Good early afternoon!
I hope you had a great weekend, mine was go-go-go the whole time. In fact, I went to bed at 9:30 last night without any remorse.
You probably already know, but if you’re new to LR, on Thursday morning I drove up to Baltimore for the FitBloggin Conference. It’s a conference for… wait for it: Fitness bloggers.
The conference was held at The Hyatt, and was GORGEOUS. Check out these views from my room:
This was my first conference and I was a bit nervous, since I didn’t know anyone. This turned out to be silly because everyone was so nice and inviting.
I instantly found Alicia (Poise In Parma), who I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing earlier this month and I was immediately relaxed seeing a familiar face. Even though we had not met in person, it felt like we had known each other for years!
So much happened this weekend, that this post is going to be really photo heavy! I thought about dividing it up, but I don’t want you to get tired of my FitBloggin talk, especially if you’re not a blogger.
So if you have questions, just post them below and I will be thrilled to answer them!
FitBloggin ’12
The mornings started with breakfast, there weren’t many vegan options so I had to stick to oatmeal and fruit. Not that that’s ever a bad combination in my eyes!
I am aware the oatmeal looks not so appetizing, but it was! Topped with syrup, figs and granola… Yum!
Then we did some awesome workouts… running, crossfit and even Zumba may have been involved. If you missed the recaps of them, check it out: Doing The Workout I Swore I Would Never Do.
But I forgot to show pictures of the city from during my run. Baltimore’s central harbor was too pretty to not share. We started before sunrise, and ran as the sun came up. Is that not the largest Barnes and Noble ever?
After the crossfit workout, Alicia, Ericka and I were asked to do an interview for Natural Maple Syrup… fine with me since I am a huge supporter of syrup for fuel and energy! So much fun.
Talking about maple syrup makes us happy! Can’t wait to see how the video turns out.
Of course lunch was thrown in there too. Salads, salads and more salads. Not that I am complaining, I could eat a salad every day!
It wasn’t just about food and workouts… we were there with a mission… a mission to learn to be better bloggers!
Attending Blogger University
Then the rest of the conference was filled with awesome sessions.
Just a few things that really stuck:
- How to go from blogging to writing for magazines and other publications: sending proposals to editors, what to do, what not to do, etc.
- How to put together a book proposal (cook book perhaps?): I learned that this is so important and requires almost as much work as actually writing a book. I am thinking that if the day comes where I want to do this, I might try self publishing first.
- How to make money through blogging: yup some people are full time bloggers. Now I just need to study up on my sales ability! Good thing I’m married to a guy who did sales for years, hopefully he can help me learn to pitch ideas and business plans.
- How to improve my Youtube videos. This session was HUGE and extemely helpful for me. Sarah from SarahFit.com led the session and really gave some good ideas and tips to help grow my channel and the quality of my videos.
Sarah blogs at SarahFit.com and her Youtube channel: Sarah’s Fab Channel
The sessions were awesome, and I came home with so much great wealth of information that I can’t wait to start implementing!
Making Friends
When we weren’t in classes, all of us bloggers were getting to know one another. This was the best part of all, we were all open to meeting each other and making new friends. No one shyed away or acted as if they didn’t want to be around one another.
My awesome roomies: Alyssa and Amanda
Both of these girls were so much fun, and both being from PA, it might not be out of the question to have a reunion since it’s where my in-laws live! Go EAGLES!
When wine is involved, how can we not open up and become instant besties?
Me and Sarah:
That’s what happens to bangs when you get caught in a windy rain storm… boo.
Other notable bloggers I immediately “clicked” with (aka, check them out 
:
- Karen: Healthy In Real Life
- Carly: Carly Bananas
- Laura: Mommy Run Fast
- Amanda: Miss Zippy
I made so many great friends, now we’re all trying to decide how to bring everyone to Charleston for a reunion!
All together I drove 1205 miles, which was 17 hours, 45 minutes.
Was it worth it? YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT!
The friends I made, the things I learned and the overall experience was unbelievable!
Not to mention the swag rocked This isn’t all of it, but just a few of my favs!
Reebok hooked us up! I even got to design my own pair, which will be arriving in 3-5 weeks. The top is so comfortable, in fact I have it on right now. I have tended to shy away from the brand leaning more to UnderArmour, but I was really surprised and happy with the quality of their products. I’ll let you know how the shoes work out.
If I eat one more PopChip, I might become one. They are tasty, vegan, all-natural and each bag only has 100 calories! Freaking amazing. But again, I need a break, because damn, they were everywhere and my go to snack.
The Beef people where there too, I got a kick out of finding this in my goodie-bag. How funny would that be on my car?
- Do you like going to conferences?
- What’s the longest road trip you’ve ever done by yourself?
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
how did we not get a picture together?!!! Great to meet you! I definitely think the miles were worth it
I was wondering the same thing! Next time! Thanks for a great run!
Let us know how you like the Reeboks! I tend towards UnderArmour too, but it’s time for me to pick which shoes I want to break in for the half, and I’m open to suggestions.
I definitely will!
Wasn’t it amazing how sweet and welcoming everyone was? This weekend definitely exceeded my expectations. SO glad to connect with you! Hope you catch up on your sleep quickly.
It was awesome. I am almost caught up on the sleep! How about you?
Laura, it exceeded mine too! I had a blast meeting you guys!
Fitbloggin reunion someday hopefully
I just found your blog! It’s great so far!
I recently did a 10.5 hour trip from Tampa to Asheville (and back!) by myself. That was the longest trip I’ve done alone, and I sure felt it around hour 8. Thank goodness for audiobooks!
As for Reebok, they really have some great clothes. I bought some of their workout capris a couple of months ago, and they are AMAZING! They are so soft and look fantasic! I like them way more than my Nike Legend capris (plus they’re aren’t as expensive). I also had a pair of their running shoes that I just retired, and they were great as well. You’ll like your Reebok stuff!
Thanks for finding me! Wow, that is a long trip. I love Asheville, it’s where my family is from actually. What part were you visiting? So far I am loving the shows and top. I need to check out the bottoms because you’re right capris can be super expensive.
I stayed at a B&B in the Montford historic district near downtown, it was perfect for walking to the shops and just relaxing on a lazy afternoon
I also went horse-back riding, and hiking at Dupont state park (saw gorgeous waterfalls!)
I’ve been to Charleston several times, my grandpa lives there, and I like to visit him about once a year. Such a nice city! That’s the second longest car trip I’ve ever taken, about 6 hours! way better than 10.5!
That sounds amazing! My family lives in the outskirts… right on the parkway. next time you come to charleston shoot me a message!
Thanks for such a thorough review for those of us who are considering going. Glad it was worth it & all of the recaps have been a blast to read! I’ve never done longer than 5 hours in the car solo—sitting in the car does not float my boat!
Aw I miss it already! Great weekend and it was great living with you for 3 days
Hopefully we can have a Fitbloggin reunion someday!
I miss it too! Hope your week is going well. Almost caught up on sleep
Hey Taylor! I wish I had gotten to talk to you at the conference. I kept thinking that you look SO FAMILIAR every time I saw you, and was trying to place where all weekend. I’m not shy at all- and don’t know why I didn’t just ask! I guess my mind was just running all over the place (along with my legs!).
I was wondering what the food was like from a vegan perspective- and glad to know that you found things that you could eat!
Your re-cap is great- and I can’t believe how many miles you drove! Whoa! (I only drove about 80 roundtrip…)
I just figured it out- you were my foodie pen pal once! You sent me all of that yummy Justin’s hazelnut butter and special cookie mix!
Aghhh- can I rewind and go back in time so we could hang out in Baltimore??!
AHHHH, I am so sorry too we didn’t get to chat! It would have been great to see you!
hahaha. next time! For food, it was a bit tough at times. Breakfast the first morning was impossible. Since it was put on by WW Cheese, I had to stick with the berries. I ran 7.5 miles that morning though and clearly needed more food, so I ended up going to the starbucks for one of their little boxes. The other meals were fine, luckily I love salads. And many of the Popchips were vegan so those were my go tos. Plus I packed some vegan cookies I made just in case of limited options. All in all, it was great!
First of all, I think this site is fantastic and have been reading it since Taylor did a guest blog on Tosca Reno’s site (love that Turtle Bites recipe!) I am from the Philadelphia area (go Eagles!) and am also going to a conference in Baltimore (mine is this weekend) so have enjoyed reading the posts about going to these places. Anyway, my thing to give up in October is “stress eating”. My diet is pretty clean (no white sugar or white flour) but I find myself turning to food to deal with stress. Even though it’s not necessarily “bad” food (yesterday I was crunching on raw almonds after a bad day at work), it is food that I’m eating not out of hunger and I want to find a better, non-food solution.
Enjoy your trip! Baltimore was a blast, much nicer than I had expected.
So awesome that you had a great time. It’s so hard to meet and connect with everyone but I love going back and reading everyone’s experience.
Popchips are the bomb. There were there for fitbloggin ’11 so so glad that they came back.
You drove forever it seems like but I would do the same thing if I had to. The community alone is worth the trip. Hope to see you in Portland and try not to be a stranger.
Blog has been added to my reader.
Ahh Jess, sorry we didn’t get to meet! I love reading everyone’s experiences too. Great to look back on!
Can’t wait for next year.
I just grabbed one of your photos for a smilebox I’m putting together from last year’s FitBloggin. I’m hosting an event next week (http://fitwithflair031213.eventbrite.com/) and FitBloggin is one of the sponsors!
Sounds great.
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