Wow! I cannot believe that September is almost over. The days have just been flying by and Fall is here! I wanted to close out our Get Active theme for the month with one last giveaway.

I know that having a husband in medical school and now residency has left me having to go a more non-traditional route to get into shape. During medical school we couldn’t afford a gym membership and I had my kids to take care of all day so I had to come up with some way for me to get into shape with them. I found that I could get a really good workout in by running and it was way cheaper than a gym membership! I loved that I could be outside and with my kids while being fit and active. I also loved that, in those rare chances where I could get a run in alone, that I could have some me time and relax while running. You would be amazed at what all you can think though while going for a run! My love for running grew and I started pushing myself harder and running in races to help me reach goals. There is nothing like paying someone money when you don’t have much to spend to motivate you to run hard and make it count!

Which brings me to what I have to giveaway! Cait Chock is a runner who is also a writer and a designer. She has some awesome t-shirts that you should check out on her site. She has published several articles and now an e-book to help you get over the mental block that prevents you from pushing yourself harder during workouts and races. She has some great ideas in the book like setting goals, using a mantra, finding “the zone”, and the lies we tell our legs to keep them moving. She also interviewed 3 top runners for her book, Sarah Hall (Sarah runs for Asics and has a laundry list of incredible accomplishments), Jason Hartmann (This guy won the Twin Cities Marathon in ’09 and placed 4th at the Boston Marathon that last 2 years in a row), and Sarah Brown (Who runs for New Balance and has been winning National Championships since High School).

Even if you aren’t a seriously competitive runner this book is a great tool to help you find different methods to push your limits. I think some of these strategies could be applied to most workouts so everyone benefits from reading this book! I know that I have used and currently use several of these ideas in my workouts and boy do they work! This book really motivates me to make some new goals and to push myself even further and I cannot wait to see what I can accomplish.

For your chance to win a copy of Cait’s book leave me a comment telling me what your Get Active goals are. Who knows maybe you can find another Medical Partner member with similar goals and you guys can work together to achieve them!

If you are interested in purchasing your own copy of Effective Mental Strategy: Race Better by Outthinking your Brain by Cait Chock you can head on over to her website www.caitchock.com. You can also check out all of the other articles she has written on her website as well!

If there is anything that Iowans love, it's the Hawkeyes, and their pride for their home state. I have only lived in Iowa for just over 2 years now, but I adore anything with the state of Iowa on it, Hawkeye colors, and Iowa City Pride! You just get sucked into it when you live in Iowa, and I love it. So when I found the etsy shop State Your Team I was thrilled to see they offered an Iowa sign, in of course...the beloved black & gold.

State Your Team is a husband and wife owned and operated shop. They work out of their "locker room" aka garage and get this you guys- they hand saw each and every sign they make! With sweat, blood and tears. If you have ever used a saw before you know that this is not easy, especially with little intricate edges and pieces! They then hand paint each sign and place their heart wherever you would like.

And if you don't have the space to put a wall hanging- consider their wood magnets! They are so fun to have on your fridge and make a great gift for that Iowa fan in your life! These are only $8.00, so very affordable and with all of these kids in school now, who doesn't need more magnets in their life? Gotta post those projects on the fridge!

To win a wall hanging for your house, comment below and tell me what your other teams are besides the Hawkeyes of course! We know you all aren't from Iowa, so STATE YOUR TEAM!  If you don't win, you can always head here and treat  yourself! The wall hangings are $29.00 and again the magnets are only $8.00.

Thanks to State your Team for donating the review and giveaway items!! Giveaway will close on Sunday at noon. Good luck!

I have been on a search to find the perfect workout headband and I think I have found my favorite thick headband. The Bolder Band is awesome for keeping all those little baby hairs out of our face while you're working out, or just running errands. They were created by Amy, who was tired of her headbands falling off mid workout. I feel the same way about my headbands so I was so excited to get to try out my Bolder Band. I love that I can adjust the thickness of the band so on the days I have a lot of fly aways (which can happen a lot when it is humid and I have worked up a sweat) I can easily hide the craziness.

I also really liked how well the band fits my head. It is snug but it doesn't squeeze your head. I have a pretty small head and I have a really hard time finding bands that stay on while I'm moving (I'm wearing a regular sized band - just FYI since they do have a few different sizes to choose from so you can have the comfiest fit for your head). The Bolder Band stayed on my head during a run and during a paddle boat outing.

Bolder Bands has so many color and pattern options! (The polka dot one I am wearing is called My Fair Lady and it is so cute!) You have to go check out their shop and see all of the fun things they have. On top of their awesome headbands they also have chapstick and water bottles.

Bolder Bands sent me a band for one of you to win! To enter the giveaway leave me a comment with your favorite color/pattern of band and tell me what you are going to wear yours to do?

This last Saturday was the Kickoff to Kinnick 5K at the University of Iowa. The weather was great and the crowd was awesome!

With almost 2000 people running, there was a lot of energy though the crowd. It was really fun to see everyone in their Hawkeye gear ready for the run. The race started with the playing of the National Anthem, which is always a great way to start a run if you ask me. We had  a lot of fun with this race. If there was anything I would change it would be the start. There were so many people walking and pushing strollers at the front of the race that it made the first mile really hard. There was lots of bouncing around and it took a lot of energy which made the last mile really tiring. Maybe next year if people could line up with walkers in the back and runners in the front it would help.

The course had a few elevation changes which made it a little more challenging that I was expecting. Running up and down hills while weaving around people kept things interesting. There was a band playing just after mile 1 and that was fun to keep up the energy. Running toward the stadium and onto the field was a great way to finish, especially with Herky on hand to give the finishers High Fives.

The tailgate party after the race was great. There were lots of tents where runners could get water, bananas, hot dogs, bagels, muffins, and frozen yogurt. What a way to end a race! The live music was fun too. It really made the environment fun and kept the excitement going. It was also really crowded and there were lots of lines to wait for things but it wasn't horrible. Maybe next year a little more organization would be good.

And next year we definitely need more representation from Iowa Medical Partners!! Thanks for running with us!

With the Kickoff to Kinnick 5K happening tomorrow and the Blogger Dash happening next month and several of our Medical Partners members participating, I thought it would be a great time to talk about getting pumped up and ready to go for race day. I should start off by saying that I am no expert in this matter! I started running after my second child was born (in 2010) as a way to get back into shape the cheap way and haven't been able to stop. Since I started running I have run at least a dozen 5Ks (that's 3.1 miles) and 10Ks (6.2 miles),  a few odd mile length races (7-10 miles), 10 half marathons, and 1 full marathon (but I'm hoping to add to that number soon). By running all of those races I have come up with some things that I do to help me get ready to run.

Starting the night before, help yourself prepare by watching what you eat. For longer races its helps to eat carbs the night before. Carbohydrates give you energy and helps you not hit the wall while you're running. Typically, you only need to carbo-load for half marathons and full marathons. Instead of worrying about how many carbs you're consuming, focus on eating foods that aren't going to hurt your stomach and that aren't going to weigh you down the next day. The night before a race is definitely not the day to try a new recipe!

Set out your outfit and race gear the night before. For the Kickoff to Kinnick that we have tomorrow I'm planning on wearing some Hawkeye gear. Go Hawkeyes! A typical race day outfit/gear would be running shorts, top, headband, socks, shoes, fully charged gps watch, fully charged ipod, and headphones. I know real exciting, but for those races that you have to wake up and get ready before the sun comes up, setting everything out makes life so much easier.

One last thing before you go to bed, make sure you are hydrated! You may have to pee a few extra times tonight but at least you will be well hydrated and feel good to go in the morning.

Get a good amount of sleep! Enough said.

Morning of race day! Time to get up and at 'em. For longer races it helps to use some sort of running lube to help you not get sores from friction. I love Mission Athletecare 5 Hour Anti-Chafe Cream and Body Glide Anti-Chafe stick (it looks like a stick of deodorant). Vaseline also works well.

#1 Rule of race day, NEVER WEAR ANYTHING NEW ON RACE DAY. Trust me, blisters, chafing, and injuries are not worth it!

Don't forget to hydrate and fuel before the race. My go to race day breakfast is a bowl of oatmeal. I know that it will give me enough energy to perform well but it won't fill me up to the point of being sick. Drinking water is important too. If you don't have enough water in your system, your muscles will cramp up. No Bueno!

Try to get to your race at least 30 minutes early (as long as you don't have to check in, if you have to check in the day of I would say get there an hour early). That gives you enough time to park, walk to the start line, and use the porta potty.

The most important part of race day is, HAVE FUN! For everyone running tomorrow, I will see you there. Now tell me, how do you prepare for a race?

I love how music can change everything about my attitude, my performance, and my workout. I don't know about you but I LOVE listening to music when I run. I have different playlists on my phone and iPod that help me keep different paces for my runs and sometimes it can be hard to put those playlists together. I always seem to have one or two songs that don't quite work. Well that is why I love Rock My Run!

Rock My Run is this great website where you can download mixes that vary in length from about 30 minutes to over an hour and have set tempos to help you keep your heart rate up and keep you moving. They have such a great variety of music too. There is everything from Gospel to Country to Classic Rock to Hip Hop. There is something for everyone on this site!

Rock My Run has two different membership levels, premium and standard. Standard membership is free and you have access to unlimited standard downloads (up to 45 minutes) from their FREE smart phone app and one download from their website to save to your computer and playlist. The premium membership starts at $4.99 per month (you can get a discount if you sign up for longer periods in advance) and you get 3 mixes (premium or standard) to save to your computer each month and unlimited downloads of premium and standard mixes from the smartphone app.

The people at Rock My Run have donated 2 free 6 month Premium memberships for 2 lucky members to win. To enter leave me a comment telling me if you like to exercise with music. For an extra entry Like Rock My Run's Facebook page. For one more entry download the free Rock My Run app on your smart phone. (Leave me separate comments for each entry)

Tundi Brady's Realtor Roundup - September 2014


The impending cold should mean one thing for anyone planning to sell their home next spring; now is the time to have professional outdoor photos taken to make sure your home looks as amazing as possible in online listings and brochures. Home photos look dramatically better with green grass, potted plants and leafy trees, especially when next to other home listings that are photographed in barren winter landscapes. If you are not already working with a realtor, please feel free to contact me to set up a photo shoot.

Colder weather also means a second thing when it comes to your home; now is the time to finally finish your repair and maintenance check list before you are stuck doing it while also battling the freezing cold. Regular maintenance is a great idea for all homeowners, but it is especially important if you know you plan to sell in the next year. The more fixes you do now, the less you will be doing franticly in the spring and the less a home buyer can complain about.

Here are is a list of a few areas to pay attention to this fall:

• To prevent a costly burst water pipe, detach garden hoses and drain in-ground irrigation systems before the first freeze.
• Clean gutters protect your basement from flooding and protect the exterior siding from water damage. Make sure your gutters are clean and water flows freely in them. If you don't already have a mesh guard to keep leaves and debris out of your gutters, now is a great time to install those.
• A drafty house will bump up your heating bill. Make sure you don't have gaps around windows and doors by holding a candle near the frame. If it flickers, you have a draft. Seal the gaps with weather-stripping or caulk.
• Small cracks in your sidewalk or driveway can turn into big cracks with snow melting and refreezing. Take an inventory of your driveway and sidewalks and repair cracks and damaged sections before winter hits.
• Have a professional inspect your heating system before you need to use it. This helps you avoid the unpleasant surprise of the furnace not starting when the temperature drops, plus home buyers appreciate seeing the record of maintenance dates that are often marked on a sticker attached to the furnace.

Tundi Brady, Medical Partners Alumni, is the Medical Partners exclusive real estate sponsor.

Finding the perfect workout pant has been a huge goal of mine for quite some time. I have tried several different bands and fabrics and I have finally found THE ONE! Alo Yoga's airbrushed capris are the most comfortable and flattering pants I have ever tried!

The fabric of these capris are thick enough to be flattering and not show imperfections but thin enough that you don't feel like you are burning up. They also provide enough compression to make your muscles feel comfortable while you are working out. I also really like all of the color options that these pants come in. I also love how easy it is to move in these pants. They are the most comfortable pants I have ever worn. I have done a few yoga work outs in them and every time I have been very comfortable and felt nice because I knew my pants were cute (because lets face it - that's important!). I have also worn them to go running a few times and they make great running pants as well. The fabric has held up well in the washing machine, too. The fabric is still in great shape. I highly recommend these pants and I think everyone needs at least one pair. You better believe they are on the top of my Christmas wish list!

Alo Yoga is based out of California and they have a Facebook page and an Instagram account that have some awesome and inspiring photos and quotes. You should definitely go check them out. To win a pair of pants for your self leave me a comment telling me how often you do yoga. For another entry like Alo Yoga's Facebook page. For one more entry follow Alo Yoga on Instagram. Leave me a separate comment for each entry.

Imagine running up to Kinnick Stadium and running onto the field. That's something that not many people get to do but with the Kickoff to Kinnick 5K you can have that opportunity.

This race is brand new to the Iowa City area and it is looking like it is going to be a real good time. I ran the course a couple of weeks ago and it is a great course that everyone will enjoy. Not too hilly and a fun course by the athletic stadiums/arenas, by the golf course, and then back down Melrose finishing at the stadium. And did I mention the fun tailgate party after the race that goes until 2:00.

The guys putting together the Kickoff to Kinnick have been so awesome as to donate 2 race entries to 2 lucky members! If you want your chance to win and run with me then leave a comment telling me what your favorite race has been if you have ever done one before and how far it was. For another entry you can like the Kickoff to Kinnick 5k Facebook page. Or if you are just really pumped up to run this race, because I mean come on who isn't, you can email Charles Stelk at mayfly.athletics@aol.com and tell him you are a part of the Iowa Medical Partners group and that you would like to register for the special rate of $25 (regularly $40).

I love pillows. Something about pillows can say a lot about your personality and style! I firmly believe that one cannot have enough pillows in their life. That being said, I needed an Iowa pillow in my life. So I contacted Abbey from Shutterbug at Home on etsy to see if she would be interested in a review and giveaway for y'all...and she said YES!

Abbey hand paints her cute pillows, and all of her designs are inspired by her travels, hopes for the future, and the people that matter most to her. Not only does she hand paint different states, but she also paints different animals, tractors, and even His & Hers pillows!

I would have to say that my favorite pillows in her shop are of course, her IOWA pillows! These pillows are 100% cotton and are about 11x12 inches. They are perfect to throw on a rocker or with any collection of pillows! Any of her pillows can be custom made and can include a heart over your favorite city. Head on over to our Iowa Medical Partners Facebook page to find out how you can win your own IOWA pillow from Shutterbug at Home on etsy!

Want one of your own? These pillows are only $10!!! So head HERE and go grab yourself one and remember this fun time in your life living in IOWA!

thank you to Abbey for donating the review and giveaway products!

The Iowa City area has so many great places to Get Active. From the miles and miles of trails to the yoga studios and the community centers, there are so many choices.

The Iowa River Corridor trail is 6 miles long and is the longest and most heavily used trail in Iowa City. It connects several parks, the Univesity, the Iowa River, Downtown Iowa City, and ends in Coralville.

Coralville has over 20 miles of paved trails throughout the town. There is one trail that connects the North Liberty Trail to the Iowa River Corridor Trail. Coralville also has over 20 miles of future planned trails. There are 5 different Coralville trailheads (Brown Deer Golf Club, Camp Cardinal Trailhead, Coralville Youth Sports Park, Iowa Firefighters Memorial, and North Ridge Pavilion) all of which have restrooms, parking, and concessions.

Dubuque Street is also a great place to get out and get active. The sidewalk is extra wide and you can go from North Liberty to Iowa City. Its a very pretty trail that goes by pretty cornfields and over a river. You can also go by the huge wooden nickel over by I-80.

The North Liberty Recreational Trail runs 3.3 miles through North Liberty and links up to the Coralville tail. The parks and recreation department opened the trail in 1998 and has native prairie grass growing along the trail. There is also a bike shelter, drinking fountains and restrooms along the trail. To see a full map of all of the trails check out the North Liberty Parks and Rec website.

There are lots of other fun ways to Get Active as well. The rec centers around town have basketball courts and workout areas. Some even offer group exercise classes. There are also several yoga studios around town and zumba classes offered at a few different locations as well.

Now go outside and Get Active!!

Iowa summers are so beautiful! The weather is nice, the blue sky seems to stretch forever, the grass is green and the corn is popping up in rows, and the bugs. Its hard to go outside and not notice the bugs that hang around in the summer out here. I have tried several different bug sprays to get some relief but most smell horrible and only sometimes work. I want to tell you about Bug Soother bug spray.

Bug Soother is an all natural bug spray made right here in Iowa, so you know it works on Iowa bugs. It is made of vanilla and lemongrass essential oils so it is safe for everyone including kids and pets. It also is deet free so it doesn't make you smell funny. In fact most people really like how it smells. Its a big hit in my house and we have a bottle in every car and by every door just to make sure we are always covered. We even have family from out of town who have tried it and now want us to send them bottles of it for them to use and share with their friends.

Simply Soothing, the company that makes Bug Soother, has sent me some bottles to share with all of you! For your chance to win some Bug Soother of your own leave me a comment and tell me if you have tried Bug Soother yet. If you are interested in purchasing some Bug Soother of your own you can buy it from the Simply Soothing website or pick some up at Casey's General Store, TruValue, Theisens, Scheels, Fairway, Hy-Vee, and a whole bunch of other stores around Iowa City.

I want to tell you guys about an amazing company called Brady Bands. They make wonderful workout headbands that really stay in place. They are made with cute ribbon with some velvet on the bottom that help them stay in place while you are moving.

Let me tell you a little about Brady Bands. They are named for the owner's son Brayden. Brayden was diagnosed with a brain tumor and lost his battle with it in 2013. To read more about Brayden's story click here. Because of this at least 10% of all sales of Brady Bands goes toward children's cancer research. That means you can get yourself a headband and support a good cause all at the same time.

Brady Bands have so many different options from sports teams to dressy there is a Brady band for you! Go check out their shop and see what your favorite is.

You can also stay up to date on sales and specials on the Brady Band Facebook page.

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month and Brady Bands is sponsoring CureSearch Walk in Columbus, OH (that's where they are located) so they are trying to raise as much money for the cause as possible. Head on over to Brady Bands and pick out a band of your own to help support Childhood Cancer Research.

Brady Bands send me a band for one of you lucky readers to win. To enter the giveaway leave me a comment and tell me which band you have to have and what your favorite charity is and why!

Do you know that it is recommended that you drink 8 8oz glasses of water everyday? Who has time for that?!? I know I have a hard time remembering to drink that much water, until I found the FUNFit water bottle with a Sipping Schedule.

FUNFit was created by LaTasha to help promote a healthy lifestyle. She is the mother of 3 children and wanted to be a positive example to her family and her community. The Sipping Schedule is such a cool invention. The water bottle is labeled on one side with hourly goals that you drink to reach. Each hour also has a motivational phrase. Once you have emptied the bottle once you fill it back up and do it again.

I have been using this water bottle for a couple of weeks now and I love it! It has made drinking 64oz of water every day a piece of cake. The bottle has a big opening so it is really easy to put ice in from the fridge door and it is easy to drink out of. It also is easy to carry around and it fits in my cup holder in the car.

I have noticed that the plastic bottle, while light weight, is really pretty sturdy. My toddlers have gotten ahold of my water bottle a few times and it has been thrown across the room more times than I would care to admit, but it is still in perfect condition. It does need to be hand washed but that's easy. The wide mouth makes it easy to brush out the bottle with a dishwashing brush.

On the FUNFit website there is a great section for infused water recipes. I love to drink water with slices of lemon and lime. The recipes have given me lots of new ideas for flavors that I can't wait to try out. The wide mouth on the water bottle makes it easy to add fruits and veggies to flavor your water. One last FUNFit thing you should check out is their blog.  It has fun challenges from past months that you can try out on your own and new challenges posted every month. I think that it is easier to get healthy when you have a challenge and I love new ideas to help me get healthy.

FUNFit has sent me one of these great bottles for one of you to win! To enter the giveaway leave me a comment telling me what infused water recipe you want to try! And if you don't want to wait to win you can buy your own FUNFit bottle at their online shop.

Vintage wood, and GLITTER. Combined. Does it get any better than that? Seriously, for me it doesn't. I love rustic decor and I love glittery stuff, so when I came across this etsy shop "Miss Prim Designs" I was dying over it. I contacted the owner and prayed that she would be willing to let me review and giveaway a couple of her signs and when she agreed I was so excited!

Miss Prim Designs was started by a husband and wife team that are native to Iowa but currently live in Omaha.  They use old barn wood from an old barn that collapsed in Ledyard, Iowa and take it back with them in chunks to continue making home decor products.  I love the fact that these items are made from recycled wood that was once part of a barn here in our home state. So fun to have a story to tell!

I was able to review one of the glitter state of Iowa barn wood plaques in my home.  They arrived wrapped in tons of tissue and with lots of padding, so the glitter wasn't even phased by the shipping process.  I was excited to see that the glitter is applied super thick, and that it has a protective coating on it. The barn wood is awesome and each piece is unique in its own way. The natural color wood has a few knots in it, and the red barn wood has a couple of nail holes in it. I love that no two pieces are exactly the same and that each is unique! Each plaque comes with a wire on the top so it is ready to hang. I was also sent a few wood hearts to glue onto my Iowa wherever I wanted to. I obviously placed mine over Iowa City but I love that you can place it wherever you want, since I know a lot of you grew up here ( but not in Iowa City). I glued the white heart on mine, but there was also a black and red heart. I love that you can choose heart colors, AND, you can also choose different colors of glitter for your Iowa! I chose to sit mine on a mini display stand on my mantel but I love that I have that hanging option as well.

Miss Prim Designs is not limited to just glitter creations! They also have darling signs that you can display in your home that still have that love for Iowa showing through. You can get a few different options, like Home, Love, and Iowa, with the O's being replaced with the Iowa state sign. Here are a few examples:

Happy Hump-Day everyone! I hope that your September is starting off wonderfully! With the weather be so great (as it has been all summer, we have really gotten lucky) I wanted to focus this month on being active and healthy. For those of us with children, school is now is session so we have a little more me time to try to get some exercise in during the day, if you can fit it in between cleaning, cooking, running errands, school drop off and pick up, and everything else in between. To help kick off our Get Active theme for the month I have some fun prizes to give away from some awesome companies!

I just wanted to touch on some of the great companies that have been so generous and donated to Iowa Medical Partners.

To start we have Bug Soother made by Simply Soothing. This is some of the BEST bug spray I have used and it works awesome on the gnats we have around here.

Rock My Run is a website (rockmyrun.com) and they have mixes of various lengths that you can download. They have been awesome enough to donate some memberships to their website for the premium downloads.

Brady Bands is an amazing company that makes headbands for active people and a portion of all their profits go toward childhood cancer research because the owners son lost his battle to brain cancer in 2012. They are a very inspiring company and I can't wait to tell you more about them.

FUNFit has donated a really cool water bottle with a Sipping Schedule that helps you drink the recommended 64 oz each day. I've been using mine for a few weeks now and its pretty cool!

Alo Yoga is a clothing company out of California that has some great yoga gear. They have donated a pair of Airbrushed Capris that are AMAZING! I am excited to tell you about them.

Bolder Bands is a headband company that makes thicker headbands for working out or just whenever. They are very stylish and comfy and don't slip off!

And finally, a brand new race to the Iowa City area is the Kickoff to Kennick 5K (September 20th) has been so generous and donated 2 entries to the race. It is going to be a fun race and, the best part, it ends inside the stadium on the field! How cool?!?

Keep watching the blog over the next week to hear about all of these companies and their awesome donations. Stay tuned for your chance to win! Also, look out for some great posts about Getting Active in Iowa City and some new ideas on how to Get Active. We also have some fun recipes and craft ideas to help you stay Active all month long.

Happy September Everyone! Here are a round up of this months Medical Partners activities. We hope to see you there!

September 4th Playgroup at ST Morrison Park from 10-11:30

September 7th Philanthropy Activity at Ronald McDonald House 9:00 (Fall Cleaning)

September 9th Children's Activity at Wilsons Orchard 10:00

September 9th Book Club at Jess Hicks 6:30 (Book: Endless Love by Scott Spencer)

September 12th Entertainment Club is hosting Game Night

September 21st Philanthropy Activity at the Alzheimer's Association Walk 11:30

September 24th SOS is at Eggys at 7:00

Keep your eyes open for a fun giveaway coming soon on the blog!