After I awoke on Saturday morning, I decided I wanted to get out and see Baltimore. While I love traveling to blogging conferences, I often leave feeling like the only thing I saw was the inside of a hotel and a few restaurants. I love exploring, so I hate feeling like I’m missing out on seeing what a certain city is all about.
On Saturday morning, I threw on my workout gear and headed outside for a run around Inner Harbor.
I decided to change up my run and incorporated a few breaks where I threw some other exercises into the mix.
The exercise breaks broke up my run a bit which is always nice.
I love running outside in a new location because there is so much to see! I often play a funny little game with myself when I’m out on a run somewhere new. (Perhaps this should be added to the Weird Things I Do While Running list?) I’ll look at all the nearby houses, apartments or condos and daydream about which one I’d want to live in if I lived in the area and money were no object.
Yesterday, I narrowed my Baltimore dream house down to a beautiful brick building with lots of condominiums. And then I realized they were Ritz Carlton Residences. Naturally.
(Source)
Not sure I’ll be moving in there anytime soon.
FitBloggin’ Day Two
After my run and a quick shower, I headed over to the Hyatt hotel for day two of FitBloggin’.
Almost immediately I ran into my sister’s friend Brittney who is a PR rep for The Laughing Cow.
She is so much fun and we had a good time chatting during The Laughing Cow snack break.
I made sure to dig into their cinnamon cream cheese since it’s one of my favorite flavors. I love it spread on a toasted English muffin or bagel, but it is fantastic in smoothies and gives them a cheesecake-like flavor. I need to make my banana cheesecake smoothie again!
I spent the rest of the second day of FitBloggin’ attending sessions and meeting new blogging buddies.
I had a great time talking with Lexy and Carman (pictured above) of Fire Lights Fire. Lexy and Carman are sisters-in-law and they, along with their other sister-in-law Cyndi, started their blog together to document their healthy living efforts. The three women have all lost weight and share blogging responsibilities on their site which I thought was so neat!
Kelly is a weight loss and healthy living blogger and apparently found my blog through an article in the Kappa Delta alumni magazine when they featured different bloggers in a past issue! She’s a fun one!
Emily is a mom who lives in Iowa and was so bubbly. Her energy was contagious and I had a great time talking to her!
I also had fun talking about running with Amanda!
The first session I attended talked about Twitter and since I feel a little lost on Twitter at times, it was interesting to hear how people use hash tags, plan their tweets and more. I’m very casual about Twitter and tweet as I feel like it without rhyme or reason, but it sounds like many bloggers put a lot of thought into their tweets and the timing of their tweets. Phew!
I know a few of you are interested in reading more about the sessions on FitBloggin’ I highly recommend you check out the FitBloggin’ website where you can find very detailed recaps of nearly every session that volunteer bloggers live blogged from the conference.
In between sessions, I took advantage of the popchips booth and grabbed a bag of their ranch tortilla chips.
Lunch rolled around quickly and I fixed myself a plate of salad with fennel, radishes and salmon.
It was great and I went back for seconds.
As I left the conference last night, I kept thinking about how the FitBloggin’ atmosphere was so friendly, laid back and fun. Everyone is so social and welcoming and I had the best time! After attending such an informational conference the previous weekend when I went to CFLBlogCon (awesome!), FitBloggin’ was a great contrast because it was so social and laidback.
It was a wonderful conference!
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I’ve heard so much about Fitbloggin’ this weekend through blogs and Twitter. It sounded like a blast and I’m jealous of everyone that attended.
I wanted to thank you for posting your blog tips and the information from the last blogger conference that you attended. The tips are very helpful… I just switched from Blogger to WordPress this weekend because I noticed a trend that people seem to dislike Blogger. I’m still getting the hang of WordPress, but I can see it’s advantages already 🙂
I agree with Bailey’s comment. I’ve really appreciated reading all of your tips from past conferences, and past posts in general. Many have really helped me in developing my own blog- so thank you! Hopefully someday I’ll be attending one of these conferences 🙂 So much fun!!!
I bet the session on Twitter was really interesting. I, too, feel a little lost on Twitter, and I don’t think I’m utilizing it to it’s greatest potential.
Awww I love Emily!! I know her from Iowa- she used to take my zumba class when I taught! So fun seeing two of my fave bloggers together!
very cool! she was so nice!
Aww, Hey Elana!
Side note – I’m totally going to become a Zumba instructor because of you. <3
What a fun looking conference! I go through bouts of using Twitter all day and then using it once a day. It ebbs and flows as I feel I have interesting things to share.
The conference sounds great and I really appreciate your links to other bloggers.
I also love looking at houses and thinking about what I would get if I won the lotto (well, more than the $2 I won on a scratcher this week). I just think it’s fun!
Sounds like my sort of conference! I would definitely up for the exploration run hate visiting somewhere and not seeing the sights. Plus all that inside time ain’t good for the head! Leaves me feeling all fuzzy! 🙂
is that workout shirt you’re wearing made by under armour?
it’s reebok. 🙂
That cinnamon cream cheese Laughing Cow sounds so good! I love their garlic & herb flavor – it’s really good on turkey sandwiches & with tuna fish!
I’ve been wanting to try those popchip tortilla chips! Glad you enjoyed the conference and met so many bloggers!
PopChips are the best! I love flying JetBlue because they always have them as one of their snack options. The kettle corn flavor is the best–perfectly sweet & salty and a sensible indulgence!
I love meeting new people!! Actually, I ran a half-marathon today and totally ran into another blogger (Kierston) while there completely by chance. It’s so great to have such an amazing and supportive community around us! 🙂
your circuit is really clever — a great way to break up and re-invigorate a three mile run. I also love that you chose the Ritz Carleton residences — I did the same thing with my husband while we were sightseeing once, like “huh, those are quaint apartments’ — only to find out they were Four Seasons, baller-style residences. Not “quaint” as much as super diva I guess haha 🙂
nice workout circuit! I will be trying this!
I love that you took some time out for yourself and jogged around the area! I hate traveling to somewhere new for conferences because, you’re right… you barely leave the hotel!
I’m the same way with Twitter – I tweet whatever/whenever random stuff comes to my head. Definitely going to check out the fitbloggin site so I can work on that. 🙂
i had an awesome time at fitbloggin’! tell brittney thanks for the laughing cow cheese — holy yum.
Running is my favorite way to see a new city!
Even if you attempt to get off the beaten path while sightseeing, when you’re running, you truly get a sense of the place as a local!
i agree!
I love Baltimore! Too bad you didn’t really get to see more of it, the Inner Harbor isn’t very representative of the city!
One of my goals this year was to attend a blogging conference and Fit was right in my backyard being in Baltimore, but since switching jobs in the spring my schedule wasn’t so flexible… Hopefully next year! All y’alls pictures and posts look like it was a wonderful weekend 🙂
This looks like an awesome workout. A great way to incorporate strength training with cardio. I also love hearing about the different blogging events you go to. I just got my first blogging job and I’m so excited. I did not know much about blogging until I started following your blog. 🙂
When I’m in new surroundings, I feel like I can run forever! Totally know what you mean about picturing where you would live, etc.
I love a good, fun couple of sessions. Sounds like it was a great weekend! And that harbor is really cool! I’d totally run there for sure 🙂
Interesting about the Twitter tidbit…but do you think that all that thinking before Tweeting takes away some of the fun?
yessss, absolutely. i kind of enjoy my laid back to twitter and don’t know that i’ll be implementing a lot of the advice. it just doesn’t feel right for me, but some people really do make twitter seem like an art!
I’d love to meet other healthy eating bloggers in Australia! Ps. I love how you can do things whilst you run- I struggle to run let alone do anything else!
Hey! So, random workout question. I have managed to fracture a bone in my right foot and now have to wear a walking boot for 4-6 weeks (yay me..). I really don’t want to end up just sitting on the couch for that long, so I was wondering if you – or anyone else here – have any ideas for workouts that can be done without the use of one foot? 😛 I can also go for short walks, but that’s about it.
Also, I’ve actually really enjoyed the blogging posts 🙂
It would be lovely to attend a blogging conference like that, being surrounded with passionate crowd on health and blogs, the dream house is awesome!
Sounds like a great time! 🙂 I love Laughing Cow cheese. I’m so glad they came out with cream cheese. I love it.
It looks like you had an awesome time. My husband loves the popchips. They are great.
Definitely wish I had the chance to run up and get un Zumba-ed for this picture. 😉 So great meeting you this weekend!
Thanks for the shout-out, Julie! (and the crazy traffic spike on my blog, haha.) It was so nice to chatting with you.
I’m glad you took the extra time to walk around the harbor. I do the same thing – – daydreaming about where I’d live if money was no object! There were certainly a ton of stunning places in Baltimore.
Happy Monday! I’m off to tackle that walking incline workout of yours again. 😉
xo
Hey Julie! I live very close to Baltimore and work at Johns Hopkins in East Baltimore and have always wanted to go over to the harbor for a run after work before I go home for the day…where exactly did you run and did you feel safe?? Safety is what I am mainly worried about when running downtown…thanks!
looks like the conference was a lot of fun… i’m a newbie newbie blogger and was wondering how long a person should be blogging before they think about attending a blogging conference?
Thanks for including our pic! So incredibly nice to meet you, dear!