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By kilax, September 29, 2013 7:31 pm

Highlight of the Week: Fitting in my workouts, on my in-office days, despite that time suck (3+ hour!) commute. 

Monday | September 23, 2013: 7 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: Chicago Lakefront Trail, Temp: 61°/64°, Time: 1:05:31, Pace: 9:21 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: so MUCH better after I ate a GU!
Strength: Back to School Work0ut (medicine balls + circuit), Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Tuesday | September 24, 2013: 5 m run + 4 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 48°/47°, Time: 45:38, Pace: 9:08 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: surprisingly awake!
Loc: Chicago, Temp: 65°/68°, Time: 38:52, Pace: 9:42 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: okay/hungry
Wednesday | September 25, 2013: 2 m run + strength class
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 63°/61°, Time: 18:41, Pace: 9:21 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good 
Strength: Back to School Workout (medicine balls + circuit), Difficulty: medium, Felt: strong/schmelly
Thursday | September 26, 2013: rest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Friday | September 27, 2013: teaching strength class + 8.1 m run
Strength: Back to School Workout (medicine balls + circuit), Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: hood, Temp: 51°/50°, Time: 1:22:14, Pace: 10:09, Difficulty: easy, Felt: asleep
Saturday | September 28, 2013: 7.3 m run (3.3 + 4 w/Anne)
Loc: DPRT/Half Day FP, Temp: 64°/75°, Time: 31:55/57:22, Pace: 9:41/14:20 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: hungry/good
Sunday | September 29, 2013: 18.5 m run (last 15ish w/Bobbi and Riyanti)
Loc: DPRT & Independence Grove, Temp: 52°/52°, Time: 3:22:52, Pace: 10:58 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: like a mess

Notes:

• This week was a reminder of how blessed I am to normally be able to run with so many people! A lot of my runs this week were solo due to my schedule, and by Friday, I was ready to talk to someone. Anyone. Except myself. 
• Sigh. My long run this morning was just, so… off. I have been in a bad place all week. So my mood was messed up going in to it. Then I fell on the trail (we were running in the dark). Then I rolled my ankle three times – really badly the last time. I don’t think I broke anything though! Woo hoo! Ha ha. I am so happy I was running with Bobbi and Riyanti, otherwise I might still be curled up in a ball on the trail, whimpering and feeling frustrated.
• Friday’s run was the first with a new pair of shoes! Ahh, they felt so good. I know I have asked this before, but, do you “break” your shoes in? Like, run small distances in them until you feel comfortable going longer? Or do you just go for it? And of course, I am talking about a style you know works for your foot, not something new (of course break that in!). I don’t break mine in at all. I have worn brand new shoes for races before. But a friend of mine said not breaking their shoes in enough before a race really messed them up! Must be something that is different for all of us!
• I thought I was getting speedier due to dropping a few pounds, but then I thought about it, and it is probably just the temperature dropping. Ha ha. Either way, I will take it! Friday’s “asleep” run pace actually ended up being a lot faster than it felt. So, that is nice. Feeling like you are asleep when you are running… not so nice. 
• I thought this article (pdf here) about charity races/walks booming in Chicago (and across the nation) was interesting. Especially the mention that September is the busiest month. And that everyone thinks they can do a marathon because of Oprah. Ha ha. Did any of you think you could do a marathon because Oprah did? That she did one is not something I knew until after I did one. What can I say? I don’t keep track of Oprah’s life. Ha ha. 
• I am really close to my monthly distance mileage record! I am excited to see where I end up tomorrow…

Comments (11)

By kilax, September 27, 2013 4:24 am

Have you ever woken up and felt guilty from a dream you had, or, mad at someone else for something they did in the dream?

Yes to both. Last night, it was the guilt. 

I have a recurring dream that I am moving to Italy, and I am usually moving there by myself, and feel awful about it. 

When I lived in Rome in spring of 2006, I had a plane ticket to come home in May. I did go home. Then I went back a week later, and stayed until August. 

And I sometimes still feel guilty about that (in real life, not dream land). Really, just guilty about “ditching” Steven for an entire summer, even though I know he supported it. 

Sigh. 

So the dream often comes up, and makes me feel awful again. 

Only last night, Steven was coming with me! And it was more of an anxiety filled dream of “We have to leave to catch the flight, and my bags are not packed yet!” What was I worried about packing?

Workout attire. 

Ha ha. 

Comments (41)

By kilax, September 26, 2013 12:52 pm

A few people I know are able to list off what number of race they are on – “This will be my 9th half!” “I’m on my 200th 5K!”

Do you keep track (in your head?!) of how many races you have done/which number you are on of a specific distance?

I can only remember, off hand, the amount of marathons, ultras, and relays I have done. I don’t keep a running* tally going of the rest, and have a hard time adding them up based on memory. 

But! Rachel and I were discussing amount of races run while at the NFEC HM, so we both decided to add our numbers up! So I now know, as of today, how many races I have participated in since 2007:

I think that adds up to 89? Gosh! Should I try to fit 11 more in for the year to get to 100? Um, no. Ha ha. 

So! Share your numbers, if you have them!

*Buah ha ha, pun. So, funny story. This am, Data was telling us how he wanted us to eat a salmon for breakfast. Something about eating its colon? Anyway, I said “Thanks for your culinary input, Data!” And Steven booed me. He thought I was trying to make a pun – colon-ary. Nope. Not that clever!

Comments (10)

By kilax, September 25, 2013 6:24 am

Hee hee. 

What is your specific skill set at home/work/whatever? 

You know, that thing that not a lot of people around you seem to know how to do, so you are the “go to” person for it?

My specific skill set is putting together awesome running outfits and taking amazing selfies:

Buah ha ha. I joke. I have actually been thinking lately, how nice it is to run in the dark and not have to worry about wearing something that matches. 

Seriously though, in the architecture/design field, I know a few programs that do sort of set me apart as a “go to” when someone needs help with these things. 

Which is good, right? Having those skills makes you valuable (that is what we are told, anyway)!

But what about when you get a bit overloaded, because you are one of few with those skills? 

Yeah. 

It’s good to be busy, that’s for sure!

Friends and family have been asking me strength training/exercise related questions, now that I teach/am an ACE certified personal trainer, which I think is really cool. I enjoy sharing what I learned, or doing more research to help them figure something out!

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By kilax, September 24, 2013 1:01 pm

Remember chain letters? Like, legit, tangible, send something to x amount of people/receive x amount of things in return? Did you ever participate in chain letters?

I felt like I was participating in something like that this week! Or maybe it was just karma. But! I sent a friend a scarf last week, and I received a hand written thank you (so nice!) from her yesterday. I also received a scarf in the mail yesterday! From someone else!

And it’s way cute:

It’s good I received another scarf, because I am woefully low on them. 

Buah ha ha. Nah, you can’t have too many scarves, can you?!

Now… what are your favorite ways to wear a square, silk scarf?

Do people still do chain letters? I saw the recipe type one floating around maybe… five years ago? I just ignored it. Recipes aren’t my thang. Send chocolates and receive chocolates? Sure, I could do that one…

Comments (29)

By kilax, September 24, 2013 6:40 am

Ha ha. 

If you were trying to lose weight would you find it helpful if you received (positive) feedback? Or would you want people to keep their comments to themselves?

This is going to sound CRAZY, because, hey, I am a blogger! And isn’t blogging all about wanting attention and “me me me, HEY!, look at me, hey!, over here, I am special!!!” posts? (sometimes, anyway?) Ha ha. 

But… I don’t really want people to pay attention to me and notice if I am losing or gaining weight. I don’t really want… people paying attention to my appearance at all. 

Well, THAT has to change. I am a personal trainer now. Of course people are going to pay attention to what I look like! And I need to look put together, and fit. 

And don’t get me wrong. Sincere compliments are always welcome, ha ha. It just weirds me out a bit to think that people pay that much attention to other’s appearance, because I kind of… don’t. Sure, I would notice if a friend looked upset or sad. Or got a new haircut. Or a tattoo on their face. But gaining or losing a few pounds? Nah. Just not something I notice. And again. Probably should, at least for the people I train.

So, back to my question. In the winter, I lost some weight, and was getting feedback about it. Everyone was really nice, but the fact that they notice makes you wonder what they thought of you before, you know? One person said to me “I didn’t even recognize you, you’ve lost so much weight!” Geesh. Thanks! Ha ha.

So, can you guess my answer to my own question? Outside motivation doesn’t really work for me. I don’t care what others think about me. And, I actually need to start caring. Well, needed to. Like, back in March. I am still struggling with that. Anyways.

(And the reason I am writing about this now, is that I am getting some feedback, again, and have been thinking about this for a looooong time)

And since I don’t like posts without pictures… aww, Datums Potatums!!!

Comments (58)

By kilax, September 23, 2013 12:15 pm

Have you ever been in a situation where you received mostly positive feedback, but let an incomparable amount of negative feedback completely bum you out?

Usually, this is not me,* but I am ashamed to admit that it was, yesterday. And what was I doing yesterday? Um, spectating a race. 

Yeah. This is weird. 

I made a race sign very specific for one person, xaarlin. It referenced a very goofy video, and featured the inside joke of calling xaarlin’s dog the “red fox.” I, um, really didn’t expect anyone to get it but her. And I wasn’t exactly planning on standing around holding it up until I saw her.

But! I got to the race a lot earlier than I thought I would. Before the first runner hit where I was at mile 4.5, in fact, so I camped out, held my sign up, and cheered on runners. 

To my surprise, A LOT of people got the joke on the sign. There were many laughs, “thanks for coming out”s, a few people talking back to me about the video, and some even joking with a “Thanks! Now that’s gonna be stuck in my head!” And lots of compliments on how cute Hampton (her dog) is. 

And I was wearing the goofiest hat ever, which people really seemed to get a kick out of.*** Lots of comments on that, too. 

But… there was actually some negative feedback. From runners. The ones I was cheering on. They didn’t like what I was cheering, and didn’t like the sign, um, specifically, how long it was. I was told race signs should be three words MAX.

Um, okay. 

Those comments made me feel bad. 

And then thinking about how they shouldn’t make me feel bad, because so many people were thanking me for spectating, made me feel even more bad. Ha ha ha. My emotions are complicated, ya’ll. 

When I heard the negative feedback, I was thinking, “Am I misreading sarcasm?” But, no, it was general crankiness/unhappiness. 

Maybe some people don’t like spectators? I just hope I didn’t make anyone’s race worse by being there!

What do you want people to cheer when you are racing?

No one EVER wants to hear “you’re almost there!” or “only xx miles left”… right? I tried to stick with the cheers below, and tried to keep in mind that many people weren’t even a quarter in to their race (it was a half, 20 miler and marathon):

• general whooping and hollering
• Go Runners!
• You guys rock/are amazing/are kicking butt!
• Keep being awesome!
• Looking good!****
• Keep pushing!****
• You got this!
• Today’s your day!

Next time, I just need to shut my mouth and remember the cowbell!

(Also, I feel like I need to say that I was a bit emotional the morning of the race, um, maybe crying in the car a bit while driving down, because I was so excited for xaarlin. So, yeah. I am not taking this too seriously, but the fact that I did feel even the tiniest bit bad for being there weirded me out.)

*Because I only get positive feedback, duh!**
**So toads kidding.
***Some people thought I was this guy, ha ha!
****These are the ones people didn’t like.

Comments (16)

By kilax, September 23, 2013 6:16 am

Two trail races in one week! Woo hoo! I am telling you, once you do one, you have to do another, and another and another…

Or, maybe a friend (Maggie!) has a free entry they want to give you, so you sign up. Ha ha. That works too. 

Art, the Muddy Monk race director, donated two entries to the Four Stars Four Mile trail race to Anne for raffle prizes for Lung Run fundraising. Maggie was unable to use her free entry and I casually mentioned I might be free the morning of the race… hee hee. And, as luck has it, Bobbi had won the other entry! Schweet! The race started at 10:30 am, so I made it the end of my long run. I parked my car 14 miles north of the race start*, and ran down to it, joining Bobbi along the way. I got just over 17** miles in before the race start.

When Bobbi and I were running before the race, I said to her, “I wonder if we will see anyone we know doing the race!” And as luck had it, we saw Mo before the race!

We all decided to run together, starting at the back of the pack, so other runners could “clear” the trail for us. 

Yeah. It was actual technical trail for maybe… 40% of the race? Running through the brush, jumping over logs, getting all scratched up, being a badass… ha ha. I loved it! And was really happy I decided to wear my trail shoes and gaiters that morning! (No mud though – the trail was dry!)

I took it slow though. Trail running is slower for me than road running (duh) and my left knee doesn’t like being twisted, so I wanted to be careful!

The other part of the race was on crushed limestone. 

I was very happy there was a water stop we got to hit twice. I was started to feel really hungry, and even took a GU during the race. It was awesome to finish and see a smorgasbord of food – bananas, twizzlers, gummy bears, cheez-it, clif bars, hot dogs, M&Ms, cold water and beer… Muddy Monk always has awesome food at the end of their races!

Not so awesome, ha ha, the Muddy Monk races sometimes seem a bit short in mileage according to people’s GPS watches***. Which, is actually common for trail races, which are more about adventure than time/pace. It doesn’t bother me, since I am just out there for fun run, but I have unfortunately heard a lot of gripping about it in person and in social media. Anyway. 

I really enjoyed the race. I love running through the single-track in the woods. Makes me feel like I am out in the wild. On an adventure. Even though I am following little orange flags with other runners. Ha ha. 

Per usual, Muddy Monk provided free photos on their Facebook page, which I LOVE about their races!

They also encouraged a costume contest for the race! 

And had a schweet shirt and glass for schwag!

Thanks to Muddy Monk for providing the free entry and to Maggie for giving it to me! I always enjoy the Muddy Monk races!

*Bobbi gave me a ride back to my car after the race
**I know 14 ≠ 17, 17 was on purpose
***And we all know these watches don’t dictate a race distance, especially when it comes to tangents on road races.

Comments (16)

By kilax, September 22, 2013 4:22 pm

Highlight of the Week: Being able to pick up the pace for miles 7-15 of my long run. That was a real confidence booster!

Monday | September 16, 2013: 6.5 m run (w/Yvonne) + 10.1 m bike + teaching strength class
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 47°/46°, Time: 58:49, Pace: 9:03 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: surprisingly great
Loc: Millennium Trail, Temp: 62°/61°, Time: 42:43, Pace: 14.2 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Strength: Modified Back to School Workout, Difficulty: easy (observing), Felt: okay
Tuesday | September 17, 2013: 5.1 m run (w/Emily + GRCers)
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 45°/46°, Time: 52:56, Pace: 10:23 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: sleepy
Wednesday | September 18, 2013: strength class
Strength: Modified Back to School Workout, Difficulty: medium/hard, Felt: shitty
Thursday | September 19, 2013: 3 m run + 7.2 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 67°/68°, Time: 10:52, Pace: 32:38 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: too asleep (called it quits at 3)
Loc: Round Lake to Grayslake, Temp: 79°/79°, Time: 1:16:06, Pace: 10:34 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: like I was melting
Friday | September 20, 2013: teaching strength class + 3.2 m run (w/Bobbi)
Strength: Modified Back to School Workout, Difficulty: easy (for me, ha), Felt: good
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 66°/66°, Time: 34:01, Pace: 10:38, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, but so sick of bathroom stops!
Saturday | September 21, 2013: 17.3 m run (last 5 w/Bobbi) + Four Stars 4M Race* (w/Bobbi + Maureen) +  6.3 m bike
*Was 3.5 miles
Loc: DPRT, Temp: 52°/60°, Time: 2:56:37, Pace: 10:13 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, breathing a bit heavy though!
Loc: DPRT, Temp: 60°/62°, Time: 46:40, Pace: 13:21 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good
Loc: Round Lake ish area, Temp: 63°/64°, Time: 23:42, Pace: 16.0 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: SO DAMN ANNOYED w/the wind
Sunday | September 22, 2013: 5 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 44°/44°, Time: 52:09, Pace: 10:25 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: okay

Notes:

• What a week. I started it out with a pretty bad case of DOMS, mostly in my quads. I was worried about my Monday morning run, but it ended up being my fastest one of the week!
• I haven’t been able to take the Wednesday night strength class since August 21st! So, this was my return after four weeks off. You would think I would be fine, since I teach two classes a week, but the teaching has been mostly instructional/observational. So, Wednesday was a bit tough, but I was back at it by Friday am. Woo hoo! And, phew.
• Speaking of Friday am! Katie came and took the class! Schweet! Bobbi has been taking it too, hmm, any other local bloggers want to work out at 5:00 am on Friday?
• Check out the schweet socks in the last row of pics. Michele at Running for Oreos sent those to me! What a sweetie! If you don’t read her blog… start. She is hilarious!
• I have to work in the office a lot this week and my #1 worry is getting my miles in. Wah wah wah, my life is so hard <—- sarcasm. It’ll be fine. Deep breaths. Ha ha.
• I hope to have a Muddy Monk race report up tomorrow! I had a lot of fun and enjoyed running through the woods and jumping over logs and dodging branches!
• Congrats to all my friends who raced this weekend! I got to see a lot of friends at the Fox Valley Marathon today, and am anxious to hear about Rachel‘s Fox Cities Marathon! Who raced/spectated this weekend? My running club’s 5K was today and I heard that was a success!
  

Comments (55)

By kilax, September 20, 2013 12:16 pm

And who cares if that make us “mediocre”?!

Apparently, “us,” is “younger athletes.”

I am really curious to hear what you guys think about this article (pdf here). 

The article starts with a triathlon recount from a man in the 50-54 age group, and how surprised he was that he placed in the top 11%, ahead of many people younger than him. The article goes on to say there just aren’t that many fast “young” people these days.

So, here we go. Let me just share some quotes from the article:

• Many new runners come from a mind-set where everyone gets a medal and it’s good enough just to finish.
• Old-timers are suggesting that performance-related apathy among young amateur athletes helps explain why America hasn’t won an Olympic marathon medal since 2004.
• This is emblematic of the state of America’s competitiveness, and should be of concern to us all.
• Last month, Competitor Group Inc. announced it would no longer pay appearance fees for professional runners to compete at its Rock ‘n’ Roll marathon and half-marathon series in the U.S. CGI still pays travel expenses and more for the elite. But to some observers, that change contributed to a growing embrace of mediocrity.

Then the article mentions the Color Run and Tough Mudder and how they don’t time the event. And with how popular those events are becoming, it encourages people not to care about their finish time.

Geesh. It’s a sport, who cares? I mean, really… why do people care about this so much? Because “slower” people are crowding their events? Getting in their way at races? Walking through water stops?

Okay, it would be a lie to say I haven’t been frustrated with walkers starting in front of me in a race I plan to run before (Chase Corporate Challenge), but really… I got over it. It’s just a race. We’re not elite athletes. And those elite athletes are still fast. 

What do you think of the article?

I just, ugh. This rubs me the wrong way. I think people should be encouraged to exercise. While I know I personally do not want to walk a half marathon or marathon, if other people want to and the race can support it… they should go for it! And should start in the correct corral, ha ha.