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By kilax, July 12, 2011 9:27 pm

It seems the trail has changed a bit since the last time I road it home from the train:

They’re calling Monday’s storm a “derecho“* – a short, violent windstorm that pounded the Chicago area with hurricane-force winds. The funny thing is, Steven missed the entire storm because he was in the shower! From what I heard from other people, it sounds like it was pretty freaky – the storm picked things up and moved them around. Our garbage and recycling cans were the only things moved around. Luckily(?), our neighborhood is too young to have huge tree damage like on the trail. The thing that cracks me up is that our bird feeders always survive these windstorms. What is up with that?

Anyway, when I rode my bike home today I was pleasantly surprised to see the light outside our garage was on, and to hear the AC unit running. Our power came back – an about 16 hours earlier than ComEd said it would! Now I just hope power is restored earlier than predicted for all of my friends in Lake County who still don’t have any.

*I found that phrase in the google reader preview for this article, but don’t see it anywhere in the actual article – strange!

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By kilax, July 11, 2011 4:34 pm

I am not so good at selecting birthday and holiday gifts for Steven. His birthday is three days before Christmas, and as much as I try all year to come up with good ideas, I usually fail at one gift. This year I bought him a super cool birthday gift (he got to drive/race a formula car on a track for 15 minutes) and a super LAME Christmas gift (this solar gadget charger). I was way off the mark with that one.

So why I am talking about this today? There was a weird windstorm throughout Chicagoland this morning, and we are one of the lucky half a million ComEd customers without power. Steven drove around all morning trying to find a place to work (he normally works from home), but every place with power and internet was packed – and there were so many trees and power lines down it took forever to get anywhere. So he went back home, and has been using his iPhone to work. But that battery doesn’t last long…

It dawned on me this afternoon that he could be using that silly solar gadget charger I bought him (photo above). Hurrah! Useless gift is now somewhat useful. I hope it works well – I hear we may not get power back for a few days. Yay… I can’t wait to try to sleep without the AC on*. Did I mention it’s in the 90s today?!

*I shouldn’t complain. I haven’t even been home yet today to deal with it. Legitimate complaning will resume tomorrow. Ha! What am I talking about? I lived in Rome an entire summer without AC and it gets HOT there. This is not big deal. Right? RIGHT?!?!!

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By kilax, July 11, 2011 5:00 am

Whoa! Check out these awesome strawberries from our garden!

Ha, I am totally KIDDING! We did not plant strawberries this year. These strawberries are actually from Stade’s Farm – a local farm where you can pick your own produce (and participate in other various events). Steven and I headed out to the farm on Friday with his dad and brother, to pick fresh strawberries to make a pie. It was the last day they were allowing people to pick their own strawberries, but we still found a bunch of good ones.

I saw surprised by how miniature the strawberries were compared to the ones you get in the store. I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but I was.

And they were so sweet and good – perfect for the pie!

I really enjoyed picking them, despite being out in the blazing sun!

And we only used half of what we picked for the pie – time to figure out something else to do with them! Shouldn’t be too hard!

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By kilax, July 10, 2011 6:13 pm

Day 624 | July 4, 2011: cross

We’ll call water skiing crosstraining, right? Even if I didn’t spend that much time vertical? I spent a lot of time trying to get vertical!

Day 625 | July 5, 2011: 4 m run

I met Erin and her work running group for a 4-mile lunch run. I knew if I ran with other people it would force me to run faster in the heat and it worked! We averaged around 9:10-9:20 minute miles (ignore that third mile split – it includes walking around a water fountain and other walking to meet the group – I wasn’t sure when to stop and start the garmin). It was fun to chat with Erin and her friends from work (with whom I ran the relay). It went by too fast though! I wanted to chat more.

Erin was asking me how skiing went and I told her how challenging/fun it was. She asked if I was sore and I told her no. Well, I wasn’t at that point, but I sure was by nighttime! My forearms were so sore it hurt to open the door to my car!

Distance: 4.0 | Temp: high 80s |  Time: 37:37 | Avg Pace: 9:24 | 1: 9:08 | 2: 9:11 | 3: 9:57 | 4: 9:18

Day 626 | July 6, 2011: rest

Day 627 | July 7, 2011: 4 m run + strength + hills (4 m run)

I woke up early in the am and ran at Rollins Savanna with some guys who I know would make me run fast. It worked! We ran negative splits and averaged 9:09 miles (which is very slow for them). We started running at 5:15 and it was only 58°! Craziness! I had not run when it had been that cool in a LONG time. It felt so so good. I was actually cold when I left and cold the rest of the day until…

My strength training session with Brian. This is #9! Can’t believe we have done that many! We did a kettlebell workout. It felt kind of easy, so I am not sure if I was half assing it, or if I just like kettlebells that much. The core work was not easy. Some boat-pose type stuff and twisting planks. Lots of work left to do there.

Brian mentioned he had free time but it was too hot to do anything outside. I said, “No it’s not! Let’s go for a run!” and took Brian on the hilly course by my house. Well, only he ran ahead (which I told him to) and I slogged behind. My legs were SO dead. And my left heel has been bothering me, so I was really midfoot striking, probably too much. But, I got it done. With super POSITIVE splits. Yay. I was thinking on the way back, how many damn hills are on this small course? There are eight frickin’ hills, and most of the course is up and down. It’s only flat in the beginning. Brian said he found it challenging and thinks I should encourage other running club members to run it for hill work. That makes me feel less crazy for thinking it’s so hard.

Distance: 4.0 | Start Temp: 58° |  End Temp: Start Temp: 57° | Time: 36:45 | Avg Pace: 9:09 | 1: 9:27 | 2: 9:09 | 3: 9:04 | 4: 8:56
Distance: 4.0 | Temp: high 70s |  Time: 41:50 | Avg Pace: 10:27 | 1: 9:06 | 2: 10:14 | 3: 11:10 | 4: 11:18

Day 628 | July 8, 2011: cross

I rented a pedal boat with Steven and his dad and brother at the Independence Grove Forest Preserve. My quads were SO SORE from the day before, that pedaling around the lake for about 40 minutes really took its toll!

It was a beautiful day though! I loved being out on the water… even though I wanted to be IN it!

Day 629 | July 9, 2011: Grayslake 5K

I ran the Grayslake 5K with my brother-in-law Andrew and he got a huge new PR!

Day 630 | July 10, 2011: 9 m run

I met Bobbi (and a few running club folks) at 6:00 am at Independence Grove to beat the heat for our long run. Nice try – it was already humid and in the high 70s at that point! I have kind of been ignoring how hot it’s getting, and just making sure to bring lots of water, or run by water fountains (I drank 40 oz. on this run, and took one GU at 4 miles). We took this 9-miler nice and easy, just the way I wanted to! I was still completely drenched in sweat by the end though. So gross.

It was really nice to catch up with Bobbi. We just talk away on our runs. I think I may have to do a few more longs runs with her – we are both training for October 2nd marathons!

Distance: 9.0 | Time: 1:40:40 | Avg Pace: 11:09

Week Summary: 24.1 miles

This was kind of a different week for me – doing some very different cross training, one two-a-day and not much strength training. Still a very fun week though! I didn’t do one run alone – and I liked that!

I feel like I should note that my left heel has been bugging me since mid last week. I think it might be from wearing flats when I was in Louisville. Either way, it is affecting the way I walk and run. I need to be careful with that. Also, my quads have felt so shredded since Friday morning. I hope that goes away soon – I can barely walk down the stairs! And I was just getting to be able to walk down the stairs like a normal person (or as Steven says “normal for me”) again!

On a more fun note – SUPER drool – I saw the new Asics Gel Cumulus 13s online this week – the pink ones are SO cute!!!

I totally want them. But I am going to be responsible and stock up on the 12s now that they are much cheaper on Amazon. But if anyone wants to get me shoes for my birthday, I wear size 12B!

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By kilax, July 9, 2011 9:19 pm

This morning was the Grayslake 5K – a race my running club (the Grayslake Running Club) has a pretty big turnout for:

There were around 20-25 club members running, along with many of their family members – even I brought one – Andrew, my brother-in-law, who was visiting from Kansas City.

Our goal on this sunny (low 80s?), mostly flat course, was to break the 30:00 minute 5K barrier and get a new PR for Andrew. How did we do?

Mile 1: 9:30
Mile 2: 9:15
Mile 3: 8:54
Mile 3.1: 00:37
Garmin Time: 28:17
Official Chip Time: 28:14

I’d say that was a success! And negative splits, nonetheless!!!

I enjoyed running with Andrew. I think he really pushed himself and could run a 5K even faster, soon, if he wants! Thanks for running with me Andrew, and hanging around while I farted around with the club.

And it was really fun to run a 5K and not feel like I was going to keel over in the end. I enjoyed just running a race for fun. Sometimes I feel like people lose focus on just running for fun, and get too hung up on getting PRs and placing in their age group. At least, I feel that way, now that I am friends with more members from the club and see all their constant Facebook posts about running, paces, preparing for races, racing weekend after weekend after weekend… that is just TOO much for me! I am actually getting running-talk overloaded… can you believe it? I never thought it was possible, but I think it is!

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By kilax, July 7, 2011 5:42 pm

Last week, Kandi commented on my Skirts for the summer post that most of her skirts are black and white. Me too, Kandi. Me too. I counted – out of my 13 skirts, 7 of them are black and white, 1 is all black, and 1 is black and red. And most of my dresses are black too. I hope that doesn’t say anything about my personality!

What color do you have the most of hanging up in your closet? Now, which color do you wear the most?

I noticed most of my work tops are black, gray or white (and green seemed to be the most represented color):

but I think I wear purple the most, and yes black.

In my workout clothes, I have mostly blue and pink:

and I definitely wear pink the most! That is for sure.

For street clothes, it seems I have a lot of reds, pinks and oranges:

but really, I usually pick one shirt and wear it all weekend, unless I am going to be with the same people all weekend, or get sweaty. I usually wear the same two teal shirts over and over that I love.

Orange is my favorite color, but I don’t have a lot of orange clothes!

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By kilax, July 5, 2011 12:31 pm

I’ve injured myself the last two Fourth of July holidays* – my wrist in 2009 and my leg in 2010. I approached this Fourth of July holiday weekend with caution – I was going to be careful and the curse would stop. Well, it did! But only because it was passed on to my dad. He managed to hit himself in the head with a pole driver while he was fixing my grandma’s dock. Here he is  holding the pole driver (yes, I made him pose**):

The pole driver cut the top of his head and it resulted in a lot of blood all over his face. Being my dad (or, being male?) he kept working on the dock and ignored the bleeding until he has so much blood on his face that he couldn’t see.

Anyway (he’s fine), that happened on the 2nd, and since the curse was lifted, it left me two whole days to be reckless. And this time my new form of danger was water skis:

Apparently, at some point on Saturday I mentioned that I would like to try water skiing. Come Monday morning my mother brought it up and really wanted me to try it. My sister’s boyfriend, Will, was encouraging, but nearly everyone else thought it was a death wish, so of course, I had to go for it. My mom kept saying “We did it all the time as kids! We never got hurt – the worst was just a little enema now and then.” Yeah. She wasn’t lying about THAT.

But I did try it and managed to leave uninjured! Of course, I had NO idea what I was doing. Will gave me some pointers, but I wasn’t getting it. I kept trying over and over and couldn’t get up (note: these skis are from the 70s or 80s – not sure if that makes a difference). My aunt went by in her boat (she used to be in a ski club) and gave me some tips, and I finally got up after about 10 tries.

Once I got up I was like “What the eff do I do now?!” and would hold on for a bit then let go of the rope (before I killed myself – it felt like we were going really fast). Next time, I will conquer it. I think I will make Erin try it when she comes to Guttenberg this summer too. Muah ha ha.

My “skiing” (really, attempted skiing) inspired my mother to try (she used to ski) but she mostly ended up doing water ski aerobics:

Our entire weekend was really great. We spent Saturday on the beach in the full hot sun

and went to a parade in Guttenberg in the evening. On Sunday we went to a flea market in Marquette, IA (meh) and went back to the beach (it was overcast, but still hot), then played horseshoes and bags in the evening while my mom cooked us an awesome dinner.

Monday was another parade in Garnavillo, skiing and a bit of boating. It was another beautiful day with full sun and I did NOT want to leave! We didn’t get home until nearly 11:00 pm. Oops.

I can’t wait to go back!

How was your Fourth of July weekend?

*We spend the fourth in Guttenberg, IA, on the Mississippi River, where my family has some homes/cabins.
**Hey dad, I got the other pics from mom of your bandage… should I have posted those? HA HA HA.

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By kilax, July 3, 2011 11:15 pm

Day 617 | June 27, 2011: 4 m run

I wasn’t planning on running Monday evening (a nap sounded nice), but when we got to our hotel, my coworker asked if I was going to workout, and I though, why not?!

There is a path that runs right along the river of downtown Louisville, so I headed west on that. It was actually kind of industrial, but still a nice run.

Distance: 4.0 | Temp: mid 80s |  Time: 39:25 | Avg Pace: 9:50 | 1: 9:47 | 2: 9:47 | 3: 9:49 | 4: 9:59

Day 618 | June 28, 2011: .9 m run + 12 m bike + .9 m run

On Tuesday I ran to the bike rental place, rented a bike and rode 12 miles, then ran back to the hotel. It was a total blast!

Day 619 | June 29, 2011: rest

I finally took that nap I wanted on Monday!

Day 620 | June 30, 2011: 5.5 m run

I couldn’t get on an earlier flight to leave Louisville, so I decided to check out another park, and got a nice 5.5 mile run in. I am suprised I did so well running in the heat (and on the hills) in Louisville. Is it less humid there or am I getting used to the heat?!

Distance: 5.5 | Temp: low 90s |  Time: 1:01:15 | Avg Pace: 11:08 | 1: 11:24 | 2: 11:28 | 3: 10:28 | 4: 11:17 | 5: 11:18 | 6: 5:17

Day 621 | July 1, 2011: strength

I had what felt like a very early morning session with Brian (our 8th session already!). My flight was delayed the night before, then sat on the runway for an hour when it finally landed… anyway, I was tired in the am. But I think I did pretty well with my workout! It was core-intensive – lots of walking in plank pose and move a kettlebell, boat-pose type stuff with weights on a chair, walking push-ups, squats, leg lifts, etc.

Day 622 | July 2, 2011: 7 m run

I intended to do my long run on Saturday but went to bed too late to wake up early (we drove to IA on Friday night and were up until past 2:00 am). So I started at 9:00 am in the full sun – a beautiful day to be on the river – but a hot day for a run (check out my awesome positive splits)! My dad rode his bike with me, and we ran/rode downtown so he could get a key made, then we ran/rode back and headed out for the river.

Distance: 7.0 | Temp: high 70s – low 80s |  Time: 1:12:01 | Avg Pace: 10:16 | 1: 9:39 | 2: 9:49 | 3: 10:13 | 4: 10:30 | 5: 10:23 | 6: 10:32 | 7: 10:50

Day 623 | July 3, 2011: 12.15 m run

I woke up a bit earlier on Sunday and got my 12 in. It was overcast and cooler (but I still drank about 40 oz. of water). Yay! And my dad rode with me again. We ran/rode to the downtown area, then around the two islands in Guttenberg. We saw A LOT of turtles. It was nice to run with my dad. I usually don’t get to spend much time with him. It’s funny – people are really friendly here, so he had a lot of people teasing him about how he should be running, or could he keep up on the bike, or was he too old to ride the bike, etc.

Distance: 12.15 | Temp: high 60s – low 70s |  Time: 2:07:49 | Avg Pace: 10:31 | 1: 10:13 | 2: 10:30 | 3: 10:43 | 4: 10:44 | 5: 10:52 | 6: 10:32 | 7: 10:32 | 8: 10:30 | 9: 10:38 | 10: 10:13 | 11: 10:39 | 12: 10:10 | 13: 1:25

Week Summary: 30.45 miles

I find it amusing that this has been one of my highest mileage weeks in awhile, but that I didn’t do any running in Illinois. It was all in Kentucky or Iowa! I guess I like to run while I travel?

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By kilax, July 1, 2011 7:41 am

Do you like to sleep with the sheets tucked in around your feet, or loose?

I didn’t sleep very well in the hotel at first this week, and then I realized it was because the sheets were tucked in so tight I felt stuck in bed, like I couldn’t move. Apparently I like to be loose and free. So I ripped all the sheets out from the end and slept with them kind of crumpled up on top of me. Much better.