Comments (24)

By kilax, June 30, 2012 5:40 am

Emily asked on my Thursday post if I take photos while running with my phone or a real camera. For the longest time, I carried an actual camera with me on long runs. I just strapped it on my hydration belt. I even (stupidly) had it on me during the 2010 Chicago Marathon. I gave Steven a broken camera to use. That was smart (not).

I had my phone with me during the Chicago Marathon too. In my bra. It got ruined by my salty sweet. Smart (not).

After awhile I learned that I should focus on running and not taking pictures, so I stopped carrying the camera. Smart (for realz).

Also, I ditched the belt for a handheld, and got a phone that took sort of nice pictures. Then in February I got the iPhone. And I carry it with me on every single run. In my bra. But I learned my lesson. It goes in a plastic bag. Smart (I learned!).

That’s my phone not a funny nipple. I miss my long nails.

Some people have told me they think it’s odd that I keep my phone in my bra. Whatevs. It’s like nature’s secret pocket. A lot of things can go in there. Wow. I am going to stop right now. Smart (for realz, again).

Do you carry your phone with you when you run? Why or why not?

I do it so I can call for help if something stupid happens to me, because I was doing something stupid. Me not always so smart.

Comments (14)

By kilax, June 29, 2012 7:08 am

Did you keep a hand-written journal when you were growing up? If yes, do you still have them?

I sure did. But my journals were so embarrassing, and I was so stupid, I threw them all away, except for one. I kind of hated high school and don’t have any desire to remember it!

The journal I did keep was the travel journal from when my dad and I went to Spain in  2002 (with some of my Spanish class and my awesome Spanish teacher). I keep that one because I didn’t blog then, and it’s a really good reminder of all the fun stuff we did.

Up for the sunrise in Torremolinos

I loved Spain! We did one of those 10-day tours where you hit up a bunch of different cities. We saw so much! We didn’t make it to Barcelona on that trip, but I went there in 2006 when I lived in Rome. I hope I get to go to Spain with Steven someday!

Comments (28)

By kilax, June 28, 2012 4:38 pm

This is so exciting!

Have you ever not run a race you signed up for? Why?

I have missed a full marathon and 5K because of injury, a half marathon because of budget issues, and a half marathon because of a family emergency. That half marathon was the Chicago Half Marathon. And I have wanted to run it ever since. And guess what? I get to this year (for free)!!!

And… one of you gets to run the half marathon for free as well! I have one entry to give away!

Let’s talk details…

• The race is on Sunday September 9, 2012 at 7:00 am.  
• The race starts and finishes in Jackson Park, just south of the Museum of Science and Industry (course map here).
• There will be a race expo at Navy Pier the Friday and Saturday before the race.
• There is a maximum 13-minute mile pace for the race.
• You’ll get a tech tee and a medal!
• On-course entertainment
• 10 on-course aid stations
• Post race party with beer and pizza
• If you did this race and the Chicago 13.1 Marathon you qualify for the Windy City Challenge and get a special medal!

 And more details to enter:

Chicago Half Marathon Giveaway Rules

1. One reader will receive a free entry to the Chicago Half Marathon. 
2. Required to enter the giveaway: tell me your favorite post race/run food.
3. For a bonus extra entry: Like ilaxSTUDIO on Facebook (let me know if you do).
4. This giveaway is open until 5:00 PM CST on Monday July 2.  I will announce the winner on Tuesday July 3. 
5. This giveaway is open to anyone who can make it to the race on September 9th!. 

Comments (18)

By kilax, June 28, 2012 7:24 am

On Tuesday and/or Thursday mornings when I work from home I like to meet my running club friends at the Rollins Savanna – an open prairie forest preserve with a single 3.5 mile loop (with 1.5 mile add-on loop to it) on crushed limestone. We usually run the 3.5 mile loop then I hurry home to start work on time.

I love meeting my friends to run in this forest preserve, but there are definitely some first world problems happening there:

1. The forest preserve is too beautiful. I keep interrupting my run to stop and take photographs. I just can’t take decent ones when I am running, so I HAVE to stop.

FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS

2. The wildlife is cute and distracting. And again I stop. Damn. This forest preserve makes me into a lazy runner! Yeah! It’s not me! It’s this place! Also, the deer block the path. Rude deer. (photo below not representative of deer being rude, but of them being cute)

FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS

3. I get there to run so early that the toilets with running water are not open yet… and I have to run 2 miles to get to the open pit toilets. If I even make it. I won’t get in to that.

FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS

4. There is no shade and the trail feels like it is never ending. You can see the starting point building from a lot of spots on the path… so cruel.

FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS

5. It leaves me all dusty.

FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS

Alright, enough fake complaining. I love running there (when it’s not windy, too sunny, or when I want to run fast). But I love fake complaining too! And I really just wanted to share my gorgeous picture of the sunrise this morning.

What’s your FWP today?

Previous FWP posts: #1, #2, #3

Comments (28)

By kilax, June 27, 2012 5:00 am

There are a few people I describe to Steven as being “up for anything.” Not that we are going to rush out and get tattoos while skydiving in a foreign country together, but they are very go with the flow, easy to hang out with. You don’t have to have plans with them to have a good time. You get together and have fun just being together… no matter what you are doing. You say to them, “want to do xyz?” and they are up for trying anything out. And if you aren’t doing something, just hanging out together is enough – it’s not boring. Planning things with them is easy. You enjoy your time together…

Conversations with a few bloggers yesterday made me think of this type of person. It seems there are particular instances where you want to be with someone who is up for anything:

1. When you are exploring something new
2. When you have plans and they don’t turn out to be what you expect
3. When you are deciding on dinner
4. When you are lost
5. When you are in a big group of people
6. When you are doing anything with another person…

I am not saying this person is a pushover or that they cannot make decisions. I think what I am really saying is that they are not crabby and are fun to be around. They’re not so set in what they think they like that they are adverse to new things. They don’t get upset when something doesn’t go according to plan. They go with the flow.

You know, I can visualise this person in my head, but describing them sure is hard. Maybe you know what I mean? Maybe I am cray cray?

The point of all this is (was there a point?) that I feel lucky to have people like this in my life. I won’t list out everyone like that, because I am bound to forget someone… and not list certain people on purpose. The first person I always think of when I think of this type of person is my mom.

My mom is up for anything. And will do anything for anyone. Total mom trait. That is my excuse for why I don’t have it.

Yeah, I love these people but I am not always one. There are certain restaurants I do not like going to and will make a stink about going there. There are certain activities I whine about doing. But… usually just to my husband! So my friends don’t see it as much. Ha ha ha. Or do they? Uh oh…

Who are your “up for anything” people? Are you up for anything?

Comments (21)

By kilax, June 26, 2012 6:40 pm

• I am a Race Ambassador for the ZOOMA Women’s Half Marathon and 5K in Lake Geneva, WI on October 20! This is a race I have wanted to do for years, but it has never worked out with my marathon schedule… until now (since I am not running a marathon this year, ha ha)! It’s a hilly out-and-back course and I am looking forward to the challenge! If you are interested in doing the race, use coupon code GLAMB8 for $10 off the half marathon and $5 off the 5K (register here). Prices increase on August 5th! Did I mention the half marathon finishers get a necklace? Schweet!

• I mentioned that Mizuno is running the schweet Mezamashii Run project right now, and are giving out hundreds of shoes. Mizuno contacted me and asked that I encourage all of you to apply for free shoes! Just go to this site and click on “Apply for invite.” My contact said there is not much competition now to get in and that tons of shoes are still being given away!
• We did not make it to Kettle Moraine this weekend to check out the course for the 9/15  North Face Endurance 50K.  My heart really tells me to sign up for this race, but my head tells me to wait until prices increase on 8/15 (and hope that the race does not sell out). The truth is, my weekends have been really busy lately, and I have not been as diligent about getting my runs in. I need to make sure I still have my endurance, so I am going to check out the training schedule below, while running some trails and hills and hilly trails:

ST = Strength. I started with this plan and modified it to fit me. The plan will be very loosely followed. I will take at least one rest day a week, even though it isn’t marked as such. 

Comments (19)

By kilax, June 26, 2012 12:31 pm

Despite the campsite being “mosquito-free”* I still managed to come home with two mosquito bites. This is much better than the time I had so many bites that my butt looked like cottage cheese through my pants, because as much as you try to discreetly scratch your butt, yeah… it’s not really happening.

I’ve always been a scratcher (and picker, unfortunately). I cannot leave an itchy spot (or scab) alone. Sigh. I remember when I was a kid, and my mom would say to me “Quit picking your mosquito bites or you’ll never be a leg model!”

Isn’t that a funny thing to say? I wonder if her mom said that to her. But my mom was right. I have scars all over my legs from bites as a kid.

And to this day, I still scratch my bites. Sigh. I go the band-aid route as often as possible. Luckily I only have two bites to cover right now, because adults don’t look as cute as kids when they are covered in band-aids.

And luckily, work was so hectic today that I chewed off most of my fingernails! Great! No more scratching… because I can’t!

Am I the only one who has not learned self control when it comes to scratching mosquito bites?

Ha! I actually know a few fellow scratchers/pickers out there… but I am not going to call them out.

*No one said that, I am not sure why I used quotation marks.

Comments (25)

By kilax, June 25, 2012 6:50 am

Our first ever camping trip (together as a couple) was a success! We arrived at Yellowstone Lake State Park in southern Wisconsin just after noon on Saturday and left just before noon on Sunday.

One of the neat things about this particular state park (aside from the huge lake and all the hiking trails) is that they have bat houses all around the park to encourage bats to live there and eat all the mosquitos! Everyone we were camping with was saying this is one of the more enjoyable state parks because you do not have to worry so much about the mosquitoes.* 

So who is this “everyone” I speak of? I didn’t mention it to you guys before I left, but this was actually an organized camping trip with the Madison Area Vegetarian Meetup Group! A few months ago Steven reached out to the group to offer a FakeMeats.com promotion, and the organizer suggested that Fake Meats donate some food to this camping trip… and come along as well! Steven asked me and I said “hells to the yes.”**

Here’s the funny thing – we had never met anyone in this group before. So we were essentially going to a 24-hour event with 30-40 people we didn’t know! BUT! Three vegan meals (and snacks) were included. And I had been wanting to try camping for so long, so I was excited about going. 

Would you be up for going on a camping trip with a group of people you have never met before (and I don’t mean other bloggers that you have read about before)?

We were some of the first people to get to the campground on Saturday (we had a huge area reserved just for our group). So after some introductions to new friends and yummy vegan wraps we decided to set up our tent.

Here’s the thing – Steven bought this tent a long time ago (maybe 2004?) and we have never used it. He saw that it was on sale for a great price, knew we wanted to go camping some day, so he made the (very inexpensive purchase). It has been sitting in our garage since we bought it, and all week I was worried something was going to be wrong with it when we tried to set it up! But it went up perfectly. As we were setting it up, more people started to arrive, and they were über impressed with our raised (blow-up) bed tent with the front patio:

The tent set-up was the “hardest” part of the day! After that it was games,

a late vegan lunch,

hiking,

lots of talks with new friends, dinner (including Fake Meats soy curls and veggie burgers!),

watching the bats come out of their houses, talking around the campfire, vegan s’mores

and star-gazing. 

We slept comfortably in our tent, although I did have climb over Steven to trek to the bathroom a few times!

In the morning we had a vegan breakfast,

packed up the tent (we got it all back in – SUCCESS!!!),

checked out the beach,

then drove the 2.5 hours back home. 

On the way home we both commented on how much we enjoyed the trip and that we would like to try camping again very soon!

I think quite a few things made it so much fun:

1. Everyone in the meetup group was really cool. I would be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about what it would be like it we didn’t “click” with anyone in the group. But we did. We even exchanged numbers with a few people! And I met one person from my hometown. 
2. I didn’t have to think about the food! The meals were already planned out and coordinated by one of the meetup members. And I could eat any of it! Vegan blueberry muffins? Don’t mind if I do!
3. The weather was decent. It was a bit humid and warm out during the day but we actually got chilly at night (which I like). 
4. We were within decent distance of an outhouse
5. We didn’t forget to pack anything major. 

*Awesome news for me because they eat me up.
**Okay, I think it was in the very early spring and it was quite a ways away but I said “At least then we will get to go camping!”

Comments (5)

By kilax, June 24, 2012 5:48 pm

Highlight of the Week: Hiking at a state park in Wisconsin with Steven and new friends!

Monday | June 18, 2012: rest
Tuesday | June 19, 2012: 6 m run (mid 4 with GRCers)
Loc: Rollins Savanna, Temp: 76°/76°, Time: 1:01:07, Pace: 10:11 avg, Difficulty: easy
Wednesday | June 20, 2012: strength class + 3 m run (w/GRCers (including Bobbi!))
Strength: kettlebells and step, Difficulty: medium
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 89°/88°, Time: 30:42, Pace: 10:14 avg, Difficulty: easy
Thursday | June 21, 2012:5 m run
Loc: neighborhood Temp: 77°/79°, Time: 52:04, Pace: 10:24 avg, Difficulty: medium 
Friday | June 22, 2012: strength
Strength: weighted bars, Difficulty: medium/hard
Saturday | June 23, 2012: 3.4 m hike
Loc: Yellowstone Lake State Park
Sunday | June 24, 2012: rest

Lessons learned:

• Apparently, strength workouts are harder when it’s super hot out. BUT! I can run in the heat.  Uh… when I find the time. 

Comments (6)

By kilax, June 23, 2012 9:55 am

The title says it all.