So here we are. Just us. No AI…just unabridged Elizabeth. And you….I’m not sure who you are or why you’re interested in what I have to say but I hope whatever we go through together serves us both.

Here we go. I’m a 33 year old Leo who lives in Chicago, IL - USA. When I have time, I find myself puttering around in my TBR bookshelf, listening to LPs (that I favor because its one less thing I have to be on my phone to enjoy), and running.

I’ve built my professional career in hedge fund tech, either accounting practices within the platform or helping transform it to, of course, help our shareholders bottomline. But none of that is important here.

Let’s go back to the running bit. I like to run. I signed my life away to cross country in eighth grade in 2007 and its mostly been a toxic relationship ever since. Fast forward to 2024, relocating to Chicago from Kansas City, for said trivial professional career that I’ve mentioned above. Just a kid in a much larger city finding my footing, killing time doing really whatever we wanted - oh, yeah, I’m a “we.” I’m packaged with a chocolate lab named Moose that I’ve been dragging around through every life milestone for over a decade, a husband, Jay - whom I’ve picked up along the way, and a cattle dog/german shepherd named Morty that we snagged off of Craigslist. We also had some free time during lockdown in Covid which one thing let to another and added two kids to the chaos. Anyways, back to Chicago and my toxic relationship with running. We were killing said time one random Sunday in October when there it was. The Chicago Marathon in action. Like most, I was glued to the course with that intrusive thought “I could probably do this.” Five words, thats all it took for my internal voice to take action and 20 hours later I was signed up. That following October - I ran the fucking thing.

A little bit more about myself - I’m stubborn. I faced a lot through puzzle piecing my summer running club, the influencer running profiles I inevitably followed, and endless google searches for nutrition that, looking back, was my biggest downfall.

So I was done. I ran it. Good ole’ pat on the back, achievement unlocked. But one thing that every Abbott Major Marathon runner does…I shot gunned every single lottery ballot I could. And boom! There it was. CONGRATULATIONS! YOU’VE BEEN SELECTED FOR THE 2026 BMW BERLIN MARATHON e-mail. First thought: YES! Followed by: FUCK. There I was, nursing a brutal femur stress fracture and bruised ego.

I’ve only had one consistent saying my whole life: “It’ll be fine.” Which I normally say right before I heavily commit to something I’ve thought very little of beforehand.

I’ve been ruminating a lot on my walks to the office of how to balance my upcoming training block and the voice in my head that’s non-stop….and how to avoid torturing my friends and family because, bless their little hearts, don’t fucking care but are too nice to tell me to shut up when I mutter protein or carb loading calculations or when I can carve out a time to fit in my long runs while visiting family in Saint Louis.

So HI! I’m Elizabeth and this is me and my POV of a thirty-something girl consistently fighting against that mid-west state of mental apathy and boredom where travelers get stuck if they do not pay attention…currently fighting it off with an Abbott World Major Marathon or two.

Let’s do this fucking thing and go BEYOND THE DOLDRUMS together.