Interested in being more active this new year? Here’s the secret: to make exercise more fun, turn it into a social outing. 
You guys know I’m all about this – and as I was looking through my photos from the past week wondering what to share today, I realized a lot of them had one big thing in common: they were social fitness dates! There’s no better way to make sweating fun, trust me. Give it a shot! Here’s what I’ve been up to on the fitness front over the past week.
New Year’s Eve
I spent the morning of New Years Eve working, then met up with my friend Heather for a walking date!
We strolled for about an hour, chatting away, before grabbing lunch at our fave, Sweetgreen.
I did a little more work that afternoon then met up with my high school best friend Jenny for a run! Jenny just had her second child a few months ago and is working to build back up her running endurance. She hadn’t run more than 2 miles since the baby was born and asked if I’d run with her to help her break through the plateau. My pleasure!
It was really fun to run with Jenny and get some one-on-one catch up time with her – rare with 2 little ones! She’ll be in town for a few more weeks and I’m so happy to have her here. We ended up running 4.1 miles – she crushed it! Proud of you, Jenny! Doesn’t being distracted by talking make the miles way easier?
New Years Day
The weather was nice and Matt and I decided to take advantage with a tennis date! We hadn’t played in ages – so fun.
Saturday
Long run day! As you know, Matt and I have a half marathon coming up in 2 weeks (here’s more info about what race we are doing!), and we had our last long run on the schedule for Saturday: 12 miles!
We had a BEAUTIFUL day for the run, and we both felt way better than we did for last weekend’s 10 miler – yay.
I took Matt on one of my favorite big Virginia waterfront/downtown DC loops. Monuments and scenery galore!
The nice scenery made the miles go by quickly, as did the weather. There were randomly TONS of tourists downtown, though – it was so crowded! I guess everyone else was enjoying the weather/end of the holiday season, too.
I ended up timing it perfectly – 12 miles on the dot!
Half marathon, we’re ready for you!!
Also, for your viewing pleasure, I found this on my camera when we got home. Lol! Thank you, Matt.
Sunday
Yoga was in order! I met my friend Karen for a morning CorePower yoga date, and we enjoyed a really nice, restorative heated class, followed by a coffee walking date so we could catch up! We decided to give the lattes at Dog Tag Bakery a try – good coffee for a good cause (proceeds support veterans) – thumbs up!
I closed out the weekend with one more walking date – it was too nice out yesterday to miss out, especially since I knew a cold front was coming today – this time with my friend Ashley! Ashley was flying off back to Oregon last night, so we met up for a stroll before she had to leave.
We walked out at Lake Anne, a really cute area in Reston with trails and shops that’s near where her family lives. Fun to explore something new!
And there you have it! A fun week of social fitness. It felt good to get so much fresh air after being cooped up inside a fair amount over the holidays due to the gross weather – and it was fun to combine social time with active time, too!
I’m back at the office downtown today getting caught up – better get back to it! Have a great day, my friends!
Are you a social fitness fan? How have you combined social time with active time lately?
A couple announcements before I go:
- My friend Sarah Waybright, a fellow DC area Registered Dietitian, is leading a meal planning and prep workshop on this coming Sunday in DC! It sounds great and would be perfect for any of you looking to up your nutrition game in the new year (in an easy, sustainable way). Hope to see some of you there (I’m attending as media to cover the event) – for more details and to purchase tickets, click here or on the graphic below.
- If starting a blog is one of your new years resolutions, check out my page on how to start a blog – BlueHost, the blog hosting provider I recommend in that post and walk you through how to get set up on is having an awesome new years sale now through the 9th with super cheap hosting – so get on it!
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How to Make Exercise More Fun originally appeared on fANNEtastic food | Registered Dietitian Blog | Recipes + Healthy Living + Fitness on January 4, 2016.
The post How to Make Exercise More Fun appeared first on fANNEtastic food | Registered Dietitian Blog | Recipes + Healthy Living + Fitness.