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By kilax, March 31, 2012 10:24 am

A friend and I often talk about how our therapy sessions are really good, but that we promptly forget most of what was discussed when we leave, and should really start talking notes. I remembered that and took a voice memo on my phone after my session on Thursday, because I wanted to share some thoughts with you. Then I remembered this same friend told me she thinks people can relate to my blog because I write like how I talk. So true… as this is just a transcription of that voice memo (hence all the run-on sentences)!

Some of the things I have been working on with my therapist are so basic, but really things I need to work on. It’s good to have someone focusing on that with me, giving me their undivided attention.

I’ve mentioned before how obsessed I am with my schedule – that I am always looking forward to the future. But recently I’ve really seen how that’s inhibiting me from enjoying the present, so a lot of our focus has been on taking time to breath, noticing what’s going on around you, meditating, being in the present moment. Don’t always be thinking about what’s next, what I’ve got to do next, what’s going on tomorrow, what’s going on in a week… which is really hard for a planner like me who wants to be responsible, but I’m finding out that when I do just enjoy a moment or get lost in it it leaves me feeling so good!

And that’s not to say that I don’t do that now, but that I would like to do it more. When I spend time with friends now, or family, I can zone out, and really focus on them, but I can’t focus on a task at work, a task at home. I can’t sit still, I can’t just enjoy a movie without thinking about something else, so it’s been really good to work on those things.

And hopefully(!!!), as I work on them more it will make me less anxious, and help me accomplish the overall goal, which is to quit eating emotionally, which all my anxiety, and pressure and worry about schedule and other thing as well, not just schedule, make me do. And if I am overeating, I would like it to be because I am enjoying my food, not because I am just trying to numb myself. So, it’s really been interesting to me trying to focus on being in the moment, getting lost in the moment and I was wondering what are some of the things that you get lost in the moment of, maybe on a daily basis or like me, do you struggle to really enjoy things at face value at what they are?

It was really hard not to edit this, but I wanted to purely transcribe it! I tried to do some editing with the punctuation, but I think it kind of breaks it up.

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By kilax, March 30, 2012 12:56 am

Does anyone in your family share the same job/profession? Is your work similar to a family member’s?

My dad and brothers all have car-related jobs – mechanics or parts. My sister is getting her Interior Design degree. I got my degree in Architecture, but my title at work is Interior Designer. I think my mom started school for Interior Design way back in the day? Now she works for the school district.

Bonus Question: Are your parents retired?

Today is my dad’s last day of work! Holla! Go Dad, retiring young!!!

Card designed by my sister!

Mom’s got a few more years left…

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By kilax, March 29, 2012 5:03 am

Along with many other Chicago bloggers, I was offered a personal free entry and ONE free entry to give away for the 13.1 Chicago [half] Marathon® on June 9th. That happens to be my mom’s birthday, and if my mom taught me one thing in life, it’s “say yes to free.” Sorry Mom! Won’t be home for your birthday this year! Instead, I will be running a half marathon in Chicago with 4,999 other runners, many of them bloggers (it seems). 

This is actually a really cool opportunity for me (and you!) to run in the beautiful city of Chicago, and it sounds like this course is going to be neat-o (from here):

The Allstate Life Insurance℠ Chicago 13.1 Marathon® starts and finishes at the Historic South Shore Cultural Center (SSCC) on Chicago’s south side. The SSCC offers beautiful views of both Lake Michigan and the Chicago Skyline and has hosted many notable events, including the wedding reception of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. The 13.1 mile course takes you along the Lake front Path past La Rabida Hospital. After passing the hospital, you will run through Jackson Park, home of the 1893 World Columbian Exposition, the Osaka Japanese Garden, a strolling garden on Wooden Island. You will then pass the Museum of Science & Industry, the only original building remaining from the 1893 Columbian Exposition, and one of the largest science museums in the world. You will then head back to the Lakefront Path to almost 35th Street before heading back south, past the 63rd Street Beach House and finishing at the SSCC. This course is 13.1 miles of perfect Windy City experience.

This race is actually the fourth stop on a eight-city tour across the states. Sign me up for that (for free, too!):

13.1 Marathon®, America’s Half Marathon Series, is the series of half marathons serving some ofAmerica’s top running communities with a stand-alone half marathon for locals to embrace and visitors to experience. The series kicked off the 2012 calendar in Los Angeles with Los Angeles 13.1 Marathon® (January 15) and will follow in beautiful Miami Beach (March 4), New York City (March 24), Chicago (June 9), Boston (September 26), Atlanta (October 7), Dallas (October 26) and Ft. Lauderdale(November 11).

Here are the details for the where and when. Maybe there will be an expo the day before too:

7 a.m., Saturday, June 9 South Shore Cultural Center, 7059 S. South Shore Dr., Chicago, IL 60649

I am excited about this race. It will be my first half marathon in Chicago, and if it is not as hot as last year, I may even try to PR. Maybe. Either way, the medal is frickin’ schweet (I imagine it will say Chicago on it):

Other items of note:

• Gender specific tech shirts (wish I would have read that before I ordered a M)
• 20 party stations along the course
• Bash with live entertainment and refreshments at the end
• Walker friendly course – 3.5 hr time limit (that’s 16 min mile pace)
• Free shuttle service to start

13.1 Chicago [half] Marathon Giveaway Rules

1. One reader will receive one (1) free entry to the 13.1 Chicago [half] Marathon® on June 9th in Chicago, IL, USA.
2. Required to enter the giveaway: tell me why you would like to run this race.  
3. This giveaway is open until 5:00 PM CST on Sunday April 1. I will use random.org to select the winner. I will announce the winner on Monday April 2. 
4. This giveaway is open to all readers. It’s just up to you to get to the race. 

Comments (18)

By kilax, March 28, 2012 2:07 pm

The 5K I am running this Saturday has the most random age group award categories. Check it out:

I’ve seen Top 3 for 5-year and 10-year age groupings, but never top 5, 6 or 4! What even happens after bronze for 3rd? What do you get? Pewter? Tin? Aluminum?

Of course, this is very important to me. Placing in my age group and all.

Not.

Last year this race had 738 participants and I managed to grab 3rd place in my age group with 23:53.

I am doubtful that will happen this year. This race has gotten really popular and capped at 1000 entries. They even opened 50 extra entries for charity.

I just want to run fast.

But I don’t even want to talk about it. I don’t want to jinx it. So… let’s not talk about that. No need for the “good luck”s or “I know you can do it”s because who knows what the day will bring.

Do tell me though, what are the most random age group award categories you have seen?

As a side note, one cool thing about this race is that you can opt of out the technical race tee if you want and get $5 off your registration! So I think this race costs $13. Nice and cheap (it’s in Iowa – where this happened).

Comments (27)

By kilax, March 28, 2012 6:11 am

A few things have been inspiring me to get more dressed up for work lately (of course, keep in mind that my version of “dressed up” may be very different than yours!):

1. Closet Consultation with Erin – Erin came over and reminded me taught me how to dress myself, with clothes I already had! Brilliant! If you are in the Chicagoland area, and are fashion-challenged like me, fill out her Closet Consultation form so she can come help you out!
2. Work Schedule – I work 2-3 days in the office a week, and 2-3 days at home (I work 5 days one week and 4 the next). Being in the office fewer days per week makes it feel less daunting and tiresome to come up with something to wear when I do go in. My clothes feel more “fresh” because I am not wearing them all the time.*
3. Work Morale – Somehow I got this idea in my head that putting effort in to my work outfits would make work more interesting. That turned out to be a bust. Oh well. Points to me for positive thinking. 

Not much variety in my outfits this week, but I like them.  I was particularly proud of the fact that I wore a pink top with a black and white skirt. I have a zillion black and white skirts and used to think I could only wear solid black on top. That got kind of boring.

Okay, but here’s the thing. See item #2 about work schedule. Hardly anyone is in the office when I do go in, and I don’t have many in-person client meetings. I am kind of starting to wonder why the hell I am making an effort to look nice, when I don’t see many people at work. 

And also? Quite a few of the people I do see in the office are wearing jeans. We don’t have a dress code at work. As much as I love wearing jeans on travel days and near the end of the week, it weirds me out to see jeans paired with a polo (or t-shirt! a t-shirt!!!) on a random Tuesday. We’re not a construction office.

Of course, that is not to say that everyone is wearing jeans. Some people wear ties every day. Some women always wear dresses. Favorite coworker always looks fab and I love her style. She is starting a blog and I hope she shares some of her outfits. 

I digress!

The point of this post is, well, I am wondering what the point of dressing up is. For whom am I dressing up?** Am I doing it because it makes me feel better about myself and more professional (it does – kind of like wearing jeans instead of sweatpants on the days I work from home)? Am I doing it because I want other people to think I am “put-together”? Am I doing it to make an impression?

Is it worth it?

Do you all have these deep, deep thoughts (joking) about your wardrobe? Seriously though, do you think about who you will see during the day before you pick what you are going to wear for the day (either to work or not)?

I do know that I am more likely to dress nice when I have a lunch date (or client meeting) then when it’s just a regular old day in the office. 

And it does make me feel better to not look so much like a slob. I wish you guys could see my fashion evolution. When I started working in May of 2007 it was all dress pants and button-downs, but not tucked in! Ha ha ha! Then my boss told me I needed to get some fashion sense (niiiiice). I started wearing pants with blouses in the end of 2008 and that was a big deal for me. Now I am much more adventurous. I hope I do not evolve in to one of those jeans and polos people though. Maybe at home, but not in the office!

*Not in the smell/cleanliness sense, but in the fresh and new fashion sense. Ha ha. 
**Someone please tell me the correct way to say this question and not end it in a preposition and use the correct version of who or whom. I struggle with English. 

Comments (22)

By kilax, March 27, 2012 5:21 pm

Running in the wind makes me angry.*

And doubt myself as a runner. 

Work’s had me second guessing my purpose lately, so I really don’t need anymore doubt in my life. 

That is all. 

*At least taking crazy hair pictures in the wind is fun. (I usually wear my hair up but put it down to show you the crazy wind. My visor almost blew off a few times.)

Comments (20)

By kilax, March 25, 2012 9:53 pm

Monday | March 19, 2012: rest

Tuesday | March 20, 2012: 6 m run (5×5 minutes with 2 minute recovery)

Happy summer! Oops! I mean spring! Tuesday was the first day of spring, but it might as well have been summer. Temps in the upper 70s, great for lunch outside… not for running. Blah blah blah, broken record, blah. 

Tuesday was my 5K simulation run – 5×5 mins at 7:35-7:40 with two minute recoveries. 1 mile warm-up, 1 mile cool-down. In classic Kim-style, I botched the speedwork. Felt strong on the first two intervals (7:31, 7:42), awful and dehydrated with a burning left forefoot on the second two (7:51, 7:40), and just wanted to finish on the last one (7:43). All signs point to… no 5K PR. That is okay. I don’t really deserve it if I can’t work hard for it!

Let me just say though, this did feel like a 5K simulation. Dry mouth, wanted to throw up, burning feet… yes. 

Distance: 6.0 | Start Temp: 78° | End Temp: 75° | Time: 54:34 | Avg Pace: 9:06

Wednesday | March 21, 2012: rest

Thursday | March 22, 2012: 6 m run (easy)

I was supposed to run Wednesday and Thursday, but my Wednesday got messed up and I had to push everything back a day. Ugh. It’s all my fault, by the way. I was a bit of a pissy-pants this week.

Anyway, this run was a bit in the rain, all muggy, and with tired legs and lungs. And what is with the bugs? Yuck! Can’t wait to see what “summer” brings… ha ha!

Distance: 6.0 | Start Temp: 76° | End Temp: 71° | Time: 56:45 | Avg Pace: 9:27

Friday | March 23, 2012: 8 m run (easy)

This has not been a week of easy runs. I started this run in the rain, which felt awesome. Then it stopped raining, and the humidity, and heartburn (I think? Never had it before) and the smelly trees (seriously – why do these trees smell so bad?) made it challenging. What an off week!

Distance: 8.0 | Start Temp: 59° | End Temp: 60° |  Dew Point: 58° | Humidity: 92% | Time: 1:20:25 | Avg Pace: 10:03

Saturday | March 24, 2012: 3.25 + 3 m run (easy)

In the morning I met some Chicagoland bloggers for a fun meetup and run in the city!

When I got back in I fit in three more miles to get to six for the day.

Distance: 3.25 | Temp: 49° | Time: 35:04 | Avg Pace: 10:48
Distance: 3.0 | Temp: 60° |  Time: 26:30 | Avg Pace: 8:50

Sunday | March 25, 2012: 12 m run (2 miles @ HM pace) + 26.5 m bike

Sunday’s workout ended up being… really long. And really fun!

I had 12 miles on the schedule with two ten-minute half marathon pace (8:30) intervals with a 5 minute recovery between. Being genius, I waited to start this long run at the hottest time of the day (I wore sunscreen this week). But! Right before I started my run Erin sent me a text to ask if she should come over for a bike ride. Of course!

So I did a 4 mile warm-up, one 10 minute set at 8:28 pace, then stopped at the house to go to the bathroom. And stopped again during my recovery to take a picture of the world’s Round Lake’s smallest turtle. 

Then, 10 more minutes at 8:22 pace, followed by another bathroom stop, then a few more miles with another bathroom stop… yeah, my stomach was sloshing around and not feeling so great. But at the last stop, Erin was at my house so she rode while I ran my last 4 miles on the portion of the Millennium Trail. The Millennium Trail is so hilly for Illinois. It’s nice to have it nearby as an option, but damn, those hills.

After a popsicle break (foreshadowing: not proper refueling after a 12-mile run) we set out to ride the entire Millennium Trail, which is about 13 miles long. The cool thing is that you can get to it from our house! So, if you forget your helmet, and you are close enough to the house when you remember, you can turn around and get it. Just in case that ever happens to me…

We took a leisurely pace on our bikes (I should mention the trail is mostly crushed limestone). I remember thinking it was windy on the first part of the out and back and that it would be nice to have the wind at our backs on the way back (it wasn’t).

We chatted a lot and stopped a few times. I had to take a picture of a normal sized turtle (thumb included again for reference).

It was really awesome to spend this much time with Erin, because this is basically what we did last summer when we were training for Milwaukee. We did as many of our long runs together as we could… then usually spent time together after the run. And this bike ride felt just like that, complete with me being a bit out of it and slow at the end (just like with our long runs!!!). Yeah. That popsicle, and later on, GU, was NOT enough. We were both really hungry when we got back to the house!

It totally cracks me up that I bike 26.5 miles slower than elites run marathons. Ha ha ha.

Anyway, this ended up being a great day! I love all that one-on-one gab time! Thanks for coming over, Erin!

Also, I should mention that I really like the long runs with fast paces in them. Makes them end quicker, and boosts your confidence when you can do it!

Distance: 12.0 | Start Temp: 76° | End Temp: 64° | Time: 2:04:22 | Avg Pace: 10:22
Bike Distance: 3.0 | Start Temp: 64° | End Temp: 54° |  Time: 2:42:02 | Avg Pace: 9.8 mph

Week Summary: 38.25 miles

Comments (26)

By kilax, March 24, 2012 4:32 pm

This morning I rode the train to the city with two fun bloggers (Bobbi and Katie)

(photo taken on the way back home as they added their new running friends on Facebook)

met up with Erin to walk to “the Bean”

Me, Erin, Bobbi, Katie

met a blogger I knew (Kelly) and two new bloggers (Maggie and Rachael) for a fun 3 mile run, 

Back row: Bobbi, Erin, Rachael, Maggie, Kelly; Front row: Me and Katie

followed by meeting a celebrity blogger (Kelsey) at the expo (totally got her autograph!)

and lunch with everyone plus Sara (minus Erin who had to leave early).

Me, Katie, Sara, Kelsey, Bobbi, Kelly, Rachael, Maggie. Photo credit: Kelly. 

 You know what this means, right? I just added a bunch more asterisks to bloggers I have met on my blogroll! Boo yeah!

Actually, this means I am kind of bummed because there was a big group of us and three hours is hardly enough chat time! Let’s get together again ladies! Maybe next time for an even longer run, with even more bloggers!

Thanks to Chicago Running Bloggers (Maggie) for organizing this meetup! Chicagoland bloggers – follow that blog if you aren’t already! It’s a great way to find local bloggers. 

It’s interesting, I found a lot of these people’s blogs (Kelly, Maggie, Katie, Sara, Kelsey) right in the beginning of 2012, and they are some of my favorite bloggers. They’re just fun to read… and now I know to be around!

Oh! Where does the title fit in to this post?!

I saw these at the expo. And had to have them. 

It’s not a secret that I love orange. And now it’s not a secret that I own a pair of men’s running shoes. 

They are the same make as mine (Asics Gel Cumulus), and they fit and feel great. I should be okay… right? RIGHT? Ha ha ha. 

Seriously, I crave those bright colored running shoes that usually only come in racing flats or Newtons (which I want to try). I love bright colors. And I LOVE orange. LOVE it. 

Do you wish for flashier colors in regular running shoes? Would you ever buy a pair of running shoes that were made for the opposite sex?

Comments (18)

By kilax, March 23, 2012 6:38 am

What are your best and worst neighbor stories?

This sign I saw yesterday during my run inspired me to ask this question.

Ha! I don’t experience that problem (sure, the grass in our yard is all discolored from dog crap, but whatever), but the sign still made me laugh.

Warmer temps in Chicagoland are reminding me about our biggest gripe with our neighbors – noise level. We live in a townhome, and we are very close to our neighbors and they get loud. I love having the windows open to hear the birds and wildlife, but I cannot stand hearing people screaming and yelling. Yep. I am an old lady. That’s probably our “worst.” That I will talk about here anyway.

Our best neighbor story is our neighbors that we were close with for a few years before they moved to New Mexico.We would share meals, run errands for each other, they would watch Data. We miss them!

The winner of the Gone for a Run Clock Sign is Susan! Susan, please send me your mailiing address (to kilax@ilaxstudio.com) and I will send it your way.

I have another giveaway for next week. You can probably guess what it is if you read any other Chicagoland based bloggers…

Comments (21)

By kilax, March 22, 2012 12:18 pm

I love working from home, but when the weather is so nice and I am sitting in front of the open window, it’s totally torturous not to be outside. *

And then! THEN! A group of runners goes by! 10 of them! JEALOUS! (creepy stalker photo of 6 of them below)

As Gingerfoxxx says, First World Problems (which I abbreviated FWP in the post title).

Maybe next time I see a large group like this I will sprint outside and join them. “Oh hai, I’m Kim…”

Really though, I could run at home during lunch, but I found that when I did that, I was thinking about stupid work crap and it was ruining my run and creating a bad vibe that I associated with my neighborhood. When I run during lunch at the office, I am with other people so my mind is able to wander. But then there is the whole “make it back to the office on time” stress.

Not really sure where I am going with this blog post… oh, here we go!

If you work from home, are you able to separate your work life from your private life?

It comes and goes for me. I don’t leave my computer or tablet on when it’s non-business hours, and I have gotten really good about not checking my smart phone for messages (also during non-business hours). But I am unable to relax completely during lunch, and I have to turn everything off and put it away when I am done working so I don’t think about it.**

*But it’s a thousand times better than being in the office.
**But, it’s still a thousand times better than being in the office.