Comments (3)

By kilax, September 30, 2015 6:01 am

I’m not sure why I was so excited to work with this Scrubby yarn from Red Heart. Any experienced knitter could probably look at it and tell what a total pita it would be to work with.

Okay, okay, it’s not that bad. At all. It’s just different. The little dangly pieces make it… interesting. You really have to pay attention in the beginning, to make sure you are actually knitting the stitch, and not looping through the loose bits.

If that makes any sense. Ha ha.

The real reason I got this yarn was to jokingly knit a sponge for my mom’s mom. She is very anti-sponge and pro-washcloth and I thought it would be funny.

Of course, I ended up knitting some cloths first, anyway. And I can’t even tell which side is supposed to be the front. I thought it was this side:

But doesn’t the pattern make it look like it’s supposed to be this side?

Me so confused.

I just want to finish the little sponge project I started after these, and move on to something with big chunky yarn. That seems to be what I prefer right now!

(But the good thing about this yarn is that it’s really easy to hide mistakes, since the yarn itself is so crazy and not orderly! I accidentally added a stitch in the first cloth, then dropped it somehow, later (oops) and was able to hide it easy because the yarn looks so messy anyway, muah ha ha.)

*Only a slight exaggeration.

Comments (27)

By kilax, September 28, 2015 6:23 am

When Gina and I were in the city on Thursday, we stopped by my office* and my boss was in, so I introduced Gina to her. I really like my new (since February/March) boss, and wanted her to meet my best friend, and get to know some of the people in my life.

City view from our run on Thursday!

Which is kind of the opposite of how I’ve felt about mixing personal life with work life, until now, save for ONE coworker I talk to about personal stuff on a regular basis. I mostly keep it light. I’ve had the rudest reactions saying the most basic things about my life, and that’s taught me to keep my mouth shut and say as little as possible.**

And actually, it’s gotten better, but I still feel like I have my guard up, most of the time. So I was surprised when I found myself hoping my boss would be at her desk so Gina and I could say hi.

Then later in the day, I was thinking about it, and realized how lucky I was my boss didn’t ask how Gina and I met, because I don’t tell anyone at work about my blog (except that one coworker, and yes, because I don’t want to share personal information). Oops! What would I have said, if she asked?! I need a cover story. Or an altered version of the truth, heh. “We were both bloggers and we met online” would be mostly true. It would just imply I no longer blog. “We met through a mutual friend” would be true, because another blogger told me about Gina’s blog!

Or, maybe I could just tell the truth, and see how she reacts.

Nah. I still like keeping this little space for myself.

*I worked a few hours in the afternoon while Gina window shopped the Mag Mile
**This is actually a topic I’d love to devote an entire post to – feeling uncomfortable sharing information about yourself with people because of how they react. But… I just shouldn’t go there, because it’s not only at work.

Comments Off on Training Week 310

By kilax, September 27, 2015 3:59 pm

Highlight of the Week: All the fun workouts with Gina!

Monday | September 21, 2015: 5 m run + 6 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: hood, Temp: 64°/67°, Time: 47:18, Pace: 9:27 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, but irritated
Loc: trail to hood, Temp: 67°/65°, Time: 56:42 Pace: 9:26 avg, Difficulty: mostly easy, Felt: surprisingly good
Strength: box, kettlebells and boxing, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Tuesday | September 22, 2015: rest day!
Wednesday | September 23, 2015: 10 m run (incl. 5 hill repeats, w/Gina) + 10 mins kettlebells (w/Gina)
Loc: Grant Woods FP, Temp: 58°/70°, Time: 1:40:58, Pace: 10:06 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: pretty good!
Thursday | September 24, 2015: 8.5 m run (w/Gina)
Loc: Chicago Lakefront Trail, Temp: 62°/67°, Time: 1:21:45, Pace: 9:37 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Friday | September 25, 2015: teaching strength class + 15.7 m ride (w/Gina)
Strength: box, kettlebells and boxing, Difficulty: easy, Felt: okay, but off
Loc: Millennium Trail, Temp: 59°/61°, Time: 1:30:03 Pace: 10:05 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good!
Saturday | September 26, 2015: Big Hollow PTO 5K (+WU & CD w/Gina)
Loc: Fish Lake Rd, Temp: 65°/66°, Time: 23:02, Pace: 7:27 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: okay
Sunday | September 27, 2015: 21 m run (w/Gina and Steve (last 10 w/Steve))
Loc: Millennium Trail, Temp: 62°/66°, Time: 3:33:10, Pace: 10:09 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: strong

Notes:

• What a great week! Gina’s been here since Tuesday night, so we got to run together four times (and with Steve, on Sunday)! On Thursday we went down to the city and ran a fun “city view” route so Gina could see all the cool Chicago vantage points. It’s such a treat to have her here! And I felt strong for all of my runs, which made me happy – the last time I saw her I wasn’t the best running partner (because I was getting over a stomach thing and it was crazy humid and a bit warm).
• I surpassed last year’s running mileage (1610.8) during today’s run (I’m at 1629). Yay! Now I am going after 2013’s mileage (1915.1).
• I am not signed up for any more races this year, but do have a few in mind (the 5K yesterday was one of them – we decided to run it midweek) – a few 5Ks, maybe a half marathon… maybe a marathon if I decide to lose some weight. But I will be content to keep running and not do any races, too.
• I’ve actually done some strength training at home the last three weeks (as opposed to just doing it while teaching class). I’d love to keep that going.

Link to Training Week 309

Comments (9)

By kilax, September 26, 2015 12:37 pm

Every year, there are a couple of 5Ks held on a quiet-ish, hilly road right by my house. And I’ve never been able to participate in one… which kind of kills me, ha ha.

So when I knew Gina would be in town this weekend, and that her training plan* called for a practice 5K the day before her 20-22 miler, I looked around for 5Ks and lo and behold, one of the super close ones was going on, and on the day we needed to do a 5K! YAY!!!!

It was the Big Hollow PTO, held to raise funds to support the PTO for the local grade and middle school. Even though I don’t have kids, I thought it was awesome the race went toward something that was going right back in to the community! And they had other fundraiser events going on for the race too – different raffles and games (sadly, we did not win the basket full of Lego sets we both wanted, darn).

I was hoping for amazing fall weather for Gina’s visit… like… cool temps. We’ve had BEAUTIFUL sunny days, and not crazy humidity, but it was a bit sunny and warm this morning for the race – 65°F and 90% humidity. Probably still better than what Gina is used to running in Texas! But during our warmup run from my house (so cool we could run to the race) I was feeling too hot and already had sweat dripping down my arms!

A little sunny on the course… some shade, too, though!

I was confident Gina could run a PR. She’s been putting in lots of miles to get ready for the NYC marathon, and for me, that has translated over to faster 5Ks (even without speedwork). I was hoping it would for her, too. I told her I thought she could run a 23:30 (her PR was 24:14). I also told her if she ran with me, she would have way positive splits <— truth. She said as long as she hit her time goal for races, she doesn’t care if she positive splits. She said she would try to chase me. I was hoping to run 7:30 average pace, which would be just under 23:30.

Yeah. You guys know me. I took off way too fast. Like I said I would – first mile in 7:06! Oops! The course had two out and backs, which aren’t my favorite, but it was nice I could see Gina that way, and see she was right behind me.

So, those hills I mentioned? Yeah. They’re small little rollers that are a bit challenging on a 5K. I wasn’t sure how deep in to them we’d get – I was struggling to read the course map, and kept hoping it stopped before the hills. Nope! We got to run most of them! I tried to stay strong and keep the overall female in my sights. My second mile was 7:42. Eek!

Hills, hills, hills

During the second mile, we ran past a mark on the road that said “5K turn around” but kept going and for awhile I worried the course was long. Luckily, it was not, and my watch hit 2 miles right around their 2 mile sign. That spray paint must be from an old race! Phew!

I tried to keep booking it in the third mile. I saw race photographers and tried to have good form and not look like crapola and that helped me pick up the pace at the moment, but my third mile was still 7:54. Buah ha ha. And I had that coppery/blood taste in my mouth for most of the last two miles, too. Yuck.

I finished the last tenth in 00:23 (not accurate – my Garmin stats were a bit short) and was so happy to finish (in 23:02) then see Gina come in behind me in 23:35! A 39 second PR for her!!!! I’m so proud of her! I ran her first 5K with her (the NYCM Dash) in November 2011 and it’s been so fun to watch her running journey! I think she is a natural runner and has a lot of speed in her!

We ended up placing 2nd and 3rd overall, and 1st in our age groups! Fun! We love medals! Ha.

I saw a lot of people I knew at this race, which was fun. I saw a neighbor, who is on the PTO, running club friends, Chris and Sarah, and I saw Heather! We both didn’t know the other would be there, and it was so fun to see her and wish her good luck before she runs the Milwaukee Marathon next week!

This was definitely a small race, but well run. They didn’t have chip timing, so we started at the front. There were two water stops, the course was accurate, and we had a bike leading our way. The police were at the out and backs, which was great, and the course was closed. There was a weird thing with a car at the first out and back being on course, but I ran around it.

There was also a kid’s quarter mile and half mile race. And I think everyone got participation ribbons! They had ample food, water, and different vendors and kids games. They did a great job with it, and I’d like to do it again, if I get the opportunity!

Now, to see how that long run goes tomorrow…

*I helped her come up with this plan. She is signed up for the Dash and the NYC Marathon, which are on Saturday and Sunday, and the idea was to see how she feels running long after doing a 5K the day before.

Comments (16)

By kilax, September 23, 2015 6:29 am

Back in April, I picked up this cute tote to hold all my knitting gear, and couldn’t imagine how I’d EVER fill it.

Um, yeah… five months later…

It’s not like I went (too) crazy buying things. I actually received all this knitting gear from my snister:

She tried knitting for awhile and didn’t care for it, so I get all this!

And Mica sent me a bunch of circulars (the ones in the Ziploc bag and the fancy Knit Picks kit!), and Gina got me the cute orange case for my birthday:

Now, to use it all! I picked up yarn two weekends ago for a few projects – some washcloths and cowls for Gina for a silent auction,

Cowls are done!

I had to try this pattern – turned out looking super similar to the waffle pattern

some funky “sponge” yarn to make washcloths for my Grandma,

and yarn to make a birthday present for a friend. Now, what to do with all that extra yarn Christina gave me! Hmm…

Whatever I do, I better move fast, so Data gets his comfy spot back.

I’d actually really like to start knitting some holiday gifts, but I am not sure how I can work on them and NOT post them on the blog. That sounds really hard. Ha.

Comments (14)

By kilax, September 22, 2015 6:36 am

Thing 1 | There’s an older gentleman (in his 70s/80s?) I often see riding a bike in our neighborhood. The first time I saw him, I had a similar reaction to when I see anyone working out – “that’s so great he’s being active!” and “where is his helmet?!!??!?!” Ha.

Then I started seeing him time and time again (we must have a similar workout schedule). We started waving to each other. Then, about a month ago, he started wearing a helmet for all his rides (phew)!!! On one ride he was wearing a Cubs jersey – I thought that was really cute.

During my run yesterday, I saw him coming my way, and was getting ready to wave to him. I could tell he was about to turn a corner though, and thought maybe he didn’t see me. But he did! He actually slowed down at the corner, so he could wave, before he turned. Aww. That really made me smile!

Then we saw each other AGAIN (and waved) during my second run! Double feature!

Maybe one day we’ll actually talk to one another. Ha ha.

Thing 2 | There are two sets of sisters who take classes together at Essential Fitness (aka Efit, where I teach strength training classes). Isn’t that fun? I think it would be awesome to take a weekly fitness class with my snis, if we lived in the same town.

One time, we went rock climbing together!

Interestingly, one set of sisters work for the same place, and the other set have the same job, at different places! That’s kind of like me and my snis – we both have the same title of “Interior Designer,” (only one of us really is, and one of us really IS NOT) in different cities.

BONUS Thing 3 |  I get to see my bestie, Gina, tonight! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!

Comments (9)

By kilax, September 21, 2015 6:23 am

Tomorrow is the last day of summer! Hurrah!

It seems like everyone has a different date that feels like the last day of summer for them – when school starts up, the last day of August, Labor Day, etc (is it the actual start of autumn for anyone?!). For me, it’s whenever my last trip to the Mississippi River in Guttenberg, Iowa is. I go there for fun in the sun (and on the sand and in the water) and when I feel like that is no longer an option because the weather will be too cool, I am ready for summer to be over*.

This year, it was Labor Day weekend, again. And it felt odd that Labor Day was so late in the month this year (September 7), but we had really great hot beach weather!

And… we had the same “summer enders” as last year! Yay!

I can’t put in to words how happy the relationship we and our families have with Gina, Steve, and Luca makes me feel. We clicked immediately with Gina and Steve when we first met them (in person**) in August of 2010. We enjoyed our time together so much that we started seeing each other a few times a year – traveling to their place in New York City, or them coming to ours in Chicagoland. We met a lot of their family in NYC. They met my sister and her husband, and Steven’s brother, on trips we took to NYC. They met my mom by chance in the Dallas airport. They met a lot of my family at Christina’s wedding. And more when they came to the river last year. We hung out with their family for the Dallas Marathon. We’ve met a lot of each other’s friends. And the KC trip was so much fun last year, we did it again this year, with our families. And that brings us up to this year’s river trip!

And now… you have a condensed history of our time together, ha ha.

I feel so much joy seeing them fit in seamlessly, with my family, and us, with theirs. I love that we all WANT to spend time with each other, and make sure it happens. And I am blown away that Gina and Steve and Luca drive all the way from Texas to Iowa (900 miles one way!) to hang out with all of us at the river!

Hee, hee, so, the KC trip itinerary was so successful in June, that we made another one for this trip, including activities and meals. We had several beach visits, another golf cart parade, a funicular visit, a half marathon, and lots of goofing around.

Continue reading 'Summer Enders, Fall Beginners!'»

Comments (2)

By kilax, September 20, 2015 11:39 am

Highlight of the Week: All the neat wildlife and beautiful scenery I saw on my runs and bike ride!

Monday | September 14, 2015: 8 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: to Nippersink FP, Temp: 80°/80°, Time: 1:25:00, Pace: 10:37 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: hot
Strength: box, kettlebells and boxing, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good
Tuesday | September 15, 2015: rest
Wednesday | September 16, 2015: 7 m run + 10 mins kettlebells
Loc: hood, Temp: 66°/57°, Time: 1:12:16, Pace: 10:19 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: sleepy, bored
Thursday | September 17, 2015: 5 m run (incl. 4×400)
Loc: hood, Temp: 74°/77°, Time: 47:29, Pace: 9:29 avg, Difficulty: easy-ish, Felt: good, hot, but not like death!
Friday | September 18, 2015: teaching strength class + 7 m run
Strength: box, kettlebells and boxing , Difficulty: easy, Felt: good but tired (didn’t sleep well)
Loc: Millennium Trail, Temp: 71°/70°, Time: 1:09:19, Pace: 9:54, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Saturday | September 19, 2015: 15 m run
Loc: to Grayslake and back, Temp: 57°/60°, Time: 2:36:35, Pace: 10:26 avg, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: decent enough, sore glutes from class
Sunday | September 20, 2015: 20.1 m ride (w/Julie & Michele) + 3 m run
Loc: Millennium Trail, Temp: 47°/61°, Time: 2:03:14, Pace: 9.8 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, hungry
Loc: Millennium Trail, Temp: 64°/64°, Time: 29:16, Pace: 9:45 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, thirsty

Notes:

• No more goulash for lunch before an afternoon run. Ouch – I had heartburn during my Monday run. Also on the do not eat before a run list: pickles (but can eat during, weird), Boca burgers, tortilla chips (sadness), cous cous, and yeah, anything with tomatoes.
• When I run really early in the morning, I try hard not to wake up Data so he won’t think it’s time to eat (and I won’t feel guilty for not feeding him yet). I was almost successful on Wednesday. I was about to head out the door when I heard him come down the stairs. Sigh. Then he was waiting for me on the couch when I came back for bathroom break #1. Then at the window for bathroom break #2. I gave in and gave him some dry food. Ha ha.
• Ugh, those bathroom breaks! I’ve changed my diet a bit and my stomach is not… very happy. Just so gassy (TMI). It’ll get used to it soon.
• I thought this CNN interview (pdf here) with Dean Karnazes was fun to read. I especially love his favorite quote about running – “Quem corre porgosto, não cansa” (Who runs for pleasure, never tires). That may be mine now, too!
• I tend to run the same routes during the week since Steven and I share a car and I don’t want to take it all the time to run someplace different (in case he needs it). Luckily, I have trails and forest preserves nearby that I can get to by foot. With all of that being said, I am looking forward to some runs in different places this week! It’s nice to switch things up from time to time.
• Here are some photos to back up the “highlight of the week” mentioned above!

Link to Training Week 308

Comments (20)

By kilax, September 17, 2015 6:14 am

• My younger brother and his wife received the blanket for James yesterday and sent me a very nice thank you and a few pictures of James using it!!! Made my day!

• I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but when I show pictures of someone’s kids on here, or write a post that says a lot about something me and another person did, or has pictures of them in I’m not sure if they will like, I get their permission to post it. This is my blog space, not theirs, and I’d totally get if they didn’t want their stuff on here! Everything is not for everyone to see. (And I appreciate my friends and family reviewing the stuff I send them.)
• For my next knitting project, I am making some washcloths and cowls to donate for a silent auction and 5K event Gina’s running club is hosting on October 10 for a young girl in their town (in Texas) battling leukemia. If you are crafty and want to donate something for the auction (or work for a business that can donate online services or gift cards) let me know and I will connect you with her! I finished the washcloths last night! Gina requested Christmassy colors and I like how they turned out!

• (Town)house improvements continue, and we recently replaced an old La-Z-Boy couch with some chairs. I really like the pattern – they’re muted enough but with a tiny pop of color that isn’t obnoxious. And Data likes that they’re gray. Although at first I think he thought he wasn’t supposed to sit on them, and was trying to sneak around to do it, which was humorous!

• As part of an anniversary gift, Gina and Steve gave us the Dallas Starbucks mug! Our collection expands! Ha ha, I know, it’s pretty small (for the Starbucks mugs), but I have a bit of a mug problem in general, so that’s okay!

• I hit a one-year streak in practicing Spanish every day, in the DuoLingo app! Once I completed the app in the spring, I’ve been more in a maintenance mode. I would really like to become fluent in Spanish over the next few years. I think that will require classes, a language partner/tutor, and using Spanish in my community. Which sounds exciting, but like a lot of work, so we’ll see what happens with that! (Probably… not much.)

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 75

Comments (11)

By kilax, September 16, 2015 6:44 am

I like it when…

… I’m brushing my teeth and get toothpaste on the outfit I’m going to wear to work

… I pull things out of the washing machine to put in the dryer, and they fall on the floor

… I reschedule a work meeting to meet a specific person’s schedule (per their request), and they are a no show

… I put something on my desk, and it rolls right off

… I’m serving cous cous and get it all over the counter and floor

… I’m knitting and find a knot in the yarn

… the same guy without a muffler on his car visits our neighbor at 11:00 pm, 1:00 am and 3:00 am (all in the same night) and keeps his car running

… the train conductor punches my ticket, then I (try to) take a nap, then he wakes me up 20 minutes later to ask to punch my ticket again

… I tell someone I don’t want to talk about a specific topic and they keep bringing it up

… I turn off every setting I can find to get my phone to stop playing music off the cloud, and it still does it

Eh, life is pretty good!!!

Sometimes, instead of cursing and getting mad about the small things that bug me, I’ll sarcastically say “I like it when insert whatever meaningless thing is making me mad here” to try to make it … what? Funny? Make me feel like I have some control over things, or at least, how I react?

Ha, sometimes it works. And sometimes I just need to curse. The important thing is knowing when which is appropriate!

What’s your sarcastic “I like it when…”?