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By kilax, May 9, 2012 12:28 pm

This week’s challenge: We’ve seen your ugly race pictures. But I want to see your favorite race picture! And an explanation of why. It can be ugly or pretty, solo or with a friend or group … whatever reason, as long as it’s your favorite.

My favorite race picture was easy to choose. It’s from the first year I ran the Wisconsin Half Marathon (2009) with Steven. It was my first half marathon, I was in awesome shape, and I felt great. I finished that 13.1 and thought “gimme more!”

I look at this image (and the rest from that race) quite often for inspiration. It reminds me of the time when I was beginning to fall in love with long distance running, taking great care of myself, and spending a lot of time running with Steven (prepping for the race).

Wait! Why isn’t Steven in the photo? Let me tell you… I had to go to the bathroom since the race started, and at mile 10 I saw a bathroom and finally went. Steven continued ahead and I caught up with him (in 1.5 miles). We finished our first half running 9:00 minute average miles, which was a big deal for us!

Anyway, there are A LOT of race photos I love, especially of those I have run with friends, those that hold PRs, my special NYC moment… but this is the one I look back to again and again for inspiration (and hope that I can be in that good of shape again someday).

Do you find yourself looking back to a certain older photo of yourself for inspiration?

Comments (33)

By kilax, May 8, 2012 10:45 am

When taking laundry out of the dryer Sunday night, I noticed that one of my pink running socks was missing. After a quick search I wondered if my sock somehow ended up with my brother-in-law Andrew’s workout clothes – I was nice enough to wash them for him after the race. So I sent Andrew a text:

Let me know if a pink sock of mine somehow ended up with your stuff 🙂

To which his response was:

You will receive my demands in 24 hours. I suggest you meet them… or you’ll get your precious sock back in… less than ideal condition

Of course, I panicked, and immediately called on a close friend for help:

That was no luck. Terrorist Andrew responded:

I don’t take orders from flying rats

Sigh. I tried a plea from the sock’s twin. Okay, he was mocking a bit:

Again. No luck. I decided to wait the 24 hours for the demands. In the meantime, the sock was threatened with seam rippers and, gasp(!), scissors.

The demands seem simple to start – I must provide the race photos from Saturday. I asked for assurance that my sock was safe before sending the photos and here is what I got this morning:

What the heck?! He does not look happy or safe! He has a gag in his mouth and the search bar on the screen says “Help me, Kim, you’re my only hope!”

Terrorist Andrew ensures me that he is safe – as he has “clearly not been cut or bleached and he’s gagged…”

Sigh. I don’t know what to do. Should I send the photos? What will his next demand be?!?!?!

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Comments (42)

By kilax, May 7, 2012 6:32 am

The Wisconsin Half Marathon was this past Saturday! It was my fourth year running it – the first two years with Steven, last year with Erin, and this year, with my brother-in-law Andrew!

This race holds a special place in my heart, as it was the first half marathon I ever ran in 2009, and it held my 1:57:47 PR for almost two years! I was really excited Andrew wanted to run it as his first half. 

While carb-loading at Red Robin on Friday night, we discussed Andrew’s goals for his first half:

1. Don’t punch myself in the face or get punched in the face
2. Finish the race
3. Run the entire race
4. Finish the race running a 10:00mm pace (goal finish time 2:11:00)
5. Make Kim puke at the end

What can I say? Andrew’s goal list was a bit unique. He met all of the goals except one. Hopefully you can guess which one it was. 

Kenosha is close enough to our home that we can drive up there race morning, but it does mean waking up at 4:30! That’s okay for me – it’s when I normally get up for work, and I was so excited about running Andrew’s first half with him!

It rained on the way up to the race, but it stopped about 35 minutes prior to race start. It was nice and cool (53°) but humid! I wore a tank and felt sweat dripping down my arms right away.

We got in to the start line 15 minutes early and eventually ran in to Bobbi and Marcia! (Also, at packet pick-up, I randomly ran in to Megan – I actually recognized her baby before her!)

Then we were off! We saw Steven and his dad at mile 1:

And again at mile 4:

The first 4+ miles go through downtown and residential neighborhood. The buildings and homes block most of the wind and trees provide some shade (shade was not an issue). After the first few miles you head north and do an out and back for maybe 5 miles along Lake Michigan, up to Carthage College. It’s a beautiful part of the course, but completely open to wind, has no shade and is full of potholes. Oh! And puddles on Saturday. And let’s not forget the small hills. 

The wind was pushing at us from the north, but we kept our pace running in to it, knowing it would be at our backs on the way back out. It definitely felt cooler, but I honestly started to warm up about 6 miles in and I felt great. We actually picked up the pace right before mile 9, when we were heading back in to the downtown/residential area. Our second half was definitely a bit faster than our first! We pushed it for the last 4 miles, running progressively faster! A bit faster than Andrew’s goal pace, but he was doing so well!

We saw Steven and his dad right before the finish, the picked up the pace to run it in!

Our official time was 2:06:11, a 9:37 pace! Andrew did so well! He finished, without walking, and well under a 10:00 minute mile pace! And we were able to run faster at the end. I think he ran a very smart race! 

I was really pleased too – the past two years I’ve had less than stellar races on this course. This year it was a total breeze for me and I felt great at the end! I’m so happy I got to run Andrew’s first half with him. Maybe he will want to come back next year and do it again! I know I’ll be out there. I have been doing this race since the inaugural year and can’t stop now!

Comments (13)

By kilax, May 6, 2012 7:34 pm

Highlight of the Week: Running my brother-in-law’s first half marathon with him on Saturday!

Monday | April 30, 2012: rest
Tuesday | May 1, 2012: 10 m run (8 w/Sara, Bobbi & GRCer Carrie, 4 w/Katie and GRCer Chris)
Loc: Half Day FP, Temp: 62°, Time: 1:42:58, Pace: 10:18 avg, Difficulty: easy/humid
Wednesday | May 2, 2012: strength class
Strength: dumbbell circuit, Difficulty: medium
Thursday | May 3, 2012: rest
Friday | May 4, 2012: strength
Strength: bars – arms focus, Difficulty: hard
Saturday | May 5, 2012: 13.2 m run (Wisconsin Half Marathon with BiL Andrew)
Loc: Kenosha, WI, Temp: 53°/50°, Time: 2:06:16, Pace: 9:34 avg, Difficulty: easy
Sunday | May 6, 2012: rest

Lessons learned:

• Sleep > running (sometimes). I could not get up at 3:30 am to run on Wednesday or Thursday (surprise, surprise). I didn’t want to get up early (5:30) on Friday. Or Sunday (5:30). I would be lying if I said I was not disappointed my mileage was so low this week, but I really needed my sleep. And I was too busy the rest of those days to work out. Oh well!

Comments (14)

By kilax, May 4, 2012 10:40 pm

This week’s theme: What is your favorite running “thing”? Something that you either HAVE to have for every run or race, or something you don’t always have or use, but look forward to eating/using/wearing before, during or after a run. Maybe it completely changed your running, or is something you just really like. It can be something you wear, something you eat, something you use (in reality or digitally), etc, but it has to be a thing. 

My favorite running thing is visors. I have been running for a several years, but didn’t get a visor until the 2010 Chicago Marathon expo… then I wore it the next day! I love that it keeps the sun out of my eyes/off my face, my hair out of my face, and most importantly, the rain out of my eyes. I didn’t realize what an essential tool the visor is in running in the rain until Erin told me about it. It helps so much in keeping your face dry when it’s raining, so you are not constantly wiping your face off and struggling to see where you are going. It makes running in the rain so much easier!

I wear a visor for most runs, except recent 5Ks, because I didn’t want any extra drag. HA HA HA.  

Do you wear a visor or hat when you workout outside?

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By kilax, May 4, 2012 7:15 am

The winner of the Starry Pendant Giveaway is Amy! Amy, please email me your mailing address (kilax@ilaxstudio.com) and I will send it your way!

Comments (15)

By kilax, May 1, 2012 6:11 am

When my mom and sister came out here to go shopping for new work clothes, I took them to the outlet mall in Wisconsin so we would have a huge variety of stores to look at for both of them. Okay, and because we were looking for deals.

Anyway, my sister and I went in to Christopher & Banks and grabbed a ton of stuff for my mom to try on. We probably spent 20 minutes browsing then another 25 minutes with my mom trying on clothes.

We were about to check out and leave when my mom and sister noticed a rack with a bunch of cute things in Christina’s size. So she tried on clothes. Then I tried on some stuff. Then we checked out. Then we noticed more stuff. So we tried on more stuff. And checked out again.

Ha ha. I have no idea how long we were there, but thankfully, we were the only customers and the lady at the register did not mind our multiple transactions!

My sister and I were both really surprised that Christopher & Banks had clothes we liked. It was supposed to be our little secret that we got stuff there. Sorry, Christina! I ended up with jeggings and a red sweater (22 and 24 here). I could go on about how owning jeggings makes me feel very weird, but whatever.

ANYWAY!

My sister pointed out this really cute Starry Pendant to me, so I picked up one to giveaway!

Starry Pendant Giveaway Rules

1. One reader will receive a Starry Pendant necklace, seen in the photo above. 
2. Required to enter the giveaway: tell me if you were ever surprised to find things you liked in a certain store OR if there are certain stores you avoid when shopping for clothes (because they do not fit your style).
3. This giveaway is open until 5:00 PM CST on Thursday May 3.  I will announce the winner on Friday May 4. 
4. This giveaway is open to all readers.