Fitbloggin — It’s About The Friends

I had a blast at Fitbloggin’ last year, and was disappointed when Roni announced that it would be in Portland this year. Call me selfish, but why did it have to move from almost in my backyard to clear across the country as soon as I discovered how awesome it was?

When the tickets went on sale in November, I checked the calendar and looked at flights, but my family situation was too much up in the air to make plans. Would one or both of my kids be home from college that weekend? Would I have a conflict with a work conference? I decided that Fitbloggin’ was not in the cards for me, and signed up for the Fit Social conference in Boulder/Denver in September.

As the months passed, more and more of my favorite bloggers were talking about going to Fitbloggin’, but I had a work conference in Colorado the week before Fitbloggin’, and a work conference in D.C. the week of Fitbloggin’. I tried to ignore the excitement and not feel left out. I wondered if I could filter all my social media feeds to block Fitbloggin’ posts.

But last week, I couldn’t take it anymore. After seeing Carla’s post about why she makes Fitbloggin’ a priority, I checked flights to Portland again. I found a direct flight that I could catch after my work conference ends on Friday that should get me to Portland by 8:00 pm Friday night. I checked the Fitbloggin’ schedule, and saw that there were plenty of fitness classes and sessions on Saturday that I was interested in. Even more importantly, I figured that I could catch up with and get to know lots of great people in the 37 hours I would be there. (I can sleep on the flight home, right?)

I talked to my husband. I hovered over the “select this flight” button on Expedia. I typed in my credit card information.

I’m not going for the yoga, JumpSport and CrossFit workouts (yes, all of those are on Saturday). I’m not going for the sessions on setting fitness goals, creating a media kit, or learning how to use Google Analytics (those are just a few of the sessions on Saturday). I’m not even going for the incredible swag from the generous sponsors.

I’m going for the people.

To see the people I made friends with at Fitbloggin’ last year.

Amanda @ClicktheGoodNews

To meet the bloggers I’ve become friends with this year.

 Carrie @FamilyFitnessFood

And to make new friends.

Have you been to a blogger conference?

Are you going to Fitbloggin’?

Can you join me at Fit Social?