French Fry Runner

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.)

Runners

Runner necklace. I just love this gold one from AbellaBlue. All the jewelry is handmade and gorgeous. Check out her running jewelry here.

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.
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.

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 card. Music 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.
SweatyBands. These 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. 🙂

My First Trip to Germany (Part 1)

Okay, so this post is a long time coming. Some of my friends and family will be pleased they actually get to see pictures. 🙂 Back in November 2014, I was able to meet my husband in Germany for the last three weeks of an “externship” he had with a German satellite company. Es war fantastisch! (It was fantastic!)

We were able to visit so many awesome places–and my German language skills actually came in handy (I’m not fluent by any stretch, but I can get by). We went to Berlin, Munich, Heidelberg, Mainz (my favorite), Nuremberg, Frankfurt, Dachau, Dieburg, and Darmstadt, which was our home base and where my husband worked.

First Germany Trip | frenchfryrunner.com — Getting ready to take off–or I just landed. No idea

Frankfurt

To try and postpone any jet lag, we went into Frankfurt after my flight to Germany. (The flight actually was great; I slept a little but had the whole row to myself, and they had awesome movies to watch.) We walked around the city and went to a cathedral that had been rebuilt on the inside. The outside was really impressive, though. We also walked by the Main River (pronounced like “mine”), which separated the “big city” from the quaint row homes. I loved it!

And we also got a bagel and drinks at a big shopping mall. All in all, it was a great start to a great trip. We visited Frankfurt again later in our trip when we went to the Frankfurt Weihnachtsmarkt–a lovely, lovely festival.

Darmstadt

Known as the city of science, Darmstadt is a quaint medium-sized town. We stayed in a long-term hotel, kind of like a Residence Inn, but older and . . . German–dark woods, plaster walls, and German TV. Breakfast was provided in the hotel’s “normal” annex and was scrumptious. I could totally eat meat, bread, and cheese every day for breakfast. We also enjoyed an assortment of jams, sausages, muesli, quark, and other treats–YUM!

While in Darmstadt, we enjoyed museums, markets, and the town square, which happened to be decorated for Christmas and was the location of a little Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market). We took the bus–which was always prompt–everywhere we needed to go. German transportation is a whole lot more reliable that what we’re used to, but of course I welcomed that fact. Even though one time I was yelled at by an angry bus driver. Good times.

Darmstadt's Weihnachtsmarkt | frenchfryrunner.com — Darmstadt’s Christmas market

Since Darmstadt was our home base, I got acquainted with the different delicious foods and shops in that marvelous little town. My favorite food I tried–and which I haven’t been able to find in it’s purest form–is Döner, or Döner Kebap. SO STINKING DELICIOUS. Think of a gyro and double the deliciousness. I feel sorry for you if you don’t like gyros by the way…

My favorite way to eat Döner is in pizza form… I don’t have any pictures of the pizza I ate, just the restaurant we went to. My mouth is watering just thinking about it…

Anyway, add pretzels (Brezeln), Spätzle, and the best sausages in the world to the mix, and you’ve got an idea of what I enjoyed on my trip, not only in Darmstadt but in Berlin, Munich, Nuremberg, and Heidelberg. YUM!

I sure am talking a lot about food… Such is who I am. 🙂

Stay tuned for Part 2 of my German adventure coming soon.

Ever been to Germany? Follow my travels! https://wp.me/p2QJP4-rG #traveler #eatadöner Click To Tweet

Bis spaeter!

Have you ever been to Germany? What’s your favorite German food?

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.

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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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 Beginners: https://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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