Giveaway: New Balance Workout Outfit with UV Protection

Wrap Skirt: just one of two thingies you could win.

Yep, in a continuing effort to bribe folks back to Cranky Fitness after a long blogging hiatus, I've got more giveaways coming. God forbid I should try to write informative blog posts about health and fitness--that's a lot more work! The winner of last week's set of 10 DVD's will also be announced below. But if it ain't you, don't give up, because there are quite a few more giveaways in the works before sponsors get wise to the fact that Cranky Fitness is not exactly a serious and influential health and fitness blog.

UPDATE: CONTEST IS OVER!  Winner's name can be found in the Aug 3 P90X giveaway post. 

This giveaway just requires a comment to enter, but it also includes a plea to help poor befuddled Cranky Fitness enter the 21st century and get a Facebook page going. If you're on Facebook and are up for helping out, you can have two chances to win. Or you can just help out because you're a really nice person, which I believe is a synonym for "Canadian."


Anyway so this week's giveaway features workout wear with UV protection from New Balance. And what's so awesome about that?

Well, if you're like me, you may have had occasion to notice a funny bump or a suspicious mole or two, and found yourself clad in a skimpy paper robe in a dermatologists office.

Even if your bump or mole turns out to be Nothing Bad, it's hard not to think about the What If's. (It also doesn't help if you, like me, are too cheap for premium cable and are just now starting to watch The Big C, in which the adorable Laura Linney is diagnosed with Stage 4 melanoma.)

Now of course the nice dermatologist's advice on skin cancer prevention was essentially to hide myself in a deep dark hole my entire life and never expose myself to sunlight. And um, that's not happening. Failing that, the doc advised UV protective wear, hats, and barrels and barrels of sunscreen.

As it happens, I'm good about putting sunscreen on exposed areas of skin, but I've never bothered to slather it under my clothes and somehow doubt I'm going to start now. So workout gear with built-in UV protection? Seems like an excellent idea!

You've got the UV stuff? Good for you!

Here's all the high tech stuff that goes into the fabric:

"Icefil® fabrics are antimicrobial and wick moisture away, dry quickly and cool the body by using larger dimension yarns to physically absorb heat given off by the body. A NAC (Nano Aqua Chem) treatment of the fabric blocks the sun’s infrared rays, providing UV protection, while the application of Xylitol further enhances the process by producing a chemical reaction with moisture to maximize the cooling effect. Available in high visibility colors to ensure safety at any time of day, the Icefil® Short Sleeve and Sleeveless will keep an athlete cool and dry during a long run."

Hello? Hello? HEY WAKE UP!!!! Be honest: you got about as far as "antimicrobial" and then your head fell onto your desk, did it not?

Anyway, bottom line, the stuff keeps you cool and dry and protects against UV.

Hi there, skimpy little workout top!

You've got UV protection too? Sweet!

The only reason I didn't try to snag this outfit for myself, is that the bottom piece is a skirt. A skirt! I'm afraid I'm just too butch for a skirt. And yeah, it's a wrap skirt equipped with a new-fangled moisture wicking boy-short underneath, but dang it, it's still a skirt. However, if you're a skirty girl, or want the top and have a skirty-girl as a friend, then you're good to go.

Alas, this is U.S. only giveaway, so poor international folks can only enter if they can scrape together a U.S. mailing address. However, we do have some more giveaways coming in which Canadians can win, so if hail from up north, don't give up!

Oh, and I almost forgot: last week's winner of the 10 DVD Set is: the 10th Commenter, Jill! Please email me and claim your prize by the end of day Friday the 29th or I'll have to draw another winner. And I'll need a mailing address.

Now, on to this week's contest details:

To enter: leave a comment below. Winner will be picked by a random number generator. You can also leave your email address, but I have no idea about spambots that may troll the site. Do so at your own risk. The main reason you might want to do this is that if you win, I can email you and let you know you won and you'll have a better chance of meeting the tight deadline for claiming your prize before I pick another winner.

To enter again: "Like" the poor pathetic Cranky Fitness Facebook page I just set up, then come back and comment again to let me know that you did. You can type crankyfitness.com in the Facebook search box, or I think it's at this ugly url. (The page can't even have a name until I get 25 people to like it). So far, it just contains  recent Cranky Fitness blog posts, but eventually if folks actually sign on, I might add some random nonsensical rambling "bonus content." Plus I think you can also suggest links or say hi or whatever. But who knows? Facebook is still mysterious to me.


Giveaway winner will be announced next Wednesday August the 3rd. The winner will have until Friday the 5th to claim the prize or I'll pick another winner.

The Prize: The UV wrap skirt plus one of the two UV tops shown above. (Go to New Balance for more info on these and other New Balance products).

Thanks for stopping by, and Good Luck!