Following an 18.5 mile effort at the 2011 Ragnar Relay Las Vegas event, which was fraught with disorganization and just an overall lack of pure enjoyment, things turned from hectic to extremely crazy.

With an extremely successful 2011 Scoobies For Boobies fundraiser, I was kept very (or too) busy for close to three months. Working from 7am to 4pm at my day job, then heading to the shop to work until almost 1am on a regular basis took its toll. Add to that the demanding nature of the work, mind and body, I was, and still am, exhausted.

Now that the holiday season is over, a new year has arrived, on schedule I might add, it is time to get back into the swing of things. Unfortunately, last week, I was the proud recipient of a moderately serious case of food poisoning. Since last Thursday, I have lost close to 20 pounds, or approximately 12% of my body weight. I didn’t have 2o pounds to lose!

With my stomach not throwing a fit when I eat, it won’t be long before I can try to regain my strength and the weight I lost.

On the list for the comeback caloric assault:

• Steak n Shake
• Five Guys Burgers and Fries
• Sura All You Can Eat Korean BBQ
• Firehouse Subs
• Capriotti’s Subs
• Ciao Pizza
• Badger Cafe
• Carlito’s Burritos
• Filipito’s
• Pop’s Steaks
• More as my stomach craves them.

That being said, if any restaurants would like to sponsor my insatiable stomach, we are open to discuss what food is available!

Once my strength is back, training has to start in earnest. I now have 10 months to prepare for my first full marathon, that’s right 26.2 miles! To make this a little more challenging, I have not ran since the RRLV event last October.

Have I bitten off too much? Guess we will see just how strong my will is come race day!

Since May, when I received my new position everything has been running full tilt. It seems like the moment my days were spoken for that all of the other efforts that had been put in for 12 months came to fruition. Customers for design and print services have been steadily increasing each month since May.

Add to that the extremely busy couple months that October and November bring each year with Ragnar Relay Las Vegas as well as the Scoobies For Boobies fundraiser that we help with each year, and the notion of free time is gone. Luckily, it is a labor of love, and being busy and productive is much better than wondering where the next project will come from.

Another venture was brought to my attention a couple weeks ago, an acquaintance messaged me looking for someone with Search Engine Marketing (ie pay per click) experience to handle PPC campaigns in his new project’s overall SEO/SEM efforts.

Each new project is another opportunity to challenge myself, expand my skills and knowledge.

Somehow, I have also worked in time to start a semi-regular running routine as well. A nice 4.5 mile route on Mondays through Green Valley, a traffic filled 3-6 mile route Wednesdays in Western Las Vegas, and hoping to fit in another day or two worth of regular “training” runs, in addition to weekend 5k/10k/Ragnar race runs.

Pushing my mind and body has helped to fuel the fire burning inside me to succeed.

Keeping myself in close proximity to a standard 8-5 schedule during my unemployment has been a big help now that I am employed once more. It was very nice to not have a battle with internal clocks to re-learn how to wake up in the mornings.

Another benefit to employment, at least with my current position, is the lack of monotony. So far, projects have ranged from daily photo taking to heading to Colorado Springs, Colorado to shoot the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb for Zenkai Motorsports.

It was a tough year, and getting caught up and closer to being ahead, with savings accounts growing each month is one of the best feelings. 2011 has been good so far, and is looking to continue improving my outlook.

Good luck to those still seeking employment. The jobs are starting to appear, competition will be fierce, each job gained will be helpful to the economy as a whole.