Take Me Out to the Ball Game--and Score an Entry to Strike Out ALS 5K

Just me and my media team buds after last year's race.

Baseball and beer? They go together: You’re most likely going to sip—or slam—a brew when you’re at the ballpark. Baseball and brats? Maybe it’s a brat or maybe it’s a hot dog, but it’s the meat in a bun that you’re ordering at the concession stand before the 7th inning stretch. But baseball and running? Sure, there’s plenty of running on the field between rounding the bases and sprinting for fly balls. But if you really want a connection between the two sports, or just run a 5K anywhere besides the lakefront or Lincoln Park, you’ll find it at the Strike Out ALS 5K, which does a riff on Take Me Out to the Ballgame that any runner can appreciate.

The Strike Out ALS 5K trades the typical Chicago 5K backdrop—the lakefront, the park, the city streets—for one of the ballpark variety with a course that starts outside U.S. Cellular Field, home of the White Sox, and finishes inside with a loop around the warning track (or at least that's how the course flowed in 2012 and 2013, but more to come on that.) And as its name would imply, it’s a race that sticks with the baseball theme from its location to its beneficiary. The 5K serves as a fundraiser for the Les Turner ALS Foundation, which is “Chicago’s leader in research, patient care, and education about ALS,” according to its website. ALS, short for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, is also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and Gehrig was one of the most iconic and respected players in baseball who unfortunately had to quit the game far too soon.

And the Fit-Kit Goes To...

After being up in the mountains skiing for a week, it's rough getting back into the daily grind. It's even worse when the Olympics--and your favorite winter events like skiing--are airing and you become as obsessed, or more, with watching the two weeks worth of winter sports as you get with the summer edition (skiing is my winter swimming). Add in work and what feels like a lot of catching up, and well, announcing the winner of the Fit-Kit was honestly the last thing on my mind.

But enough whining about why I'm so late in hitting the publish button on this announcement. You'd think it'd be easy with a contest at hand, yet it took me all day (and a skipped workout) to wrap things up. Thanks for your patience!

Without further ado, the winner of the Core Power Fit-Kit is...

POPPY K.! 

Random picker selected your name from the bunch to be the Fit-Kit recipient! To claim your prize, please message contact@fit-ink.com with your mailing address so I can have the Fit-Kit sent to you. Oh and I was warned to tell the winner to allow up to four weeks for delivery. Hope you don't mind waiting for this bag full of goodies--it's worth it though!

Congratulations, Poppy K., and thanks to everyone who shared a comment, followed Fit-Ink on social media and entered to win! Seriously, I wish I had more than one of these to giveaway so there could be more Fit-Ink fans walking around with these Fit-Kits.

Core Power Fit-Kit Giveaway

Sometimes we need a little help with our New Year's resolutions. Take me: the girl who said she'd add more to Fit-Ink in 2014 (sorry about 2013 being so void of content). It's already February and I'm no where near my content goals--and this post, which I had wanted to share more than two weeks ago, is finally going live now. There's the proof that we can all have slip-ups whether they occur in a productivity goal, a weight loss resolution or a fitness plan. According to StatisticBrain.com, almost half of us have infrequent success in achieving our New Year's resolutions. Not good if those goals are to lose weight or stay fit and healthy, two resolutions that crack the top 10.

If your New Year's resolution is a fit one, Core Power, the real-milk based sports recovery drink that was recently named the "Official Protein Drink of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games," wants to help keep you on track. They assembled a Fit-Kit full of tools you can use before, during and after your workouts. We're talking a gym bag, a yoga mat, a stability ball, a workout towel, a spill-proof water bottle, and plenty of Core Power to recharge the body after exercise. What's even better is that we're giving away one of these Fit-Kits courtesy of Core Power!

A Rock 'n' Roll Running Giveaway

The best things in life are free, right? So how's this for a Friday freebie: a race giveaway!

Yes, you read that correctly, we're giving away an entry to Sunday's Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon that includes a pretty awesome VIP package that turns a race morning into a race weekend.

Our friends at Team Refuel have offered up these sweet VIP perks that include:

• A half marathon entry, which would currently cost $150 at the expo. If you want less mileage, there's a 5K mini marathon ($50 at expo, if available).
• A REFUEL visor
• Entry to a pre-race cocktail party that's tonight at theWit hotel's ROOF bar. 
• Access to the VIP area at Sunday's race. Grant Park will be buzzing with runners, but with this pass, you can avoid most of the craziness. The tent has chairs, snacks, drinks, a place to stash your gear (I swear it had one last year), and it's a great place to watch the post-race concert. 

OK, OK, so this is an extension of yesterday's giveaway, but no one entered (where is everyone? too last minute? too hot from these temperatures to think about racing a run?) and we wanted to extend the giveaway for a few more hours.

To enter: leave us a comment saying you want to be entered in this giveaway. If you're the solo commenter, congrats, you win, otherwise we'll choose a winner at random later today. And if you have trouble commenting, just email us at contact@fit-ink.com. But we'll have to cut this off pretty soon to make sure you can get registered to run (as in, the first person who comments WINS).

Who's ready for an awesome weekend of running after this heat wave supposedly vanishes?

Win a Run Rock 'n' Roll Chicago VIP Package

You could run under this rocker at Sunday's race.

Who's racing this weekend? There's the Ironman 70.3 in Racine, the half Ironman distance and sprint distance triathlons in Door County, Wis., the Muddy Buddy, the Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon. If you're signed up for one of these, you couldn't have asked for better summer racing weather with a forecast showing cooler temperatures and sunny days. But you also probably registered, suspecting you might have a hot day to contend with. Lucky you for taking that risk.

Remember how hot and humid it was last year? Yeah, me and my heat-induced puffy fingers do. And I suffered through two too many runs in 90 degree temperatures (Really? At 6:30 p.m.?) earlier this week and don't dare go for a third today. So registering for races that occur during weeks that are historically hot, isn't exactly my MO. Unless I have a specific reason, like doing Racine last year to get a half Ironman under my belt before Ironman Wisconsin or running Rock 'n' Roll to meet Dr. Andy Baldwin (which turned into more of a chase), I'm going to wait on registering until the weather turns. If it doesn't, which is usually the case, I'm out. But if it does, I'm paying a pretty expensive registration fee. Darn you, weather.

My friends at Team Refuel were already kind enough to give me an entry to this Sunday's Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon, so I can run on what's sounding like a perfect summer morning. And the good news for one lucky Fit-Ink reader is that you can run, too. We're giving away a VIP entry to this race on July 21 plus some other cool perks thanks to Team Refuel! Yes, it's last minute, but if you've been training for the Chicago Marathon or another long-distance race, you're already logging that mileage.

Freebie Friday: Score a Clif Gift

I can't decide if I'm more excited about the arrival of Memorial Day weekend--because around here it's really easy to stay active outdoors the entire weekend--or the announcement of Fit-Ink's first-ever giveaway. Judging from the weather report I saw earlier this morning (rain and cold--again--followed by temps nearing 90), I'm going with the latter. Once you read more about this giveaway, I think you'll agree that I made the right choice.

Thanks to our friends at CLIF Bar and their Meet the Moment celebration of adventures, we're giving away our first item, two years in the making you could say, at Fit-Ink. Maybe I shouldn't be making such a big deal about it because in the grand scheme of things that probably seems pathetic to only be offering up a giveaway now. But hey, no complaints from us--we love freebies especially when we can share them with others. And we love CLIF--I can't leave for a hiking trip without a supply of Oatmeal Raisin Walnut bars--so it's a win-win.

But before everyone starts clamoring for their chance to win this prize pack--a caddy with a package of 12 CLIF bars, a marathon hat or water bottle, and a CLIF T-shirt--here are the details to make this a fun contest of sorts. Call it my race instinct--and I don't mean it as a turn-off--but the giveaway was begging to be earned like you earn a medal at the end of a running race. But unlike a marathon or triathlon or stair climb, you won't be huffing and puffing, figuratively speaking, to reach the finish line.

Remember the Meet the Moment information unveiled a week ago? Whether you created a moment on the site--uploaded your picture and added a statement--or you've been pondering what you'd add, we want to hear about your adventures. Add your Moment--the place where you like to play or your dream adventure location--in the comments section below by Friday, June 3, then we'll randomly select a winner and announce it on Saturday, June 4. It's as easy as saying you want to heliski or visit Alaska, those are two moments I'd take if I could. Simple enough, right?

If you need help on choosing a moment to enter Clif's contest, check out this one at My Life Outdoors. Even if you think you lack creativity or a good image (two items I'm questioning about an entry for myself), it's still fun to see how another person's adventures can differ from your own--or change your mind about your all-time favorite.

What's your Meet the Moment? Where do you want to adventure? Share it below for a chance to win.

Photo grabbed from wellsphere.com.