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Sorry everyone for the delay in announcing the winners of my blog giveaway courtesy of Carnation Footcare, but my laptop very helpfully decided to pick up a nasty virus, meaning that I am resigned to using my netbook (which has helpfully decided that the battery wants to die).

Luckily for you all, there were ten entrants and ten prizes, so everyone’s a winner! I’ve tried out the PediRoller and it’s a great little tool, not to mention really relaxing so I’m sure you’ll all love it. If you have foot issues, you may also want to check out Carnation’s Virtual Podiatrist.

So congratulations to Michelle, Jo, Lesley, Dan, Rachel, Carla, JoggingJeans, Cass, Bam and Butterfly Experience. I don’t have contact details for all of you, so if you’re reading this, please could you leave me a comment with the email address and I’ll contact you. Don’t worry, the email address will be visible only to me!

Thanks for taking part in my first blog giveaway.

As my regular readers will know, I ran the Brighton Marathon. You know, that 26.2 mile fun-run in Brighton the week before the “proper” marathon in London which people thought they were sponsoring me for, being that it’s in the proper one. Anyway, I digress.

During training, I was experimenting with different types of fuel and Jog Blog was sent some GlucoJuice and GlucoTabs to try out and because she is a nice person, she decided to send some to me to try out. However, because the promoters were also nice people they said “No, don’t worry Jog Blog, we’ll send your friend some free stuff” and I got a nice parcel of goodies to test.

GlucoJuice
Gluco Juice
GlucoJuice is available in delicious Berry Burst flavour, this 60ml compact shot will deliver 15g of fast acting carbohydrate, in the form of dextrose. This unique formulation is free from caffeine, artificial colouring and flavouring. What’s more, with no fizz or pop this non–carbonated still liquid is easy to digest and delivers a pure sugar rush without the ghastly gas.

I tried the juice about 30 minutes into a 7 mile run. Plus points? Well, the bottle makes it very easy to carry in a waist pack as it takes up little room. Also much easier to swallow than a gel as one shot and you’re done – none of this squeezing gels out of a foil packet nonsense. It tasted like a flavoured water, definitely making it a much more pleasant experience than an energy gel and was extremely refreshing. I’m not sure it gave me a really noticeable boost of energy, but it was refreshing and I imagine that it may perk me up a little bit when I’m really tired. I do have a couple of bottles left and so I will be trying these again on a longer run to see if there is any noticeable difference. Full marks on taste and convenience though.

GlucoTabs
GlucoTabs
The GlucoTabs are a different matter. These contain four grams of fast-acting carbohydrate per tablet and are chewable tablets. For running long distances, four grams of carbohydrate isn’t enough, meaning that you have to take more. Chewing isn’t really ideal either as it is difficult to chew and run – most runners want something they can swallow easily. As far as taste goes, they aren’t bad, almost like refresher sweets, but they aren’t ideal for running and most runners aren’t going to stop to count out the tablets out of the tube either. That said, it isn’t all bad news for GlucoTabs. I wouldn’t recommend them as a running tool, but while I am not diabetic, I do occasionally suffer from low blood sugar and when I crash, I really crash and I have found that taking a couple of these sorts me out again. I now keep a packet in my handbag and my remaining packets are stashed in my bowling bag for those tournaments when I have to go a long while without eating and feel a crash coming on. Recommended for non-running purposes.

A few weeks back, the lovely Naomi at Biotherm dropped me an email informing me that they had a new range – an “anti-fatigue concentrate Skin.Ergetic” and being that I appeared to lead a busy lifestyle, would I like to try them? Being a girl who likes beauty products and more importantly being a girl who loves freebies, I said “Yay! Yes please!” My boyfriend said “Do you not find it offensive that they think you have tired skin?” I smacked him. What does he know?

From the Skin.Ergetic range I will be testing out the “Energy Up Complex” Skin.Ergetic Concentrate which is a type of serum for the skin and the “Anti Ox Complex” which is a moisturiser / day cream. They have also sent me the “Celluli Laser D.Code” which is an anti-cellulite cream. At the age of 25, I don’t think I really have any orange-peel yet, but I will try it out, especially as I like the tag line “Defy the laws of cellulite.” It sounds suitably threatening, especially for such an elegant looking box. Take THAT, cellulite.

The Skin.Ergetic range particularly appeals to me, partly because I do feel that my skin often looks slightly grey due to tiredness and partly because of the ingredients used. The serum contains preserved broccoli and soy and we all know that broccoli is extremely good for us, so why not use it in a beauty product? The very first thing I do is smell the serum and it smells delicious! I can’t really pick out the broccoli in it and I would say it smells slightly fruity which is very pleasant. I find that some products can smell like plastic, so this is a plus. Closer inspection of the ingredients reveals apple, lemon and sugar cane and now I want to eat it.

The serum is for application underneath moisturiser, so it’s rather handy that I can try the two together. The serum is a good consistency, not too runny and it rubs into my skin nicely. It doesn’t feel greasy at all after application and feels refreshing on. Be careful of the eye area – I accidentally rubbed some in my eye and it hurt.

Now for the moisturiser / day cream. Oh my god, now I do wish I could eat this. It smells like I imagine peaches and cream ice-cream to smell, which is rather good when you consider that many of us aspire to a peaches and cream complexion. Again, an excellent consistency and it feels refreshing. You only need to use a little bit of this moisturiser – it feels slightly greasy on application but my skin felt wonderfully smooth after rubbing it in.

So where do I stand on these products after a first test? They smell great, they feel great and they make a very convincing case for using fruit and vegetable infusions. These products will be part of my daily routine for the next week and I will report back next week with details on how my skin looks and feels.

In the meanwhile, do check out the range here. The products are expensive, but as you only need a little on each application, I think they will last a long time.

Anti-cellulite cream will be reviewed soon – watch this space.

Something happened today, which was cause for celebration.

I bought a size ten skirt.

A UK size ten.

(OK, FINE, it looks huge, but the label says size ten, so that’s good enough for me.)

Good motivation for Janathon. Maybe it will make me become a proper 10/12.

The above quote taken from Johnny Depp in the wonderful Tim Burton remarke of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Yes, chewing gum. Yesterday, I bought myself my first digital camera. I know, I should get with times, but I finally have. It’s a rather cool little thing, purchased from the Currys clearance sale. It’s a Samsung PL50, in pink and set me back a rather meagre £89.99. Not bad for a 10 megapixel camera. It’s very lightweight and dinky, and best of all is very easy to use. I am also loving the ‘red-eye’ fix.

Anyway, back to chewing gum. The woman who served me in Currys was chewing gum. Not just chewing it, but chewing it with her mouth open, jaws spread wide as she chomped down hard, which added to the squelching sound effect. Lovely. It’s disgusting and it’s bad mannered and it makes Currys as a company look like they only employ idiots. Oh, wait. They DO only employ idiots. To be fair to her, she was actually very nice, but I couldn’t wait to get away from that gum chewing. That was her warranty sale for the day, out the window.

Although I personally don’t like chewing gum (I’d have it banned, myself), I understand why some people chew it. Off to an important meeting and you have coffee breath? Chewing gum helps to freshen you up. I also believe that there is evidence that it can help to make your teeth stronger.

However, is there really any need to move your jaws apart as far as possible and chew with your mouth open? I don’t wish to hear you chew gum. I certainly don’t wish to SEE your already-been-chewed gum. You wouldn’t eat with your mouth open. Well, most people wouldn’t.

So, for the good of all mankind, CHEW YOUR CHEWING GUM WITH YOUR MOUTH CLOSED.

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