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By kilax, December 31, 2015 6:27 am

• We had a nice Christmas with Steven’s dad and brother. I am grateful that they enjoy traveling out here for the holiday, and especially that they were up for it this year, with us living in a small rental house (with no cable!!!!!! <— insert cat making home alone face emoji).

Me and my boys! Even Data cooperates for the family photo!

• Ugh, but this Christmas, the amount I hate to cook was intensified by the kitchen in the rental house. GRRRRRR. Sigh. I am grateful to have a home at all. And to be renting a home that could host guests, yes. But GAWD, it would be nice to have hot water at the kitchen sink, a dishwasher that is attached to the counter top, some counter space, and cupboard space. Wah wah wah. Whatever, the food turned out good. And you guys know that Steven does 95% of the cooking, anyway (so then it must have been really bad for me to complain, muah ha ha!).

From L to R: breakfast, dinner, X-wing and Death Star ice cubes (!!!) and chocolate pudding pie. Ha ha ha, that pie. I decided to make the crust with the Aldi-brand oreo peppermint cookies (SO GOOD)… 28 of them. So we’re eating the pie and Steven’s like, “how many oreos are in this?” “28!” “No… how many are in ONE slice?” “UM… DON’T WANT TO THINK ABOUT IT! It’s Christmas!” Yeah… the leftovers for that went in the trash on Monday.

• When I was doing my long runs during marathon training, I’d just listen to my entire music collection on shuffle, instead of making a playlist. Toward the end of some long runs, as I got low on energy, I’d skip songs a lot more, feeling annoyed with what I was listening to, looking for something more upbeat. Skipping songs was obviously a sign that I needed something to pump me back up. So I put together an upbeat playlist with all my favorite songs on it for the marathon, and it worked! I don’t recall skipping any songs, and this song (below) made me feel so good, I played it once more on repeat after it came on!

I keep expecting Mad Max to show up in the video, ha.

• Each year, in the end of December, WordPress sends me an email “Your [insert year here] year in blogging” with some stats they’ve pulled about most popular posts, the longest posting streak (in days), posts with most comments, etc. It’s interesting to me that the posts on my site that get the most hits are ones I wrote 5-7 years ago. Ha! And especially interesting to me that all my top commenters (most comments left) last year were people I know in real life. This year, they are all people I’ve never met. I understand these stats mean my blog is not growing in popularity (fine by me) and that people I know in real life comment less, and may read less (also, fine by me). I write this blog for me, and appreciate any comments, ever (thank you!)! It’s not too surprising that the top commenters are new people. Blogs seems to be cyclical, and I am sure there are only so many times you can comment on the shiz I write without feeling like you’ve read it, and written that comment, before, and feel like moving on. Ha!
• I am surprised how many people seemed astonished when I told them (after they inquired) how much time I got off for the holidays at my federal job. Guys. I work for the federal government. We get federal holidays off – that’s it. I thought it was cool that Obama signed an executive order so we could have a half day on December 24! Don’t worry about me… I am very satisfied with the perks at my job.
• Noooooo, Running Times is no longer going to be published! It was my favorite magazine! I’m very sad that the issue I got this week is apparently the last (and that it oddly doesn’t mention it anywhere, that I’ve seen, in the issue, update: after I wrote this, I got a mailer telling me about it, and that my Runner’s World subscription will be extended). I had even saved a subscription card out of the issue to gift it to someone. Bummer. I guess it was a huge sign last year when they reduced the amount of issues from 10 to 6. Sigh. I don’t want to read that content online. I loved getting the magazine in the mail. Bummer, bummer, bummer.

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 79

Comments (15)

By kilax, December 30, 2015 6:24 am

Part of Steven’s brother’s Christmas gift was a blu-ray DVD that we ordered on Amazon. After we ordered it, I got an email that the DVD purchase included a free digital copy (accessible via Amazon Prime) of Kung Fu Panda. Hmm, cool! So a few days after getting the email, we “purchased” the free digital copy.

After doing that, I got another email, that said our purchase of the digital copy of that movie entitled us to a $1 promotional credit to use toward digital music albums or single songs. Schweet! I have a running list of songs I want to download, so I used the credit toward one of those songs.

Then waited to see what Amazon would email me that I was getting for free, next.

Ha ha. Nada. Darn.

I thought it just might keep going on and on, forever – the gift that keeps on giving! Ha.

Watching a movie with Data (and popcorn)… because when I don’t have a relevant photo for the post, you get to see Data!

A few times, while checking out on Amazon, I’ve seen the option to forego the Amazon Prime two-day shipping, and choose standard shipping, with a $1 music credit or a Amazon Pantry credit.

Two-day shipping (when it’s actually two days, ha) is awesome, and that’s part of why we’re Prime members, but I plan to keep an eye out for those music credits and use them when I can. I pay to download so much music for the classes I teach, and those credits would help me big time!

Comments (15)

By kilax, December 29, 2015 5:17 pm

The bad thing about our old neighborhood is that it was builder designed: very cookie-cutter, planned out, and redundant. Everything looked the same. It was boring.

The good thing about our old neighborhood is that it was builder designed: it was consistent, there were sidewalks everywhere, and the street layout made sense.

Whenever I could, I ran on the sidewalk in our old neighborhood. It just felt safe AND courteous (to cars) to me. I became very familiar with the streets via the sidewalks (and what houses park over their cars over driveway all the time…).

Our rental neighborhood is around a lake. The streets, yes, wrap around the lake. The houses are all different. Only one side of the neighborhood has sidewalks.

I was nervous about running on the streets in the rental neighborhood. I don’t want to be a nuisance, the streets are narrow (no shoulder), and I don’t trust people to be paying attention to see me, despite how colorfully dressed/lit up I am.

But you know what? I’ve been pleasantly surprised. Most cars coming my way have gone halfway in to the other lane if not all the way over, and many slow down, too.

It’s nice.

I always make sure to smile or nod and wave.

This neighborhood is probably a good transition between now and our final destination – a dead end street with no sidewalks off a country road! 

Comments (28)

By kilax, December 28, 2015 3:52 pm

This is our first time living somewhere where we are responsible for snow removal. In fact, we didn’t even own a proper shovel until Saturday night. Ha! Luckily, we looked ahead at the forecast and thought to get one before we needed it.

That was some HEAVY snow.

I definitely got a shoulder workout in, which is good, since we are canceling strength class for tonight due to road conditions.

Here’s part of the driveway at the house we are hoping to buy. I’ve indicated where the street is with a red arrow. Yeah. Won’t be shoveling all THAT! Buah ha ha.

Comments (5)

By kilax, December 27, 2015 11:06 am

Highlight of the Week: Seeing coyotes on my Saturday run / teaching fitness boxing!

Monday | December 21, 2015: 6.5 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: Gages Lake/Gurnee Loop, Temp: 47°/47°, Time: 55:36, Pace: 8:33 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: fantastico
Strength: Kettlebells + plyo box, boxing, and dice game, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good (but too sweaty)
Tuesday | December 22, 2015: 10 m ride
Bike Time: 40:30, Pace: 14.8 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Wednesday | December 23, 2015: teaching strength class + 8 m run
Strength: Kettlebells + plyo box, boxing, and dice game, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good (but too warm again)
Loc: Gages Lake/Gurnee, Temp: 56°/56°, Time: 1:12:43, Pace: 9:05 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, but challenged by the wind (and still hot)
Thursday | December 24, 2015: 5 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 39°/39°, Time: 44:38, Pace: 8:54 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Friday | December 25, 2015: rest
Saturday | December 26, 2015: 12 m run
Loc: Grayslake Loop, Temp: 39°/39°, Time: 1:50:45, Pace: 9:13 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Sunday | December 27, 2015: 5 m run (incl. 1/2/3/4/5 ladder) + teaching fitness boxing
Loc: hood, Temp: 37°/37°, Time: 42:26, Pace: 8:29 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good, pushed back by the wind
Strength: body weight and boxing , Difficulty: easy (mostly observing), Felt: great

Notes:

• Ha! Look at all those photos – they depict a gloomy week, don’t they? But, I like running when it’s overcast, and they were all good runs (despite some gusty days)!
• I had my post marathon recovery massage first thing Monday morning, again, focusing on my right hip/iliacus. It feels great most of the time… except when I am going up and down the stairs to the basement a lot. I’m not sure what to do about that – the rental house has so little storage on the main floor that most everything is in the basement! I bet I got up and down those steps 15-20 times a day! Not sure why those bug me, and the steps at our old house didn’t. Eh. I’ll be careful.
• I received How Bad Do You Want It?, by Matt Fitzgerald, for Christmas, and so far, it’s a really interesting read. The gist of the book is that endurance sports are highly dependent on mental toughness – that training doesn’t get you to (your version of) success alone. Mind over muscle, basically. In the second chapter, Fitzgerald talks about how you never know how much your next race is going to hurt, and that being hopeful that it won’t be as hard as before is harmful – that you should actually “brace yourself” for the worst – only then can you mentally prepare for competition. That was a bit of a revelation for me, as I have said, many times before, I want my races to be as pain-free as possible (and I don’t mean injury type pain, but pushing my threshold type pain). Hmm.
• Teaching fitness boxing is such a blast. The students just love it and really get in to it, which makes me happy to see. I hope I can do quite a few fitness boxing classes in 2016! We already have one set up for January 2!

Link to Training Week 322

Comments (26)

By kilax, December 23, 2015 11:03 am

Steven and I don’t do our own custom holiday card (or even send a generic one… oops?*) but we still participate in the annual holiday card with my family! It’s fun to look through them and see how this:

has grown to this:

Can you find Data in the photo**?

I hope we continue this tradition for many years! It is getting harder to coordinate, as our families grow and we live in separate states. But to me, it’s totally worth the trip to do the photo. Ahh, what can I say – photos are very important to me!

*A few years ago, someone was upset with me for “not sending them a card.” Um… I didn’t send ANYONE a card? Weird…
**Steven took the photos, I edited them for color/etc., and Christina added the text and a couple animals…

Comments (20)

By kilax, December 22, 2015 6:23 am

Our little tree now has (a little amount of) presents under it!

And not a single one is homemade*.

Sigh.

When I started knitting this year, I thought I would knit lots of holiday gifts for people. I had even bought a complicated cable pattern and yarn to make a scarf for Steven’s dad, and was looking forward to it.

Broken record: you know what happened. We sold our house, blah blah blah. All of my free time was spent doing house stuff or running/exercising. The last time I knitted was at the end of October, when I finished this hat! Gah!!

I miss knitting. I hope I can pick it back up, soon. And maybe I can make that scarf for a birthday gift… nothing weird about getting a scarf for an August birthday, right?!

*Last year, I wrote about wishing I had a skill that would translate in to homemade gifts… funny to me that I do now, but didn’t use it.

Comments (12)

By kilax, December 21, 2015 8:58 am

The Grinch is gone! We got our holiday decorations up! Here they are:

Moving blankets as rugs are very in at our rental house, ha!

And… that’s it! Ha!

I actually have several boxes of holiday decorations in storage, but it’s just not worth getting all that stuff out when we are renting for such a short period of time. It was easy to get the tree, and grab the stockings (super important – I love doing stockings!) and Christmas Candy Cat out of their boxes.

Sigh, I forgot how nuts Data goes for this tree. What a little turd – as soon as Steven set the tree up, he wouldn’t leave it alone. I hope he gets over the excitement of it soon.

Next up, wrap presents! And plan out the holiday meal and grocery shop. I hope no one wants me to get the fancy serving platters out of storage… we can serve ourselves out of pots and pans… right?! Ha!

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By kilax, December 20, 2015 5:40 pm

Highlight of the Week: Meeting Meb!

Monday | December 14, 2015: 3 m run (w/Gina)
Loc: McKinney, Temp: 66°/66°, Time: 27:09, Pace: 9:02 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good for the legs
Tuesday | December 15, 2015: 3.35 m walk (w/Gina & Luca)
Wednesday | December 16, 2015: rest
Thursday | December 17, 2015: 3 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 34°/30°, Time: 26:48, Pace: 8:55 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, annoyed at first
Friday | December 18, 2015: teaching strength class + 7 m run
Strength: Kettlebell circuit & core/cardio, Difficulty: easy, Felt: tired (from seeing Star Wars so late)
Loc: hood, Temp: 27°/27°, Time: 1:05:18, Pace: 9:19, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Saturday | December 19, 2015: teaching fitness boxing + 5 m run (incl. 6×400)
Strength: body weight and boxing , Difficulty: easy (mostly observing), Felt: great
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 18°/18°, Time: 44:50, Pace: 8:56 avg, Difficulty: medium then easy, Felt: good (but a bit underdressed)
Sunday | December 20, 2015: 10 m run + 7 m bike
Loc: Grayslake/Gurnee Loop, Temp: 33°/33°, Time: 1:33:24, Pace: 9:20 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Indoor Bike Time: 30:50, Pace: 13.6 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good for the legs

Notes:

• Recovery week! I ran three miles the day after the marathon, to shake my legs out, then took two days off running. My quads felt it the most, and they felt fine by Thursday. Yay! My right illiacus is still a bit tender, and I am looking forward to a post-race massage tomorrow that I think will help with that.
• I also got my typical post race cold! Ha ha. I felt it coming on late Saturday night and am doing everything in my power to combat it – I have a chill week ahead, but don’t want to be a sick and whiny when our guests arrive Tuesday night (because I am OH SO WHINY when I am sick, ha!).
• I finally got a chance this week to run some new loop routes from the rental house, yay! I now have a 5 mile and 10 mile route I can use, and I am looking forward to branching off of to explore in the next five weeks before we move again.
• I had a giant rant written about the times that having texts/calls on my blue tooth connected smart Garmin watch annoys me (compared to the times it encourages me (like during the marathon) or helps me) but… yeah. First world problem for sure! The conclusion is that I turn off blue tooth when it does, and run in peace.

Link to Training Week 321

Comments (18)

By kilax, December 18, 2015 6:22 am

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is A LOT of fun and was definitely worth seeing way past my bedtime last night!

Line to get in…

I got lots of nice compliments on my costume and some people asked to take their picture with me. I laughed when we got to the theater, and I was wearing that, and Steven told the guy at the area where they check your tickets that we were there to see the new James Bond movie. Ha ha ha. Oh, Steven, my cooperative Trekkie.

Making friends at the theater!

I made sure to wear something “festive” for teaching strength class this morning, too!

I hope to see the movie at least once more in the theater! Let me know what you think of it when you see it! So much to talk about!!!