Category Archives: good days

by Heather C | October 10, 2012

A Day in the Life: Corporate Wellness Event-Planning

My job description is a mix of two worlds at Wellness Corporate Solutions; I’m part Wellness Coach, part Program Manager (PM). Going into this split-position meant a lot of learning on-the-job! With my client, the PM world involves event-planning and health/wellness consulting. My goals may never have seen “event planner” inserted under my skillset, but voila – it has arrived!

This particular event is one of our biggest of the year – the annual Wellness Expo – and was themed for Breast Cancer Awareness (see: pink). We spent about three months planning – reserving rooms, booking vendors, ordering swag, roping in the facilities team, writing and disseminating communications, tweaking flyers and logos, etc. This is nothing if not a TEAM effort.

How does this play out from the planning side?
Come join us…

Monday: See above! With materials donated from the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Larabar and various businesses who were unable to attend so instead contributed coupons/discount cards, we stuffed 600 bags.

Boxes are checked, last-minute changes are being made and we’re gearing up for the Expo eve.

Tuesday: All vendors agreements are in, contact information is being condensed into one-pagers and we’re making sure everything will be set for our stations and volunteers. We run-through the layout as tables are being set up, and work with facilities to get everything in place.

It’s time to clear out the conference-turned-storage room that we reserved for the week so that it’s ready for the Volunteer Breakfast + Vendor Refreshments in the morning!

My life-support-clipboard contains the following: Vendors’ contact information + table-number, vendor floor plan, volunteers’ assignments and contact information, parking & loading directions (for those calls that will come in), the day’s agenda and special requests.

Wednesday: Event Day!

The planning team (all four of us) were onsite by 7:30 am, volunteers came in around 8:30 and vendors start arriving at 9:30. From there, it’s non-stop action! We had 60 tables, 55 vendors, food samples (special shout-out: Popchips!), giveaways and raffles, fitness demos, massage, acupuncture, pink manicures, a special screening (see: Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta host!), a blood drive and flu shots.

By the time 3pm rolled around we had probably walked miles around that first floor expo! I like to visit the vendors at least once per hour to check in on how things are going, if they need anything, make sure they took a lunch break, and they know where the bathrooms are, etc.

Before you know it, the day is over and we’re taking pink linens off of tables and boxing up leftover (?!) Georgetown cupcakes.

Before my brain can process that we’re done, my feet are propped up and it’s time to relax.

All in a day’s (week’s, month’s…) work, as a Corporate Wellness Dietitian.

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16 Comments

Filed under Dietitians, good days, health, on the job

by Heather C | April 19, 2012

Wisdom from the WWW

I’ve been hushed by Tuesday night’s {free} Bootcamp workout at the the lululemon Georgetown store; Sgt. Ronald took payment in the form of sweat, maxed heart rates, muscles worked and lactic acid dished out in full. Kate & I will certainly be back for more, once we can walk & run without waddling again.

On my off days, I read. My current nightstand companion is All the Money in the World, teaching me a few lessons in how to play offense, spend mindfully and get myself across the pond sooner than later.

Online, I’ve found these gems worth passing along:

Live Every Day Like You Travel
via Tiny Buddha

As travelers, we often take a step back and let our new surroundings teach us a thing or two about a thing or two. We open our minds to new possibilities; we relax, remembering that the world still spins when we aren’t worrying about and completing daily mundane tasks. We explore, learn, pause and breathe.

Oh how the days, weeks and months in between would be different if we had that traveling mentality more often.

Take a Cheat Day

via Greatist.com

First, note the absence of the word “binge”. While you may find balance and intuitive eating more of a mindset than a daily choice – or in some cases, a struggle – there is still something to be said for the indulgences we enjoy. Asking me to “give up” dark chocolate may as well be like telling me to stop running. 1) I won’t. 2) There goes my balance. On a plant-based diet, I feel like I get my fair share of nutrients everyday, and then some. Add a piece of dark chocolate, for antioxidants? No, because I love that bitter sweetness. Balanced.

Life is short; eat well, exercise often, and find your balance. This article provides insight into the science of the off/”cheat”-days.

10 Health Mistakes You’re Making Right Now, because You Think You’re Too Busy

via Huffington Post

Starting in January, I was back on a 9-5 schedule for the first time in well over a year. Yes, I had obviously been working, but not necessarily in that norm. It was surely an adjustment, but my routine adapted fairly well to a few tweaks. Here, there may be fewer posts, more “quick n’ healthy” recipes, and a week where yoga just happens at home, not in a studio. But no major life changes have ever proven to rock my priorities. My sanity thanks the priority-setting side of my brain for that.

You’re not too busy. Here are 10 points to shake you back into shape.

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What have you been reading lately? Feel free to share some www .cm wisdom!

5 Comments

Filed under food, good days, in the News, learning, things that make me Happy

Tagged as health

by Heather C | March 30, 2012

3.25 Miles

For the first time in well over two years, this happened:

After a bike-ride mishap for D led to me missing the group run last night, he offered up a substitute – run with me, in the morning?

Backtrack: we met as running buddies, just friends. Approximately one day after we started “dating”, he hurt his ankle. What should’ve been a 2-3 month recovery, turned into 6 months in an air-cast, a slow transition back to cycling, and an even slower transition back to running (2 years).

Today, we woke up for a 6:30 a.m. run together. We ran 3.25 miles.

I have my other running-buddy back!

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Filed under good days, running, running buddy

by Heather C | December 1, 2011

Life is Too Short…

To keep up the theme that has taken up two-thirds of the post this week, “life” jumped right back into a title. It’s hanging on tight! It has learned a few lessons recently; it’s short and fast, so I’m taking note and listening.

Life is too short…

…to be afraid of deep water – the unknown below you.

D is a total beach-lover, and I’m usually the opposite. I didn’t like getting sand everywhere (yup, you know. All over.); I didn’t like the taste or feel of salt water; I didn’t like the all-out panic I felt from swimming into waters that house millions of species, and miles of depth.

For whatever reason, this recent trip flipped a switch. Yes, I’m still slightly terrified of dying by shark-attack or stepping on a sting-ray, but if that’s how I go…well, ouch. But at least I will have gone with a fear conquered (and, um, justified), right?

I went running one morning and suddenly got so taken back by the thought of going through a short life without ever really doing something that scares me. Swimming in deep, salty water, with a ton of fish I’ll never recognize or measure up to? Scary. Surfing, to me? Terrifying. So I better do it, huh? Exactly.

****

…to stay put. Travel {dance, sing & floss}.

More often than not the cost, the time away, and the logistics are over-analyzed to the point that it is “obviously” not worth it to just go.

My opinion: it’s always worth it. Take a little out of savings (first hint: save! Even just a few bucks here and there.); don’t think about what you’ll “miss”; recognize an opportunity to see something new – it may not come again.

Just. Go.

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…to think your family is anything but the best.

Family: immediate, friends, running groups, a city, etc.

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…to run slow, rest too often or skip a pose.

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This list could go on and on and on. In light of a new month – the last one in 2011 – here’s hoping this year wasn’t too short for anything you wanted to get out of it.

We have certainly squeezed a lot these days, and I wouldn’t change a thing! Don’t worry, December – I’ve still got some plans left for you.

Life is too short… ____.

17 Comments

Filed under about me, family, good days, pictures, random, things that make you go Hmmmm

by Heather C | November 17, 2011

Endorphins at Work

You get it; you know I love waking up early and running {with a buddy}, because afterward hey! I’m awake! I feel refreshed! Let’s start this day – give me coffee! But not too much.

Why do I feel so awake? Well one answer right now would be the chilly air hitting me in the face (legs, arms – depending on my attire choices for the day) first thing in the morning. Yup, wide awake after that. Then we start running, and talking, and moving. Before I know it we’ve been putting one foot in front of the other for about an hour; my heart is beating a little bit faster, and the endorphins are flowing.

Endorphins:

Any of a group of hormones secreted within the brain and nervous system and having a number of physiological functions*.

“Exercise gives you endorphins; endorphins make you happy!”
Elle Woods, you know this

*What might these functions be?

Well, WebMD tells us, “The neuron receptors endorphins bind to are the same ones that bind some pain medicines.” Ergo, they block pain. Ahem, the reason you may not feel pain during running (hello, miles 20-26.2), but feel it immediately after stopping (more reason to keep. running.).

Apparently, these hormones also “trigger a positive feeling in the body, similar to that of morphine.” I’ll take endorphin over morphine any day – it’s produced by my own actions and doesn’t land me in jail. Win, win!

This article is really about exercise (and its partner-in-crime, endorphins) battling depression. It’s about how regular exercise helps to reduce stress, anxiety & feeling of depression; it boosts self-esteem, improves sleep, strengthens your heart, lowers blood pressure and, to top it all off, “makes you look fit & healthy”. All good things!

Those little endorphins work hard.

What else can endorphins do? According to one of our Back on My Feet Resident members, they can help you excel and focus. Check this out (if you’re crunched for time, start at 4:30):

My absolute favorite line here – “I get so excited – so, I went online and I googled Endorphins….and it came up, “Running high”! It really works.”

But the other point being, “I said to myself, if I can get up at 5:45 in the morning and run? There are some other things I’m able to do, too.”

Right there. That’s it. The reason we do it – the reason we’re “addicted” to that high? It blocks the pain, it elates us; it shows us what we can do, without doubt.

*****

What have you done under the influence of this ‘high’ { from endorphins. Focus.} ?

9 Comments

Filed under early morning, good days, inspiration, learning, motivation, running, things that make me Happy