...Racing....

Hi all! Well, it's been an eventful few weeks of running and racing. I ran my favorite race, the Hot Chocolate 15K, on Nov. 4th. It's a 9.3 mile race, and I fell around mile 5. I wasn't seriously hurt and I was able to keep running and finished 3 minutes faster than last year! I'm doing a pie/pi 3.14 mile race on Thanksgiving and a half marathon 2 days later. That will probably be my last race of 2012! I think that means I'll have completed 9 races this year :)I'll be running with my sister, Maliha, and friends. I've been doing a lot of training runs at the arboretum with Marcia. It's such a great time for us to bond and catch up on what's going on in our lives. We get to encourage and push each other through tough times when we want to stop. Our friendship has really bloomed as we rack up the miles. And it's always great to have a post-run coffee in the cafe afterwards! On one of our runs a couple of weeks ago, Marcia spotted this strawberry plant:

Amazing that she saw that! I'm also trying to finish scrapping summer and fall pictures. I made this thank you card for a friend recently:

Looking forward to meeting my race goals in the coming week! And to a relaxing Thanksgiving!

Morton Arboretum 5K

This weekend I ran a 5K at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle with friends. What a gorgeous day for a race! I was hoping for a good race time, but I knew the course was hilly, so I wasn't sure how I'd do.... well, I took 30 seconds off my Bucktown 5K time from 2 weeks ago! So now my best time for a 5K is 31:36. I've taken about 6 minutes off my best time from my first 5K in March, 2008 :) Makes me feel awesome. Also makes me want to get new running shoes :) I hope to post pics from the race soon. We had a great pancake and coffee breakfast after the race. Also spent a couple of hours walking around the arboretum and taking lots of silly pictures.

Back to blogging!

After a (much too long) break, I'm hopefully back to blogging about crafts, running, and reading. Here are two cards I recently made.

I also recently joined goodreads.com and it's actually encouraged me to read more and add more books to my account. I finished reading My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher over the weekend. Now I'm reading a non-fiction book, The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. Seems like a fast and interesting read! On the running front, I ran the Bucktown 5k and PR'd! I finished the 3.1 miles in 32:06. I'm doing the Morton Arboretum 5k this weekend and I want to get better :) Hope to be back soon!

motivation!

Getting ready for a long weekend ahead :) Hoping to see my sis in the city and get some quality runs in. The weather is getting better so I can start doing longer runs outside. :)

...update...

This is me, all dressed up, at Starbucks last Friday night. I had a lovely week off. I didn't read anything, except The New Yorker. But I did craft and got some runs in. I am soooo looking forward to SPRING!

I'm back!

Ready for a new year of blogging (yes, in the middle of February!) Feeling hopeful about 2011--running, crafting, worklife... Here's a pic of me at the United Center, just before the Bulls beat the Magic :) on January, 28th.

On vacation

ahhh... a week off. We celebrated Eid Tuesday. Other than that, I've pretty much done nothing. A little running, a little reading, and too little crafting :) And it's already Thursday! I will try to finish the book I'm currently reading (First Family by Joseph Ellis). I went downtown and had lunch with Bobbi. We always have a good time together. Tomorrow night, it's dinner with Marcia at Wildfire. Here is a picture of me at the Hot Chocolate race on Nov. 6.