JORD watch review and giveaway

Imagine my surprise when I was contacted last week by the awesome people at JORD watches asking if I would be interested in collaborating with them on a watch review and giveaway. I know I do reviews and giveaways but my genre is typically running and fitness related. I thought, what the hey, I'll look and see what they are all about and oh my, they have some of the nicest watches. 

My JORD watch arrived very quickly and in a gorgeous wood box. Inside the box contained the watch around a small pillow, extra links and 2 cleaning towels, along with a tube of cleaning oil to ensure that the wood band stays in good condition. The box also has a small drawer at the bottom of it to keep anything extra. 

When I opened that box and saw how gorgeous my JORD watch was, I was so ecstatic. I mean, they look beautiful on their website but pictures just don't do the watches justice. They are so much nicer in person. The face of the watch is a little larger than I am used to but it still looks amazing on my wrist. 

 

I love everything about this watch, it has a gorgeous color for the face and the band and it is very well crafted. The even offer watch bands for your apple Iwatch on their site.  My favorite attribute of this watch is the clasp. While it is very secure, it is super easy to put on and take off yourself. You just press the sides of the clasp to release it, and when you put it on you just snap each side back on. 

Now that I've told you how awesome is is, I'm sure you want to run out and buy it :D I have good news, I am doing a giveaway. Winner gets $100 off plus FREE SIZING and FREE SHIPPING! If you don't want to wait, I'm also offering a $25 coupon code that will be good during the entire length of the giveaway, the code is pamdemonium.  If you are looking for a nice watch, you definitely need to check out the different styles JORD offers.

**I was provided this watch for free in exchange for an honest review of their product. ** 

River to Sea 6/12 hr Race Review

Yesterday I ran my first ever 6 hr trail race, River To Sea 6/12 hr Race. Over the past few months since I registered, I had a few oh my God, what did I get myself into, and why did I let Monica talk me into this, especially over the past month or so when my training runs got long. But I pushed through and completed all my training runs, so I knew I was as prepared as I could be, at least I thought so.

My friend Dori and I decided we would tackle this experience together and rode down the night before to packet pickup. Super organized packet pickup at a great little restaurant in Flagler Beach called the Beachfront Grille decided for me that this race was going to be good. We decided to eat there, and we both had amazing meals. Dori had a cheeseburger, but I pulled out all the stops and had prime rib..... both were super delicious and the waitress was amazing.

Sleeping was crap, because this was my first long distance trail race, and I was super nervous. We got up super early and headed out to Gamble Rogers Park. I have to say this is one of the most organized races I have ever competed in. Super easy parking and easy to find starting line. We started about on time, and I continued with the intervals I was training with.... 30/30s. Everything was going on point and according to plan... though I didn't have much more of a goal than to finish without dying, until about mile 6 when I tripped over a stump and jarred my back. From there on I could do 2 laps of intervals and 2 laps of walks before I took a ten minute break and that was how I completed my race.

 

I had really hoped to get over 20 miles in, but in the end 16 was all I could manage. I was a tad disappointed but the race experience was so much more than the run itself. This trail run was SO MUCH FUN! Great people, great food, and just a great experience overall. Dawn Lisenby is an amazing race director and she has the best volunteers. I have never seen a race director interact so much with the participants. I considered her a friend by my first rest break. I truly recommend doing any races put on by East Coast Trail Racing. This easily became my favorite race even though it was the most difficult race I have ever run, and I cannot wait to run Jack's 30K Trail Race next month. If this looks fun, register here and run it with me :D

Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn't mention the amazing photographer that they had there, Island Girl Images. She put all our pictures online for free, and actually got some pretty good ones of me. If you want to check our her pictures from River to Sea, check them out here .







A few takeaways from the race -

1. Even if you have a goal, don't be disappointed if you don't meet it. Just enjoy the experience.
2. Trail races are awesome, everyone becomes a friend.
3. Great race directors make a race!
4. Nothing feels better than a pair of flip flops after a race.