I changed the title of this post and you will see why….the original title was ” Thanks- run goal-giving”

From time to time I would like to share personal stories on my blog as well. Right now there I have a lot of things happening in my life so there may be quite a few.

A personal goal of mine has been to do a benefit run. Upon meeting my new friend Amy this opportunity was presented to me and I certainly jumped on it. She invited me to run the Naperville (IL) Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving day. It did not take much thinking, I accepted it with the notion that I had a lot of work ahead of me to prepare.

Ok lets jump around a little here. In Junior High I ran Cross Country, and in my High School Sophomore year I ran sprints in track. Also from 3rd grade thru Freshman year I played soccer. From High School thru just a couple years ago my only exercise was practicing for backpacking trips in Scouts. I decided that I wanted to play soccer(indoor) again. I went to my first game and that was my realization that I was completely out of shape. I could not even make it thru the game. I started running outside to build my endurance, I was doing a run walk routine and for each game I could feel a little improvement.  A few games into the season I took a nasty extension fall. I tore my ACL and MCL in my left knee. I went to the doctor and physical therapy and to my luck I did not need surgery, the ACL was a partial tear and the MCL was healing itself nicely. About 4+ weeks later I wanted to get back in for the last couple games. The very first game back I over compensated for my knee and ended up spraining my ankle. I decided it was time to take a break again. I did nothing for a few years and to no surprise I was out of shape again.

A few months ago I started working out, no purpose then just to get healthier, and lose weight. Which I did! Then Amy presented me with the question as to if I wanted to do the 5k. Keeping in mind my past injuries I took the opportunity very serious. I stepped on the treadmill and so began my training for the 5k. I moved my work outside into the cold, and started running every morning at about 5am. This whole time my knee/ankle  has been fine. I was so excited with my progress. 2 days before the run I finally worked up to jogging the entire 3.1 miles, and my knee was very sore. NO WAY! This could not be happening, I am so close. I kept going, I took proper care of my knee while running an not running.

Its race day, Thanksgiving Day. The sun is out and the air is warming up. It is a perfect fall day for Amy, myself and 7,500 runners to take to the streets of Naperville for a 5k run. We stretched we waited we ran the whole thing, we finished. GOAL ACHIVED! What an amazing experience to be able to run and with so many people. Thank you again Amy, I look forward to the next one.

The next day (today) my friend Josh says to me, “that is a really cool number from your run”. My number was 4118. I responded with thanks and tried to guess what he meant. I said “ya Information 8”. He corrected me and said “Information Infinity”….4118.  Information infinity what an awesome observation. I have been receiving a lot of signs in my life lately. I am not looking for signs but I am keeping my mind wide open to receive any valuable information to my future. What do I take from this 4118 sign? Well there is an infinite amount of information out there to be discovered. Even as I write this message in the library (NO JOKE) I saw one of my old scout leaders Bruce, and flagged him over. Talked for a good hour he has given me such a plethora of information it was insane. He teaches classes about career transitions, He talked to me about revamping my Linked-In, he has a good resource for my baking hobby, he has given me a resource for my current search for an advertising job, and best of all he knows personally, someone that is 10 years into his career as a motivation speaker. He is going to connect me with him so I can hopefully set up a time to meet him. Every sign I have received in the past has been a huge eye opener and this 4118, information infinity, has proven yet again another profitable sign.