FitBloggin' 2013

Wow, what a blast! Just got back from a long weekend in Portland for the 'FitBloggin' 2013' convention. A long old drive, as in 12 hours each way but worth every minute of it; also worth every penny of the ridiculously great value $200 registration.

Copyright Carrie D Photography

The convention/conference is so well put together every year by Roni Noone who originally blogged about her own weight loss journey. Now though it is for anyone who blogs on any subject related to health and fitness; there's so much to learn and many people can make serious money from writing blogs!

The event was sponsored by, amongst others, Reebok - to the tune of a new pair of crossfit shoes for everyone there, and Nutrilite who are a supplements specialist company. They took anyone who was interested, on a tour of one of their farms and as cynical as I am, I have to say I was mightily impressed with their set up and their work ethics. Everything is grown and tended pretty much by hand in a big organic valley up in the hills above the stunning Columbia River Gorge. I was pleasantly surprised by the total lack of sales talk - just some good healthy nutrition advice that no one could disagree with. They fed us a delicious packed lunch on the way there and on the way back we stopped at the 3 Rivers Grill in Hood River for undoubtedly the best meal of the weekend, all paid for by Nutrilite - I won't even go into the amount of product they gave away during the weekend...

Trout Lake Farm and Steak at the 3 Rivers Grill

The convention itself was broken down into classes and lectures on everything from recovery nutrition, how to deal with injuries, the physiological barriers people trying to lose weight often face, to presentations on photography and video for the purpose of blogging. There were so many different classes that there were usually two or three choices for each time period. Lots of good useful information of how to blog better and how to turn blogging into a paying business.

Helen & I getting our Crossfit WOD in, and me trying out the Jumpsport trampolines

And of course, like any good get together of like minded people, there was the social aspects; from the amazingly plush 'Nines Hotel' with its excellent rates for us and its rooftop bar overlooking Portland, to the constant supply of food and snacks, to the inevitable end of conference party on the Saturday night. Lots of strangers became friends, much networking was done and many promises to return, (to wherever it may be...cough..Austin...cough!) next year was enjoyed by everyone there.

Small Group Discussion on setting Health & Fitness goals

A fantastic weekend and thanks to all concerned - which are too many to list, but to name just a few;
Amanda from Click the Good News & Grow Soul Beautiful who led a photography walk and workshop, Lisa from Healthy Dose Media talking about video SEO, Charissa from Colourful Palate who passed out plentiful samples of her favourite Spirulina, Suzan from suzanbond.com talking about Adrenal fatigue, Phyllis from phyllis4fitness.com, and of course Roni - conference organiser extrordinaire.

If you'd like to read more on any of the sessions they were all LiveBlogged by attendees - check out the FitBloggin website and you'll see the whole list of sessions.