WIN A Pretty Muddy 5K Entry $69.50 Value Each (2 Available) #PrettyChi #fitness

WIN a $69.50 Pretty Muddy Women's Mud Run Entry for Milwaukee WI, Chicago IL, or Richmond, VA (2 available)!

Here at ChiIL Mama, it's been our great pleasure to be part of The Team Pretty Muddy Blogger Network for all 3 years of their existence now. Last summer I was in their first Family Wave EVER, right here in the Chicago region with my two kids and a friend of ours who is the daughter of a breast cancer survivor who ran in an earlier Pretty Muddy wave with a group of survivors.  We had a BLAST and highly recommend it!!

Click here for our full photo filled (& mud filled) recap.

Disclosure: ChiIL Mama is elated to be partnering again with Pretty Muddy for the 3rd year. Thanks to Pretty Muddy for providing our giveaway tickets. As always, all opinions, photos, and experiences are our own.

Enter HERE for your chance to WIN!

We're giving away TWO entries to Pretty Muddy to 2 of our lucky readers. ChiIL out with ChiIL Mama and do something great for your body and spirit. Mud runs are FUN!  Pretty Muddy also donates to cancer research, so you can do some social good by running as well.

Entries open nation wide and can be used in ANY upcoming 2014 Pretty Muddy races. Enter through midnight Tuesday, July 29th. Spread the word via social media for additional entries. Check back with ChiIL Mama like we vote in Chi, IL... early and often for more great giveaways, interviews, news, reviews, original content & photo/video filled features. 

UPCOMING MUD RUNS:

August 2nd Milwaukee, WI
August 16th Chicago, IL
September 20th Richmond, VA


Super Grrrrrrrrls, Sage & Leah.




Team ChiIL Mama Vs. MUD.  Bring it!! Dugan, Sage & Leah are ready.




Go at your own pace. Walk-run-slither-crawl... Stay and play or do fun obstacles as many times as you want. Everyone who crosses the finish line gets a medal!

Kids 13 and under (female or male) are just $25 and run in the Family Wave at 1pm

Pretty Muddy is a 5k adventurous obstacle course mud run for any woman who wants to get outside, spend time with friends and have fun.

– 5k Course (3.1 miles, run or walk)
– Women Only (sorry, guys)
– Mud (lots of it!)
– Architectural Obstacles (much better than shabby hay bales and shaky plywood)
– Pretty Epic Finish Line Party (Entertainment, music, drinks & celebration galore)

Click here for more info and to register today.

Disclosure: Once again, ChiIL Mama is elated to be partnering again with Pretty Muddy for the 3rd year. Thanks to Pretty Muddy for providing our giveaway tickets. As always, all opinions, photos, and experiences are our own.

Storm the Stadium – Chicago’s Longest & Only Open-Air Stair Climb – Set to Scale U.S. Cellular Field, Sep. 6

Save the Date and Train Away

Enter before Aug 9 for the biggest savings

Chicago’s only open-air and easily most challenging stair climb, Storm the Stadium is set to scale U.S. Cellular Field on Saturday, Sep. 6.  Boasting almost triple the number of stairs of the Willis Tower, Storm the Stadium is one of the country’s longest consecutive stair climbs, challenging participants to walk, run or crawl up and down a total of 6,000 stairs.

Adding to the team-building camaraderie of the extreme event (and reinforcing its butt-kicking bravado), climbers will be divided into three teams, each captained by “Survivors” from CBS-TV’s hit reality series. Challengers can select the celebrity Survivors’ team on which they want to compete, and corresponding climb start time of 8:30, 9:30 or 10:30 a.m., when registering on-line. Participants will be sent off in waves of 350 every 10 seconds during their designated time block, and the team with the lowest average climb time (adjusted with penalty points for any team members who don’t scale all 6,000 stairs) will be declared the winner.

            

For those not up for the full 6,000-stair challenge, a half-climb of 1,500 stairs up and 1,500 stairs down will be offered at 11:30 a.m. There’s also a growing elite bracket for those proficient climbers with previous competitive stair climb experience, which will open the event at 8 a.m.

            

Storm the Stadium debuted in fall of 2012 with its inaugural event at Soldier Field. That event saw close to 1,000 climbers pushing their endurance to its limits, as blaring music spurred them on, Rocky-style. Organizers anticipate double the participants this September, as the event has attracted the attention of local challenge-seekers and national stair climbing devotees alike. 2014 beneficiaries of Storm the Stadium’s Charity Partner Program are Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago, and Special Olympics.

            

For additional information or to register to participate in this year’s Storm the Stadium challenge, visit www.stormthestadium.com. The entry fee is $55 until Aug. 9; $65, Aug. 10 to Sep. 1, and $75 the week leading up to the event.

Get Your Family Fit With ibitz and Best Buy #ibitzatBestBuy #ad #fitness #healthyliving

My husband and I had the lofty goal to lose weight last year... a lot of weight. Instead we both gained. It was a long, cold, winter in Chicago! Now that spring is here, our family's made a pact to work out together, and we're starting off bit by bit with ibitz Wireless Activity Monitors from Best Buy, for adults and kids.  They come in loads of playful colors for both the kids' & adult versions, and stay in place on shoes or waist.

ibitz™ by GeoPalz® wireless pedometer 

Disclaimer:  The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free.

The new ibitz Kid and Adult Wireless Pedometers, are physical activity based devices and apps that wirelessly sync to your iOS Bluetooth 4.0® (BLE) phone or tablet and allow adults and children their own unique experience with personalized apps. 

The ibitz Unity for adults tracks steps, distance, weight (added manually), height, overall physical activity, even BMI, and allows them to incorporate their family and friends. Now you are able to form groups and post your progress on social media.  Accountability is good and there's strength in numbers. 

I'm enjoying my ibitz because I finally feel like I'm making progress, a little bit at a time, even when I don't have an hour for the gym each day. ibitz counts it all, and every bit adds up.  I was excited to discover I walked OVER 6 miles, just covering the C2E2 Comic and Entertainment Expo at McCormick Place Convention Center.  And my treadmill desk helps, too, so I can slim down my in box while slimming down elsewhere as well. Look out National Restaurant Association Convention, this week end... I'm going to walk off all those tasty samples and ibitz will prove it!

My 5th grade daughter, the competitive gymnast, works out with her team 12 hours a week, so she's golden on the workout front. She knows the value of conditioning and is enjoying the way iBitz Kids rewards her for her workouts in fun, tangible ways.  

The ibitz for kids wireless pedometer syncs to a rewards platform app so it's completely customizable to age and interests. Parents can set goals and rewards such as play time, screen time, or an adventure with a parent.  Now you are also able to earn coins and content on Disney's Club Penguin™!

My 7th grade son plays team ultimate frisbee, but he's more of an honors student, art geek than an athlete. So ibitz has been great for him to see how much daily gym class, ultimate and walking to and from the city bus to school adds up. The ibitz PowerKey-Kids box states that it's great for kids, tweens and teens and it's true! With an age suggestion of 5+, we were afraid it would skew a bit young, but my kids are digging it!

ibitz clips on shoes & hips and stays there till you take it off:

iBitz Wireless Activity Monitor challenges your child to keep the GeoBotz character healthy with physical activity, nutritious food and plenty of water. 

The ibitz, by GeoPalz wireless pedometers, makes investing in a healthy future fun, intelligent, and affordable.

*Please note: This devise is NOT Android Compatible

Power-Key For Kids Features: 

*available in 7 kid-friendly colors (We got funky, fun neon orange!)

*free iOS app* syncs device wirelessly (Easy set up.)

*syncs via Bluetooth 4.0 (BLE)

*tracks activity

*set goals and rewards

*water-resistant

*durable clip for hip and shoe (Metal clip that stays tight.)

*stores 30 days of activity earn parent directed rewards earn coins and content on Disney’s Club Penguin (This site is one of our long time favorites and highly recommended for the 5-10 year old set!)

Available at Best Buy:

iBitz - Adult Unity Wireless Activity Monitor – Reg retail $49.99           

iBitz - Kids PowerKey Wireless Activity Monitor – Reg retail $34.99

Disclaimer:  Once again, the reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free

Don't Tread on Me: A New Revolution in Treadmill Desks #TreadmillDesk #ProjectSkinnyMama #HealthyLiving

This iconic 1775 Gadsden flag (unfortunately appropriated by the Tea Party in 2009) was created during the American Revolutionary War.  Nowadays, there's a new revolution afoot, the fight on fat.   And treadmill desks are set to beat the battle of the bulge!   So tread while you read me (tweed), tread and comment (comtread?), tread n tweet (treat!)... really.   We've already been joking about tworking/twerking for a while with our friends over at Chicagonista.

Though pricy (name brand models can run you $4,000) a treadmill desk is an investment in your health, cheaper than a health club, and waaaaay cheaper than health issues caused by inactivity.   If I find I'm really lovin' it and using it a lot, then I may make the full blown investment.  For starters, though, it's not too tough to DIY one up at home.   We rigged up a crazy reasonable, rockin' one with a Craigslist treadmill and parts from Home Depot!

Check back with ChiIL Mama later this month as we lead you through the details.   For now, I just wanted to say how jazzed I am to be writing to you from my very own moving sidewalk.  Yep.  I'm a mama on the move.   Coming to you live, from my very own, one of a kind, treadmill desk. 

PSM continues... That's Project Skinny Mama (PSM, not PMS, though about as fun) for those of you new here.

Over the past 5 years as my professional blogging & freelance writing careers have grown, so has my e-mail in box... And my the amount of time I spend sitting on my butt has expanded exponentially, gobbling up my former workout time... causing said butt to expand exponentially too!    Not good.   So, even though I can't hop on the treadmill without the Jetsons theme song popping into my head, I'm still pretty stoked to find a way to be even more of a multitaskin' momma.    Next up... maybe I can rig up my mountain bike that already has a stationary resistance mount, and make it a desk as well?!   Stay tuned...