September 30, 2013

Weekend Recap: #RescueRun5k and WordPress Class

It’s been a ridiculously busy weekend. I took another WordPress class through the wonderful GirlDevelopIt Philly. I always learn so much through their classes and they’re always super helpful. I’ve taken a WordPress 101 class, an HTML/CSS intro class, and now a WordPress theme class.

As a result of this class, I’ll be working on giving Adult Ballerina Project a major overhaul as I practice my new skills. I’ll keep you updated about how that is going and I’m very excited to get into web development with WordPress since it’s something I love.

I also spent my Sunday morning running another 5k. As I’ve mentioned, I haven’t been keeping up so much with running, so I was kind of nervous and  feeling unready for this one. Since I had the class, I knew it was going to be a long day and I’d have a tight schedule.

HQ and I woke up early around 7:15–although later than I wanted since he had worked on a class project until late Saturday night so I pushed our alarm a bit later. We ate a quick bagel and grabbed our running gear and headed down to the Navy Yard in Philly.

Getting there was a little confusing–the Navy Yard only really has one address despite it being a huge complex and walking into it from the subway stop was a little confusing, especially given construction, but we were there in plenty of time for the 10 am start. Unfortunately, I wanted to avoid petting any puppies before the race because of my allergies.

HQ before the race--I took photos of him but we forgot to take any afterwards!

HQ before the race–I took photos of him but we forgot to take any afterwards!

There were a lot of people but the race started on time, and the course was really flat. I had a really good first mile and a half, until we got to the turn around point. I was expecting there to be a water stop, and unfortunately, there wasn’t any, and the second half of my race was much slower. Even though we took a couple of walk breaks, I still beat my last 5k race time by about 2 and a half minutes, which isn’t bad considering I didn’t get much training in the month of August and missed a lot of runs in September due to sickness allergies.

tweet9.30

Here’s to hoping our next one in three weeks (for my college’s homecoming) goes better!

What have you achieved lately?

Filed Under: Blog, Running Tagged With: , , , , 2 Comments
September 17, 2013

*Sponsored* LockLaces Review and Giveaway

I was given two pairs of LockLaces in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own, not LockLaces. I was not otherwise compensated for this review.

LOGO

Ever wanted to learn an embarrassing fact about me? It took me forever to learn how to tie my own shoes, mostly because I’m left-handed and had a tough time learning from other people. It was therefore super frustrating when they come untied.

Nowadays, it’s still super frustrating when my shoelaces come untied while running or even when walking somewhere in the city (where it’s super annoying to have to stop in the middle of a crowd to tie your shoes). Mostly, when my shoes (or my running partners shoes) come untied, it greatly messes up the flow of my running.

LockLaces helped immensely with that problem. While it seemed a little weird to me at first to be using them, I never have a problem with them coming untied. Although I was at first puzzled about how to put them together, LockLaces has some great videos up about how to lace your shoes up and what to do if you need to unlace them without destroying the ties. They’ve become one of my new favorite running accessories!

 

Pink socks and pink shoes are a winning combination!

Pink socks and pink shoes are a winning combination!

You have a chance to win a pair, too, thanks to LockLaces. Just use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter. You have until Friday, September 20th at 11:59 pm EST to enter! Open to US entries only (International entries accepted if willing to pay shipping within 48 hours of being notified).

You have until Friday, September 20th at 11:59 pm EST to enter! Open to US entries only (International entries accepted if willing to pay shipping within 48 hours of being notified).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What types of things interrupt your running flow?

I was given two pairs of LockLaces in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own, not LockLaces. I was not otherwise compensated for this review.

 

Filed Under: Reviews, Running Tagged With: , , , , 3 Comments
September 12, 2013

Blogtember: The Ways Blogging and Social Media Changed Me

Welcome to the first of my Blogtember link-up posts! There’s a lot more of them to come, too!

Social media has always been a big part of my life. I was one of the first people I knew to get Facebook as well as one of the first people of my friends on Twitter (although, I never had a Myspace). I started blogging my freshman year of college and loved it, especially when I connected to people who had the same quirky TV tastes I did.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before, but this blog was started as part of a class called “The Entrepreneurial Journalist” by the same professor who was the reason I started my old TV blog. While before the class I was running a personal blog that did feature a lot of ballet, it wasn’t the primary sole purpose. I needed a solidified topic for this class for an online magazine or blog, and I chose ballet cause it seemed like a semi-good idea, even though my professor wasn’t sure. But I’m glad I chose it, and I’m glad I’m still doing it, and I can’t wait to do more with it.

When it comes down to it, social media and blogging have changed me because they’ve connected me to people who are interested in the same things I am. I’ve found so many people who do ballet as adults and your support has been amazing. I don’t think I would’ve kept doing ballet if it wasn’t for the wonderful community. In addition, the running community has been amazing as well, and is extremely supportive. Social media and blogging keep me going with running and ballet, which are now an integral part of my life. I don’t think they’d be that way if it wasn’t for an awesome online community.

How has blogging/social media changed you?

Filed Under: Ballet, Blog, Running Tagged With: , , , 1 Comment
September 11, 2013

Million Mile Run for Alex’s Lemonade Stand

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Being a broke college student  graduate and all, I can’t really afford to give a lot of money to charity (although I’m still running a few races here and there that benefit things, like the Monster Milers run at the end of the month). But when I saw that a few people in the Philadelphia area were doing Alex’s Lemonade Stand Million Mile Run, I decided to reach out on Twitter to see if there was a team I could join that I could add my miles to help Alex’s Lemonade reach their goal. And I found the Proclaimers!

I’m hoping to log more miles in the upcoming weeks than I have so far. I’ve had a bit of a severe cold thing going on, so running and ballet haven’t been fun, but hopefully I’ll be out there running soon.

So if you want to help support Alex’s Lemonade Stand, you can head over to our team page to donate (I’ll give you a shoutout on social media and the blog if you do!). Or if you’re broke like me, you can support and cheer me on via the blog and social media, too, which is always appreciated as I try to get back on track with my running while supporting a good cause.

Filed Under: Blog, Etc., Running Tagged With: , , , Leave a Comment
September 5, 2013

September (and Fall) Goals

One of these times, I’ll actually have to go back and judge how much I’ve accomplished with my goals, but for now, I’ll just give you my general goals for the month of September and the fall in general:

Follow an Editorial Calender for ABP

I’ve become the worst at actually scheduling and follow a blog schedule, so I’ve set up a schedule of posts for the month of September on weekdays. I already know that not all of these will probably happen, but I’ll consider myself successful if I get 3 or 4 posts up a week, even if it’s not originally as planned.

editorial calendar

A (rough) editorial calendar for September!

Connect with my Fellow Ballet Bloggers More

Ever since making the switch to self-hosting (and really before that, too) I got really bad about follow-up on other people’s blogs. I’m trying to do better. One of these ways I’m doing this is following blogs on Bloglovin’ and trying to comment when I can. Seriously, if you read this blog and leave a link to your blog in the comments and I’ll give you a follow.

Another way I’ll be doing this is by hosting a blogger link-up on Monday on the topic “Why I Love Dance.” It’ll be a chance for bloggers to share posts, old and new, focused on why they love dance. I’d love to have as many people take part as possible, even if it’s just sharing a post that loosely fits the topic.

In the future: I’d love to host another TweetChat but I’m not quite sure what my schedule looks like for September, so that’ll fall into more of a fall to-do along with more link-ups.

Be Successful at Both Running and Dance

I often feel like running and ballet are competing factors in my life–it seems like I’ve yet to have a month where I happy with my performance in both. My goal for the fall is to not over do one or the other and try to find some sort of happy balance between the two–even if it means having to run quickly from a running event (with a free gift card and discount running registrations!) to ballet class if it’s the only way I can fit both in this week.

and…because it’s always a goal: STRETCH

Stretching and flexibility is always on my goal list, and I know I need to do it more. There will hopefully be more stretching guides up here as well in the fall. 

What do you hope to accomplish this fall?

Filed Under: Blog, Etc. Tagged With: , , , , 1 Comment