The Day After

BlogHer is done, back to regular life. I’m exhausted and have a ton to get done today, but I’m so glad I took advantage of the fact that the conference was here this year and went. With over 5,000 attendees, plus staff and exhibitors, the Hilton was buzzing. Thankfully, the conference organizers turned one men’s restroom on each floor into another women’s restroom so the lines weren’t so long! Makes sense when the ratio was probably somewhere around 90% women to 10% men.

I met some great people, including my Oiselle teammate, Lynda (find her at Hit the Road Jane) and learned a ton. We heard great keynote interviews with Martha Stewart and Katie Couric. I have a ton of things I want to do now, and have already linked my blog to Google Analytics (I know, why had I not done this before?!) and started a Facebook fan page for this here blog. You can become a fan HERE. There’s not much there yet, but that won’t last too long, especially with all the Olympic news coming out of London.

I do have to say though, while I learned a lot and met some great people and put the most random assortment of food samples into my stomach, I do think a good portion of the conference was geared towards mom bloggers and that if I go to another conference, which I hope that I do, it will be a health/fitness conference such as FIT Bloggin’ or the Healthy Living Summit.

I was in the last session of the day yesterday it seemed everyone on my Twitter feed was watching the men’s 10,000m final. It was blowing up even though the connection at the Hilton was miserable. I wish I had gotten to see the full race. Thankfully I saw a replay of the last lap a few times. Seriously, what a finish! Can’t imagine what it would have been to actually be there.

Did anyone wake up for the 6am ET start of the women’s marathon this morning? I have to admit, I didn’t. But I did turn it on as soon as our alarm went off at 7:10am and watched it till we had to leave for the gym. I had planned to go for a run but when I realized the marathon would be on I opted for the gym so I could watch from the treadmill. It was so sad to watch Shalane and Kara fall back and know that Desiree had already pulled out. But, it was a hard fought race and the American women are amazing. I hope they’re doing okay.

Track & Field is up this afternoon. Who do you think will win the men’s 100m?

By the way, NYRR opened registration for Fall races last week in case you want to sign up. I signed up for three so I don’t have to worry about them filling up while I’m not looking! Let me know if you sign-up for any of these, or the 5th Ave Mile, which I signed up for before!

• September 15: FITNESS Mind, Body, Spirit games (4M)
• October 28: Poland Spring Marathon Kick-off (5M)
• November 18: Race to Deliver (4M)

Let me know what you want to see on the new Early Morning Run Facebook page!

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Today’s workout -

• 50 min elliptical
• 3x10 lat pull down
• 3x10 upright row
• 100 ab exercises
• 2x10 box step ups
• bosu ball balance
• 3x10 squats
• stretching

NYC or Bust! Oh…wait. #BlogHer12

Being away for the last week I’m cramming in a ton of BlogHer prep in just a few days. This year it’s being held in NYC; I’d been toying with the idea of attending a blogger conference since I started this thing but hadn’t taken the leap until I found out BlogHer was here and decided this was a great opportunity to attend. There are a lot of Blogger conferences out there now – and without any research to back up this assumption – I think this is probably one of the biggest, most well known.

Even though I’ve read through the 100+ page guide at least three times now, I’m not entirely sure what to expect. I think it’s going to be kind of crazy – tons of people, sponsors (many of which seem to be geared towards mothers and mom bloggers, but I’m going to hold out judgment until the weekend is over), and panels and parties to attend. I’m hoping to learn how to improve my blogging (I guess you’ll be the judge of this), hear from some great speakers, take in different points of view, and of course, meet a lot of other bloggers.

I’m not staying at the hotel, since I can’t really justify spending a few more hundred bucks to stay at a hotel just a few miles from home. But, I do wonder if I’m going to miss out on part of the experience because I won’t be staying at the hotel with all the other attendees. I’m also not sure about the logistics of the event, and I tend to be a little anal about knowing the specifics of how everything works whenever I attend an event. I’m guessing people tend to go back to their rooms and change before the evening events, so will I be the only one bringing everything with me that I’ve been carrying all day and wearing the same outfit?

Right now I only know of a few people who will be attending, so I’m looking forward to meeting a lot of new people, but slightly nervous about the whole ordeal too. There will be many bloggers like me – first timers – but also a ton of bloggers who have been to this, and other conferences, many times over.

So… my questions for you -

• If you’re going to be at BlogHer and want to meet up, email me (Lisa.Alcorn at Hotmail.com) or DM me on Twitter!
• Have you been to a Blogger conference before? What are your top tips for getting the most from it?
• What are some of the things you’d want to learn or do at a Blogger conference?

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First Post-vacation Workout -

• 40min elliptical
• 100 ab exercises
• 3x10 upright row
• 3x10 side twists
• 1x50sec plank
• stretching

2 Days of Blogger Fun in NYC

It’s official, I’ll be heading all the way to midtown August 3rd and 4th for BlogHer ‘12! I’ve wanted to go to a blogger conference since not long after I started Early Morning Run a few years ago but I just kept putting it off for a whole host of reasons. No more excuses, I’m going!

Have you ever been to BlogHer or any other blogger conference? Even though it’s many months away, I’d love any advice you have for getting the most out of it. Let me know if you’re going this year so we can meet up!

p.s. the early bird rate is good through today (the 28th).

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Today’s workout -

None! Slept in.