This is actually last week’s blog. 🙂
Not sure what happened to last week. Would love to report that I took the week off and had my feet up someplace or was vacationing on a sunny beach. No such luck. Although if that were the case, I’d probably have something exciting to write about. Can’t even say I filled my time voting last week. Thanks to early voting here in Illinois, I did that the week before the election.
My life is filled with mundane reality at the moment. Working. Running. Housekeeping. Parenting. Highlights include weekends with my boyfriend and a little extra time with my girl this month. Still love Chicago although I miss summer. But every morning I ask, “Alexa, what’s the weather?” and I get the report for Chicago. And then I ask, “Alexa, what’s the weather in Ramsey, New Jersey?” So far, no drastic differences. Somedays better there. Some days better here.
My first season as Let Me Run Chicago Metro regional director is coming to an end and I’m thinking forward to spring and beyond, tasked with expanding this worthwhile program. About 120 boys participated this season and completed their 5k this month. I feel pretty good about that, but every boy should have a chance, so that not only means getting the word out to other schools but finding donors and sponsors to underwrite the program for Title 1 schools and provide scholarships for low income families.
Personally, I am also working on building my business here in Chicago (Click HERE for what I do). So, spending lots of time networking! My daughter, apparently less than satisfied with her social life at college has resorted to coming home (although she still calls New Jersey, not the apartment, “home”) mid-week when she has a day without classes and spending time with me. No problem with that. She even cooked dinner – without being asked! – one night last week!
Somewhere in the middle of all this, I realized that my first opportunity to qualify for the Boston Marathon in my new age group will be next fall. I signed up for the Chicago Marathon lottery and, although still 49 weeks away, I spent a bunch of time last week sketching out a training plan. If I’m really going to do it this time, I have to get serious about it and start prepping myself for the training early. When I ran my marathon PR (personal record) in spring 2014, I had been working hard at strengthening and stretching, as well as speed and endurance, months in advance of the actual marathon training.
While I am not a big fan of winter (here, New Jersey, or anywhere cold), having goals keeps me from just staying under the warm covers and catching up on Netflix. Getting out the door is hard, but whether it’s to log some miles or to have coffee with a new contact, I never, ever, regret doing it. Exploring keeps reality from being too mundane and certainly keeps me busy!
