One of the unique spots to be found at FitBloggin’ was the Amana recharge suite. This spacious room had couches, cold water and outlets available to recharge your electronics at – very smart! While I was at the conference I ran down 3 sets of rechargeable batteries and had my iPhone almost run out of power each day, so they knew us bloggers would be needing a place to charge up. 😉 Amana offer a range of applicances, some of which were on display and given away at the end of the conference to one of the attendees – how cool is that? I had fun chatting to the Amana representatives – since Jai and I are just completing our kitchen remodel, it seems like we’ve done nothing but think about kitchen accessories for the last few months! – and checking out their futuristic, body-activated computer station that told you more about each appliance.

One of the workout classes I signed up for at FitBloggin’ was the JumpSport Fitness Trampoline BOUNCE Camp – I’ve heard such great things about trampolines as a low-impact exercise for people like me who are recovering from knee issues and the like. However, my knees were already feeling the strain from the previous day’s bootcamp and walking all day, so I decided it would be best to skip the higher-intensity class and not over-exert myself, since pushing myself too hard at the gym is what caused my injury to begin with. I was disappointed, but luckily JumpSport had a booth in the Expo Hall where I could give the trampoline a try at my own pace!

Such a fun workout and easy on my knees – definitely something I’d like to look into further!

FitBloggin’ hosted a number of snack breaks during the conference so that we could all take 5 and grab a snack. The first of these was held by NatureMade – that’s right, the vitamin company. And no, they didn’t feed us vitamins. 😉

What we actually got were cups of shaved ice in fruit flavors inspired by VitaMelts. These are a new line of chewable – or should I say, melt-in-your-mouthable – supplements in flavors like Mixed Berry and Chocolate Mint. As we enjoyed our shaved ice, we learned more about VitaMelts and snagged a few samples.

I really wish I could take VitaMelts in a time machine and hand them to 6-year-old me, because it would have made my daily vitamin routine a whole lot more pleasant! 😀 I love that they offer a chocolate melatonin supplement – melatonin is something I buy fairly regularly, because I do find that taking it occasionally does help with insomnia. My sleep schedule has been totally whacked since the conference so this was probably good timing!

FitBloggin’ had a great mix of panels focusing on both health and wellness and general blogging topics. I attended two great sessions about SEO while I was at the conference – the first one, Building Your Blog Through Organic SEO And Image Optimization, was presented by Nicole Bullock of Cute Culture Chick and offered great info, regardless of your familiarity with the topic.

I got all kinds of interesting takeaways from this session and also had a chance to run two questions by Nicole that I’ve been mulling over for a while: The first was the debate as to whether or not internal links and links to social media profiles should be “Nofollow” or “Dofollow” – Nicole’s opinion was that a normal, non-anchor-text dofollow link is fine here – and the second was about duplicate content. As I rebrand and make this my primary lifestyle blog, I’d like to start publishing my “Top Ten With…” interview series on this site so that Contest Corner can continue to focus on serving up sweepstakes. However, I don’t intend to move any of the old content over here – the archives on Contest Corner will remain, I’d just like the series to start fresh over here. My concern is that two sites using the same interview questions could cause a duplicate content issue, even though each interview is unique. Is your head hurting yet? 😉 At any rate, Nicole agreed that this is a tricky one and advised that I do some digging into Google’s most recent policies on duplicate content to glean the best mode of action. It was great having a chance to ask these questions in person, as I feel it’s a little easier to explain than typing out a wall of text on a forum or email.

The second SEO panel I attended was Video SEO, presented by Lisa Johnson. Lisa is a trainer who makes fitness videos for YouTube and had all kinds of great tips for making higher quality, optimized videos and how that benefits both your YouTube channel and blog.

You’ll have to forgive the photos – due to crazy circumstances I had only gotten 45 minutes of sleep the night before, so I think the blurry photos sum up my mental state at the time. 😉 Fortunately I took notes and still absorbed all of the info even though I looked like a zombie! I wasn’t articulate enough to risk asking a question at this session, but I wish I’d gotten a chance to ask her more about YouTube comments. Lisa mentioned the importance of “Likes” and comments on your YouTube video, as they make your video appear higher in search rankings, so she said it’s important to reply to every comment you get. I’m wondering how she deals with trolls – I’m not talking about those who disagree with me, but rather people who post explicit comments on my videos. The people who comment on my videos either mistakenly think I’m a “MILF” and go into great detail about it, or they think I’m a total dummy – which is fine, but I don’t really see an appropriate way to respond to either. 😉

If you have an interest in SEO, I’d highly recommend checking out the live blogs which I have linked to for each session – I really enjoyed both of these presentations and filled my notebook with some good suggestions!

Some time ago, after I finally got a diagnosis of dislocated patella, my physiotherapist recommended I buy a new pair of sneakers specifically made for overpronators. Apparently, my tendency towards overpronation put a lot of pressure on my kneecaps when I was spending long periods of time on the gym’s stair machine, which is what got them off track and pulled them out of their socket. Armed with this new information, I went to a general athletic shoe store and spoke with an associate who seemed knowledgeable and recommended a pair of shoes for overpronation that felt comfortable. So imagine my dismay when I went back to my physiotherapist and she informed me that I had been sold shoes for an underpronater, not an overpronater. My therapist told me not to worry and put some special inserts in the shoes to balance them out for my overpronating tendencies, which left me wondering why we couldn’t have just done that with my old sneakers….

At any rate, I’ve wanted to get a new pair of properly orthopedic shoes since that time – so one of the sessions I had earmarked to attend at FitBloggin’ was How to Find The Perfect Shoe For You, presented by Reebok. I was curious to hear what an actual shoe expert – unlike the person in the generic store I visited – could recommend for me! This session was lead by Chris, who had traveled to Portland from Reebok’s headquarters in Massachusetts to discuss which shoes best address which needs. He actually mentioned overpronation right off the bat, mentioning the Reebok ONE Guide shoe for overpronators. Clearly a lot of us have this issue!

Chris also discussed shoes for a variety of different needs, from running to dancing.

Reebok have a line of shoes specifically for walking – not running – which are apparently quite popular in Europe. That makes sense to me, because it’s so much easier to get around on foot in European countries than it is in the US, where everything is so spread out!

They also offer a series of shoes made especially for the challenges faced by dancers. These are currently only available in women’s sizes, so male dancers, let Reebok know if there is popular demand for men’s dance sneakers!

If you follow a CrossFit training program, then these are the shoes for you. Because CrossFit involves a variety of activities, including heavy weight lifting, Chris explained that Reebok’s CrossFit shoe is specifically designed to have a flat sole without padding, as inserts could potentially cause problems while lifting.

Each FitBloggin’ attendee received a pair of Reebok CrossFit Nano 2.0 shoes. Mine came in this bold combination of teal and green – a lot of people at the convention complimented my shoes and said they loved the color! Since I’m an overpronator, I asked Chris how shoes like this will work for me. He said that obviously these sneakers are not specifically designed to address that issue, but he didn’t think it should be an issue for an overpronator to use CrossFit shoes during this type of training, since CrossFit covers a variety of activities and doesn’t have a lot of repetitive motion, which tends to be the issue for us – I can vouch for that first hand, since that’s how I hurt myself! He said I could maybe add an insert if I wanted, but he didn’t think it would be too much risk for this specific type of activity. And obviously, I’m no doctor, so you should talk to your physiotherapist before buying any pair of shoes, since each person has different orthopedic needs! Even if you don’t have any injuries or known physical issues, it’s best if you can have your gait analyzed at a fitness store to come up with the optimum combination of support for your needs before buying an athletic shoe.

Here I am in the audience during the How to Find The Perfect Shoe For You session wearing my new shoes. Do you like my suit and sneaker combo? 😀 I know these sneakers are not specifically designed for long periods of walking, but let me tell you, they were infinitely more comfortable and kinder to my feet while walking around the conference than my dress shoes were!

In addition to the shoes, each attendee received a Reebok gym bag and a Yoga Long Bra Top. Attending this conference was one of those interesting moments of realization during my fitness journey – when they asked what size top I wore, I automatically said “Large”. When I got home and tried this top on, I realized it was actually a bit too big under the arms. In its own way, this conference helped me adjust my self-perception a little bit – I still expect to look bigger in photos and take a larger size in clothes than I actually do in real life. It surprises me every time, even though I know from the scale that I’ve lost 40 pounds!

So tell me: What kind of sneakers do you wear?

I’m three days out from FitBloggin’, and I’m still taking everything in. The conference was very well organized, with everything taking place on time and a packed schedule. Every moment that I wasn’t in a session or fitness class, I was talking to other bloggers and PR professionals, browsing the Expo Hall, or eating delicious food during one of their meal/snack breaks. There was zero downtime because I wanted to make the most of everything on offer, and there was a torrent of valuable information to take in! Not to mention the fact that I was at the conference hot on the heels of two other events (Never mind everything else that’s been going on) and I averaged 1 hour of sleep each night during the conference.

So all that being said, I’m trying to sort through my thoughts as I also catch up here. You know that scene in Johnny Mnemonic where they upload so much data to his brain that his head almost explodes? That’s a little how I felt by the end of the conference. 😉 But I mean that in a good way – the conference covered everything from SEO and business practices to yoga and workouts in between; there were also emotional discussions about personal topics, not to mention learning hundreds of names, Twitter handles, and entering tons of giveaways with a variety of hashtags. It was awesome!

So, I thought I’d start off my recaps by going over the discussions I attended. These were more casual panels where a speaker introduced a topic and encouraged the audience to introduce themselves and participate.

Dealing With Injuries

This was the first discussion I attended at FitBloggin’ and it was great. Led by the awesome Deb Roby of Weight For Deb, Dealing With Injuries was a panel near to my heart and experiences. Anyone who has followed my blogs recently is aware of the injury I sustained while using a stair machine at the gym which dislocated both my kneecaps and destroyed my mobility for years. The fact that I could even consider coming to this conference and walking around the hotel all day – never mind going to the fitness classes! – was a huge victory to me after suffering for so long and I thought this panel was the perfect way to start out my FitBloggin’ experience. It was wonderful to commiserate with others who had dealt with long-term, debilitating injuries and their often-overlooked or misunderstood consequences. There were many other young women who had similar stories with knee injuries and pointed out how it can be difficult for outsiders to look at someone who appears “Healthy” and understand that there is anything wrong with them. I love that FitBloggin’ is for all individuals who have an interest in health and fitness – you could be a personal trainer, or you could be someone who hasn’t been able to work out at all due to injury; all are welcome and can gain something from this conference.

Stop Keeping up with the Joneses

Stop Keeping up with the Joneses was the session that I had the pleasure of live blogging! Headed by the wonderful Liz Paul of Prior Fat Girl, this discussion covered the “Comparison trap” and how we sabotage our fitness goals and accomplishments by feeling inadequate to others. I’d love for you to click on over to the FitBloggin’ blog and check out my transcript/overview of the session!

Getting Paid vs Paying Blogger Dues

This was a fabulous two-hour roundtable discussion led by the lovely Leah Segedie of BookieBoo & Mamavation. Getting Paid vs Paying Blogger Dues was a unique opportunity to discuss business strategy in person and at length with others in the industry, all coming from slightly different perspectives but sharing surprisingly similar experiences. With emerging industries like social media, the business behind blogging can leave many outsiders puzzled and I really enjoyed hearing from others who do what I do on a daily basis, understand, and manage the exact same kind of workload I do. I found this to be one of the most valuable sessions I attended – two hours probably sounds like a very long discussion, but the time whizzed right by. I truly enjoyed listening to and chatting with everyone who was in attendance.