Wanderlust 108 is a “mindful triathlon” that includes running, yoga and meditation. The events are held across the US and all over the world. I was so excited to be asked to be the run lead for the Toronto and Cincinnati events this year. Unfortunately, I had to cancel Toronto at the last minute due to Hurricane Florence but Cincinnati was an amazing experience! Here is more about my day.

I was picked up at the hotel at 7:45 a.m. and arrived at Smale Park right at 7:50. It is a gorgeous water front park on the Ohio River. The sun was just coming up and it was a beautiful morning. We truly couldn’t have asked for a better venue.

Photo: Jeremy Kramer

I was scheduled to go on state at 8:30 a.m. to warm everyone up for the 5K run. I led a 15 minute dynamic warm up to get everyone stretched out and pumped up! I was so lucky to have Wanderlust’s DJ Taz Rashid there…his music was on point!

I have to say that it was a very cool moment to get mic’d up and go out in front of all of those people and do what I love. The event manager told me there were around 1,4000 people signed up for the event.

Photo: Jeremy Kramer

After the warm up we took off on the 5K run. The run took place along the water front river path so it made for a scenic run! I participated in the run and had so much fun jumping in with different groups to chat about things like where they were from, how they liked to workout, what they thought about Wanderulust, yoga and more. I loved seeing everyone from runners to yogis (and everyone in between!) come together. Some people were way outside of their comfort zone running and others with the yoga. We had quite a few people for whom it was their first 5K! I LOVED that the 5K wasn’t timed!

After I finished the 5K I hung out at the finish line to cheer on the rest of the runners and walkers. Fun fact…this bridge was built by the same guy who did the Brooklyn Bridge. I was told it was his “practice” bridge. Haha.

After the 5K I was done!

I wish I could have stayed for the yoga and meditation portion of the event but I had a baby boy to get back to!

I walked back to the hotel and quickly showered and packed up. I grabbed an Uber to the airport and was starving when I got there.

I ordered a turkey bagel sandwich from Brueger’s.

And then got a whole milk latte with one pump of pumpkin spice. This is the way to go! It’s the perfect amount of pumpkin spice and sweetness.

One thing I have to note about the Cincinnati airport is that they had this pumping/breastfeeding pod by Mamava.

But the absolute coolest thing was that inside of it women had written each other notes of encouragement and there were things like hand sanitizer, extra batteries and extra pump chargers. It seriously made me tear up. I love seeing women support each other like this!

In less fun news, my throat started hurting on the plane (so weird how it can just start all the sudden like that) and by the time I got home and scooped Finn up I was having body aches as well. Finn had his first little virus/cold late last week (talk about breaking my heart!) so I think I may have picked up what he had.

I was in bed by 8:30 p.m. on Saturday night and snugging with Finn. I spent all of Sunday at home with a sore throat and achiness. I don’t usually like to take medicine but alternating Tylenol and Advil was all that got me through the day. It was nice to have a day at home to rest and relax and I did things like bake granola, write a long overdue blog post, bake a cake and watch the Panthers win in the last second of their game against the Giants.

That day at home was so nice that I repeated it again today (Monday). I worked a lot while Finn was napping but opted not to leave the house and continue to chill. We did go on a walk tonight with the girls but lots of rest was just what the doctor ordered. I am feeling a lot better, just a little congested but nothing I can really complain about.

I started the book Educated on the flight back to Charlotte so I’m about to break open my Kindle and dive back into that!

The Wanderlust 108 season is just about over for 2018 but I 100% recommend checking out one of their events in 2019 if you find that there is one close to you! There are also some really cool multi-day festivals in places like Oahu, Snowshoe and Squaw Valley so be sure to check those out on the events page as well!

Have you ever attended Wanderlust 108? Or any Wanderlust event? What would you pick as your fave…run, yoga or meditation? 

Who has not run a 5K? And do you want to?