During tonight’s four mile run in Central Park my co-workers and I spent most of the time ignoring our heavy legs by talking about the upcoming move. Since I posted about it last month I haven’t mentioned too much about it on here because to be honest, I’m in the denial point right now.  (source)

I have created so many memories with amazing people while living in New York City that each time I think about not being I get sad, nervous, and a twinge of anxiety.  Don’t get me wrong though. Bo and I both realize that we are about to embark on an amazing adventure but I especially am starting to get sad when I realize just how much I’m going to miss these amazing friends and occasions. Therefore, I’ve decided to dedicate the next month or so to some fun events that to bring great people together to sweat and hopefully toast together. My goal is to plan 4-5 different workout events during June, hopefully including a few complimentary events. The goal is to share my favorite studios and workouts that I’ve grown to love while in New York City with amazing friends and blog readers.  Tonight I’m excited to share the first one with everyone in hopes that you’ll join!

I’ve raved about Michelle’s Uplifting Strength classes for ages and love what Uplift stands for so hopefully you all will join me for her great 10:30am Sunday strength class before a delicious brunch at Green Square Tavern.  Sign-up opens May 26th for the Uplift Class and there is a discount code for anyone new to uplift called “New to Uplift” class at checkout, which is 50% off ($16).

Please click here to RSVP for the event!

If you’re in the NYC area, is there a preference between weeknight (after 7pm), Saturdays, or Sundays for the remaining events?

Please share this via Twitter and with friends because every event is more fun with friends!

This is definitely something I could get accustomed to seeing every single evening after a long day of work. There is nothing like the warm, setting sun over the ocean and the sound of crashing waves.

I spent a whirlwind 48 hours down in Miami for a business trip with my co-workers. It was one of the better work experiences I’ve had down in South Beach for a multitude of reasons and while I am definitely exhausted I was able to enjoy the trip. (You can see a few of my other Miami posts here, here, here , and here)

Run

No trip, whether business or personal, is complete without a run around the area to explore new sites and enjoy fresh air. This trip was no different and while I only squeezed in one run during the 48 hour trip, it was at least a good one. The views were gorgeous early Tuesday morning as I ran down Collins Avenue enjoying a strong breeze and took in the art deco hotels and sites.

Hotel

Grand Beach Hotel: It is often difficult to find hotels in South Beach that fit the price range for corporate travel. We were all very pleased with our hotel this trip, Grand Beach Hotel. Located in South Beach the hotel boasts an all-suites model which means that every room is complete with 2 full baths, sofa, private balcony with ocean view, and king size bed. The balcony allowed me space to enjoy the morning breeze as I checked emails and the beach access was convenient for our group’s free time yesterday afternoon. I really can’t find a negative thing to say about the hotel. The staff was friendly, the breakfast was delicious, the pool was gorgeous, and the hot tubs stayed open all night!

Dinner and Night Life:

 Last night our celebratory team dinner was held at Yuca which is a located in the middle of South Beach on Lincoln Road. From the first sip of their mojito I knew it was going to be a delicious evening. Everything was a fresh and new taste on Cuban classic dishes such as mojitos, empanadas, and slow marinated flank steak with plenty of spice. There were multiple large groups at Yuca last night but the service was still very attentive. I would come back here again for a fun dinner in South Beach before a night on the town as it was walking distance from the other bars we visited last night including The Delano and The WALL Nightclub Lounge at the W Hotel.

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Your turn: Which do you prefer- South Beach or Las Vegas? If you’ve never been, which one do you want to visit?

My parents are in town and that means we’ve been going non-stop! It’s so much fun but holy heck I’m ready for a nap.

For the past year I’ve heard about Egg from my parents. Last year during a snow storm my parents ended up having an amazing breakfast experience there due to the food and overall staff kindness and needless to say they’ve been talking about it ever since. Yesterday we ended up spending a perfect afternoon in Brooklyn complete with brunch, fresh air, flowers, and a museum visit!

Here is our itinerary in case you want to replicate our Brooklyn afternoon:

• Brunch at Egg Restaurant
• A long walk through the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens
• Meander through the Brooklyn Museum

Egg Restaurant (Williamsburg, cash only, no reservations) A laid back, casual, little bit hipster brunch spot in Williamsburg that sources their ingredients locally and includes complimentary delicious beignets with every meal. The highlights were their French press coffee, mint roasted grapefruit, candied bacon, and home made biscuits. The line may look intimidating but it moves pretty quickly. 

Brooklyn Botanical Gardens (Prospect Heights, $8 donation requested) This is truly a hidden treasure! I’ve never heard much about it but it really is one of New York’s best kept secrets! Even with the recent rains and overcast skies it was a beautiful way to spend two hours and so relaxing compared to the speed of the city.

Brooklyn Museum ($12 suggested donation, right next door to the Gardens) The Brooklyn Museum is another hidden treasure that I’ve run by more than a few times but never visited before. The museum itself is best known for it’s Egyptian wing which was incredible! It amazed me that they included a mummy outside of the sarcophagus and some really detailed videos describing the processes they used to restore them. In addition, we spent time seeing the John Singer Sargent watercolor exhibit and the Rodin collection.

Overall it was a great afternoon in Brooklyn and I would suggest everyone enjoy a similar afternoon whether you’re a local or just in town visiting!

Happy Saturday! Here’s a sneak peak of how we spent our Saturday.

It was quite the whirlwind Friday! My parents really know how to keep me moving when they are in town, that’s for sure!

After a less than stellar 10 mile run with Katie yesterday in preparation for the Brooklyn Half Marathon next weekend, my parents and I headed out to New Jersey to see my “Jersey family” and my cousin’s adorable 10 month old, Sedona. I really don’t have baby fever in the least except for when she’s in my arms. Ask me any other day and the answer is “a good solid 3-4 years” but yesterday, you could have let me take her home and I would have been just fine!

I mean how can you not love this adorable little ball of joy. She is at such a fun age right now, telling everyone hi and making sure she’s the center of attention. Her flavor of the week is lemons. No kidding. This kid loves biting, sucking, gnawing, and entertaining herself with a lemon piece.

We also had some deep, serious conversations. “Sedona your mom won’t mind you coming to Geneva with me will she?”

As you can tell, she’s jealous of teeth now that her first two teeth have started making their presence known.

After going out to Jersey and back we had just 30 minutes to change clothes and walk over to Raymi for a happy hour with a few of our friends. It was SO much fun for my parents to meet our friends after hearing about them for the last 4 years. Unfortunately not everyone could make it but it was still a wonderful night filled with lots of laughs and great conversation!

Our “happy hour” was supposed to last until 7 but some how at 11pm we found ourselves finishing dinner. Once again Raymi was perfect for a crowd and each bite was delicious. I especially loved the plantain chips, ceviche sampler, the steak, and their take on seafood paella. Their happy hour special for mojitos wasn’t bad either!

What’s your favorite happy hour special?

April showers brings May flowers eh? I feel like today was a reverse of that childhood rhyme as most of the April flowers were washed away with today’s heavy rain in New York City.

As lovely as a speedy run along the East River sounded last night when I went to bed it didn’t quite happen this morning. I’m human and when I hear heavy raindrops on my window sill at 5:30am it makes rolling out of bed and lacing up my shoes 100x harder than normal. I rolled back over and enjoyed an extra hour of sleep along with a relaxing cup of hot coffee while getting ready this morning. It was such a nice treat but that also meant that my run needed to happen tonight after work. I’ve committed to keeping my health and fitness a priority over the next few weeks even when I have long, stressful days. Today was a perfect example. I wanted nothing more than to head home at 7:15 and enjoy a glass of wine. But, as I sip that wine I know it tastes better now than it would have sans workout!

As I’ve mentioned, my Equinox membership will be ending soon but tonight it served as the perfect place to do a quick workout. I only had 30 minutes for my run due to an 8pm work conference call. Therefore I knew I wanted something challenging that would also keep things interesting since I get VERY bored on the treadmill. It was a pretty simple workout but it helped me keep an average pace of 8:54 which is pretty speedy for a 30 minute run. I remember that last year this time I was feeling out of breath and challenged at a 9:40 pace!

I also had the chance to test out a fun, red chevron BAMR band during tonight’s run. Have you heard of BAMR bands? BAMR stands for Bad Ass Mother Runner and her bands are 7/8 inch non-slip headbands that support the Every Mother Counts charity! How cool is that? Katie sent me a band to test earlier this week and I couldn’t wait to try it!  Each headband is lined with velvet with helps keep it in place while the bright patterns keep things fun! Each headband is only $10 which is a great price compared to some other similar headbands on the market.

How about you? Headband or not when you workout? If you’re on the headband train which one are you sporting these days?

As someone who works in marketing, I am always interested to see how brands decide to build community and interact with their fans and consumers. Therefore, when I followed Under Armour’s launch of their What’s Beautiful campaign last year I was excited and immediately in love with the platform. Their campaign, What’s Beautiful, allows the Under Armour “every woman” serve as the voice of the brand. Through their site women around the world can make their personal challenges public and gain support from friends around the world. I mean heck, check out the last winner, Kacey C! Her story is awesome!

I am partnering with Fitfluential to share the Under Armour message with readers and friends alike. The campaign partnership couldn’t come at a better time. I need something to keep my body strong and help push me a bit harder. The next 2 months leading up to our big move is going to be absolutely insane. In addition to packing, saying goodbye to friends and family and finishing our NYC bucket list (sort of) I’m traveling 25 days!

• Miami 5/13-5/15 (work)
• Istanbul 5/21-5/27
• Geneva 5/28-6/1 (house hunting)
• Seattle/San Francisco 6/4-6/7 (work)
• Geneva 6/16-6/19 (work)

My What’s Beautiful Challenge is all about putting your body and health first even when life gets stressful! My team is all about putting your body and health first even when life gets busy! I find that we often let stress get in the way of our progress. As Bo and I prepare to move to Europe I know the months of May and June will be full of stress. For this reason, I’ve partnered with some of my accountability partners to put a weekly goal in place for each of the next 8 weeks. if you want to join in the movement to put yourself first then I’d love for you to join! #IWILL

Tonight I completed the TICK MARKS challenge which is a list of things I want to check off along the way to help me achieve my goal! You can check it out here and join in the fun!

The campaign is all about redefining the female athlete and is open to ANY woman! So join in the fun and follow along on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram! We’ll be using the #iwill and #whatsbeautiful hashtags on Instagram and Twitter while I’ll also be sharing my journey on this blog. If you’re participating feel free to post your team link in the comments so I can support you!

How do you put YOUR body and fitness first when life gets stressful?

There is no denying that New York City is beautiful in the Spring! Tulips abound throughout the cities small parks, fresh air beckons people of all ages outside, sunshine and blue skies tend to outnumber the gray days, and the cooler temperatures allow people to run anytime during the day!

Yesterday Katie and I took advantage of the gorgeous weather by running one of my favorite New York City routes – East River Path around the tip of Manhattan and up West Side Highway! Katie is going to run the Brooklyn Half marathon, her first half marathon, on May 18th! I’m so excited for her as she is a stronger runner than she realizes and I love watching people conquer their goals! Our goal for yesterday’s run was to enjoy gorgeous views, keep a strong pace, start and end in Katie’s Financial District neighborhood, and figure out how we’re each feeling for the upcoming half.

The weather could not have been more gorgeous during yesterday’s run! It was sunny enough for us to each get a bit of color during our hour run but the cool winds kept us cool.

As we ran I realized that this route is one of my favorite runs in New York City due to the gorgeous views of Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty, New Jersey, and Brooklyn along with the soothing water views which remind me of Savannah. While it definitely doesn’t provide you with any hill training, the flat, uninterrupted route can provide the perfect place for a few sprints since you don’t have to worry about stoplights or traffic! The water fountains are turned on for runners and the path is ready and waiting for you!

If you want to get the specifics on this route or export it just click this link!

In addition, I rocked some awesome shorts during yesterday’s run! I wasn’t able to make it to one New Balance’s recent events due to work travel so the team was kind enough to send me some of their Spring gear to review. These shorts, which are shorter and brighter than my normal running shorts, were incredible! The New Balance Momentum Short features a lightweight internal brief, a back pocket perfect for keys or fuel, are super lightweight, and has a comfortable, thick waistband. They definitely run a bit large so you may want to order down a size if you’re borderline.

For more of my favorite running routes, check out this post!

How about you? What is your favorite running route? Leave me a link or information along with which city the route is in and I’ll compile these along with links for readers to use as a resource!

I am so happy it’s finally Friday!! The sun is shining here in Cincinnati today and the weather forecast for New York City is beautiful for the weekend!

We don’t have many plans other than to celebrate a friends birthday and while Bo is scuba diving on Saturday I’m going to spend the day running and enjoying the gorgeous weather with Katie while also finally checking Balthazar off my brunch bucket list!

It’s easy to say that I want to stay healthy during business travel but it isn’t always easy to practice what we preach. Luckily, this week it was easier than I expected! 

I think the trick to staying healthy this week was balance and having the time. The training that I was in all week finished each day by 5pm which allowed plenty of time to catch up on work. This meant that each evening I was able to enjoy a relaxed dinner with co-workers or friends while still getting to bed in time to wake up for a morning workout. Here’s a glimpse at my workouts for the week along with some of the restaurants that I was able to try!

• Monday: Run with Amy through her neighborhood and sushi at Jo An Japanese
• Tuesday: Boredom Buster workout and sunset drinks at Pavillion followed by dinner at Senate
• Wednesday: The Strong Arms and Back workout and dinner at Otto’s
• Thursday: Boredom Buster workout and dinner at Metropole
• Friday: 3.5 mile run outside across the river and back

Notice a trend here? I ate out each night but I balanced it with very healthy meals during the day and a daily workout that pushed me whether that meant lifting heavy or running fast.

Overall, it was a great week of travel though I’m looking forward to being home. Too bad I don’t fly out until late tonight! For those of you who get to Cincinnati, like Emily, I will be doing another post on the Cincinnati food scene as I was amazed by all the new restaurants this week! So delicious!

To those folks running and racing Flying Pig, New Jersey, or any other race this weekend GOOD LUCK!

Your turn: Do you have any plans this weekend?

May 1st is here and it’s supposed to be 80 degrees today in Cincinnati! That my friends means Spring is finally here!

Last night I spent a few hour sipping beers and catching up with co-workers of past and present at Pavillion in Mount Adams! The sunset was pretty amazing last night!

Since I knew my evening would include at least a few beers, I spent 40 minutes in the hotel gym yesterday morning. As we’ve discussed previously, I get bored very easily which is one reason that I love places like Uplift Studios and Barry’s Bootcamp. When traveling I tend to create workouts that will change things up every few minutes while also making sure that my muscles are quivering and my heart is pumping. Efficient workouts during travel are the best!

For the below 40 minute workout I focused on fast speeds and heavy weights. The weights I used ranged from 15-25 pounds and the treadmill speeds were faster than normal. I hope you guys like it as much as I did! This one is definitely a keeper!

Greetings from Cincinnati!

In case you missed it, we spent the weekend with our friends exploring Cincinnati! It was such a fun weekend that we didn’t want it to end! Monday mornings are especially tough after long, fun filled weekends!

Bo flew back to New York City last night while Amy, Ryan and I relaxed in their basement watching The Impossible and chilling. We kept things simple last night by enjoying some healthy snacks during the movie and then making easy taco salads for dinner!

This morning, before heading to the office together, Amy and I went out for a quick, easy 3 mile jog around her neighborhood.  It’s amazing what a few hills can do for a 3 mile run! Holy heck this run wasn’t easy but it sure felt great when we were done just a short while later. There were two monster hills that we ran and each time I just kept telling myself to push through to the top. While getting up at 4:45 wasn’t fun and neither of us were that talkative during the run due to the hills and exhaustion, it still felt great to know we finished our workout bright and early.

I’m traveling for work this entire week and will spend the next four nights in a hotel room and each day in meetings. It’s easy to get off track and use the different environment as an excuse to take a few days off from healthy eating and workouts. But, as I’ve mentioned before, I believe that I feel even better if I can keep up with my normal routine as much as possible. Here are a few things that I try to do while traveling to stay energized.

• Go to bed as early as possible. Sleep is always such an important part of how you feel but we rarely get enough. Take advantage of the time away from children and loved ones to focus on getting a few extra minutes of sleep! I do my best to avoid watching tv while traveling as I know I’ll stay up far too late!
• Bring your own water bottle! Between air travel and the dry hotel and meeting rooms I tend to get very parched during business trips. I start each day by drinking a bottle of water and then ensure that I drink one before bed too! During the day I carry this bottle with me to each meeting and refill it during breaks. A water refill is a great excuse to stand up and walk around but can also save money since I get to refill it versus buying a fresh bottle each time!
• Move as much as possible! Maybe the gym isn’t for you. Regardless of your fitness level, always pack your workout shoes and at least lace them up for a short walk around town or the office park. Need to call your loved one to catch up after a long day? Try walking up and down the hotel hallway if you don’t feel safe outside alone. You’ll be surprised just how far you can walk during a 30 minute phone call! If you normally work out at home, use this travel time to try something new using Pintrest as a great source for travel workouts! My 35 minute full body workout and 45 minute full body workouts don’t require any machines and will leave you out of breath!

Hopefully this week I’ll create another workout for you guys as I know I’ll grow bored quickly. Unfortunately my hotel isn’t located near a park so I’m limited to running around a corporate business park or on the old treadmill.

How about you? How do you stay healthy during travel?