a wonderful birthday

today is my birthday but i'm the one giving a gift... read on.

last year i didn't post on my birthday, but i remember feeling stretched thin in kentucky: long commute, long work days, living in a glamourous hotel room, oh the life. i think josh and i went out to dinner at johnny carinos? my running was going better back then, averaging a solid minute/mile faster than i am now, hitting 60-70 mile weeks with relative ease (i didn't have to cook or clean afterall). hmm maybe i should've stayed in kentucky... riiiight.

about a month ago i was sent a few bottles of pom wonderful 100% pomegranate juice. to some, it is a tart juice, but i personally like a little tartness sometimes. i've never eaten a real pomegranate, but the juice tastes pretty good to me. since it is 100% pomegranate juice with 0g additives but 34g of naturally occurring sugars, i usually water it down a little.

a delicious pom wonderful-blueberry-strawberry smoothie

while i may be struggling with my mid-run/mid-bike fueling lately, one thing i have mastered is the post-workout smoothie. they are seriously the best part about running in the heat. lately i have been adding pom wonderful to my smoothies - there are a few different pom recipes found here that are rather tasty.

in addition to 100% pomegranate juice, pom wonderful also has pomegranate -blueberry, -mango, -kiwi and -nectarine juices (which flavor gets your taste buds most excited? tell me in your comment for a bonus entry). unfortunately i didn't get any samples of those, but i will be keeping an eye out for them at the grocery store. they also have cherry juice but i'm not a big fan of cherries so that one is not as tempting to me.

pomegranates are full of antioxidants, even beating out red wine. now you can trade that morning glass of antioxidant-fighting-wine for a glass of pom wonderful, and save the wine for unwinding after work (while still fighting those pesky free radicals). unless maybe you dread going to work and need the morning wine to get through the day, in which case you could save the pom juice for post-work rejuvenation. i won't judge.

anyway, along with my box of juice i also received a few coupons to giveaway to a wonderful reader. just leave a comment below to enter. giveaway ends wednesday 9/22; winner will be chosen at random. winner will receive two coupons for free bottles (16oz) of pom wonderful.

[both the juices and coupons were sent to me courtesy of pom wonderful, but my enjoyment of the juice is my own.]