I Am Running With GU - Do You Want To?

If you have trained for and run a half marathon or rocked the 26.2 I am sure that you have heard of GU Energy.  I have used GU over the years for the multiple endurance events I have run in, but I have also tried other brands and other products to make sure what I am using is giving me the best energy and sustaining power for those long runs.

When you get to that distance where a little something extra is needed to keep you going it is amazing how much different each product can be.  Each time I have been there I have noticed a definite increase in energy shortly after using the GU's I brought along to get me through the run.

As I mentioned earlier I have tried other products.  Some other products have also given me a similar boost, but I can honestly say that there were many that left me wanting more..... much more!  Of the different brands that did give me the boost that I needed I have to say that GU was the easiest to carry, and easiest to open, especially following that 15-18 mile mark when my energy was really starting to be a precious, yet waining, commodity.

I am generally a very plain consumer.  When I find something I like as far as flavor I usually stick to it.  In the past when I found a somewhat plain GU flavor that I liked you could find me at the local running store with a half dozen or more of them in hand.  Recently I was given the opportunity to try a sampler pack of GU products (the same that you can win below!)  As you can imagine a sampler pack is anything but plain and bland.

When I opened the package I found all kinds of flavors and products that I would never try on my own.  I was excited to try some of them but I was a little apprehensive about some of the others.  A couple weeks ago I ran with and tried some of these products for the first time, you can read more about what I tried and what I thought about it by going over and reading about that 13.1 training run.

This past weekend I went back out for another couple long runs, one of them a 10 mile trail run, and the other a 15.1 mile road run.  I took some GU for both of these runs, but used it very differently.  On the 10 mile run I started off with some of the Chocolate Outrage which I have been a bit worried to use midway through a long run.  I was pleasantly surprised how it tasted and that it didn't give me a heavy type feeling like I was expecting.

During the 15 miler the next day I started with some Espresso Love and used some of the Jet Blackberry and Vanilla Bean during the run.  I finished off the run with some Orange Pineapple Recovery Brew, but this time did a much better job of mixing it up  Even though I am old I still can learn new things :)

I have tried many other flavors and even some from the Roctane line of products.  I really don't know what all the differences are with the Roctane line, other than it is "GU to a higher power", I guess a bit more reading is in order.  I have found all of them to be pretty good, although some of the flavors may disagree with me a bit at the 18 mile mark so I probably will be holding off purchasing any of those.  I also received some of the GU Chomps which I have not yet had the opportunity to try yet.

I am sure many of you are right in the middle of Marathon and Half Marathon training season as I am (I just recently committed to the Publix Georgia Marathon, and you can read more by clicking through to the announcement post.)  What better timing than now for you to stumble across a giveaway for a GU sampler pack.

The Giveaway!

You too can try out a Mixture of GU like I did.  The giveaway will end on February 15th to make sure that none of you guys think you are going to win a GU pack to give to your sweetheart on Valentine's Day...... not that any of the GU products wouldn't say I Love You better than a box of chocolates!  The winner will  be chosen using random.org on February 16th.  Unfortunately this giveaway is only available in the US and Canada.

Required:

  • Check out the GU Energy website www.guenergy.com and check out their products.  Stop back by and tell me what flavor or product that you would like to try that you haven't tried before.

Additional Entries (1 each):
***Once you have done each of the above make sure you leave a comment here on the blog telling me what you have done.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.  Make sure you take the time to share this with all your favorite runners.  You can even tell that runner next to you in your next race that they too could win by just searching for "26.2 Quest" in their favorite search engine.  Stay tuned as I have a lot of great giveaways coming soon that I am sure you will not want to miss!

68 comments:

  1. -I haven't tried the Cherry Lime Roctane, but I'm gonna.. maybe tmw.
    -"Like" the GU Energy Facebook Fanpage and write something on the fanpage wall. - done & done
    -Follow GU Energy on Twitter and tweet your favorite flavor by clicking here - done.
    -Follow 26.2 Quest over there --> done.
    -"Like" 26.2 Quest on Facebook and write something on the fanpage wall - done done.
    -Follow me at @virtual4now and tweet this giveaway by clicking here - donedone!

    awesome contest!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I haven't tried the GU Recovery Brew Lemon.
    "Like" the GU Energy Facebook Fanpage and write something on the fanpage wall.Check!
    Follow 26.2 Quest. Check!
    "Like" 26.2 Quest on Facebook and write something on the fanpage wall. Check!
    Share this giveaway on Facebook doing an @ mention of 26.2 Quest. Check!
    Mention this giveaway on your blog. If you actually mention it in a post and not just your sidebar this entry doubles to 2. Check!
    www.jadonross.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. -Funny that you posted this today. While I was out I bought a canister of orange-pineapple GU Recovery. I will be trying it over my next few weeks of training.
    -I like 26.2 Quest on Facebook.
    -I follow GU Energy on Twitter
    -I follow 26.2 Quest on Twitter
    -I like GU energy on Facebook

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  4. I have tried the GU recovery but would love to!

    I like you, 26.2, on FB

    I don't Twitter :(

    I follow GU energy on FB

    Thanks, Tim!!

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  5. I'd like to try the Strawberry Banana Gu gel. I've also mentioned my favorite flavor on Twitter and mentioned you on Twitter as well.

    I used 5 Jet Blackberry Gu's to get me through my first marathon and they seemed to work great!

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  6. I run with Gu and nothing else get me through the long runs as well as Gu does. I would love to try Choc Mint as we don't get that in SA. Having said that I'm not sure if I can enter from South Africa...
    I follow and like all except Twitter. I'm not on Twitter.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I used to have 4 GU Chomps (strawberry) before a race but they get stuck in your teeth! Can drive you crazy.

    During the race I'll have a GU every 4 miles, but make sure I hit every h20 stop along the way. These days I'm using Roctane (blueberry pomegranate) with 2x caffeine. I've also used espresso love and vanilla bean but the taste clash with gatorade isn't exactly a winning combo so i stick with with fruit-like flavors.

    On a 26.2 run that equals six packs of GU to carry, and I normally tuck three in each pocket. Can be a bit cumbersome (but what else can you do?) And someone recommended Honey Stinger instead of GU - have you tried it? I am going to give it a shot my next long run.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Just wanted to mention that I changed the way the entries count because some of you were not doing it the way I had lined up. If I left it the way it was I was going to have to disqualify a lot of entries and I didn't want to have to do that.

    None of you will get any less entries than what you thought you were going to get, and some of you that did everything exactly right will actually get more than you thought you were going to get.

    If you go back and read it again you may actually have a chance at a few more entries than originally.

    Sorry about this, I hope I have made it a little easier to understand and easier for me to count now. (I am still learning!!!)

    Thank you everyone for the comments/entries so far, and Johann.... you are right, but I am leaving your entry in and if you win I will find something to do for you and then pick another winner. I hate for you and other readers of mine that these are not available outside the US/Canada.

    Sorry all for my confusion!

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  9. I mentioned the contest in my latest blog post this morning.

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  10. Let's see...
    1 - I would like to try the CHerry Lime Roctane and the new Gu Energy Brew Electrolyte tabs that come out in March.
    1- Liked Gu on Facebook
    1 - Wrote on the Gu wall on Facebook
    1 - Following Gu now on Twitter
    1 - Tweeted that my favorite flavor is Pineapple Roctane
    1 - Following your blog
    1 - Following you on Twitter
    1 - Tweeted your contest link

    ReplyDelete
  11. 1 - I'm looking forward to trying the new GU Energy Brew Electrolyte tabs and both of the new flavors.
    1 - "Like" the GU Energy Facebook Fanpage
    Write something on the GU Energy Fanpage wall.
    1 - Follow GU Energy on Twitter
    1 - Tweeted that my favorite flavor is Vanilla Bean
    1 - "Like" 26.2 Quest on Facebook
    1 - Write something on the 26.2 Quest Fanpage wall
    1 - Shared this giveaway on Facebook doing an @ mention of 26.2 Quest and linking here: http://bit.ly/gugiveaway
    1- Follow @virtual4now
    1 - Tweeted this giveaway
    2 - Mentioned this giveaway on my blog. http://synapticramblings.blogspot.com/2011/02/what-do-you-fuel-up-with.html

    ReplyDelete
  12. forgot the 1- in front of Write something on the GU Energy Fanpage wall. but I did that as well

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  13. i would love to try the brew. I am a bit nervous to though buut I have liked everything else I have tried (which is only like 3 flavors of normal GU...) I want to try the roctane too!!

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  14. I can't wait till the new Gu tabs come out in March!!
    1-Liked Gu on Facebook
    1- Wrote on Gu FB wall
    1- Following your blog
    1- Following you on FB
    1- Wrote on your FB wall
    1- Shared the giveaway on my FB page!
    1- Following Gu on Twitter
    1- Tweet "My fav Gu is Mandarin Orange!
    1- Tweet about the giveaway.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I am training for my first Half-Ironman distance event. I have come to depend on GU Strawberry Banana as my race energy source. I would love to try the following gels in the future: Chocolate Outrage, Tri-Berry, and Expresso Love. Thank you for such a wonderful an trusted product.

    John

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  16. I would love to try the Cherry Lime Roctane--sounds yummy!
    I linked you on my blog

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  17. I love the vanilla bean gels--been using them for years.
    Linking on my blog
    I follow you here
    I follow you on FB
    I follow GU on FB

    ReplyDelete
  18. DONE-
    "Liked" the GU Energy Facebook Fanpage
    Wrote something on the GU Energy Fanpage wall.
    Following GU Energy on Twitter
    Tweeted your favorite flavor
    Following 26.2 Quest
    "Liked" 26.2 Quest on Facebook
    Wrote something on the 26.2 Quest Fanpage wall
    Shared this giveaway on Facebook
    Following at @virtual4now
    Tweeted this giveaway

    whew.. lol :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. I am follower! What an awesome giveaway!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I can't do gels, but I love Gu Chomps. Orange is my favorite.

    I liked 26.2 Quest on FB.
    I posted on the wall.
    I liked Gu on FB.
    I posted this challenge on FB.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Thank you for this chance to win. I have performed all the social media tasks asked and even included this in a blog I just compiled and posted to both m personal facebook page, company facebook page and twitter account as well as to my website www.sandyaltman.com.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I haven't tried the new Cherry Lime or Peach Tea.

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  23. I mentioned your giveaway in a post (set to post tomorrow afternoon):
    pretendthisisreal.blogspot.com

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  24. I have tried a few of the Gu Gels. But I have never tried the Chomps, so I would like to try the Watermelon Chomps.

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  25. I'd love to try the cherry lime rocktane!

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  26. Ooh, I'd love to try the new rocktane flavors. I discovered the pineapple this summer and went through at least one full box during marathon training in the fall!

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  27. I follow @GUEnergy on twitter. @SwimBikeRunDC

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  28. I am a huge fan of gu, and I would love to try to cherry lime roctane! Sounds so good, usually I am a chocolate outrage kind of girl.

    ReplyDelete
  29. I like vanilla bean, but the Cherry Lime could be interesting. Kinda sounds good!

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  30. Shared on FB (on the new MvM page!).

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  31. It's in my Mom vs. Marathon Giveaways sidebar. No time for full post right now...

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  32. OK. Tweeted real quick. The link doesn't work for me on my work computer, so I had to recreate in TweetDeck. Hope it worked!

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  33. So I'm super excited about the possibility of a sampler! I am in the process of training for my very first full marathon. I just tried my first GU's two weeks ago during my runs! I tried (and liked) the vanilla bean flavor...but I am interested in the Rocktane products, and any flavors of anything else EXCEPT pineapple.

    -I "liked" GU Energy and 26.2 on Facebook.
    -I already followed GU Energy on Twitter (they retweeted this contest!)
    -I followed you on Twitter (I'm @sarahATC!)
    -I tweeted my favorite flavor and the contest!!

    Thanks!!

    ReplyDelete
  34. # Like" the GU Energy Facebook Fanpage
    # Write something on the GU Energy Fanpage wall.
    # Follow GU Energy on Twitter
    # Follow 26.2 Quest over there -->
    # "Like" 26.2 Quest on Facebook
    # Write something on the 26.2 Quest Fanpage wall
    Follow me at @virtual4now
    Tweet this giveaway by clicking here

    WOO. done!
    this is an amazing blog- LOVE IT!

    ReplyDelete
  35. Great giveaway!

    Done with each:

    •"Like" the GU Energy Facebook Fanpage
    •Write something on the GU Energy Fanpage wall.
    •Follow GU Energy on Twitter
    •Tweet your favorite flavor by clicking here
    •Follow 26.2 Quest over there -->
    •"Like" 26.2 Quest on Facebook
    •Write something on the 26.2 Quest Fanpage wall
    •Share this giveaway on Facebook doing an @ mention of 26.2 Quest and linking here: http://bit.ly/gugiveaway
    •Follow me at @virtual4now
    •Tweet this giveaway by clicking here

    ReplyDelete
  36. I did all of the following:

    "Like" the GU Energy Facebook Fanpage
    Wrote something on the GU Energy Fanpage wall.
    Followed GU Energy on Twitter
    Tweeted my favorite flavor
    Followed 26.2 Quest
    "Liked" 26.2 Quest on Facebook
    Wrote something on the 26.2 Quest Fanpage wall
    Follow me at @virtual4now
    Tweeted this giveaway

    ReplyDelete
  37. I am, as always, torn between Tri-Berry and Espresso Love GU.

    I follow you on Twitter (@NickiinNY).
    I follow GU on Twitter.
    I have retweeted your giveway.

    ReplyDelete
  38. I really need to try the new cherry lime roctaine!

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  39. I like the GU energy facebook page

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  40. I'm game for trying Cherry Lime Roctane, never had that flavor. I also follow you over there --->

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  41. Thank you all for the entries. The entries will be tabulated today and a winner chosen.

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  42. I'm game for trying Cherry Lime Roctane, never had that flavor. I also follow you over there --->

    ReplyDelete
  43. I am a huge fan of gu, and I would love to try to cherry lime roctane! Sounds so good, usually I am a chocolate outrage kind of girl.

    ReplyDelete
  44. I'd love to try the cherry lime rocktane!

    ReplyDelete
  45. I mentioned your giveaway in a post (set to post tomorrow afternoon):
    pretendthisisreal.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  46. Thank you for this chance to win. I have performed all the social media tasks asked and even included this in a blog I just compiled and posted to both m personal facebook page, company facebook page and twitter account as well as to my website www.sandyaltman.com.

    ReplyDelete
  47. I am training for my first Half-Ironman distance event. I have come to depend on GU Strawberry Banana as my race energy source. I would love to try the following gels in the future: Chocolate Outrage, Tri-Berry, and Expresso Love. Thank you for such a wonderful an trusted product.

    John

    ReplyDelete
  48. i would love to try the brew. I am a bit nervous to though buut I have liked everything else I have tried (which is only like 3 flavors of normal GU...) I want to try the roctane too!!

    ReplyDelete
  49. I haven't tried the GU Recovery Brew Lemon.
    "Like" the GU Energy Facebook Fanpage and write something on the fanpage wall.Check!
    Follow 26.2 Quest. Check!
    "Like" 26.2 Quest on Facebook and write something on the fanpage wall. Check!
    Share this giveaway on Facebook doing an @ mention of 26.2 Quest. Check!
    Mention this giveaway on your blog. If you actually mention it in a post and not just your sidebar this entry doubles to 2. Check!
    www.jadonross.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete