Comments (29)

By kilax, April 30, 2014 6:49 am

Gosh, I swear I have written about this before, but can’t seem to find it!

Growing up (and now!) what did (do) you call your grandparents?

Ours were the traditional “Grandpa” and “Grandma.” Only, we didn’t call them by Grandpa paternal/maternal last name and Grandma paternal/maternal last name, we called them by their pet’s names! Grandpa and Grandma Tiger, and Grandpa and Grandma Pete**. Those names were easier for us to remember, and even after Tiger and Pete both passed away, we still called them by those names. Even to this day, it’s “Grandma Tiger” and “Grandma Pete.”

It wasn’t until I had cousins that I even realized that kids call their grandparents things other than Grandpa and Grandma. I remember the first time my cousins called our grandpa “Papa,” I thought they were talking to their dad! Ha ha. 

So I am curious to hear what you called/call yours! Or… if you are a grandparent, what you are called! I was talking to Gina about this during our recent visit and she said their parents had very specific names they wanted to be used, which I found interesting! 

I’ve been thinking about my paternal grandpa (Grandpa Tiger) a lot recently. The Longest Day event is coming up toward the end of June, and I am raising money for the Alzheimer’s Association with Rachel and her team (see my donation page, here). Grandpa Tiger did not have Alzheimer’s – he had Lewy Body Dementia – but I am still participating in this event with him in mind. I think research on all dementia is important, as well as care for those who have it, and support for the care takers. I bet too many of you can relate to a family member having dementia, and know the pain of seeing someone you love slip away more each day as the dementia takes a stronger hold. 

Whoa! I didn’t mean for this to get all sad. I have actually been thinking of all the good memories of Grandpa Tiger. And it makes me very happy to be on this team, and promoting the research. If you want to donate to my page, please check it out, here!

*Tiger was actually a dog*** (so was Pete) but I like to insist Tiger was a cat cause it makes my snister nuts. Love you, Snistina!!!
**pronounced Petey
***Kind of funny that we called them after a pet who I couldn’t remember anything about! I am not even sure if all of my siblings met Tiger!

Comments (30)

By kilax, April 29, 2014 12:39 pm

Ha ha ha. No.

I was reading this post-Boston Marathon interview (pdf here) with Shalane Flanagan, and she had a really interesting answer to the question “What was your weekly mileage like?” (when training for Boston):

It’s hard to say because I measure my mileage a little differently than most people. I go by the Badger system, so most of my mileage is counted at eight-minute pace per mile. So if I do an 80-minute run, I only count that as 10 miles. I think I maxed out at 115, so if you were to measure how normal people do, that could have been a little bit over 120. But, in general, hovering around 110 miles was kind of my comfort zone, where I was able to still get in really good quality.

So interesting! Have you ever even heard of the Badger system? I’d like to use that. Ha! My mileage would be a lot higher than it really is (I realize that is not the point).

If you are like me, the lifestyle and training plans of elite runners fascinates you. I love reading about how much they run and when, what they eat, what they like to wear, how many massages they get, and how much they nap. Ahh, the naps.

click to see larger

If you could take one aspect of an elite runner’s lifestyle, what would it be?

The napping! Oh, and running being my full time job. Hee hee. 

And I just have to say, I really admire Shalane. Every article I read about her makes me like her more. Especially whichever one it was that said she curses like a sailor. And! She has a cat!

I curse! I have a cat! We’re practically twins! (sooooo kidding)

And I really like what she said in this article about being inspiring. Side note: I have the same mindset as Rachel about the whole “I wanna be inspiring” business – I feel like you should do the things you love for intrinsic purposes, not for outside validation. If you do happen to inspire others, fantastic! But I don’t understand chasing that. 

Anyway. But people like Shalane are inspiring. And I liked how she responded to this question about what she wears. You do make running look cool, Shalane. And you make it look really easy. Ha ha. 

I’ve got to ask about your pink shoes and pink shades and your compression socks, which is such a cool look. How much thought do you put into that in before a race? Does it give you a certain kind of feeling when you’re out there competing?

Jerry would hate if I admit that I care what I look like. He’s used to dealing with a bunch of dudes who could care less what they wear. But you know what? I do think it’s fun to look sharp, and I hope running looks cool. I like to inspire people. We’re in the inspiration business, so it’s nice to be able to work really hard, put yourself in the best position possible, and then draw attention in a positive way. I would hope some little girl says, “Oh, that girl looks cool. I want to be a runner.” 

Comments (23)

By kilax, April 28, 2014 6:23 am

Look at all of these nice pictures Steven got at the Trek the Trails Half two Saturdays ago!

But wait. Why are all these people looking so smiley and happy for Steven? They don’t know him. Hmm…

Ha ha. Cause they mistook Steven for a course photographer. He often gets to a site early and does a few practice shots to get the lighting and composition right for when the people he knows go by. People sometimes think he is an official race photographer when he’s doing that. 

He said at this race, he took a few photos to get set up, and so many people started coming and hamming it up for him that he just kept taking their photos. Steve (Gina‘s husband) said one guy looked like he was having a rough race, but that when he saw Steven from far away, he switched his race belt so his bib was in the front and then corrected his form and got all smiley. Poor guy! He might wonder why he never saw this pic!

I feel bad when this happens! I wish there was a way to share all the pics, but this event doesn’t have a Facebook page or anything. I suppose I could have emailed them to ask if they wanted the pics? I shared some photos (via Dropbox) I took at a race last year with the official photographer and wondered if they were ever shared with the participants. 

What’s funny is that I was thinking about this early last week, then got an email about the duathlon I did and how they were using a shared photo site called Eversnap. The site allows everyone at the event to share the photos they took (via your smart phone or computer). So I actually found some of myself, as well as some that show the course:

It’s set up so that you can “like” photos and leave comments, similar to how you would on Facebook:

It looks like this site is set up with parties in mind (like a wedding or other big event) but it works great for races, too! I wonder if I’ll see more races doing this. I’ll pay attention, because it would be a great way to share photos (rather than Facebook or me trying to set up some external site). 

Otherwise, I am just going to keep deleting all the “practice” shots – these high res images take up a lot of space! And take a lot of time to sort through.

I’ll be doing that this weekend – sorting through images.  Steven is renting two fancy schmancy lenses to take photos at the Wisconsin Marathon and Half Marathon! I can’t wait to see how the pictures turn out. He is really excited to try out the lenses. 

Comments (11)

By kilax, April 27, 2014 12:05 pm

Highlight of the Week: My first duathlon and first softball practice with our team – both were so fun!

Monday | April 21, 2014: 5 m run (w/Steve)
Loc: McKinney, Temp: 61°/62°, Time: 48:41, Pace: 9:44 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Tuesday | April 22, 2014: 4 m run (w/Gina)
Loc: McKinney, Temp: 63°/68°, Time: 38:36, Pace: 9:39 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good (hot, ha ha!)
Wednesday | April 23, 2014: rest
Thursday | April 24, 2014: rest
Friday | April 25, 2014: teaching strength class + bike ride/catching practice (w/Steven)
Strength: Kettlebells/body bars mixed mode, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good to be back after a week off!
Saturday | April 25, 2014: Kettleman Duathlon + softball practice
Loc: Kettle Moraine State Forest, Temp: 36°/38°, Time: 2:15:51, Pace: 12.2 mph avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: pretty good
Sunday | April 26, 2014: 6 m run (w/Valerie)
Loc: Rollins Savanna, Temp: 40°/43°, Time: 58:09, Pace: 9:41 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: soooo windy

Notes:

• Did you see that Rachel put up an awesome raffle to fundraise money for Alzheimer’s Association’s The Longest Day event? Check it out, here! All the prizes are great – medal displays, race entries, compression socks, books, running gear, and more! All you have to donate is $5 for an entry! And if you donate $25 you get 3 bonus entries! And there are chances for even MOAR entries! I really want to enter, but feel like I shouldn’t since I am on the team. Hee hee. YOU should enter, since I am not!
• Do you feel like you should know the people you see running in your town? Maybe not so much for big cities, but when I see a runner around here, I often feel like I should know who it is*. If I am in Grayslake, I normally do! I was driving home this Thursday and saw two people I knew. The same thing happened the week before. 
• It was so nice to run with Steve and Gina when I was visiting them this week! Because I am pretty sure yelling “Go Meb! Go Meb!” for a bit Monday morning then eating nachos for lunch doesn’t count for exercise. But walking around at the zoo does, right! Hee hee, my point – I really like to workout when I travel and it’s even better when I get to do it with the person(s) I am visiting!

Link to Training Week 235

*This would be why I asked Gina “do you know who that person is?” a few times when we drove by runners in her town this week. Ha ha. 

Comments (30)

By kilax, April 26, 2014 4:44 pm

Woo hoo! Today was my first official “event” on my road bike – the Kettleman Duathlon in Kettle Moraine State Forest, near Kewaskum, WI*, with Brian, Rich and Sean from my multisport club. The duathlon was a 1.5 mile run, 23.2 mile ride, followed by a 3.1 mile run. 

Ever since Steven gave me my road bike at the end of July, I’ve wanted to try it out in some sort of “official” event! Even though I could have done road events with my mountain bike, I thought it would be more enjoyable on a road bike (um, yes). When Brian mentioned this duathlon awhile ago I kept it in the back of my mind as a possibility. I ended up having a mostly free weekend, so I decided to sign up!

I did minimal training – a few indoor rides this year (including ride/run brick workouts) and one outdoor ride. So, my plan today was just to have fun and see if I would enjoy a duathlon. Spoiler alert: yes, I do!

The race started at Long Lake Recreation Area in Kettle Moraine. Both running legs were through campground access roads (so, somewhat flat!) and the bike course was on country roads around the area  (so, somewhat hilly). I know, I know, I say “hills,” and you are probably thinking, “in the midwest?!” And yeah, you are probably sick of seeing these charts, but check out the middle bike portion – those were some serious hills! Ha ha – for the midwest. I definitely utilized my low gears. 

Luckily, Brian told me it would be hilly, so I expected it. And we discussed shifting technique on the ride up, so I could make sure my plan for the hills was similar to what he would do (it was). Brian helped me a lot! This was my first solo multisport event and I had a few questions, mostly about what to wear! I didn’t want to underdress for the ride, since it was only in the 30s (36°F at the start and 38°F at the finish with 8-11 mph winds). But I didn’t want to be too hot for the run. I ended up dressing in layers that I could peel off after the second transition, and that worked out great. I was a bit too warm on the 1.5 mile run, but it was no big deal, then I felt perfectly comfortable on the ride! And ditched my gloves and arm warmers for the last run. And I skipped my padded capris/shorts since I can’t run well in those. Ha! Wonder how sore my “saddle” will be tomorrow!

Okay, so actual race! The event was pretty small, which is probably good for my first duathlon! It was easy to find a spot for my bike, and the course was never too crowded. Ha – a few times I thought I was the last biker (I wasn’t). 

I ran the first 1.5 miles in an average 8:31 pace. I was super excited to get on my bike! I stumbled a bit with my shoes but made it through transition 1 in 1:07. 

The bike course was beautiful – serene country roads, mostly open, but some wooded. The sun was out and it felt fantastic! I really wish I could have taken some photos, but yeah… that wouldn’t be safe! I ended up taking four GUs** on the bike and drinking out of both water bottles. I wasn’t sure how much I needed to fuel, and wanted to be on the safe side. 

I really enjoyed riding my bike, despite it feeling a lot windier than it was, and slowing down big time on the hills (a few expletives came out each time I saw a huge one – but I kept telling myself “you are still riding faster than you could run this!”***). There were some incredibly rewarding downhills though, where I was flying at 34+ mph!!! Woo hoo! Don’t get to do that too often!

I was hoping to average 16 mph on the bike, but ended up with 15 mph. Not too bad! My bike time was 1:32:38. I got in to transition 2 at the same time Brian was finishing! I cheered him on, quickly threw my helmet and gloves down and tried to get my running shoes on. Ha! The bottom of my feet felt so numb! I went through transition 2 in 1:06. 

And that was the only thing that bugged me on the run – numb feet. My legs felt fine. I was kind of dreading the last run during the bike ride. I was just loving riding so much that I didn’t want to stop! And I thought I might be kind of bored running through the loops of the campground. But I found a few people to talk to, including one who went to the same university as me!

My pace was slower than the first run, which I totally expected. I finished out the 5K in 29:03 for an overall time of 2:15:51. 

I was pleasantly surprised that we got participation medals! And that I placed second in my age group!

I was also surprised to see myself listed in the 30-34 age group! But I know USAT Triathlon does some weird race year age thing, so I figured that was it. 

Everyone in my club did really well, too! They finished way ahead of me and near the top finishers! I need to start riding with them to get better! And lose some weight so the hill climbs are easier. That is actually what I want to do in the next three months to prepare for the hilly day of RAGBRAI I am riding – shed some weight! And do a few longer rides. 

So, yeah. I really enjoyed this! I hope I get to try another duathlon this year, and spend a lot more time on my bike!

*When I signed up for this race this past weeek, I thought it was in Kettle Moraine State Forest where I did my 50K. Ha ha. Um, no. Apparently there are at least two Kettle Moraine State Forests – and this race was much farther away from my house than the other one. Like… a two hour drive. Meaning a 3:45 am wake-up call. Ha ha. 
**And one before race start.
***I was just so happy during the whole event – there was lots of positive self talk. “You are doing a duathlon!” “You can do it!” “Keep pedaling, you got this!” “Use your weight on the downhill to pass people!” Ha ha. 

Comments (23)

By kilax, April 25, 2014 6:26 am

How do you keep track of all your passwords? Do you make your passwords super complicated and change them often, or use the same ones over and over?

Hopefully, none of your passwords are on this list (pdf here)!

At work, I have to use many different applications that require many different passwords that be changed frequently. My favorite is the one that has to be at least 16 digits, changed every 2 months, be completely different each time, and contain capitals, characters and numbers. 

Fun times. 

This has caused me to create some super random passwords that mean nothing at all. They are just sequences of letters, numbers and characters. Which, has actually been a good thing, because it’s gotten me in to the habit of using completely random passwords for personal stuff, too!

But I still have to keep them jotted down somewhere for both work and personal, which I know is a bad, bad habit! 

Comments (26)

By kilax, April 24, 2014 6:09 am

• I am finally reading Born to Run! Gina really liked it, and thought I would to, so she gave me a copy! I’ve heard so many rave reviews of this book! Have you read it? What did you think?

• We started watching Saving Mr Banks last night. I am really enjoying it! The difficulty of the main character reminds me a bit of some people I know in real life, ha ha. Now Steven and I need to watch Mary Poppins. Neither of us have ever seen it – have you seen Mary Poppins?
• Data has been so darn cuddly and sweet since we came back from Dallas late Tuesday night! Normally, he is that way for about 20+ minutes after we walk in the door, but he is still acting like that this morning! Aww!

• This weekend, I noticed my purse had an attached strap inside of it, with a clasp at the end. I decided to attach my wallet to it, and wow, it’s now super easy to get my wallet out of my purse! Don’t have to dig around anymore. Ahh, the simple things. Ha ha. 

• Awhile ago (gosh, it was the last time I did a RTT!), I mentioned I hadn’t been sleeping well for a few months. I hope I am not jinxing it, but I am finally starting to sleep for longer periods of time at night! A few sleep related questions – if I have a crazy nightmare with someone in it, should I let them know? Ha ha. I had a tornado dream Wednesday morning, with someone from my past in it. And, what do you do when you can’t shut your mind off to fall asleep? The #1 thing that usually works for me is to think about something I have to plan/figure out, and don’t want to. My brain is so good at shutting those things out of my mind that it puts me to sleep (I know, not so much a good thing when it comes to planning/problem solving). 
• Speaking of dreams, yesterday I wasn’t sure if I had a discussion with Steven in real life, or in a dream I had on the train ride to work. It must have been in real life, because when he picked me up from the train that evening, we went grocery shopping, which is what I wanted to ask him about. Um… let’s just say I was a bit tired yesterday morning. 
• Tonight is our first meeting with our softball team, and our first game should be May 15th! I didn’t realize how much planning and organization would go in to it (duh, right?) but I know the games will be a lot of fun. I wonder what position I will end up playing!

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 59

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By kilax, April 23, 2014 6:19 am

Typically when a visit with Gina and family ends, I feel super down because it will be so long before I see them again, or worse – I don’t even know when I will see them next!

But not this time! We know we will see them in LESS THAN A MONTH(!!!!!!!) when they come to Chicago for the Soldier Field 10 Miler. And after that, we will see them in two and a half weeks at my snister’s wedding! Okay, don’t even ask me how I will feel when we part in June. I will probably be a basket case. 

Our trip this past weekend to Dallas was perfect. It coincided with many celebrations – Gina’s birthday on Friday, Easter on Sunday, the Boston Marathon/Śmigus-Dyngus on Monday, and an early birthday for Luca on Tuesday! Oh yeah, the title of the post:

Raffie needed a friend! Raffie, meet Guntherrrrrrrrrrrr* (said with rolling Rs and purring noises). Ha ha. 

Guntherrrrrrrrrrrr showed up at the doorstep late Saturday night and it was too hard to just leave him in the box until we gave him to Luca on Tuesday, so we had a bit of fun hiding him in places to scare Gina and Steve. 

I think the bathroom may have been the most successful hiding spot, based on the scream I heard from downstairs when Gina saw him in there, and, um, based on Guntherrrrrrrrrrrr’s rapid decent from the second level to the first level. Ha ha ha!

The sad thing is that he’s too big to come to Chicago in May. I am sure we will find something else to be goofy about – we always manage to!

And that is one of the things I love about spending time with Gina, Steve and Luca – all the jokes and goofiness. Our time together is so upbeat, care-free and stress-free! I always feel so relaxed around them. Then it’s back to the grind… but only for a bit!

I love sharing nap time with Luca! I hope he never grows out of naps…

*5 out of 5 moms interviewed said getting Luca another giant stuffed animal was a good idea. Or, at least, that I should do it. 

Comments (10)

By kilax, April 21, 2014 8:53 am

Highlight of the Week: That I started the week with a run with my dad in Iowa, and finished it with a run with my bestie in Texas!

Monday | April 14, 2014: 5 m run (w/Dad) + teaching strength class
Loc: Young Arena, Waterloo, Time: 53:30, Pace: 10:41 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Strength: Kettlebells/body bars mixed mode, Difficulty: medium, Felt: okay
Tuesday | April 15, 2014: rest
Wednesday | April 16, 2014: 3+ m walk around Chicago
Thursday | April 17, 2014: 6.3 m run (w/Adam) + 3 m run (w/Christina)
Loc: Around Grayslake, Temp: 42°/41°, Time: 59:13, Pace: 9:24 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: worn out and tired
Loc: Millennium Trail, Temp: 60°/61°, Time: 30:35, Pace: 10:12 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good/excited to run with someone new
Friday | April 18, 2014: teaching strength class + 5.2 m run (w/Kelly)
Strength: Kettlebells/bod bars mixed mode, Difficulty: medium, Felt: decent
Loc: Grrayslake, Temp: 37°/36°, Time: 51:44, Pace: 9:57, Difficulty: good, Felt: happy I got to run with Kelly!
Saturday | April 19, 2014: Trek the Trails Half Marathon (w/Gina)
Loc: McKinney, Temp: 51°/68°, Time: 2:13:17, Pace: 10:09 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: happy (until the hills… just kidding!)
Sunday | April 20, 2014: rest (including some walking)

Notes:

• Looking at my training logs, I have not done a solo run since March 17th! That is nutso! I sure feel lucky to have so many people to run with, at many different times (and sometimes, paces)!
• I can’t decide if I want to include walking in my recaps or not. Sometimes I end up walking a lot if I am downtown, but don’t include it, but would if I was walking that amount around my neighborhood. If that makes any sense. This week I did track how much I walked downtown Chicago and it was over 3 miles (non typical day – my walking commute isn’t always like that). I am sure it will be back and forth from week to week.
• I’m coming up on potentially 6 weekends in a row of races (not signed up for all of them yet), and most of them are with friends! Fun, fun, fun! 

Link to Training Week 233 and 234

Comments (30)

By kilax, April 20, 2014 8:18 am

Time to brag on my girl, Gina! She ran her first (almost) half marathon this year in February, a redemption one two weeks later, and a third half marathon yesterday. I don’t know about you guys, but after my first half marathon, I didn’t run another for a full year*! Go, Gina, go! I am super proud of her! 

Oh! And the awesome thing about this half marathon is that it was the full half distance (ha ha, unlike the first one) and that we got to run it together. New couple personal distance record (CPDR?)! Awww!

The Trek the Trails Half Marathon was in the town she lives in – McKinney, Texas. It started at a high school, followed a road, then quickly got on a paved trail. 

The trail was gorgeous! And I really liked the parts of the trail that were shaded, as there was hardly any cloud coverage from the sun, and surprise, surprise, Texas is a bit warmer than Illinois right now!

I was actually a bit concerned about getting overheated and feeling lousy, like I have on a few recent “hot” (not really) runs. But we kept the pace easy and I took some electrolyte tabs, which seemed to help a bit! I was still hot and dripping in sweat (and it only got up to 68°F), but I felt fine and we were able to run the whole thing…

EVEN when we went through this tortuous hilly neighborhood loop that had hardly any shade.  Ha ha. We weren’t really sure what the course was like. I thought it was a straight out and back, but it was actually an out, a little loop, then a BIG loop, off of the trail, through a hilly residential area. Then back on the trail. 

Needless to say, we were happy to get back on the trail! The course marshals and race volunteers were fantastic, and we were getting lots of “go bunnies!” and “I like your ears” when went through the residential area, but it was a bit mentally challenging. It was a smaller half marathon, and sometimes, it was just us, with no one else in sight! At one point I told Gina it just felt like a training run through a neighborhood (ha, which is really what it was, since we weren’t going for a time goal). I was fine with that, but happy when we got back on the trail and we knew we were headed back.  

Since part of it was out and back we got to see the boys twice, which was a surprise! 

Our pace dropped the last few miles, but I was really proud of us for running the entire thing and dealing with the hot sun (Gina usually does her long run earlier in the day to avoid the heat!)! We saw a lot of people walking, and the fact that they were mostly local** and still struggling with the heat, made me feel better that I thought it was challenging, too. 

We crossed the finish line in 2:13:18 (2:13:17 for Gina, ha ha) and were very happy when we saw they didn’t make us run a hill right by the finish, and when we found out that the course was an accurate distance. Woo hoo!

What a fun race! I enjoy doing longer distance events with friends, so we can chat and have a good time, and love that I can do that with Gina (well, you know, chatting until the last few miles when I am all “hot. brain no work.”). I think it’s so awesome she has kept her distance up (and even run over the half marathon distance!!!) since her first “half,” and that she is continually challenging herself! And that she finds this fun – we actually signed up as a celebration of her birthday the day before. Woo hoo!

And I was very happy that we got to see our boys a few times on course! Ha ha – every time I saw them I thought, “they look so hot, in long sleeves!” But actually, it was really nice out, if you weren’t running! Hee hee. 

One last story. At the beginning of the race, this guy told us that his dog liked to chase bunnies (after seeing us in our bunny ears), which made us laugh. He passed us right away in the beginning, and I was like, “Gina! We can’t let that dog beat us!” Ha ha. We only passed him, a little over half way through, because the dog stopped for a potty break. After the race, that guy told us he was trying to catch up with us the whole time after we passed him. I asked him a bit about training his dog to run longer distances, and he said the dog had actually done two 50 milers recently and this half was an “easy” run! Color me impressed!

*oh, that is because I immediately signed up for a full marathon then got a stress fracture… that kind of set me back for awhile
**Looking at the race results, there were three people from out of state – me, someone from Nevada, and someone from Louisiana