Chicago Marathon Val

Welcome to “Marathon Val”! Thanks for visiting my blog. I started this blog to give me a forum to talk about my favorite things – running, fitness, cooking, vegetarian/veganism, and my passion for over-all health and wellness.

I love the blogging community, and it’s been so exciting to interact with all of you! I’ve learned so much from my readers and from other blogs, and I hope that I can contribute my own unique perspective to the blogworld.

The other main reason why I started this blog was to raise money for an amazing charity through my training for the 2009 Chicago Marathon. You can read more about this charity and/or make a donation by going here.

Background:

I received my Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Indiana University. I also received a minor in Human Development and Family Studies. I went into psychology because I was fascinated by the science of human behavior and the mind, but most importantly because I wanted to go into a helping profession, which is why I later transitioned into social work.

Immediately after finishing undergrad, I attended graduate school and received my Master’s in Social Work degree from Dominican University in River Forest, IL. Although I considered continuing in psychology to get a Doctorate degree – and this is certainly a great choice for many people – I decided that social work would offer me many of the same opportunities, but would have even more flexibility. To me, the most exciting part about having an MSW degree is the versatility to work in any of hundreds of careers, ranging from a school social worker to hospital social worker to being a private practice therapist, and more!

After getting my MSW degree, I had a very brief stint working as the Director of Social Services for a home health care agency. However, after I got the call to work for Chicago Public Schools – my dream job – I immediately took the position! I love being a school social worker, and though it is a very challenging and often emotionally draining job, it’s extremely rewarding and I wouldn’t trade it for anything!

In addition to working with children, I am also very passionate about volunteering, human rights and social justice for all. If you would like to talk to me more about any of these issues, I’d love to hear from you!

Fitness:

Growing up, I never considered myself an athlete – in fact, I was far from it! I was consistently picked last for team sports in elementary school gym class, and when we had to run the dreaded “Mile”, I would walk most, or all of it!

I literally hated running until late high school, when I took up running on a small scale – and even then it was mostly for vanity’s sake. In college I began to gradually increase my mileage, running 3-4 miles at a time.

One day my senior year, out of the blue, my planned “short run” around the gym track turned into 7 miles!!! At the time, I was completely flummoxed that I had run so far. This was almost twice as I had ever run before – and it was an effortless run, at that! I have always been a bit of an “all or nothing” type person, so that night I went home and signed up for the upcoming Chicago Half Marathon.

After successfully completing my first half marathon, I knew that the next step was to do a full! I ran in the Chicago Marathon of 2007, but when it was shut down for having dangerous heat conditions, I had only gotten to Mile 18. Disappointed that I was not given the opportunity to finish, I then signed up for and completed the Indianapolis Marathon later that fall. You can read more about these marathons in this posting.

I took 2008 off from running marathons since I got married in October, which is right smack in the middle of most of the fall marathons! However, now a newlywed, I am training for my third marathon, the 2009 Chicago Marathon. You can find out more about my training schedule here.

Food:

I first have to say that I love food and I love to cook!! Not only do I love to eat healthy, delicious food, but I have also been a “foodie” since a young age. Even as a little girl, my favorite food was lobster, steak, and dolmades (stuffed grape leaves)!! I would rather have dark chocolate-covered edamame over a Snickers bar… or a homemade sunflower seed burger topped with fresh tomato and avocado slices than a burger or pizza. Nothing makes me happier than cooking a meal, reading a cookbook or cooking magazine, watching a cooking show, perusing the isles of a Whole Foods or, even better, the local Farmer’s Market.

My “diet” has changed a great deal over the years. I spent the vast majority of my childhood and adulthood as a pescatarian, or a vegetarian who ate fish. However, recently I have transitioned from vegetarianism to veganism. I have always known that one day I would take the leap into veganism, but I just wasn’t sure when, and honestly, until recently I simply never had the willpower. It wasn’t until something just “clicked” that I finally decided to make the switch. I’ve also started focusing much more on natural, whole foods. There were many years where I was a bit of a “junk food vegetarian”, and ate far too much chocolate, cheese, and white pasta! Now I focus on what food makes me feel energetic, and doing so means that I no longer buy foods labeled as “low-fat” or “fat-free”. Recently I have also been experimenting more with “high-raw” cuisine. Basically, to me this doesn’t mean eating less cooked foods, it just means that I am consciously incorporating more raw foods into my diet, and being mindful of food combining. While it might not work for everyone, this way of eating makes me feel great! (You can read more about my decision to eat “high-raw” at the bottom of this post.)

I truly could cook and bake all day long, and while I love my job as a school social worker, my “fantasy” career would be opening a vegetarian/vegan restaurant in Chicago, being a caterer, or a personal chef. In the meantime, I will have to settle for taking the occasional cooking class and for cooking for friends and family!

Favorites:

Aside from my passions that I already mentioned (food and fitness), I also love:

• My husband, Mike
• Seeing friends and family
• Traveling
• Reading
• Knitting
• Pilates
• Good tunes: The Beatles, The Killers, U2, oldies
• Dogs – Mike and I are hoping to add one to our family soon!

Contact Info:

If you have any questions, comments, or want to chat, email at ChicagoMarathonVal@gmail.com! I would love to hear from you!