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By kilax, October 31, 2010 9:40 pm

This is the week of the Run Rock Roll for a Drug Free Community 5K. My next race is the Clear Water Outdoor’s 6th Annual Turkey Trot: 10K on November 20.

Day 372 | October 25, 2010: 5 m tempo run + strength

It’s dark now when I get home from work (6:00), which means I have to run around my neighborhood because the forest preserves are closed. Wah.

Safety first though! I make sure to wear a reflective belt. And I always only listen to music in one ear when I am running (if I bring my MP3 player at all).

So reflective!

It had actually been awhile since I ran around our neighborhood, and it was kind of fun that it was dark, because I got to see everyone’s lit-up Halloween decorations! The people in our neighborhood are pretty festive. I liked these cat eyes the best:

See the cat eyes in the second story windows?

This run turned in to a tempo run. I started out fast (for me) and kept it up for four miles, then ran a slow recovery mile. The air was a nice temperature with a slight breeze and I felt really good. I did have to play a little mental game to keep myself pushing it, but it worked.

I always forget though – when I run “fast” my stomach is sometimes unhappy afterward. I had a weird stomach cramp most of the night.

And does anyone else feel really weird when they stop running fast to do the recovery mile? During that last mile, I felt like my legs weren’t moving at all. It kind of makes me wonder if I should have been running faster all summer. Probably not. I bet that would just have resulted in another injury!

And one more thing – I like the dark weather means I cannot see the garmin! I locked the bezel and just ran.

Distance: 5.0 | Start Temp: 68° | End Temp: 65° | Time: 48:05 | Avg Pace: 9:36 | 1: 9:27 | 2: 9:11 | 3: 8:59 | 4: 8:57 | 5: 11:27

Strength + Stretch (done during my lunch break):

Like I mentioned on Monday, I was in such good spirits during my lunch workout that it felt super easy! Maybe I should up the weights!

Day 373 | October 26, 2010: cross

Recumbent Bike Time: 40:00 | Distance: 6.40 | Average Speed: 9.6 mph | Set on “Forest Ride”

Day 374 | October 27, 2010: 2 m run

The forecast for Wednesday’s run – windy, with a chance of windy:

Yay. Chicago had a little windstorm this week. Winds at 30-40 mph, with gusts up to 60 mph. Fun times. It was especially fun when it was combined with rain and it was coming at me from all directions as I walked to work.

Anyway. On Tuesday I found out my brother wanted to run a 5K with me on Saturday, so I decided to shorten this planned four mile run to two. Steven and I ran together, and did our best not to get blown all over the sidewalk.

Beside the wind, this was an easy run. One strange thing though – the temperature dropped about 5 degrees in a span of 20 minutes. I think that is a sign that cold weather is on its way!

Distance: 2.0 | Start Temp: 55° | End Temp: 50° | Time: 20:24 | Avg Pace: 10:11 | 1: 10:13 | 2: 10:08

Day 375 | October 28, 2010: rest

Day 376 | October 29, 2010: 12 m run

When I woke up to go running on Friday morning it was only 22°F outside! I was having a hard time remembering what to wear when it was that chilly, so I went through my “Running + Training” archive – guess the blog is actually good for something! I ended up wearing tights, shorts, an Under Armour long-sleeved Cold Gear top, a zip up hoodie, gloves and a headband. It was perfect. I didn’t take my gloves off until the eleventh mile, and never got too hot (even though the temperature rose to 35°F).

As the temperatures change, do you sort of “forget” how to dress for running?

I was in Cedar Falls, Iowa for this run, so I decided to check out the Cedar Prairie Trail (a paved trail). Sad fact – I lived in that area of Iowa for 18 years and didn’t realize there were so many trails there. Apparently now there are 80 miles of trails. Guess I have a lot of exploring to do.

The Cedar Prairie Trail is 17.1 miles long – I just explored 6 miles of it. The area where I started my run went right by the highway and was quite open, but eventually it went in to a more wooded area. I really liked that part of the trail. And it was fun to run on it, because I actually went by a lot of areas I knew, like a soccer field I used to play on in high school.

There was no one on the trail though! I was the only one except for one guy who happened to be standing on the trail by Target doing some surveying. I thought it was weird that the trail was empty – they never are in Chicago!

I really enjoyed this 12-miler. The weather was nice and chilly, and I just zoned out to my podcasts. I did feel like I was losing energy a bit at mile 8 when I got hungry, hit a big hill, and felt a twinge in my left knee – but it went away!

Run stats: I wore the Asics Cumulus 12s. I drank about 14 ounces of water during the run and had a Lemon Sublime GU at mile 6. I stopped to take a few pictures, and to cross a few streets.

Distance: 12.0 | Start Temp: 22° | End Temp: 35° | Time: 2:02:43 | Avg Pace: 10:13 | 1: 10:21 | 2: 10:21 | 3: 10:15 | 4: 10:11 | 5: 10:27 | 6: 10:25 | 7: 10:16 | 8: 10:12 | 9: 10:22 | 10: 10:19 | 11: 10:07 | 12: 9:19

Day 377 | October 30, 2010: 2.9 m run

I ran the Run Walk and Roll for a Drug Free Community 5K with my brother Nick.

Day 378 | October 31, 2010: rest

Week Summary: 21.9 miles

This was a fun week, running-wise… but I kind of slacked one everything else. Never-ending story, right? Maybe I need to go back to pre-writing out my workouts each week, to hold myself accountable. Because as much as I find yoga boring, it really does help keep me flexible. I tried to touch my feet this morning and it didn’t happen! My legs were too tight.

Comments (25)

By kilax, October 31, 2010 8:24 am

Every time I travel, I check to see if there are any races that would fit in to my schedule while I am at the travel destination. It makes me exercise while traveling and it’s just plain fun to run in races. Tell me I am not the only one who looks to see if there are any races going on at their travel destination?

We came to Iowa this weekend so my older brother, Nick, could put new tires on my car (my younger brother, Anthony, ordered them for me – they work at a car dealership with a service shop in the back – score for having mechanic brothers (and dad)). I saw that there was a cheap race called “Run Walk and Roll for a Drug Free Community 5K” on Saturday, but figured I would not be able to participate because it was during the same time Nick wanted to put the tires on my car.

Well, it turns out that Nick was interested in running the 5K with me! Hells yeah! We re-arranged the tire appointment to Friday night so we could make it all work.

Nick and me

I should mention two things. The first is that I have read countless race reports of people running with their parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, kids, and so on (you get the idea) – and have always thought “I wish I could run with a family member!” So when I heard Nick was remotely interested, I pounced on the idea.

The second thing I want to mention is that Nick is not a runner and he did not train for this race*. He just decided to run it for fun. I know that is a big “no no” and I should have been a responsible runner and told him not to try to run it, but honestly, I knew he would be able to run most of it, and we could walk if we had to, which we did. I think Nick is naturally athletic, and could actually be a decent runner, especially with training!

The race was pretty small – maybe 200 or so runners. We started at Pathways Behavioral Services (the host of the race – a counseling center for people with drug and alcohol problems), ran through their parking lot, then on some grass, over some dry clumpy dirt, and got on to a local trail. We ran out and back on the trail.

You’ll notice I am wearing a pumpkin costume. The race was the day before Halloween so I figured people would dress up. Not so much. Only me. I didn’t care though. My mom kept saying “If we were in Chicago, there would be so many people dressed up! People dress up for random races there!” Very true.

I did get a lot of funny comments. At the end of the race some guy yelled “Looking good pumpkin!” then said to Nick “Don’t worry, I’ll never call her that again.” I said “Don’t worry, that’s just my brother!” And after the race was over, some guy told me “I saw you and thought ‘I can’t let the pumpkin beat me!’ ” I told him about the Eiffel Tower at the marathon and how I thought the same thing.

Oops, this is getting long. The race itself went well. We ran the first mile and a half at a decent pace, then walked a bit in the middle. We ran until we got to this huge hill, then ran some of it and walked the rest. In the last mile of the race we did a run/walk pattern.

Here we are coming in to the finish!

Our final clock time was 28:34 (here are the Garmin stats) but the course was only 2.9 miles (what is it with me running short 5Ks lately?). I do think we could have finished in 30 minutes if it would have been a full 5K.

Nick had a lot of fun (and of course I did) but got a bit out of breath toward the middle of the race, so he relaxed a bit after we finished. I am so proud he did this 5K!

A photo with our spectators – me, Steven, Nick’s son Thomas, dad, mom, Nick’s wife Courtney, Nick

After the race we headed down to the basement of the building for food and door prizes. They had homemade goodies for food and a bucket full of Halloween knickknacks for kids. That’s where I found these eyeballs:

I ended up winning a door prize – a free wing party at Buffalo Wild Wings (50 free wings). I gave that to my mom (she compensated me by buying me some soap and lotion later in the afternoon).

Overall, I thought this was a nicely organized run, and had a lot of fun (and the weather was perfect – mid 40s)! If I am in town next year, I will do it again, hopefully, with Nick!

Have you ever run a race with a family member? Or in costume?

What did you do/are you doing for Halloween?

I went out with my siblings, their significant others, my mom, and another friend to the local bars on Main Street last night. I didn’t drink because I was getting over a headache, but had a great time with everyone, especially just people watching at the bars!

(Brother) Nick and (wife) Courtney, (boyfriend) Will and (sister) Christina, Mom, (brother) Anthony and (fiancee) Amber, (friend) CJ, me and Steven

Doesn’t my mom look much better as a pumpkin than I do?

*Nick bought his shoes and outfit for the 5K the night before, and had a granola bar and can of soda for breakfast. I don’t want to make light of the fact that he did not train… but that I should mention those things because they make me laugh.

Comments (26)

By kilax, October 29, 2010 5:32 am

How many emails do you have to get in a day to feel stressed out (by the amount of them)? How do you manage how you respond to them (do you prioritize them)?

Do you email back and forth with your significant other throughout the day?

I think at work, it takes about 25 unread emails for me to feel stressed out. Even though I know they are likely conversation threads, I don’t like feeling behind!

My personal email is an entirely different beast. I’ll feel stressed if I just have 5 personal emails to respond to! I don’t know why – I hate making people wait for a response, unless I tell them it will take awhile for me to get back to them.

According to this little blurb from Women’s Health, the magic number is 50.

I have about a zillion folders in my personal email. I keep things to respond to “unread” in my inbox then file the email after I respond. I am an email hoarder. I rarely delete personal mail.

Now, I thought of the other question when I read this article, about a woman who sent so many emails to her husband that he stopped responding. She thinks he has “information overload” from her sending too many emails.

Steven and I are much more likely to email back and forth throughout the day than call each other. But we don’t write novels. It’s “What do you want for dinner?” “My train comes at 5:50” and “Data is being a butt munch today.” Stuff like that. And I do use Lotus Notes (BARF) to send appointments to Steven. That is the only way we synchronize our schedules!

I’ll have to be careful about the information overload thing though. I do have a tendency to get excited and send out a lot of emails.

Comments (28)

By kilax, October 27, 2010 5:35 am

Do you cook many Asian dishes?

We have been making Steven’s Pad Siew for a long time, but have not done much experimenting with other Asian dishes. The photo above is from a recipe Steven modified for Sweet and Sour Chicken. We made it with tofu and added a sh*t ton of vegetables. It turned out good but still needs some work.

Do you have any Asian dish recipes you’d like to share?

Side note: My nephew is in a costume contest to win a gift certificate to the mall. Please vote for him below, if you like his costume!

Vote here!

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By kilax, October 26, 2010 5:21 am

During my run on Saturday with Erin I was telling her how it bothers me that the path is so beautiful, and the trees so vibrant, yet I can’t capture it on camera.

Here is an example of a photo my camera took on Saturday:

Kind of drab, right? Here is what it really looked like:

There is a part of the Des Plaines River Trail where it curves (if you are headed north) to go along Route 60 and all of a sudden you are surrounded by these tall, skinny trees. And when we ran through it, it was a beautiful sea of bright orange and yellow. It was amazing. But you could never tell from the first photo. It looks so blah.

Here is another example. It was a bit overcast, but the trail did not look like this:

It looked like this!

Subtle difference, but I want you all to see what I am seeing. Not what the camera captures. And I am pretty sure that if I had a nicer camera and was not running while taking photos, it may actually capture things as they are, but for now, I edit.

Some times I have to edit photos of myself too. I might take a photo like this:

and remove that GROSS ZIT, EWWWW!!!

In this case, I am not editing it so you can see what the camera sees… I am sparing you from my gross zits (I have one right there now too – wah).

And in this photo, I would actually cut my arm off, and re-position it to make it look like I was standing there with my left arm at my side.

Just kidding! I am not going to lie about WHO I am – you can always count on me to take plenty of goofy photos to share with you. Like this one, when we were in my dad’s speedboat and decided to open our mouths and see what would happen (because of all of the wind):

But that is edited! Here it is before:

I like to add some “punch” and contrast to my photos.

Do you edit your photos before sharing them (either sharing them on your site or by any other means)? Do you take a TON of photos?

On some runs, I may take over 50 photos. I think I took over 125 at the corn maze run. I like to have a lot of options for editing! And sometimes random snapshots turn out really neat.

You guys can tell I edit my photos, right? Or could you not see the difference here?

I always feel like it is obvious when I am done working on them.

Comments Off on Commenting III

By kilax, October 26, 2010 4:34 am

Just documenting that commenting turned itself off again.

Comments closed on purpose.

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By kilax, October 25, 2010 12:47 pm

Alternatively titled “MY PARENTS ROCK!!!”

I received a large package at work today. I was surprised – I usually don’t receive packages at work and certainly wasn’t expecting one!

(I took a photo before opening it but my phone ate the photo – so you get this one!)

Then I saw who it was from – my parents!

What could it be…?

OH MY GOSH ONLY THE MOST COOLEST AWESOMEST HALLOWEEN GOODIE “BASKET” EVER!!!

And you won’t believe what it came with – Star Wars bling:

(Yeah, been chewing my nails)

Thanks Mom and Dad! I will share it with my coworkers! But not the rings, Twizzlers, or Sour Punch Straws. Ha.

This thoughtful package TOTALLY made my day! And it made me think, I am having a pretty good day, for a Monday!

1. I received an award at work this morning and was recognized in front of the whole company. I didn’t even know I was being recognized!



2. I was so (literally?) pumped after receiving the package that my strength workout seemed SUPER easy!
3. My fur buddy Manny went in for a “toof” operation this morning (having all of his teeth removed) and made it through just fine!



4. I was able to make a lunch date this week with Erin, even though we are both busy at work.
5. I realized on the way to the office that my both ears in my headphones are now broken, but I had a spare pair at work. Muah ha ha!

What makes a good Monday for you?

Just making it through the day? Hee hee. That is sometimes how it is for me.

Who sends YOU surprise packages? To whom do YOU send surprise packages?

Besides my mom, my sister and other family members sometimes send me packages! And Gina and Courtney send me an awesome package before the marathon, check it out! –

Everything in the package was SO good. Especially those organic bars in the front left. And those Sticks & Twigs. And those crisps. And… yeah,  you get the point.

I send packages to family, friends and internet friends too! I love sending things!

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By kilax, October 25, 2010 5:22 am

Awhile ago, I mentioned that I would be doing a waffle maker review through CSN stores. Well, sadly, the waffle maker I wanted to order became unavailable the day I wrote the post. Schweet. So, we ordered a shoe rack instead, because our garage looks like this:

And yes, those are mostly ALL my shoes. There are 17 pairs of shoes in the picture and I circled the two that are not mine. So we obviously needed a shoe rack, right?

The one we ordered is pretty nice – it looks good and is sturdy. But Steven had to use his tap and die set to re-thread one of the legs and put the “foot” on. The leg had paint and glue in it, and the foot would only screw in a little bit before it stopped. If we didn’t have a tap and die set, we probably would have had to return the product.

It does the job though! Voila!

Picture from Friday

And I will have you know that I threw two or three pairs of shoes away, put a few in my closet, and am going to recycle three pairs:

Picture from Sunday

Does anyone else have a zillion pairs of shoes in their garage? How do you organize all of your shoes, no matter where they are?

I do NOT really care for shoes. I am not a “shoe person” at ALL. Yet, I have what feels like a zillion pairs. I have them on a shelf in my closet (the Brooks and Asics boxes are empty):

I have a hanging shoe rack on my closet rod:

and I have a hanging shoe sleeve thing on the inside of my closet door:

WAY too many shoes. TOO many.

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By kilax, October 24, 2010 11:00 am

My next race is the Clear Water Outdoor’s 6th Annual Turkey Trot: 10K on November 20.

Day 365 | October 18, 2010: 3 m run

I ran a few miles on the treadmill to try out my new shoes (Asics Cumulus). They feel much more “cushiony” than the Brooks Adrenalines. I can feel the extra cushion under the ball of my foot, and I can feel that I am landing more on my midfoot. It feels good! I did notice that my toes felt a bit numb from miles 1-2, but I wiggled them around and they felt fine. I wonder if the cushioning raises my foot and puts extra pressure on my toes.

That looks like overpronation to me… ugh, why is this so confusing?

The run was easy, but boring. Treadmill running = snore. And it gets so hot in our bedroom! I need a fan.

Distance: 3.0 | Incline: 1.0 | Time: 30:29 | 1: 10:20 | 2: 10:09 | 3: 10:00

Day 366 | October 19, 2010: rest

Day 367 | October 20, 2010: 5.5 m run

Steven and I headed out to the Rollins Savanna so I could run and he could bike. I also asked him to take photos of me running so I could see how my feet land. Verdict? Mid foot striker… but still landing out the outside. So, outside midfoot striker. Do you think it’s okay that I land like this? It just looks painful, right? It doesn’t feel painful.

You can see some more examples of how I land in the gallery below (if you click on them they open in this window).

It was really a gorgeous run. We had wonderful spring-like temperatures, and full sun. The wind really killed me on my fourth mile though! I felt like like someone was pushing me so I wouldn’t move forward.

Distance: 5.5 | Start Temp: 67° | End Temp: 68° | Time: 55:40 | Avg Pace: 10:07 | 1: 10:13 | 2: 10:16 | 3: 10:20 | 4: 10:31 | 5: 9:50 | 6: 4:28

Day 368 | October 21, 2010: strength + yoga

Strength + Stretch (done during my lunch break):

I did the YogaWorks Beginners DVD in the evening. It was my first time doing yoga after the marathon and it felt SO GOOD. My body has been feeling so tight, and yoga really loosened it up.

Day 369 | October 22, 2010: rest

Day 370 | October 23, 2010: 10 m run

Erin and I met up at the Half Day Forest Preserve and ran 10 miles (an out and back) on the Des Plaines River Trail. I really love running on this trail in the fall! The trees are so beautiful!

The run was easy and just flew by, probably because I was enjoying our conversation so much. I really love running with Erin! I wish we lived closer to one another.

I felt great throughout the run. My new shoes felt good, and I could have kept going, despite it starting to rain between the 6th and 7th miles (and raining until we stopped)! I did start to get a weird stomach cramp around 9.5 miles, but that was not related to running.

Two notes: wearing a visor is so nice for keeping rain off my face! And, the temperature actually started to drop after the run, because of the rain. Good thing we started running at 8:00!

Run stats: I wore the Asics Cumulus 12s. I drank about 16 ounces of water during the run and had 6 or so jelly beans. We walked a bit during mile 5.

Distance: 10.0 | Start Temp: 59° | End Temp: 59° | Time: 1:45:09 | Avg Pace: 10:29 | 1: 10:44 | 2: 10:41 | 3: 10:35 | 4: 10:51 | 5: 12:02 | 6: 10:20 | 7: 10:21 | 8: 9:52 | 9: 9:55 | 10: 9:30

Day 371 | October 24, 2010: yoga

I did the YogaWorks Beginners DVD. Truth – I always have to force myself to do yoga. I find it pretty boring. On this day, I put my yoga clothes on as soon as I got up to make sure I would do it! Of course, I felt better after I did, since my body felt so tight, especially my quads.

Week Summary: 18.5 miles

This was a pretty good week. I feel like I am still trying to find a good post-marathon routine, but I will figure that all out soon. I was really happy after the 10 mile run – it encouraged me that I will be able to keep up a higher mileage this fall/winter.

An article to share: Thinking about getting new running shoes? This article says the expensive ones are over-hyped and may not help you at all! The article brings up an interesting point that people are more “less cautious” in new shoes because they trust the new technology of them. Interesting! Have you ever felt overly optimistic about a new pair of shoes?

I know I have – this week! Ha!

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By kilax, October 23, 2010 5:24 am

The November issue of SELF magazine features a “bold, modern logo and update of their design” (quote from the magazine) and I noticed they have renamed some of the sections of their magazine. Do you notice when magazines update their look? I always seem to notice.

Anyway, one of the new sections is called “Diet Insiders” and features two new contributing registered dietians  who “are ready to solve your toughest diet dilemmas.” Honestly, I usually skim over crap like that, but the first question caught my eye!

I’m training for a marathon and eating all the time! How can I adjust my diet after the race to stay slim?

Stay slim? For me it’s “How can I adjust my diet after the race as to not pile on the pounds?” I had a hard time cutting back my eating after our first half marathon, and again after the second (and it didn’t help that I was injured and couldn’t run).

My hunger was different during marathon training than during half marathon training though. For the half marathons, I felt extra hungry throughout most of training and ate A LOT more.  But for the full marathon, it didn’t really hit me until the last week or two, when I was tapering. I ate more throughout, but did not feel that intense hunger.

Either way, if I do not keep my mileage up, I need to cut back on eating, like they are talking about in this article.

And that is really, really hard for me to do.

So my plan is to try to keep my mileage up, and not eat mindlessly. Basically – avoid having to change my eating habits.

Have you ever trained for something that actively affected your hunger? How did you change your eating habits after the event was over?