Tuesday, April 12, 2011

ReNew Life Winner and GU Review/Giveaway!

The winner of the ReNew Life giveaway is:
 
Mary!!!

Congratulations!  Email me (40somethingsjourney@gmail.com) your info and I will pass it on to my contact at ReNew Life.  

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And now, my new GU review (sorry, I couldn't resist) and giveaway!

 GU Gels, Chomps and all kinds of Brews!

I like it when the UPS man brings me a package - lately, I never know what's inside.  A few weeks ago, I hit the GU bonanza, thanks to Scott at Outside PR.  Quite honestly, I never knew that GU made so many products, and if you will remember, I had an unwarranted prejudice toward GU because of the texture...not that I had ever TRIED it, mind you - I just was skeeved out by the thought.  And, in this post, I ate crow and apologized to GU, because I discovered that it was yummy.  I was hooked on their Chocolate Outrage energy gel, or as I call it, "melted candy bar" - the cool thing about doing long runs is that you neeeeed to replenish your glycogen stores mid-run, and GU is an easy way to take care of that.  The candy bar part is just a happy bonus.

I love having all the different flavors of GU gels to try - I've been wanting to test out their Cherry Lime Roctane, because it reminds me of a Sonic cherry limeade.  Instead of having anything else to eat one morning before a run, I tried it - pretty tasty...probably would have gotten the total Sonic experience had I chilled the GU beforehand.  They seem to do the trick in giving me the energy I need to keep going on a run, so I plan on continuing to use the GU energy gels during my workouts and long runs.  I'm even going to take some with me on my 10.6 mile walk portion of the Big Sur marathon on May 1st.

GU makes several different types of Brew, which is their version of an electrolyte drink.  The fizzing electrolyte tablets were far and away my favorite - kind of like an Alka-Seltzer for your water bottle.  Just drop a flavored tablet into a cold bottle of water, let it fizz up and dissolve, and there you go - sodium and potassium all mixed up in a tasty way, at only 10 calories per tablet!  So far I've tried the Peach Tea and Lemon-Lime flavors and have liked them quite a bit.  The regular, 140 calorie Brew, that you mix up into a larger amount of water?  And has the same amount of sodium and potassium as the fizzing tablets?  I don't like it all that much.  It's pretty mild in the flavor department, and I guess for 140 calories, I expect more bang for my caloric buck.  I'm sure the overall lightness of the drink would be great about 6 or 7 miles in on a long, hot run - nothing to weigh you down.  But I'd probably opt for the (much) lower calorie tablets. 

I was also given an orange/pineapple flavored packet of the GU Recovery Brew, which is their protein drink.  I have to be honest here - both Jeff and I did not like it.  Not one bit.  I thought it was bitter; Jeff just said it was awful and he refused to drink more than a couple of sips - and Jeff is my human garbage disposal, if that tells you anything about how much he didn't like this product.   

The other product in GU's line is their Chomps - kind of like their gels, only in a chewable form about the size of a gumdrop.  And yes, it's another form of sanctioned candy, which of course I love!  I've liked all the flavors so far - my favorite being the slightly tart Cranberry Apple.  Only thing about these is that they are a little sticky, so your fingers end up sticky - just a heads up on that.

And now for the fun part - the giveaway!  For your chance to win a mix of GU flavors and products, just leave me a comment saying what flavor GU gel you like, or would like to try - go HERE and HERE to see all the flavors...if anybody picks the "Just Plain" flavor you have to explain it in the comments, because I do not understand WHY you would choose that over Chocolate Outrage.  Just sayin. ;)

This giveaway is open to both U.S. and Canada - woohoo, eh?!  Winner will be chosen by Random.org and announced next Tuesday.



FTC disclosure:  I received a bunch of GU products to try.  Opinions expressed are mine, all mine.  Giveaway will be fulfilled by Outside PR.

26 comments:

  1. Chocolate Outrage is my favorite!!! Taste like chocolate brownie batter!!! Yum Yum!

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  2. It's not fair boohoohoo I want to get in too.

    Now if you'll excuse me I go sit in a corner and cry ............. :)

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  3. I just cannot do the GU. It won't go down! I must do something wrong.

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  4. I tried the vanilla GU that was given out during my half marathon. I didn't love it, but I'd be willing to try the Chocolate!

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  5. Never tried any before but how can you go wrong with Chocolate Outrage with the Strawberry banana a close second.

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  6. The only one I've tried is the Tri-Berry and it was okay but I'm not a huge berry fan. A friend let me try it. But I'd be willing to try some other flavors definitely!

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  7. Hmmmm....I guess giving you a box of chocolate GU wasn't the best gift on Saturday. LOL You get so many cool things to try!
    Since I think that having a packet of sugar during a race might put me into a coma and/or cause Exorcist style hurling, I'm not entering the contest. But I can vouch for what you say about Chocolate Outrage. My daughter said it tasted like chocolate icing. It's sooooo good.

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  8. I have never tried Gu, you would like too :)

    And I am a chocolate girl :)

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  9. I never had GU but we bought a vanilla bean one the other day to try. That chocolate sounds amazing so I'd like to try that!

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  10. I have always wanted to try the Chomps! I love anything gummy. It would have to be a fruity flavor for me. Cran-Apple sounds yum!

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  11. I'm just starting out walking/jogging (I have a 5 mile race this weekend and 7.46 mile race on 5/1)and would love to try either the Chocolate Outrage, Espresso (I'm a coffee fanatic) or the Cherry Limeade (I too love Sonic's cherry limeade drink) :-)

    PS: I love your blog!

    -Katy

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  12. I love berries - I heart them, love them, <3 them, whatever - so I would absolutely like to try the Tri-Berry or the Blueberry Pomegranate. And I want to give GU Chomps a try! I workout early, before I have time to eat so I think I could really get down with a breakfast of candy-like substance. :) That would be a motivator to get up and get moving on those mornings when I just want to sleep in.

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  13. Who knew there was so much to say about GU?

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  14. I have tried and LOVE Chocolate Outrage. I would like to try Mint Chocolate (can you tell that I'm a chocoholic?)
    The GU Brew sounds interesting too.

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  15. I have never seen the jet blackberry - I love blackberries, PLUS with the word "jet" in the title, it has to make me faster:)

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  16. I don't need to win anything but I'm happy you get UPS packages.

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  17. I love GU and I'd love to try their new fizzing tablets - they sound super convenient!

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  18. Gotta go with strawberry banana because as of last week, I'm not allowed to have caffeine anymore. Still trying to adjust to that .... forgive me as I go sob into my empty coffee cup.

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  19. Blackberry was my old stand by last year, but I've since tried Chocolate Outrage and it's now tied as my favorite. What a great giveaway! Thanks for hosting this one.

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  20. Oh, oh, oh! I want to win! :)

    I would love to try the Chocolage Outrage...need some new products for the next race! :)

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  21. Gosh, I like them all, but the Jet Blackberry is pretty delicious. During my last half, I was down to a sample of Plain. I was expecting it to be tasteless and didn't know if I'd be able to get it down. It's pretty much just sugar-flavored and was that was fine by me!

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  22. I would love to try the chocolate outrage. Chocolate makes everything better!

    momtodc(at)gmail(dot)com

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