Rockin' the Nation's Capital!

It’s a bit belated, but happy New Year everyone and welcome to our new blog! 2013 is well-upon us and it is time for you to jumpstart your new year by making those resolutions come alive! And don’t forget – we at Fleet Feet Sports, Gaithersburg are always available to help keep you motivated towards accomplishing all of your fitness and running related goals.

I am happy to be back writing for our new blog and to have the opportunity to resurrect a bit of my old K-files. For those of you who don’t know, the K-files were a way for me to express myself and discuss various running-related topics and other fun, fitness related things. Well, I’m back, along with fellow Fleet Feet-er, Maggie, with brand new posts and topics, and to help keep you up-to-date on all the latest Fleet Feet happenings!

Earlier this month, we began our 2013 Winter Warrior Half Marathon Training Program. The participants are gearing up for the 2^nd annual Rock-n-Roll USA Half Marathon on March 16^th. If you have not competed in a Rock-n-Roll Series Race Event, you are missing out on an incredible experience! It is the only event I can recall where there are live bands (at every mile!!) performing great songs to push you through each mile of the course. Many of our participants taking part in this program are return program runners – which is awesome to see!! They know how our programs are structured, and they come back for the fun and excitement of training with such an amazing group with great coaches (I just so happend to be one ;) ). Let me tell you something, this is how all of our programs are and we are always ready for new people to join us. I am excited for this upcoming season, so please be sure to wish any of our Winter Warriors good luck if you see them out on the trail or road!

Until next time…I’ll see you on the streets of Gaithersburg.

Take care,
Kanayo

Junk Food Martyr? Professional Napper? Travel Run Writer? | Our Inaugural Post!

Hello, friends of Fleet Feet Sports, Gaithersburg. It is my great pleasure to be writing the inaugural post of our blog, Trampling Down Walls and Eradicating Excuses. We will be covering running and everything that goes along with it. And because, here at Fleet Feet Sports, Gaithersburg, running is basically our life, we’ll be sharing our lives with you, too! (And if it’s me writing the blog, there will probably be something about food.) My name is Maggie and I’ll be writing posts, along with our Fleet Feet Sports’ Event/Race Coordinating Extraordinaire, Kanayo as well as some extra special guest bloggers.

Alright, here goes nothing!...

Sometimes I fantasize about my dream jobs. In my head is a growing list of professions that (as far as I know) don’t really exist. Mostly, they involve being paid large amounts of money to perform my favorite minimal-effort past times. For example: Professional Napper. This job would entail me testing out the world’s more comfortable mattresses and evaluating them for indicators of excellence, such as duration of undisturbed nap and bed-head resistance. Also, Junk Food Martyr. This is one of my personal favorites. This would involve me traveling to the homes of new dieters and eating all of the tempting food from their refrigerators and pantries.

During my recent holiday vacation to New Orleans, I came up with a new dream job: Travel Run Writer—a healthy departure from the laziness of my usual fantasies. On my second day in New Orleans, I went for a run to justify the beers, beignets and étouffées. I ran along the moonwalk with the wind blowing off of the Mississippi. I ran through the French Quarter where the brightly-colored Creole houses were decked out for Christmas. I ran through Faubourg Marginy where the brassy jazz of street musicians followed me for a mile, a live soundtrack. And by the time I got back to my hotel near Treme, I had planned half a dozen vacations centered on beautiful runs I’d like to go on.

So I asked my co-workers about their favorite destination runs and here is what they said:

Melissa liked the friendly cat calls from the crowds of Druid Hill during her Baltimore Marathon.

Kanayo said the Las Vegas Rock’n’Roll half was his favorite.

Robyn reminisced about her runs through the mall in Washington.

Joel loved his run through Audobon Park. That’s two for New Orleans!

And Pete took the cake with the Sea of Galilee where, ironically, the dairy cows reminded him of Wisconsin.

Now I want to hear from y’all. Where was your best, most beautiful or most exciting run? And where would your dream run happen? (Post your responses below...or via Facebook or Twitter!!)