Comments (21)

By kilax, June 5, 2012 7:04 am

This little fella came home with me from the forest preserve last night (and I found one on me while I was there):

Totally not a tick, right? Just a little creepy spider? 

After our picnic dinner I convinced Steven to go off the trails with me, in to the tall grass, so I could show him the stream I crossed through a few weeks ago. Sigh. Steven is probably never going to step foot with me inside a forest preserve again if I keep that up. Time to stay on the trails (when I am with Steven).

Have you ever had a tick on you? How did you remove it?

It was heavily wooded where I grew up, and I basically roamed the woods all by myself from sunrise to sunset (<– a bit of an exaggeration). I did have a tick on me once when I was very little. I doubt I noticed it, I was so small. All I remember is my mom burning a match then sticking in on the back of the tick (which was on my head, of course) to get it off. I am pretty sure that is not how they say to remove them now?

And just for you Dad – how many ticks have you had on you?

Enough tick talk. Steven suggested we have a picnic, see the geesers*, and go on a walk, and it was the perfect evening. We noticed there was a “do not feed the wildlife” sign when we entered the preserve… but we had brought two slices of bread from home for the geese and were really excited to feed them. Since there was a forest preserve cop there we had to feed them in stealth mode. But they made it obvious we were feeding them:

Oh, silly geesers. 

*Steven and I have a lot of made up words. We call baby geese geesers (and sometimes goslings**).
**Hey Girl. 

Comments (8)

By kilax, June 4, 2012 6:44 pm

Highlight of the Week: My running club won the Elgin Valley Fox Trot this past Saturday! We got a club trophy and every team member gets a water bottle. Neat! Also… riding to Dairy Dream on Monday with Steven was a lot of fun. Bike ride to eat food that negates calories burned during ride? Count me in!

Monday | May 28, 2012: 15.5 m bike (with Steven)
Loc: Lakewood FP to Dairy Dream and back, Temp: 88°/92°, Time: 2:01:52, Pace: 7.6 avg, Difficulty: tiring
Tuesday | May 29, 2012: 7 m run (last 4 with GRC friends)
Loc: Rollins Savanna FP, Temp: 64°/61°, Time: 1:04:27, Pace: 9:13 avg, Difficulty: easy/medium
Wednesday | May 30, 2012: strength class
Strength: hurdle bars, medicine balls and dumbbells, Difficulty: hard
Thursday | May 31, 2012: strength + 3 m run
Strength: kettlebells, Difficulty: medium/hard
Loc: Neighborhood, Temp: 47°/46°, Time: 26:35, Pace: 8:51 avg, Difficulty: medium
Friday | June 1, 2012: 8 m run
Loc: Neighborhood, Temp: 49°/49°, Time: 1:21:15, Pace: 10:09, Difficulty: easy
Saturday | June 2, 2012: 2.25 m walk (Chicago Veggie Pride Parade)
Loc: Grant Park, Time: 23:51, Pace: 53:15 avg
Sunday | June 3, 2012: rest

Lessons learned:

• If I am running before sunrise at a forest preserve I need to wear glasses to keep the bugs out of my eyes.
• It may be the season to always carry a bottle, no matter the distance of the run. I had super dry mouth Tuesday morning.
• Don’t be worried about being the slow runner in a running club challenge. You may still help the team!

Reminders for next week:

• BIKE GLOVES BIKE GLOVES BIKE GLOVES! Don’t forget them! Put them with your bike!

Comments (20)

By kilax, June 4, 2012 6:44 am

(and re-learned)

• I don’t have the same roller coaster tolerance I did as a kid. Gina and I were all gung-ho about the rollies, and fervently recalled our youthful resilience to them… but that is no longer the case today. Each one made me a bit more queasy than the one before (we rode six coasters total). I definitely stumbled out of Six Flags and it was not due to any alcohol consumption.

• I really enjoy talking to people about FakeMeats.com… but boy, was that exhausting. We had a constant flow of people at our booth at the Chicago Veggie Pride Parade on Saturday from 11:00-3:30ish. I was talking so much my throat started to hurt. Most of the time we had a huge line of people waiting to talk to us…

• People will wait in really long lines to get free samples and free reusable grocery bags

• I have some truly amazing friends. Gina came all the way from New York City to spend the entire day Saturday helping with the Fake Meats booth at the parade. Erin came to the booth to say hi but ended up helping me put bags together while I tried to talk to her but didn’t really have a chance since our table was so busy. Our friends Eric and Abbie (and their daughter Alice) helped us set up the table, talk to people, apply Fake Meats tattoos, and Eric even made a 100 mile round trip to get more product.

• My time with Gina is never long enough. This whirlwind jam-packed weekend was a lot of fun but I always feel really bummed out when our time together is over. Especially this time.

• Internet time and exercising are the first things to go when I am exhausted. And I am. I am not even sure why I am posting this. I am struggling to find the time and interest in blogging and reading blogs right now.

Comments (2)

By kilax, June 3, 2012 7:35 pm

It’s less than one week until the Allstate Life Insurance Chicago 13.1 Marathon and Karhu 5K on June 9th! A lot of bloggers are going to be running the half marathon. If you are unable to do a half marathon, I have one coupon to give away for the Karhu 5K which takes place at the South Shore Cultural Center at 7:40 am this Saturday!

Karhu 5K Giveaway Rules

1. One reader will receive a free entry to the Chicago Karhu 5K on June 9. 
2. Required to enter the giveaway: leave a comment telling me you want to enter.
3. This giveaway is open until 5:00 PM CST on Monday June 4.  I will announce the winner on Tuesday June 5. 
4. This giveaway is open to anyone who can make it to Chicago on Saturday for the 5K! 

Allstate Life Insurance has teamed up with non-profit organization Give Your Sole to donate moderately used athletic shoes to benefit homeless shelters and missions in race markets.  All shoes collected in Chicago will be donated to Breakthrough, an organization that provides shelter, meals and other services to homeless men, women and children within the city.

I don’t know about you guys, but I often don’t know what to do with my old athletic shoes. I usually wait until the one time a year that my work teams up with Nike to donate shoes for re-purposing them in to tracks and other things. And then I bring in a ton of shoes. I am not sure if my shoes are moderately used enough for someone else to be using them, but I really like that idea! I know I have some shoes to bring to packet pickup this week! Here are some more details on the program:

• Allstate Life Insurance Company and non-profit organization Give Your Sole are giving half marathon runners the chance to leave a unique footprint on local communities as part of a shoe donation program around Allstate Life Insurance ^SM 13.1 Marathon® Series races.

• Beginning with the Chicago 13.1 Marathon on June 9, race participants, spectators and local residents can donate moderately used athletic shoes to benefit homeless shelters and missions in race markets.  All shoes collected in Chicago will be donated to Breakthrough, an organization that provides shelter, meals and other services to homeless men, women and children within the city.

• In addition to the Finish Line Festival, race participants and local residents will be invited to donate shoes at 2012 race packet pick-up events leading up to the race.  Participating Allstate® agents will assist with collecting donations by inviting customers to drop off shoes at their local agencies. In Chicago, donations will also be collected at participating Fleet Feet Sports store locations (N. Lincoln Ave. and N. Wells St. in Chicago, and at E. Schiller St. in Elmhurst) until June 10.

• To celebrate the program launch in their hometown of Chicago on June 9, Allstate Life Insurance Company has teamed up with Chicago Bears’ 2012 first-round draft pick Shea McClellin to interact with runners and encourage donations at the Allstate Life Insurance^SM Chicago 13.1 Marathon® Finish Line Festival, held at the South Shore Cultural Center.