Running into 2018...

Hi, it's me again. You know, the one who hasn't written in a couple of months, and who barely wrote this year at all. Yeah, that girl. Me. Hiiiiiiii.

A few people have asked why I haven't written much this year and the truth is, there hasn't been much to write about. Last year I wrote a lot about what I was looking forward to in continuing my first full year living in Chicago and all the things I was experiencing for the first time. More or less, things were great. I needed a change in my life, and I made it, but now, now that I am a lot more settled in, things are different. Life isn't new and exciting anymore, it's just regular 'ole life again and it was kind of tough.

Adios Summer and Hello Fall

Oh hey. It's been a while since I've written. I'm not exactly sure why, but the creative juices haven't really been flowing this whole year. However, although writer's block may be the case, I just can't let a month go by without a little catch up with you guys (or for me to have to look back upon. Same same.)

So even though the last week was 90 degrees or more, it's officially fall here in the Chi. Sure the leaves are starting to change, but up until today, the temperatures had not. Heck, I went to the beach and swam in the lake the last four out of five days. To be able to just head down to the beach on the weekend or after work (more on that in a few) is something that makes me so happy. Sometimes a leap in the lake is exactly what my body and soul needs. It's soothing and refreshing to me and just automatically puts me in a better mood. But, the weather tide has finally seemed to turn and now reality that summer is officially over has begun to set in. I love fall and hoody season and although it's going to get cooler, that certainly won't stop me from heading down to the water at least once a day. So as the seasons change, some other things have as well. So instead of just being so vague, let me just get to it and fill you in.

My One Year Chicagoversary!

Time certainly flies when you're having fun. Happy Chicagoversary to me!! I can't believe its been exactly one year since I packed up my entire life in New York City and moved to Chicago. On this morning exactly one year ago, I woke up super early and headed out for what would be my last sunrise run as a New Yorker. I ran to the reservoir and saw one of the most beautiful sunrises I've ever seen there as tears rolled down my cheeks. It was a very bittersweet moment and I can still close my eyes and remember it vividly. I can't think of a better way that I would have wanted my last morning to go.

This morning, I felt it only fitting to try and start my second year here on another high note with a sunrise workout. Duh. I had a great bike ride along the lake as the sun rose beautifully. (I know I do these all the time, but this one had more significance.) I seriously feel like it was just a few weeks ago that I landed back home in Chicago and started my new life here. Although it was such a hard decision to make (it took me over a year to actually make it), I absolutely think moving back home was the right one. This was probably my most stress-free and most fun years in a long time, and I'm not going to lie, it was much needed and well-deserved. Of course there have been some struggles along the way as expected, but all in all, I am extremely happy to be back here permanently (for the foreseeable future).

Biking Back to (Some Sort of) Normalcy

If you follow me on Instagram (@rmgoldma btw), you may have noticed that my workouts have not been my usual long (or even short) runs lately. Instead they have taken form as early (and sometimes late) morning bike rides. (I don't post them all because that's annoying and boring, but I do it just enough where I hope it's not totally unacceptable.) I finally got a bike a little over a month ago and it has been life-changing for me in these difficult it-hurts-to-run-so-I-can't-do it times.  Everyone that knows me well (and even not so well) knows that I love running. It gives me a sense of purpose, allows me to set and work toward goals, helps clear my head, and lets me see some amazing sunrises as well as get to cover a lot of ground early in the morning before the rest of the city wakes up. However, as previously mentioned in older posts, I haven't really been able to run since like January because of my currently undiagnoseable and frustrating knee injury. Not being able to run was not only taking a toll on my mental health, I felt myself physically getting softer and weaker and feeling just plain gross. Not being able to workout everyday was a huge drag and I missed all the endorphins and as well as a consistent release of all my excess energy. (And not gonna lie, I missed starting my day with a super sweaty workout.) Swimming wasn't cutting it and SoulCycle is always great, but I could only afford to go once a week. I needed something I could do everyday that would make me feel like myself again.

My First Real #SummerTimeChi

It’s almost summer vacation and since most of this year was more or less a vacation for me (hello “adult gap year”), I don’t feel the need to count down the seconds until summer like I have in years past. Of course, I’m still super pumped for this school year to end and to go to the beach everyday and just chill out. I mean, that’s the life, isn’t it? But for the first time in like forever, I don’t have any solidified summer plans. Usually I plan a long-ish trip and a visit home to Chicago with a few other things in there, but because I still don’t know what the fall holds for me, I can’t really plan anything. (And I can cross that trip home to Chicago off the list because, hey, I live here now!!) I mean sure, I could plan a million things, like a big Europe trip again and have an amazing time, but financially, it may not be the smartest thing to do until I know that I will have a steady paycheck come September. Plus, this is my first actual full adult summer living in Chicago and #SummerTimeChi ain’t no joke so I’m ready to dive in head first. I’ve had some FOMO over the last decade seeing things my friends who lived here were doing while I was in NYC. Of course I was doing some very awesome summer NYC things too, but part of me always felt like I was missing out on all the amazingly fun looking Chicago events. And now it’s finally my turn. Woohoo!!

Not 13, but almost 1

This morning, I got a reminder message on my phone: Today would have been my New York anniversary.  On this day thirteen years ago, I moved to NYC and started a new life there. Seems like just yesterday I made that move that forever changed my life. I was actually supposed to be there today running the Brooklyn Half Marathon (and getting my revenge for last year's race), but instead my hamstring and knee still aren't healed so I never booked the flight. Turns out though, I probably wouldn't have been able to race anyway because of my Shingles. I tried putting on a sports bra last night (in hopes of trying to workout this morning in some capacity) and nope, it hurt way too much on my rash. Plus, I still don't have much energy and don't know if 13.1 would have been possible to run today. 

This happened...

We’ve all seen the commercials before… “If you've had chickenpox, the shingles virus is already inside you (dun dun dun)” Ahhhhh. You know what I’m talking about, right? Probably. And you probably think, yeah sure I do, but I won’t get shingles. I mean, c’mon now, that doesn’t happen to people like me. Even though most people may think like that, I actually never did. As someone with a compromised immune system because of the Remicade I take for my Ulcerative Colitis, getting Shingles was always kind of a fear of mine, but I assumed it wouldn’t happen until I was a bit older. Welp, I was wrong. It happened...

Back to It...

About three weeks ago, I started teaching again. Full time. Yup, it happened. And way sooner than I expected it to, but it was an opportunity I could not say no to. Even though this year was supposed to be my “adult gap year” to take a step back from full-time teaching and explore some other options, I was getting a little bit of an itch to get back to it and when this current great job appeared, it wasn’t something that I could pass up.

So really quick, let’s take it back to last June when I quit my full-time teaching (and coaching) job in New York City. It had been something I considered the previous year, but just couldn’t do because, lets be serious, I was too scared. I was scared of the leaving something that I had committed the past eleven years of my life to. I was scared of the financial instability of leaving my job. I was scared I really couldn’t make a career out of anything else because all I knew was teaching. And I was scared that I’d regret it when all was said and done. However, sometimes in life, you have to take a big risk and this was one that I needed to do. Plain and simple, I was just burnt out. I knew I had to quit this job to find my happiness again and I knew I wanted to be closer to my family. I had to do it. So I did.

Another DC Success!

This past (long weekend) I took a trip to one of my favorite US cities: Washington DC. It's a city I could easily see myself living in so always look for an excuse to go and visit. My initial reason for this trip was to run the Cherry Blossom 10-miler. This had been a bucket list race for the past couple of years but I never knew when the lottery was so I never had a chance to enter. This year, I randomly found it days before it opened, entered, and got in. I was so pumped to run this race through the streets of DC and see the famous DC cherry blossoms in full bloom.

Rapid Fire Q's

Oh hey, its me! I talk about myself often on this blog and its usually more so about what's happening in my life and how I'm feeling about it. But today is a little different because I am going to talk about me just for the sake of it. The other day I was listening to a podcast (Ali on the Run) and the host (Ali) ended it by asking her guests some rapid fire questions. She asks each guest the same list of questions each week (at least the two weeks I've listened to so far). As I was listening I couldn't help but wonder how I'd answer some of these questions. A lot of them were running related since it's a running podcast, but most were just some personal fun questions. I decided, hey, I want to answer these fun questions too. And since I have my own blog, I have the perfect arena to do so. A few years ago, I did something kind of (but not really) similar when I did my own version of US Weekly's "25 Things You Don't Know About Me." I didn't want any overlap anything here with that list, but instead I decided to ask myself some other (what I deem) fun questions to answer (most of which were from that podcast) and for you to get to know me a little better. Some of you that know me super well know the answer to most of these, but if not, you may learn something! Heck, we may have more in common than you thought. Or, you may think, whoa, how are we even friends? Regardless, take a read a learn a little something about little ole me...

Common Sense or Nah?

February tends to be the month of love because of Valentine’s Day. Duh. There's lots of hearts, and pink, and affection. This February, like those in the last couple year’s past, I don’t have a Valentine, but I didn't let that get me down. I have recently decided to put myself out there a little more and get back into the online dating scene after taking a hiatus from it for a couple of months due to lots of frustration and demoralization. Comes with the territory I guess. But that certainly doesn't mean I have to accept it and think that's the norm. I have to dust myself off and get back out there. I mean I barely go out, and I don’t have a steady job so it’s hard to meet people IRL so this is kind of my only (albeit awful) option. Online dating is pretty much one of the only ways I can meet some single males. So yeah, Tinder and Bumble somehow had to make their way back onto my phone and back into my life. Sigh.

35 at 35

January 2017 is almost coming to a close and I have not posted yet this month. Things haven't been too exciting lately (same shit, different day) so there hasn't been much to write about. Additionally, unlike the last five years, I didn't write a post on my birthday this year. Those of you that know me, know that I do not like celebrating my birthday. I don't like the attention on me that I am indeed getting older. And turning 35 and still being single was not something that I felt needed to be celebrated. At all.