Finished my first non-fiction book today. I chose Hard Work Pays Off by Mat Fraser. Seemed like a fitting start to doing 75 Hard. It was a good mixture of personal anecdotes, training advice, workout ideas, and recipes.
I learned a lot about Fraser in the book, but would’ve enjoyed more stories! I will go back to look at some of the workouts and recipes.
I’ve been a fan of boxed collections since back in 2013 when StrideBox launched as the go to boxed collection for runners. I wrote about my experiences with StrideBox here and on their 1st and 2nd Birthdays. During the time I got them it was a great value and I got some cool gizmos. It was really nutrition (gels, energy drink tablets, etc) focused so when I got injured I stopped getting it.
Then I found Cairn, which is more broadly focused on “outdoor adventures.” They had lot of cool gizmos and gadgets for an outdoor lifestyle – camping, backpacking, etc. Some of the items were things I would never have bought because I don’t see the value in them – but sometimes it was amazing and worth every penny!! I had to end this box set to help ease the family budget last year!
My wife gets MightyNest which is kitchen gadgets. And my dog gets a BarkBox. You get the idea right… we like getting boxes of goodness each month!!
I’m kind of all over the place with fitness lately – running, road biking, mountain biking, CrossFit, Cyclocross, skiing, bouldering, etc… I had looked at several different boxes related to CrossFit things but none of them really caught my eye or seemed like a good value. I’ve heard about Gainz Boxes for awhile, but it wasn’t until CrossFit Athlete Cole Sager posted about them with a discount code that I decided to pull the trigger and get one.
It arrived this past week and I finally opened it up. It happened to be the Emily Bridgers box with lots of cool stuff. From FitAid was a hat, shirt, can of LifeAid, and socks! It also included some Roasted Broad Bean Crisps from Enlightened and some wristbands from Victory Grips. Plus some kind of discount code or coupon for all the companies mentioned.
Not a bad deal overall.
I was only a subscriber to Stridebox for a short time in their inaugural year, but they continue to impress and go the extra mile. For the 2nd year in a row, I got a Happy Birthday box from them. No, not my birthday… their birthday! I wrote about their birthday box last year and one of the boxes I got in their inaugural year.
Stridebox was at the forefront of the monthly subscriber revolution. At least in my eyes, now there are a lot of them from snack food to men’s clothing. I originally signed up in early 2013 and enjoyed getting boxes for almost a year. The boxes contained a variety of sample nutritional products and as time went on more actual products that were just starting out. And it seems more Stridebox branded products as well.
The Stridebox box is a great size for organizing and having around the house. Every box also comes with nice tissue paper wrapping, although not usually gold! And the handwritten (really?) cards are a nice touch! This year’s birthday box had less nutrition and more products!
From the top, clockwise:
It is probably safe to say that this box is worth $15. The question is more about is it $15 worth of stuff I would have bought on a monthly basis? When I was running consistently and training for longer races I easily used all the nutrition products and some of the other random ones. Now that my mileage is way down I don’t go through nutrition products at the same rate.
I would still recommend signing up for Stridebox. If you haven’t why not?
If you haven’t been to Mill City Running what are you waiting for?
The newest running store in Minneapolis has everything you need and is located in Northeast right across the Mississippi River from downtown. They are super-engaged with social media and probably have one of the busiest calenders of any running store in the area. But it isn’t just your normal group runs or chats with a podiatrist.
They have flap-jack Friday runs (the 6:30am start is too late in the morning for me), Roga (running and yoga) next one on March 22, and a chat about Crossfit for Runners on March 18. They’ve also got plenty of group runs and group run challenges for all levels of runner!
My daughter and I popped in one afternoon to pick up a gift certificate and they have toys for your little one to play with while you are getting fitted for shoes!
I will be buying my next pair of shoes from them and I hope to be able to make it out to some of their events.
Stridebox is celebrating their 1st birthday!
From their Facebook page:
I first signed up for Stridebox after seeing a post on Running is Funny. Who wouldn’t want a box of running related stuff sent to them each month?
It was a great deal and I got lots of good sample products in the mail. But late last year I needed to cancel my subscriber as we were trying to cut costs. So imagine my surprise/confusion a few weeks ago when I got a box in the mail with Stridebox on the side.
As a birthday present to themselves they sent anyone who had been a subscriber a free box!!
For their birthday they sent me Clean Bottle’s The Runner, About Time Whey Protein Isolate – Birthday Cake flavored, a reflective snap bracelet, and a nice birthday card!
You should check out Stridebox!!