Laugh Every Day: About Me

About Me:
My name is Lili V. I'm vegetarian, a Blackhawks fan, a guitar player and I'm 12 years old and I love running. I recently took up running in August of 2014, when I could barely even run half a mile. I was determined to become A RUNNER.

I (almost) completed the Runner's World Winter Run Streak challenge, but I skipped one day. That inspired me to start the #RunAwesomeProject.

On December 6th, I ran my first 5k with my cousin - The Santa Run! It was a blast, and I felt stronger than ever afterwards. I even achieved a pretty good time!

When I do run, I never run alone. I either run with one of my friends (yup, I've sucked them into becoming runners, too) or my dog, a sweet rescued terrier mix named Bigby.

If I'm not running, you can find me wishing I was running, playing water polo, doing yoga, hanging out with friends, hiking with my dogs and family, camping, biking, swimming, playing basketball, eating sushi and salads, cooking, making a salad, adding music to my Workout Playlist and volunteering. I help coach a Junior Water Polo team... it's pretty awesome teaching my 2nd favorite sport to little kids. I volunteer at a vet's office that is next door to the shelter we adopted one of my dogs.

I live with my parents, older brother, and two aquatic snails (Katniss and Tris). I also have several pets:
Frannie:
A heterochromatic Siamese mix who is as sweet as can be, but also pretty moody. She loves catnip and enjoys scaring our dogs.

Molly:
A really, really, REALLY adorable tabby mix who turned three years old this year. She was a stray and was quite skinny when she went into foster care, but is now pleasantly plump. She enjoys playing with our dog Bigby and climbing Christmas trees.

Bigby:
A strong, but scrappy terrier (mainly pitbull, beagle and rat terrier) who we rescued from Heartland Animal Shelter. He was skittish and nervous at first (we think that he was most likely abused by a man), but through games that practice bonding - such as agility and fetch - we helped him grow to be brave and loveable. He loves playing fetch, running, eating fruit and hanging out with our cat Molly. He is amazing.

Krypto:
A 13-year-old Beagle/Sheltie mix who was our first foster-fail. We adopted him in 2006, when I was only 4 years old. Although he mainly sleeps all day (he's old and he deserves it!), he still is spunky and has a sparkle in his eyes. Krypto has been my loyal buddy throughout my whole childhood.

Four Random Facts:

I love animals so much, I even started Project for Paws, a charity that sends hand-decorated dog collars to shelter pooches throughout the nation.
I love anything and everything outside.
Vegetables are some of my favorite things in the world.
I fostered four kittens and one adult cat in the Spring of 2014.