Runners World Weekend Kickoff

This has been such an amazing and impactful weekend for me.  I am beyond thankful to Runner’s World for the events opened to us and for all of the amazing men and women I was able to meet.

Thursday night the bloggers headed over to Runner’s World Headquarters for a BBQ with the editors.  Oh, and when I say dinner with the editors I literally mean dinner with the editors.  We were greeted by David Wiley (Editor-in-Chief), Bart Yasso (Chief Running Officer), Tish Hamilton (Executive Editor), and all of the other amazing editors.

After dinner, Bart Yasso took us on a tour of Runner’s World!  It was so neat seeing all of the magazine covers and how different the various magazine’s are world wide (check out Brazil…).

After our tour we all headed back to our hotel and settled in for the evening as we had an early start the next day.  Our 7AM bus Friday morning took us down to the Runner’s World Festival at The Steel Stacks.  As I shared with y’all last week, I was really nervous about Friday’s events.

As it was pouring rain, Bart first took us on a tour of The Stacks and ArtsQuest.

It was so neat hearing the history of the steel stacks from Bart and being able to learn about the facilities built on the property.

After the tour we headed into the town of Bethlehem, PA for our 3 mile shakeout run with Bart.  Bart said that our run would be easy and although in the end it was great, it was tough keeping up with a group of fast women.  It was in that moment that I remembered just how supportive runners are and knew that the ladies would stick by me.  I was able to run with a few bloggers including Carly (my room mate), Elena, Lynda, and Larisa.

We ended up running 3.83 miles, a little more than planned, but I felt awesome!  I had tackled my fear and enjoyed the run.

After our run we attended a few amazing presentations (which I’ll tell y’all more about later).  The best part of the morning though was seeing all of the bloggers freak out…

about meeting Shalane Flanagan!  Ok, I totally admit it, it was amazing being able to meet such an amazing woman, runner, and Olympian!

We were able to chit chat with her one on one and to ask her various questions.  I really enjoyed being able to hear her talk about her training partner, Kara Goucher, and how they find a balance between supporting one another and competing against one another.

Thursday and Friday were both amazing days and completely prepared me for the 10K I ran on Saturday! Can’t wait to tell y’all more…

Tagged with: Runner's World • running

Filed under: Events • FitFluential • Running • Travel

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