Sunday, October 28, 2012

Marathon Weekend 2012 recap part 2-the Half Marathon


Marathon Weekend 2012-part 2

Yes, I know it is 10.5 months late.  Sometimes you just don’t get around to things when you want to, then when you do have time you just don’t feel like writing a race report.  I hate leaving things like this unfinished so I’m finally finishing my report from Disney’s Marathon Weekend 2012 events.

First up-Saturday and the Half Marathon.  The Disney Half is a fun race and always has a lot of first-timers...this time my SIL was the first-timer which was a big reason behind why I went ahead and registered, setting myself up for a double half marathon weekend.  We went to bed really early Friday night-around 7am-and I got up at 2am to have my breakfast and get ready.  We headed over to the buses and once at the pre-race area I made my way over to the “H” tent to find the ROTErs while SIL hunted down some friends that came up to run with her.

Once it was time to head to the start corrals, we made our way over together to get lined up.  We were in the next-to-last corral, so it was nice to know I had a bit of a cushion since I wanted to take it easy with the relay coming the next day-plus we started as close to the front as we could get.  I knew SIL was going to be faster than me (isn’t just about everyone?) so after our corral took off, I ran for the first minute or so, then backed off to walk for a while before starting my intervals, watching her head off ahead of me.  It was pretty comfortable out weather-wise-certainly better than the crazy frozen weekend of 2010!

I did my walk/run intervals for a while, then around mile 7 or 8 started backing off to mostly walk. I didn’t even see the bike people (the ones who carry those orange flags to warn that the pace girls AKA the balloon girls are nearby...meaning you’re falling behind pace) until after mile 9, but I never saw the orange flags this race and those balloon girls never passed me.  The cushion of my corral placement and the fact that we were up at the front of the corral handled that for me.  I wound up finishing in 3:45...yes, slower than the 16mm pace but again, this was mostly on purpose since I didn’t know how my body was going to react with two half marathons in one weekend.  I was just happy to have another half marathon complete and very proud of SIL for finishing her first one!

I didn’t take any pictures along the course this time, but here’s a pic of us afterward...not my best, but we both have Donald Duck bling around our necks so that’s all that matters!  


Wednesday, October 24, 2012

A little off topic-Glade Expressions, new smelly stuff!



There’s lots of cool sites out there that let you try free products, usually as a free sample or maybe as part of a survey where you get to test new products before they hit the store shelves to make sure they actually work.  One of my favorite sites is BzzAgent, a social marketing company that runs “campaigns” for different products.  How it works-you sign up on the web site, answer surveys so they can determine things like demographics and such, then they’ll notify you when there is a campaign that you would qualify to join.  For example, if you don’t have any babies or toddlers, you wouldn’t be offered a campaign that is about baby foods or toys.  Once you join a campaign, they’ll send you products (or coupons to pick those products up free at the store).  All you do in return is share your opinions about the products to others through reviews, Facebook posts, tweets, pictures and so on.

Anyway, I love to use Glade products, especially the plug-in oil warmers, so when I saw a campaign for the new Glade Expressions products come up, I immediately signed up to participate.  They sent me coupons to pick up one each of the fragrance mist and oil diffuser to try out myself and a bunch of high-value coupons for both items to share with others (yeah, those went REALLY fast LOL).  This is my review of those items.

I decided to pick up the Glade Expressions Fuji Apple & Cardamom Spice scents for both the fragrance mist and oil diffuser so I'd have the same scent going throughout my house.  The oil diffuser was very easy to set up and the second I opened it up I just thought "Yum!"  I love those apple and spice smells and this smelled wonderful!  

I set the diffuser up in between my kitchen and living room.  It’s designed to look like an artsy-type piece so you can display it pretty much anywhere without it actually looking like it’s there to make things smell nice.  The only thing that was slightly disappointing (and why I gave 4 stars in my review instead of 5) was the reach of the fragrance.  You needed to be pretty close to the unit to smell it.  So while it did diffuse the fragrance, it didn't cover a very large area.  In that respect I believe the regular Glade plug-in units with the fans do a better job.

For the fragrance mist, we've been using it on an as-needed basis, like after cooking or if the bathroom gets used and any...ahem...lingering smells are around.  Or even if I just want to smell a boost of scent just for the heck of it.  I plan on keeping the fragrance mist handy for those situations going forward.  It’s basically a can of the scent with a decorative piece that goes over it-all you do is squeeze the decorative cover and the mist comes out.

Overall I was pleased with both products and would recommend both to anyone looking for a good way to introduce pleasing scents into their home.  Just be aware that, in my experience, the diffuser will only cover about a 100-150 square foot area well so you may want to get more than one (of the same scent) if you have larger rooms.  In addition to the Fuji Apple & Cardamom Spice scent I got, both the diffuser and mist also come in Cotton & Italian Mandarin, Pineapple & Mangosteen and Lavender & Juniper Berry scents.  I think I’ll try the lavender one next, I’ve always loved lavender scents.

As far as prices go, when I got mine I went to Target where the diffuser ran $5.99 for the starter kit and $3.49 for a refill.  The fragrance mist was $2.99 and refills were $1.99.  I would consider those prices about average when compared to other scent products, but like most Glade products you should be able to score some coupons either online or in the Sunday paper in your coupon inserts.

Do you use fragrance products in your home?  What are your favorite products and scents?