Hi friends! Miss me!? I know I’ve been a little MIA lately but this summer has been CRAZY with traveling every 2 weeks or so. We have one more trip before things calm down a bit but I’m enjoying all these fun adventures with my little family!

This recap is a week late but better late than never right?

Last weekend I was given an amazing opportunity to head to Seattle with all the other AMAZING Brooks Run Happy Ambassadors, and what an awesome weekend it was! I apologize in advance if this one gets a little long, we packed a LOT into 3 days!

Friday started at 3:45 am for me. I got up to be at the airport by 5! In order to get me into Seattle by 1:00 pm I had to start early! Thankfully I stayed at my in-laws the night before which cut an hour off my drive to the airport. In all honesty, I was pretty nervous about the flight. I hadn’t flown in over 4 years and never across the country, but I was too excited about this trip to let that stand in the way!

I arrived in Seattle around 10:30 AM PT (1:30 PM EST), picked up my luggage, and met our awesome drive Jim! I also got to meet up with the first group of awesome Run Happy ambassadors!

Monica, Tina, Jen, and Gina.

We got on the van and were taken directly to the Brooks Running headquarters!

It was so awesome to see this in person! Not to mention Seattle was absolutely beautiful and the PERFECT temperature! After coming from 90 degree heat with 90% humidity it felt SO wonderful.

Brian, Monica, Tina, Ashley, Gina, Janae, Alex, Jen, and Carlee

Just a few minutes later the second group of ambassadors showed up and it was so fun meeting everyone in person! It’s a bit surreal to meet people who you have followed for years. Everyone was so wonderful and inviting! We had a little bit of time to kill before the rest of the group showed up so we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and take a walk down to Gas Works Park.

The view was absolutely breathtaking and it felt so good to move my legs after being in the plane for 6 hours!

After we took in the beautiful views we headed back to the headquarters to meet up with the rest of the group and to really dig into and learn about all the ins and outs of Brooks Running!

Brooks was so generous to us and we got some GREAT gear! They gave me a pair of my favorite racing shoes the Hyperion (which I can’t wait to wear again when I get back to racing soon!) and the amazing special edition Victory Launch 5.

After we had all settled in, said our hellos, and had a bite to eat we got right to it and met with the Brooks CEO, Jim! He was so gracious to welcome us to Brooks and talk about the exciting things Brooks has done and continues to do! I loved how passionate he was about the company and how they truly believe in every single product they put out!

We then took a little field trip down the hall to the Brooks Makers Lab. This is where all the magic happens!

We learned about the entire process of how a shoe is brought to production! Did you know it took 7 years from the idea for the Levitate until it was released? It’s truly amazing how much time, effort, and detail goes into the creation of each and every shoe.

Ever wonder what the inside of a shoe looks like? They cut one in half for us to see all the different layers and detail.

They then went through the testing of a shoe and all the different factors that are looked at. Kenny showed us how they tested out the shoes and were able to record all the data. I just found it fascinating all the different steps there were into bringing a shoe into production.

After we finished in the Makers Lab, we headed back to learn about the new fall shoe and apparel collections!

These beauties are already out – the Levitate 2! I am so excited to try these out. The Levitates have been one of my favorites in the Brooks shoe line.

They are also coming out with the Bedlam which is the support version of the Levitate! I am a neutral runner, but if you wear support shoes you are definitely going to want to try these out!

Finally, another new addition to the Brooks Running line is the Ricochet! These were best described as somewhere in between the Levitate and the Launch. As a runner who love as both of those you can bet I will be picking up a pair of these when they are released this fall!

Jenna walked us through the details of all the new shoes coming in the fall and also answered all of our questions we had!

And if you are as curious as me, someone did ask about those amazing shoes Desi wore during the 2018 Boston Marathon and no they aren’t talking about those yet! 🙂

After we wrapped up the shoes we were shown a preview of the fall 2018 clothing line! I am so excited about some of the beautiful pieces coming out – stay tuned because I’ll be sharing some of them in the very near future!

After we finished up at Brooks headquarters, we headed to the hotel to get ready for dinner!

Monica, Tina, Lora, Ashley, Anne, Jessica, Janae, Meghann, Kristen, Jen, Gina, Tiffany, Noelle, Alex, Nat, Carlee, Brian, and Jen.

The whole crew at dinner! We ate dinner at the Westward and it was delicious. Even though the food was good, the company was definitely better! I really enjoyed this evening getting to know some of the crew on a more personal level!

After dinner we went straight back to the hotel and I was exhausted! Starting my day at 3:45 AM EST and ended at 12:30 AM EST (9:30 PM PT). I knew we had a big day ahead for us on Saturday so I wasted no time getting into bed!

Saturday morning we woke bright and early! I was up at 4:45 AM PT since my body still felt like it was 7 am! I was so tired but couldn’t sleep so just hung out until Noelle got up and we headed out to meet some of the crew for a short run!

We wanted to get in a few miles before we met for our big group run. It was cool, overcast, and I had the best running company – I don’t know how it can get much better than that!

We got in 3 miles to start off the day before heading back to the hotel to meet the rest of the group and head to a meet up with a few of the Brooks Beasts for a 5 mile run!

Jen and I ended up being twins in our 3″ Chaser Shorts and Ghost Racerback Tank! She (of course) had the same hat and brought the same Ghosts I was wearing too so with just a few tweaks we would have matched completely head to toe!

We had to get a shot of all the amazing Brooks shoes in the line up!

The views were absolutely breathtaking that morning along the trail! I can see why people love living here so much!

We took the opportunity to snap a few pictures. This is the incredible Nat who just ran a 3:11 marathon! I loved talking with her about her most recent race!

My roomie and I for the weekend! Noelle is such a sweet girl and we bonded over our love for stroller running! She even started her very own stroller running group in her hometown!

After we finished our 5 miles we headed to the gym to get in a strength workout that the Brooks Beasts do themselves!

This workout was no joke and I look forward to doing it again myself in the gym in the future!

Jess was so sweet and took the time to work with each of us to make sure we were doing each move correctly to work all the different muscle groups! If you don’t follow her on IG – you should!

After strength we were all REALLY hungry! With only a small breakfast before 2 runs and strength I was ready to eat!

Brooks had set up a brunch of us at Cactus. This place was AMAZING. Hands down my favorite meal of the entire trip! When your drink menu looks like this you know it is going to be good! I ended up choosing the mango margarita if anyone is curious!

They had so much food including Churro Waffles which were one of the most amazing foods I have ever tasted! We left feeling full and happy!

We had some free time Saturday afternoon and as much as I really wanted to just curl into bed and take a nap, I knew I couldn’t miss the opportunity to walk around Seattle and explore!

A group of us decided to gone down to Pikes Place to do a little touring and hit up the Starbucks Reserve, Public Market, Bubble Gum Alley, the Ferris wheel and saw the flying fish.

It was such a fun afternoon!

We headed back to the hotel to freshen up and get ready for a night out on the water!

We had a dinner cruise on the Destiny! It was absolutely beautiful and I loved getting to tour around Seattle and see all the beautiful views.

We ate a delicious dinner, drank champaign, and continued to enjoy the evening! I truly loved getting to know each and every one of these wonderful ambassadors!

After dinner we chatted some more and then headed back to the hotel to get some rest. I can see after another long day I was wiped out!

Sunday morning I woke up early to get packed up and ready to go home.

Most of the crew was heading to be a part of the cheer line for the Special Olympics! I was so excited for this but unfortunately in order to get back to the east coast on Sunday I had an earlier flight than everyone else and wasn’t able to attend.

I was really bummed but loved following along and chatting with the others about their experience!

I truly was blown away at the hospitality and generosity of Brooks Running! It was an amazing weekend with so many amazing people and I can’t wait to see them all again in the future!