Things I Like: Runner's High coffee from JustCoffee.coop

I'm a big podcast guy. In terms of running podcasts, my favorite is the House of Run podcast, and on the comedy front, I love Sklarbro Country, featuring the Sklar Brothers, Mohr Stories, featuring Jay Mohr, and the WTF podcast, featuring Marc Maron. WTF is where I found out about JustCoffee.coop. Thanks Maron!

JustCoffee.coop (aka Just Coffee) is a 100% fair trade coffee roaster out of Madison, WI that has some of the best coffee I've ever tasted (and at excellent prices for the quality of bean). Shockingly, my favorite blend is the "Runner's High" blend, which is a medium roasted blend of beans from Mexico, Columbia and Ethiopia. A 12 ounce bag of this excellent coffee is only $11.05 (and the nice folks at Just Coffee gave me a promo code below that will get you another 10% off).

You can get the coffee in whole bean form or ground course, medium, or fine. Personally, I like the whole bean, so I can grind them myself for optimal freshness (and it makes my house smell awesome). Here's a link to a great $20 coffee grinder on Amazon.com if you don't have one already. The coffee comes shipped via UPS and are in vacuum-sealed bags to lock in the flavor.

Vacuum-sealed beans are the way to go!

Aside from the "Runner's High" blend, Just Coffee has plenty of other great blends and even offers their customers the opportunity to go on international trips to meet with other coops. I highly suggest checking out their site as it's very informative about the coffee trade in general.

And use the coupon code: writingaboutrunning (sorry folks, the code has expired) when checking out to get 10% off your next order at JustCoffee.coop! An excellent holiday gift for running friends and family alike!

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Things I Like: The House of Run Podcast

There are a few podcasts that I enjoy listening to every week. My favorite being the comedy podcast, "Sklarbro Country," which is the Sklar Brothers' (Randy and Jason) hourly show that drops every Friday. On the Track & Field front, the newest entry into my podcast rotation has been the House of Run podcast. Being a certified track dork, I'm not really interested in running podcasts that will tell me how to conquer the 5k or how to ace hill running. My interests in mind, hosts Jason and Kevin do a great job of mixing in the latest news of the running world with a fair share of self deprecating runner humor that only the true has-been distance runner that still enjoys the oval will appreciate. Shows range from recaps of the latest marathon major to thoughts on a recent Diamond League meet to a fun segment call "Answers to rhetorical questions athletes ask on Twitter."

So head on over to their website and check it out or just go ahead and subscribe for free to the podcast on iTunes. It's a great 45 minutes to get you to and from work at minimum!

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