Awesome Team in Training swag

Maybe it's not such a bad thing I can't run right now. When I got back from my (very brief) walk with the dogs this evening, the temperature was 15°F and the wind chill was -2°. Yowza! The temperature itself isn't all that bad, but factor in the 20+ MPH wind gusts, and it gets ugly real quick.

So I am here to distract you (and myself, non-running slug that I am as I wait for my osteopathic concrete to set) with shiny Team in Training swag pictures!

Seriously, they have really cool swag. I mean, I knew I was signing up to give leukemia and lymphoma a massive kick in the gut, but who knew I would do it in such style? Or that I love purple and teal, 80s color combination though it might be?

We started getting showered with swag the second we walked in for the sign-up meeting:

This is a pace card. It has minute-per-mile paces in the first column on the left, various distances across the top, and finish times in the middle sections. According to the card, if I run 13.1 miles at an 11:30 pace, I will finish in 2:30:52. I'd really like to go a bit faster than that if possible. But I'd have to run 9-minute miles to break two hours--and that ain't happening.


This is incredibly useful swag, especially now that the mercury has taken a dive. It's chapstick for those dried, chapped lips you are likely to be getting during your winter runs. Good start, but where's my Team in Training ski mask?

Once I signed all the paperwork and officially joined Team in Training, it was time to get to work customizing my fundraising page. I took several hours I didn't really have the next day to do it, and lo and behold, I got more swag for my efforts--my very own stick of Body Glide! Until now, I had only read about it on the Runner's World forums! I'm not in any hurry to take it out of its packaging, though--it can stay in there until we're doing much longer runs. Our long runs are only 3 miles at the moment, but that will change soon enough.


On the morning of our first group run (exactly two days after I signed up), we got another small but useful piece of swag. This is a shoe ID. It's sort of a luggage tag, only you're the suitcase it's going on. You fill in your personal info on the inside, loop the ID through the shoelaces on your running shoes, and snap it closed. Then if you keel over or get hit by some idiot driver on a cell phone while you're running, the rescue squad can find out who you are and who they should contact to find out if you have insurance. (OK, OK, just kidding about the insurance part.)


But the coolest piece of swag yet is definitely this tech shirt. It's beautiful. Too bad I won't be able to wear it outdoors for the next four months unless I want to come back with skin the same color as the shirt. It will be awesome to wear at the gym, though.


I can almost hear the Miami Vice theme music. Seriously, though, I do like the logo and both of these colors. The front is actually pretty low key compared to...


...the back!! When I'm on the treadmill at the gym, people will be able to see I'm with Team in Training while they're cruising around the parking lot looking for a spot.

Well, that's all of the swag we've gotten so far--but I hear there is more available as a reward for attending at least 7 of the first 9 group runs. Woot! I can't wait to see what useful cool purple-and-teal thing is up next.