The Long Run to Recovery

Last October I ran the Chicago Marathon, my 13th marathon. I completed it after dealing with a couple of little injuries here and there, but nothing horrible. After the race, I was sore like usual, but a couple days later I had a weird pain in my knee. It was sharp and intense and hurt the most when I would go down stairs. I kind of chalked it up to a tweak that was just irritating me from the race. I took a few extra days of rest post-marathon because of this new pain and then started to try to run again. As soon as I did that, the intense pain entered the picture again. I stopped running for about two more weeks and gave my body the rest it needed. 

Peace out 2018...Hello 2019

Every year I always like to wrap everything up with some kind of end-of-year post. Even though I didn't write a ton this year, I still like some closure on everything that went down. Some years I write about the highlights (and low lights) and sometimes it's just a summary of what went down.

Last year it was all about how 2017 didn't end up being "My Year" liked I had hoped it would be as my first full year as a Chicagoan. So that was a huge bummer. Well, spoiler alert: 2018 wasn't my year either. However, it wasn't too bad of a year at all. I am well aware that with the many ups, there are always downs. No one constantly just wins, and believe me, I don't expect to. However, I just want to feel like I came out ahead at the end of the year. Last year I definitely didn't, but this year, I do believe I came a little closer. Below I have rounded up the positives and negatives of this year in the more glaring portions of my life.

Big Admission...

I feel like every new post I write lately is the first one in a while, so why would this one be any different? I haven't written in almost two months just because there isn't a ton to report on the comings and goings of my life. And even though my last post was about running, this one will be about it as well, and my next one will most likely be about it too. Sorry not sorry. Running is something that I love to do, is finally back in my life, and it just makes me happy, so I'm going to continue write about it.

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).

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.

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...

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.

Leaving 2017 Open...

2017 is upon us in a few short hours. "New Year, New Me," right? Ummm, no. That's not really my style at all. I am someone who is constantly working toward goals and I certainly don't need the clock to strike midnight of a new year to light that fire inside me for change or resolve.  I am proud to say that one of my best qualities is that I am a go-getter with a lot of intrinsic motivation for most things. But with that comes the desire to achieve every goal I set for myself almost immediately and done perfectly. That's not always realistic and it can be a real downer when I fall short. Unfortunately, this happened a lot in 2015 and brings me to one of my biggest downfalls: I am too damn hard on myself and can get very demoralized when things don't go the way I planned; especially with something that I worked hard at and/or put a lot of time into. However, while 2015 was such a shit year, I vowed that 2016 wouldn't be a repeat of that. Luckily, it wasn't! I had to make some changes in my mindset and my methods on how I would go forward to have different, better outcomes. With that being said, my one major goal of 2016 was to simply be happy. Instead of my usual objective goals for the year, I decided that in order to re-find my happiness there some were steps I had to take. I wrote out ways I was going to re-discover that joy and happiness I was missing and in the progress towards that, some of my other personal goals may just fall into place.

2016: A Year in Review

December is halfway done which means that 2016 is coming to a close very shortly. This year, like any other, saw a lot of ups and down for me. It also had a lot of change for me. But it was definitely necessary change for me. I started the year as a New York Resident and am ending it an Illinois one. I started it as a teacher and coach and am ending it as a Lululemon educator and substitute teacher. I started it quite unhappy and discouraged and am ending it renewed and hopeful. Sure, some things remain the same for me (body issues and loneliness to name a few), but this year I really tried to look at the positives a lot more because I was sick of the same negatives continually bringing me down.

Chicago 26.2: A Recap of #11

I did it!!!! Yesterday I completed my ELEVENTH marathon and I crossed that finish line with huge smile on my face and then completely broke down in tears. Big, happy, hard-earned, sobbing tears. After everything that has happened with my injury over the last six months, I couldn't believe that I actually did this. Sure, I've run a marathon before (which doesn't make it any easier), but this was one that I wasn't totally sure would happen, even down to the last day. But now I sit here sore, accomplished, proud, and happy. And still can't believe I did it.

Chicago Check-In

I have now been in Chicago for a little over a month and half now and I am still loving it. Even though this is obviously my new permanent home and I've already said this, I still feel like I'm on vacation. I don't know when it will actually set in that I am not going back to live in NYC again. It's so strange. I am legit shocked that I got acclimated very quickly and this change of locale wasn't as challenging as I imagined it would be. Change has never been an easy thing for me so the fact that this hasn't been super difficult still (who knows, it may hit me in another few weeks) is seriously shocking to me.

So what's been going on here you ask? How am I keeping busy with myself? What the heck have I been doing? Well, here's the lowdown of my fresh start here back in Chi-town...

My baby is FIVE: Happy Blogiversary

This little blog that I started on a whim on August 27, 2011 turned FIVE YEARS OLD yesterday. It's kind of crazy to think that Someone Will Appreciate has been my little baby for the last five years. When I first started this bad boy, it was because I thought/knew I had important many things to say. In the past five years, I have written about TV shows, movies, music, sports, boys, work, running, workouts, poop, travel, or all the things in between. (Well not "all the things" because my parents read this and can't know ALL the details of my life. They might need to have a little birds and the bees chat with me if that was the case. I kid, I kid. Wait, do I?) But basically, since I'm a habitual over-sharer in real life and in my writing, most of the things that cross my mind, no matter how personal (good or bad), get written on this blog. I know I say it all the time, but this blog has become my outlet. If I need to get something off my chest, I write about it. If I feel I have something really important to say, I write about. If I have a funny (yet appropriate if my mom and dad saw it) story I want to share, boom, I'll write about it. I really do love to write, and this blog has allowed me to do just that. I don't care if five people or 5000 people (I wish) read what I have to say, I feel better when I write it. Plus, I now have a permanent record of what happened in my life and will always be able to go back and read and reflect on it. It's actually pretty freaking cool.

I live in Chicago now...

I have officially been an adult Chicago resident for a full week now and am loving every second of it. Running along the lake. Going to the beach. Seeing the gorillas at the zoo whenever I want. Being so close to my parents. Having a "big" apartment. So far, so good ChiTown.

Okay, so even though I live here now, it still feels like I'm here on vacation and just staying at an Airbnb (which I've never even done before) and not here permanently. I always come home for about two weeks this time every summer so this just seems like instead of staying at my parents house, I am at an awesome apartment in the city. I am exploring the neighborhood and trying to just enjoy myself as much as I can. I don't think it will truly hit me that this is my new home until my NYC friends all start going back to work and Labor Day comes and goes.

Check: My NYC Bucket List

With a little less than a month to go living in NYC and a summer off, I am trying to enjoy myself as much as possible and take in as much of this city as I possibly can. I feel like I have to get my last licks of my favorite places and foods and just get out as much as I can.

So many people keep asking me what I'm going to do with my limited time left here. They keep asking me what's on my "NYC Bucket List" and at first I really had to think about it a lot. In my 12 years living here, I've really seen and done a whole lot of stuff. Like a lot. The fact I'm such an active and curious person has allowed me to see and do so much in my time here. Running has helped me cover a lot of ground and having visitors come quite often has also allowed me to get to places I wouldn't normally go see (like museums or other touristy things). If it's on a New York "MUST" list, I've probably done it multiple times. 

One Big Leap...

"Hello fear. Thank you for being here You're my indication that I'm doing what I need to do." And let me tell you, right now I am scared shitless. But I am also very excited and very hopeful. It still hasn't totally sunken in yet, but last week I made the final decision to leave my job as a teacher (and a coach) and also make the move back home to Chicago. These were two major life decisions made very quickly but with a ton of thought. They were things I had been thinking about over the last year and I finally had to pull the band-aid off and do it. Were they the right decisions? I don't know. Were they the smartest decisions? I'm not sure. But did they need to be made? Yes. 

How Social Media Affects My Running Game

Like most people my age, I am constantly on my phone. I am either checking emails, texting (or even calling) friends, peeping Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc... There are few times when I am actually "unplugged" and "off the grid" and running is one of those times.  Although my phone is almost always with me in case I get lost, have an emergency, or need to snap a great picture (duh), it is always kept put away in a pocket and kept on silent. However, often times on a run, I will catch some beautiful scenery and have to snap a picture. I love getting a beautiful sunrises or sunset, a general landscape of wherever I running through, street art that I stumble upon (or even seek out), and post-race or post-run accomplishment pictures. Some people may find it annoying that I post running pictures all the time, and frankly I don't care, because taking these picture pre-run, during the run, or post-run helps keep me accountable. And let's not forget, they're fun and pretty to look at as well. There has been a lot of debate lately if smartphones have ruined racing or running as a sport and I'd have to say I do not think they have one bit. Smartphones can do a lot for a runner like track distance, pace, and calories. They hold your most amazing playlist or podcast or e-book that keeps you going at it. And they can connect you to like-minded people via social media; that's the part I want to focus on today.