It’s Saturday night and I have a date..with my computer. My husband is home patiently taking care of the (pet) family, I am exhausted after three days of exercise classes, sessions, parties (yes, we had those), and just the general feeling of go, go, go that happens during a fitness conference. And a blogging conference too, now that I have experienced one of those.
It’s hard to decide where to begin! Between the Blogfest conference, which was loaded with informative blogging information, then IDEAWorld, which of course is the ultimate of fitness conventions, I have had so much fun, learning, and social experiences that it’s really hard to choose where to start.
I think, because I left off last week with who I wanted to meet at the conference, I will start with the people that I did meet. Honestly, this was the best part of the whole experience for me! Plus, since this was a blogging conference there will be tons of recap posts to choose from, so this one will be more personal to my experience.
The highlight of #Blogfest: It was the people. #IDEAWorld #SweatPink
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First of all, from my list of Six Women (and One Man):
Carla! Yay! I finally got to meet Carla, if only briefly, at our Team Eleven by Venus meet up at the Expo. My first thought (aside from “wow, that’s a beautiful outfit she’s wearing!”) was, “wow, she’s so little!” As an aside, I noticed a lot of the bloggers that I met for the first time were tiny. Not sure why that is, but all 5’8″ of me seemed to tower above most of them.
Anyway, Carla. She’s beautiful, fun, and I’m just sorry we didn’t have time to spend chatting. I know we’ll have a second chance at it and I can’t wait.
Kelly. Another brief, how do you do kind of meeting. Kelly was a presenter at Blogfest, so when she was finished with her presentation I dashed up, introduced myself, and managed to get a selfie with her. My eyes look a little crazy in this picture, but, since it’s the only one, I guess I have to post it.
Katie. Since she is also a member of Team Eleven, I had a little more time with Katy, but she was busy because she presented two sessions at Blogfest, so we didn’t have much chance to chat. Still, I was happy to have a chance to meet her.
Rita. I almost missed getting a chance to talk to Rita! She also presented, but when she was done, I had to dash off for another meeting, so I didn’t get to meet her. Fortunately, she was at the opening party later in the evening and we had the chance to chat.
Pavement Runner. As the only man on my “want to meet” list, Pavement Runner occupied a special place. I’m happy to say that I did get to meet him, spend a little time both at Blogfest, and at a group dinner on Friday evening. Still haven’t had a chance to run with him though.
There were only two women on my list that I didn’t get to meet. Jody did not make it to the event. She lives fairly close, though, in Southern California, so I know we’ll have a chance someday. And sadly, I never caught up with Gigi, who was at the expo while I was there! I tried for over a half hour, but then I had to go to a session, so we never did hook up. But, she too lives in So. Cal, so hopefully someday…
Now for the women that I wanted to meet again.
I had met a few fabulous women bloggers already, both at the 2013 IDEA World Conference, Ragnar, and other events that I wanted to meet again. And I did!
There was Carrie, Jamie, Jill, and Melissa from my Ragnar team.
And there were my Sweat Pink friends Jamie, Alyse and Becky.
And my fellow Inspired Advisors Tiffany, Kasey, Jamie (she’s on all my lists), and Gina. Oddly enough, even though I spent the most time with Tiffany (she’s my IDEA buddy), I apparently didn’t get a picture of the two of us together. She left me a really nice note though.
Tiffany was also the first person I saw when I arrived at the Blogfest conference (along with Melissa, Jill, and soon-to-be new friend, Pam). They look like fierce warriors, don’t they?
And, of course, Kelli, who is responsible for putting most of this together.
And one half of the Williams sisters, Alexandra (I did see Kymberly, but somehow didn’t get a photo #bloggerfail).
And finally, there were the women whose blogs that I have followed, who I have felt were my friends, but who I didn’t meet until this weekend.
Pamela. We really hit it off. She was my partner at our boot camp class, and since we both had the same attitude about boot camp, we spent more time taking pictures of each other than actually working out (that’s an exaggeration. Pamela worked hard. I’m the lazy bones).
I also got to meet Jill, who runs really long distances, writes beautifully, is really tiny, and is not a 20-something, which is somewhat unusual for a blogger.
I went out to dinner on Saturday night with Pam, Jill, and Sarah, who I was also happy to meet at Blogfest.
I also got to meet Shannon (I love this candid profile shot of her..she’s so pretty).
I met Monica at the Sweat Pink Welcome Party.
A group of us went out to dinner on Friday night with Pavement Runner, Tiffany, Alicia, Christiana, Lindsay, Elyse, and Kayla.
Then there are the people that I didn’t really “meet,” but managed to get a photo of.
Monica, along with Julie and Gina, did a presentation at Blogfest.
I met Jarrod (of Subway fame) at the Sweat Pink party.
I finally got to meet Lorna Jane and get a photo with her at the expo.
Jillian Michaels was the keynote speaker. More on this later, but I’ll tell you that prior to seeing her speak, I was not a fan. My opinion has undergone a 180 degree change. She was pretty amazing (and she didn’t yell at us!).
I also got to see a friend, Coach Jason, who I met years ago at IHRSA and haven’t seen for a while. He taught a session on running drills (which was very helpful). Coach Jason is actually Jason Karp, PhD., who was the Idea Personal Trainer of the Year a few years ago, and a really knowledgeable and interesting speaker.
Blogfest was great. The sessions were informative and fun, the classes were challenging, and Jillian was amazing, but I still have to say that the best part of the whole experience was meeting so many of the people that I’ve been reading and communicating with for so long. Thanks to IDEA for adding Blogfest to the program and for inviting me to participate. I’m already looking forward to next year.
In the coming days I’ll be reporting on more of the events that took place during IDEA World and Blogfest and sharing some of the inspiring lessons that I learned.
Were you at Blogfest? If so, what was your favorite part? Did I get a chance to meet you? Is there a blogger that you would really like to meet?
