Comments (34)

By kilax, November 30, 2012 7:16 am

Are you an impulse buyer or a researcher?

Photo from November 2010

I know I’ve asked this before, so sorry for the repeat question!

I am most definitely an impulse buyer. That is how I ended up with my car and my netbook… and a lot of people’s holiday gifts this year. I am really bad at researching the things I want to buy, and buying them when there is a sale. 

I guess this goes along with me being a very compulsive person. If I want to get someone for myself or someone, I want to do it now. This makes it very hard for me to have a box of holiday gifts in my closet, waiting to be given. It also makes it hard for me to not buy the things I want the few months before the holidays, but I’ve been good so far!

Comments (28)

By kilax, November 29, 2012 12:05 pm

• I present to you… the cutest video ever! Of Gina‘s son Luca, of course. When we came back from our race on Saturday, Steven was all excited – “Watch what Luca says when I say ‘What?!’!”

All cuteness credit goes to Gina & Steve

• I officially surpassed my 2011 running mileage last night! I’m done running for the year now! Just kidding… this cold (sickness, not weather) could potentially cut in to my running a bit, though.
• We had so much awesome food at Fanksgiving and a fun time preparing it! I cannot wait for Fanksgiving 2013 with Gina, Steve and Luca!

• My earring kept getting caught on my scarf yesterday. I am not sure why I need to share this. Maybe to let you know it made me irrationally angry and drop the f-bomb at my desk… which I now share with favorite coworker. Sorry, fave coworker.

Other Random Thoughts Thursday Posts: XXIV, XXIII, XXII, XXI, XX, XIX, XVIII, XVII, XVI, XV, XIV, XIII, XII, XI, X, IX, VIII, VII, VI, V, IV, III, II, I.

Comments (21)

By kilax, November 25, 2012 4:29 pm

Highlight of the Week: Getting to do every single workout with a friend (or two)! What a treat!

Monday | November 19, 2012: strength (partner workout w/Bobbi)
Strength: kettlebells, Difficulty: medium, Felt: excited to be suffering with a friend!
Tuesday | November 20, 2012: 8 m run (w/Bobbi)
Loc: Grant Woods FP, Temp: 48°/47°, Time: 1:22:27, Pace: 10:18 avg, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: good
Wednesday | November 21, 2012: strength class + 3 m run (w/Bobbi and Ed)
Strength: bars, balls and killer core, Difficulty: easy with some very hard, Felt: schweaty
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 44°/45°, Time: 31:32, Pace: 10:31 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: refreshing
Thursday | November 22, 2012: Long Grove Turkey Trot 5K (.6 warm-up + 5K, w/Chris)
(5K) Loc: Long Grove, Temp: 48°/52°, Time: 27:56, Pace: 8:58 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Friday | November 23, 2012: rest
Saturday | November 24, 2012: COOL 5K (w/Bobbi and Gina)
Loc: Libertyville, Temp: 24°/26°, Time: 33:36, Pace: 10:54 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great
Sunday | November 25, 2012: rest

Notes:

• I think Saturday was my coldest run of the year – in the mid 20s! I love running in the cold weather! Can’t wait until we have some snow on the ground to play in too!
• I am enjoying taking it easy with running this month. Even though I raced every weekend in November (and three times in the past 8 days), it was just for fun!

Comments (26)

By kilax, November 24, 2012 1:27 pm

Have you ever had two friends who don’t know each other, but you feel like they would get along so well, they just have to meet?

That is how I felt about Gina and Bobbi! And they met briefly when Gina was in town and ran the Rally for Autism 5K, but for this trip, we were able to dedicate an entire morning to hanging out! Of course, we had to start with a 5K, so we chose the COOL 5K/10K, where all proceeds went to a local food pantry. 

It was a small, low-key race in a local forest preserve. There must not have been more than 100 runners! But they had chip timing, great course markings, and hot chocolate, coffee and snacks at the end. And instead of a shirt we got a nice hat!

The three of us stuck together and chatted the whole time. Oops… sorry, people around us! But that was the plan for the day! To chat it up! I think we finished in around 33:35 which is really close to Gina’s PR! I am anxious to see the official time!

This race was Gina’s 7th 5K this year! For someone who just started running in the end of 2011 she is kicking some serious butt! We sometimes talk about how she hasn’t found a race with a participation medal to do, so I ordered medals for the three of us and had them engraved for our inaugural SBC* race. Hee hee hee. 

After the race it was off to brunch at my favorite spot, Wildberry**. Oh, darn, 30 minute wait? Geesh, guess we’ll just have to stand around and chat. Ha ha. Needless to say, we had a lot of fun and I am looking forward to the next time the three of us get to hang out!

*Our club name.
**Don’t tell our husbands we went there.  

Comments (21)

By kilax, November 23, 2012 7:02 am

Do you tend to reread the books you own over and over, or do you read them once and are done with them? 

I finished reading The Other Boleyn Girl for the second time last night, and I think it is the first time in my adult life that I have read a book I own twice! I reread books all the time when I was a kid, but I just don’t seem to do that anymore. Maybe it’s because I feel like I don’t have a lot of time to read books as it is, so I want to read the news ones I have? And I have some old books I haven’t even read… like the entire Star Wars series…

Guess I better start reading those since they are going to make sequels VII, VIII and IX!

And if I am being honest, I have to tell you that the reason I reread The Other Boleyn Girl is because we are watching The Tudors on Netflix and I wanted to reread Phillipa Gregory’s Tudor series. But after I finished it I started on a book in her Cousin’s War series so I guess I didn’t really stay on track. Ha ha. 

Comments (35)

By kilax, November 22, 2012 12:58 pm

Happy Thanksgiving! Who else started their day with a run or race this morning?

I ran the Long Grove Turkey Trot 5K with my running club friend, Chris. Awhile ago, Chris asked if I would pace her for a 5K under 28:59, so we looked at all the Thanksgiving Day races and choose Long Grove, without knowing much about it.

Chris went to packet pickup yesterday and had to wait about an hour to get our bibs and her tech tee/my fleece! I guess this is a big race! The people at packet pickup warned her to come early to park and to start near the front of the race if she had a time goal. So we did! We got there in plenty of time to get a decent spot, see another running club friend, Dave, and his family, and get a warm-up in.

As Chris’s pacer, the thing I was most nervous about was crowding on the course.  The race was sold out, I think with a cap of 2000 people, both for a 5K and 8K, which started at the same time and ran a lot of the same course. So we started as close to the front as we felt comfortable. There were a few twists and turns in the beginning, and a small part on a narrow trail, but we were mostly on open roads and crowding was not a huge issue for us. Phew!

Our race goal was to come in under 28:59, but we decided to aim for 9:00 minute miles to build ourselves a bank. As per usual, I took us on a positive split course (geesh – not a very good pacer!). The course had a small U then an out and back. Mile 1 was around the downtown area and out on to an uphill on quiet street, in 8:47. Mile 2 was a downhill through a residential neighborhood in 8:55 and mile 3 was the uphill (from mile 2) with a downhill finish (from mile 1) in 9:15 with 8:30 pace for the last .1. Chris worked her butt off. It was windy, and her asthma was kicking in. She asked me to run ahead of her so she could chase me, so I kept looking back to make sure she was close by. Toward the end, we ran more side by side. She told me she felt crappy and I said “then you know you’re doing it right!” I tried to be encouraging without being too annoying… hee hee. 

We finished in 27:51 which is a minute and 8 seconds faster than her goal, and with an average pace of 8:59! We were both so excited when we finished, we were hugging and crying a bit. Ha ha. Then we loaded up on the awesome snacks they had, grabbed our race gear to put on, and watched Dave and his family finish the race. 

Posing at the start banner after the race

I get so pumped racing with my friends and seeing them meet their goals! And I am so honored that Chris asked me to be her pacer! I am really proud of how well she raced today. I hope I get to be her pacer again sometime.

And I also loved seeing all the different people out getting some exercise in Thanksgiving morning. We saw a lot of funny costumes and hats. And there were many walkers, and even someone doing the 5K course in a regular wheelchair (not a racing one)! It was very cool to see so many people being active (and a nice day for it – sunny and in the low 50s!). 

Thank you so much to everyone who entered the Ugly Race Shirt Contest/Giveaway! I appreciate that you guys took the time to take a picture and share it with me. And I loved seeing all the shirts and hearing what you thought was ugly about them! Here is a collage of all the entries with blog linkups corresponding to the numbers (click image to see larger):

1. Gina (featuring Luca) @ mileWON
2. Rachel @ Running in Real Life
3. Kelly @ Running Kellometers
4. Erin @ Eri-thon
5. Maggie @ Mag Mile Runner
6. Ashley @ Hop Skip  Jump
7. Anne R
8. Charlyn (featuring CB) @ Pain is nothing
9. Kimberly (featuring Miles) @ Healthy Strides
10. Michele @ Running for Oreos
11. Chris L
12. Muddy Monk*

I used Random.org to draw the winners name (based on a spreadsheet of entries and blog/Facebook shares) and the winner is Kimberly @ Healthy Strides!

Kimberly, please email me (kilax@ilaxstudio.com) and let me know your pick of the $25 giftcard – Amazon, iTunes or Target.

*Muddy Monk posted three shirts and I choose the creepiest one. I didn’t make it very clear to only enter one shirt and I apologize for that!

Comments (24)

By kilax, November 21, 2012 6:21 am

Last day to enter the Ugly Race Shirt Contest/Giveaway! Post your picture to my Facebook page or email me today by 5:00 pm cst!

Where do you look online to find races?

A blogger expat emailed me yesterday because she is moving back to the states and wondered where I look online for races in Chicago. I had some recommendations, but wonder if you guys use anything different! And what about non-running events – where do you look for other sports?

My #1 recommendation is always runningintheusa.com. Click on the races tab and simply search by state and month. And I just noticed you can search for clubs there too! I always look there when I am traveling – that is how I found out about the trail race I recently did in Kansas City, MO, and about the 5K I am running this Saturday with Gina and Bobbi.

The #2 place I look is cararuns.org – the Chicago Area Runners Association site. I don’t find this list to be as extensive as runningintheusa.com, but I still check it out.

Is there a website specific for your city that you look at to check out upcoming races?

In other running news, Muddy Monk is having a Black Friday sale for the Thriller in Schiller trail race, which will be October 27, 2013. If you register this Friday, it’s only $14, AND they’re having a free Chicago Style hot dog bar after the race (including options for gluten free buns and vegan dogs) and one free beer to everyone of age. All participants will receive a bib, race t-shirt, a customized 2013 Thriller in Schiller pint glass and there will be a costume contest like this year! Who’s in for next year?

Ha ha. If I would have posted a Wordless Wednesday today, this would have been it:

Comments (35)

By kilax, November 20, 2012 5:34 am

My first one!

Click on any image to see larger

In April we were lucky enough to get to fly around Chicago in an airplane… and on Sunday we toured Chicago in a helicopter! And you can get much closer to buildings in a helicopter than an airplane*!

We could actually see people on the observation deck at the Hancock!

Have you ever gone on a helicopter ride before?

Like I said, it was my first time, but Steven had been before. But we both thought it was fantastic and had a ton of fun. Now I want to do it again! We got to see so many familiar sights up close:

Okay, President Obama’s House is not a “familiar” sight. 

I think my favorite part was when we went out to the lakefront and flew really low along Lake Shore Drive. The perspective on the city was like no other!

And the ride was so smooth. I think this is my new preferred form of transportation. Ha ha ha. 

If you could tour a city by helicopter which city would you choose?

You guys know me – NYC – and I am going to be there in a few weeks… hmm. Or maybe Rome, since I used to live there and am very familiar with it – I think part of the excitement is seeing things you recognize!

*I think we had to stay 2000 feet away from the buildings in the airplane. 

Comments (36)

By kilax, November 19, 2012 6:18 am

Saturday’s USOLE Trail Challenge (5 Miler) ends my 5 races in 5 states tour…

• 11/17 – Illinois – USOLE Trail Challenge
• 11/10 – Indiana – Veterans Marathon 
• 11/3 – Missouri – Shoal Creek Living History Wilderness Run 
• 10/27 – Iowa – Run Walk and Roll for a Drug Free Community 5K 
• 10/20 – Wisconsin – ZOOMA Great Lakes Half Marathon

… and begins the 3 races in 8 days challenge (all in Illinois)! Woo hoo!

• 11/17 – USOLE Trail Challenge
• 11/22 – Long Grove Turkey Trot
• 11/24 – Cool 5K

Have you ever run consecutive weekend races in different states? What’s your streak?

My previous streak was April 2011 – I ran in Iowa one weekend, Wisconsin the next, Missouri the following, then Illinois two weekends later. So I guess that was really only a three-state streak! Anyways…

I signed up for the USOLE Trail Challenge 5 days after my trail ultramarathon when I was on a HUGE trail kick. And already missing the trails.

Then I kind of forgot about the race. Oops. 

I mean, I always knew I had something going on that morning and not to schedule anything else, but I wasn’t thinking about the race AT ALL.

Until the Veterans Marathon when I was like, “I AM NOT RACING THE REST OF THE YEAR!” then remembered I had a race the next weekend and three after that (now four!).  

Anyways. 

So happy I did not REALLY forget because this race is a lot of fun. Really affordable and great perks – cool shirt (or a water bottle if you don’t want a shirt!), chip timed, blow up arch at the start and finish, well marked course, beer, chili (not vegetarian) and Clif Bars after… fun announcer, great volunteers (Erin!)… and that awesome trail racing vibe. 

Will not be entered in the Ugly Race Shirt Contest/Giveaway!

And the race was not too far away – at Schiller Woods, very close to O’Hare. I was hoping to catch up with my blogger friend Ian right away when I got there* and I did! We chatted for a bit and even started the race together! And was good to see him again. 

I started in the very back of the race. I knew there would be a few bottlenecks on the course and didn’t want to be in anyone’s way. 

But actually, the only bottleneck was at the beginning! Then we easily dispersed on to about half single-track and half trail. There were a few fun obstacles:

But the ground was mostly dry, and there was only standing water in one spot. It was funny, at the beginning the race director said he had wished for snow or rain to make the course more fun!

I started off nice and slow and was able to pass quite a few people in the end. That was a surprise for me!

I hung around at the end to see Ian finish, and to wait to hear the raffles and for Erin to come back from volunteering! I met some cool people at the end, including Art, the Muddy Monk series race director, and a runner for Dick Pond named Jean (who will probably never find this blog since I have the weirdest blog name ever). 

Me & Erin!

I love that I don’t have to stress about pace for trail races – I just go out there looking for a good time. Kind of cheesy, but it’s a great way to reconnect with nature. I didn’t bring any music, and was mostly by myself for the fourth mile, and it was such a beautiful peaceful day, I didn’t want the race to end!

I’m so excited about the Schiller Chiller on the 1st of December! It’s in the same woods and maybe we’ll have snow to run on!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND! Erin and I are running the 10K together! AND!! A few other bloggers are running it too… let me know if I’ll see you there!

*He was the one who told me about the race!

Comments (12)

By kilax, November 18, 2012 8:48 am

Don’t forget to enter the Ugly Race Shirt Contest/Giveaway by 5:00 pm cst on November 21! Check out ilaxSTUDIO on Facebook to see some of the entries so far!

Highlight(s) of the Week:

1. Reading everyone’s thoughtful comments on my race report about the Veterans Marathon! I’m so lucky to count all of you as friends!
2. Getting to catch up with Bobbi during a 5 mile run on Wednesday!
3. A really fun trail race on Saturday (yes, another race report is coming your way… there will be three this upcoming week). 

Monday | November 12, 2012: rest
Tuesday | November 13, 2012: rest
Wednesday | November 14, 2012: strength class + 5.25 m run (w/Bobbi)
Strength: core, resistance bands + weights, Difficulty: varied from medium to impossible, Felt: capable and incapable
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 36°/30°, Time: 55:10, Pace: 10:31 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: disappointingly spent
Thursday | November 15, 2012: 3 m run
Loc: Neighborhood, Temp: 43°/39°, Time: 32:19, Pace: 10:46 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: creative
Friday | November 16, 2012: strength
Strength: weighted bars and step, Difficulty: medium, Felt: out of breath
Saturday | November 17, 2012: USOLE Trail Challenge (5 miler)
Loc: Schiller Woods, Temp: 43°/49°, Time: 51:58, Pace: 10:25 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: content
Sunday | November 18, 2012: 3 m run
Loc: Neighborhood, Temp: 27°/33°, Time: 32:03, Pace: 10:40 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: too warm

Notes:

• The way the year started out, I thought I would smash my 2011 mileage (1485). But, I have been struggling to get miles in since May! It seems like I peaked in April. Right now I am 29.7 miles away from last year’s mileage. I guess this just gives me a bigger chance to increase mileage again in 2013 if I decide to make that a goal!
• My breathing has felt a bit more labored lately. 
• It’s time for a new pair of shoes, but my size (12) only seems to be available in the newest model of my shoe. So… I will wait and put it on my holiday wish list. Anything fitness related on your holiday wishlist this year? The ZOOMA blog has a Running on the Wall Giveaway that I thought was cool!