Welcome!

Welcome!

My name is Andy, and this  is my story. I started out to lose weight and get fit because I was fed up and needed to make a change in my life. I found myself horribly overweight and out of shape, and realized that my daughter and wife deserved better than that from me. So, as a 330 pound man, I decided to try the impossible and start running. (Well, walking and running. A LOT more walking than running at first and then slowly worked my way up.) That, coupled with watching what I eat by counting calories has helped me to lose 120+ pounds, get myself back into shape, and completely change my life. (that’s the quick and dirty version of my story, anyway; if you want to take a look at a much more complete and detailed version, check out my very first post and introduction HERE)

I started this blog in the very beginning to keep myself accountable and honest throughout the entire process. I am now training for 2 (Two!?!?) half marathons in the fall of 2012, and documenting my progress every step of the way.

I’m proud to share my story with you and hopefully it can inspire some more people out there to try, because it can be done!

Don’t be a stranger- I’m definitely here to support any and everybody who is looking to try to do the same in any way I can, after all: We’re all in this together.

Newton Motion Running Shoes Review

My next review on deck is the motion stability trainers by Newton running. Newton is a well-established and well-respected name in the running world, and I cannot be more excited about presenting this to you today.

Also, it is not by coincidence that I start to use these new trainers exactly the same time I’m planning on getting back on the road after my big 10 mile race at the Broad Street Run. The shoes did arrive to several weeks ago, but since using them lends itself to altering your running form (At least my poor running form, heel striking at all) I held off on trying them out until after I completed my training.

I say that using these shoes lends itself to altering your form, but it’s important to draw the distinction that the shoes do not claim to be a form correction tool, nor do they claim to help you correct your running form. What they do however, by virtue of their design is promote what they like to call “Natural running”. The following info is verbatim from the company PR rep:

“There are two distinguishing features with Newton Running shoes that you’ll probably notice first off; 1. A more level platform. Our shoes have a 7 mm or less drop from heel to toe, which places you in a more natural running posture and makes it easier to adapt a shorter stride. If you’re accustomed to shoes with a 20 mm + drop, then you’ll notice some calf soreness when you first start using them. Secondly, as you may know, Newton Running shoes have lugs under the forefoot; this is our Action/Reaction technology, our “dynamic” cushioning system. It’s comprised of four lugs that, when you step down, depress onto a highly resilient membrane. When you lift your foot, the membrane rebounds, which helps propel you forward.

Please note that we don’t claim that Newton Running shoes improve your form, rather, they are designed to make it easier for you to modify your running form to a style that is more natural (ie, lower impact). “

So in layman’s terms, these shoes are specifically designed to give you positive feedback and reward you with an added spring to your step when you are “doing it right”. So although they are not officially shoes that improve your form, they are specifically designed to very easily show you the difference between good form and otherwise. It is this aspect of the shoes that has me drawn to them and so interested.

On a personal note, I am dedicating my efforts this summer to taking all the steps to become a better, stronger, more efficient, and less injury prone runner. (yup, I’m back to talking about my bum knee again) I believe that if these Newtons live up to their billing, they will be playing an integral part in all of this.

As always, I have done a lot of homework on these shoes to see what exactly they are doing to live up to their tagline “Hello Better”. After considerable amounts of time the most prevalent features that I have found are: Lightweight, Minimal Drop, and far and away the feature that makes the Newtons unique, the forefoot “Lugs” on the sole of the shoe that is the key to their “Action/Reaction Technology”.

Lightweight- -These shoes are super light, literally just a matter of ounces. There has been careful attention paid to all aspects of the shoe, including materials used to ensure that there is nothing extra or unnecessary to add needless weight. The idea behind this is to provide a cushioned shoe that behaves like a barefoot or minimal shoe. This way you are inclined to not feel them on your feet once you get moving, so your focus can be applied to running and your form, without the distractions of the shoe on your feet.

Minimal Drop- -Minimal Drop. What “drop” refers to in running shoes is the difference in height between the heel and the toes of the shoe. A lot of shoes have a much higher built up heel, since that is where the majority of runners hit first. Makes sense to put the bulk of the cushioning there, right? There is a large school of thought out there that hitting with your heel first, or “heel striking” is where a lot of the impact comes from when running, and by becoming more a “midfoot striker” reduces the stress on your body (and even more specifically, your knees- which is why I am so interested in this) and help distribute the impact throughout your muscles and entire leg/body. This midfoot striking is also commonly referred to as “natural running”. The very small drop in these shoes makes it easy to hit on the middle of your foot as opposed to the heel, thus promoting Natural Running.

The “Lugs”- -On the bottom of the shoe, directly under your forefoot (right under the balls of your feet) there are 4 pronounced “lugs”, or raised rectangular pieces of rubber. These lugs sit on top of a very elastic/ responsive layer and then have recessed openings below that. The way these lugs do their thing is that while you are running and your foot comes down onto the ground (ideally on midfoot so the lugs are hitting first), and your body weight compresses the lugs into their corresponding “holes” in the sole of the shoe, and as you push off, the elastic layer pushes them back out, giving you an added spring in your step. This is the fundamental idea behind what Newton calls their “Action/Reaction Technology” Of course, they explain it a lot better than I can on their website (www.newtonrunning.com), but that gives you the basic idea. It also bears mentioning that the website is AWESOME. Tons of information and videos regarding everything about the various available shoes, shoe construction, info on proper form, basically everything you could need to know about the Newton shoes and the natural running they help promote.

So basically all this technical sounding jargon boils down to some basic information that may make sense to my core audience here. These shoes, by virtue of design and positive feedback are going to help you develop a proper running form. Developing good form is relevant to you for 2 reasons. (3 really) 1. It can help prevent injury. As I mentioned before, when you are heel striking during your runs it sends considerably more impact to your joints. More impact= More potential for injury. And Let me tell you, while all injuries are different, they pretty much all involve one common aspect in the recovery process, and that is rest. There is not much more frustrating than having to sit on a day that you actually want to be out there moving. Simply maddening. 2. Proper form is more efficient. Efficiency = speed= more endurance= better results for the effort you are going to be putting out. If I am going to be busting my ass out there, I want to see the best possible results from it. No Brainer. And 3*. (Yes, with an asterisk) This is less an aspect of the good form itself but is still somewhat related and bears mentioning anyway: When you first start out, you can run any way you want to and you are in the position to develop good habits right from the start. This is important because if you make the same (foolish) mistake that I did and develop poor form, It’s going to be that much more challenging to first break the existing bad habits and then rebuild them correctly. Which is what I am dealing with right now. I’d rather skip the pain the ass process and just do it right from the start. Learn from my stupid mistakes. Please.

Speaking of which, to reinforce this fact, I often get asked questions like “if you could go back and change one thing you did when you started running” or “What is one lesson you’ve learned during this process”, I always find myself using this as one of my go-to answers. Proper form. It’s worth the extra time to look into it and even if you are not completely hardcore about it, at least keep it in mind while you are starting out. God knows it was challenging enough just getting myself active again, but I wish I paid more attention to that. Possibly I might not be dealing with as severe a situation of a crappy knee issues if I did. (but then again, maybe I would…you never really know)

I have worn these shoes around the house while cross training (doing my stretch and strength exercises) and for one run totaling exactly one mile thus far, so I have no real basis to provide any performance reviews yet. Like I mentioned in the very beginning of this review, when these shoes arrived I was in the thick of my training for an upcoming race and the mileage was starting to add up, so I did not want to mess around with trying to alter my running form at that time. Now that the race is done and I am looking at getting back on the road again, it’s literally the perfect time to give these shoes the time and attention they deserve. Giving them time is important, since there is a transition period when moving into using these shoes regularly. Since the running form is different, different muscles are being utilized and you have to ease into it. The entire process is advised to take up to 2 or more weeks, so rather than doing too much too fast, and coming back here and tell you that I am in pain from using these shoes, I’m taking my time and doing it the recommended way. So this initial post will be the background info and my initial thoughts, I’ll come back and update on the transition process, and then follow-up with a final review once I have substantially more miles on them. So stay tuned for a few periodic updates, but once it’s all said and done, I think it will show a pretty comprehensive look at these Newton Motion running shoes.

Random Initial Thoughts:
Badass Appearance: Damn, I could not love the look of these more. They are just 100% awesome. Orange shoes with red trim and yellow soles. These are not for the meek and mild or those who just want to blend in. Newton as a company has all of their shoes manufactured in these badass-in your face bright colors. Think yellow, bright blue, red, neon green. YES. (yes, with these orange/red/yellow colors my wife calls them my Ronald McDonald shoes, but for those who aren’t afraid to rock some bright colors they could not be more awesome)
Comfortable: These are insanely comfortable as well, at least kicking around in my house and for my one quick run, I just want some more. The upper material is SUPER ventilated and soft. They have a decent amount of cushioning and are also very light. The last thing I really like is that the toe box inside the shoe is nice and roomy, nothing feels crammed and between the ample room and the super ventilation, they are just comfy.
Fast: Yes, this is an insanely limited sample size (one run, one mile) but I set a PR on that one mile and ran it in the fastest time ever (for me). Is this coincidence? Possibly, but it’s significant enough to make me mention it. All the reviews and information I have found about these say that these shoes are fast/ help you run faster, but I will reserve full judgement until I have some real experience in these bad boys. Initial impressions however: damn I like them.
“real” runner shoes/ take things seriously: Like I mentioned before, Newton is a very well known and highly respected brand in the running world. I have always looked at them (and the runners who wear them) with a little bit of awe and some substantial respect, because these are “real deal running shoes”, worn by runners who take this sport of ours seriously. The thought that I am now in the position to at least look at these and decide if they are for me kind of puts me into that category, and that is AWESOME. I am grateful to be in the position to try these out, not only for myself, but also for the chance to check them out and share my opinions with all of you. This way I can help myself and hopefully give you a look at things at the same time.

Transition period starts today: I am officially on the clock and in approx 2 weeks I will be back to let you know how things are going. I’m looking forward to this and I am expecting big things. There is a big reputation to live up to and if they deliver, it can be a key tool to keeping me running longer and stronger. “Hello Better”, indeed.
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I am approaching this review from my standard viewpoint of what I believe the core interest of this blog really gets at: that is to say I am presenting my review by looking at this product from the perspective of a person who is relatively new to the running world, has some weight to lose and wants go about losing the weight by starting to incorporate a more active lifestyle and want to know how sift through the volumes of available gear/ equipment out there.

This review is directed at the people who are looking to hear some real life experiences and opinions and let that help them decide if a particular item will be beneficial/ applicable to their particular situation.

Everybody’s different, but I believe that it helps to have someone who knows what you’re going through look at items that may be relevant to you and present some opinions that you can relate to. That’s all I’m trying to do here.

I hope this helps.

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This first pic is a great one of the lugs on the bottom of the shoes. Please excuse the Tinkerbell movie in the background. My daughter and I were hanging out/ playing at the time and I would estimate that Tink is on the TV 90% of the time in our house. Seriously…she’s reached rockstar status in our house lately…

Broad Street Run Recap and Pics

Whoa baby, now that was one hell of a race.

There is so much I want to say about this one.

Performance wise, experience wise, everything all together just clicked and made up quite possibly my best running day to date.

I am completely in love with this race, and there is no doubt in my mind it is going to become an annual event for me. (more on that at the end of this post, so keep reading)

So, where to even start? I’ll start with the race itself and the experience of it all. I’ll talk about my own performance after that.

Like I mentioned in the Race Prep post, this is the largest 10M race in the country. Literally 40,000 runners. That is a ton of people to keep organized and in order, but it seriously ran smoothly. The race is not a loop, it’s a point to point run, so you start in North Philly, and run all the way down to the Stadiums and Navy Yard in South Philadelphia. What this means logistically is that you have to park your car at the finish line and then catch the “shuttle” (Subway) 10 miles up to the start. Everybody was moving pretty well, and even though I ended up getting caught up in some hellish traffic I still was able to get there and make it to the start line with no real time concerns. (I did miss the group photo for the American Cancer Society DetermiNation team, and I was really bummed about that, but next year I’ll get it) Given the recent events in Boston, the city had announced that there were going to be some “additional visible security measures” taken. What they should have said was the city was going to be flooded with police. The presence was overwhelming, in the best way possible. I did kind of expect that, honestly. What I did not expect, however, was the 2 giant SWAT trucks, one at the start line and one at the finish line, the totally conspicuous video recording/ monitoring stations, and the presence of openly armed military. I was happy to see each and every one of them. I was not sure what to expect in that regard, but they were all fantastic, and I felt secure. As for the race itself, also like I said before, this is an even that the city comes out for in droves. So much so that even in the parts of the race where the crowds thinned out a little, you could not run 100 yards without running past a big crowd of cheering fans. The vast majority of the course was literally lined with people, cheering, waving, high fiving. Awesome. Call me dorky, but I totally feed off of that stuff. It really was so much fun. As for the crowds themselves, since you are running through the main artery of the city you get a pretty cool cross section of everybody. I started to write it out myself, but I want to plagiarize a good friend of mine Steve (if you’ll excuse my laziness and thievery), when he said on a facebook post shortly after the race:

 “I dare anyone to run The Broad Street Run and not completely fall in love with the City of Philadelphia. Between the kids at Temple Medical Center in wheelchairs giving out high fives, volunteers everywhere and the smiling Military/police, it was awesome”.

There is literally no way to put it better than that. Well said, Stevie. The crowds and supports could not have been better. Some of the coolest and most unexpected “fan highlights” for me included a multitude of Doctors and Hospital staff outside of the hospitals and local leaders (I got to give a high five to the former Mayor of Philadelphia and Governor of PA, Ed Rendell)

I’ll say it again; the crowds completely took this from a great race to an exceptional one. From families on their way to/from church in their Sunday best, to good-natured (and probably drunken) college kids at Temple, to local leaders, to the aforementioned kids and doctors, to completely awesome police officers everywhere, to residents of every part of the city, it really was just one big good time happy party of support and great attitudes. The weather was literally perfect, cooler and in the high 50’s/ low 60’s at the start of the race and warming up to the high 60’s by the end of the morning, sunny and just ideal for a great run. It was 10 miles I definitely will not forget, and I am admittedly hooked. I will be doing it again next year, no doubt.

Part of the reason that I won’t be forgetting this first Broad Street Run is the fantastic experience and perfect day, and the other part is my personal performance. I went into this thinking that 1:40 would be respectable. 10 minute miles seemed reasonable considering the distance, my past performances in longer runs and the sheer volume of people running. I figured that I might have an outside chance of hitting 1:30 if the stars all aligned and everything clicked. I never in my wildest dreams thought that not only would I hit the 90 min mark, but break that as well. It really was not even part of the discussion. But when it was all said and done, I crossed the finish line in 1:28:38. Un-freaking-believable. You may remember that I mentioned in some previous posts that there are certain times that I feel like I hit certain milestones that make me realize that I am really am a runner, or reinforce that fact. This is one of those milestones. Setting a stretch goal that I’m really not sure I can hit, and then BEATING that makes me feel like I can really do this. (…and also makes me feel like I need to start setting some more aggressive goals) The other fact that really makes me proud is the consistency with which I ran it. The race provided split time updates at miles 3,5,7, and the finish line. My pace was always a sub-9 min mile, and all within a few seconds of each other. It’s not like I started out like a speed demon and let that help my overall time later when I slowed down, my split paces were: 3M-8:50/mile, 5M-8:48/mile, 7M-8:51/mile, F-8:52/mile. I Ran fast and strong through the entire course, quite frankly faster than I thought I was able to run. It’s results like this that make me believe that if I really dial in and start training seriously, I can work on getting faster and actually make it happen/ substantial progress. Up until now, my training has been all about just getting the miles in, and that has served me immensely well to this point, but looking ahead it might be time to take things to the next level (And if you know me, I’m “Mr. Next Level”…always looking for what the next step is) by incorporating some structured speed and tempo workouts into the mix. But that’s another story for another post.

Although, the whole “next level” idea does open the door to the last point I wanted to hit on during this recap. I’ve mentioned before on a few occasions that I ran for a charity during this race. What that really means, is that the official charitable partner of the race, the American Cancer Society organizes a team of runners (their program is called “DetermiNation”) who are willing to raise funds to be donated to charity in order for guaranteed admission into the race. In addition to a spot at the starting line, you also get the added benefit of a dedicated team of coaches, the support of a large group of like-minded individuals, And the satisfaction of knowing that all of your training and hard work is really going to something good at same time. I am a huge fan of this concept. The overwhelmingly positive experience that I had during this race was greatly aided by the fact that I was taking part in the race as part of this program.

So the way it works is this, by being a charity runner you are part of the large overall group. In addition to that, you can create your own team when you sign up to run for the charity. My team this year (Team Pegasus) was comprised of myself and two awesome friends, Rock and Donna. We kept things small as we felt our way through everything this first time around. But here’s where the whole “next level” thing is going to come into play.

Instead of just the three of us, I want to see how much noise we can really make next year. Open it up to every and anybody, and really get a good-sized team going. Yes, I knew this is a full year away. There’s a lot of time between now and then, but I’m still all jazzed up about this race now, so what better time to start? So the working plan, at least for now, is to start really looking for interested people later this year, and start piecing together “Team Running My Ass Off”. Make it open to all levels of runners. We can have our own team of people, support each other, help each other out, and again have some good come out of everything by raising funds to donate to charity.  I’ve already had a few people reach out and ask me if this is what I intend to do next year, which really just cemented the plans in my head. So if anybody has any interest whatsoever, let me know. Whether you are a seasoned runner, or if you’re eating your third cupcake of the day as you read this. Either way is all good. We can make this happen if you want it to. There is a year to prepare. I whole heartedly believe that even if you have never run a day in your life, there are plans to ease you into doing it and 10 miles is an attainable (and admirable) goal.

Below are some pictures from before and after the race.

“Team Pegasus”, Me, Donna, and Rock as we were freezing our asses off in the starting corral waiting for the race to begin.

Our team again, just before we hit the starting line and after we lost the hoodies. Ready to run.

After the race I caught up to the now infamous (dare I say “notorious”?) Uncle Mario and my badass cousin Ashley who completed (and totally kicked ass in) her first long distance race.

Donna, Me, and Rock: Post Run. Tired and Happy.

Quick shot of me and my good buddy Steve as we were walking out of the food tent after the race.

A real shot of me and Steve as we were milling around after the race.

And a solo pic of me taken by the reporter from the Philadelphia Inquirer to be used in the paper as a followup to the article they wrote about me. (Really? you want to take a pic of me IMMEDIATELY after running 10 miles?)

**all joking aside on that one, I do owe a huge thank you to Rob Senior of the Philadelphia Inquirer. He wrote an amazingly flattering article about my story and the blog. Very well done, sir. I appreciate it very much.

Body Glide Review

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times. The core readers of this blog tend to be those people who are (or at least recently were) overweight and looking to figure out how to get into everything entailed in the (what is often completely overwhelming) world of fitness. While my next topic really effects everyone, it is especially a point of concern for those who are bigger. There’s no way to dress it up or say it tactfully, when you are bigger, things are going to rub together. For me, it is the inside of my thighs. You would think there was a brushfire going to break out down there. When I first started running, I would rub my thighs raw. It sucks, it hurts, and provides a major distraction.

Even though this topic tends to have the potential to be highly personal and consequently is not always freely talked about, I’m going to go there. I’ll say it again: When I was bigger, I would rub the inside of my thighs absolutely freaking raw. Not only even in working out, in “real life” too: if there was a day where I was walking a whole lot, it would happen then as well. Like it or not, it was part of the package deal of being that big. My legs rubbed together and I had to be ok with that and deal with any of the consequences. I am about to review a product that has helped me completely get rid of this issue, and can most likely help you too.

I have been provided a stick of BodyGlide to use and review for you. (check out their website Here, Facebook Here, and Twitter Here)  The concept is simple, it’s a stick of “anti-chafe balm” that looks like a stick of deodorant, and it is specifically designed to be put in places that rub together to help (just like the name implies) reduce the friction and rubbing and aid in the resulting damage . Seriously, this stuff might very well be worth it’s weight in gold. Here is the deal. You put this stuff on, and it goes on dry, but it provides a slippery surface so that when things (like my thighs) rub together, the friction that would have normally done the damage is reduced/ eliminated. It’s made to be sweat-proof, which is key since I need it to last for a pretty lengthy workout. I see immense value in this product.

The value comes not only in the workout sense, but in the everyday life sense as well. Again, whenever I had a long day of activity ahead of me (perfect example: any given summer day, it was not uncommon to find me going to a Phillies game with a group of friends, cooking out and tailgating in the parking lot for a couple hours before heading into the game. It was understood that the day after it would hurt me to walk) I knew that the very sore and sometimes really downright painful situation unfortunately was part of my reality.

Again, this is such a simple solution, but not one people like to talk about, for two reasons I can see. Both revolve around the issue of being overweight and having certain topics being “taboo” to talk about. 1) In the first person perspective, looking at it as the person who rubs (or the “rubee”, if you will), nobody likes to admit that are so heavy their thighs rub together. I know I didn’t. Because in my experience, fat people don’t sit around with other fat people and talk about being fat, they are just too busy just being themselves and living their life. And they certainly don’t sit around with little skinny people and talk about being fat and the repercussions of it, either. And 2) On the other side of the coin: from an outside perspective, not many, if anybody is comfortable talking to someone who is heavier about that type of topic either (even if it is to offer advice or recommend a product like this), as It runs the risk of being perceived as superficial, judgmental, rude, and in extremely poor taste. Plus, i know that if someone  (skinny or not) asked me something like if I was so big my thighs rubbed together, whether it was coming from a good place or not, I would tell them that I was just fine, thank you very much, not that the condition of my thighs was any of their damn business anyway.

The point here is that I am trying to address is that i have discovered that a lot of the things that have affected me most likely are affecting others as well, and if you can learn from my mistakes and discoveries; if I can introduce you to something that makes your life easier early on, it makes sense to share it. Which is how I come back to BodyGlide.

Enough waxing poetic about it. Time to stop rambling and get into the real deal review. One excerpt from the website that particularly caught my attention speaks directly to the readers of the blog. Specifically geared at the runners:

“Body Glide is #1 Our proprietary formulas are unsurpassed for rubbing. They save our feet from blisters, chafing in the thighs, runner’s nipple, and painful irritation from sports bras. We need and use them in all conditions, hot and humid, cold and dry. And made with plant derived waxes instead of petroleum, oils, and powders that blow away, they stand-up for longer time and distance. More runners trust Body Glide.”

The story with the product is this: it comes in a tube looking exactly like a stick of deodorant. It’s a product that you put on any areas that rub together to reduce the friction of rubbing and help to minimize the negative effects/ resulting damage. It sounds simple, but it does one thing and does it well. Like I mentioned before, this stuff is worth its weight in gold.

I have used it now for several weeks consistently since being provided the sample, and here are my initial thoughts: 1) I love this stuff. It really makes my life easier in terms of not having to worry about the rubbing issue that has plagued me for so long. 2) It’s not noticeable when it’s on. I’m not sitting there with a nasty greasy feeling or residue left on my running shorts. 3) In terms of durability, it stays on till I wash it off. When I run I sweat a lot. A LOT. And even through all the sweating and rubbing, it just keeps working. Some soap and water in the shower takes it off, but to further this and the previous point, the first time I took a shower after running with it, I was wondering why my legs were so “slippery” where I had applied it, because I had forgotten it was on me until I noticed again when I was washing it off. 4) I run 3x a week. The stick that I have been provided has only now begun to be worn down a little, so the stick is going to last me a long time. This is not going to be a product that I have to be running out and grabbing a new one every week. Value wise, it’s giving me a lot of bang for my buck.

Depending on where you shop, you can find it ranging in price anywhere from $6-$10 for a stick. I found the $6 online at Amazon, and I saw the $10 at my local Dicks Sporting Goods. So this will not set you back a lot of money, and again, $10 for a few months of not worrying about if it’s going to hurt to walk the next day? Yes please.

I always try to look at things and point out any negatives as well, but my usual “go-to” items all seem to be negated. Price wise it’s not inaccessible. It is applicable to a wide variety of applications, and it actually delivers on its intended purpose. Even in a stretch, you could say that the Deodorant stick sized container might be too bulky to throw in your pocket and go if you are trying to keep things minimal, but they have even addressed this issue, too. In addition to the regular size, they also sell (in a pack of 3) mini sized containers of it that are made to be discreet enough to be thrown in a pocket, purse, gym bag, or whatever so that you have it without the big ol’ stick…

Body Glide is part of my regular go-to running gear, and I like it so much I wanted to share it with you. Like I said, if I knew about this earlier it would have been a HUGE help to me, especially when I was starting out and this was even more of a prevalent issue than it is today. So check it out. It’s helped me, and odds are it will help you too.

…Along the lines of sharing it with you, the kind folks over at Body Glide have been gracious enough to allow me to hook up a reader with a free stick. Actually, I get to hook up 3 lucky readers, each with a free stick. All you need to do to enter is enter a comment below letting me know why you want to win, go like their Facebook Page or follow them on Twitter, (then come back here and let me know you did so in the comments). One entry for each, so you can get a total of 3 chances at winning. I will use a random number generator to pick the winners in one week’s time. I’ll draw the lucky winners on 5/15 and have a stick sent to them absolutely free so they can try it out.

As always, thanks for reading, and I hope this helps. Till next time, take it easy.

Andy