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By kilax, March 22, 2013 12:13 pm

Are you a good proofreader (for any media)? What is your proofreading protocol?

So, I like to think I am a good proofreader for this blog. I write posts then usually read through them a few times (and spell check). I even send them to friends to review too!

But sometimes things slip through the cracks. 

Then I get the email. 

Edited to add – I edited this image after I posted! I sometimes mess up the images, too. I did a few weeks ago and no one caught it. 

Sigh. He even edits the comments!!!

Ha ha ha. It makes me happy my dad looks at my blog. But every time I get that email with the subject line “site” I think “DAMMIT!” before I even open it. 

I really liked editing/reviewing things. That is a huge chunk of my job at work, and I think it suits me well. 

And just for fun… do you ever notice mistakes in other people’s posts (grammar, spelling, etc.) and want to tell them but feel like it would be über mean?

Um, yes.

And on that note, feel free to point them out to me. Before my dad gets to them.  Good luck with THAT. 

Thanks to Mica for the post inspiration!

Comments (38)

By kilax, March 21, 2013 6:23 am

• One of the most enjoyable parts of prepping to teach strength class (besides coming up with the torturous sets of exercises) is developing the playlist for class. I am not a music buff in ANY way, but, I think music is important for a strength workout! So I try to make a different playlist each week, to mix things up. Then I send it to Bobbi and my dad to review. Ha ha. Any specific recommendations for songs for teaching my strength class?
  

•  Goal-setting does not work very well for me. Nor does sharing goals (in the case that I do set one). I think that is why I have been successful this year with losing weight and setting two 5K PRs – I just haven’t focused on them too much. When I focus on things too much, I get all caught up in them. It’s all I can think about, and I start to self-sabotage. I know this is incredibly odd. Is anyone else mostly private about their goals… or an odd ball in not making too many? Is anyone else all about the self-sabotage? Sigh. 

Age group medal from Saturday’s 5K

• Not that I think anyone should, but how long do you think you could go without eating processed sweets (candy, cookies, all the nomz)? I did this once for 40 days (I bet you can’t guess the reason)… I am a HUGE believer in not depriving and having a small treat each day. But lately, that small treat has been spiraling out of control for me! Of course. I won’t make a goal of it, as I said in bullet #2 above… that won’t help.
• Katie at Live Half Full started a new “Take Time Tuesday” as a reminder to list out all the things we are grateful for once a week. Check out the post and link back! This week, I am grateful for freedom of speech (and the friends that put up with me). Because I sure have been cranky this week. 

• Speaking of cranky, here’s something I cannot stand – meetings scheduled at noon. COME. ON. I know people are on different eating schedules, but can we just assume that noon should be off limits? Do I have to go back to marking that time as “busy” in my calendar? Sigh. Okay, okay. I will make an exception if participants are in different time zones. Not sure why that bothers me so much. What do you think is the best time of day to hold a meeting?
• This upcoming weekend is my “free” weekend! I purposefully did not make any plans, so I can stay home and help Steven with Fake Meats stuff and get my studying on. Because… see the second bullet above. Yeah. Making the very broad goal of taking the ACE Personal Trainer exam in May is not making me study anymore. NEED. TO. FOCUS. Do you ever purposefully schedule a plan-free weekend? It may become habitual. I think we have something going on almost EVERY weekend until mid-July. It’s becoming impossible for me to schedule things!
• And one more oddball question. Do you ever have to convince yourself NOT to exercise? That’s been me lately. My alarm goes off really early, and I tell myself “No, Kim, stay in bed. You can use the rest [sleeping, not rest for my body].” 

Other Random Thoughts Thursday Posts: XXXVI, XXXV, XXXIV, XXXIII, XXXII, XXXI, XXX, XXIX, XVIII, XXVII, XXVI, XXV, XXIV, XXIII, XXII, XXI, XX, XIX, XVIII, XVII, XVI, XV, XIV, XIII, XII, XI, X, IX, VIII, VII, VI, V, IV, III, II, I.

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By kilax, March 20, 2013 6:15 am

Walking in to the office this am, I was getting myself pumped up, repeating in my head, “You love Wednesdays! You get to practice your acting skills!”

Um, no.

Those skills are non-existent. As hard as I try, you can always read my emotion on my face.

I can’t hide how I really feel, no matter how hard I try. If I’m irritated, you can tell. Annoyed, you can tell. Frustrated… you can tell.

Wait! I have good emotions too! Happy, hyper, energetic… you can tell those as well. Ha ha ha. I think I need to be smiley to get those feelings going.

What situations make you wish you had some acting skills to hide your emotions? Or wait! Maybe you can’t read your face (and body language) like people can mine?!

I am in a particular “I JUST WANT TO BE LEFT ALONE!”* mood, hence this silly post. It’s funny, I was thinking about that last night on the solo-part of my run, how I just want to be left alone, in the quiet… and there I was, running by myself, in nature… in the quiet. Time to appreciate the things I have. Ha ha.

Not quite related, but can anyone guess what the earrings I am wearing today are made of?

*And this really just means I don’t want to be bugged, I think.

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By kilax, March 19, 2013 6:12 am

I wouldn’t call myself a savvy blogger. I don’t pay attention to blogging trends. I’m not on Bloglovin’. Or Twitter. I don’t know what my page views are. I don’t have any ads on here. I rate my blog’s success on how it makes me feel – if I enjoy writing it – it’s successful. If I am enjoying it and getting comments about it? Well, that’s über successful! When I am stressed about it, something’s wrong.

Anyway. Despite not being so savvy, I still receive emails with offers to review or give away things* (or the “please share this link!” email from random companies). I feel very uncomfortable promoting someone else’s product for them, unless it’s 100% something I believe in. I’m a very “live and let live” type of person – I don’t try to push other people to do things they don’t want to do. Especially if it’s not something I particularly like, myself.

So I turn down a lot of (but not all) requests to write about these products. Which is what made me think to write this, today. I received a nice request to give away a gift card to an online clothing store, but it just wasn’t something I could see myself using, or, wanting to write about. Because despite how mediocre my writing is, writing does take time. So when someone sends me an offer to review something, but then sends me a page of details for how** I have to do it, well… that turns me off.

Anyway. This is just on my mind today. I guess I just don’t like being told what to write about or promoting other people’s stuff unless, like I said, I am 100% behind it. Which is why I sponsor most of my own giveaways!

What are your self-imposed “rules” for doing sponsored giveaways?

How do you perceive bloggers who do sponsored giveaways?

I think if I were to get in to this more, I would talk about how uncomfortable I am with accepting things just because they are “free,” and how much the accumulation of junk sets me off… but let’s leave that topic for another day! 

*Maybe not so much after writing this post.
**The clothing store did not do that, I am referring to a different product.

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By kilax, March 18, 2013 8:04 am

… to do the same thing over and over and expect different results… right?!

That is so me. 

With my hair. 

Sigh. 

I hate taking care of it. So I don’t. It gets really long, and looks really bad. I wear it up most of the time so I don’t care. But then I notice it looks bad in a photo on the rare occasion I do wear it down… so I get it cut. 

And they have to cut off 3 inches. 

And for some reason, after not caring about my hair all. year. long. I’m upset. That it’s so short. 

My natural wavy hair…

At least it looks longer when I straightened it. 

Ha ha ha.

So, maybe, instead of doing this to myself year after year, I should actually take care of my hair?! Nah. I will continue on the insanity track!

What do you keep doing over and over, expecting different results? Any plans to change?

The lady who cut my hair was funny. I was telling her how much I love ALDI, and she was saying how she does too, but her husband thinks the produce is bad there and doesn’t want her to shop there. So she still does, and cooks for her husband using ALDI produce, but tells him it’s from Whole Foods. And then he tells her how much he loves the dish. Ha ha ha. 

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By kilax, March 17, 2013 10:11 pm

Highlight of the Week: Making it through ultra Saturday – 7.1 miles in the morning and 20 in the afternoon. I ran all of that in a total of 4:18:22 – which is much faster than my marathon PR of 4:38:35. Ha ha. 

Monday | March 11, 2013: 8 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: hood, Temp: 39°/37°, Time: 1:09:38, Pace: 8:42 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: speedy
Strength: dumbbells and core, Difficulty: easy, Felt: thirsty
Tuesday | March 12, 2013: 10 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 32°/30°, Time: 1:41:29, Pace: 10:09 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: surprised (ok, annoyed) by the snow
Wednesday | March 13, 2013: strength class + 3.2 m run (w/Bobbi and Ed)
Strength: bands + dumbbells, Difficulty: hard, Felt: off my game
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 30°/28°, Time: 30:28, Pace: 9:31 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: stanca
Thursday | March 14, 2013: rest
Friday | March 15, 2013: 5 m run
Loc: Millennium Trail, Temp: 42°/40°, Time: 46:45, Pace: 9:21, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good
Saturday | March 16, 2013: Shamrock Shuffle 5K (+WU & CD w/Sarah) + 20 m run (w/Erin)
Loc: McHenry, Temp: 32°/31°, Time: 22:40, Pace: 7:15 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: really good
Loc: Chicago, Temp: 33°/32°, Time: 3:13:41, Pace: 9:41 avg, Difficulty: medium/hard, Felt: crampy (stomach)
Sunday | March 17, 2013: 3 m run (w/Mica)
Loc: Independence Grove, Temp: 23°/26°, Time: 27:52, Pace: 9:11 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: stiff

Notes:

• Does anyone else have an upset stomach after running fast? That usually happens to me after racing a 5K, and it sure did on Saturday! My stomach was cramping up for most of my 20 miler with Erin (and I didn’t eat any candy!). I still had a great time on the run though! 
• I am so used to running in the dark in the am, it feels weird when I run in the daylight now!
• My Monday 8 miler was run at my previous half marathon PR pace… I am thinking I could go for a half marathon PR this year if I want. I have five half marathons coming up – one with Rachel, one by myself, one pacing my BIL, one as part of a Half Ironman relay, and one pacing Anne (Ahh! I miss running with Anne! How long has it been?).
• I still really want that sports massage! And not gonna lie – I felt really worn out on Sunday this week! 

Comments (41)

By kilax, March 16, 2013 10:56 am

I was having a bit of racer’s remorse about the Shamrock Shuffle 5K in McHenry this morning. I was in a HUGE fog* and thinking “Why the hell did I sign up for this 5K again? I just PR’d! Why do I want to race so soon?!”

Have you ever had racer’s remorse?

But. It turned out well. I ran the 5K in 22:38, a new, 49 second PR. I was second in my 20-29 age group**, 16th overall, and fourth woman. I felt fabulous the entire time (was even passing lots of people!), with the typical stomach discomfort only starting around 1.85 miles in. The only bad part*** was when some jerk almost backed his car in to me on course. A few curse words came out. Oops. 

I think there were two keys to my success today:

1. I started out at a good pace (not too fast) with my running club friends Terry and Kristi, then took off about half a mile in. I almost ran negative splits (7:29, 7:06, 7:11, .1 @ 7:05). Okay, okay. Not almost. Ha ha. 

Club peeps: Me, Terry, Kristi and Dawn
Fun fact! Terry paced me for a PR at this inaugural race in 2011. I was 2nd in my AG that year too. This year, he paced his wife Kristi for a PR!

2. I ran a great warm-up with Bobbi‘s friend Sarah and our fun conversation got me out of my fog and in a great mood to race. Thanks, Sarah! And thanks for the post-race cool down too. That also made me feel great. 

Now… on to the city to run 20 with Erin! Always so interesting to ride the train to the city St. Patrick’s Day weekend..

I like the race shirts! Will have to wear it tomorrow!

WOO HOO! PR with a 22 in front of it!!!

*My fog included me LOSING my race bib after it was handed to me. What the effity. I found it. 
**Wasn’t able to stay for awards, so Terry is grabbing my medal for me!
***Oh! And there was black ice on the course, and it started 10 mins late, but meh. Whatevs.

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By kilax, March 15, 2013 6:39 am

How’s your penmanship? Has anyone ever told you that they can’t read your handwriting?

Ugh. My penmanship is… no bueno. Since I am taking so many notes to study for the ACE personal trainer exam, it just keeps getting worse and worse. 

Sometimes, it’s so bad, that Steven can’t read what I write on the grocery list. I think he’s just being stubborn though. Ha!

You know who has awesome penmanship? My snister, Christina. Her normal handwriting looks nice, and she does really cool fancy print on cards and stuff. 

A sample of Christina’s work

Even her cat has nice penmanship. 

Damn, Data. We need to step up our game!

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By kilax, March 14, 2013 6:22 am

• Last night, within moments of each other, the strap broke off of Steven’s Garmin, and the lock button on my phone broke. Hmm. I was going to ask you guys for ideas for date night tonight, but we might be going to the Apple Store. !@$%@!!

• I couldn’t help but laugh when I got out of the train station yesterday morning and saw that sample bottles of some new 10-calorie soda were being handed out! I just started reading “Salt Sugar Fat” and the whole first section is on sugar, with a major focus on cereal and soda and how it is marketed. I am just getting in to reading about the soda wars, and I am finding it so interesting  The book is already affecting the way I think about these products!

• If you have a smartphone, and are obsessed with dates/daydreaming about upcoming events, like me, you might want to download the Countdown+ App. You manually enter events, or link to them from your calendar or Facebook, and get… a countdown! Most of my countdowns right now are for trips and races. And… here is a picture of my phone. Because I can’t take screenshots anymore (see bullet #1). Anyway. I think it’s fun. 

• Google. You piss me off. Again. That is all. 
• I picked up this fabulous hair care product on Saturday, and I can’t believe how much nicer my hair has looked since I started using it. It is… a hairbrush! Yes. I have been using a comb for, oh, five years? No idea why.
• Do you ever wish you talked on the phone with your friends more? I mean, the ones you can’t see in person. Texting, instant messenger and emails are great… but I like the phone… and Sykpe, too! I doubt that will change, just, uh, talking about it. 

Other Random Thoughts Thursday Posts: XXXV, XXXIV, XXXIII, XXXII, XXXI, XXX, XXIX, XVIII, XXVII, XXVI, XXV, XXIV, XXIII, XXII, XXI, XX, XIX, XVIII, XVII, XVI, XV, XIV, XIII, XII, XI, X, IX, VIII, VII, VI, V, IV, III, II, I.

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By kilax, March 13, 2013 12:51 pm

There’s a really interesting article in the April issue of Runner’s World* called “The Zen Zone,” about applying Buddhist meditative practices to running, in order to quell all the crazy thoughts bouncing around in your mind while you run, and give you a stronger (performance wise) and calmer run. The article is not online yet, but I’ll make sure to share it when it is.

The article really intrigued me, for a few reasons. Firstly, several years ago, I spent quite a bit of time researching Buddhism. I think it’s the religious doctrine to which I could most closely align. So I’m always interested to see Buddhist principles applied to different facets of my life in ways I hadn’t previously imagined.

Secondly, I have been running without music since December and have recently gotten to a place where I enjoy my thoughts during runs, and quite look forward to that focused time. At first, I struggled to enjoy running without music to distract me, and my thinking was all over the place as the article said. And dark places too. I found negative thoughts I didn’t know I had! But lately, my thinking has found its way to a great place and been very clear.** The article suggests how to improve that even more, which I appreciated.

And finally, the inspiration for the title. This blurb:

While the blurb focuses on pessimistic thoughts while running, wow, it means so much more to me. Obviously, it can apply to pessimistic thoughts about anything, but really, I read that, and thought about all the funks I let myself fall in to. And how I need to think of it as something that’s just “passing” through. Let it run its course, and let it go.

This concept reminds me so much of an ongoing conversation I’ve been having with Bobbi. Sigh. I lean on my friends, uh… often. If you’re willing to listen, I’m there, spewing. So Bobbi’s*** been hearing A LOT about me trying to escape binge eating once and for all.

And we keep going back to the same concept – one “bad” moment does not have to turn in to a “bad” day/week/month (months – with an “s” – is more typical for me) – and you have the power over what that moment becomes.

I know. Very basic. But so helpful. Because how many times do we get caught up in an act and feel like we have no power? For me, it’s quite often. It’s scary when I am in the middle of a binge**** and feel I have no control over what I am doing, and can’t stop. But, I do have control. I’ll get there.

So, I love adding the “passing shower” concept to this “bad” moment concept. A “bad” moment – no matter what “bad” is for me or you (hence the quotes) – is just passing. Let. It. Pass. Don’t hide from it. Feel it out. But let it go as quickly as possible.

This sounds preachy, but I’m mostly writing the preachy parts to myself! Ha ha. If they help you too, that’s great!

What do you think of the “passing storm” concept? How do you get out of a really bad long storm that won’t seem to pass?

*I know. I know. I should be studying.
**During runs only, mind you!!!
***And lucky Anne, too.
****Quite a bit of food talk here lately! I do notice the shift. Let’s see where the blog goes with it…