2013 Review

As some of you can tell I am not the best at keeping up with this whole blog thing.  I went back to school and it has taken up so much time and energy that I just didn't post much in 2013.

This post will be a recap of some of the things I did durning 2013.

The biggest thing that happened to be this running wise is I finally became a Half Fanatic.  I ran 3 half marathons in 55 days.  The original plan was to run them in the summer but I wasn't able to finish one of the races.  I was going to wait to join until this summer because I am not a cold weather runner, but some how my dad talked me into running one in November and that was enough to qualify.


First I ran the Fox valley 1/2 marathon.  It is part of a series.  They have 3 races in one day a half marathon, 20 miler(my dad did this one as his 20miler for the Chicago Marathon) and a Full Marathon.

In October we went to Wisconsin and I ran the 5k with my mom and then did the Half marathon the next morning.  My dad did the full and qualified for the Marathon Maniacs.

Last their was the Valparaiso Half Marathon and it was on the cold side for me.  I am totally fine running in the cold.  However 13.1 miles in the cold wasn't my favorite thing to do.

Now I am officially #5494 and I just need to order some gear.  

Well thats what I did this year besides learning how to build website at school.

#6 in the books

Well I haven't been on here in a long time.  Been spending most of my time on my other blog that is just for school.

Anyways I finished my 6th half marathon last sunday.  I Didn't pr like I thought I might be able to a few months ago but I did shave a minute off my time.  I am proud of that considering my last half marathon was in early June.

I switched my focus of training from myself to my mom.  She is going to run the 10k Durning Tinkerbell Weekend at DisneyLand. As a result I slacked on my own personal training which would have improved my time but I think it is a good reason to stray from my goals.

Until next time.

Summertime = Race season

Well Summer is officially here in the Chicagoland area and that means running season is in full swing.  I  ran my first race since the marathon in January and it went better than I thought it was going to.

I was only 7 minutes off my PR time which gives me hope that I can either meet my PR time of beat it by the end of september.(fingers crossed)

I really enjoyed the course which coming from me is a huge thing.  There is only one race besides Disney races that I would ever say I would consider running and the Allstate 13.1 Half Marathon has been added to the list.

most of the course was run along the lakefront and it was pretty.

More Stuff

Well the semester is over and and I all my hard work learning the software came down to a few final projects.

The one I am most proud of is my book cover.  We had to create a book cover from scratch and I came up with the idea of a history book.  I took family photos and other photos and came up with a layout that I think worked well together.

Next there was a final assignment to make a mock time magazine cover so I decided to do one on Carnival Cruise lines and their struggles.  I chose them not because I don't like the line but because I went on the Dream in march the week before it had its issues. The pictures are all mine and I just edited them to fit my cover idea.

Well thats all I got for right now and my next post will probably be about running.  I finally have a few races coming up in june.  I have 4 that I am signed up for in June alone.

road block

Well I think I have hit a road block.  As you all know I hurt my knee last fall.  When I start running it still hurts and then I am like well lets just forget it.  I have been riding my bike a lot more instead of running which is better than doing nothing right?

I think I figured out yesterday that if I walk for a while before I start to run then my knee is fine.  So maybe I can get past this issue.

I remember last time I hurt my knee it bothered me for awhile.  Well at least the photos of me playing soccer show me wearing a knee support thing so that might be something to look into.

Here Goes Nothing

Well as most of you know this blog has become mainly about my running adventures but I said that I would post about other things going on in my life.

So here it goes.  I decided to go back to school for graphic design/web design.  I am only into the graphic design part and I am learning the software.

I figured my W.I.S.H team members will enjoy the projects I am about to post.  Most who read this blog have either run both or one of the races.

I took My running shoes and my first half marathon medal (Wine and Dine 2011) and my first marathon medal (full marathon 2013) and put them all together.  For some reason the background didn't so up.  That isn't a really big deal it was just a dark blue textured background.  This was my first ever attempt at using photoshop.

My next project in my photo shop class was to do a collage.  It was supposed to be about what influenced you as a child art wise.  Well I didn't have any artistic ability as a child so I chose the next best thing Disney of course.

Well I hope you enjoy What I have posted and keep in mind I only have about 2 months worth of knowledge when it comes to photoshop.

here we go again

Well it has been a little over a month since I ran my marathon and that means it's time to start planning for the spring/summer race season.  So far I have 3 half that I am planning on running with a few smaller races mixed in.

On a side note I haven't posted on here in a while because life is a little crazy at the moment.  I decided to go back to school for web design and in doing so I have to take graphic design classes.  I have no normal art skills (drawing, painting, act...) so thank god it is all done on the computer.   I am only taking   9 credit hours but the all have lab hours built in so that means I am really in the classes for about 21 hours.  On top of that I also have to work.

So if I get behind in posting on here that is why, but I will always post my race recaps even if they are late.