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By kilax, August 29, 2014 10:31 am

Do you donate blood? Do you know your blood type?

In the past week several blood donation and blood draw stories have come up, and it’s got me thinking… I really need to donate blood one of these days! I never have! I’ve only had it taken. 

Hopefully when I do it, it doesn’t give me a story to tell like the ones that inspired me asking the first question. 

I’ve definitely asked the second question before, because it surprises me how many people don’t know their blood type. Of course, I have no idea how I learned mine, but it’s A +, which apparently, is the second most common for Caucasians. That is Steven’s blood type, too. I found this page from the Red Cross site really interesting – it shows which blood types are most common and how blood types can be matched for transfusions. 

Now someone hold me to it that I actually donate!

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By kilax, August 28, 2014 6:09 am

I first heard of the concept of “flow” when I saw it on a list of “12 things happy people do differently” in July of last year. On that list, flow was described as “a state in which it feels like time stands still and you are so focused on what you are doing you become one with the task” and “nothing is distracting you or competing with your focus.”

The concept has intrigued me ever since. And really, eluded me. I wanted to get to this sacred flow state, dammit! It sounds like a nice place to be. 

So I was really excited when Running Times featured an article about flow (pdf here), and put in this chart that explained so much to me:

Gah! I see why I don’t have flow that often! I spend most of my time in the other three areas of the chart – anxiety, apathy or boredom! 

On what part of the chart do you spend most of your time?

This chart made so much sense to me, I got, um, a little over excited, and found myself telling a lot of people about it. I felt like I found the secret to get to flow, and wanted to share it – just match a high challenge with high skills. 

Ha ha, of course, it’s a little more than that, but I feel like this chart, and article, really lead me in the right direction. 

This article is mostly spoke about flow in running (and how to get there!), which has only happened to me a few times (and is different than a runner’s high). But it did mention how flow experiences are important for life, and that it’s important you have a lot of small ones, not a few huge ones. Just a few highlights from the article: 

People are happiest when they do activities that require skill and concentration. This may come as a surprise given our cultural attitudes toward difficult work (negative) and passive leisure (positive), but decades of research have shown that people report better moods and feelings when confronted with challenging tasks that have clear objectives. 

When you become deeply involved in autotelic activities to the point that your mind no longer wanders, Csikszentmihalyi found that you enter a mental state known as flow.

And that [flow] can be very enjoyable. Note the use of the word “enjoyable” and not “entertaining” or “pleasurable.” Passive activities like watching television or twiddling with a smartphone turn the mind off by bombarding it with a stream of unimportant information. Sensual pleasures, like eating ice cream, occur automatically, requiring no focus or skill. Flow activities like running engage and challenge a person. In fact, it is the challenge that makes running so enjoyable.

Flow occurs in those settings where people devote their full attention to their tasks and find ways to make their work challenging. Odds are you encounter small flow moments all the time when working on a complex problem at the office, cooking or designing a new piece of furniture in the workshop. Seeking out these types of smaller flow moments, in fact, is one of the keys to finding lasting happiness.

“There is evidence that for the quality of your life, it’s better to have a lot of smaller flow experiences than to have a few large ones,” Csikszentmihalyi says. “If you achieve flow only very occasionally in special conditions, you spend the rest of your life wondering, ‘Why can’t I achieve this more often?’ “

And after reading this I figured out my go to flow state – editing photos / working in Photoshop. It’s challenging and I feel like I have the skills to do it. I definitely get lost in it, and do find it enjoyable. 

Now, if only I could get more flow at work!

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By kilax, August 27, 2014 6:51 am

Whether it’s kinesthesia or proprioception*… something is off with my body’s control of its limbs in space. BECAUSE I KEEP RUNNING IN TO THINGS. 

Last week I hit my hand on a metal bar on the train when I was taking my seat. I wasn’t rushed or anything. There was no one in front of or behind me. These things just happen (to me). 

My hand immediately hurt. Because of course, I slammed my wedding rings in to the bar, and the rings happened to be turned, so that the diamonds hit my middle finger. Yeah. 

That hurt for a few days. I still have the diamond “puncture” spot on my middle finger. 

A few days later, I ran my knee in to a low table. Now my knee hurts. The previous week, I cracked my bruised up toe on the top of a stair and it stung for the rest of the night (luckily that toenail is gone now MUAH HA HA, see ya later!). 

Ha ha. Fun times.

I can’t figure out if I am: a. really uncoordinated, b. moving too fast and not paying attention to what I am doing, or c. losing my mind. 

Okay, probably all three. 

Do you ever feel like your limbs are acting on their own? Or constantly running in to stuff?

Ha. I was telling Gina about this and she brought up a story my mom told her – about the time I was walking out of a store, reading a book, and ran straight in to a GIANT mailbox. I didn’t even see it coming. Ha ha. Apparently this has been going on since my youth. PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU ARE DOING, KIM!!!

*I’ve been wanting to write about proprioception for a long time but just doing research and reading that article, I still don’t have a great understanding of it. Maybe that is why mine doesn’t “work.”

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By kilax, August 26, 2014 6:23 am

Is anyone else wondering if Mother Nature thought “Hey! It’s almost the end of August! I didn’t really do that summer weather thing… maybe I should now!”? Ha ha.

We’ve had a recent streak of hot weather and humid days. Which, actually, was fantastic for the beach this weekend. But… a little challenging for running. 

Eh, it’s summer. I expect it. I am actually surprised we’ve had such a mild summer, so far, and, uh, how little I took advantage of it, running-wise. Ha. Wassup wit dat?!

So. It was humid this weekend. And Rachel and I were registered to run the Victory Fun Run Walk before heading out of town to Iowa. It was perfect timing – we planned to leave late Saturday morning anyway, so why not run a local 5K/10K in her neighborhood?

The race is a fundraiser for the Edgerton Hospital’s Capital Foundation and had a 1 mile, 5K and 10K option. It’s called the Victory Fun Run Walk in honor of the service star women who helped raise funds for the previous hospital* (the race was at the new hospital).

Of course, we chose the 10K option! Rachel and I both have fall marathons, so we gotta get those miles in!

Rachel let me know it would be hilly, so I was planning on a slower pace, but man, it wasn’t so much the hills (I mean, it still was…) but the humidity! It was just oppressive. I could barely breathe the whole time. It was hard. Probably the hardest 10K I have ever done! 

I was happy I was running with Rachel so I had someone to chat with, until I ran out of steam (you know, metaphorical steam, because I had plenty of actual steam around me).

The race was an out and back, down a hilly access road, through a neighborhood, on some (you guessed it hilly) country roads, through another neighborhood… and back. There was one water stop at the 1.5/4.5 mile point and plenty of volunteers telling us where to go, and cheering us on. Ha ha, they were so nice, saying things like “You look great! This is such a hard day for a race!” 

I think only 15-18 people did the 10K… if even that many! It’s funny, the girl who won the 10K was wearing the same shirt as me. I kept joking with Rachel that she was my teammate and I “let her” take this win. Uh, yeah. And you know, we maybe finished 6th and 7th females overall, but most of the ladies who finished in front of us were in the 30-39 age group. Dammito! Ha, not really. 

We finished in an hour and three and a half minutes or so. I am not sure what our official time was. The course was short… and I was so okay with that. I was just proud of myself for surviving.

The race was small and well run – the type of race I really enjoy. I’d like to come race again in Edgerton when it’s not so humid. Okay, and I could stand to do a little hill training… maybe!

I loved that they gave us these little dog tags with the race name and year on it! You know I totally put that on my medal rack. Hee hee!

And… I loved that they were playing my power song when we started the race! I told Rachel, any race that plays Van Halen, ACDC, or ZZ Top at the start, is a good race. 

*They explained this much better at the start of the race but I had a hard time hearing, so that is what I read here.

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By kilax, August 25, 2014 6:06 am

 Today is my snister’s golden birthday! Happy 25th, Christina!

A little then and now for ya

Wait, what’s a golden birthday? It’s the birthday when you turn the same age as your birth date! So Christina’s is today, as she is turning 25 on the 25th. Mine will be next year, since my birthday is on the 31st!

Did you know it was your golden birthday when you had it (or have you not, yet)? If so, did you do anything “special” to celebrate?

I went to Iowa this weekend to see Christina for her golden birthday, and got her “gold-themed” gifts. As in, a lot of gold jewelry. You can never have too much jewelry, right?! RIGHT?

Oh, and some “golden” cookies of course, too:

We had a fabulous weekend! “Summer” weather came around in full force this past week/weekend, and it was perfect for being on the beach!

And I really enjoyed seeing Christina’s friends that I got to know from her wedding, as well as seeing my family, and spending the whole weekend with Rachel!!! Guttenberg, Iowa is such a special place for my family, and it makes me so happy that we can share it with our friends. 

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By kilax, August 24, 2014 10:12 pm

Highlight of the Week: Running with Rachel along the Mississippi River in Guttenberg!

Monday | August 18, 2014: 4 m run (w/Kelly) + teaching strength class
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 62°/63°, Time: 41:18, Pace: 10:19 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: like crap
Strength: Lebert and 1 dumbbell, Difficulty: medium, Felt: so. hot.
Tuesday | August 19, 2014: rest
Wednesday | August 20, 2014: 7 m run + 4 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 64°/63°, Time: 1:15:33, Pace: 10:47 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: decent
Loc: Chicago Lakefront Trail, Temp: 81°/83°, Time: 44:02, Pace: 11:01 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: great then DYING HOT
Thursday | August 21, 2014: 3 m run
Loc: Chicago Lakefront Trail, Temp: 79°/78°, Time: 32:48, Pace: 10:55 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: like midday is not my time
Friday | August 22, 2014: teaching strength class
Strength: Lebert and 1 dumbbell, Difficulty: medium, Felt: okay
Saturday | August 23, 2014: Veterans Victory Fun Run 10K (w/Rachel)
Loc: Edgerton, Temp: 73°/74°, Time: 1:03:39, Pace: 10:41 avg, Difficulty: hard, Felt: so hard on my lungs
Sunday | August 24, 2014: 15 m run (w/Rachel and Dad (first 5))
Loc: Guttenberg, Temp: 70°/73°, Time: 3:00:42, Pace: 12:03 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: surprisingly decent!

Notes:

• WHOA, what a week! It must have been our most humid one of the summer so far! I ended most of my runs completely soaked in sweat. Even my shoes were soaked after my long run on Sunday! That rarely happens to me. It’s really fun to run with your socks slipping around in your shoes. Ha ha. Not. 
• I was happy to fit in some lunch workouts, but man, midday is NOT my best running time! My body likes running early, in the dark. Oh well, miles are miles right now. Even if they are junk miles, I am happy to be running a bit more. And this weather is just reminding me how much faster I feel in the fall/winter!
• Rachel and I did a 10K in her town before our trip to Iowa on Saturday! I think that was the most challenging 10K I’ve ever done! I told Rachel I need to come back and run the course with her when it’s not so humid (and could they remove the hills? Ha ha, just kidding). Report on that tomorrow!

Link to Training Week 252

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By kilax, August 22, 2014 6:02 am

Have you ever been in a play or musical?

From Snow White and the Seven Dwarves at the community playhouse

I was really in to theater my freshman and sophomore year of high school. Maybe a little in middle school, as well? I remember taking acting classes at the community playhouse for fun. I remember being DEVASTED when I did not get a role when I tried out for the fall play my freshman year… then elated when it turned out someone had to drop out and I got their spot. I was in the fall and spring play both freshman and sophomore year, as well as in a community playhouse play during fall of sophomore year. I remember going to the school rehearsal then straight to the playhouse one!

Then I lost interest the last two years of high school. Womp womp. 

Lately I keep having dreams that I am about to be in a play (to play a character from Downton Abbey, ha ha) and don’t know ANY of my lines. And that my acting partner won’t help me out. And my acting partner is someone from high school. Brain! Quit regressing back fourteen years! These dreams make me wake up all panicked, and it’s so weird I am fretting about this, because I never had a problem memorizing my lines (or everyone else’s). Of course, I also never have a problem showing up places without shoes or clothes, which are also things I dream about. Ha ha. 

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By kilax, August 21, 2014 7:26 am

Do you think you resemble one of your parents more than the other? If so, which one?

Dad, me and Mom

We met our friends’ newborn last night, so of course, we were talking about whose features he has, and it made me think about whose I have. 

It’s funny – I can pick up facial features on other people, and say “Oh yeah, you look (or don’t look) like your mom (or whomever)!”  But for some reason, I can’t seem to analyze my features with my own family, especially my siblings. People tell us we look similar, but I look at pictures of us and don’t see it. 

But this post is about parents, not siblings.

Dad and me

I think I resemble a mix of both of them. 

Me and Mom (and Steven)

But there is this one picture of my mom when she was younger that I think I look SO MUCH like, that I have to say, I think I might resemble her a bit more. Or maybe I just think that because I smile a lot like she is in that photo! Or… because we are both female and it’s easier for me to see the resemblances. 

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By kilax, August 20, 2014 11:02 am

I got a kick out of this article Steven sent me about Daimler’s (the German Automaker) solution for emails you receive when you have your “out-of-office” auto reply on – they delete them. Ha! How awesome is that?! Is someone continually emailing you even though you are off? You’ll NEVER see the emails. Ha. Ha ha.  

And I found this tidbit mentioned in the article to be interesting – that the tech industry and several unions in France have signed a deal that makes it so that companies can no longer contact their employees electronically after the working hours of the day are over! 

So… Europe is either really progressive, or people are going to be picking up the phone more to communicate with each other. Maybe a bit of both?

Now, compare that to what we have going on in the US – people who are too afraid to go on vacation, because of the amount of work they will have when they get back, the fear that no one can do what they do while they are gone, and that they don’t want to appear replaceable. Sigh. 

I actually read that first article this weekend, and right away, thought about how grateful I am that my company has such a great work/life balance. I feel free to take leave when I want, and rarely look at my phone when I am off, unless I am expecting something “urgent.” We work our set hours each day, rarely more. Our leaders respect our family time. I knew my company was like this as I was interviewing, and it’s a huge part of why I took the job. 

So to read that article yesterday, about people fearing taking a vacation… ugh, it just made me feel sad. Sad that people feel so trapped like that! Okay, and it made me interested in what the article called the “martyr” complex – that you are the ONLY one who can do your job. I wonder how many jobs are really that way. 

I like the Daimler attitude better (about why they are deleted the emails people get when they have their out-of-office on):

Daimler believes that people on break actually deserve a break, and that managers shouldn’t try to wring out a few extra hours of work that likely aren’t necessary. It might have a point: studies even suggest that Germany, France and other countries that discourage overtime are very productive.

How about you? When you’re off work, are you truly “off”? Do you have a hard time taking vacation?

I wonder how generational this is. There is definitely more of a devotion/loyalty to work in older generations, and a tendency to see it as a means to an end, in younger ones. 

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By kilax, August 19, 2014 6:21 am

Hee hee.

Last year the North Face Endurance Challenge had a virtual goody bag that included a free magazine subscription. Schweet! I had just acquired my first road bike, so I chose a subscription to Bicycling magazine, and it turned out being something that both Steven and I enjoyed reading!

So it’s almost a year later now and my subscription is over. I got a few emails, and a few mailers reminding me of this. But the emails and mailers had such higher pricing compared to the mail-in offers you get in the actual magazine. I was offered a great deal of $20 for a 11 issues, OR:

Counter clockwise from top left (and just looking at the cost for most issues offered): 33 issues for $22, 22 issues for $22, or 22 issues for $18. So I can pay what they offered to start with – $1.81 an issue, or, respectively, $.66, $1.00, or $.81 an issue. 

When I write it out in cost per issue, it really isn’t THAT big of a difference, but you can see that I chose the “cheapest” one. BUT! I am paying the most upfront! So… did they get me? Or did I get them?

Ha ha. I do this with all of my magazine subscriptions – let them expire, then sign up again, with the lowest cost per issue. I usually don’t miss any issues by doing this, because they send me an older issue first, anyway. And it seems most magazines have their pricing set up this way! I saw inserts in Runner’s World offering 24 issues for $24, $20 and $14… all in one issue. Ha ha. Make sure you grab the right one!

Does anyone else do this with magazine subscriptions? Or at least notice how much the prices vary?

I wonder if many people subscribe to magazines anymore. You can read a lot of these articles online, for free, a few weeks after the publish date (or even earlier, sometimes!). But I am pretty old school – I still like reading paper copies! When I see a long article online I can’t focus to read it (or really, put it down when I fall asleep and pick it back up the next day).