Comments (22)

By kilax, May 20, 2013 6:27 am

My parents were visiting this weekend so we could take my dad on a helicopter tour of Chicago!

Mom, Dad, me, Steven and our friend, Eric. My mom didn’t want to go on the ride, so we asked Eric along!

Just as cool as last time. Still amazed by how close you can get to the buildings. We were waving at people in the Ledge at the “Willis” Tower. 

I don’t think I could ever get tired of riding in a helicopter over Chicago. It’s just such a neat perspective! Of course, I would love to fly over other cities, too. 

Anyway. You guys heard enough about riding in a helicopter the last time we did it. I actually wanted to tell you about a super odd coincidence we experienced on the ride!

We were talking with our pilot and found out he’s from my home town in Iowa and went to the opposing (better, ha) high school to mine! 

Then it got odder. He also went to the same university as me and Steven. He graduated a couple of years before me. We weren’t in the same program or anything, and my university has a lot of students, but! We know a group of the same people, since he lived on their dorm floor!

What are the odds, right?!

I had to text our mutual friend, and he found it very interesting/amusing, too!

Have you ever met a “stranger” and found out you knew some people in common?

I don’t think I mentioned it here, but the runner I chased down in my hood actually has some mutual friends to me!

And, this is not the same, but this whole scenario reminds me of the time that a stranger asked me for directions in Chicago, and it turned out to be my boss (from Iowa’s) wife, whom I had never met!

And… a few more pictures from the ride for you!

Comments (10)

By kilax, May 19, 2013 8:31 pm

Highlight of the Week: Trying trapeze! Having my dad’s company on my Sunday run!

Monday | May 13, 2013: 5 m run + teaching strength class + 3 m run (w/Bobbi)
Loc: hood, Temp: 59°/61°, Time: 50:40, Pace: 10:08 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: like it was too hot
Strength: medicine ball circuit, Difficulty: easy (more watching than participation), Felt: awkward with the circuit style workout
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 48°/48°, Time: 31:40, Pace: 10:42 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: like it was faster / hungry
Tuesday | May 14, 2013: 5 m run
Loc: Millennium Trail, Temp: 75°/79°, Time: 53:45, Pace: 10:45 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: hot
Wednesday | May 15, 2013: strength class
Strength: Liebert bars and free weights, Difficulty: hard, Felt: big
Thursday | May 16, 2013: 5.15 m run (w/Emily)
Loc: Nippersink FP, Temp: 53°/53°, Time: 49:22, Pace: 9:35 avg, Difficulty:easy, Felt: happy to have company
Friday | May 17, 2013: trapeze (w/Erin)
Saturday | May 18, 2013: rest
Sunday | May 19, 2013: 10 m run (w/Dad)
Loc: Millennium Trail to Nippersink FP, Temp: 65°/76°, Time: 1:48:43, Pace: 10:52 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: surprisingly good

Notes:

• I had a higher mileage goal in mind this week. Oops. Next week. I have a hard time getting up early to run when I stay up late with houseguests (excuses!!!). 
• And those mileage goals may not be met in the heat (more excuses!!!). My Sunday run felt good, but I just can’t go as far, or as fast, once the temp gets in to the 60s/70s. 
• I knew I was going to have some soreness from trying trapeze. It was just a matter of where and when. Sunday morning. Pecs, abs and latissimus dorsi. It was humorous when I took my parents to see the studio where I teach and my mom asked me to do a pullup. I could barely lift my arms up to reach the bar without feeling pain. And that moment was caught on camera. Awesome. Teaching should be interesting tomorrow!

Comments (33)

By kilax, May 18, 2013 9:34 am

A few times, Bobbi and I have discussed how we have such great groups of friends now, and aren’t sure if we have room for more friends. I’ve wanted to talk about this here, but wasn’t sure how to do it without making myself sound like a huge ass. I think I figured out a way.

Maybe?

Last night, I did trapeze with Erin. ZOMG!!! So fun! I can see why she loves it. But we’ll get to that below.

Huge thanks to Erin for getting me the photos!!!

We were redeeming a Living Social deal that included dinner after trapeze. Erin and I sat at the end of the table with the rest of the Living Social peeps*, and spent most of our time talking to a young couple. 

I was sitting there, talking to them, enjoying our conversation SO MUCH, thinking, “There are so many wonderful, interesting people in the world! I want to meet them all! I want to be friends with them all**.” WANT ALL THE FRIENDS!!!

No, Kim, no. You do not need to make friends with every interesting person you meet. You don’t need to chase down runners in your hood. You barely have time with your closest friends, say, take for instance, the one with you?!?! Gah, if anything, this awesome evening with Erin made me miss all the time we used to spend together when we were training for the Milwaukee Marathon. 

Sigh.

I just get this urge. When I meet someone and get a good feeling about them, I think “I want to spend more time with them!” I don’t think about the fact (right away) that I barely have time to spend with my close friends now. 

And that is why I sometimes think, “geesh, maybe I should not be trying to make more friends – maybe I have enough.”

So. If that makes any sense. 

Moving on…

The Living Social deal we purchased included introductory lessons with trapeze, silks and acroyoga at Trapeze School New York. There were maybe 20 of us, and we were split in to two groups – one did trapeze while the other tried silks and acroyoga, then we switched. 

My group tried trapeze first (Erin was in our group and just practiced advanced moves since she has been there quite a few times). Holy cow! I tried not to be afraid, but just getting up to the platform to jump off, my body was shaking. Oh, endocrine system. You so smart.

But it was a huge thrill, and I loved it. I am a bit of an adrenaline junkie!

I actually thought playing with the silks and trying the acroyoga was super cool too. 

I made sure to try it out with my dad (my parents are in town for a helicopter tour of Chicago) later last night. Ha ha.  

Since I was able to swing from my knees and extend my arms during my go at trapeze, they let me try a catch. Which… I totally messed up the hands part. Oops! But that was really cool! I got everything else right!

I had so. much. fun. And am so happy that Erin asked me to go. I am not sure I would have thought to try this on my own! I definitely want to go back and try it again… in August. After I take that test in July. DO ALL THE THINGS IN AUGUST! MAKE ALL THE FRIENDS IN AUGUST!

*I was thinking “Who would want to eat dinner with a bunch of strangers?” But if you like making conversation, it’s really fun. I bet that is what it’s like when you get paired to eat dinner with certain couples on cruises. 
**Slight exaggeration.

Comments (28)

By kilax, May 17, 2013 6:41 am

FGF #1? Ha ha ha. Just kidding. I am not starting some annoying new series on my blog. 

Have you ever had someone see a quality in yourself that you weren’t really aware was there?

Gosh. Something I would love to write about, but just can’t wrap my head around, is how we perceive ourselves… as compared to how the outside world perceives us. And not that I am saying how you are perceived should be a huge concern – do what makes YOU happy, yo. But sometimes, when someone acts particularly odd, I think to myself  “do they even realize how they are coming off right now?!” And then, “maybe if they did, they wouldn’t act this way? Or maybe they know and don’t care?!*”

I think it would be interesting to spend a day seeing yourself from other’s people’s eyes. Just to get an idea, of how the ingrained daily acts we follow actually appear to others. For example, I realize I am really obnoxious. And that I tease a lot, often, too much. I sometimes wonder how that comes off. Would you want to see how others perceive you? Anyway. THAT IS NOT WHAT THIS POST IS EVEN ABOUT! Oops!

Moving on…

This year is turning out really differently than I expected it to. Not that I had any idea how it would turn out… and I guess that is it. I didn’t plan for anything exciting to happen this year, so it’s cool that it is. 

And yes, yes, yes, I talk about it a lot, but the exciting thing is that I am teaching a strength class, doing one-on-one strength sessions, and taking the ACE Personal Trainer Certification exam in July. 

I am not going to say “never in my wildest dreams” did I think I would become a personal trainer, because, yeah, I had thought about it. But in that wildest dream sense. In that “yeah, it’s my passion, but how would that even work?!” sense. So I never even let the logical part of my brain try to figure it out. 

But then, my trainer pointed out to me all the qualities that I had that were material for a good trainer. And then I started to see myself from his perspective. And with his encouragement and a HUGE amount of support, I decided to go for it.

And that is making this year really exciting for me.

So, anyway. It makes me feel good that someone else saw an opportunity for me, pointed it out, and is supporting me on getting there. I hope other readers can share similar experiences!

68 days and 23 hours until the exam**. Ha ha.   

NOTE: my blog is doing some funny commenting stuff in Chrome. Comments still seem to be going through, but going to a weird error page. Please let me know if you see this error. 

*And acting that way is what makes them happy?! Ha ha.
**As I am reading the study material, it seems like it would be so crucial to have some experience before going in to take the exam… but I realize a lot of people need to certification to get the experience. I am lucky that was not the case for me.  

Comments (37)

By kilax, May 16, 2013 6:22 am

• Just in case you don’t know what a microwave is supposed to do… ha ha ha.

• Speaking of microwaves, we don’t have one. Never have, in our house. People think that is odd. How often do you use a microwave? I think it’s funny when I am at someone else’s home and don’t think to use it. I am so used to using the stove! I do use the microwave at work though. When it’s not broken.
• Obligatory first racerback burn of the year pic! This tan happens to me each year, and it just makes me laugh. However, I better watch it next year. Depending on what kind of dress my sister has me wear for her June wedding… that could look really bad!

• Steven is back! He was gone Saturday afternoon – Wednesday afternoon visiting his family in Kansas City. I had an entire post listing funny things I do when he’s not home… but it wasn’t so funny. So I didn’t post it. Ha ha.

Left a little note for him in the car.

• I FINALLY registered for my ACE exam on July 25th! Yay! I had another long post about that, and how I realized I am a planner who doesn’t like to set goals, but need to feel like I am accomplishing things each day to feel happy… blah blah blah. It was long and boring-o. Basically, I need to study each day to not feel panicked about the test. Even though I hate goals and plans to achieve them… I gotta stick with this one. 

• I wanted to follow up with the “Oh, Brother” post and let you know that Matt was the first to correctly guess that a “leg tube” is a foam roller. Matt got his new foam roller last weekend!

Other Random Thoughts Thursday Posts: 39, 38, XXXVII, 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.

Comments (45)

By kilax, May 15, 2013 5:50 am

Do you consider yourself a homebody? Or the opposite of a homebody?

For awhile, I was worried I was turning in to a homebody. I enjoyed working from home so much, and NOT commuting three hours every weekday, that it made me not want to travel in to the city that often.

And that made me feel bad.

For a second.

Duh. Why would I want to travel 50 miles one way often, for work or entertainment? That’s ridiculous! Not wanting to do that all the time doesn’t make me a homebody. It just means I want to live a life outside of commuting.

Steven and I have met people who assume there is NOTHING to do in the suburbs, and think we MUST go in to the city each weekend so we don’t die of boredom. No. No, no, no.

Anyway. I do enjoy time at home. I don’t need to go out every night. But more often than not, I find myself leaving the house a few times a day for activities. And that, with a balance of being at home some nights, makes me feel the best.

I was thinking about this this morning because I know people who I would consider to be more of a homebody than myself. They leave the home to work, run errands, see people, etc. … but they don’t like it. They’re uncomfortable. They are unwilling to try activities outside of their norm. They prefer to stay in their home every night, and rarely travel. They want to stick to what they know.

And I think that is why homebody has a negative connotation. And why google came up with this when I searched for the definition:

“Perceived as unadventurous.” Yeah. That’s honestly how I view those people.

And that is why I said “I was worried I was turning in to a homebody.” I was thinking that enjoying time at home and not commuting all the time and wanting to go in to the city often made me unadventurous. It doesn’t. Ha. But I can definitely see how it would make other people view me that way!

But the real question is… why do I see “adventurous” as an important quality for people to have?! Why can’t they just be happy with what they know?

When I lived in Rome in college, a classmate of mine said she’d probably never leave the states again after she got back. And she probably won’t. She moved back to her hometown right after graduation and is still there.

And there is NOTHING wrong with living in your hometown! But why say, “I’ll never travel outside of the states again?!” Gah! I get such a rush off of seeing/discovering new places (domestic and abroad) and trying new things… why limit yourself?

Because we’re all different and not everyone enjoys that. I know, I know.

But adventure is important to me.

It’s funny. I know quite a few people who spend a lot of money to vacation at the same places each year (hey – not much different than us always traveling to where friends/family are)… and I want to be like “try something new!” I mean, I know if you love something, you want to go there over and over ( like us with restaurants), but come on! When we went to Aruba, one of the people on our flight was on their 20th trip there. I guess I’d just want to see more.

Ha. What do I know? And what does that have to do with being a homebody? Not much. That’s just me wishing we had time/money to see all the places we want to see!

And I’m aware of all the contradictions / hypocritical statements in this post – 1. me saying I don’t like the commute but questioning people who don’t like to travel, 2. saying it’s lame to go to the same places year after year, when I do that, 3. implying that homebodies cannot be adventurous without leaving the house (not true at all – for all I know, they try a new recipe each night, etc.), 4. implying there’s no adventure in exploring US soil (ha – we all know how much I loved SLC), 5. The biggest one of all – knowing I do need time at home to recharge or I get really worn out from doing too much!

Comments (41)

By kilax, May 14, 2013 6:21 am

Notice something a little amiss with this jacket in my closet?

Actually, notice a few things?!

1. Holy crapola, my closet is packed.
2. Um… why does that jacket have tags on it? Why am I buying a new jacket? I don’t need one, and the high today is 82°! When am I even going to use it*?! But it’s sooooo cute!
3. But mainly… UGH THEY LEFT THAT STUPID SECURITY TAG ON IT!!! GAH!!!

Sigh. I had a bit of an absent minded cashier at the store the other day. The cashier forgot my gift receipts, didn’t give me back the “all day” 20% coupon, didn’t give me back an article of clothing I wanted to check at the store kiosk to see if they had it in other stores***, and left this security tag on. I was kind of annoyed with the first three things, but thought “whatever!” until I got home and saw the security tag was still on the coat. Dang it! Would you have tried to remove it yourself?

I guess that is a good marketing strategy – they got me back in the store (a different location) the next day, and I found the things I was going to check at the kiosk the day before… so I spent more money, and got the security tag removed. By a not so absent minded cashier.

Did/do any of you work retail?

My high school working experience was in food service (McDonald’s – don’t you ever wonder why I went vegetarian, then vegan?!) but I always wonder what it would be like to work retail. I don’t think I would do well at the places that require you to ask people to sign up for points cards and credit cards. I’m just not that pushy! 

*Note, it was actually chilly enough to wear it last night. Because 30+ degree** temperature swings is how we roll in the midwest. 
**That’s not even that big of a swing, either!
***They said they couldn’t check this at the register, no biggie.

Comments (31)

By kilax, May 13, 2013 6:15 am

Things I will be doing again:

Running races with Xaarlin

Things I will NOT be doing again:

Suggesting races to ANYONE in Barrington, Illinois. Okay. Maybe to people I don’t like. Ha!

Xaarlin and I wanted to do a race together. Sunday was the only day I had free for a few months so I suggested the Mother’s Day 5K Run/Walk in Barrington. We noticed the age group times from previous years were a bit on the higher side. We thought maybe we could place.

No.

There is a reason the times are on the slower side. Holy hills:

Click to see larger

Sigh. I even mapped this course out in gmap-pedometer to check the elevation, as I know people from my running club go to Barrington purposefully to run hills. Derp. Gmap-pedometer wouldn’t load the elevation, and I figured it would be flat since it was a downtown area. Nope. Derp.  

So. I now know a more miserable 5K than the Frosty 5K course. Success! I found it!

And now I will shut up about the hills, since these aren’t real hills when you compare them to anything outside of the midwest. 

Okay, except to say, we ran our warm-up mile on the first .5 miles of the course, and I told myself “that must be the worst of it”… ha ha. No. Guess. I am an optimist after all, though?!

So. How did I get lucky enough to have an awesome friend that will get up at the crack of buttlight* to drive out to a kind of middle of nowhere town to run a short race distance with me on a somewhat cold and windy May day?

Who knows. Let’s not question that too much. I am just lucky. 

Despite ALL my whining about the hills (and hey! I didn’t even whine about how my cold made me feel like I could not breathe) I had a great time running with Xaarlin. Although, we both agreed a 5K is too short of a distance to run together – we need a longer race, where we can talk more. Uh, and actually talk, since I was just huffing and puffing.  Although, I guess we made up for that by talking for a few hours after the race, ha ha ha… hmm, why even do the running part? Just kidding…

And despite the general tone of this report***, I think our finish time of 21:00 JUST KIDDING HA HA HA 24:36 is actually really good****! But really. Where is that flat 5K?! Even my most recent PR course had “hills” in it. 

Damn. Started talking about the hills again. 

The good news is… 5K season is OVER (for me) until next winter! Now I just run races for fun the rest of the year. Apparently this excites me enough that I mentioned it yesterday as well. Does anyone else target their “goal” races in winter/early spring and take the summer off from “racing” races?

Hmm. Maybe I will have to rethink that strategy… Xaarlin and I make a pretty good team. I bet she always wanted a shadow breathing heavily behind her… her own personal Darth Vader! Just kidding, we ran side by side most of the time. We tried pretty hard to get some Emily body spasm pics. One of the race photogs said he got it… gosh. Cannot wait to see how that turned out, after seeing these gems that Xaarlin’s man***** took! I seemed to miss him each time! Ha ha! At least Xaarlin looks good!

*As my mom likes to say**
**Okay, said once by accident and now we say to tease her
***And my blog lately, ugh. 
****Especially when I compare it to my futile 2012 5K PR attempts… I couldn’t break 24:00 at all last year, and that was on mostly flat courses. So to run in the 24:00s on a hilly course is a good sign of progress. 
*****Huge, huge thanks to L for coming and braving the cold… then listening to us blabber for a couple of hours after…

Comments (15)

By kilax, May 12, 2013 4:40 pm

Highlight of the Week: Ugh. Just the fact that I got this training recap published, and had some runs with my girlies at the end of the week. My cold made (is making, really) me feel like sh*t!

Sunday photo taken by L, who braved the cold for our race!

Monday | May 6, 2013: 3 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: hood, Temp: 70°/69°, Time: 29:29, Pace: 9:49 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: surprisingly tired
Strength: medicine ball circuit, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Tuesday | May 7, 2013: 10 m bike
Loc: Round Lake, Temp: 75°/75°, Time: 55:39, Pace: 10.8 avg
Wednesday | May 8, 2013: strength class + 3 m run (w/EFITers incl. Bobbi)
Strength: circuit + resistance bands, Difficulty: easy, Felt: okay/too hot at times
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 68°/64°, Time: 33:10, Pace: 11:03 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: surprisingly good
Thursday | May 9, 2013: rest
Friday | May 10, 2013: rest
Saturday | May 11, 2013: 8 m run (w/Anne)
Loc: Chicago, Temp: 54°/49°, Time: 1:44:10, Pace: 13:01 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Sunday | May 12, 2013: WU + 5K (w/Xaarlin)
Loc: Barrington, Temp: 41°/40°, Time: 24:39, Pace: 7:59 avg, Difficulty: hard, Felt: out of place on the hills

Notes:

• I missed a few weeks of training posts! They never left my draft folder. Hopefully this is the end of that!
• I was looking at an older post where I mentioned something feeling “crunchy on the inside of my knee.” Well, I am happy to report that is completely gone! I am not happy to report that I have been too tired (from not getting enough sleep) to get runs in in the am, and that is affecting my mood, big time (and being sick this week didn’t really help that either…).
• I hadn’t biked in two months before this Tuesday! I could feel it. But I loved trying out the new wheels and tires Steven put on my bike!
• Exactly four weeks until our half Ironman relay. I hope my team is training! Ha ha.
• I am so far behind on my ACE studying. And the thing is, I really enjoy studying the ACE books. So. I am going to continue to be a party pooper and say no to invites and not blog much*… until I take the test. 
• Speaking of saying no (and this doesn’t really belong here, but whatevs), I feel like SUCH AN ASS for how complicated I make everything when someone wants to hang out with me… and how often I have to say no to fun stuff. Ugh. 
• But on that note! I feel very lucky to have friends who still do want to put up with me and see me. And very happy I got to see a few of them this week. Ha ha. I didn’t mention it, but the Wednesday night run included a stop at an ice cream shoppe! Ha ha. 
• And a note on that – Wednesday was the day I got sick, but running has actually made me feel better. There we go. I need to run more. My mileage is too low (even though I am DONE training for the year**! WOO HOO!!!!).
• Yes. This makes no sense. Roll with it. 

* Usually, when I write something like that, it makes me blog more.
**A few more half marathons and 5Ks, but I don’t need to train for those.

Comments (55)

By kilax, May 8, 2013 9:21 am

Let’s play a game. 

What item do you think my brother is talking about me sending him in the text below?

If you are the first person to guess correctly, and you need one, I will send it to you! Guess away!

Speaking of brothers, remember me mentioning my brother-in-law, Andrew, had a cold while he was visiting this weekend? Yeah, guess who has a cold now and was too sick to go in to the office today? Ugh, thanks, Andrew. Not. IKY. 

And speaking of siblings… let’s talk about sibling ranking. Ha! That sounds bad. That is probably not what it is called. But let’s talk about where you are – are you an only, eldest, middle or youngest child (or maybe a twin)? Do you think that your birth order has any effect on your personality/where you ended up in life?

I was talking to my friend Emily on Monday about sibling rank. She’s a middle child. I am too. We talked about the stereotype of the middle child being the “outsider.” I won’t get in to it much (that is left up to YOU!), but I do think it is interesting how siblings can turn out with such different personalities/lifestyles, even though they were raised (presumably) the same way.