Comments (32)

By kilax, July 31, 2015 8:05 am

Since Christina’s golden birthday last year, I had been thinking to myself, “I should throw myself a golden birthday party [when I turn 31 on the 31st]! I didn’t do anything for my 30th! That sounds fun – we can dress in gold and eat gold food, and my birthday is on a Friday and that’s a good day to party…”

Yeah… my fantasy never progressed past that. I decided my July was too busy and that the last thing I’d want to do at the end of the month was plan and throw myself a party (or have one thrown for me) – I tend to want quiet time after bouts of busyness and July was VERY busy – out of town three of the four weekends, with some weeknight engagements thrown in there, too. And, oh yeah, work’s kicking my butt. I just knew I would want a more low-key day on my actual birthday.

When I told this to my snister, she asked if I wanted her to throw together something for when we were in Iowa for RAGBRAI and the shower. I told her sure, if it wasn’t too much work! She asked if I wanted it to be a surprise, and I said yes (I love surprises).

Then I promptly forgot about that conversation, until last Friday, when we were out shopping for the baby shower and I saw a happy birthday banner. I said to Christina, “Ooo, if you still throw me a party while we’re here, will you get me one of these banners?”

She responded, “I didn’t have time to plan you a party. I was too busy planning the baby shower stuff. Sorry!”

I told her that was okay and I wasn’t upset. Because I really wasn’t. Like I mentioned yesterday, Christina did the majority of the work for the baby shower and had a July busier than mine! How could she have found time to plan another party?

So we went about the rest of our day, shopping, then taking Amber out to lunch. Christina kept getting all these phone calls from our mom. I assumed Mom was calling her to ask about shower stuff, and I was surprised she wasn’t asking me – I was in charge of food, after all (and Mom was spending the morning making a few dishes). But I didn’t mind that she was bothering Christina! I laughed at lunch when Mom called and Christina had to be all quiet with her answers in front of Amber – we were trying to keep all the shower details a secret!

After all our shower errands Friday morning, Christina and I had a few free hours in the afternoon. We were going to get pedicures, but didn’t make the appointments in advance, so I decided to take a nap instead. I felt bad, napping, when I could have been hanging out with my family, but, hey! I biked a ton of miles the previous two days (and had run 11 miles that morning) – give me a break!

When I woke up I felt really bad though – Christina had finished up party prep stuff while I was sleeping! “I thought we’d do that at Grandma’s tonight?” I asked her. Eh, she was up and wanted to get it done and didn’t seem upset I slept through it. Phew.

So I asked what our plans for the night where. The family all typically converges at my dad’s mom’s house when we’re in town, and I figured that’s what was up. I was right. Christina told me we were supposed to pick up Amber at 6:00, because Anthony wasn’t home yet and they didn’t want to have two cars at Grandma’s. On the way to Grandma’s, we were going to stop by a hotel where Amber’s friend was staying (she was in town for the shower) and pick something up. Sounds good to me!

I decided to go through some photos from RAGBRAI while we waited to go pick up Amber. Christina let me know Amber needed ten more minutes to get ready. Sure, whatever. Ha ha ha… all these little details, I was just very “go with the flow.” It’s hard to coordinate with fourteen family members when we’re in town, so I try to be cool with whatever. I didn’t think anything… of anything!

I got a bit lost in looking at photos and all of a sudden Christina was telling me it was time to go, so I packed up my computer to bring with me and go through photos with family, later. We picked Amber up, and drove to the hotel. In the car, Amber said “I don’t like going in places by myself, will you guys come in with me?” Again, I thought nothing of this. NOTHING! I was just all “Sure, derpitty do, whatever you say.”

We walked in to the hotel and Amber told us we were meeting her friend in the pool area. Right away I said, “Aww man, they should invite us over to swim!” Ha ha. Then we walked in with Amber’s friend and I noticed a group of people toward the back… wait a minute! That’s my dad and Will! And all of my family!

Ha ha ha. They TOTALLY got me. I was not expecting to see them there, at all. I was not expecting a party!!!

So I went back there and mom handed me a golden birthday crown and some golden oreos.

I was really excited they were having a party for me, but felt bummed I didn’t have my swimming suit. “It’s here!” Christina told me. Um, how? “I went through all your stuff* this morning while you were out for a run.” Ha ha ha. Sneaky!

And it all started coming together. Christina and I had previously talked about going swimming after the shower and she had asked earlier that week if I remembered my swimsuit (yep). The calls throughout the day were my mom trying to figure out some stuff with the hotel room (Christina initially set it up, and Amber’s friends did use it) and the party, in general (the calls were not about the shower, so the joke was on me!). We had to pick up Amber a bit later because they didn’t have the party set up quite yet. Tricksters!

And better yet, when I had talked to my older brother earlier that week, he said he didn’t know if I’d get to see his kids (it wasn’t his week with them) but they were at the party! Yay! Great surprises all around!

Me, Christina, Alyssa, Nick and his sons

And… there was a birthday banner!!!

It made me feel so loved that my family went out of their way to celebrate my birthday, when we already had so much going on during the visit.

And they seriously tricked me – which surprises me! Christina said she was a bit worried about getting me to the hotel, without being suspicious, but really, when you’re with my family, and have a party the next day to boot, you’re running all sorts of errands, so I didn’t think anything of it!

I know this post is pretty long and drawn out with a lot of detail, but I wanted to remember how they made me feel when they surprised me (and how they tricked me)! Just writing this, and proof-reading it, brought a smile to my face.

*When Christina was digging around in my stuff she found the MBP bracelet. And was still surprised when I snuck it in her suitcase. Ha! But then she got me. AGAIN! She accidentally took the USB receiver for my mouse, and mailed it to my house. When I got the envelope on Wednesday and saw how big it was for a USB receiver, I said to Steven “That f*cking penis bracelet better not be in here!” Heh. You know it was. With a box of DOTS, nom!

Comments (17)

By kilax, July 30, 2015 6:28 am

Enough bike talk! Let’s talk babies!

We have a lot of exciting things going on in my family, one of which is that my younger brother, Anthony, and his wife, Amber, are expecting their first baby mid August! What better timing to throw them a baby shower than when we’re all in Iowa for RAGBRAI, right?!

Amber and Anthony. That’s Anthony’s “smile,” heh.

My snister and I hosted the lunchtime shower last Saturday at the Cedar Valley Arboretum. It was a beautiful location but a horribly steamy day, so we didn’t do much exploring of the gardens. I look forward to going back sometime when the real feel temperature isn’t 100°F!.

Me and my mom’s mom

Christina did the majority of the work for the party. Seriously – she found and booked the location, designed the invites and made them, handled RSVPs, made all the decorations, made the slideshow, picked two of the games (and helped me with mine) and all the game prizes, and pretty much ran the party. I’m sure I am forgetting a few things she did (like, my hair, before the party)!

The slideshow had baby pictures of Anthony (above) and Amber (below).

I was in charge of mailing invites, bringing my projector and screen (which I almost forgot, ha!), making a party playlist, getting all the food, and coming up with one game. And I followed my typical party planning model – delegate as much as possible! And picking up party favors from Maria’s Oven was an obvious must-do.

Don’t read in to any perceived color schemes – they are waiting to find out the child’s sex!

And we had LOTS of help setting things up (and tearing them down), thankfully! Phew – we had the party from 11:00-1:00 and the space from 10:00-2:00 and it was definitely a time crunch!

I really enjoyed working with Christina to plan and throw this shower. I felt like I was her assistant, and I preferred that being my role! Typically, this sort of thing would stress me the eff out, but because Christina was “in charge” and I trusted all of her decisions, I felt at ease. And actually, somehow, I enjoyed doing all of the shopping to prep for the party (I typically hate shopping). Probably because I was with my snister. We make a good team (and we make things fun in our own speshul snisterly way).

And it was an honor to throw this party for Anthony and Amber. It made me feel good, seeing so many loved ones come together to celebrate the new addition to their family! I am stoked to meet my new nephew/niece and to see how my “little” brother is as a dad! Aww, we’re all growing up. Tears!

Enough mush. Ha.

Christina and I picked games for the party that weren’t too painful to participate in (come on, you know what I am talking about):

1. Celebrity Baby Name – match the parents to the kid. It was hard! I think someone won with 4 out of 10 correct! We had people fill this out while eating lunch.
2. Play-Doh Baby Game – make your own play-dough baby, with prizes for cutest, best name, and creepiest. Ha ha ha. People sure are creative (see first picture of this post)! This game was played right before dessert.
3. Get Amber to the Hospital – this was the game I came up with. I wanted to have a car game, since that is what my family was in to, and had the idea to have a competition to see who could get Amber to the hospital “the fastest.” Christina came up with the idea to do it bracket style, and ordered the box of Hot Wheels off of eBay (I procured the track and “made” the hospital, and my older brother, Nick, did a fantastic job with the parking lot). This game was played after dessert and right before present opening.

Anthony picked his and Amber’s cars first, and everyone else came up and selected theirs after that. There was a number on the bottom of the car that aligned with the bracket, so they wouldn’t know when, or who, they were racing.

I thought it was really funny that Anthony and Amber’s cars kept winning… and that Anthony won, overall! Then after the party, he told me he could tell what we were up to, so he picked the cars that were the heaviest (and would get down the track the fastest). Ha ha, sneaky!

After all the games it was present time! I missed a lot of it though, because I was chit chatting, then starting to clean up to get us out of there on time. Christina and I later discussed that for the next party we throw we’ll plan a bit more time for set-up and tear-down!

I wish I would have gotten a photo of me and Christina with Anthony and Amber. And really, all of my siblings. Guess we’ll have to get it when we come meet the baby in August! Woo hoo!

Comments (13)

By kilax, July 29, 2015 5:07 am

My dad never intended to ride RAGBRAI with me in 2014. I actually signed up to ride it with my snister’s husband, Will, but after we signed up, he found out he was going to be in a wedding that same day. We contemplated him trying to make both work for awhile (ha ha) then finally succumbed to reality – that no make sense. Luckily though, you can transfer your registration, so Dad took Will’s spot (and then Dad was hooked on RAGBRAI, HOOKED!!! <— slight sarcasm).

So this year, Will was really hoping he could ride, and was just as excited as me to see the course went through Cedar Falls (the town he went to college in, and where he and my sister lived for awhile). He decided to do Day 5, from Cedar Falls to Hiawatha. Later, when his sister, Julie, found out he was riding a day of RAGBRAI, she decided to sign up too. Schweet! The more, the merrier! (Plus, Will’s siblings are a lot of fun and I was looking forward to spending more time with Julie!)

We started at my dad’s mom’s house in Cedar Falls just before 8:00 am and cycled a few miles and joined up with the rest of the riders. It was 60°F with no cloud coverage when we started.

It seems like the starting points of the ride tend to be somewhat crowded, which is fine, because everyone communicates about what they are doing. I gave Will and Julie a little bit of a heads up about the different ways that riders signal what they are doing, and the warnings they give one another, but I mostly knew they’d figure it out from hearing/seeing it!

Rider signaling to her left that she is going to move to that spot

Dad and I noticed though, that Thursday’s ride seemed to be much more crowded, in general, than Wednesday’s. Not in a bad way, just many more riders out. Or maybe, we started at the same time as more people? Either way, there was always someone else on the road, near us!

We had seven pass-through towns on Thursday.

Image from here

I was excited to go through the first one, Hudson, because my uncle owns a bar there, and I thought maybe we’d see him! My dad actually saw my aunt there, and went over to say hi. Which apparently, I got a photo of, ha ha:

Many of the pass-through towns seem to have themes. On Wednesday, one town’s theme was about beavers, because they are along beaver highway (or something) and along a river with beaver in the name. Hence the beaver picture from Wednesday.

Hudson had a pirate theme – pirates are their high school’s logo. Right away when we got in to town, there was a place you could make a $1 donation and get a temporary pirate tattoo. Why not, right?

You can’t quite make it out in the photo, but it says in small print on the sign that the money is for the AMVETS. It was nice to be supporting a local group. You hear a lot about the money that RAGBRAI brings to these small towns, but even riding on the Wednesday, I could see signs for vendors that I saw last year (and since it’s new towns each year, you wouldn’t think there’d be repeat vendors). And on Thursday, we saw many of the same vendors that we did on Wednesday. Obviously, people want to come in and make money off of this event. And it’s nice to have lots of options in these towns (for example, a group called “Carbo Hut” is usually in the midway pass-through town and is the only vendor I’ve seen with fake meats options – I got something from them both days), but… I hope these bigger companies that come in for the event don’t completely overshadow the local ones.

Hudson selfie

So, before the ride, I didn’t pay attention to the distance between stops. When we were leaving Hudson though, I heard someone say it was 20 miles to the next stop. Um… what?! I confirmed this with someone who was riding with the course map visible on his bike – “Yep! 19.9 miles!” Eek, that was a bit long for me. Even with stops in between, ha ha.

On Wednesday, I passed by a free post card booth too quickly to stop and send one. When I saw signs for it the next day, after the Hudson stop, I pulled over to send a postcard to Luca. And he actually already received it!

The postcard station was also next to a water and banana station. It’s so great that people set these stops up to support the riders!

And actually, all the pass-through towns have water stations set up so you can get free water (usually by the fire station). You can also buy bottled, too. I did a mix of both.

The cell network was overloaded and I could no longer receive or send texts. Which was a bummer because I had enjoyed sending updates to a few people (especially Steven, since he couldn’t come) the day before as dad and I rode. I was luckily able to see an old message that Christina and Mom were near LaPorte City, so I called her to let her know we’d be there awhile.

Yay, they found us!

By the time we got to LaPorte City, it was near midday and I was SUPER hungry. I was still eating and drinking on the ride, but man, was my body oh so confused when I was in Iowa last week – the entire five days. I’d have moments each day where I felt like I was starving. So odd. (Or not really – my schedule was all off and I was burning a ton of calories.)

I got a sandwich called a buca – which was a hollowed out end of a long bread bun stuffed with whatever you wanted – I got peanut butter and a banana. Not truly what I was craving, but I needed the calories! And I liked how easy it was to hold.

Dad and Will got breakfast pizza and Julie got a sandwich, fruit and cookies (a package lunch from a local church).

This is how we’d stack our bikes when we stopped – Dad had a kickstand, which he’d put down, then we’d lean all our bikes on his. Thanks, Dad!

We hung out with Mom and Christina for a bit then faced the reality that we better get back on our bikes!

We decided we’d see them again in Vinton – two stops away. And this is where I have to consult the GoPro pics to see what we did between LaPorte City and Vinton (beyond stop in Mt Auburn). I kind of forgot how people assume you are making a video when you wear a GoPro. Someone rode by me and said “Hi! Am I in your video?!” and waved. Ha. Nah, you aren’t. And it didn’t get a photo of you either.

I had it set to take a photo every minute. Which is A LOT of photos to go through, but I may set it for every 30 seconds next time. There are a few things I am wishing it would have taken photos of, like the time a plane flew really low over all the cyclists, or the funny fake crocodile and bike that someone put in a marshy area we passed.

Anyway, what did the GoPro say I did? Got my pickle!

And rode a bit with everyone:

We’d tend to ride in pairs throughout the day, me usually with Dad, and Will and Julie together, but sometimes, we’d end up switching it around. And we’d almost always get separated a bit, and simply pull off for awhile to wait for the rest of the crew.

Dad and I were both feeling a bit meh going in to Mt Auburn. I started to take my feet out of my shoes and ride with my feet (my left, more than my right) on top of my shoes, which actually really helped. And I’d put my hands on the top of the handlebar, closest to me, rather than further away, which helped with shoulder soreness.

But I have to say, I was really looking forward to getting to Vinton and having a bit longer of a stop!

Right away we stacked our bikes and split up to look for food. I got in line at the Carbo Hut for a bowl of rice, veggies and tofu. Christina found me waiting in line and gave me a Vitamin Water XXX! AHH! That was EXACTLY what I was craving! Love my snis.

I had just eaten that PB&B buca and pickle, but again, my stomach was asking me for real food. The dish was too hot (temperature not spiciness level), but hit the spot!

We hung out in the shade a bit, and watched people go over by our stack of bikes, to admire Will’s. Hee hee, he does have a really schweet bike!

A friend of Mom’s lives in Vinton and very kindly offered for us to come over and sit in her AC and use a real toilet, but I knew if I did that, I would never want to leave! We tried not to stand around too much (although I must have waited 15 minutes in the hot sun to get my food), but I bet we were there for 30-45 minutes.

After Vinton we had two more pass-through towns. I was starting to rally back and feel really energetic and chatty. But I definitely did say, in Shellsburg, that I would rather ride my bike through than get off and walk! Luckily, we were able to do just that, in Palo, our last pass-through town!

And after that, we were on our way to Hiawatha, which I had never been to before. I kind of enjoyed the ride more on Wednesday, and last year, knowing the town I was going to – that made it exciting, to watch out for when I would see familiar streets. But it was definitely still fun to FINALLY BE DONE! Even thought I felt really good at the end, I was spent!

But we still had to find Mom and Christina. And figure out where the thing actually ended. Ha ha, after we passed under the “Welcome to Hiawatha” banner, we still rode a mile or two to get to all the finish booths (where I wanted to buy an official RAGBRAI pin). And somehow we lost Dad. Oops. But we found him!

Finished!

We called Mom and Christina to ask them to please try to get a little closer to the finish to pick us up. We finished with over 70 miles ridden (76 miles in 6:25, much longer elapsed time but don’t have the data) and riding a few more to get to the car seemed ludicrous. Ha ha!

It was 80°F when we finished around 4:00 pm and like I said, I was spent! We all rode back in my dad’s truck, and I was half out of it/half goofy.

When we got back to Cedar Falls, we made sure to take photos of our ombre tan lines:

And to compare skin shades, ha ha:

We all decided we had fun and would like to do it again, but that we were definitely worn out. It was a lot hotter on Thursday, than Wednesday. Most headwind on the bike was actually appreciated, to keep us cooler.

I did tell Dad I think we should do the final day again next year! He said he’ll train more this time. To prepare for this, I rode my bike every week this year (sometimes twice) to get my butt used to sitting on the seat. What got to me during the ride was my left toes going numb and my shoulders getting tight. Maybe I should try some aero bars? Hmm… we shall see!

A few random comments:

• I was so frustrated when my watch died a few miles from the finish. And when my phone wouldn’t work. And I felt stupid for letting technology frustrate me. Sigh. I am not out there to be connected to people I am not with… but it does help when my phone works (I couldn’t even make calls, at points).
• We didn’t see anyone wearing a pie on their helmet like last year! Nor, did any of us stop for pie.
• We saw a jersey similar to the one we wore last year.
• We saw a few interesting bike set-ups – one guy on a unicycle Wednesday, many recumbents and tandems. And we saw quite a few kids cycling as well, some on tandems and some on their own bikes!

• Christina and I liked this photo because Will’s shadow looks like a turtle and Julie’s looks like a squirrel. Ha ha.

• I actually burned my lip so bad that I woke up Friday am with painful Kylie Jenner lips. They finally stopped being sensitive yesterday. Ouch!

Comments (9)

By kilax, July 28, 2015 6:27 am

Ahh, nothing better than a little peace and quiet in the Iowa countryside… with 10,000 of your closest cycling friends!

RAGBRAI (The Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa) is a week-long cycling trip from the west to east border of Iowa. The route changes every year, and you can register to ride the entire seven days, or register for certain days of your choosing. This event is in its 43rd year (it’s been going on since 1973)!

Last year, Dad and I registered for the final day (Day 7) because it conveniently started near where he lives, and ended in Guttenberg, where my family has homes along the Mississippi River.

This year, we registered for two days (Day 4 and 5) in the middle of the course because the overnight town was Cedar Falls – my Mom and Dad’s hometown (and super close to where they live now). How lucky that the course went so close to the part of Iowa much of my family lives in, two years in a row!*

I was excited to try the middle days and see if they were as festive as the last day (yes, yes they are) and to check out all the post ride hubbub in Cedar Falls. Last year, we didn’t finish with an “overnight town,” but most of what you hear about RAGBRAI is all the partying people do at night!

Last year, Steven and Mom dropped us off in the starting town of Independence and took alternative routes around the course so they could see us in some pass-through towns, then meet us at the finish with other family members. This year was a bit different – Mom drove me and Dad to Eldora on Wednesday to ride Day 4, then drove straight back to Cedar Falls. Since my dad’s mom lives in Cedar Falls, somewhat close to the course finish, we just rode to her house when we were done. Easy peasy!

It’s kind of humorous to be driven 50 miles just to ride 60+ miles back to where you started, but we saw quite a few other cars racked up with bikes headed the same way as us, so we knew were weren’t the only ones doing it!

One of the cool things about RAGBRAI is that you can do it however you want – pick the amount of days, pick how fast you go, pick when you start, when you finish, how long you spend in the pass-through towns, how hard you party, and so on. It’s not a race. It’s purely for fun – a giant party on wheels! Our preferred start time was between 7:30 – 8:00 am both days. We heard of people who started at sunrise, and others who didn’t start until noon!

We pulled off on the side of the road near the start in Eldora, and after packing up my jersey pockets (we wore last year’s official jersey), pumping air in my tires, and a few pics and selfies, we were off!

Right away, we were in group of slow moving bikes with lots “slowing!” and “stopping!” being yelled by cyclists. There were cars in the road with us, and that was slowing us down. It only took a couple of miles until we were free-flowing, though.

I should note, when we started it was 59°F with some clouds in the sky and felt great out!

Image from here

We slowed to a walk for the first pass-through town (Steamboat Rock) and… nearly every subsequent pass-through town after that. Dad and I discussed that we didn’t remember walking our bikes so much through the pass-through towns last year. I didn’t mind getting off and walking (I liked the break for my butt and didn’t care about pace), but Dad said it didn’t help his legs, ha ha.

We had eight pass-through towns (although one of them we don’t remember and another town had 57 residents and not much more than a funny sign and one booth up!), and I liked that they were so close together (most were less than 10 miles apart) and that it gave me a good reminder to stop, eat and get more water. Sometimes I forget to eat when I am riding my bike for longer distances.

We brought some food with us, but I bought some “real” food too. There are only so many Clif gels and bars you can eat before your stomach asks for something else!

I stopped a few times away from official towns too. I had to get my pickle!

I wasn’t super chatty for much of the ride (like I can be when I am running). Dad and I rode together and mostly commented on other riders (how fun their outfits were, that it was cool they were blasting music, etc.), and other sites (lots of funny signs and interesting facts about the towns) we were seeing. I know the Iowa landscape seems boring to some, but I do find it peacefully beautiful.

It’s such a treat to be with a huge group of cyclists, taking over the road this way and not worrying so much about vehicle traffic. You’re very often getting passed and passing other cyclists yourself, but most people are courteous and watching out for one another. Many warnings are yelled: “car up!” “cyclist up!” “rumble strips!” “on your left!” It’s a real community feeling, even though you are with a bunch of strangers!

My muscles felt good for the ride, but my left toes were getting numb, and my shoulders were a bit sore toward the last twenty miles of the ride (we put in just over 60 miles on Day 4). I played music from my phone speaker for a bit to get me pumped up. Around 10 miles from the end, Dad told me he was feeling really sore and wasn’t sure how he’d be able to do a second day. Eek! I was worried!

We made it to the end though, and were all smiles when we finished!

We finished around 1:30 pm (it was 78°F out then), and spent just over five hours cycling, and were gone for five hours and forty-four minutes, overall (see Garmin stats here). We averaged 12.0 miles per hour, and had 1,644 feet of climb. It felt mostly flat.

We reconvened for dinner at my Grandma’s and left her place at 9:00 pm to check out the post ride festivities! My brother-in-law’s sister, Julie, had arrived to ride Thursday (Day 5), and came out with us!

I really had no idea what to expect at the event, and was kind of bummed to see it was a bunch of food vendors and a beer tent, and a stage (not sure what I was hoping for?). I had already eaten dinner and didn’t know what the music was going to be.

But! We had arrived right in time for the main show – Hairball, a super fun 80s rock tribute band. If you know me… you know I’d enjoy it. They’d do a few songs dressed up as one band (KISS, Journey, Van Halen, and so on) then do a costume change and come out as another band! I really enjoyed it, because it was most of my favorite songs being performed!

Aunt Sue, Will’s sister Julie, me and Mom

We couldn’t stay all night though. I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t try to get a decent sleep. I was so jacked up Tuesday night I didn’t sleep well for Wednesday’s ride (but felt fine during), and didn’t want that to happen again (ha ha, it did, complete with weird dreams about not having my ride “bib” (um, there isn’t one) and other strange things). We left the concert just before 11:00 and were up until past midnight, hanging out with my sister and her husband, Will, who had just arrived so Will could ride Day 5. I guess even if you aren’t out partying, you’re still too excited to get much sleep!

*I know, it’s not likely it will next year. I told Dad we should do Day 7 again, because no matter where it ends along the Mississippi River, we can travel up/down to Guttenberg, after we finish.

Comments (19)

By kilax, July 27, 2015 6:23 am

This is a sponsored post. All opinions are mine. I received the Natural Mineral Sunscreen – SPF 30 to review. This post contains links to the Block Island Organics websites but my only compensation was the sunscreen.

As you guys know, for several years, I haven’t been wearing sunscreen while I run because I can’t find one that lets my skin breathe and doesn’t feel heavy (like it’s clogging my pores), or doesn’t get in my eyes and sting them. So I recently went to a dermatologist for a free skin cancer screening (the derm said everything looks good) and he recommended I use CeraVe sunscreen for running. I bought it. And tried it. No bueno.

Sigh.

So when Block Island Organics emailed me about trying their Natural Mineral Sunscreen (SPF 30), I was intrigued. It’s organic (derr), lightweight, and free of parabens, sulfates, petrochemicals, phthalates, gluten, dyes and artificial fragrances. And even cooler – they don’t do animal testing and use vegan-based formulas! (!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

I didn’t want to waste their time though and told them about my typical issues – that I don’t want a sunscreen that beads on my face and makes me more sweaty and miserable. They told me it’s lightweight and not greasy, and that while they have not tested it for water resistance, it’s worked out well for them when they workout. Hmm, but I sweat like… something that sweats a lot. Would it work for me?

But let’s be honest. I need to find a sunscreen that works and can’t go around spending $10-20 a bottle until I find the right one. I wanted to give Block Island sunscreen a try.

The first thing I noticed when I opened it was that it didn’t have the typical sunscreen smell, which seemed odd at first, but I grew to like. When they say no artificial fragrances, they mean it! It was nice to go out with sunscreen on and not smell like it!

I used the sunscreen on several midday runs. I tried putting the sunscreen on (my face, arms and upper back) right before a run, as well as putting it on fifteen minutes before (per the directions) and letting it “soak” in (my word, not theirs, ha ha).

No matter what I did, I sweated so much that it dripped off. I noticed the directions say to “use a water resistant sunscreen if swimming or sweating,” so I don’t think it’s meant for someone who sweats like me. (Maybe I should try it in the winter when I sweat less?)

Arrows pointing to all the sunscreen dripping down me during the middle of a 5 mile run

Sunscreen pooling up then dripping down my elbow

HOWEVER – this is the first sunscreen I have found that DOES NOT sting when it drips in my eyes. It also did NOT make me feel like I couldn’t breathe. It felt lightweight, like they said. But what use is that when it’s dripping off? I never had a noticeable burn after a run, but, maybe I wasn’t out long enough to get one?

I tried it during cycling too, where I sweat less. Oh yeah, it stayed on. YOU COULD SEE IT ON ME ALL DAY. Ha ha! I couldn’t get it to rub in! It made me all white, wherever I put it! It’s nice to be able to see where it’s applied, but I thought it was odd it never faded away, even after I rubbed at it. Of course, I don’t mind looking like a goof, so it didn’t bother me, as long as it worked…

See how white my face and arms are?

But sadly, I still got burned. However, it says to apply every two hours, and I think I applied every two and a half hours and was in the sun all darn day, so I am not sure how well any sunscreen would do. Although, three of us bikers used this and got burned and one person used a spray-on sunscreen and was okay.

My burn from RAGBRAI Day 4

My burn from RAGBRAI Day 5 (it looks glossy because I had aloe on it)

The next day, the burn didn’t hurt much and turned in to a tan. But I am not sure if that was my tan base, or the sunscreen that made that happen.

I really want to like this product because it’s organic, natural, vegan-friendly and chemical free, but it just doesn’t seem to work for me, since I am a crazy sweaty beast. I DO like that it does not make my eyes sting, so I plan to continue using it my face, however, it’s a bummer that it will just come right off if it gets wet (which I witnessed when I got sprayed with water (on purpose) while riding my bike) or I sweat.

I DO like that Block Island Organics is a family owned company (named after the town where the business was started – fun!) and that they are on a mission to educate consumers, provide quality products and simplify the skin care process. It just seems like I need the water/sweat proof version of this sunscreen for it to work for me! I’m grateful I got to try this and will use it on my face, but the search for a whole-body sunscreen for running continues!

If you’d like to check out their site and more about their mission and other products, you can visit their website, or follow them on Facebook or Twitter.

This is a sponsored post. All opinions are mine. I received the Natural Mineral Sunscreen – SPF 30 to review. This post contains links to the Block Island Organics websites but my only compensation was the sunscreen.

Comments (7)

By kilax, July 26, 2015 9:18 pm

Highlight of the Week: Spending so much time exercising with family members!

Monday | July 20, 2015: 4 m run (inlc. 4×400) + teaching strength class
Loc: hood, Temp: 77°/77°, Time: 37:29, Pace: 9:23 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: beat, itchy
Strength: AireX pads & medicine balls, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Tuesday | July 21, 2015: rest
Wednesday | July 22, 2015: RAGBRAI Day 4 (61.7 m w/Dad) + 6.5 m run
Loc: Eldora to Cedar Falls, Temp: 59/78°, Time: 5:08:41, Pace: 12.0 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good (just numb toes/tight shoulders)
Loc: Waterloo, Temp: 78°/79°, Time: 1:01:36, Pace: 9:28 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: shockingly good
Thursday | July 23, 2015: RAGBRAI Day 5 (76 miles w/Dad, Julie and Will)
Loc: Cedar Falls to Hiawatha, Temp: 60°/80°, Time: 6:25:07, Pace: 11.8 mph avg, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: really good
Friday | July 24, 2015: 11 m run (4.6 m w/Dad)
Loc: W’loo to Evansdale, Temp: 68°/68°, Time: 1:52:12, Pace: 10:12, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, steady!
Saturday | July 25, 2015: 5 m run
Loc: Waterloo, Temp: 70°/71°, Time: 49:52, Pace: 9:58 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, a little slow to wake up
Sunday | July 26, 2015: 16 m run (w/Dad on bike)
Loc: Cedar Falls Trails, Temp: 71°/73°, Time: 2:49:58, Pace: 10:37 avg, Difficulty: medium to easy, Felt: good

Notes:

• RAGBRAI was a lot of fun (and different than last year)! I’m looking forward to spending a few days processing it all and reviewing the photos my GoPro took and typing up some ride recaps. It was fun to spend a day riding with my dad, then to spend the next day riding with him, and my brother-in-law, Will, and his sister, Julie, and seeing how they reacted to their first time doing a day of RAGBRAI!
• I spent Tuesday evening through Sunday afternoon in the town I grew up in in Iowa. I stayed in a part of town I haven’t before and got to run some new-to-me routes and also got to run with my Dad (while he biked)! I was lucky enough to have two overcast/somewhat rainy runs on Friday and Sunday that felt AMAZING! The others were hot and humid!!! Summer weather is definitely here! It doesn’t feel as much like death this year to me though, I think, because I’ve been doing lunch runs to try to get used to it.
• I’m really surprised I got my goal 40 running miles in for the week, with all that cycling. When I was leaving town today my dad said he wished we lived in the same town so we could workout together (awww) because he knew I would get his butt moving. Well, he definitely is the one who got me moving on my long run on Sunday, so it goes both ways! He can pretty much count on me expecting him to join me for a long run when we’re together, and I count on him to ask about it and make sure it happens.
• No swimming this week (well, beyond a hot tub at a surprise birthday party, but more on that later) and my swim lesson had to be canceled for pool cleaning. Bummer! I hope I can still fit one in, at some point!

Link to Training Week 300

Comments (10)

By kilax, July 22, 2015 6:09 pm

Two interesting stories from my run today:

1. This lady driving a van stayed stopped at a stop sign to let me run in front of her. Cool. Then I see her turn down the residential road I am running on and swerve toward a group of four girls walking (facing traffic, as they should). What the heck?! When I ran by the girls I asked “Do you know that person?” One answered “Yeah, it’s my mom.” Um, phew, but… yeah, that freaked me out. Nice way to say “hi,” mom, ha ha!
2. Also, when I was out on my run, a driver rolled down their window and yelled “good job!” And it didn’t sound sarcastic! I thought that was nice.

Of course, the highlight of my day was riding 61.7 miles from Eldora to Cedar Falls, IA, with my dad! But more on that when I have more time to write it up! We’re riding 70 miles to Hiawatha tomorrow!

Comments (32)

By kilax, July 21, 2015 5:55 am

Hey! My blog has made it to 10 years! Woot woot!

Last night I said to Steven, “Guess what tomorrow is?!”

His answers: “The 21st?” “Tuesday”? “10 days from your birthday?!” <— very good answer, Steven, ha.

“No! It’s my ten-year blogiversary?! Should I retire?!”

Then he asked me what kind of pension plan I have, and what I have to show for 10 years of blogging.

I don’t think he was expecting a serious answer, but, I actually have A LOT to show for those 10 years. Many of my closest relationships are with people I met through blogging. There was a time when my ONLY friends were bloggers! So, beyond my blog giving me a place to speak without interruption, and document parts of my life, it’s connected me with so many amazing people. Thank you for reading!

I was hoping to have something cool (I don’t know quite what…) planned to celebrate, but my mind has been all over the place getting ready for RAGBRAI (my first day is tomorrow!) and planning a party with my snister*!

So… maybe next year? Ha.

*She is doing 99% of the work

Comments (17)

By kilax, July 19, 2015 9:40 pm

Highlight of the Week: Not feeling like death during a super humid long run.

Monday | July 13, 2015: 5 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: hood, Temp: 75°/78°, Time: 48:30, Pace: 9:42 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: too hot, but okay
Strength: AireX pads & medicine balls, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Tuesday | July 14, 2015: 7.4 m run (first 3.8 virtual w/Kelly) + 1,000 meter swim
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 71°/70°, Time: 1:12:18, Pace: 9:46 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: Grayslake Pool, 50m freestyle/50m breaststroke x 10, Time: 24:22, Pace: 1:26/100m avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Wednesday | July 15, 2015:  rest
Thursday | July 16, 2015: 6 m run (incl 1/2/3/4, 4/3/2/1 up/down ladder)
Loc: hood, Temp: 68°/67°, Time: 52:00, Pace: 8:40 avg, Difficulty: medium/hard, Felt: good, but like I might slip
Friday | July 17, 2015: teaching strength class + 1,500 meter swim + 3 m run
Strength: AireX pads & medicine balls, Difficulty: easy (mostly observing), Felt: good
Loc: Grayslake Pool, Time: 37:20, Pace: 2:29/100m, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, but sore shoulders
Loc: Volo Bog, Temp: 83°/81°, Time: 28:34, Pace: 9:31 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: so so annoyed
Saturday | July 18, 2015: 15 m run 
Loc: Around town, Temp: 73°/76°, Time: 2:44:32, Pace: 10:58 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Sunday | July 19, 2015: 7.3 m ride + teaching fitness boxing + 7.7 m ride + 4 m run
Loc: home to Efit, Temp: 75°, Time: 33:52, Pace: 12.9 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Strength: body weight and boxing, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: Efit to home, Temp:79°, Time: 35:54, Pace: 12.9 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: Millennium Trail, Temp: 79°/79°, Time: 39:54, Pace: 9:58 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: itchy / beat

Notes:

• For about two years, I didn’t run with music, and now I am again (when it’s safe to).  I wonder how long I’ll stick with it this time. I definitely like it for speedwork!
• Ha, during my speedwork this week, I found out my light speedwork shoes are VERY slippery in the rain. Yikes! I was worried I was going to fall when I was doing my repeats!
• To try save myself from getting overheated during my long run, I did a run 9/1 (minutes) run/walk ratio. I normally don’t do a run/walk because the walking makes my knees lock up, but, it was a success! I never felt too hot and think my overall pace is better than it would have been had I run the whole thing. Of course, whenever I stopped to walk it seemed like I was always around another runner, ha ha. I swear, I’m running, guys!
• Gah, I need to start carrying body glide in my pack so I can use it on the go if need be. I decided during my long run I couldn’t wear a shirt any longer and put it in my pack… which proceeded to chafe the hell out of me. Ouch! But it was worth it not to have a shirt on.
• When I swim laps I’ve been doing a combination of freestyle and breaststroke (for different laps, not in the same lap) because the freestyle makes my shoulders a bit tired. I wonder if I’d feel less tired doing it, if I wasn’t always coming from some other fitness activity, to the pool. But, based on the pool lap swim hours, that’s how it works with my schedule.
• I wanted to bank some running miles this week since I’ll likely run less next week (because of RAGBRAI WOO HOO!) but… I didn’t. Oops! I’ll just have to see what I can do this week (it will probably be a cutback week).

Link to Training Week 299

Comments (19)

By kilax, July 18, 2015 5:28 am

Volo Bog is now on my sh*t list for places to run. Screw you and your pretty views!

Sigh.

Okay, I should actually thank Volo Bog for giving me a trail running experience worse than last Saturday’s.

What could possible be worse than running through this?

That would be running for 3 miles surrounded by this:

Bugs! Not nature (ha ha)!

Tell me, how many bugs do you see?!

Yeah, I had at least five of them buzzing around my face, hitting me in the face, shoulder, chest and hair for the 2.5 miles I stayed on the trails. It was HORRIBLE. And yeah, I had bug spray on.

We had really hot temps yesterday, so I drove to Volo Bog because it’s shaded. And it was right after it rained so that dropped the temp a bit. But… brought all the bugs out? It doesn’t help that it’s a freakin’ BOG. Probably no amount of bug spray could help me. Derrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, Kim!

I was miserable the whole time, and escaped the trail at 2.5 miles to finish at 3 on the road, where the bugs followed me. But! I ran fast, for a trail, for me. Ha.

Gah, this makes me REALLY happy we were only dealing with mosquitoes at the muddy race last week!

I woke up today with a super itchy shoulder. Ouch –

I’m sure that’s the first welt of many. Well, at least my running backpack will cover it on my long run today… which will be on PAVED trails, hopefully away from standing water, and not in the deep woods.

Yeah, trail running and I are definitely in a fight.