This coming week is completely jam-packed. Today through Wednesday, my mornings are booked spending time with these two little rascals, which I am obviously not complaining about!

After my sister was back home this afternoon, it was time to make the trip to Camden to see my favorite righty on the mound in tonight’s game.

As soon as the last out of the game is recorded, it’s back to Baltimore for babysitting duty in the morning. Wednesday night is the first summer conditioning workout with my sister’s basketball team, followed by Thursday morning’s cameo at basketball camp for some agility drill demonstrations and teaching.

Friday morning I get to play photographer for The Baseball Warehouse‘s first summer camp of 2013 and then have a private conditioning session with clients before it’s back to being hubby’s biggest fan for his next start on Saturday in Southern Maryland. Then there is the BWC 5K on Sunday morning…

It’s going to be a busy week full of travel, babies, training plans, coaching and a ton of coffee so bear with me on the LoveEatRun front. I promise I won’t leave you all hanging for too long…if even at all!

My parents and I made the drive up to Wilkes-Barre, PA last night for the wedding weekend of a close family friend. The last time we saw Judd and some of his family members was at Brian and my wedding back in November so I’m really looking forward to getting to celebrate Judd and Brandy’s big day with them today.

When you hear the unconventional story of how our families met and remained friends over the past 15 years, it seems a little crazy but all in all, crazy just sums up our families together!

Rewind back to summer of 1998. Two young high school girls (myself and my friend, Jen) are playing lacrosse on the beach when they hear shouts from a balcony above them. Obviously, being typical 14-year olds, they giggle at the “hellos” from the boys being called their way and shyly end up mustering a wave and “hello” back. That’s how this 15 year friendship began and by the end of that week, our families were lifelong friends.

That first week ended with phone number exchanges and promises of meeting back at the beach the following summer. And for many summers after that, both families continued to meet in Ocean City, MD for the last week in July. Since that very first year, everyone just clicked – we all got each other and the dynamics of each family. Over the years there has been visits between Pennsylvania, Kansas City and Baltimore, proms and weddings (Judd was always the best “fly in” date out there!) and lots of long beach days and late summer nights between our families. I know that on any given day I could call any single one of their family members and receive a warm hello and whatever I could possibly need and I know they feel the same about my family.

We’ve expanded with a few marriages and additional kids along the way, have had some people occasionally missing from the annual beach trip and have made more memories than one could ever count and through it all we have become one big extended family.

We may not get to see each other all 365 days of the year but the mere days that we all get together gives us time to catch up and enjoy each other until the next time. And with that in mind, I can’t wait to celebrate with the family tomorrow and soak up every minute of my time with them.

Just the quick hellos last night were exciting and full of hugs and conversations like we just saw each other last week so I can only wait to see how much fun today is!! And a huge congrats to the bride and groom on their special day!

With the exception of my run this morning and a group training session with some clients, today has been almost 100% consumed by work on my computer. Photoshop and I are really bonding these days and I’m surprising myself more and more with new skills I’ve been acquiring while working in the program. Between new business cards and bachelorette and shower details for Jeremy just today I’m feeling even more advanced than I was this morning!

Besides doing a lot of design work today I also spent time on training plans as well. Let me tell you something, being tied to a desk chair for a whole day really makes you itch to be able to get up and do some of the workouts you are putting together!

Since I know many of you don’t always have time to fit in a super detailed workout on a regular basis because of things like, being tied to a desk chair or chasing after little ones, I thought I would share two super fast circuit workouts today.

Workout #1: Treadmill

Workout #2: Body Weight Cardio

Happy Thursday!! Tomorrow starts the weekend – woop woop!

Last night the area I live in was under a tornado watch for the majority of the evening before the watch turned into a warning. There was reports of a tornado touching down in a nearby town and that our area was in the line of fire as the winds were moving our way next. My first step of action was to move off of the couch in front of our ginormous wall of windows and into the center of the house.

I continued doing a little computer work in the kitchen until the emergency alert on my phone told me (with a very loud sound that I had never heard my phone make before!) that I should take immediate cover – ekkk!

Telli and I drug the storage containers out of our most protected closet under the stairs (our basement is actually outdoors and really creepy so I forewent making the venture down there) and got in the very tight space. Luckily, my parents called at this point and told me that the tornado was 15 minutes from our area and that I could quickly sprint to their house to take shelter in the basement. Man Cave > Storage Closet.

We ended up only getting a lot of rain and some thunder and lightning before the watch was removed for our area and the storm started to lighten up.

Once there was a break in the rain, Telli and I started our jog back home from my parents house only for this to happen.

Apparently the twister did get to do some damage around here in its own little way.

However, thanks to total equipment coverage the cost was a lot less than having to buy a new phone and my replacement one will be here tomorrow. A small price to pay in regards to the damage that tornado really have been doing across the United States recently.

*If you missed yesterday’s post on the new app flik, go check it out!!!
*Also – check out the newly updated Names to Faces pages on LoveEatRun. It was about time for a face-lift!

My very first video post on LoveEatRun and it has the most appropriate topic – flik – a new app that allows you to video products and places that you love and share them with others in the flik community.

One of my favorite things about this app is that the videos aren’t professionally produced and sponsored by companies. Each video is obviously recorded and narrated by your everyday average individual and the opinions expressed are real. There’s no fake promotion of products or places because of incentives, etc. Share what you love or share what you are disappointed in – either way, you get real life opinions of real life people in real life video clips!

*If you download flik, use “loveeatrun” in the “who referred you” section at sign up for expedited account approval and app access!*

As promised from the video, here are links to learn more about flik and to download it…

• Website
• App Store
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Pinterest

And some links to recent articles written about flik:

• Window Shop Through Your Friends’ Lives With Chicago Startup flik
• flik app combines the best of Vine, Pinterest and Yelp
• Flik’s founders look to strike out Vine, Pinterest and Yelp in order

National Running Day and National Donut Day all in the same week?! If only my birthday was this week as well it would for sure be the best seven days of the year!

I celebrated National Running Day with a 3-mile run with the husband and so I had to celebrate National Donut Day with him too, of course. We made a trip to Dunkin Donuts for their “free donut with any drink purchase” party this morning. If you know me, you know how much I love DD coffee so having to purchase one for the free donut wasn’t really that much of a chore for me.

*with the purchase of an drink

It may not be my birthday week too but who says I can’t celebrate like it is? Coffee and Key Lime Donuts for all!!!

And what makes this day even better is the rain storm covering the coast. Sure rainy days can be a drag but when it means that your hubby has a day off because of it there is no reason to complain! Maybe another free donut is in our future!

Last week a fellow Baltimore blogger, Kerry, tagged me with the “Versatile Blogger Award.” Along with tagging me, she included a few more Baltimore bloggers as a way to get to know the others in our area. Since the “rules” of the award include sharing six random facts about yourself and then answering six posed questions I thought today was the perfect day to share – six on the sixth!

6 Random Facts About Me:

1. Since Brian and I have been thinking about building a new house at some point in the (hopefully) near future, I have turned into that stalker lady who takes pictures of houses that have features that I look for in my dream home.

2. If I could start a career in absolutely anything tomorrow, I would want to be a race director or a baker.  Neither is my 100% dream job but both are currently appealing to me.

3. Whenever I dance, I stick my tongue out and usually wave two fingers in the air. Annnnd I usually think I’m good enough to be in a music video when the fact is I’m the whitest white girl out there on the dance floor.

4. Ed Reed is my all-time favorite professional athlete (besides my husband, obviously!) and when I finally got the chance to meet him I was so flustered that I forgot to ask him the question that I always said I would – why he knelt down at the 20-yard line prior to every game for an entire season.

Luckily, my BFF got the chance to meet him just recently and she picked up the slack for me!  One of the many reasons why I love her!

5. I’ve lived on the same farm since the time I was born but in three different houses. I started in my parents original house, then lived in their current house which they built when I was two and now live in my grandparents original house on the same plot of land. Brian and I hope to build on the same property at some point so that will make four houses in the same 12 acre area that I will have lived in. My dad has lived on the property since he was two and is now 61!

6. For a while it was a family tradition to take a trip for my birthday. My sister hated this tradition since it wasn’t for her birthday. We’ve been to Disney, New York, Atlantic City and Vegas to name a few places. This year is the big 3-0 and since I am running the Richmond Marathon the next day, it looks like another family birthday trip is coming up!

Kerry’s 6 Questions:

Have you ever done any type of volunteer work? If so what? If not, what organization would you like to support?
Throughout high school and college I did a lot of volunteer work. Before graduating from my high school, we had to have a set number of community service hours and I spent mine helping in a first grade classroom at a local elementary school. In college, I did a lot of volunteer work with both the basketball team and my sorority. We were always getting into something ranging from free basketball clinics for the local kiddos to spending hours on the roads participating in the Highway Cleanup Program. Since college I have done things here and there like being a part of Back on My Feet while living downtown and helping with auctions for Brian’s teams. I would love to get back to more volunteering and would ultimately be interested in working with a non-profit company in the future.

Where did you go to college? What was your major? Were you in any clubs?
I went to Washington College in Chestertown, MD. Majored in Business Management and minored in Sociology all while holding two different VP positions in my sorority and playing four years of varsity basketball.

What is the best concert you’ve gone to? Any artist you’ve seen more than once?
My favorite concerts have probably been Zac Brown Band and the original Tim McGraw/Kenny Chesney tour. As for artists I have seen more than once, I’m not sure I even could list them all but here are the ones I remember off the top of my head: Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Faith Hill, Keith Urban, NKOTB – once on their original tour and once on the comeback tour, don’t judge!, Rascal Flatts, Hard Travelers, Jimmy Buffett…

How many weddings have you been in as a bridesmaid or Maid of Honor?
I’ve been a bridesmaid in two weddings – my cousin’s and a college friend’s, a junior bridesmaid in one – another cousin’s and the Maid of Honor in one – my sister’s. This November will make my 3rd bridesmaid duty in my best friend’s wedding too!

Have you ever met a celebrity?
I’ve met a bunch of professional athletes, Kenny Chesney and Brad Paisley. I’m sure there were others along the way too but obviously they didn’t make that much of an impression on me!

What is your current guilty pleasure song?
Love me some Selena Gomez Come and Get It – I guess that can be considered a guilty pleasure since I’m not in middle school anymore. However, for my current favorite tunes check out yesterday’s What I’m Listening To post.

Your Turn!

Another part of the Liebster Award is to tag other bloggers and give them questions to answer. Instead of tagging specific people, I’m tagging everyone! Bloggers and readers alike! Leave a random fact about yourself or answer one of Kerry’s questions in the comments below!

Today’s “What I’m Wednesday” shares the latest tunes I’ve been listening to when I’m out on a run. If you haven’t heard any of them – head to iTunes and have a listen!

Since today is National Running Day, add these songs to your playlist and hit the pavement!

Question:  Why do you run?  What’s on your current playlist?

Remember just last week when I introduced you to a new website called Kindrunner.com? I told you all about how this new innovative and environmentally friendly e-commerce site was going to be taking the world by storm on June 1st and now it’s official – they are up and running!

As of this weekend, Kindrunner is already helping everyday runners and underprivileged individuals. As I mentioned before, the average running shoe sits in a landfill for 90-100 years before it starts to decompose. This alone makes the carbon footprint of the running community enormous and through Kindrunner’s “Run. Repurpose. Repeat.” initiative, old running shoes are finding new life in areas such as the United States, Haiti and Africa instead of taking up space in landfills.

Kindrunner is also helping every day runners with its features that NO ONE else offers and therefore creating a unique experience for all customers:

Confident Runner Pricing – An option presented upon checkout which rewards those who know exactly what they are looking for. This option waives the Free Return Shipping but offers the shoe at a below retail price. Shipping of product to the customer is still free, as is the return shipping of donated shoes for Kindness Cash Rewards Program.

Free 3 Way Shipping – Free shipping of your order to you, free shipping of any returns for any reason, and free shipping of your donated shoes back to Kindrunner for re-purposing with Soles 4 Souls or The More Foundation Group.

Kindness Cash Rewards Program – This is what turns your old shoes into credit towards new shoes or any product on their website. Kindness Cash Rewards (KCR) are available to customers after any footwear purchase. Upon receipt of their footwear order, customers have the option to place their old shoes into the Kindrunner shipping box and place the pre-paid return label on the box for shipment back. Upon receipt of the label, Kindrunner will scan the bar code and place the KCR onto the customer’s account for future use. Each return label (whether it contain one pair or 4 pairs of shoes) is worth $10 KCR per new shoes purchased or credits towards future purchase. The KCR can be used to purchase ANYTHING that Kindrunner sells and will never expire.

Expert Product Reviews – Each and every product Kindrunner carries will come with an expert product review video on the same page that the product is listed on. These videos are done by individuals who have worked in the running industry for a number of years either as shoe reps, store owners, or expert shoe fitters at one of the oldest running stores in the nation. They bring the knowledge of your neighborhood specialty run shop to the comforts of your own home!

See a product review example here:

Excellent Customer Service – No more having to guess if a shoe fits your gait properly or even wondering what the heck “gait” means.  Kindrunner has live chat options, experts on the phones at all times, and their “asktheexperts@kindrunner.com” email to answer any questions that customers may have. If the expert product reviews and videos don’t answer your questions, the Kindrunner staff will!

Easy 365 returns – A customer has 365 days to return any product, so long as it is in its original packaging and in its original condition. If you are injured and unable to use the shoe, if your doctor wants you in a different model because of orthotics, whatever it may be, no worries…no questions asked!

And a bonus reward for Kindrunner’s first 500 customers… “Free Socks for Life”
Each time one of Kindrunner’s first 500 customers returns and purchases a new shoe their order will ship with a free pair of socks of their choice from our sock inventory. As long as this customer continues to run, they will continue to get socks from Kindrunner.com

With all of that being said, what are you waiting for?!  Go check out Kindrunner.com and be one of those first 500 customers!  And oh yeah, Be Kind!

Yesterday morning I ran the Zooma Annapolis Half Marathon and what better way to get an early shake out run in this morning than with another race?!

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My sister was running her first 5K since she starting running again after the birth of her twins and I offered to run along with her simply to keep her going.

Her goal was to run the entire race without stopping to walk at all and my only goal was to help her reach it!!

We stayed together through the entire 5K at a good pace for her and she did an amazing job! She reached a point where she wanted to stop and walk but pushed through and finished the race strong!  She accomplished her goal with a time just under 36 minutes – woohoo!!

I guess it didn’t hurt that we had some super cute cheerleaders out there on the course as well!

Now that she has successfully ran another 5K, its time to get started on that 5K to 10K program in order to get ready for her 7-mile leg of the Baltimore Marathon Relay that we have registered for! After a little water station practice, I think she’ll do just fine!

As for a quick race review – I thought everything was very well put together.  Packet picked up easy, breezy on Friday and parking and logistics at the start of the race ran just as smoothly.  There was a 5K, 10K and a 1 mile Fun Run and the course was very noticeably marked for each event.  Volunteers were stationed at all points where race courses split along with at the finish line to make sure racers were entering the correct finish line shoots.  In addition, signage was everywhere which was a huge relief after yesterday’s fiasco!

The 5K and 1 mile courses were completely on the campus of Goucher College, while the 10K started on campus and then entered the trails before finishing back in the same lot as the other races.  Plenty of refreshments were available post along with cold wash clothes to cool you down on another hot June morning.  Overall, a very nicely run event and one I would definitely consider running in again next year.