My first blog post!

Welcome! :)

Wow, I never in a million years thought that I would be blogging!! I'm practically the "anti-blogger" as I am still one of the few stragglers to hold out against joining MySpace let alone blog for all the world to see... it just seemed too newfangled, too invasive, and I never liked the idea of making my life transparent to strangers.

BUT, things have changed, as I have recently discovered that surprisingly I LOVE blogs!!! A few weeks ago I stumbled onto some great health/nutrition/fitness blogs (Like EatLiveRun, one of my faves!) since those are some of my favorite things to read about. I am completely enthralled with how many people out there have similar interests to me, such as vegetarianism and maintaining a healthy, active lifestyle. I was hooked - and ever since, it's been a new daily pastime to check up on my favorite, bookmarked blogs.

Not only have a simply enjoyed reading the blogs - they have been a source of new info (great recipes, new training plans, new ways of thinking) - but I've realized what a great venue they are to reach out to an endless amount of people, very easily.

And.... that brings me to.... MY blog! This year I am training for the Chicago Marathon, which will be my third marathon. When I trained for the Chicago Marathon in 2007, I raised over $500 for the Afghan Women's Association International because I feel very strongly that these women often face severe oppression, violence, and at the very least, typically have a lack of basic human rights. This year, I have found another organization that I am very passionate about:

Ceasefire: The Campaign to STOP the Shooting
http://www.ceasefirechicago.org/

Basically, Ceasefire is an amazing organization that does a ton of great things for Chicago residents, but it's main campaign is to stop gang violence. As a school social worker in Chicago's inner city, I have seen far, far too many students be touched by gang violence, and frankly I've had enough. So, it's very important to me to raise money for this awesome organization. I hope to talk more about Ceasefire, and what specifically they do, in future posts.

So my plan for this blog is:
1) to have fun with it!
2) to talk about my marathon training, and the diet and lifestyle changes that take place throughout the training process
3) to raise awareness of Ceasefire and the importance of anti-violence programs in Chicago, and elsewhere
4) to hopefully raise a substantial amount of money through Ceasefire, as they are my "charity of choice" while I train for the marathon
5) I would love to also talk about other things that interest me, such as school social work...and perhaps other topics too... if anyone shows an interest!

Hopefully soon I will get this site up and running and will figure out a link to be able to start accepting donations. Please come back to the blog again soon! :)