I Am Running With GU - Do You Want To?

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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):

• "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
• Mention this giveaway on your blog.  If you actually mention it in a post and not just your sidebar this entry doubles to 2.

***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!