#MotivationMonday: “A beautiful day begins with a beautiful mindset. When you wake up, take a second to think about what a privilege it is to simply be alive. The moment you start acting like life is a blessing, it will start to feel like one.”
I completed state number 10 of the 50 states challenge this past weekend (wooo double digits!). Thank you, Chicago, Illinois.
What did I know about Chicago before I left? Truthfully, not too much. The last time I was in the Windy City was November 2007 to celebrate a friend’s birthday. It was a short weekend trip. I remember a lot of cocktails and snow on the ground. I don’t remember much else, probably due to said cocktails.
I had heard great things about Chicago — one being how nice it is in the summer. Other than that, I was pretty clueless about the city. My colleague, Erin, lived in Chicago and absolutely loves it. After my second visit there, I can see why. It truly is a beautiful city with great architecture and a vibrant food scene. And summers there are indeed lovely.
Tucked away in a run-down shopping center in the Glenmont neighborhood of Silver Spring, Md. is a hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant called Szechuan Palace.
It looks a little sketchy. And a little dirty. But their combination fried rice is fantastic.
It is so good that I have them on my list of “favorites” on my iPhone.
Long holiday weekends are the best. Especially ones that involve fireworks.
Fireworks!I feel like I crammed a lot into the past few days — dinners with friends, jazz in the garden, cookouts, some family time, and even a little running.
I was on the fence about whether or not to post weekly updates for Marine Corps Marathon training.
My main concern is keeping up with the updates. If you’re regular reader here, you may know that I don’t really post that often. I’m working on that though! Blogging more is one of my goals this year. Maybe that’s what I need… something like weekly updates to keep me on a blog-writing schedule, and to also hold me accountable in sticking to the training plan.
Hot days are here.
And pretty soon, marathon training will be, too. (starts tomorrow, actually!)
I’m excited about doing the Marine Corps Marathon again. It’s such a fun event. So much energy. I also know a lot of people participating this year, which is cool.
Do you ever go through periods where life is so busy and you’re kind of on auto-pilot, quickly moving from one task to the next, barely having time to soak in the moment? That’s kind of how I’ve been feeling these past few weeks.
It’s not necessarily a bad thing—it makes me feel like I have a sense of purpose, and I’m accomplishing things. But I think it does take a toll on you.
A year ago this month, I ran my very first half marathon (Frederick Half) and kicked off Running the States — my challenge to run 13.1 miles in all 50 U.S. states.
The idea for Running the States came about in December 2013, when I met my co-worker, Kevin, who had recently completed the challenge. In January 2014, I signed up for my first couple of races and started training.
If we’re going by calendar year, which I still do most of the time, I completed four half marathons in 2014. But if we’re starting the count from when I ran my first half, then I’ve completed nine since last May.
Running the States 