July 8, 2014

14 Favorite Things from Fitbloggin' 2014 {big recap post}


I've been trying to figure out how to do a proper recap of Fitbloggin' 2014. I could do a day by day, but if you really want that you could just check out the schedule.  


Fitbloggin' was an amazing personal experience for me, and something that definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone. I flew alone to a conference in a city I've never been, with no friends or anyone I knew personally there, and roomed with three other blogger ladies I've never met before (who were awesome!).  

I could make this multiple posts but decided to just highlight 14 of my favorite things or experiences from Fitbloggin' 2014 with a bit of a photo dump! It's going to be a long one and sadly it's not even 1/4 of my photos!

1. Making friends during a Crossfit-style workout led by Andrea I was excited to do this WOD since I'm a part-time Crossfitter. It wasn't too hard for me, but I loved doing a team WOD with ladies who never tried Crossfit before. We actually ended up becoming conference friends after the workout. Sweating together =friendship, people. 

Thanks to Angela for the photos!

2. Savannah parks/squares I spent most of Sunday walking around to all the different squares in Savannah and had a fabulous afternoon alone. The moss in the trees is gorgeous, and I loved the little pristine slices of nature tucked into the city. 


Along the river in Savannah
This is Forsyth Park a.k.a. the Forrest Gump park!

3. Leopold's ice cream Everything I had read about Savannah mentioned this classic ice cream place in downtown Savannah. It's apparently known for it's Tutti Fruitti ice cream so that's what I ordered with rainbow jimmies (sprinkles)! I love ice cream and should have visited again before I left!


SO good

4.  Downtown Savannah I loved just walking around Savannah. I am pretty much want to live in the store The Paris Market which was decorated so adorably plus had a little coffeeshop inside. 

There is so much history in the city. I loved seeing the St. John the Baptist Cathedral because I'm a sucker for old churches with stained glass. Savannah reminded me of New Orleans in many ways. 

5. Ignite talks If you want to be inspired, laugh, and cry go to Fitbloggin' Ignite. I loved the quick pace of the presentations which left you with lots to think about by the end. Sarah's "How to Make a Proper Cuppa Tea" and Vita's  presentation on how she is a bad ass and competed  on an international level in Spain were favorites.  It was good mix of informative and personal stories. There were so many people I want to befriend next year who completely inspired me with their Ignite talks. 

6. My roomies We had an epic Fitbloggin' fail of not getting a roomie selfie, but Erin, Susan, and Denise were wonderful roommates. I was nervous rooming with people I never met, but they were all so friendly and fabulous! 

7. The workouts-especially Katy and Kat's Piyo/Insanity class I loved getting a chance to try lots of fitness classes and different workouts. I even made it to 6 AM yoga one morning! I had done Piyo and Insanity before, but taking both as a group fitness class was so fun! The Piyo moves a little too fast for me, and I was dripping with sweat after Insanity!

With Kat and Katy after class
Getting my warrior on

8. Small Group Discussions and Sessions

My favorite sessions were the small group discussions like "Use Your Words to Change Your Life by Alexandra where it actually felt more like a discussion rather than a presentation. I was lucky to liveblog the Walgreens sponsored session "Make Wearable Fitness Devices Work for You..." and even though I sadly didn't win the Fitbit, I'm convinced to get one based on everybody's positive opinions.  Sidenote, liveblogging was stressful because I wanted to make sure I did a good job, but it has been wonderful to go read all about the liveblogs of sessions I couldn't make and wanted to!

Look,we even kinda match!

9. Meeting bloggers whose blogs I read in real life. 

Self explanatory. It's lame, but it's like getting mini-starstruck by people whose blogs you read and realizing they are just as awesome in real life.  I had to grab a photo with Monica even though I was all post-workout sweaty. RunEatRepeat was one of the first blogs I ever regularly read so it was great to meet her!

10. Pro-blogger panel  Erica organized an awesome pro-blogger panel which was one of the most informative sessions of the whole conference. It was a Q&A set up, and I learned so much about pro-bloggers and the ins and outs of getting blog traffic. It made me think a lot about my blog, which I don't think will ever be pro status, and how it's easy to get caught up in blogging. My takeaway was to do it because you love it and put good content out there. 

11. The swag and sponsors

Clearly I left with tons of swag. I made friends with Clark from Quest Nutrition and got hooked up with Quest Bars. I was in love with California Almonds' custom trail mix bar.  California Avocado had a session where I learned the new way to cut an avocado and also had some delicious avocado recipes to try like these amazing avocado blueberry muffins. I loved the information from Move Forward PT and Walgreens Way to Well Health Tour. Got Chocolate Milk had post-workout chocolate milk and runDisney even made an appearance with Mickey Mouse himself!
Health Warrior brought along Arian Foster from the NFL Houston Texans to take selfies along with many of their yummy chia bars.  

Ninja was another one of my favorite sponsors because I literally would sample their smoothie creations all day long-so yummy!
Clearly I need to learn where to look at my camera phone
This is what I had to fit in my suitcase!

12. The food I don't even know what to say about all the food I ate. I loved the breakfasts at the conference hotel. All the samples from the sponsors were great. I ate at some great Savannah restaurants and had some good Southern food like crab cakes, hush puppies, and fried green tomatoes.  Of course I had also plenty of sweets like Savannah's famous pralines. 

I loved the oatmeal toppings bar at breakfast! An oatmeal addict's dream.

Beer, crabcake, and hushpuppies!

Awesome fish tacos from Kayak Kafe

13. Sunday morning 5K/10K

Sunday morning I had planned to get in my scheduled 12 miles for marathon training. I did 6 solo miles down to and around Forsyth Park in the early morning Savannah humidity & fog.  I came back to meet up with the Jeff Galloway-led 10K and was nervous about finding people to run with. By the way, Jeff Galloway is one of the nicest people! I ended up running with the speedy group Vita, Jesica, and Sarah


It ended up being a really cool route which had us running over a bridge (a first for me!). I  always get nervous to chat to people when running because sometimes people just like to run. I ended up having a inspiring and really helpful conversation with fellow Nuun ambassador Sarah who just had a huge marathon BQ PR and had come from a previous marathon time similar to mine.  Getting advice from someone who reached my dream goal and was coming from a similar place as me was so valuable. 

Coming down the home stretch

14. The people.

Everyone says this about Fitbloggin', but it's true-the people are what make the conference. Besides the fact that everyone blogs about weight loss, healthy recipes, or fitness, we all connect with each other just as awesome people. The moments I valued the most were hearing people's stories and just talking to others.  Thanks so much Roni!

Official Fitbloggin' 2014 group photo



43 comments:

  1. Awesome recap! It was very nice to meet you in Savannah. Hope we cross paths again in Denver.

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    1. I hope so too! I'd love to talk more running with you!

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  2. I didn't get a chance to meet you!!! :( Next time!

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    1. Next time for sure! You're Ignite talk was so inspiring. I told my bf all about you because he is out of shape and trying to start running!

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  3. Ok this seriously looks like so much FUN! How cool that runDisney and Jeff Galloway were there *starstruck* Love all your pics!

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    1. I know, it everybody was so excited for runDisney! Thanks!

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  4. Didn't get a chance to meet you, but a great recap!

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  5. I'm so sad I didn't get to visit the Paris Market! That place looks awesome! I want to eat that Leopold's ice cream all over again!

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    1. Ah it was amazing, I'm super bummed I didn't get more ice cream too!

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  6. Great recap!! I'm so glad that I got to meet you! I'm so mad that I didn't get to go see Forsyth park. Your pictures look great!

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    1. Thanks so much it was great meeting you! Maybe we'll cross paths again before Denver!

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  7. yay yay yay; isn't Savannah gorgeous!? And are so right, very reminiscent of NOLA. Your swagbag pink sunglasses are pretty much the coolest!

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    1. Yeah I love them, or pretty much anything pink :)

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  8. Sounds like a great weekend! I just started blogging myself, so it's great to see that those real-life connections really happen. And you go for that BQ PR, girly! You're super speedy!! http://www.runcrush.com/

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    1. Thanks so much for the encouragement-definitely reading your blog now!

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  9. We wandered around Paris Market on Sunday too!! And all over downtown Savannah. Loved it. Thank you for the kind words about my session. What a nice surprise to read that.

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    1. I'm so glad-I've been thinking a lot about changing how I talk to myself!

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  10. Love this recap! I wish I had explored the squares a little more, but I like air conditioning way better than spanish moss, LOL

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    1. Haha yes it did get a little sweaty with all that walking-that's why I popped into lots of stores ;)

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  11. Such a great recap! Thank you so much for the shout-out and I absolutely LOVE that picture of the four of us. I'm sad that I met you on the LAST day at the LAST possible moment. Clearly we need to hang out next year in Denver :-)

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    1. I know, I don't have many in action running shots! We'll keep in touch and hang in Denver!

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  12. It sounds like a wonderful conference! The amount of swag is incredible. I'm visiting because Allie introduced you on her blog and I know her recommendations are always good ones. Glad I came by! I do love when you meet bloggers IRL, it's like "what, you're a real person!". Fun

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    1. Thanks so much for visiting! Swag is the best-I still have most of it just sitting in a bag though!

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  13. Awesome recap - glad you loved my ignite talk. Didn't really get to chat with you, but will make sure I do in Denver in 2015 :)

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  14. That looks like so much fun! I'm super jealous!

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    1. It was a really fun time, and I loved exploring a new city!

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  15. Fun to see what goes on at these events!
    -Meranda@Fairytalesandfitness

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  16. What a great recap! I'm so happy to have met you! Hope to see you in Denver next year!

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    1. It was great meeting you too! We can all virtually keep in touch through blogs & social media!

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  17. I went to Fitbloggin' last year and had a great time! Lately, I find myself toying with the idea of heading to next year's conference!

    Maybe I'll meet you there! :)

    Btw, I'm a fellow I'm Fit Possible Ambassador!

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    1. Ah you definitely should-I've never been to Denver so I'm excited to explore it! I love meeting other I'm Fit Possible peeps because we are part of such an awesome community!

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  18. Loved your recap and bummed we didn't get to meet. I'm glad that I can follow your blog and hope we can connect at next year's Fitbloggin!

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    1. Social media is nice that way-I have so many people I want to meet next year!

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  19. I love Savannah! I wish I had went to Fitbloggin' but alas... Jay-Z & Beyonce called...

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    1. Don't worry girl, I saw Queen Bey and Co. a couple weeks later-FLAWLESS.

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  20. Love your post! So many great things from that weekend. I really loved running with you too!

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  21. I am über jealous!!!! I was supposed to go to this but could not due to too many racecations this year. :( :( So sad that I missed meeting all you cool bloggers! Plus I love Savannah!!! ❤️

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    1. Well racecations sound awesome too! Start saving up for next year-Denver 2015!

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