2018: How to not run a marathon.

Running a marathon is hard (total understatement). Turns out NOT running a marathon is super hard too though. The first 5 marathons that I ran (including the one where I broke my foot), I crossed the finish line swearing I would never do it again. Within a few weeks (sometimes a few minutes) though, I’d be jonsing for next year’s race.

2017’s Chicago Marathon was different. I trained, HARD and every run that I did leading up to race day made me feel even more confident that I was going to hit my goal (ugh Oprah). And then I didn’t. . .like not even close. The whole thing was miserable and had my dad not been there pushing me along, I might have quit. At the time, I felt like the heat and my watch and a million other tiny things were the reason why I had such a terrible race but looking back on it, I realize now that it just wasn’t fun for me anymore.

My 2nd marathon (also Chicago) was totally awesome. I followed a training schedule, but I didn’t go into the season with a time goal. I met new people, tried out new running groups, and did what was best for me. That year was by far my most fun race and my best time. Then I found out that I just needed to shave 10 minutes off to beat Oprah’s time and the downward spiral began (hello burnout). So I’m hitting reset. My new years resolution is to NOT run a marathon in 2018. I’ll definitely be back because FOMO, but in the meantime, I’ll be spending this year running for fun (with my favorite running buddy Lola).

2018 is going to be a huge adjustment for me as I started a new job with the American Cancer Society. Leaving LUNGevity and all of my incredible co-workers and volunteers was one of the hardest decisions I’ve made but it also means that I’ll be spending a lot more time (and weekends) at home (during prime running season). There are SO MANY smaller, fun races that I’ve wanted to do in Chicago that I have missed out on in the last 5 years and I’m excited to try them out!

So now that I have some extra time on my hands (goodbye Monday 8 milers and Saturday long runs), I’m going to resume my ‘Cooking Through my Pinterest Board’ project that I started a couple of years ago. So stay tuned while I navigate this whole ‘no goal or plan thing’ and look forward to some yummy food posts (and some pinterest fails).

P.S. These two are the cutest right?

Goal for 2015: Keep Being Awesome

Just kidding!

2014 has been an adventure to say the least. I went through my first full event season, trained for my second marathon, attended roughly a billion weddings, joined the #runchi cheer team and tried out the whole dating thing. Here’s what I’ve learned from this past year: my life is pretty crazy and really great.

I used to be nuts (seriously, ask my friends and family). . . well maybe uptight is a better way to describe it. I put a lot of pressure on myself to be perfect, I spent too much time planning and caring what people thought. Somewhere along the line though I learned to relax a little, to just be myself and stop caring about what other people think so much (spoiler alert: it’s a lot more fun). The last year of event planning, marathon training and even dating has taught me that life is messy and shit happens. .  a lot. Sometimes you just have to calm down, be yourself and take things as they come.

As crazy as it was, 2014 made me realize how grateful I am. I have a job that I love with co-workers and volunteers that I genuinely like seeing and talking to everyday. My friends and family are supportive, fun and always have my back. I’ve learned to go with the flow a little more and I even shaved 20 minutes off of my marathon time. I’d consider myself Charlie Sheen winning.

So my goal for 2015 is to just keep being myself, well the best version of myself and just see what happens.

Let’s Try For $1500!

Thank you to everyone who has donated to LUNGevity through my marathon page! I am so grateful for all of my family, friends and co-workers for their support! I am so excited to say that last week I reached my goal of $1000 . . . and then surpassed it!

Since we are still 26 days away from the marathon, I figured I’d move my goal up to $1500. Let’s see if I can get there by race time!