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By kilax, September 14, 2017 6:26 am

• One of the things I got my snister off of her birthday wishlist this year was a custom portrait of her cat, Dexter, from an etsy shop. I love how it turned out! I’ll have to get one of my kitties someday! This is not an ad, I paid for it myself.

(frame not included in my etsy order – I picked that up)

• Our street was paved while we were out of town last weekend. Yay! I hope it doesn’t get torn apart this winter.

• It might be time to calm down a bit on the Philippa Gregory books. When I was sick a few weeks ago, I was having Tudor-related dreams (really, nightmares). Ha. Like I mentioned last week though, it’s been fun reading fiction.

• Sound the alarms! My parents and maternal grandma may be visiting next weekend which means I need to get the house Grandma Level Clean!!! Grandma Level Clean is the cleanest my house ever gets. We’ll see how much I can get done before she arrives!

• I was trying to find posts where I’ve mentioned Grandma Level Clean before, and didn’t find what I expected – something detailing what that level of clean entails. But I did find this post, where the second bullet mentions it, and interestingly (to me only, ha) the first bullet mentions a major work disappointment, which is why I haven’t even mentioned (on here) some work news I may have.

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 146

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By kilax, September 11, 2017 8:30 am

Part of my birthday gift (in July) from my father-in-law was plane tickets for me and Steven to go to Kansas City this past weekend to attend Star Wars Day at the K – a Star Wars themed Royals game (against the Twins). I’ve wanted to attend one of the Star Wars themed baseball games for awhile, and packed my Leia costume accordingly. Thank you, David!

We flew in Friday, and the game was on Sunday, so Saturday’s plan was to spend time with my snister and her family. I was surprised when I got there and saw my mom and dad were there too – I had NO idea they’d be there! My snister had been texting me and my mom that morning about a parade they were at and my mom was responding about how fun it looked, when she was actually there, with Christina. Those tricksters! What an awesome surprise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We spent the day chatting, eating, watching a movie in their home theater, and of course, baby snugging!!!

It’s so nice when we can all get together – I can’t wait to do it again!

My brother-in-law is missing from the pic because he had to leave for two different birthday parties. Popular guy!

It was hot on Sunday, so I opted to only wear the buns part of the Leia costume to the game. We had great seats on the third base line, but they were in the full sun with no shade until later innings and I didn’t want to make myself even more miserable in that hot costume! 

I was hoping to see more people in costume, but they probably were thinking the same thing as me – they didn’t want to be uncomfortable! We saw a few cool full costumes (on the field and by fans). A few droids were walking around, at times there were characters on the field, and there was a funny moment when the big screen showed Darth Vader clapping in one of the viewing boxes to honor a veteran. A few people had Star Wars shirts on. I got a lot of compliments on my “hair.” And one guy asks me “Is today Star Wars day or something? A lot of people have Star Wars stuff on.” Ha.

I was hoping they’d have Star Wars music and sound effects during the game, but there wasn’t much. But that’s all good, because it was a fun game to watch, with the Royals scoring 6 runs in the second inning, and 4 in the seventh! We only sat in our seats for the first, second, and seventh through ninth innings because we were too hot, so I was happy we got to see all the action from our seats (the final score was 11-3).

This will probably be my only Royals game of the year, and I’m glad it was festive, and a win, AND that I got to go with family! (Thanks for the tickets, Andrew!)

Comments Off on Training Week 412

By kilax, September 10, 2017 9:34 pm

Highlight of the Week: Running with my brother-in-law Andrew, and starting to recover from last week’s cold!

Monday | September 4, 2017: 3 m run
Loc: Van Patten Woods, Temp: 74°/71, Time: 32:47, Pace: 10:55 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: hot but okay
Tuesday | September 5, 2017: 15 mins strength + 15 m ride
Indoor Ride Time: 57:50, Pace: 15.6 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: sweaty (always so sweaty when I work out when I’m sick)
Wednesday | September 6, 2017: 4.2 m run
Loc: Chicago Lakefront Trail, Temp: 61°/59°, Time: 43:12, Pace: 10:18 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great – the breeze felt SO good
Thursday | September 7, 2017: 3 m run
Loc: Lake Andrea, Temp: 65°/65°, Time: 31:12, Pace: 10:23 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: okay, was planning on speedwork but lungs still congested
Friday | September 8, 2017: teaching strength class + 5 m run
Strength: medicine balls and circuit, Difficulty: easy, Felt: okay, coughing a bit
Loc: hood, Temp: 61°/61°, Time: 51:54, Pace: 10:23, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Saturday | September 9, 2017: 4 m run (w/Andrew)
Loc: Line Creek Trail, Temp: 73°/73°, Time: 48:38, Pace: 12:09 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Sunday | September 10, 2017: 3 m run (incl. 5×1:00)
Loc: Line Creek Trail, Temp: 69°/69°, Time: 32:32, Pace: 10:49 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: okay – still pretty congested

Notes:

• Last Sunday night I slipped down the stairs and did a split squat landing, and tweaked my right knee. Monday’s run was to test it and my lungs out. It went okay! It was definitely a good thing it was Labor Day and my regular Monday night strength class was canceled for the night thought – I would have felt like garbage teaching.
• I used our smith machine Tuesday night for my first at home strength workout in a looooong time. I liked being able to use heavier weights, especially using the bar for deadlifts!
• I didn’t swim this week because I was congested (and would be blowing snot in to the water – gross town). I am looking forward to doing it next week!
• We left behind beautifully cool Chicagoland weather to go to hot Kansas City this weekend. Ha! It was worth it – I got to run with my brother-in-law, and have fun with our families!

Link to Training Week 411

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By kilax, September 7, 2017 12:47 pm

• Last weekend, Steven worked on clearing out more brush by the pond (not sure if I ever finished posting about the area we cleared last year, but we planted grass over it and it looks really nice now). I can’t believe how fast Steven cleared all that – he got it all done in about two and a half hours while I was out running errands. We have lots of ideas for what we’d like to do with the entire pond area, over the years!

• We attempted to take Snow to the vet last week for a checkup. It didn’t happen. Sigh. He freaked the hell out each time we tried to put him in the carrier. Blood was drawn (Steven’s). It made me feel foolish – like I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. I may look for a vet that makes house calls. I want to make sure Snow’s healthy. And get him neutered (that obviously would not happen at home, ha!).

Bonus – he ran to the fireplace to hide and was so scared he peed all over

• We celebrated our anniversary with dinner out in Milwaukee on Friday, and a boat ride on the Red Witch, followed by ice cream, in Kenosha on Saturday. We had fun, and I’d like to ride the Red Witch again when I don’t have a cold (and it’s not stormy, ha!).

• I am so pumped about my favorite coworker returning to work from maternity leave next week. So. So. Pumped. (Which is probably the opposite of how she feels.) We already reserved seats next to each other for our office day next week! Yay!
• Ha, speaking of our new office space, my boss is making little “name tags” for our lockers and asked (it wasn’t mandatory) for photos of ourselves. I sent her this one:

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 145

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By kilax, September 3, 2017 10:21 pm

Highlight of the Week: Running in a new-to-me location on Tuesday.

Monday | August 28, 2017: brick (5 m bike + 2 m run) + teaching strength class
Indoor Ride Time: 19:33, Pace: 15.4 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: hood, Temp: 72°/70°, Time: 20:28, Pace: 10:14 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, enjoyed the rain
Strength: step and dumbbells, Difficulty: easy, Felt: meh
Tuesday | August 29, 2017: 3 m run
Loc: Pet, Temp: 71°/71°, Time: 33:18, Pace: 11:05 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good, challenged on the hill!
Wednesday | August 30, 2017: rest
Thursday | August 31, 2017: 7 m run
Loc: VP Woods loop, Temp: 67°/65°, Time: 1:18:12, Pace: 11:10 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great, sick of running on the rocky shoulders
Friday | September 1, 2017: teaching strength class + 3 m run
Strength: step and dumbbells, Difficulty: easy, Felt: fine, happy to be done with that workout
Loc: hood, Temp: 64°/64°, Time: 33:17, Pace: 11:05, Difficulty: ???, Felt: don’t remember by the time I wrote this!
Saturday | September 2, 2017: rest (sick)
Sunday | September 3, 2017: rest (sick)

Notes:

• I wasn’t planning to do a brick workout on Monday, but when I got off work it was supposed to start thunderstorming, so I decided to ride inside instead of run outside. But while I was riding my bike I could see that it wasn’t raining at all, so I said eff it and went for a run. But only had time for two miles at that point! Ha.
• On Tuesday I was running errands and decided to run at a park Steven and I picnicked at in June. It has a paved loop just under 2.5 miles with one really steep hill! I need to go back for repeats!
• No swim this week because the pool was closed for cleaning.
• I’ve been feeling really irritated about running in the shoulders on loose rocks again. Ugh. I just want to run on something flat and smooth. Even crushed rock would be fine! Wah wah wah.
• I was pumped to have the long weekend to workout but got a sore throat/cold starting Friday night that ruined all those plans. Wah. Maybe I can workout tomorrow!
• How is it already time for the monthly recap?! In August I ran 114.5 miles (22 runs), cycled 43.6 miles (2 outdoor rides, 2 indoor rides) and swam 5,166 yards (5 swims). My coldest run was 51°F and my warmest was 83°F. I taught 8 strength classes, and participated in the Efit Games. No Fitness Boxing classes taught in August, but I am teaching one in September.

Link to Training Week 410

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By kilax, September 1, 2017 6:51 am

Today is our ten year wedding anniversary!

Babies!

Steven and I met at Iowa State University (at a frat party – all the LOLz) in August 2002, starting dating in September 2002, and have been together since! Steven moved to Chicagoland in May 2003 and I moved in with him in May 2007. We got married that September, at the Cuneo Mansion (famous from My Best Friend’s Wedding). And ten years later, here we are!

We’ll celebrate with a night out this weekend, and a trip this winter.

I’m very proud to call Steven my partner. He inspires me daily with how hardworking and visionary he is, at home and with his business.

He also makes me laugh daily, which is very important to me (I only pretend to be serious on occasion, mostly at work).

And most importantly – he does all the cooking! Ha ha!

Here’s to more years of adventure together!