if you want me to mail your belts, or give them to you then!!

Congrats :D

People discuss my art and pretend to understand as if it were necessary to understand, when it's simply necessary to love.

I have Blogger's Block again...

First, the quote today is Monet. I love Monet. I don't know that I've ever really told any of my friends that, just... because it's never come up. Imagine my surprise when I woke up to this on my back porch (ignore the recycling project happening in the background)...

Um....

Who DOES that?!

Second, as I said last week, Gabby's doctor gave me permission to take her to Disneyland once, this weekend. The chemo she's on this month lowers her blood counts, so this weekend was our one window of opportunity to head out with her.

And it was rad.

She went nuts when she saw the Castle, loooooves King Arthur's Carousel, was totally amused by Dumbo ("Mommy, that elephant is FLYING! That's so crazy!"), screamed through all of Matterhorn, and wanted nothing to do with Pirates. We have annual passes to Disneyland, so we go a LOT, but she was acting like it was her first time there ever. It was a great morning, and she had tons of fun.



1 & 2 even managed to participate without melting down.

She also drew a pretty fantastic dinosaur on her magna-doodle.

Third, my sister is coming to visit this week. So far, our winter has been fantastic. Sunny, warm, clear - beautiful. While the rest of the country was melting down over some chilly weather, we've been basking in the SoCal sunshine.

So of course, this is what our forecast looks like for her visit:
Goodbye, hiking. Goodbye, dinners overlooking the ocean at sunset. Goodbye, morning runs. Goodbye, sitting on the beach eating cheese. Stupid winter.

Finally, last but not least, I have an iFitness belt giveaway here, that's ending tonight, and so far, looks like Little Fruit Fly has a lock on it!

iFitness Belt Giveaway!

The fine folks at iFitness were FANTASTIC when I approached them about a giveaway to tie into my fundraising for Pediatric Cancer Reseach Foundation.

If you're new, or don't know about my fundraising, you can read the story here, about my 4yr old daughter, leukemia, and why PCRF is my cause.

We all know about the iFitness belts, but here's what we've got....

The black single pouch belt. From their website...

Neoprene Single Pouch Black Water resistant pouch - will fit any size phone. Inner pocket will keep your ID/credit cards safe Reflective strips for night time safety One size fits all adjustable Guarnteed not to bounce, ride up or chafe.

We've also got....

The pink with black zipper double pouch belt.

Water resistant double pouch will keep your iPhone or Blackberry safe from rain or sweat. A second pouch will keep your energy gels,keys or camera, seprate from your phone. An inner pocket will hold your ID and credit cards safely. Two reflector strips in the front for your night time runs. This belt will not bounce, chafe or ride up while you run! …

Awesome (and generous), right!?

How to enter...

1. Donate, donate, donate! 1 entry for every $$$ you donate to Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation. Click here!, donate whatever is right for you, leave a comment that "I rock and donated to a FANTASTIC cause!", and make sure to leave your screen name in the donation so I can match them up!

2. Spread the word! Tweet on Twitter: "#cancersucks! I just entered @hmgiraffy @ifitnessrunning #giveaway! http://tinyurl.com/4t9ezwu"

3. Post on your blog, FB, etc, and leave a comment to let me know!

4. Like iFitness on FB, and let them know they ROCK for supporting Pediatric Cancer Research! HERE Leave a comment to let me know!

5. Be a follower of this blog! Leave a comment to let me know!


That's it! Easy as pie.

I'm sure someone wants these for the DISNEY PRINCESS HALF in TWO WEEKS!!! So we'll run this through Monday - all entries must be recieved by midnight pacific 2/14. I'll announce the TWO winners on Tuesday, and get these shipped out so you guys can enjoy them for whatever race you have coming up.


iFitness also sent a teeny belt for Gabby. Which she LOVED!! As soon as I strapped it on her, she stuffed it full of teeny toys, and wanted to go for a run with me :D.