Holy Shit was 2011 a whirl wind and an incredible year. I can’t really recap everything but I will run through some of the highlights that come to mind while I look back on the amazing year while I celebrate my 40th Birthday in Jamaica with Christine.

2011 started out with PJ and I finishing our trip in Colombia and while we were away enjoying ourselves my good buddy Sol happened to have lunch with an old friend of his that he went to High School with and had not seen in about 8 or 9 years. Sol was enjoying brunch with Christine whom I had known about 15 or so years ago but mostly just as Sol’s friend that I would see from time to time. While they were at brunch catching up they started talking about dating and what she was looking for and somehow the list of what she was looking for instantly brought my name to Sol’s mind. Sol asked Christine if she would consider going out with Dave and she said Dave Jacobs? Your buddy Dave? Sol was like yes, you just mentioned all of his qualities. When I returned from Colombia a few days later Sol asked me if I remembered Christine and I would want to go out with her. Of course I remembered her and Yes I would be interested in going out with her. I totally remembered her and how cute and nice she was, I waited about a week and sent her a text and caught up a little bit and we made plans to go to Sunda for dinner January 19th…

Christine and I had our 1st date 1/19 and since we knew each other from the past we were very comfortable right away and got together a few more times right away. Well all I can say is 2011 will go down in history as an amazing whirlwind that continues to be incredible almost a full year later. We took our 1st vacation to early March to Beaver Creek and got Engaged in Paris middle of April followed by a couple trips to Salt Lake City and then Turk and Caicos to pick a spot to get married on the beach. We decided that Mexico would be easier and more fun so we chose The Grand Velas in The Riviera Maya and we had an amazing beach wedding with 40 friends and family on August 6th. The following weekend we had the party of the year for about 130 people on the rooftop of my dads building that was so much fun with awesome food and friends and family and was beyond perfect.

The whirlwind year included so much more than those few highlights. I started running quite a bit when Christine and I started dating and ended up running many small races. We ran multiple 5k’s and 8k’s a 10 miler and 6 1/2 marathons which I never even thought I was capable of running and to finish off the running season I Ran the Chicago Full Marathon and less than a month later I ran NYC Full Marathon with Christine. The year was full of dozens amazing meals at restaurants in Chicago, NYC, Colorado, Turks & Caicos and also Mexico. We went camping, apple picking, hiking, runs and Yoga. We spent the holidays in Salt Lake and New Years in Chicago with friends. We are now starting 2012 celebrating my 40th birthday in Jamaica and I now that 2012 is going to be an incredible year also.

Outside of the amazing new relationship that quickly turned into an engagement and shortly after became a marriage I have had a busy year in many other ways. Lockdown has grown into exactly what we had hoped and becoming a favorite place for the neighborhood and all of Chicago. We are looking forward to spring and all the hard work to paying off. We have decided to open up a new dream of a late night hot dog stand serving a small but amazing menu. We are opening up Phil’s Last Stand around the 3rd week of January and we are sure it will be a winner. I will be putting in a lot of time and love into PLS with Phil’s food expertise and personality keeping the people happy and coming back.

Well that is my end of the year post and even though I have missed many things that we dad and happened I know that 2011 will go down as one of the best years of my life and I am excited for the future and to continue living my dreams and making more of them come true.

I promise to post more often this year and share a little piece of our lives

Till next time

Well 2011 is going to go down as the year of me making some pretty big changes and so far they have all been for the better. As everyone knows it started with a new relationship that turned into a awesome engagement followed by a fantastic wedding in Mexico and Chicago party. Also in 2011 I started running with Christine in early February and for a pretty lazy Jew Boy from the North Shore that never ran more than 4 miles in my life I somehow have completed 5 Half Marathons and a handful of other fun runs from 5k’s to 10 milers Etc… I also can’t believe it but I ran 2 full Marathons within a month that started with Chicago as my 1st Marathon on October 8th and I just ran NYC Marathon November 6th. I feel great and I am so happy that I ran them but I should have trained much better for NYC but was not really sure how much rest I needed after Chicago. I am happy to say that I finished NY but around mile 18 my legs totally failed on me and I struggled ran really slow with a funny limp the last 6 miles.

Another big change going on this year is we are opening up a new restaurant on Chicago Avenue and it is the life long dream Hot Dog Stand. We are opening up Phil’s Last Stand and it is going to be a combination of Poochie’s and The Wiener Circle serving Char Dogs, Polish, Burgers, Char Salami, Mac & Cheese, Fresh Cut Fries and Fresh Made Fried Shrimp. We are in the middle of remodeling and adding granite counter tops and a few new windows and we should be open early December with the best late night fast food around.

Well that is about it, married life is great and I wish winter was not coming.

Till Next Time

So the week after the marathon was a little bit of a dull downer week as Christine warned be about, it seems that after such a build up and training and feeling so high after completing such a huge task that you kinda come down and feel a little depressed. I have been reading some books written by Ultra Marathoners and you can see why after they finish these long runs that they are always looking forward to the next one. I am going to try to run the NYC Marathon with Christine 11/6 and hopefully I can finish as strong or stronger than Chicago. I ran the Rock ‘N’ Roll Half marathon this past Sunday in St louis and after taking two weeks off from running it was much harder than I thought but we actually finished with our best time yet of 1:53 and maybe should not have been drinking the night before.

Married life is great and the weekend in Chesterfield was so much fun and Hoober had the best time ever that started with 5 mile morning run with Tine followed but 5 hours playing with Ella and then a hard hour of swimming in the creek behind Betsy’s house. We are busy with the new venture of opening up Phil’s Last Stand on Chicago and Oakley and getting ready to give the Wiener Circle a run for the money for late night Char Dogs.

Till Next Time

I completed the Marathon and I am happy to say I survived and loved it. I had a goal in my mind of finishing the race under 4:15 and I came in a little over a minute under my goal. I was given advise to start the run out slow and I think I did a pretty good job staying at a comfortable pace and I am proud of myself for sticking exactly to my plan for drinking my fluids and taking my salt tabs. Christine joined me at mile 13.3 and ran to 25.5 with me and it was a huge boost and besides for the last 3 miles I felt pretty damn good for the entire race. In my entire life I never thought I could finish a full marathon or even attempt it and I have proved to myself that I can do anything and my body is way more capable than I thought. I started running in early February and had never run over 4 miles before that and I may have only run 4 once and since that 1st 5 1/2 mile run with Christine I have completed 4 Half Marathons the soldier field 10 and a bunch of 5K, 8k and 10K’s plus as of Sunday I completed my 1st Full Marathon.

During training a few times I said that once I complete Chicago I will not be doing any more Marathons and really like Half’s instead but 2 days after finishing I am already looking forward to completing another Full. I am working on getting a BIB for NYC 11/6 and planning on running it with Christine. Well I am not sure how long I will have the running bug but I am going to take advantage of it while I do.

Not much more to report but lots of interesting things coming soon….

Well if you would have asked me a year ago if I would ever run a Full Marathon I would have said Hell No and I would have also said running was dumb and too hard on the body and I would not even consider a Half Marathon in my future.  Shit if you would have asked me if there was a chance I would be happily married in 2011 I would have said No Chance.  Well here I am 11 days from running the Chicago Full Marathon and happily married.  I have run 4 Half Marathons since spring and just did a supported 2o miler on the lake 2 weeks ago.  I am looking forward to running a week from Sunday and also a little nervous,  I believe I am in good enough shape but I have foot issues and felt all kinds of new pains from 17-20 miles during my longest run yet but I am sure my next post will be of me boasting about finishing the full 26.2 miles and pushing myself further than I have very pushed physically in my life.  I have to thank Christine for training with me and teaching me tons about prepping and eating right for these longs runs.  I am a little sad she is not running Chicago with me but excited she will be cheering me on and may run the last 6-10 with me to help me keep up my pace.  I am actually reading running magazines and listening to audible books by DEAN KARNAZES the ultra marathon guy.  OH what a difference a year makes

Things have been great since all the wedding stuff passed and Christine and I are settling into our new life together very smooth besides being a little short on closet space.  We have been cooking quite a bit at home and I have actually been helping with making some salads such as Pasta, Egg and Tuna for our lunches and we have been making lots of brown rice as well.  Couple nice dinners out along the way and we never miss a great brunch on the weekends.  Hoober is doing great and really maturing into a great dog,  he has been out of the crate for over a month without one issue with him chewing or being bad in any way.   Couple food highlights of the month were Gilt Bar, ROKA and few of the regular spots.

That is it for now