Philly for 10 hours + This Week’s Fitness

On Wednesday, I spent the day in Philadelphia with two of my best friends from college, Turner and Kris!

The three of us have had these fun Philly day dates going on for a few years now  (usually one in summer and one at Christmastime) and I love them! Anytime Kris is back in the Philadelphia area visiting family (she currently lives in Paris) we pick a day for me to take the train up and the three of us spend the day playing. The train is so easy and I can work on the way there and back which helps with not getting too behind!

We usually spend the day eating good food, walking around, and doing a little shopping. The food scene in Philly is awesome so it’s always fun to see which hip new places Turner takes us to. This time we started our adventure with lunch at the Hungry Pigeon. I had the chopped salad (so good – lots of veggies, potatoes, and lentils) and a pickled veggie plate – plus a glass of rose! #5oclocksomewhere

I was still a little hungry because the salad was smaller than expected so I snagged a bran muffin to snack on too – it was delish!

We spent the afternoon strolling around the city and doing a little shopping before ending up at Spruce Street Harbor Park, a really cool area of the waterfront with pop up food trucks and hang out areas for summer. Philly is such a neat city – they do a great job with making the waterfront area seasonal and fun! At Christmastime they have festive holiday markets near this area and a big outdoor ice skating rink.

A warm afternoon clearly called for ice cream! Franklin Fountain food truck FTW.

I got the mint chip – delicious!

We did some more walking and chatting and then a couple hours later it was time for dinner! We hit up a trendy Mexican spot called Lolita. Great ambiance – very lively. Creative cocktails, too! I had the cucumber, cilantro, and jalapeno margarita. :)

As for dinner, we shared a ton of small plates – a seared tuna appetizer that was phenomenal, plus some guac and a variety of yummy tacos! Everything was awesome.

Such a fun day – I loved the chance to catch up with two of my favorites. Until next time, ladies! :)

As for workouts this week, I got in some fun ones! On Wednesday morning before heading to Philly for the day I was up bright and early to meet Chelsea for a fun ClassPass (<—$30 off link) adventure – a class at 9Round kickboxing in Courthouse! I first checked it out a couple years ago (check it out: 9Round Arlington review) and was excited when I saw it pop up on ClassPass recently.

As you can guess from the name, their workouts feature 9 stations – or rounds – which are 3 minutes each. You are in and out in 30 minutes which is awesome – so efficient and great if you’re short on time, and there are always trainers around to lead you through the workout and encourage you at each of the stations. We both liked the instructor – he did a great job of making sure where knew what we were doing.

Thumbs up – we’ll be back! There’s something so satisfying about kicking and punching a bag. :) And since Chelsea moved back to Arlington (yay!!) it’s easy to pop over there so I have a feeling we’ll go often!

Yesterday morning, I met up with my friend Heather for a run date. We hadn’t run together in way too long – I missed it!

She was getting her long run for the week in and I met her for the tail end of it starting at 8 a.m. It was hot but I was glad to get the extra bit of sleep since I didn’t get back from Philly until after midnight the night before!

4.5 miles, done! So good to catch up with you Heather – thanks for getting me out there!

As for today, I was excited because this morning I had a session with Paul Medina from Capital Energy Training! As you guys know we’ve been doing a blog/training exchange since winter, but I hadn’t seen him for about a month because he got married and was on his honeymoon, and then I was at the beach! I was excited to resume our sessions, which as you guys know are focused on stretching and mobility.

We did our usual hip stretching moves I’ve written about before which felt amazing after a few weeks off. We also did a fun new move with a ball attached to a rope! He had me swing the rope in a circle over my head, first going left then switching to right. It helped to loosen up and stretch my obliques and shoulders!

Fun! We did another one where I swung the ball straight back over my head and then down in front of me.

Plus the classic: hold the ball over your head and slam it onto the ground. Love this one – great stress relief! Try it. :)

Fun times! We kept the session super low key and stretching focused – felt great. I think all the swimming last week at the beach helped keep things relatively limber because I didn’t feel too crazy tight today though!

And now, back to work! Happy Friday and have a great weekend – Matt and I are sticking around town this weekend and have some fun food and fitness plans as usual. :) I also need to get in a long run (shooting for 12 miles). See you guys back here Monday with a recap!

Something to make this weekend:

• Lemony Quinoa Bean Salad // Cowboy Caviar Cauliflower Rice Bowl // Sweet Bacon Blue Cheese Savory Oatmeal (psst: check out my Savory Oatmeal Recipe too!) // How to Bake Tostada Shells // Ginger Peach Oat Bars // Iced Latte Fudge Pops // Chocolate No Bake Icebox Cake // Hummus Chicken Salad Bowl