Runnin', Rockin', and Rantin' Double Giveaway

As Crabby and the Lobster prepare to jet off to Provincetown, is anyone up for a blog giveaway of two unrelated prizes, plus a product review and a foul-mouthed rant? 

Gots To Be Cranky

What if it were a pair of Koss Fit Series earbuds designed for women, and endorsed by Dara Torres?

Plus TWO spots in an awesome Up and Running online running course worth 49-99 pounds each? Which in American money is about 9 million dollars, if I'm correctly recalling the exchange rates from our visit to the UK last summer? Or, um, we could have perhaps been consuming a few too many pints.

First up:

Get Up and Running!

One of the masterminds behind this enterprise is Shauna Reid, whom you may know as "DietGirl" from her inspiring book and blogs.

I am a big fan of Shauna's!

Since part of the appeal of the course is the supportive community involved, it's great to know that it's being led by someone who is wickedly funny, down to earth, warm, and brilliant, and not some addle-headed misanthropic crankbucket.

Up and Running is also the creation of renowned running coach Julia Jones (below in pink) whom I have not met but I bet she's awesome too.

In their words:

We run e-courses for super-new to seasoned runners from 5K to half marathon, all with expert coaching, unlimited support and a wild cheer squad to make it happen.

You'll be part of an awesome community of fellow runners - your own international running club! So you'll never run alone, no matter where you are in the world.

Running is hard, we don't deny it! But hard is where the magic happens. You'll take your mind and body places that you never thought you could go... just give us 8 weeks!

If you win, you can sign up for the course of your choice, but if not, there will still be time to grab a spot now for the June 5K, 10K or half marathon courses - you can find out more at: http://www.upandrunningonline.org/course.

Note:  Thanks to the generosity of the Up and Running Gals, the Lobster is going to be signing on for a course too and she's psyched!

And here's a testimonial:

"I can't praise Up and Running highly enough. Being a part of the community has been one of the most enjoyable experiences I've ever had... I go out running now for the sheer enjoyment of it and every single time I have to chuckle a bit to myself at what I've accomplished. Me, a runner." - Svava, UK

Now for the Rockin'and Rantin' Part:

When I am exercising, I need music.  And until recently, I went old school in terms of earphones:

However, I lost my headphones a few months ago. Over time, the old-fashioned cover-the-ear buying options have dwindled to almost nothing, and I could barely hear out of the ones I had they were so crappy. So it seemed to try those earbud thingies that everyone else seems to do fine with.

They felt creepy jammed in my ears, but at least I could hear out of them.  For about two minutes.  Then, if I were moving around at all, they'd start falling out.  My elliptical workouts are apparently especially provocative, because I would spend most of the time retrieving, smooshing, twisting, cursing, and othewise attempting to keep the damn things in my ears. I had a pair with three different earbuds, but even the smallest size was too big.

The reason?  Well, like so many products that are theoretically gender-neutral, they were designed FOR MEN.  Because everyone knows to be human is to be male, and women are this other thing that is smaller than "normal" and whom you don't think about when designing things.  Remember when they first came out with air bags in cars but designed them for male-sized occupants so they were killing women and children?  Or ever get tired of taking medications with no real idea of the side effects because all the studies were done on men?  I F--CKING HATE THAT!

The good news?

I got a pair of free review pair of earbuds designed for women. They have a clip thing to keep them secure, and I love em!

Quick Review of Koss Fitclips Earbuds For Women

What I Love about the Koss Fitclips: the clip thing looked like it might be uncomfortable, and if you are sensitive or allergic to everything, they might be, but to me they feel soft and pliable and are surprisingly easy to forget I have on. You don't have to wedge the buds in your ears because they are naturally held in place, so the earbud size becomes much less relevant. In fact, I was too lazy to switch from the medium size to the small size which is probably the correct size for me, because I didn't need to.

Also, the sound is great!

I will let Dara be the SpokesModel here, as the picture I took of the side of my head was hideously unflattering. When did my face get so freakin' huge?  Anyway, pretend this is Crabby:

However, the BAD NEWS is:

Sorry, The Giveaway HeadPhones Do Not Have the Clips.

I was sent two pair of headphones, and the second giveaway pair is still Designed for Women with Smaller Earbuds, but without the clips.

They are like these pictured above but are BRIGHT YELLOW.

If you have really small ears like mine, I'm not entirely convinced the earbuds are gonna stay in, but the only way to know would be to open the package and get my earwax all over them and I'll spare you that.

My previous earbuds that kept falling out also came in three sizes.  They are in  black below; do the white Dara-approved ones look any smaller to you?  They actually look bigger to me, but they are a bit squishier, so perhaps they'd stay in better.

But if you don't have freakishly small earholes, or you're dealing with a larger pair of earbuds to start with, or if the clip thing sounds scary, these still might be great. Plus, they are high quality headphones with good sound.  And, because they sent them directly to me, the giveaway is not limited to U.S. addresses as I'll fork over for international postage.

To Enter the Giveaway:

Leave a comment below, check back later to find out if you won and claim your prize by end of day Friday May 31st.  Winners will be chosen by a mysterious combination of random and nonrandom methods. (For example, if you say: "I would not wear a pair of earbuds or go running if you paid me a million bucks!" Or, "Everyone please go visit my golden retriever/hoodia/dentistry website," you are probably not going to be a winner.)

Good luck!

So, got any thoughts on running or earbuds or products designed for men or anything else?