About Me

Me hiking in Thailand

Hi. My name is Brad Runnion and this is my website (one of them anyway). I live in the suburbs of Chicago with my wife and two dogs, Sierra and Latte, (and two cats). I like running, web design, flying, reading, and traveling. I am working on my MBA at Northern Illinois University, and I received my Bachelor's Degree from Eastern Illinois University in Career and Technical Education with a business emphasis and a minor in English. After graduation I moved to Colorado for a little bit before moving back to Illinois.

Hobbies and Interests

Running

In 7th grade I joined the track team and said I would run the mile because I was guaranteed to be in every meet since nobody wanted to run it. I ran 7:11 that year. After my freshman year at Lockport Twp. High School, I decided to quit soccer after 9 years and go out for the cross country team. I started making rapid improvements my sophomore year on the track before getting a stress fracture in my hip. When I graduated I had been teams that placed 3rd, 4th, & 13th at the state cross country meet, set a school record in the indoor 4x800 while winning the indoor "state meet", and was all-conference in track and cross country.

I was fortunate enough to be able to walk onto Eastern Illinois' cross country and track teams and made significant breakthroughs before getting injured again. Despite a few years of injuries and average performances I was a captain on both the cross country and track teams. I turned a major corner my 5th year and finished 3rd in our conference 1500m in 3:53 (~4:10 mile) and set a school record in the 4x800 (which has since been broken twice). I have continued to run and have completed two marathons with a best of 2:32:41.

Web Design

I started making websites while in college and have been doing it for the last few years. I'm getting pretty good at CSS, and as a result, really dislike older versions of Internet Explorer. Also, I am starting to get a much better grasp on SEO through my internet marketing internship.

Flying

In front of a Cessna 414

When I was significantly younger, whether it was Florida, Colorado, or Canada, most of our family trips were made by piling everybody into my Dad's airplane. I loved sitting in the right seat and loved the opportunities when I got to control the yoke. One semester in college I managed a class schedule where I had Mondays and Fridays off and only one class at night on Wednesdays. I took the opportunity to earn my private pilots license. I wasn't satisfied so I earned my instrument rating and got an endoresement in high-performance and complex airplanes. I have logged time in an RV-6, Cessna 172, Beechcraft Debonair (BE33), and a Cirrus SR-22.