Runner's World Half and Festival Part 1...Rolling Through Rodale

To try and sum up this past weekend in just one post would not do it justice.  Nor would it give credit to the people who made it such a memorable chance of a lifetime!  Before I begin my recap of this experience I really do need to thank my husband for graciously letting me go and leave behind him with our two girls.  He held down the fort juggling school pick-ups and soccer games along with all the chaos that goes along with having two young girls while I was gone and I appreciate his sacrifice and support.  I recognize that I ask a lot by running and racing often and I'm thankful for his support.

Day 1 began much like every day at our house except instead of packing up the ladies and heading off to work, I grabbed my bags and headed on my way to Boston to Dani's house so that we could fly out together!  Thankfully I left early enough because Boston traffic is anything but predictable and I was staring at this for quite a while...

Really I planned it well...the extra time gave Dani the time to finish her run (she is just days away from hitting her 365 mark of her run streak!).  Got a few things settled and off we were to the airport!

Thankfully Dani was there since the last time I flew was when I was pregnant with my oldest 7 years ago....yeah a few things have changed!  Seriously need to wear less layers when flying!!!

It seemed that ever since we touched down in Philly, we were off like a rocket!  We met up with Heather from Relentless Forward Commotion and Jen from Running with the Girls, piled into our car, and then spent the next hour drive to Bethlehem laughing and chatting with excitement for the weekend ahead!

After we met our roommates (Mine was the fabulous Allie from Vita Train for Twin Life-I will gush about her more later but this girl is legit!), checked out our amazing swag bags from our sponsors...

and of course met up with other bloggers to bond, we were headed to Runner's World Headquarters at Rodale to meet up with the mayor Bart Yasso and get fitted for our new Altra shoes from the owners themselves!!  Ok I'm getting ahead of myself!

We piled into the vans and headed over to Rodale where we were greeted by Bart...and the pinch me now moments started!  The fabulous people at Rodale had an awesome cookout for us (Yes we were given the best food this weekend...if only they could have followed me home!)

Complete with s'mores which I made with Deena Kastor's daughter Piper...we are totally BFFs now! She actually kicked my butt in the s'more making business!  At age 4 she is serious about her s'mores!

Golden Harper (stay tuned for more about the Altra folks and things coming your way soon!) was there to fit us for our own pair of Altras!

I opted to try out the trail shoe since I have never had a pair of trail shoes before and well...why not!? We were slated to run a trail race the next day so why not at least look the part!?

I tagged the wall at Rodale (clearly they need a little Fancy Nancy in their lives) and we were headed off for a tour of the offices there led by Bart!

One thing that is crystal clear about the Rodale company and their offices is that they value an active and healthy lifestyle.  From the room of bikes with some impressive models(instead of lunch hour you can go for a ride) to the various equipment sprinkled around the building (treadmill desk...spin bike which Bart uses while he is reading articles), it is clear that they are all about the active life!

We were able to catch a glimpse of the latest edition...don't look too close...and meet some of the amazing people that make this place tick.  Most of them we would see again at all the races!

Of course we had to see Bart's office which I must say looks a little familiar....

Yeah except Bart has bibs from places like Antarctica and mine are from Edaville Railroad!

A whirlwind day for sure but little did I know it was just the beginning....stay tuned for day 2 when we took it to the trails!