As I traveled through the former Soviet Union on my career break, I didn’t just write blog posts; I kept a journal as well. I wasn’t always great about keeping up with it, but it was a good outlet to write about things that didn’t really merit their own blog post (or things that I just didn’t feel like sharing at the time). I stumbled across my journal this weekend and had a nice time reflecting on a lot of...

I’ve written a lot about the emotional ups and downs I experienced while traveling through the former Soviet Union for thirteen months. Beyond those highs and lows, long-term travel also took a physical toll on me. While I was fortunate to never get too ill, I did experience my share of aches and pains along the way. My first month on the road passed quietly and healthily. Aside from the soreness I experienced in the days after running...

Travel is often fun and relaxing – an escape from our everyday lives.  But travel can also be an eye-opening experience – an opportunity to gain perspective and learn about the rest of the world. Sometimes the most meaningful travel experiences occur when you visit a place that teaches you something new and changes the way you look at the world around you.   During my thirteen months of travel, I visited several such...

Back in February, I wrote about an opportunity that sort of fell in my lap – the chance to work with Eventbrite as one of three bloggers embarking on a “blogger tour” of Chicago. The premise was simple: we each agreed to attend at least ten events over a two-month period and share out experiences along the way. I saw it as the perfect chance to rediscover my adopted hometown of Chicago while forcing myself to step out of my comfort...

It has been more than a year since I first set foot in Russia. Twenty months since I first arrived in the country that inspired my whole trip in the first place. Eighty-three weeks since I pulled up outside a ramshackle home on the outskirts of St. Petersburg to begin my three month adventure in a country that had intrigued me since I was 14 years old. To say I had high hopes would be an understatement. I had been waiting twenty years to...

By the end of my career break trip through the former Soviet Union, I had visited 38 countries. By contrast, I have been to only 22 states in the United States – in many cases, just to a single city for a weekend or less. So now that I am home, I thought I’d start to focus more on exploring my own amazing country. While I often marvel at natural wonders overseas, I often forget what I have right here at home – places like the Grand...

I haven’t always been a runner. To be honest, I still feel a little weird sometimes calling myself a runner. I feel even weirder calling myself a marathoner – even though I have completed five marathons. But as I heard the news of the bombings at the Boston Marathon on Monday, I reacted not just as a runner, but as a marathoner. While other similar incidents have affected me, this just hit me more. I struggled to compose myself while...