justin's review

Disclaimer: I received a sampling of Justin's products to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews! All opinions and thoughts are honest and my own.

I honestly had never heard of Justin's until the gang at BibRave told us that they were partnering up with them. The friendly folks at Justin's had graciously offered to send some packets to all of the Pros.

What a shock when I received the package. It was fairly heavy, and when I opened it up, I knew why – they had sent me 6 boxes of the 1.15oz packets! That's 60 packets of what sounded like delicious treats. There were 2 boxes of each of the following flavors – Classic Almond Nut Butter, Chocolate Hazelnut Butter Blend, and Maple Almond Butter.

I first tried the Classic Almond after my 23 mile run a few weeks back. It was quite a tasty treat afterwards (and gave me something to look forward to at the finish), though I had trouble eating the whole packet at once.

Using Justin's Almond Butter for a sandwich.

Next, I brought the Classic Almond to work to put on my usual lunch, which is PB&J, but instead of crunchy PB, I used the Classic Almond Butter. It was fantastic. My next trial was the Chocolate Hazelnut Butter Blend. It was AMAZING. My favorite by far. After opening for a quick taste, I decided to spread it on one of my all-time favorite snacks, an All-In Almond Picky Bar. It was fantastic. 

Chocolate Hazelnut Butter spread on
an All-In Almond Picky Bar.

The final taste test was the Maple Almond Butter. I decided to put this on one of my top breakfast foods - an English Muffin. It was a delight! It was a touch sweet, but not over the top. I think it was a perfect combination of maple and almond butter. Yum.

English Muffin + Justin's Maple Almond Butter = delightful.

I've also caught my husband sneaking packets from their boxes and using them to make sandwiches for work. He loves all the flavors, but I think the Chocolate Hazelnut was his favorite. I know he's tried them all on bread for sandwiches, and has also tried them on bagels. He hasn't found a bad combination yet.


I really want to get my hands on their Peanut Butter Cups (um, they have white chocolate ones! Can you say amazing?!) and the Vanilla Almond Butter. They also sell 80 calorie squeeze packs, which I think might be the perfect size for carrying on a run or hike, as well as being an easier amount to eat on the go. I love the 1.15 oz packs for travel and bringing to work to make sandwiches.

Another thing I like is that they are all-natural, and that I can pronounce all of the ingredients in each product, which generally isn't a very long list. 

A breakdown for each of the 3 flavors I received can be found below:

Justin's Classic Almond Butter
$11.99 for case of 10 packets
Ingredients: Dry Roasted Almonds, Palm Fruit Oil*.
*Sustainably sourced palm fruit oil
7g Protein, 2g Sugar, Orangutan Friendly Palm Oil, 0g Trans Fat, Vegan, 3g Fiber, Gluten Free, Kosher

Nutritional Facts for Classic Almond

Justin's Maple Almond Butter
$11.99 for a case of 10 packets
Ingredients: Dry Roasted Almonds, Maple Sugar, Palm Fruit Oil*, Sea Salt
*Sustainably sourced palm fruit oil
6g Protein, 3g Sugar, Orangutan Friendly Palm Oil, 0g Trans Fat, Vegan, 3g Fiber, Gluten Free, Kosher

Nutritional Facts for Maple Almond

Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter Blend
$11.99 for a case of 10 packets
Ingredients: Dry Roasted Hazelnuts, Dry Roasted Almonds, Organic Cane Sugar,
Organic Cocoa, Organic Cocoa Butter, Palm Fruit Oil*, Natural Vanilla, Sea Salt.
* Sustainably sourced palm fruit oil
4g Protein, 8g Sugar, Orangutan Friendly Palm Oil, 0g Trans Fat, Vegan, 3g Fiber, Gluten Free

Nutritional Facts for Chocolate Hazelnut

One other great thing is that they share recipes on their website for some of the most amazing sounding things ever! Check them out here. I hope to find some time in the near future to make a few things, including Maple Almond Pumpkin Pie Pop Tarts, Justin's Giant Peanut Butter Cup Cookies, and Gluten-Free Chocolate Hazelnut Brownies. Jenn made some delicious looking Almond Butter Banana Bread Muffins – check out here recipe here.

A little bit more about Justin's from their website:

Making the foods we love extraordinary, with an uncompromised spirit of innovation, sustainability and community.

Our products are made with common sense. A sense that cooking in small batches ensures higher quality. That selectively choosing fine, all-natural ingredients will make it taste better. And that no matter their size, companies should always be grateful to their customers, employees and community.

At Justin's, we all feel an acute need to give back to the community in the most impactful manner possible with the understanding we are a small, growing company. Being a healthy and optimal food source for impoverished communities, Justin's has chosen to reach out and support a local organization whose impact is far reaching. Our answer is The Conscious Alliance. 

Sounds like a great company to me. You can find out more on their website.

So, where can you buy Justin's? Good news for me is that I just spotted some jars at our local Jewel, so you might want to look at your local grocery store as well. You can also purchase online at their website. You can also search for locations using their locator.

Connect with Justin's:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

What the other Pros have to say:
Jeremy | Amy

week in review: november 24–30

Dopey Challenge Training: Week 22

Monday, November 24: rest day

Tuesday, November 25: unscheduled rest day

Wednesday, November 26: 40 minute walk

Thursday, November 27: 4.07 miles (RFK 4 mile Turkey Trot)

Friday, November 28: 3.17 miles 

Saturday, November 29: 10.01 miles (Grant Park Turkey Trot & Ugly Sweater Run)

Sunday, November 30: 23 miles

Weekly mileage: 40.25

Total mileage for Dopey Challenge Training: 354.83 miles

Whooooeeee. That was a tough weekend. Tuesday should have been a 30 minute run, but my arches were in a lot of pain, so I took it easy in preparation for my first Dopey Simulation (four consecutive days of running, though the mileage wasn't quite what the actual races are) over the weekend. 

Wednesday I walked from work to the train station to try and catch an earlier train than usual so I could make it for packet pickup for the Turkey Trot on Thursday. Unfortunately, I had on winter boots that aren't great for quick walking, and ended up with blisters on my big toes that came back to haunt me the rest of the week/end. Boo. We hit up our local watering hole for a Black Wednesday drink, then went to bed early. I remember the days where I would be out all night with my friends, and now I'm more concerned with getting home early so I'll be well rested for my race in the morning haha.

Thursday's Turkey Trot 4 mile run was hilly and a little chilly, but really not too bad. After the race my mom and I grabbed some hot beverages and donuts at DD, then I had to rush home and shower so I could go out with the husband for our monthly wine tasting and a light lunch. I felt horrible going on Thanksgiving, but they were open and it was the only day we could squeeze it in when it wouldn't be miserable—we had contemplated Wednesday night, but figured it would be way too crowded (we overheard a server saying how it was a madhouse, so I think we made the right call). It was lovely. After that we headed to my in-laws for dinner, which was delicious. His family is filled with characters, so it's always so fun to get together with them all... we pretty much just laugh the whole time. I filled up on turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, Irish soda bread, dinner rolls, and corn. Then I had some pumpkin pie. Yum. We got home around 8:30 or so, took care of some house business and hit bed pretty early. 

Friday I was up at 4am and could not fall back asleep. I woke up and tossed some laundry in the washer, watched a little tv, and then started to feel sick. That happens to me when I'm exhausted. I headed back up to bed and was able to sleep another 2 hours, which was great. The rest of the day was productive cleaning the house with a treadmill run at the gym squeezed in. I was planning on doing 4 miles, but was having some foot pain and ended at about 3. I figured it was alright since I did the 4 miles before, and still had 10 miles Saturday and 23 on Sunday. For dinner we headed up to our favorite food truck at our favorite local brewery, and had an early night to bed... again.

Saturday was another early morning as my mom and I headed in to the city. We had the Grant Park Turkey Trot 5k at 9am and then the Ugly Sweater Run at Soldier Field at 11am. Since I had to do 10 miles that day and got there a bit early, we did 1.83 miles before the first race, then the first race at 3.14, then another mile, the other 5k, and then I after finishing that race I ran around the parking lot to finish another .93 miles. After that I enjoyed an Angry Orchard that was included in the race registration. After the races, I had lunch with my mom and we stopped at a local running store for some socks (I also got a Brooks winter running hat with the ponytail hole and a baclava). Then I showered, took a nap, and took the rest of the day easy.

My left knee was hurting me after the races Saturday, so I did a full knee support KT Tape application, and on Sunday I had no problems with it.

Sunday was tough. This was my first time going 23 miles—until yesterday, my farthest had been 20, and then was extremely tough for me as my shins were giving me a lot of problems. These 23 miles were still crazy hard, but they were better than the time I did 20, and after 3 other days of running, I was quite happy with that. These 23 miles were done all by my lonesome – no one to chat with or give me words of encouragement. Having finished them by myself, I feel confident that I can complete the marathon. I don't know if it rained the night before or if it was the snow/ice that melted, but a lot of the trail was very very messy. I had mud all over my shoes and back of my pants. I didn't mind that it was messy, but there were times that my feet would sink in or turn an odd way that I didn't feel stable on my feet.

Probably hard to tell how muddy it is from that picture in the middle,
but think the pants show it well enough.

As for fueling, I had 20 ENERGYbits and a PowerBar Performance Energy Blend about 15 minutes before starting. I hydrated with some water and about 30 oz of Nuun Fruit Punch. Every 2 miles I had a Clif Shot Blok – I finished off a pack of Orange and then had Mountain Berry. At mile 10 I had a Picky Bar Cookie Doughpness (my favorite!). I felt this fueling strategy helped keep me going. When I finished, I immediately had a chocolate milk with extra protein and a Justin's Nut Butter (Thanks to the fine folks at Justin's and BibRave for providing this BibRavePro an abundance of samples!). This was my first time trying Justin's and let me say, I was quite pleased with it! It tasted delicious and hit the spot after those tough miles.

As far as the weather and my attire... it was too hot for the first 1/3 and then too cold for the 2/3 at the end. I had on a Patagonia lightweight long sleeve top as a base layer, then a tech t-shirt and my Brooks jacket (I love the zipper pockets!), and then I had on Zensah compression sleeves, Oiselle Portman Pants (the only legging to not bother me when running), Features socks, and Brooks trail running shoes. It was sunny and 48 with a feels like 43 when I started, not much wine, and then at about mile 10 it was 34 with a feels like of 25, no sun, and 12 MPH winds. I was cold and sort of miserable for those last 13 miles, but I powered through any way.

I was a bit tired and sore when I got home, but nothing too strange. However, right before bed, I had such a horrible pain in my right ankle that I could barely walk. I didn't notice any swelling or bruising, and couldn't think of any incidents that would make it hurt that bad. Unfortunately  it was still hurting this morning when I got up. I taped it with KT Tape, which has been helpful, but it still gives me shooting pains now and again when I'm walking (or should I say limping). This is a bit disconcerting, but I'm hoping with some RICE and a bit of stretching, it'll feel better pronto. Luckily this week is just some maintenance runs for the week and a fun run 5k on Saturday. Please keep your fingers crossed for me!

SIDE NOTE:

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How was your week/end? Did training go well?

P.S. Make sure to review your race(s) on BibRave.com, and join us for #BibChat tomorrow night at 8pm CT.