Hi! I'm Christine And i'm the blogger behind Into the glimmer

I'm a full-time mom with a full-time job and several part-time hobbies (and a growing side business).

I do my best to balance it all while staying half sane. I also love to run. That usually helps with the staying sane thing. I even out all of the running with strength training, yoga, barre, and standup paddleboarding. 

The reality is between working full-time, mom life, and a husband who travels, life can get pretty crazy and scheduling my workouts (and other interests) can be tough. Balancing it all isn't easy, and I don't always do it well, but at least I try. 

By day, I work from home for a tech company as a user experience designer and recently got promoted to a senior manager role. If you’re unfamiliar with what UX is and interested in it, check out IDEO’s Design Kit - it’s pretty a comprehensive list of what I do. I have a Bachelor's degree in communications (journalism and graphic design), a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in merchandising, product design, and product development, and I'm always looking for more classes to take and things to learn (like industrial design). 

When I'm not running or doing some other fitness-related activity, blogging, or working, you can find me designing jewelry, painting or drawing, volunteering for animal rescues or ocean/wildlife causes, messing up recipes in the kitchen, or out on bike rides with my family. We also travel a lot, and I’m always up for a good race-cation!

I love going to the beach and spending time outside with my husband (D), our adorable four-year-old son (B), and 4 furkids - Autumn, Ruby Skye, Willow Rose, and Macy (the first three are beagles, Macy is a pit-lab-(maybe)jack russell mix).

We also have 3 furkids at the Rainbow Bridge - Stella Blue, who went to the Rainbow Bridge in December 2015; Meadow Beagle, who met up with Stella in February 2018; and Lucy Belle, who joined her two sisters in December 2018. They are forever in our hearts.

Our family circus currently lives at the beach life in Charleston, South Carolina. And while we don't plan to stay in Charleston forever - maybe we'll head to Florida, California, Costa Rica, Portugal, or Australia? - but for now we're loving it.

One thing's for sure - since I went coastal, I'm never going back.

I blog here about the ups and downs of running (and racing), Designing, and living in Charleston

 And I document my progress (or more often, my lack thereof, at least when it comes to running) along with posts about cool things to do in Charleston, as well as other lifestyle posts.

I figured since I love to talk about running, but not everyone I know likes hearing about it, a blog was a great place for me to share my story and connect with other people who love running as much as I do. And while this blog started out mostly about running, I’m gradually trying to add more things to it including my other fitness activities, like paddleboarding and barre, as well as some of my adventures in art and design, tech, and of course, all things beachy and coastal.

You can read my full running story here.

Connect with me elsewhere

Find me on Instagram @IntotheGlimmer and also follow my hashtag #saltwashedrunner. My friend Jenn and I recently started a joint Instagram account to track our training and runcations. You can follow us there @SoleSistersJourney.

And if you're interested, my dogs also have their own Instagram account. Follow them: @TheSaltyBeagles

Photo credits: Top banner and beach bum banner photos by Melissa Griffin Photography