Comments (31)

By kilax, October 6, 2010 7:00 am

Ugh, I do not need people at work pointing out to me how “hot” it is supposed to be on Sunday. Yes. I am aware. Yes, I would prefer not to run in the heat. BUT there is nothing I can do about.

Except sit here and be annoyed that people seem to find some joy in telling me how “hot” it is supposed to be.

Seriously? 72° is not that “hot” compared to what I ran in this summer. Where are these people getting their forecast? One person said 80° to me. This screenshot above is from weather.com.

Do you freak out about the weather before a race or other event?

We had an outdoor wedding, and I remember it rained the entire week before and I was a bit concerned… but the weather turned out perfect!

I do obsessively check the forecast for races and other events, but I know there is nothing I can do about it. So I don’t freak out about it. It is what it is. And I am like a chameleon baby, versatile and ready for anything.

As long as I am not running in the pouring rain this Sunday, I should be happy. I just need to find a visor at the expo or something. Help me remember that Erin!

And let’s look on the bright side, “hot” weather gives me all sorts of excuses for running “slower”!

Comments (24)

By kilax, October 6, 2010 5:08 am

I have a very weird skill of remembering exact dates of events. For example, when Steven says “when did we go skiing in Colorado?” I start to think of significant dates nearby and instantly remember that it was on Valentine’s Day/President’s Day weekend in February of 2009.

It works that way with any other event – I remember significant* dates around it and picture a calendar in my head until I figure it out.

Steven, however, is not very good at remembering dates, so I am in charge of birthdays/anniversaries/etc. I just read an interesting article about a very small study that showed people remember birthdays closest to their own. This is an example of the “self-reference effect” in memory, which makes memories you relate to easier to remember.

I think this might be true for Steven. He always seems to remember his friend’s/family’s birthdays in months around his (as well as remembering the one friend who has a birthday on Halloween).

Are you good at remembering dates (birthdays, events, etc.)? Do you think you are more likely to remember those closest to your own? Do you think this skill even matters?

Seriously, I do like being able to recall things, but having so much on information on my website, I can look up almost anything there too! And you can see most of your friends’ birthdays on Facebook… so… is there even a point in remembering things?

Speaking of remembering things, today is my nephew’s 6th birthday and my parent’s 31st wedding anniversary! Happy Birthday Nicholas (Nicky)! Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Here’s a picture of Steven with our nephew Nicky. Aww, isn’t Steven great with kids? (???)

And my parents…

Alright mom and dad, new goal – take more photos of you two! Where one of you, ahem, is not making faces. Most of the photos I have of you two look like this:

or this:

*I usually use “significant” dates of holidays, birthday and our engagement as milestones.

Comments (33)

By kilax, October 5, 2010 5:00 pm

Some Chicago Marathon logistics:

If you want to track me while I am running the Chicago Marathon this Sunday the 10th, click here and enter my bib number: 16784.

I am not sure how many text updates it will send to your phone, but I will warn you that I will probably be running from around* 8:00 am to 1:00 pm, so the messages might be spread out.

My goal is to run between 11:00-11:15 minute miles, and hopefully finish under 5:00 hours. If I don’t, I won’t be upset.

If you are going to be at the race, you can look for me around those pace groups (maybe 10:45-11:30).

I am hoping to be wearing this outfit:

With these letters. If they don’t work, I’ll use electrical tape.

I have a feeling it’s going to be too hot for that shirt though. So I might wear this and just put “KIM” on it:

If it is freakishly cool I will wear this:

I am doubtful about that! Highs in the low 70s this Sunday. BOO on that! Yesterday everyone at work was excitably telling me it’s supposed to warm up this weekend. Yeah. Not so excited.

I do know it will probably be cool at the start, so I did get a $3 Salvation Army jacket I can throw away:

I’ll post what I decide to wear this Friday or Saturday, but I wanted to get this post up, in case you are too busy to look at it then!

If you are going to the expo, I think Erin and I will be there at some time on Saturday. We are still getting that figured out.

Some Chicago Marathon thoughts:

I am SO SO SO SO SO excited for the race. I am going out there to have fun, and I have a feeling I will find it. The only thing stressing me out is potentially meeting up with a few blogger friends and OF COURSE, making sure I see Steven during the race! I told Erin last week that I was more worried about seeing Steven while running than actually finishing the race!

I do wonder if I have some sub-conscious stress though. Last night I got an awful migraine (pounding headache, sensitivity to light, throwing up) and I wonder if it’s from stress? I don’t feel stressed!

Any marathon tips for me?

*The race officially starts at 7:30 am, but who knows when I will cross the start line!

Comments (26)

By kilax, October 4, 2010 5:48 am

Toonces the Driving Cat

Most mornings, Data sits by the garage door crying to go outside. So today, I let him go play in the Datsun for about 10 minutes while I made my lunch, thinking that would make him happy.

Nope. He still sat crying at the door after I brought him in the house. So obviously, he was saying he wanted to go with us to the train station!

Oops… maybe not? I recognize that look of terror when I see it!

Steven said Data sat on the dash, in front of the steering wheel, the entire way home. Good thing there are not many drivers out at 5:30 am!

If you have pets, do they mind going on car rides?

Data does the deep “I’m dying” cat moan when we put him in the cat carrier in the car. This morning, he was loose (well, in my lap) and it was more of a “WTF are you doing?!” meow.

When I was in high school, my friend got a newborn kitten (the mother cat was killed in a car accident or something) and I told my friend we should train it to ride in the car from a young age, and we did! The cat liked the car. My friend would come meet me for lunch at school (she had graduated) and bring the cat. Fun times.

Comments (12)

By kilax, October 3, 2010 9:39 am

My next race is the Chicago Marathon on October 10.

Day 344 | September 27, 2010: strength

Strength + Stretch (done during my lunch break):

Day 345 | September 28, 2010: 5 m run

Every good run begins with a warm-up… of walking the cat!

I ran 5 miles in our neighborhood while Steven biked behind me. It was fun to have Steven to chat with (although, I should have been keeping my mouth closed so bugs didn’t fly in). The run felt nice and easy (okay, okay, I had slight left ankle irritation for a little bit) and I was able to speed it up for the last mile.

Aww, too bad that picture turned out blurry!

Distance: 5.0 | Start Temp: 63° | End Temp: 58° | Time: 51:02 | Avg Pace: 10:12 | 1: 10:29 | 2: 10:22 | 3: 10:25 | 4: 10:10 | 5: 9:33

Day 346 | September 29, 2010: rest

Day 347 | September 30, 2010: 5 m run

Another 5-miler in our neighborhood, with Steven following me on his bike. It was an easy, uneventful run. Well, except for the Golden Retriever that jumped up on me at .3 miles in to the run. Annoying.

I felt like I could have kept running. I haven’t had that feeling all summer after my runs. With each one, I felt like I gave it my all and was done. I think it’s these cooler temps making me feel this way – I LOVE IT!

Note to self – wear longer shirt with those shorts!

Distance: 5.0 | Start Temp: 63° | End Temp: 59° | Time: 52:36 | Avg Pace: 10:31 | 1: 10:39 | 2: 10:39 | 3: 10:48 | 4: 10:27 | 5: 10:01

Day 348 | October 1, 2010: rest

Day 349 | October 2, 2010: 8.5 m run

I’ll be honest – I did NOT want to get out of bed for this run. I had a nasty cold and was all congested. Going out in the mid 40 temps for a run did not seem like a good idea.

But I bundled up and headed out to Grant Woods Forest Preserve. Normally, I would have shed the jacket in the first few minutes, but I forced myself to keep it on.

It ended up being a nice run.  A bit windy, but nice. I could have kept going (which at this point, is a good sign).

During my run, I was thinking about how I usually do my long runs on prairie trails, and next week, I’ll be running in the city, with thousands of other people. How different that will be!

Run stats: I walked one minute at mile 4 and took a Strawberry Banana GU. I wore the Brooks Adrenaline 10s sans inserts. I drank less than 16 ounces of water (crazy!).

Distance: 8.5 | Start Temp: 45° | End Temp: 46° | Time: 1:30:18 | Avg Pace: 10:37 | 1: 10:56 | 2: 10:49 | 3: 10:53 | 4: 10:36 | 5: 11:02 | 6: 10:39 | 7: 10:36 | 8: 9:54 | 9: 4:50

Day 350 | October 3, 2010: yoga

I did the YogaWorks Beginners DVD, and felt less flexible than I did a week earlier (the last time I did the DVD). And my neck was really tight again.

Week Summary: 18.5 miles

Well, marathon training is almost over. And it’s time to get cheesy. After my 8-miler on Saturday I thought about the first 8-miler I did during marathon training, with Erin, on my birthday (July 31). It was such a big deal to hit 8 miles at that point. And now 8 miles is a breeze. It’s amazing.

If you are new to my blog, here is a bit of history – I was supposed to start marathon training in mid June, but three stress fractures set me back, and I had to start over with running again in July, after a month+ off from running. I added 1.5 miles a week until I was back up to the training plan – in the end of August! (Here is the plan I followed).

While I didn’t really “start at 0” and go up to 20 miles, it DID feel like I was starting over and I am amazed my body could do it! Amazed and proud.

Okay, enough cheesiness! I think for this last week before the race, I will really focus on my short runs and yoga. Not doing any yoga this week kind of threw me off. I may throw strength training in there, but maybe not.

One more week until the Chicago Marathon!

Comments (29)

By kilax, October 2, 2010 5:42 am

At my fastest 10K

Watch out! There may be a lot of Chicago Marathon inspired posts this week! I will definitely post my race outfit and my bib number so you can watch for me or track me via text messaging.

Every once in awhile, I chat with another train passenger who gets off at the same stop as me. I’ll call him Bob. I’m not sure why Bob and I started chatting, but we found out we both run, so that is usually what we talk about.

On Wednesday Bob asked me if I have any races coming up. I told him I’m running Chicago in two weekends. I asked Bob if he done any races lately. Yes, he said, he ran a 5K in Palatine last weekend. I asked him how it went.

“I won.”

“What? You won the whole race”?

“Yes.”

Wow. His time was 18:39 (6:01 pace). He told me he was shooting for under 18:00. He seemed disappointed.

He asked me what my time goal is for Chicago.

“Uh… I just want to finish without any injuries,” I stuttered. “Under 5 hours would be nice though!”

Bob is so nice and encouraging. He knows about my stress fractures. He knows my running is not my best right now. But I still felt like saying it:

“It won’t be my best race. I am sure I will run a faster one in the future.”

Gah. He obviously is just excited that I am running again, and there I was, feeling like I needed to be running faster.

I am just happy to be running. At all.

And that conversation reminded me of it.

I might be “fast” someday again. I might not be. If I can still run, I will be happy.

To me, right now, speed is not everything.

What are your fitness and exercise goals? Speed? Endurance? Strength? Flexibility? Just doing it?

Comments (30)

By kilax, October 1, 2010 5:10 am

Have you tried video chat on your computer? Why or why not? If yes, do you like it?

I tried video chat for the first time when I was in DC in May. My tiny netbook has a camera in it, so it was easy for me and Steven to talk to each other (using gchat).

I used it again (once) when Steven was in Kansas City over the past few weeks, then we used it on Saturday to talk to his dad and brother, and later, my sister.

This is how we greeted Steven’s dad and brother:

We have dual monitors set up, so I had the chat open in one screen, and Darth Vader and Yoda soundboards on the other screen, so I could press the buttons to make Darth Vader and Yoda noises when they answered the video call. Ha ha ha. I think they liked it.

Don’t worry, I didn’t wear that mask the whole time, and I don’t wear it around the house or anything…

Oh look, there’s Steven!

Yeah, yeah, I am a dork.

Like I said last week, I really like video chat, especially compared to talking on the phone, so I am going to try to convince more people to do it with me. I just feel less distracted than talking on the phone. And it feels more personal! Okay, and you can be really goofy.