Four Reasons to Run on New Year's Day

There's nothing like running in the winter. Ice on the ground, cleverly covered with snow. Ice in your nostrils. Ice in your brain because no one in their right state of thinking wants to wake up on New Year's Day and run in the freezing cold. So thank goodness there's nothing like running in the winter. Because it's the worst. I've always said that winter is the worst thing to happen to weather since summer.

When I ran this race two years ago, it was even colder and it was snowing. My time was pretty terrible this year, but it was four minutes faster than 2014's time. As we were standing at the start line I overhead a woman tell her friend, "I can't believe we actually paid to do this!" Thinking about signing up next year? Here are four reasons to do it.

Four reasons to do the NYD 5k:

1. The price is right - only $25 for the 5k!
2. Swag - the long sleeve technical t-shirt is actually a quality shirt and perfect for winter running (or wintertime pizza eating) 
3. End the year without the hangover - One unexpected thing I like about this race is that I don't overindulge on New Year's Eve because I know the next day I'm going to be running. It's like getting a jump start on your New Year's diet so you can quit on January 30th instead of the 31st. 
4. Sleep in - The race starts at 11:00am, so even you did make it to midnight (something that escapes me ever year) you don't have to wake up too early on New Year's Day

And bonus - I'm 1/12th of the way through with my goal to run a race every month!

Three Reasons Why I'm Making Time a Friendship Bracelet

I'm a big fan of making sweeping declarations and setting crazy goals. I'm obsessed with bucket lists and my always changing: 'Things to Accomplish' list. For one month of the year a good portion of the population agrees with me and makes me feel a little less insane. Come February, though, everyone has gone back to normal life, resolutions forgotten, and I'm over here frantically adding more things to my list before I run out of time.

Time. It's always been something that the less I have left, the more I want. More time for reading. More time for traveling. And especially, more time with my friends and family.

After losing my Mom in 2011 time did a really funny thing. It started moving twice as fast. I wasn't 25 anymore. I was 50. I suddenly realized that there was so much to do, so many places I hadn't visited, books I hadn't read, movies that have gone unwatched, and things I hadn't told my loved ones yet. I started to see time as my enemy rather than my friend. I constantly thought, "Do I have too much on my plate or am I just not eating fast enough?"

This year I've decided to wave the white flag. Not to surrender, but to call off the war that I've created in my head and start a new friendship with time. (I would have chosen a different color flag, but I don't know what color a friendship flag is. Or would be? Is their a friendship flag? What is the color of friendship? Does that make anyone else think of that Color of Friendship Disney TV movie about the white girl from South Africa who goes to live with a black American family? God I loved Disney TV.).

To kick off this new friendship I've put together three ways I'd like to partner with time in 2016:

1. For my mind: read more classics
2. For my health: run a race a month 
3. For my soul: explore Chicago

For my mind: read more classics

Last year Bryan got me the most wonderful collection of classics for my birthday, but I haven't read one of them yet.  I spent a lot of 2015 acquiring lots of books to fill my shelves and this year I'd like to spend more time reading and less time buying. I know Bryan will be pleased to know he won't have to carry 15 pounds of books every time we go to a bookstore. In the perfect world, I would read all 26 books, but my new friend time is advising me to not set a reading pace. Thousands of pages shouldn't be crammed into a year, but enjoyed each day.

For my health: run a race a month

Unfortunately, time has not been as nice about running like it was with reading. Running in the cold and the heat is not my favorite thing to do, but making health a priority seems to be one way to help extend time so I think it's a fair trade off. I ran 12 races in 2014 and I felt so good after completing the year. It was hard, but I loved the feeling of accomplishment and hearing that I was inspiring others to start running too.

For my soul: explore Chicago

Like having all these amazing classics at my fingertips and not reading them, I have a wonderful city less than 10 miles away that I haven't fully explored yet. Traveling to different places, trying local food, and seeing how other people live is something I would do full time if I could. While I still want to see everything I can, I also want to take advantage of what's a quick train ride away. Bryan also got me this awesome pack of 50 different Chicago city walks last year that I want to use in 2016. I'm excited to start exploring all the cool things this city has to offer.

So that's how I'm going to be spending my time this year. Hopefully my friends and family will join me along the way - either reading the same books I'm reading, running with me (or cheering for me on the sidelines - because let's be honest, I'll need all the support I can get), or coming along to have a Chicago adventure!