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?

It’s Getting Real

New kicks for this weekend’s 20 miler and just 23 days to go until race time!

The Fine Line

Welcome to September where the temp gets lower, work gets busier and I, without fail, get sick.

I’ve had ALMOST 30 years of practice and I’m still trying to find a balance between regular self-motivation like this

and pushing so hard that I break my foot. I’m going to say that this year I am older and wiser (or that I am still recovering from the pain and doctor’s bills last time) because Monday I SKIPPED MY WORKOUT for the first time in 15 weeks, chugged OJ like it was my job and slept (hello Labor Day). Tuesday I modified my workout to do half of Monday’s and half of Tuesday’s and then drugged myself into a NyQuil coma after work. I’m not saying that I fully believe in this thing people call ‘rest’ but I will say that Wednesday I skipped to the train like a brand new person!

With 30 days to go until the marathon and my first official Fall Breathe Deep event this Sunday (hey Breathe Deep Dupage), I’m excited to be back to normal and ready to kick Oprah’s AND lung cancer’s butt!

THANK YOU to everyone who has donated to my page AND huge shout out to my sister who is running her first marathon this year for Paws and crushed her fundraising goal!

5 Years Down

The last few weeks have been so busy that I totally forgot to post about my 5 year work anniversary. I looked back at last year’s post around this time and realized that I feel pretty much exactly the same.

I could have never in a million years imagined how crazy weird and awesome my life would be. In the last four five years, I’ve had the most amazing co-workers, participants and volunteers, I’ve run 4 5 marathons raising thousands of dollars and every morning (okay pretty much every morning. . .I’m human) I wake up super excited to go to work. This totally is not the life I had planned for myself but I’m pretty happy with the way it’s turned out so far.

With fall (yay fall) event season gearing up and Chicago Marathon just 32 days away, it’s about to get pretty busy around here. THANK YOU to everyone who has donated to my Team LUNGevity fundraising page and to all of the amazing humans who are running with me on October 8th and raising money. And super huge shout out to this little gopher who started her first day of COLLEGE today, they grow up so fast.

 

Two Things I Will Never Get Used To

I’m coming up on my 5th year with LUNGevity Foundation and losing someone to lung cancer does not come any easier as it did when I first started. In the past week we lost two amazing women, both who I have met through Breathe Deep events. Both of them had children around my age, which hits me particularly hard. I still cry in my office, it still seriously sucks and I am more and more motivated each time to fundraise more, raise more awareness and work toward a day where no one dies of lung cancer.

The other thing that I will never get used to (or sick of) are the views running through Chicago. Fridays are ‘easy runs’ and they always seem to come at just the right time. You don’t have to focus on or worry about pace or mileage or other people, you can just run.

A Few of My Favorite Things (and People)

In an attempt to ease my way back into blogging, I will post just a few things including a photo of my favorite (and cutest) running buddy. Here she is post 7-mile tempo run calculating how many treats I owe her.

Shout out to these ladies who raised over $4000 at their Lemonade for LUNGevity stand, stepping up to make an impact and support their mom.

And a big thank you to everyone who has donated to my Chicago Marathon fundraising page this year. I’m so grateful to have friends, family and co-workers who support all of the crazy things that I do.

Most importantly, Happy Birthday to this old man. Thanks for cheering me on for the last 29ish years and always having my back.

And So It Begins

To say we refreshed the browser a few times waiting for our training plans would be a serious understatement. When this email finally came, we were pretty excited.

And that excitement quickly turned into a constant state of tiredness. The week started off with a tempo run on Monday and boot camp Tuesday morning. Wednesday was Global Running Day which meant Deanne and I went to work representing! Not pictured here: our accidental twinning the day after.

It also meant that I had to mad dash from the Bank of America Chicago Marathon charity kick off near Grant Park (thankfully we were supposed to wear our gear)

to Fleet Feet for CES speed work (here we are finishing up with some stretch and strength).

Thursday was boot camp again and then Friday morning was an easy run with my new favorite running buddy (she’s so cute right?)

This weekend kicked off with dinner at a new seafood place nearby with Meghan and Laura and then a slumber party with these two (and a pretty early bed time).

They hung out in bed when I headed out for my long run Saturday where I met these fellow Team LUNGevity runners and Meghan for 7 miles. It was awesome connecting with Katie, one of our new runners! While talking we learned that her mom, a survivor, lives near the Cleveland event this weekend and is able to join us!

Then went with me to my sisters grad party (photo taken before prom last week).

Sunday we ‘rested’ which to me means dog beach, errands, and a nice stroll (okay maybe more than a stroll) around town.

This week is going to be busy. It starts off with a hill run tonight (and some dog beach time squeezed in there).

Then I am heading to Cleveland Thursday morning for a Breathe Deep event this weekend!

This week I am thankful for coffee

banana and egg pancakes (seriously. . .only two ingredients and so good)

and motivational signs in our kitchen (courtesy of LP).

And as always, THANK YOU to everyone who has generously donated to my fundraising page! With 117 days to go until marathon time (not counting or anything), I am feeling pretty great about my fundraising. To donate or learn more about LUNGevity click HERE.

Thank You from Lola

Big thank you to everyone who donated to Lola and I (and to those who donated before Lola began her career in running). Here is a photo of her below jumping because she is so excited about raising funds for lung cancer research (and because treats).

For any young professionals that work in nonprofits, serve on a board or volunteer, please consider joining us for YNPN Chicago’s Annual Celebration that I am planning! To learn more about Celebration check out the page HERE. Honestly though, all that you need to know is that I’ll be sporting a fanny pack! Be there or be square.

Internet, Meet Lola

Meet Lola. She loves shoes, gazing out the windows, snuggling and lucky for me: running.

I was a little hesitant to give up any of my ‘me time’ because most days my run seems to be the only time I have to myself but last week I had a late start so I took her out for a morning run and we fell in love. Little does she know she just signed herself up for the next 23 weeks of training (she’s a natural) — so stay tuned to see her sporting a Team LUNGevity shirt soon! To donate and support my (and Lola’s) fundraising efforts click HERE. This will be my last year run for a charity so I plan on making it count!

Our Breathe Deep Events have kicked off and it has been super busy over here. Between Toledo and North Shore just passed and we have a ton of events coming up!

Outside of work, I am running the Chicago Spring Half Marathon on May 21 (my first half in years) and planning a 90’s themed Celebration event for YNPN May 18th. This is basically how I feel all of the time:

Big shout out to my sister for finishing her first half marathon for Paws! It was in the 90’s AND hilly and I’m pretty impressed.

Okay Maybe One More. . .

It’s official: I am returning to Team LUNGevity for one last year. I plan to PR in marathon time and fundraising (should be easy right?) and then go back to running just for fun.

Each year that I have run for Team LUNGevity, I have been motivated by my amazing coordinators, volunteers, and co-workers who work hard to kick lung cancer’s butt. This year though is a little closer to my heart. One of my very first volunteer coordinators passed away recently and I plan to run the 2017 marathon in her honor. So here’s to one more year of sweat, early Friday nights and relentless fundraising! To donate: http://lungevity.donordrive.com/participant/heather

Also super cool stuff happening over here! As we head into Lung Cancer Awareness Month (oh hey November) we have events on events on events  (read: so much coffee and excitement)!