Spark and Gusto Subscription box review

I don't care who you are, getting a box of goodies in the post is exciting and so if you are a runner and you get a box of running goodies in the post then that is pretty damn exciting!

So when the opportunity arose to review a Spark & Gusto subscription box I grabbed it.

Spark and Gusto are a company that can provide you with a box of fitness themed goodies either as a one of treat or as a regular subscription.

So the way I see it is if you are ever short of an idea for a present for the runner in your life (wife, mum, mother in law, sister in law, sister and various aunties and uncles please take note!) you could them a box with minimal stress and know that they would be chuffed to get a box of running related goodies. Or as a runner yourself if you wanted to keep yourself motivated with your training you could set yourself up a subscription so you keep getting a regular supply of fresh fitness related products to try out.

In case your wondering the name Spark and Gusto comes from the idea that receiving a box of goodies should provide you with a 'spark' for you to give some 'gusto' to some exercise, pretty clever! 

I did receive my subscription box free of charge in return for my review and other similar subscription boxes are available on the market.

I couldn't wait to get hold of my box, unfortunately it came when I was at work and we had to pick it up form the post office sorting office on a Saturday morning when we were actually going away for the weekend. So sat in the passenger seat of our car I excitedly unwrapped my box to enthusiastically discover the following products:

High 5 energy gels - What a great start? My favourite energy gels in my favourite flavours and I had a marathon coming so absolutely perfect!

Life Maxx reaction ball - This strange little object is designed to improve your reactions. I have seen cricketers train with something similar I think, basically you can use it by throwing against a wall and because its so oddly shapen it will bounce back in a completely random way testing your reactions as you try to catch it. AS soon as I saw it I liked the idea of it and I have started using it regularly as a warm up for circuit training or running.  Its pretty easy to devise a quick session, what I have been doing is throwing it against the bathroom door in our hallway and then try to catch it before it bounces through to the lounge. I start off stationary but soon start jogging a few paces backwards after each catch and then running up to my mark before throwing again. To make it competitive I count up to 50 catches and towards the end start taking catches one handed. Great fun and pretty quick way to start working up a sweat!

Ronhill - Stretch Arm Pocket - just what I needed as I was considering investing in a new device to hold my keys and/or a few gels while I run. I tested it out a few times and it was comfortable and did the job of holding two gels nicely, I was so pleased with it I wore it for the Halstead marathon, a definitive recommendation!

Chia Charge banana flapjack - I have been eating a lot of flapjack recently and this is up there with the best! Soft, light, chewy and full of flavour, it kept me full for ages and was a really enjoyable eat. Although it didn't necessary taste of banana I enjoyed it none the less and would definitely consider buying one in the future. 

BetterYou magnesium foot soak - At a recent sports massage the therapist commented as to what good condition my feet are in considering my running mileage so perhaps I am not in desperate need of this. I am going to save it for when my feet start to feel tired and go a bit manky, this is not the kind of thing I would think to buy so a great inclusion in the subscription box.

Sport Beans - Basically sweets that are approved for sport! Brilliant! They sound like a tasty and fun way to keep my carb and sugar levels topped up either before or during exercise.

Tapped Birch Water - A new on on me, a juice in an odd cardboard container. Never heard of the product either which promises to be a antioxidant drink which apparently Finnish people swear by as being a great detox product as it provides you with 25% of your daily requirement of manganese, which is a key antioxidant ingredient for protecting your body against free radical damage. I am very intrigued to try this out...

LoveRaw Cacao & Maca Organic Bar - An artisan bar that is gluten free, dairy free, wheat free and soy free. I have heard of LoveRaw but not tried any of their products so I will be interested to try this bar out as its not the normal kind of thing I would buy. 

High 5 running bottle - This will definitely come in handy for when I want to carry some water with me out on a run. Carrying a normal drinks bottle is never ideal as its not that comfortable to carry but this should be ideal! Previously I have taken my own energy drink in a bottle tucked away in my hydration pack to take out in the later stages of a marathon so this is something I might use this bottle for in the future.

Overall I love the idea of the box and loved the range of products included. The boxes are presented to a high standard with a strong emphasis on their design and presentation so definitely a high end product. With that in mind they are quite pricey so probably a rare treat for me at least.

Thank you very much to Spark and Gusto not only for coming up with a great concept and for delivering it brilliantly, and that's without saying a massive thanks for my free box!

In case your wondering my birthday isn't until January if you wanted to gift me a box, but I happily accept presents all year round! 

Karkoa sports bag review

I was recently contacted by the nice people at Karkoa and asked if I would like to review their sports bag.

My first response was 'Karkoa' who are you? Never heard of you and every time I look at your brand name I keep thinking it says Koala and therefore start thinking about Australian marsupials. 

Anyway turns out they are an European sportsbag manufacturer looking to promote their brand on the shores of the United Kingdom.

I checked out their website to see what they were all about and to see if I thought their bag was any good. Checking out their website it looked to me like they are a trendy kind of 'up market' company with a cool type of European style looking to supply busy professional sporty types with a bag that will accommodate all your daily luggage and sport equipment for when your hitting the gym at the start of the day or running after work. 

My first instinct was to opt for the smaller bag in their rucksack range the 25L Smartbag25 purely because one of the bags in this range had an orange trim. A bit superficial as no doubt the larger 40L bag would be far more useful because its bigger and you can fit more in to it which is after all the name of the game, but no my fondness for my favourite colour ruined my judgement. Whoops! 

So how did I get on with the bag?

Slightly mixed reviews if I am honest, it wasn't as spacious as I thought it would be as the website and the marketing promo gave you the impression the bag was going to have magical TARDIS qualities able to amazingly have room to fit everything you could imagine into it. 

Perhaps if I had opted for the larger bag then this would have been more accommodating so please bare that in mind if you are considering your options between the smaller 25L bag or the larger 40L bag.

I also had a concern with the design of the bag, the main design of the back is in the photo below. As I understand it the basic idea seems to be thinking about redesigning the standard concept of a rucksack to give you more internal storage options as well as more ways to access what is in your bag rather than a standard one main way to put things in and get things out.

I felt pretty vulnerable carrying the bag on my back knowing that the front of the bag is basically one big exposed zip running along the bottom of my bag where everything would just fall out onto the street if it was to be opened. 

OK so this never happened but it might be considered a design flaw? Or maybe it's just me just thinking back to being at an all boys secondary school where anybody with this bag would be constantly at the mercy of practical jokers. 

Having all the handy compartments inside is really useful though as its better than having all little things like snacks, deodorant or fruit floating around with everything else in one large compartment. 

Its also really great to have a separate space for used running kit so it doesn't stink out everything else! However my concern is that this compartment bag would itself get rather smelly pretty soon and would need regular washing? I suppose using my current system of a plastic bag is easier but then again using a plastic bag every time I workout is not very environmentally friendly, neither is it very cheap now there is the 5p plastic bag tax. 

My other gripes were that my laptop didn't fit into the bag very easily. By easily I mean I had to rally stretch the bag to squeeze it in and then I didn't have much capacity left for anything else. Again my bag was not the larger 40L bag that Karkoa offer and neither is my laptop the smallest or thinnest laptop going but being able to fit my laptop easily into my bag without engaging in a wrestling match is a mandatory requirement. 

Karkoa were also quick to point out during our correspondence that the bag wasn't really designed for running but more for carrying everything you might need for running or other sport. A big problem because surely as a runner you want a bag for carrying your stuff if you are going running but also you want a bag that can handle a run commute when required? I certainly don't want to have a bag for each. To be honest I didn't try running with the bag as I found it pretty uncomfortable to walk with let alone run with. The bag seems to be designed to sit a bit higher on your back rather than sit down in the small of your back, which is in contrast to bags I am used to, its probably better for posture or something I don't know but I didn't find it very comfortable. 

I have tried to make this post constructive and not too negative but I am not sure it has turned out that way. 

Just because the bag wasn't for me doesn't mean others wouldn't find it a great bag to use. The bag is certainly very well designed and looks super cool especially the orange sunrise design that I went for.  

I have noticed a few other running bloggers have recently reviewed Karkoa bags and got on very well with them. Check out Steve Skinner's review here or The Runners Knees review here both of these guys opted for the 40L though which is perhaps where I went wrong!

In summary Karkoa certainly offer a very stylish and thoroughly well thought out designed bag which will appeal to lot of people I'm sure, it just didn't tick some of my requirement

Disclaimer: Karkoa approached me and provided me with a bag of my choosing free of charge for me to review.