Good morning- TGIF! I don’t know about anyone else, but it’s been quite a week! First , one day I dialed into the wrong conference call, next, I emailed Lauren asking why I didn’t get my first workout in the Fit in 15 quickie series, only to have her tell me it starts NEXT week, haha I think between still battling a head cold, exhaustion from the weekend and teaching so many classes, I can’t keep things straight!

So, let’s keep it simple today- here are some things of possible interest!

• Mother’s Day Pink Ribbon Low Cut Cleat– New Balance is offering a Mother’s Day edition of the baseball cleats some of the pros (Dustin Pedroia, Robby Scott, Hanley Ramirez) are wearing these days. The pink accents represent the fact that they are part of New Balance’s Lace Up for the Cure® Collection, meaning that a portion of the proceeds go to breast cancer research, as well as the Susan G. Komen organization/foundation. As a bonus offer, if you purchase these cool looking cleats, you’ll also win a pair of pink CFX Pro batting gloves! I absolutely love all that New Balance does to support cancer (especially breast cancer) research- they are truly a company all about giving back.

• Free Spin Class at B/Spoke Wellesley– This Sunday (Mother’s Day),  B/Spoke Wellesley is offering a FREE RIDE to sons & daughters who bring their mom’s to either the 8:15am or 9:30am class. In addition to a free class, you’ll be entered in a raffle for the chance to win gift cards to various other stores in the area such as Gretta Cole, Gretta Luxe, MiniLuxe, Cocobeet & more! If you are interested, email Grace Goodearl at ggoodearl@bspokestudios.com.
• Gold Medal Bootcamp– On Thursday, May 18th at 6pm there will be a really cool workout opportunity in Boston Common. EF Education First and two-time Olympic Gold Medalist, DeeDee Trotter are hosting a FREE, public outdoor workout! Cherry on top? Eliza of Kick It by Eliza (duh!)will also be there an running you through a “Kick It” aspect of the workout. There will be music, refreshments, a New Balance pop-up shop and more that you can check out after the event. If you’re interested in this, make sure you register here. Maybe DeeDee will even let you touch her gold medals?! 😉
• Sweat, Shop, Snack {Round 1}- On Wednesday, I hosted my second class/event at the New Balance Flagship Store in Brighton. While it was certainly a much smaller crowd (so many people told me they couldn’t go because of other plans- May is a busy month!), the crew who showed up was fierce! Most of them had never done kickboxing before, but you could never tell by looking at them. They caught on SO fast and were so energetic- laughing and smiling throughout the whole workout! Didn’t hurt that DJ Sprino was crushing it on the turn tables (is that still a thing people say?!), per usual. The staff at NB are all SO nice and helpful- they make having events there so easy. Huge thanks to Purity Organics for providing juices again, Hint Water for providing delicious waters and GoMacro for providing macrobars for people to munch on after class! I won’t be doing any more events there until the fall as Seaport Sweat starts up in a few weeks which will add more classes to my schedule and leave less time for other events.

• GoMacro- GoMacro recently reached out to me regarding their company and product. I had actually tried Go Macro bars when they were on sale at Whole Foods and absolutely LOVED them, so I jumped on board to work with them. For those of you who may not be familiar with GoMacro, it’s a family-owned vegan nutrition bar company based in Viola, WI. They started the company when they decided to switch to a macrobiotic diet, which means they eat in a way that is balanced in terms of what you’re eating and when you’re eating it. They chose to do this as a lifestyle when one of the founders was diagnosed with breast cancer. They had read that a macrobiotic diet could help and figured it was worth a shot. The full story can be found here, but spoiler alert: it did help!

Along with being Vegan, their bars are also Organic and Gluten Free- plus, they taste great! When I’m looking for a pre or post workout bar, I like to make sure I’m choosing something with minimal unnecessary “filler” ingredients, lower sugar count, a decent amount of protein and have to taste good. GoMacro fits all of those criteria and I love that their core principles include keeping everything wholesome, organic and vegan. Plus, with all of the various flavors they have, it’s hard to pick a favorite!

Earlier this week I hosted another event at New Balance and was happy to be able to share some mini bars with my class participants. Everyone who tried them gushed about how “surprisingly good” they bars were. I think people tend to shy away from protein/healthy bars because they think they will taste awful, but that’s not the case with these. I brought some extras into my office and have had so many people stop me and tell me how great the bars are! Bottom line is if you’re using real, wholesome ingredients and you know the right combinations of flavors to put together, you’ll likely (hopefully) have a good tasting final product. People have this notion that “healthy” doesn’t taste good, but I think it’s because they’re misinformed with what “healthy” means- bland, no flavor, no fat, etc. – and haven’t given it a chance. We cook so many “healthy” things that taste great, but again, it’s all about what goes in and how its prepared.

If you’re interested in trying some- I suggest heading to their site as new customers can get 30% off AND free shipping! Thanks, again, GoMacro- loved being able to share goodness with so many people 🙂

Questions for you: How has your week been? have you done any fun workouts? What’s your favorite pre/post workout bar? What are you doing for Mother’s Day?