The Olympics, A Goodbye Party, and Another Fitness Themed Basket!

Hi all!

I hope you enjoyed your weekend. Mine was pretty busy. Friday night, we went to a party to watch the opening ceremonies for the Olympics. We were encouraged to dress up in our best Olympic outfits, so Dustin wore his best old school ski attire, and I wore pretty much every red, white, and blue piece of clothing I had. (That Chinese Crested dog in the picture is a sweet rescue dog named Vegas!)

Saturday morning of course was the usual long run (a little over 16 miles), a trip to TC Running Company for those awesome Craft pants I wrote about yesterday, and plenty of other errands. 

Saturday night, we said goodbye to one of our run club friends. She's moving to New York City for her job. We're all sad to see her go, but wish her the best of luck in her new adventure!

We met up for an awesome dinner at Marin downtown, and she actually was able to get us the private barrel room for our group. 

I really loved my dinner there- I had the kale salad, and the papperdelle with roasted cauliflower and sage pesto. It was all really tasty- I highly recommend this restaurant!

My group of girlfriends wanted to said goodbye in a special way, and to give her a few items to remember us by. I enjoyed creating the birthday gift basket for my friend's 30th back in December, so I suggested that we do something similar again. Creating a gift basket is a great way for a group of friends to all chip in a little bit in a fun way, and you end up with quite a gift! 

This basket included a lot of running related items- some Body Glide, Nuun, an iTunes gift card, Honey Stingers, GU's, and more.

I also gave her one of the last Calhoun Beach Running Club BIC Bands...only three of these left!

We included some lululemon undies- light as air!

This friend is a barre-ista as well, so the gift basket needed an extra pair of grippy socks:

The basket wouldn't be complete without one of the Gear Running store's RUN MSP t-shirts. Softest shirts ever!

We included a framed picture from a Capital Run that she was a part of. Ah, remember when we were running in shorts and tanks? The good ol' days...

The basket came together nicely, and I think she really liked it.

It was a fun evening, and I'm glad we had the opportunity to send her off in style. 

Good luck in NYC, running buddy!

Featured Fit: A Birthday Gift Basket for a Runner.

By Jess in Minneapolis

Today marks a special day for one of my running friends. She turns 30!

To celebrate this momentous birthday, a group of us went to Chicago (Fits on the Road posts to come!) but I dropped off her birthday present last week for her husband to give to her today, on her actual birthday.

I got the idea for her birthday present from a charity gift basket auction that we recently had at work. My work team put together a "Complete Your Look" accessories basket, full of earrings, necklaces, bracelets, etc. (including some unique pieces by LL, my younger sister)

LL's necklaces for the charity gift basket

The gift basket was auctioned off for United Way. I believe the winning bid was nearly $300! The accessories basket was great, but this time, I wanted to customize a gift basket for my dear running friend.

Do you have a running friend with an upcoming birthday? Still looking for a Christmas present for one of the runners in your life? Try a running gift basket!

Here's what I did:

First, I purchased the basket from Jo-Ann fabrics, as well as a cello wrap for the basket, a bow, and some matching shreds for basket filler:

Then...the fun part: picking out running related items for the basket!

I had to include some Sweaty Bands. They are my favorites (as well as BIC bands), and I know the birthday girl likes them too. (They don't slip, seriously!) I bought her one of the reflective ones (the green and white stripe) for night running. The red-and-white polka dot Sweaty Band reminds me of Minnie Mouse, don't you think?

Remember my post about the Runner's World Cookbook? (read it HERE) I loved the cookbook so much that I purchased an extra copy for a future gift, and this birthday basket was the perfect place to use it!

Next, I stopped by one of my favorite local running stores, Gear Running Store, for more running favorites. The people at Gear were so helpful, and they seemed to enjoy helping me with my birthday basket idea!

What else was included in the basket? Let's see..there was some Body Glide. What runner couldn't use an extra one of those? I also picked up some "Gear Bombs" at Gear , which are odor eliminators for your shoes.  I included some FitSox (love those!) and of course some runner fuel: a GU, some Honey Stinger chews, Honey Stinger gels, and a Honey Stinger waffle.  I also included some NUUN, which is one of my favorite ways to hydrate on a run.

One of my winter running essentials from this post was Aquaphor to prevent chapped lips. 

I figured why not throw one of those in this runner birthday basket as well for good measure?

And you can't forget the card. 

30 does look good on you, my friend!

The Finished Product

Happy birthday!