Comments (22)

By kilax, July 18, 2012 3:30 pm

I think the heat has finally caught up with me. It was in the mid 90s when I ran yesterday afternoon. My stomach felt more and more queasy during the run. After that, I felt like I could not regulate my temperature. We went to a store in the evening, and the extreme cold of the store made me feel sick. I almost waited outside in the heat! 

All of this back and forth from hot to cold is wearing me down! I have noticed after hot runs I need to sit outside for awhile before I can handle the AC indoors. And then I go from being too hot inside to too cold. My skin is always hot to the touch. Wah wah wah. 

Is anyone else having a hard time dealing with the hot to cold to hot transitions?

I have a lot of headache/migraine triggers, and temperature swings is one of them. I woke up feeling absolutely awful this morning – pounding heat, queasy, dizzy, blurred vision. All signs pointed to migraine. Thankfully I feel better now, but I am just frustrated that I have no control over this. Sure, I could turn off the AC in my house so I did not have to deal with going from hot to cold, but then I would feel awful indoors!

Comments (28)

By kilax, July 17, 2012 6:42 am

Yesterday I went from this:

(bigger, but older pic here)

to this: 

to this:

and finally, this:

I think Gina was reading my mind with my early birthday gifts this year. She got me the new book about Scott Jurek, and a BibFOLIO. I thought maybe Steven had given her some hints about things I had been asking for, but nope, she just knows me that well!

I first saw BibFOLIOs at an expo I went to with Gina. I wanted to buy one but had already bought a few things in another booth and decided not to spend anymore.

What have you seen at a race expo and really wanted to get but told yourself no?

I have have entered a few blog giveaways for BibFOLIOs but never won. I wanted one because I was running out of room on my closet wall, where I was displaying all of my bibs and a photo from each race. My last few race bibs were just sitting in a stack on my dresser.

It was nice being able to see all the race bibs at once, but I couldn’t really show them to anyone… it’s kind of awkward to ask people to come in to your closet to see something! Especially when my closet is normally a disaster.

So I took all the bibs down last night and put them in the BibFOLIO. I put the photos on the back of each bib, so they are still all together. And I put the BibFOLIO downstairs where people can actually see  it!

Now it just feels really weird not to have them all up in my closet anymore. What should I put on that wall now?

Comments (15)

By kilax, July 16, 2012 5:50 pm

… smile because it happened!

It was perfect timing when I saw this on Facebook on Saturday:

(It’s disupted whether or not this is from Dr. Seuss or annoymous)

I was in NYC with my friends (Gina, Steve and their son, Luca) last Friday through this morning. I always have an amazing time when I see them, then I come home all depressed. Gina and I were even talking about how looking forward to our visits can be more happy than the visits themselves because the visit feel like a sad countdown – “only one more day here,” etc.

How pathetic are we?! But it’s the truth. 

I saw this and thought “No more! I’ll be a big girl now and be grateful for the time we DO have together!” Okay, and it helped that they booked tickets while I was there to come out here in August. So this morning was “See you in three weeks!” Rather than “Sniff sniff…bawl…”

Do you tend to feel bummed out when events are over?

I remember feeling that way after my first marathon! And a few other races. And our wedding. And coming back to work after being at the river. 

And in case you are interested, here are a few pictures from my weekend in NYC! I still have a 5K recap to write too! Check out Gina’s right now!

Comments (13)

By kilax, July 15, 2012 11:12 pm

Highlight of the Week: Running with my NYC friends! And especially running and pushing Luca in the jogging stroller.   

Monday | July 9, 2012: strength
Strength: dumbbells and plyo, Difficulty: medium 
Tuesday | July 10, 2012: 8 m run (3-8 w/GRC)
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 68°/67°, Time: 1:23:56, Pace: 10:30 avg, Difficulty: medium
Wednesday | July 11, 2012: strength class
Strength: weighted bars, Difficulty: easy
Thursday | July 12, 2012: 5 m run
Loc: neighborhood, Temp: 79°/76°, Time: 49:18, Pace: 9:51 avg, Difficulty: easy 
Friday | July 13, 2012: rest (really, a ton of walking in NYC)
Saturday | July 14, 2012: 2 m run (with Gina + fam) (lots of walking in NYC)
Loc: Astoria, NYC, Temp: 77°/80°, Time: 26:44, Pace: 13:21 avg, Difficulty: easy
Sunday | July 15, 2012: 4.7 m run (includes 5K (1 m + 3.2 m + .5 m)
Loc: Astoria, NYC, Temp: 78°/80°

Lessons learned:

• A heavy exercise weekend will have me tired well in to the next week (re: last weekend, not this one).
• I seem to be less likely to get my runs in on vacation if I am NOT signed up for something. Note to self: make up damn mind about 50K. 

Comments (11)

By kilax, July 14, 2012 8:52 am

Here are our Crazy Tan Line Contest Entrants!

Kierstan, Kelly and Lauren

Maggie, Emily and Matt

Erin and Kandi

Thank you to everyone who entered! I loved seeing all of your crazy, unique tan lines and hearing how you got them! I hope to do more contests like this in the future. Any ideas for the next contest?

And even though I support crazy tan lines, don’t forget your sunscreen, folks!

According to random.org the winner is Kierstan! Kierstan, please email me (kilax@ilaxstudio.com) your choice of prize (Nathan Handheld, Road ID Gift Card, Gu 24-Pack or Runner’s World subscription) and we will work out the details. 

Guess who helped me write this post? Luca!!!

Luca doesn’t mind how smelly I am after a run. Aww. 

Comments (22)

By kilax, July 13, 2012 3:43 am

Have you ever been stung by a bee?

Super boring question, but I  never have, so I am curious. Steven actually recently told me this horror story from his childhood where he was attached and stung by a lot of bees at once. When they were picking all the stingers out, they found another bee flying around in his shirt. SCARY!

Also scary? What comes up when you google “stung by bees.” So you get this picture instead:

It’s National French Fry Day, folks. Don’t let me down; eat some fries. We had two kinds of fries last night at Red Robin. And I plan to get fries at my favorite place in NYC today (which is actually the third point in the article I lined to!)…

Comments (19)

By kilax, July 11, 2012 6:13 am

This ended up being long, but I promise there is some good stuff in here!

All about ilaxSTUDIO

• Don’t forget to enter the Crazy Tan Lines Contest/Giveaway for a chance to win a prize of your choice! Entries are due Friday the 13th by 5:00 pm cst. It’s okay if your tan is not “exercise” related – I love a crazy tan no matter how you got it!
• On Monday someone from Runner’s World contacted me about potentially using photos of mine and Steven’s from the Corn Maze 5K (2011, 2010) for the Races+Places section of the October issue. Fun! I hope they use one.
• If you do not already “like” ilaxSTUDIO on Facebook, you can here! I post a bit more there… ha ha. Maybe that is a reason not to like the page.

All about ZOOMA

• I wrote a post about body image and how I got in to running for ZOOMA this week. Check it out here!
• The training kickoff for the ZOOMA Great Lakes training is next Thursday the 19th from 6:30-8:00 at Fleet Feet Chicago (1620 N Wells). RSVP to come! There will be yoga, massages and fooooooood.
• You can meet the other ZOOMA Great Lakes Ambassadors in this post. I’ve met a few of the ambassadors and am super excited about meeting the rest:  Amy of SecondCityRandomness.wordpress.com, Courtney of RunCourtRun.com, Marcia of MarciasHealthySlice.com, Kimberly of OutsideMyHead.com, Jess of RunWithJess.com, Laima of Women’s Endurance Gear, Meghan of The Perfect Compilation Tape, Bobbi of ZeroTo26Point2.blogspot.com, and Maggie of MagMileRunner.com.
• Don’t forget to use code GLAMB8 for $10 off the half marathon and $5 off the 5K!
• Another blogger friend, Kelly the Culinarian, just registered! Yay!

All about FakeMeats.com

• Like FakeMeats.com on Facebook if you don’t already! I am a Facebook admin for Fake Meats, which means I post lots of fun pictures, like this one…

Fake Meat “Chicken” Shish Kabobs

• And we are starting a fun new contest on Facebook – Fake Meats in Famous Places. We are posting photos of Fake Meats in Famous places (obvious) and asking a trivia question. A winner will randomly be selected from someone with the correct (or a correct) answer and win the Fake Meats in the photo! Today’s photo is below. Look at Fake Meats on Facebook later for the question!

• If you want to help take some Fake Meats in Famous places photos, let me know and I will send you some Fake Meats! We’ll credit your name on Facebook when we post your picture!

Phew. I need a breather from all these links. Here is a picture of the grill master. Just kidding! I just hold the utensils and food.

All about smartphones

• I’ve been playing Zynga’s Swipeout sometimes on my phone. It’s like fruit ninja, but you are killing zombies instead of fruit. I don’t quit understand how the coins add up, or what the object of the game is… but it’s fun.
• Another interesting game that Steven plays is Temple Run. You are being chased by monkeys and have to run, jump, slide under things, and collect coins.
• I really love the PicFrame app for making fun collages. And it has a ton of settings to change things up. Check it out!

• Erin told me about Foap, an app where you can try to sell your smartphone images as stock photos. I doubt any of mine will ever sell, but I have uploaded a few! After you upload them, they review them and may or may not accept them. I was surprised they did not accept my sunrise/sunset photos. I wonder if they will accept this one I took last night (below). Note: if you use this app, turn off email notifications for ratings and new followers – I woke up to 130 emails Tuesday morning from Foap.

Random Random Random

• Check out and like my trainer’s Facebook page – Essential Fitness LLC. He posts good articles and videos and pictures from class. I bet you wanted to see me jumping on to a step with a kettlebell? No?
• The Girl Scouts asked me to tell you about their Cookie Classic 5K on September 8th in Grant Park (in Chicago). Every participant gets a t-shirt and a box of cookies! NOM.
• And lastly, a good infographic on how to foam roll like a pro.

Yay! You made it to the end!

Comments (20)

By kilax, July 10, 2012 6:48 am

Have you seen that movie Into the Wild* based on the book of the same title? If not, maybe don’t read the next paragraph because I am going to give away the ending.

In the movie, the main character, Christopher McCandless (played by Emile Hirsch), graduates from college, abandons his possessions and gives away his life savings, then hitchhikes across the United States (and Mexico) and eventually in to Alaska to live in the wilderness. He doesn’t tell his family that he has left or where he is going. Along his travels, he meets a lot of people and forms relationships with them, but it set on going to Alaska to live in the wilderness on his own. He arrives and lives there for a few months until he comes to the conclusion that true happiness can only be found when shared with others. He wants to return home but he is unable to cross a river to leave and is trapped. He accidentally eats poisonous plants and dies.  Updated: he dies from starvation.

I remember watching this movie and being really annoyed by McCandles character. Why did he insist on secluding himself? Why didn’t he tell his family? Why didn’t he want to have any relationships in his life? I’m sure these are all things you are meant to think about.

But the thing I think about the most after seeing this movie (years later), is that quote – “happiness [is] only real when shared.”

Is that true? I consider myself to be a very independent person, and happy to do things on my own, yet…

• Sometimes just taking a break to have a silly conversation with a coworker makes my day, and bring me out of a dumpy mood.
• I quit therapy last week, because I realized I was avoiding sharing issues with my friends to try to be more positive…. but it was really just making me more negative in the long run. I’ve since been sharing things with my close friends and feeling better. I didn’t need the therapy for that**.
• I really struggled living in a foreign country on my own (Rome, summer 2006 – I stayed after my classmates left when spring semester ended). I craved interaction, a good friend, someone. I knew something was wrong when I went to visit a classmate and London and was crying when I left. I made friends while I was there, and spent every night with my German nonna, but it wasn’t enough. I wish I could go back now, that I am stronger. Ha ha. And go back with Steven! 
• Sometimes running with friends is the only thing getting me out the door (although I do usually love running alone, it is a treat to be with someone else).

These examples are more my interpretation of that quote. It’s not that I believe you are not happy when you are doing something by yourself, or if you never tell anyone about it.  I have gone on many adventures alone and loved them. But I have learned that I really do benefit from human interaction. And I probably would not do well living in seclusion.

How do you interpret the quote? Does it have any truth for you?

*Or maybe read the book? I’ve only seen the film.
** I do need it for my food issues but that part was not working out.

Comments (32)

By kilax, July 9, 2012 6:48 am

Awhile ago, Erin and I decided to spend this Saturday together (and our husbands conveniently planned to work on the project car together that same day!). We didn’t have any set plans figured out, so on Friday I put together a bike ride idea to send to Erin. I hit send, then refreshed my inbox, and got a proposed bike ride route from Erin! Ha ha. Some of our routes were even the same! Great minds think alike!

We ended up combining our two rides for a fun tour of four (five?) trails with some planned (and not planned!) stops.

Click to see larger

Not Planned:

Lemonade stand on a trail/road intersection. Not planned but delicious and absolutely necessary. The stand appeared to be run by a brother/sister team. I commend them for getting along. And being so polite and cute. 

Not Planned:

Red-Winged Blackbird Habitat Sign. Britt was recently attacked by red-winged black birds, and a I can commiserate, so I had to take a pic of this sign to send to her. 

Planned:

Chicago Botanical Gardens. This was Erin’s brilliant idea! There was an art show there this weekend, and we decided to check that out, as well as the gardens. It was a beautiful, three-hour stop on our ride! And funny thing is, our husbands were worried about us riding in the heat, but Erin and I noticed how pleasant it was when we were there. We checked the temp and it had dropped 10 degrees since we started! Lucky us!

The gardens are even more amazing than I recall. And it’s amazing that entry is free (it costs $$ to park – but not if you are on your bike!).

Click to see larger

Not planned:

Riding through Ravinia. So odd how the Green Bay Trail / Robert McClory Bike Path goes through parking lots. You feel like you are lost… until you get to the end of the parking lot and see signs for the trail again. We meandered through Ravinia, when people were arriving for a concert. I wonder what the show was!

Not planned:

Seeing Lake Michigan. We got off course but were rewarded with a nice view of the Lake!

Planned:

Beautiful Trails! We rode the Des Plaines River Trail, the North Shore Bike Path, the Skokie Valley Bike Path, the Green Bay Trail, and the Robert McClory Bike Path (which I thought was what the Green Bay Trail was, oops). The trails took us through a variety of landscapes – wooded, prairie, residential, commercial. It was fun to see it all!

Photo by Erin

Planned:

Pit Stops! Ha ha. I knew I would need to eat and drink a lot to feel energized (especially after a long run in the am) so when we came upon our turn back on to the North Shore Bike Path (which is not marked at all, see below), I busted out the fig newtons. 

Photo by Erin

Planned:

Finishing! 41 miles at just under 11.0 mph. Decent for me being on a mountain bike… and biking there and back in to the wind (how does it always turn out that way?). 

Now to explain that title. Who is the wannabe cyclist? Well, it’s not Erin! It’s me! My biking skills are very limited. Like I said, I have a mountain bike. I rejoice when I remember my bike gloves, and bring enough with me to eat and drink. I know how to put my chain back on when it comes off. I don’t have a pump for my tires and would not know how to fix a flat. I can’t even remember which wheel to put my lock through when I lock it up (the front one). I’m slow. I don’t have shoes that clip on to my pedals. 

But! I still love to ride! And I am up for crazy adventures like this! Erin and I had a ton of fun, and we are planning on doing it again. I really miss our long run time from last summer, where we chatted for hours on end and pushed each other through tough runs. This is a great alternative to that (and less painful!). 

And this was a new bike PDR (personal distance record) for me!

What is the furthest you’ve ridden your bike? Do you feel like a real cyclist or a wannabe cyclist?

Comments (12)

By kilax, July 8, 2012 9:40 pm

Highlight of the Week: Going on adventurous runs and rides with my friends and Steven (and by myself too!)! Sometimes I just have to get away from my neighborhood to see something different!

Monday | July 2, 2012: 5 m run (w/Dad on his bike)
Loc: Guttenberg, IA, Temp: 85°/89°, Time: 55:27, Pace: 11:05 avg, Difficulty: easy 
Tuesday | July 3, 2012: rest
Wednesday | July 4, 2012: 6 m trail run
Loc: Volo Bog,  Temp: 96°/99°, Time: 1:10:19, Pace: 11:43 avg, Difficulty: medium
Thursday | July 5, 2012: rest
Friday | July 6, 2012: 6 m run
Loc: Neighborhood, Temp: 100°/96°, Time: 1:11:13, Pace: 11:52, Difficulty: hard
Saturday | July 7, 2012: 16 m run (w/Bobbi) + 41.25 m bike (w/Erin)
Loc: Running Tour of Round Lake and Grayslake, Temp: 80°/85°, Time: 2:55:45, Pace: 10:59 avg, Difficulty: medium
Loc: Lake/Cook Counties, Temp: 84°/73°, Time: 3:47:49 Pace: 10.9 mph avg, Difficulty: easy/medium
Sunday | July 8, 2012: 10.5 m run (w/Steven on his bike)
Loc: Around Round Lake, Temp: 85°/80°, Time: 2:05:46, Pace:11:59 avg, Difficulty: hard

Lessons learned:

• Don’t eat vegan golden grahams (cereal) right before a run!
• I used Maggie‘s trick on Friday to run with ice in my bra. It helped me stay cool… until it melted. I ran my the house so I could put more in.
• I wore my new Mizunos on Wednesday. At first I felt like there was not enough cushioning, but I think that is because I am used to Asics. I am anxious to try them again!

Notes:

• I am running so damn slow in this heat. I stop to rest in the shade if I need to. I stop to get water a lot. And my pace… is just slooow. Especially on Sunday, after a heavy workout day Saturday. I would really like to do that 50K, and know I can… I am just not sure about doing it and meeting the time cut-offs! I’ll see how the next few weeks go before deciding about registering. And I do have to keep in mind that I run faster when it’s not so stinking hot. Don’t let the slow running in the heat mess with your head! It’s the heat (not you)! Running slow in the high heat says nothing about you as a runner, except that you are smart. 
• No strength this week. My trainer took Wed-Fri off and I knew I would be too lazy to do it on my own. That’s the sad truth! But we have a session set up for tomorrow.