Your Fit Valentine: Gift Ideas for Runners and Yogis

This post originally ran on 2-5-2015. It has been updated!

With about two weeks to go until Valentine’s Day, you might be looking for gift ideas for your special someone. Or you might be looking to grab something for yourself to show off just how much you love running or yoga. This is not an exhaustive list, but hopefully it’ll give you some ideas. (And hopefully it will give the Engineer some ideas too.)

Valentine's Day Gift Ideas

Runners

  • Runner necklaceI just love this gold one from AbellaBlue. All the jewelry is handmade and gorgeous. Check out her running jewelry here.
I love running Necklace, gold fill. Marathon necklace, runners jewelry
(source)
  • Race entry. Surely there’s a Valentine’s Day race in and around your city. What better way to celebrate your love than by sweating together . . . as you’re running. Hold hands the whole time for an extra bonus. JK. 😉
  • This super cool shirt from GoneforaRun.com. Such a cute design, and it comes in a bunch of different colors. I personally love the gray. They have many other Valentine’s gifts on the site too–earrings, medal racks, necklaces, socks, and so on.
    • Women’s Everyday Tee Love The Run from Gone for a run (source)

     

  • New running shoes! These are always welcome. I’m currently digging the Hoka One One Conquests. They’re certainly keeping my feet happy. Throw in a pair of Balega socks, and you’ll (or your valentine will) have happy feet too!
  • Favorite fuel (Nuun, Shot Bloks, SportBeans, Clif Bars, GU, Picky Bars, etc.). Who needs chocolate? Okay, chocolate works too. How about a fancy rocky road chocolate bar from Chuao Chocolatier? They also make chocolate-covered bacon, s’mores, potato chip or orange? Delicious.

Yogis

  • New mat. At some point or another, every yogi needs a new mat. I personally love my PROlite by Manduka, but many other companies make great mats (Jade, Hugger Mugger, and Lululemon, to name a few). Hugger Mugger is offering 20% off mats with the code 2016mats. This is a bit of an investment, but I’ve been using my Manduka for about three years, and it still looks new. Throw in some mat spray, and you’ve got an awesome gift bundle. The companies mentioned sell their own, but there are a ton of tutorials on making your own. The Hippy Homemaker offers 5 different recipes here.
Valentine's Day Gifts for Yogis | FrenchFryRunner.com
My lovely Manduka PROlite
  • New yoga clothes. What fitness enthusiast doesn’t love new clothes? I personally love Fabletics. Their Salar leggings are the bomb. Athleta, Lululemon, and Soybu also have some great pieces. For more reasonably priced ideas, check out Old Navy.
  • Yoga blocks, bolsters, straps, mat bags, and other accessories. 
  • Class pass for a new yoga studio. Many studios also have a couples class!
Your Fit #Valentine: Gift Ideas for #Runners and #Yogis. #yoga #running Click To Tweet

Anyone

  • Massage. This is perfect for working out the knots from all those miles and fitness classes. Massage Envy offers a one-hour massage for $49.99. Of course, you might have a place in mind. Make it a date with a couple’s massage!
  •  iTunes gift cardMusic is always a great idea.
  • Class pass for a class your Valentine wants to try. BodyPump or a yoga class to stretch out those tight hamstrings, anyone?
  • New earbuds (like these Yurbuds). The earbuds that came with the mp3 player only last for so long.
  • Road ID (see my review here). Better be safe than sorry in any situation. Road ID has cute badges to add to any ID, including some Valentine’s-themed ones: a heart, “love,” “be mine,” etc.
  • SweatyBandsThese truly don’t slip off my head no matter what activity I do. These are a great gift for any active person. I’ve heard good things about Sparkly Soul headbands, Junk headbands, and BondiBands too. Junk and BondiBands are also appropriate for guys. 🙂
sweatybands
My newest SweatyBands

 

Other Gift Idea Blog Posts

 

 

 Is Valentine’s Day a big deal at your house? 

Our half anniversary is the day after, so we have a small Valentine’s Day and do something cool on the 15th. The discounts on chocolate don’t hurt, that’s for sure!

Any other ideas to add?

 

5 Yoga YouTube Playlists to Get You Started

When I started practicing yoga a few years ago, I didn’t really know where to start or where to find any resources to start my own practice at home. Pinterest helped to a point, so I found a few videos I liked, but I wanted to know what else was out there. Enter YouTube. Did you know that YouTube has millions of awesome videos and thousands of awesome yoga videos? Duh, Whitney. Anyway, I scoured the ‘Tube and found a few incredible playlists to help you get started with yoga if you’re new and interested or if you’ve been practicing for a while and need something new to watch instead of the same yoga DVD.

5 Beginner Yoga Playlists (1)

Namaste Yoga with Melissa West: She has more than 300 free yoga classes on YouTube. I like her style a lot. She has pretty much any type of class you’d want, with emphases on different body parts, different themes, different limbs of yoga, etc. Her beginner yoga videos are great: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0343C65F2EEFE37E. Spend some time on her page; you won’t be disappointed.

Yoga with Adriene: Adriene Mishler offers wonderful free classes on YouTube. I love her channel and, really, everything about her. Her teaching style is warm, welcoming and real. I like her 30-day challenge and her new Yoga Camp series, but here are her beginner classes (all of her classes are good, though):

Yoga For Beginners: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLui6Eyny-UzzWwB4h9y7jAzLbeuCUczAl

Foundations of Yoga: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLui6Eyny-UzyugJTu3l1YFL0k3nGIlaz9

New to #yoga or want to mix it up? 5 @YouTube playlists to get you started! #FridayFive with @yousignedupforwhat @marontherun1 @eatprayrunDC Click To Tweet

Bad Yogi with Erin Motz: Erin is a very welcoming teacher and is pretty much the opposite of what the “world” thinks a yoga teacher “should” be–whatever that means. She has some great videos, including yoga for abs and 1-minute yoga.

One-Minute Yoga: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2WEG7DCunQ-GoF8vzrFIgV2G2f0WX7Uq

Pose Tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2WEG7DCunQ-KnAZ4xbxK

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Love my PROlite
Love my PROlite

Yoga with Kino MacGregor: Kino is a master of Ashtanga yoga, which means she has a wealth of knowledge to share–and she has some great beginner classes. She’s incredibly knowledgeable and one of the best. Here’s her beginner series:

Yoga for Beginnershttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL508C30656B253DBF

Yoga Journal on YouTube: Yoga Journal is the main magazine in the yoga world, and they have a YouTube channel. If you’re looking for a restorative, gentler, and shorter practice, they have good videos for that: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlo0H5WPCWo2Iat_XUH9-Gj0i6HXJ0cQ1

Hope this gets you started! There are a ton of resources out there, so find what speaks to you and roll with it. You’ll probably find that you like bit and pieces from a lot of different teachers. It took me a long time to figure out what I like and what teaching style is my favorite, but I’m always learning. Yoga’s a journey! 🙂

Namaste.

p.s. I’m not affiliated with YouTube; I just think it’s a great resource.

What’s your favorite yoga pose? Do you have a go-to YouTube channel you like to watch?

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You might also like:

5 Things I Love about Yoga

Your Fit Valentine: Gift Ideas for Runners and Yogis

 

I’m linking up with Mar from Mar on the Run, Cynthia at You Signed Up For What?! and Courtney from Eat Pray Run DC for the Friday Five linkup.

June Favorites

Five Things

Below are five things I’m loving lately for June:

1. Floral design
I have recently done all the flowers for two weddings, which I think turned out great! See my Instagram for photos. 🙂

2. Yoga
Honestly this isn’t surprising, but I’m making progress and it feels great! I hope to have more yoga posts up soon!

3. Fluffy romance novels
I do love to read intense nonfiction and more serious novels, but I also love fluffy YA romances. Currently I’m reading Lola and the Boy Next Door. Have you read it?

4. Training
I’m currently training for the Dumbo Double Dare and a marathon, but I’m being more cautious this time. Slow and steady progress is key for me, and I’m doing great. I’m throwing in swimming, biking, pump, and yoga for cross training, and it’s working out great! …and I’m thinking about doing another triathlon!! What do you like to do for cross training?

5. Ironman YouTube videos
My long-term goal is to complete an Ironman triathlon, so I’ve been pumping myself up by watching the recap videos from this and last year’s race series. I’m also watching videos highlighting the many awesome women in the sport. Super inspiring. I can’t wait for the day when I hear, “You. Are. An. Ironman!”

I’m linking up with Jill for Fitness Friday and Courtney from Eat Pray Run DC, Cynthia from You Signed Up for WHAT?!, and Mar from Mar on the Run for Friday Five.

 

What are you loving lately?