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By kilax, August 7, 2014 12:48 pm

My first race in my new age group! Woo hoo! Let’s just say… I dominated. 10:21 average for a 5K (32:08 finish)? Aww yeah, baby!

Ha ha ha. Just kidding! Like last year, this race was just an awesome reason to get together with Rachel in the middle of a work week (half day? yes, please!) and run a super fun race!

And also like last year… we wore the Grumpy Cat shirts we made. But, this year? People actually got it. 

We were, um, a bit disappointed that not many people commented on our shirts last year (they have Grumpy Cat on them, with a full moon, and say “I ran the Full Moon 5K once. It was awful.”). DON’T PEOPLE KNOW WHO GRUMPY CAT IS?!

Hee hee. They do this year! Many came up to us to say how awesome our shirts are. One person asked if she could take our picture. And another person said they are going to make a shirt like that for the race next year. Love it! It’s fun to meet fellow Grumpy Cat fans. 

There was however, one guy who came up to us and said he liked our shirts… then asked what they mean. But we suspect that he just wanted to talk to people to brag. He made everyone in our group guess how many half marathons and marathons he’s done since he had knee surgery. Um, okay (it was less than my guess of 40 each). He did imply that Rachel and I look younger than 30, and asked if we are sisters, so it wasn’t all bad. 

Linda did the race again this year, too. It was nice to see her, and meet her friend, Corinne. 

L to R: Corrine, Rachel, me and Linda

Linda thought Rachel and I would finish ahead of her in the race, but we told her considering our last race together averaged an 18:00 minute pace or something… we might not be (and she did finish in front of us!). Ha ha. Truthfully, neither Rachel or I have been running a ton lately, and definitely not doing speedwork. 9:00s feel challenging these days, and we just wanted to take the race easy! Which we did! And I loved it! We chatted the whole time. I was sad when it was all over! Luckily I know Rachel and I have a few more runs together this month. 

This race is just so fun. It starts at 9:00 pm, under the “full” moon (yes, the full moon is not until the 10th this week). Everyone wears reflective gear, headlamps and glow bracelets/other accessories. 

Someone from Movin’ Shoes (the store that puts the race on) dresses up as a wolf and if you beat him I think you win something. He runs an 18:00 minute 5K or something silly. We didn’t even see him. Ha ha!

The course runs along Monona Bay in Madison and to a park, which is fun for me, since it’s not an area I am familiar with!

It starts out on street, then goes to trail, then in to the park. It’s somewhat crowded for the first two miles – another reason to not run too fast and be careful with your footing, right?! RIGHT?!

And since it’s summer, it’s HUMID. We were actually lucky with temps in the low 70s/high 60s, but man, we were dripping in sweat when we finished!

I was wondering if the post race snacks would include oreos, like last year. They sure did! It’s just meant to be that I run this race!

And I do hope this is a race I can keep doing! The date of it varies each year, to more closely align with the full moon. Last year it was on a Thursday in July (because of that date, I was 28 when I did the race last year, and 30 when I did it this year – funny to skip a year!), and yeah, this year, on a Wednesday in August. I hope it works for my schedule next year! Especially because I want to keep getting these cool shirts – one of the only ones I saved during my purge of last year’s shirts!

It’s such a treat to take a little bit of leave in the middle of the week and travel to do something fun like this, with such a great friend. And this year, Steven came as well. I think he was missing Rachel, too! Steven and Rachel’s husband, Kevin, hung out at a cool bar while we ran, then we all got dinner after the race, with Linda. Pretty late night! I totally planned a nap before the trip so I could stay up until midnight. I mean, I am 30, after all… (let’s not mention that I have loved naps since college). 

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By kilax, August 6, 2014 6:25 am

Awhile ago I was telling my dad* how I’m annoyed that radio stations all play their commercials at the same time – I am changing stations because I don’t want to hear a commercial. 

He said he hadn’t noticed that. He said, GASP!, he doesn’t change the station when a commercial comes on. 

WHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT?!

Are you an ad skipper?

You know, changing the station when a commercial comes on, fast forwarding if you have one of those fancy DVR things, recycling catalogs, ignoring the ads in your email, on Facebook, on blogs…

Well, you probably guessed it, but I sure am. Can’t stand them on the radio. Don’t watch much TV so that’s not a problem. I ignore them online as much as possible. I have noticed a huge increase of people selling stuff on Facebook, and more and more sponsored posts on blogs, which I mostly just skip over. I just, sigh, want to peruse the internets without trying to be sold something. Is that too much to ask?!

Ha ha, yes, I realize it is. I realize ads are what make it so certain sites can run. So that we can listen to music, and watch tv. So people can make money. I get it. But that doesn’t mean I don’t try to block it out. I have enough “things**.” I just cleaned out my closet and had three bags for Goodwill! This happens every year! That doesn’t seem… right. 

And there are only two places I don’t skip ads – in running magazines (fun to look at new products) and in local area bulletin boards (never know what you’ll see there!). 

*During one of those long runs where he has to listen to me babble for hours… sorry, Dad!
**Of course, not all ads are for things (some are for experiences), but a high amount seem to be. 

Comments (27)

By kilax, August 5, 2014 6:23 am

I’m not one to worry about my safety on solo runs. I try to be smart about them, yes – always let someone know where I am (send a Glympse), stay in the neighborhood if it’s dark/wear reflective clothing and headlamp, don’t listen to music, run with my phone, don’t run in the street, change course if something seems off, blah de blah blah. 

But I don’t worry. I do these things and pay attention to my surroundings when I run because that is just part of how I run. Nothing anxious about it. I like to leave my front door and just see where my feet take me without any concern over how they take me there. 

Until now. 

Do you ever read something in the news and think “Gah! I wish I hadn’t read that!”?

That’s been me lately*. Reading about shootings around where I live, and about strange things happening to people in the local forest preserves. 

So on my Sunday run, I found myself purposefully avoiding a certain neighborhood, due to things I’ve recently read about happening there. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing – I got to run on a new sidewalk (that was the only reason I could avoid that neighborhood) and see the lake that the town I live in is named for:

But it really bothered a part of me that I was altering my course due to “safety” reasons. I liked my ignorance is bliss days of running anywhere and everywhere – exploring anything I wanted. I don’t like feeling restricted, even if it’s for safety reasons, and even if it’s smart. Sigh. 

Of course, if you try hard enough, you could find something bad about almost any area, to make you not want to run there. I am not like that. But when I read about shootings** it does make me rethink running in a certain area by myself. 

*And ALL the time with messed up animal stories!!!
**I don’t have any second thoughts about running in the forest preserves solo. 

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By kilax, August 4, 2014 6:19 am

Yay! My snister got all of her official wedding photos back! Now I can share a few more of the wedding details!

One of the traditions she incorporated in to the wedding was the four “somethings” – something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. And of course, I love how she chose to include it. 

Let’s start with new! The dress, earrings and shoes were all new. And I think I only shared this in the comments before, but Christina actually WON her dress at a bridal show. Isn’t that awesome?!

For something old and something borrowed, she used some of our deceased grandfathers’ pins, to put in her bouquet, in remembrance of them. The “UNI” on top is for our paternal grandfather, who worked at the University of Northern Iowa, which is also where Christina and Will got their degrees (Christina already had this pin). The “R” on the bottom is for our maternal grandfather, whose last name began with an r (Christina borrowed this pin). 

Seeing those really tugged at my heartstrings. And reminded me that I wanted to ask my maternal grandmother about having a certain token of my grandpa’s (she said she will keep an eye out for it, ha ha).

And if that didn’t get me, the something blue sure did! This one was a surprise – we didn’t know about it until Christina was putting her dress on! 

So a bit of back story – our dad has something of a uniform – he always wears blue Dickies. That is what we have seen him wear probably, oh, 95% of our lives. In fact, he was going to wear that to Christina and Will’s rehearsal dinner. Ha ha ha! My mom stopped him. 

People are so used to seeing him wear that outfit, that in 2002, to be funny in our holiday card, we all wore that, and had dad “dress” up. Ha ha.

So Christina had asked Mom for some fabric from dad’s “uniform” but Mom didn’t know what it was for. We found out on the wedding day: 

Aww! Isn’t that perfect?! That really made me emotional!

And I have to add this photo of my dad at the wedding – that is pure happiness on his face! 

I love how Christina incorporated the four “somethings” tradition, with such thought and meaning. 

I am trying to remember if I did the four “somethings,” and I am thinking, since I don’t remember… I probably didn’t! I do remember my paternal grandmother giving me this at my bridal shower:

Yeah, I definitely don’t remember having a sixpence in my shoe!

Have you seen this tradition used in a memorable way? What was it?

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By kilax, August 3, 2014 3:12 pm

Highlight of the Week: Going horseback riding with Steven!

Monday | July 28, 2014: teaching strength class
Strength: partner resistance bands and body bars, Difficulty: easy (mostly observing), Felt: good, but scratchy throat
Tuesday | July 29, 2014: rest
Wednesday | July 30, 2014: 4 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 58°/58°, Time: 40:07, Pace: 10:02 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: happy I got out of bed!
Thursday | July 31, 2014: 6 m run + Softball Game #10
Loc: Chain O’ Lakes State Park, Temp: 73°/78°, Time: 1:13:44, Pace: 12:17 avg, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: meh stomach
Friday | August 1, 2014: teaching strength class + 1 hr horseback riding
Strength: partner resistance bands and body bars, Difficulty: easy (mostly observing), Felt: okay
Saturday | August 2, 2014: 5.5 m run
Loc: Millennium Trail, Temp: 66°/71°, Time: 1:02:31, Pace: 11:23 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: wonky knee from sliding 
Sunday | August 3, 2014: 12.5 m run
Loc: Around Round Lake, Temp: 70°/83°, Time: 2:29:32, Pace: 11:58 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: so so

Notes:

• I joined a new age group this week! It made me smile that many people wished me a happy birthday that way – either, “welcome to my age group” or just by mentioning it. 
• Ugh, my stomach was a mess this week, and I’m not sure why – it’s unusual for me. It was really disruptive during my runs, so I hope that doesn’t last much longer.
• I successfully worked out before my commute this week! Ha ha, I left my alarm in the bathroom so I’d be forced to get up when it went off. I still laid in bed for a bit after grabbing it… then worked out. Eh, whatever works! I wish I had enough time to meet someone and work out before my commute, because that always gets me up!
• My poor knees! They’ve had quite the year! First it was my right one, that got all jacked up at the Wisconsin Half then from sliding on it at softball. Then the left got a bit of the sliding action, and um, I really tore it up at the last game this week. I slid in to second and was out, then came back in right away to be the runner for the player at first. Then I slid in to home plate and was out (but my team and the other team said I was safe, ha ha). Ha! I got two outs in one inning! The good news is that my slide looks A LOT better than it did at the first game. The bad news is that I just wear capris to play, and I actually bleed through them, at the game. Yeah, that cut is NOT feeling so good, nor is the bruising below it (and under the skin). It was really bothersome during my weekend runs. I think I will get legit softball pants for next year.
• I am SO PROUD of my bestie, Gina! She ran a new 5K PR yesterday, averaging under 8:00 minute miles AND in the Texas sun! She is kicking so much butt. It really makes me happy!
• And I have to ask… who else is sporting an awesome shorts tan line?!

Link to Training Week 249

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By kilax, August 2, 2014 1:08 pm

Part of me is ashamed to admit I have lived in the same house for seven years and am just now visiting a state park that is only 10 miles/20 minutes away. 

And the other part of me is all “Woo hoo! New-to-me trails/nature things to do!!!”

Ha ha. 

It’s funny, but I never visited the Chain O’Lakes State Park because it looks like it’s far away on the map. But driving by it last week, I realized it’s a lot closer than I thought – it just doesn’t feel that close because it’s not in an area we visit often. Derrrrrrrrrrrr.

So I headed out there for a trail run on Thursday and saw they have horse rental! For a second (or two, really) I thought about going on a horseback ride by myself, but decided to ask Steven if he wanted to come back. Horseback riding is something we’ve talked about doing for the last five or so summers!

Now we can finally cross it off the list!

We went back on Friday and paid to go on a one-hour tour. I was curious how long we’d have to wait for a group to get together to go off, and how long instruction would take, but we pretty much got there, filled out waivers, got on our horses (Two Feathers and Cody), got some quick instruction, and took off! I like when I don’t have to wait around. Ha ha. 

We were with five other people (including the guide) for the first forty minutes of our tour, then alone with the guide for the last twenty minutes. It was such a peaceful walk through the prairie and woods!

Until we were alone with the guide and I asked her a zillion questions about horses. Our guide was really nice and knowledgeable*! 

We actually had a horse at home, when I was a kid. The one memory I have of riding him is with my mom, when he walked down to the creek by our house, and sat down in the water. With me on him. Ha ha. For whatever reason, I didn’t get off with my mom. 

This is the first time I remember riding a horse by myself, and I liked it! Of course, it didn’t take much skill. Two Feathers (the horse I rode) mostly followed the horse in front of him, and I only had to tell him to stop a few times. Cody, Steven’s horse, required a bit more instruction – he kept trying to eat grass and leaves! The guide said that Cody likes to stay in his bubble, so he always walks in the back of the pack. And she called Two Feathers a “bubble popper” – always getting in other horse’s and people’s faces (or butts, in the case of this ride)! I enjoyed hearing about their personalities, and why they use mostly geldings instead of mares for the tours.  

And even though we’ve crossed this off our list, I think it’s something I’d like to do again!

Are there any places close to your house that you feel like you should have visited by now? Any one else going horseback riding this summer?

*And she said to me “Is that a GoPro? You are so cool!” non sarcastically, which made me feel like less of a dork for wearing it. Ha ha!

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By kilax, August 1, 2014 1:53 pm

(is over)

Something awesome happened in July! I saw my parents every. single. weekend. 

I don’t think that has happened since the last summer I lived in my hometown – 2003! And I didn’t know it was going to happen this July!

I had plans to see my family the first (Fourth of July) and last (RABGRAI) weekends of the month, and that was it. But when we were all together for the fourth, my snister told my mom she should ride with me, Steven and Rachel to Kansas City that next weekend, and my brother mentioned they were all going to a drag race the third weekend in July… so it all just worked out. What a fun month!

Last weekend I joked with my mom that we’ll probably both have withdrawal this weekend, and we better set up a phone call or something. Ha ha. Nah, we’ll be okay. I just feel really lucky I got to see my family so much this past month! And I already know I will see them the last two weekends of August!

Do you feel like you see your family the right amount? Not enough? Too much (hee hee)?