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By kilax, June 20, 2010 3:07 pm

Even though I can’t run, that doesn’t mean I can’t sport the female runner’s tan, right?

Or in my case, female runner’s burn. I wear sunscreen like it’s my job, but I still end up like this. I guess I need to re-apply.

Now of course, the men don’t have this problem, because they can run shirtless if they want. Jealous!

Is anyone else sporting a funky tan (or burn) right now?

I refuse to have a ridiculous farmer’s tan like I did all of last summer (see below), so I’ve been wearing tank tops when working out outdoors and when working in the garden. My hope is that by the end of the summer, I will have actually earned the female runner’s tan!

Got that burn in May 2009… the tan lines stuck around all summer. Awesome. Not.

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By kilax, June 19, 2010 7:05 am

I wish I was good at telling stories. Does anyone have any tips for me? How can I get better?

Steven and I took a long bike ride yesterday in the beautiful sunny weather, then made our way over to the garden in the mid-afternoon to take care of this:

Our garden is in serious need of weeding. Unless you know what you are looking for, you can’t tell it’s a garden. It just looks like a wild, over-grown… mess.

Obviously, I have spent the past few weeks coming up with wonderful excuses as to why I could not weed the garden on that particular day. Too muddy. Too many bugs. Too late. Not enough time. I’m hungry. I’m moody. It’s raining. You get the idea.

So, we finally made our way over there yesterday (with a smile on my face). It was weird – it was beautiful and sunny all day, but as soon as we got in to the car to head to the garden, it got really dark. Optimistically, I told Steven we should just go, and if it started to rain, we would head home.

Ha.

We get there and Steven shows me how to pull the weeds out. I start to get in to the groove of it, wondering why I put it off for so long, it’s not that bad…

And the storms roll in. We notice there are very dark clouds behind us. And they are moving fast. We hear lighting, but there is no rain so we keep working (smart, I know). It starts to rain a little bit and we hear a strange howling noise. I run* to the end of the fence to see what is going on, and just see the dark clouds. I run* back to the garden and tell Steven I don’t see anything, and it starts to POUR. We pack everything up as quick as we can and start running* back to the car, which is pretty far away. We don’t make it. The cold rain and hail is hitting us hard so we have to stop outside of the police station.

You can’t tell, but the rain is pouring down and we are standing under a little awning (you can see that the trees are bent over).

And wait.

And wait.

A cop comes out to ask us what the hell we are doing. We explain. I don’t think we looked like gardeners – both of us had workout gear on. Another cop pulls up and asks what we’re doing there. We explain again.

And wait.

And wait, watching the lighting.

Then we nut up and make a made dash for the car. We’re completely soaked by the time we get there.

I think we spent 15 minutes in the garden, if even, before it started pouring**.

It sounds like it was a good thing I was not at work (and I wonder if this is why I didn’t have any work emails in the afternoon?). The wind was so strong (70 mph) that it blew windows out of the “Willis” (Sears) Tower. And apparently the commute was bad? I did say to Steven, “I can’t imagine having to commute home in this.” It’s one thing to get in your car soaking wet and drive a few miles home. It’s entirely different to sit on a freezing cold train for one and a half hours, soaking wet (been there).

So, guess what we are doing today?

Back to the garden…

Have you been caught in the rain lately?

*Ah, running. I am really itching to run again. It felt so good to run in the grass, in the rain. I could have stayed out there all day. Not sure how my legs would have felt.
**And yes, I realize all this rain is helping our garden. We haven’t had to water it in quite some time. I like that.

Comments (28)

By kilax, June 18, 2010 10:31 am

How do you prefer to keep in touch with your friends – in person, via phone, email, instant messaging, texting, facebook, commenting on blogs, or other? How does how you prefer to keep in touch compare with how you actually keep in touch?

I think most of us would say that we prefer to keep in touch with friends by seeing them in person, but how many of us actually have that luxury? The friends I went to college with mostly live in different states, and honestly, we barely communicate at all. And while I have friends that live in Chicagoland, well, while they live out here, that doesn’t mean they are close*. The friends that we see the most live either 40 or 50 miles from our house. We mainly see each other on weekends. Or, if they work in the city, during lunch breaks (which is great).

So, I usually communicate via email. And sometimes (not always!), those emails only happen because they are stemming from a blog comment that one of us left. When I think about this, it makes me wonder if it is an artificial relationship – would we even be communicating if we weren’t blogging**? I mean, most of the friendships I have are with other bloggers, so I can’t make light of the fact that blogging is how the relationship started, but… I think I am just craving more. I think I just feel lonely sometimes, despite all the cyber world connections.

And, don’t get me wrong. I love personal emails and appreciate so much that someone would take the time to write something to me***. I just wish I could have more personal interaction from time to time.

*Except for Tori, who is a mere 5 or so miles from my house – why don’t we get together more often?
**What is interesting is that when I blog less during the week, I have less personal emails as well.
***Interestingly, two of the people I email the most (Gina and Courtney) are bloggers I have never met in person! And we just email – it’s rarely an email based on a blog comment.

Comments (30)

By kilax, June 17, 2010 4:45 pm

At my office, we have a pretty cool peer-to-peer recognition program set up. At the beginning of the year, each employee gets a certain amount of “points.” You can award the points to your peers when you want to thank/recognize them, and, they can award them to you! You redeem the points for prizes and giftcards.

Management is really good about recognition as well. There’s a lot of “I appreciate your hard work,” “You’re doing a great job on such-and-such project,” etc. There are also company-wide awards you can receive (I have personally received two certificates of appreciation).

To me, this sort of positive and appreciative recognition is so important to my happiness level (morale), perceived value, commitment, and oh, about a billion other emotions. Being appreciated/noticed for what I am contributing just makes you feel good. It does!

But, it doesn’t always happen, does it? Sometimes you wait and wait for it, and it never comes. In The Happiness Project the author talks about this quite a bit. She wants to be noticed by her husband for all the extra things she does, but he doesn’t seem to notice, or at least, act on noticing it. (And I want to talk more about that at a later date, especially if I ever get around to posting about that book with Erin! I know she had a lot of thoughts on that topic alone.)

So, that made me think, how important is recognition to our quality of life? What happens when recognition is absent?

To me, it seems our species has a need to feel special and unique, and well, helpful and valuable. Being recognized is a way to fulfill those needs. It makes you feel like you are contributing. And you are – actions, ideas, even just support when someone needs it. And perhaps the recognition makes you feel special, like you were there to help someone when they needed it and only you could help. Or you went above and beyond and did a favor that only you could do.

I think this relates to blogging. I mean, why blog? Besides connecting with people, we want to be recognized. To feel like we are contributing something of value (low or high). We want to feel like, in a sea of people, where so many of us have the same interests, we can prove that we are still an individual (not sure where all of this is coming from).

Sometimes I wonder if I should have been a sociologist, since I like to think about stuff like this and ask questions. Anyway –

Do you think recognition is important? How do you recognize others? Do you feel recognized?

Comments (34)

By kilax, June 13, 2010 1:27 pm

I decided to post my half marathon recap with my training recap – since the training recap does not deserve a post of its own or really even need to be read by anyone (it’s just there for me).

Tori and I both signed up to run the North Shore Half Marathon when we were both feeling healthy, then we got injured/sick. Lesson learned. Don’t sign up for races in advance anymore. I had a lot of fun walking with Tori today, and don’t even feel very sore (just got one toe blister)… but do you know how long it takes (for me) to walk 13.1 miles? Three hours and 15 minutes. That is a long-ass walk. Like I said though, we DID have fun!

The morning started off a bit rocky for me. I was really tired (only a few hours of poor-quality sleep) and I managed to mess up the clip on the bike rack when putting it on the car. When we left to get Tori, we remembered we needed gas and I had to tell her we were running late. Then we left the gas station and I realized I did not have the Garmin watch. WTF? I would have just left it, but I needed it to make sure the course didn’t get closed on us. So we had to go all the way back home and get it. Sigh.

Luckily, we still got to the race course when we wanted to. Tori and I both realized we weren’t taking it very seriously because, as we said, “We’re only walking.”

We mostly just chatted it up during the walk. And we had quite a few adventures. We got to see Steven and Erin‘s husband on their bikes at mile 5 – I was trying to be funny and yell at them for looking at their phones, but they were actually looking at the course map, oops. Speaking of course maps, I gave mine to Steven because he left his in the car, and shortly after we saw them, we got off course. I am not sure how. We were paying attention, and they had volunteers at almost every intersection – they must have not been there where we were. I called Steven to discuss the course, and we used Tori’s iPhone map to get back. Gotta love technology. We ended up walking 13.29 instead of 13.1.

We were supposed to stay on the white path, going north. Instead, we went on the red one and re-joined the white path.

At the water stop just before mile 7, the volunteers told us they had a special show for us then one of the volunteers proceeded to dive across a table that was stacked two-high with cups of water. That was amusing. Then we saw some baby deer! I may have gotten a little too excited then…

Okay, can you tell I am tired just typing this? I am. And that is how I felt toward the end of the walk. By mile 10, my quads were just tired. I felt like I was dragging around 12. We got a pick-up though when Tori’s family joined us toward the end! I’ll admit, it was a bit disappointing to be walking through the finish all by ourselves… but at least Steven was there cheering  us on (well, taking pictures)! And like I said, I did have a lot of fun walking and talking with Tori. It’s rare I get to spend one-on-one time with a friend! It’s just a long, long walk.

I have to say thank you to Tori for walking with me, and thank you to Steven for waiting so long for us to finish!

So, this recap does not say much about the actual course or race, does it? The course was nice – very residential, but a very cool area. There are two tough hills and a bit of up and down, but nothing bad. I think I would like to actually run it next year (here I go again). And you get a sweet bag instead of a t-shirt when you register. And… a sweet medal for finishing!

Time: 3:16:19 | Distance: 13.29 | Average Pace: 14:46 | Garmin Link

Again, the Training Recap below is pretty ho hum, feel free to skip it. It’s there just for tracking purposes.

Continue reading 'North Shore Half Marathon (and Training Week 33 + 34)'»

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By kilax, June 12, 2010 11:17 am

Is this normal?

Maybe for a cat? I remember when I was growing up, our cats would always sleep curled around the tops of our heads.

If you have pets, where do they sleep?

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Note, Data does not normally sleep on my head. This is his “it’s time to wake up NOW, Mommy” tactic. I actually don’t mind it, as long as he is not rubbing his teeth in my face.

Comments (44)

By kilax, June 11, 2010 5:10 pm

I got my diagnosis – three stress fractures total, located in the:

1. Mid Tibia of the Right Leg: this bad boy never fully healed last summer. Greaaaaaaaaaaaaaat.
2. Mid Fibula of the Left Leg: huh? Where did that come from?
3. Tibial Plateau of the Left Leg: this is the only area I thought was messed up.

I apologize for messing up any medical terms!

Hmm.

Obviously, I have been instructed not to run, or do any high-impact exercises (sorry Steven, no soccer) for at least a couple of weeks. I can still do free weights, bike, swim, use the elliptical, and walk if it does not hurt.

My drug cocktail will be:

• Calcium/Magnesium/Zinc @ 1500mg for my bones
• Vitamin D @ 800-1600 mg for my bones
• B50 Complex for fun for energy
• AND… Calcitonin, a nasal spray which will help my bones absorb nutrients and stimulate bone growth? I will only be taking this if it is from a non-animal source.

I imagine I am supposed to take the vitamins forever, and the Calcitonin until it runs out. About this Calcitonin stuff – the doctor said this was the aggressive route to take, but he recommends it, since he knows I want to run the Chicago Marathon (got to love a doctor who is on my side). I am a little weary of it, so I am going to see what I can find out about it. He did say it can cause you to retain water (among other things).

And speaking of retaining water, it is time for me to LOSE SOME WEIGHT if I am really going to train for a marathon (someday?). I have to imagine that being overweight might be affecting my condition a little bit. The doctor didn’t say anything about that though – he didn’t guess as to why I am getting these stress fractures. Naturally, I will blame it on my vegan diet and my overweight body, but I am just being mean (to me). I don’t think that is entirely it. Something must be off about my running and training.

So, the plan is this – take all these drugs, try not to fall asleep on the bike, and see the doctor in a couple of weeks. Another bone scan* will not be necessary. He will just apply pressure on my legs in the injured areas and I will let him know if they are in pain (yay! not.). If I am feeling good, he will help me develop a plan to get back to running. Erin recommended I get my gait analyzed, which I also think is a good idea.

If I am not feeling good in a couple more weeks… uh, more “rest”?

How do I feel about all of this? Really weird. I wanted to cry when I talked to the doctor. But he sounded optimistic, so I am trying to feel optimistic. I can be stupidly optimistic** though, and that can get me hurt (even more). So, I am just going to try and follow the doctor’s lead and do what it takes to heal properly, and try not to spend TOO MUCH TIME thinking about this – not really sure if that is possible though.

If you notice my mood is declining (or that I am not around) in the next few weeks, it will be because I am not running… I’ll try to avoid that though. Try.

*This link does a really good job of explaining the bone scan procedure and what the black spots mean.
**Or maybe reckless is the right word? You know, “My legs feel great today! I am ready to jump in with a 10 mile run!”

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By kilax, June 11, 2010 5:00 am

How good is your sense of direction? Are you good at reading maps and following them? Do you rely on GPS when driving? What’s your best “I got lost when…” story? Do you get nervous when you have to drive somewhere new?

This question was inspired by a discussion with two other bloggers, who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent! Well, you guys know which blogger I spend the most time with, so I am sure you can guess one of them, ha ha.

I generally do know where I am, and where north/south/east/west is. I usually read a map to see where I am going and follow the map on my GPS, rather than use it – unless I am in an area I am completely unfamiliar with, then I use it. And I can usually drive somewhere once or twice and remember how to get there in the future. I don’t mind driving somewhere new… as long as I am in my car. Ha ha.

I have made a few wrong turns though, and recently, seem to be a bad navigator for Steven! I have noticed I have problems with:

• Highways with similar names: when trying to avoid a detour two weekends ago, I confused I-80 and I-88. We do not go out of the way, but if I would not have realized it, we would have taken the wrong highway out of Iowa.*
• Overlapping Highways: when we were in Kansas City a few months ago, we were driving in areas with overlapping highways, and the GPS was unable to tell us which one to turn on to in time – I should have used a real map.
• Talking on the phone when driving: I don’t talk on the phone while driving anymore, but many years ago, I was driving to Chicago and talking to my Grandma and I missed my turn to go north of the city and drove to far in to the city! Oops!
• General cockiness: two weekends ago (again) I assumed there would be a south-bound connection on to a highway because there was a north-bound one. Nope. Oops again!

This list makes me sound pretty pathetic, but let me assure you, this is the extent of my list.** And when I make a wrong turn, I just have to laugh about it and find my way back. What else would I do?

And note: I rarely drive anymore, as my driving seems to scare Steven (???) so my main car duty is that of navigator.

*Yes, there is more than one highway in Iowa.
**Okay, okay, except for that time in Italy we walked around for 30 minutes looking for our hotel – the internet lied to me! THE MAP WAS WRONG!!!

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By kilax, June 10, 2010 3:47 pm

I had my bone scan today. I went in at 9:30 and they took an initial scan of my lower and mid legs and injected me with some radioactive tracer stuff. Then we left the hospital (picked up some race packets and got lunch), let the radioactive tracer make its way around my body, and went back at 12:30 to do the same scans, plus scans of the outsides of my legs. The outsides of my legs took over 15 minutes each and I “accidentally” fell asleep!

I got a CD copy of the films to share with my doctor tomorrow morning, and of course, I had to take a peek!

But… I don’t know what anything means! Last year I hurt my inside right shin, and this year, my outside left leg hurts. I don’t really see anything in those spots… guess I can run this half marathon on Sunday! Ha ha.

What do you think about those random black dots? Good or bad? We’ll find out soon…

Have you ever had a bone scan or any other fancy pants (read:$$$) medical procedures done?

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By kilax, June 9, 2010 4:57 pm

Which is more old lady-ish – me writing about the garden or squirrels? Because those were my two options for today!

In the three years I have lived in our house, I have never seen a squirrel in our neighborhood. In fact, when Steven and I drive through the older neighborhood near our house, we usually talk about how cute the squirrels there are, and about how we don’t have any. I thought our neighborhood was just too new and didn’t have enough trees.

So when my mom brought me two bird feeders with wire cages around them, I had to ask about the cages. I laughed when she told me they were to keep the squirrels out.

Ha.

Ha.

Almost immediately after she left, Steven took those photos from inside our house. I thought it was cute and was excited we were going to have squirrels to watch. The squirrels were naughty and chewed a bit on one of our plastic bird feeders, but it was still usable.

Until yesterday. There was a fury of activity at home. Steven said Data was looking out the window, and was really excited, so Steven went to see what was going on.

Apparently he found a squirrel sitting in the feeder above, chewing the plastic to his heart’s content.

Yeah – those are the little perches that fit into the feeder. Only, the don’t anymore – the squirrel chewed out a big hole where they go.

Oh well! We still have four other feeders, so I think I can hold on to my old-lady status. Which is all that matters.

Did I mention my grandma loaned me a bird book when I was in my hometown last weekend? I told her I am going to make a spreadsheet of all the birds I see. Unfortunately, I am not joking. For someone who likes to watch birds, I can only identify a few of them! Also, she gave me some thistle seed and a thistle seed feeder.

What kind of wildlife do you see around where you live?

In our yard, we have a lot of birds, sometimes turtles, geese and ducks. The ducks really like to eat the bird seed, apparently. In totally cracks me up to see ducks waddling through our yard!

We also have A LOT of deer in the area around our home, but I have only seen them in our neighborhood a few times.