Comments Off on Training Week 452

By kilax, June 17, 2018 9:30 pm

Highlight of the Week: Finishing Grandma’s Marathon with Bob!

Monday | June 11, 2018: rest (walked all over NeoCon!)
Tuesday | June 12, 2018: 5.2 m run (last 3.4 w/Dad on bike)
Loc: hood, Temp: 61°/61°, Time: 49:06, Pace: 9:27 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: heavy legs, but okay!
Wednesday | June 13, 2018: 3.3 m run
Loc: Chicago Lakefront Trail, Temp: 76°/76°, Time: 28:45, Pace: 8:43 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, hot!
Thursday | June 14, 2018: 3.3 m run + 8 m ride
Loc: VP Woods, Temp: 63°/66°, Time: 31:39, Pace: 9:35 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: a bit sluggish at first, hot!
Indoor Ride Time: 30:17, Pace: 15.8 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Friday | June 15, 2018: rest
Saturday | June 16, 2018: Grandma’s Marathon
Loc: Two Harbors to Duluth, Temp: 61°/49°, Time: 4:36:36, Pace: 10:34 avg, Difficulty: easy then hard, Felt: good then crummy
Sunday | June 17, 2018: rest

Notes:

• My legs felt SO heavy on my Tuesday run. I haven’t felt like that in forever! I walked a ton the day before, but wtf, legs! Dumb taper.
• It felt really odd to work out so little this week, but again, taper (and wasn’t free to teach or swim when I normally do).
• I talked to Bobbi and Riyanti today about how strange it was to me that I felt so hungry at the end of the race, despite sticking to my planned fueling every four miles. Then Riyanti pointed out that I slowed down a lot, and my four miles was more spread out. DUH, Kim. I fuel every thirty-five minutes and had picked four miles because that was easy to remember – when going race pace, four miles = thirty-five minutes. But that math doesn’t work when you get off pace! DUUUUUH.
• I’m really hoping I can do some cardio this week, but I have to see how my knee heals from my fall at the race! It’s swollen, bruised, and not scabbed over yet. You might see a lot of walking in next week’s training recap!

Link to Training Week 451

Comments (24)

By kilax, June 16, 2018 3:12 pm

Wow – we had somewhat great race weather in Duluth for Grandma’s Marathon today and I DIDN’T PR! Ha, let me tell you why…

First, though, logistics. I stayed at a (beautiful!!!) rental house with Gina, Bob, and Jessica. They planned this trip a while ago and Gina invited me to join them in April! We left the house at 4:30 am and drove to the DECC (Duluth Entertainment Convention Center) to park. Grandma’s Marathon is point-to-point and we parked at the finish and took the train to the start (you can take the train or bus to the start, but you can’t park there).

I laughed when I got on the train and saw it was basically a Metra car! Then I was worried it would eff up my piriformis like my rides on Metra to the city do, but it didn’t. Phew.

It was an hour and twenty minute ride! Then we got off and immediately got in hella long porta pottie lines.

Jessica, Bob, Gina, me

We walked to the start a few minutes before race start (7:45 am). Luckily we could line up by our estimated pace time, even though we got in so late.

There’s no corrals and we all took off as one big group. It was crowded and I tripped and landed on my hands and knees a quarter mile in to the race. I felt shook up, and looked for Gina (for emotional support) but didn’t see her and kept running. (She later told me she saw someone hand me something, but didn’t see me fall.)

I texted my dad and snis to tell them what happened and ask for encouragement (no, I was NOT using my phone when I fell). They sent me some and I tried to get out of my head about the fall, but I did think about it for a few miles.

Then I decided to ignore it and stick to my goal 8:46 per mile pace plan. I took gels every four miles and was having stomach issues (needing to poo, and having cramps). I went to the bathroom at mile 9 and got back on pace until mile 14, then it went downhill (not literally, it was up and down for most of the race). My stomach felt jacked up, and my knee was starting to hurt. Sigh.

I went in to survival mode and put a smile on my face and did what I could for running and walked when I needed to. I was trying not to be frustrated and to still have a good time. I had been using all my mantras hoping I could get my pace back but it just wasn’t happening. I was frustrated that I couldn’t even hold long run pace for very long!

Gina passed me around mile 16 looking awesome (she got a PR!!!) and she made sure I was gonna be okay. I planned to do whatever I needed to get my medal and finisher shirt!

Spoiler alert, I got it

It had been foggy all morning and started to rain a bit at 17, but only for a few miles. The temperature actually dropped during the race and the breeze felt great (it was 61° and 82% humidity when we started and 49°F and 96% humidity and cool when we finished). My face felt too hot when I started, and for a few miles, but it really wasn’t bad.

I was doing a run/walk and getting lots of comments on my knee (which I was trying to ignore – my knee, not the people!). I went to the bathroom again at 19 (ugh) then kept going. During mile 22 a course marshal approached me and asked if he could help with my knee and I started crying. Sigh. So emotional. My knee was bugging me more and more as it began to scab over. Some Navy people cleaned it a bit and bandaged it up and sent me on my way and it felt stiff, but better.

I kept going and Bob approached me around mile 24 which was a lifesaver. I picked it up a small bit with him (as much as I could!) and we finished together, in 4:36:36. Quite a bit off from 3:50!

I was so hungry when I finished (which is odd since I was having gels every four miles despite my stomach feeling messed up). And cold. We found Gina and Jessica (she PR’d and BQ’d!!!) and went to the medic tent to get me cleaned up (and get some asphalt out of my knee).

So that was my race!

Steven asked if I wanted to do another marathon right away. Nah. I think I’d rather just train long and not race!

A few notes:

• I saw a lot of funny signs including “if MPR raccoon can do it, you can too!”
• I appreciated the texts from family, and Bobbi to see how I was doing. I appreciate Bobbi waiting WAY after her half finished to see me come in. I appreciate xaarlin writing just what I needed to hear when I told her I was struggling.
• This race is well done! I think I’d like the course better if I wasn’t all effed up, though. Ha ha.
• We all loved the tall balloon mile markers – we could see them coming up, even with the fog.
• Sometimes you can see the finish way off, on clear days. I was happy it was foggy and I couldn’t!
• The rolling hills did seem to get to me, which was disappointing – I hill train and run inclines on my long runs. A lot of times I’d be like, “this effort feels hard, am I on an incline?” Ha. A LOT OF THAT.
• I’m so excited for Gina and Jessica and so appreciative of Bob!!!
• Ha. So when I did check the weather when I was packing, I didn’t even think to check the START town. I checked the finish town! Lesson learned for point-to-point race weather checking!

Comments (8)

By kilax, June 15, 2018 4:29 am

Hooray! This weekend, Steven and Dad completed some projects that Steven’s wanted to get done for a long time. We had been waiting for the right weather (we kind of had it…) and time to do it!

Renting a boom lift was crucial to the work – installing gutter guards, new plumbing vent caps, and tree removal/trimming. You don’t do those things (safely) on a ladder!

The boom lift arrived on Friday and we had it until Monday (technically, for eight hours of timed use). Steven wasn’t home when it was dropped off, so the delivery guy told me how to use it. I remembered MOST of what he said and Steven read parts of the manual to figure out the rest!

(Funny story: when Steven was calling to rent it, they asked what company he worked for, and he said it was for personal use. So they asked if he had a license to operate and he said no. The guy on the phone was like “hold on a minute,” then talked to someone in the background and came back and said “Okay, what’s your credit card number?!” Ha.)

GUTTER GUARDS

We originally didn’t have gutter guards on ANY of our gutters (ha, our house didn’t even HAVE gutters when we bought it). After the first few big storms at our house, we realized we needed them – the gutters fill up so fast with the leaves getting blown around during the storm. And we want the water to go through the gutters and down the drain pipes – NOT to spill over and against the house.

So we had a company install gutter guards on one side of the house, and Steven installed them on the rest of the lower level that he could reach with a ladder. And that left the gutter guards on the second floor to be installed!

Getting set up

The gutter guards were a pain to put on because our gutters are installed too high (the guys who installed our gutters were idiots). You can see in the photos below that the tiles of our roof hang right over the gutters – the gutters should be a bit lower. Because of that, it was frustrating to get a drill back there to secure the gutter guards. But Steven got it done and they look marvelous!

Beautiful new gutter guards!

Not sponsored: The gutter guards are made here in Chicagoland and the owner is really nice!

It was overcast in the morning when they were working on the gutter guards, then the sun came out in the afternoon and Steven got a bit of sunburn while up on the lift. Oops!

PLUMBING VENT CAPS

We’ve noticed some back drafting of scents in to the bathroom that the vents are supposed to be pushing out, so we figured they might be clogged, and that we needed new plumbing vent caps. The gutter guards were the top priority project with the boom lift, and this was the second one.

This ended up being a huge pain in the arse because the vent caps Steven ordered had to be modified (cut and shaped) quite a bit to fit on the exhaust and against the roof tile. That’s one thing to do when you can walk to your tools and use them and test the shape. It’s another thing when the tools are in the garage and you’re two stories up in the air and having to test the shape!

But they finally got them to fit, yay!

Also, these are “critter quitter” vent caps, which are meant to deter animals from getting inside them and chewing on them. The old vent caps were lead, and apparently, lead takes salty and amazing to animals. The new ones are plastic. Stay away, animals! Stop chewing on our house!

TREE REMOVAL/TRIMMING

Steven and Dad got the gutter guards and plumbing vent caps installed Saturday which meant they had time Sunday for bonus projects on the boom lift (Steven checked the timer and saw they were still under the eight hours allotted).

After the morning rain stopped, they removed a tree from the backyard. It was the only tree in our backyard, and it was rotted and hollow inside.

Then they went all over the yard removing dead limbs. Sigh. We have A LOT of unhealthy trees in our yard. We don’t feel bad cutting them down since we have so many damn trees, but we are concerned about that so many trees are unhealthy! We might have a tree doctor come look at a few.

Inspector Data

It looks like a storm came through our yard, but that’s just all the limbs we still need to clean up.

Steven and Dad spent all of Sunday afternoon removing limbs. They got almost all of them done except one (the boom lift died and that ended their fun). So if you visit, I’ll tell you where NOT to park your car, in case it falls. Hee hee.

BONUS PROJECTS!

Don’t worry, Steven had back-up projects for after the boom lift got picked up and when Mom and I were at NeoCon on Monday.

HITCH INSTALL

They installed a hitch on my new car, yay! Now it’s ready to hold my bike rack! You know, if I actually rode my bike… (I totally will after this race!).

GUTTER DRAIN PIPE

The gutter drain pipe they installed in September has been spewing water out when the sump pump runs, so they installed some (custom-made) tighter fittings to stop that from happening.

In conclusion…

Damn, they got A LOT done! Steven was really hoping to get the gutter guards on and maybe the plumbing vent caps, so he was happy to get so many dead tree limbs down too. There was only a few small “fill in free time” projects they didn’t do, and really, those are things Steven and I can do (really, Steven, ha).

And don’t worry, friends! Steven and I still have A LOT to do on the house. Like:

• install attic baffles/insulate our strange little attic above the dining room
• install new sump pump covers
• install a plastic bag holder, battery holder, and paper towel holder in the closet upstairs (I like easy projects like this, ha!)
• seal the basement floor
• design and build a drainage system for the front yard
• build a second garage

Comments (16)

By kilax, June 14, 2018 6:23 am

• BIG NEWS! Today we are going to the veterinarian to fill out an adoption application and put down a deposit for KITTENZ!
• UM, THIS IS A PROBLEM. I was trying out the new Gmail and IT DOESN’T HAVE LABS. WTF NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I switched back to the old version. I use the “Undo Send” lab A LOT. A LOT A LOT.
• I tried to apply for a different position at work yesterday and it almost didn’t happen because the system is such a total pita/pos. But I finally got it in! I doubt I will get an interview, but, eh, worth a shot.
• Until yesterday, all of my June runs were between 47-61°F. That seems cool for June (I am NOT complaining). Yesterday’s run was 76°F. That felt more like June!

• And your weekly reading update: I finished Artemis and started California. It was nice to go from Endure, which was hard for me to read, to an easy-read like Artemis!

• When Mom and I saw Book Club last Saturday, the theater only had a few people in it, and a person seeing the movie alone came and sat right next to me. You can pick an assigned seat at this theater, and maybe they picked that one and didn’t feel like they should move to another, but I have to admit, I was a bit annoyed. Especially since they talked to themselves through a lot of the movie.

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 182

Comments (22)

By kilax, June 13, 2018 6:44 am

It’s race week! My race week prep includes:

• running / working out less (same intensity, less volume)
• getting a massage
• carb loading (ha)
• staying hydrated
• packing
• prepping food to bring
• finalizing my playlist
• getting enough rest… (not doing so well there)
• continuing race course visualization and repeating my mantras

My race week prep does NOT include:

• obsessively checking the weather

A few people have kindly asked me what race weather will be like. I don’t know. I haven’t been checking. I will check when I pack tomorrow. There’s nothing useful the weather is going to tell me now, since the forecasts change ALL. THE. TIME. I don’t need to buy special items for certain kinds of weather (I have everything), so I don’t need to check in advance to prep. I just need to pack some options.

I’ve seen the weather really eff up people’s mental game lately – spending time fretting about it days before the race, and letting negative thoughts about it bring them down on race day. It’s smart to be safe, in bad weather. It’s smart to go easier at a race, if it’s not your ideal weather. And it’s smart to be prepared!

But dwelling on it, and obsessively checking it is a total mind f*ck. Don’t do that! Try not to freak out! Weather just IS. Everyone is racing in the same conditions. It stinks that we sometimes put LOTS of time and work in for an event that ends up having crap weather, but that’s the risk you take (unfortunately)!

I allow myself one “this sucks!” thought on race day, then adjust, and fill my thoughts with positive weather mantras. And I adjust my goals if need be. I’ve even asked people I am with to stop venting about the weather (to me). That’s all really cheesy, but it keeps me in a positive mindset as possible, which I need when I am racing.

I listened to a podcast interview recently where Deena Kastor was giving some tips and talking about her new book (I want to read it so badly!) and she said “the mind steers the ship.” So if you’re in a negative mindset about the weather (or whatever, really) at a race, it’s going to affect your body! It just is!

So rah rah rah! Don’t worry, be happy!

Seriously though. Don’t stalk the weather forecast. It’s usually not even accurate the morning of!

Oh! And I have to ask, does anyone else make the same mistake as me when you DO check the weather – where you assume the low is the morning temperature and the high is midday or afternoon? I do that EVERY time I look for some reason, even though that is NOT what the predicted lows and highs mean! The low can be that night and the high can be in the morning. Duh, Kim.

And also: yes, please b*tch away about the weather after your race!

Comments (12)

By kilax, June 12, 2018 9:16 pm

My parents visited this weekend through this morning! The purpose of the trip was for Mom to go with me to NeoCon, but we also celebrated Mom’s birthday, and Steven and Dad got a lot of projects done (I’ll cover all those in another post!).

Oh yes. And I did all the carb loading. I am ready for Saturday’s race. And a few more marathons. Oops.

*unfortunately, you should carb load three to two days in advance… not a week to five days, ha! And yeah, I know it’s “carbo” loading. I don’t like adding the “o”!

FRIDAY!

I taught Fitness Boxing on Friday night for the first time. I usually teach it Saturday or Sunday but I don’t have any free weekends this month, so Friday night it is! I’m glad we had a decent turn out for the different class date.

Mom and Dad got in to town shortly after my class ended and they drove with Steven to meet me at El Famous Burrito. I ordered everyone’s food since I got there first and had some funny stares with the table all set up, waiting a few minutes for them to arrive. No, this is NOT all for me!!!

SATURDAY!

Saturday was Mom’s birthday!

I started the day off with a short run with Dad while he rode his bike. Then I took Mom to see Book Club.

Not the best movie I’ve seen, by a long shot, but we had fun!

While we were at the movie, the boys started the projects. Here is a preview pic!

We rented that boom lift – we don’t have one!

We brought home subs for lunch, and ate with the boys, then had trifles for Mom’s birthday.

These were supposed to be a cake, but it got hella effed up, so we salvaged it in to trifles. And it was amazingly delicious.

The boys got back to work after lunch and Mom and I screwed around for an hour laughing about a race where you run with a “hobby horse,” then eventually we signed me up because it’s so ridiculous (more details on that later!).

We ran errands and shopped that afternoon (while the boys kept working), then came home and made lasagna (and cornbread and broccoli!) for Mom’s birthday dinner! Seriously. ALL THE CARBS.

Vegan lasagna base, one side with vegan cheese, one side with regular cheese

And yes, we ate more cake after that!

SUNDAY! 

On Sunday Dad and I went on an even shorter run/bike (sigh, taper) than the day before. We wanted to both ride, but it was raining on and off all morning and not safe for me to ride my road bike in that, nor for either of us to be out in the fog and potential thunderstorms! Wah.

So we had a chill morning of chatting, which was nice! Mom and I made a return and got some groceries, then made sandwiches for lunch and hung out a bit before visiting the lake.

Mom and I hung out at the house after the lake visit, and when the boys were done working, we went out for dinner at The Shanty. We called it a night shortly thereafter since we were off early to NeoCon on Monday!

MONDAY!

Mom and I spent most of Monday in the city at NeoCon. I unfortunately started the day feeling beat and was completely exhausted by the end of it and not very much fun after we finished at NeoCon. Sigh. I’m not good at being social and around people for all of my waking hours, even when it’s people whose company I love and enjoy. I’m drained.

We made tacos for dinner, and had fun sharing stories from our days. Then Mom and I made vegan chocolate and caramel cups, which my snister surprised me with the materials and caramel to make! Yum!

TUESDAY!

Dad rode with me one last time Tuesday morning. I’ll miss his company – for the conversation and for making me feel like I can run faster (my legs felt so heavy today despite a “rest” day yesterday).

Steven picked up donuts and vegan muffins so we ate those then Mom and Dad hit the road late in the morning.

As always we had a fun visit and really appreciate their help with things when they’re here! Now, why do I feel exhausted even though I wasn’t the one working on projects all weekend? (Seriously though, I’ve been so tired the past few days I feel like I could fall asleep, or snap, at any moment – not good!)

Comments (4)

By kilax, June 11, 2018 9:07 pm

Mom had so much fun attending NeoCon with me last year, she joined again this year, yay! We had another great year!

NeoCon is a huge furnishings and design trade show in the Merchandise Mart in Chicago every year. There are hundreds of vendors, tons of giveaways and parties, it’s free to attend (if you register in advance) and open to the public, and goes on from Monday to Wednesday each year. People attend from all over the globe. I am lucky it’s within walking distance from my office!

I had the same sentiment as last year – it’s fun to attend with someone who’s so positive, and has a fresh perspective on things (read: hasn’t been going for years and isn’t totally over it).

Gawd, am I WORN out though. WORN OUT, folks. I made so much vendor small talk today. Which makes me feel incredibly phony because I don’t know much about interior finishes, and our clients usually aren’t interested in the flashy stuff they show at NeoCon. But I’m there to learn, and the vendors are nice, so whatevs!

But yeah. Definitely needing quiet time. That’s a common theme on this here blog. Monday is the busiest day for NeoCon, and I handled it really well until mid afternoon (go, me!) then we decided to go to one of the quieter showrooms outside of the Merchandise Mart, then call it a day. I was (am) beat.

But like I said, we had a blast! Some highlights:

• Running in to a random person on an elevator ride that said to Mom “Are you Christina’s (my snister’s) mom?” Ha, that lady is friends with Christina and recognized Mom from Christina’s pictures of her! How random!
• Having a caricature drawn of us.

• Chatting with some lovely ladies while waiting in line to have our caricature drawn.
• Painting the Behr bear.

• Running in to a friend from Essential Fitness at the end of the day.
• The tattoo bar.

• All the instagrammable spaces.

• Having such pleasant weather – we wore our jackets all day! Last year we were sweating like crazy!
• Oh yeah, and all the cool new furniture, textiles, and finishes!

We’ll be back next year, I’m sure!

Comments (2)

By kilax, June 10, 2018 4:34 pm

Highlight of the Week: Two workouts with Dad!

Monday | June 4, 2018: 5.3 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: Chicago Lakefront Trail, Temp: 58°/60°, Time: 46:48, Pace: 8:50 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, ready for rest day!
Strength: resistance bands & cards, Felt: great
Tuesday | June 5, 2018: rest
Wednesday | June 6, 2018: 8 m run (incl. 6 tempo MP)
Loc: Water tower loop, Temp: 47°/48°, Time: 1:09:58, Pace: 8:45 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Thursday | June 7, 2018: 12 m run
Loc: long VP Woods loop, Temp: 54°/57°, Time: 1:56:51, Pace: 9:44 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: decent!
Friday | June 8, 2018: teaching strength class + 1,218 yd swim + 3 m run + teaching fitness boxing
Strength: resistance bands & cards, Felt: good
Loc: FitNation, Time: 26:01, Pace: 2:08 min/100 yd, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: hood, Temp: 65°/65°, Time: 27:23, Pace: 9:07, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great, enjoyed the rain
Strength: whole body moves & boxing, Felt: great!
Saturday | June 9, 2018: 7.4 m run (w/Dad on bike)
Loc: Kilbourne/VP Woods Loop, Temp: 58°/60°, Time: 1:09:13, Pace: 9:21 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Sunday | June 10, 2018: 4.3 m run (w/Dad on bike)
Loc: hood, Temp: 59°/60°, Time: 39:33, Pace: 9:12 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good

Notes:

• On Monday night one of my students who’s been out for a while with her leg in a cast came in for a workout (even though she’s still in the cast!). I was glad she came in because she has such a fun personality, and I enjoyed modifying the workout for her.
• This was my first taper week – last week I ran sixty-seven miles, this week, I ran forty. It feels weird, but being busy getting the house ready for my parents to visit, then visiting with them helped. A bit. Six more days until the marathon! I am so excited!
• I planned to ride with my Dad this weekend but the weather wasn’t cooperating (rain) when we had the time to do it. Ugh. I wonder if we’ll have time Tuesday morning before they leave.

Link to Training Week 450

Comments (19)

By kilax, June 7, 2018 4:35 am

• I downloaded Bad Wolves’ cover of “Zombie” yesterday and ended up down a rabbit hole of googling about the Cranberries. I like the homage of their music video to the original.
• Does anyone else who uses iTunes to make playlists want to vent with me about how annoying it is, and how it doesn’t sync half the time (and overwrites your computer with old playlists from your phone)? Or am I the only one still using iTunes?!
• This article (pdf here) about the movie The Truman Show is interesting. It’s the twenty year anniversary of the show, and they’re reflecting on how when they made the show it blew their mind that people would be interested in watching what a total stranger is up to all day… fast forward twenty years, and that is a lot of the entertainment business, with reality shows and social media!
• There’s not enough pictures to break up all this text, so here’s one Steven sent me when he was picking up meds for Data at the vet’s office yesterday.

• I finished reading Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance, and didn’t care for it. It’s well written/researched, and has a plethora of studies referenced, but didn’t do it for me. There was one MAJOR happy outcome of reading it though! The book mentions the swirl and spit sports drink study that Runner’s World has been touting for years, usually as advice to lose weight (grrrr, so messed up). The study was done to find out why we get benefits immediately from a carbohydrate sports drinks, before they enter the bloodstream – not to come up with silly ways to cut on calories. It’s because as soon as you have the drink in your mouth, parts of your brain react to it, and immediately act as if you’d taken in the carbohydrates, whether you ingest it or not. This is the data Runner’s World was using to give their stupid advice, but I hadn’t seen it in this unadulterated form.  I’m glad the study was done for legitimate scientific reasons, and it’s just Runner’s World spinning it strangely.
• I started reading Bart Yasso’s Run Forever… but when I got it from the library I could tell I wouldn’t care for it. It’s an advice book, on how to, you guessed it, RUN FOREVER! There was nothing new in there for me. I mostly skimmed it, and returned it. I’m not really in to advice books right now.
• So now I am reading the hard copy of Artemis (I had the digital version on my phone but prefer hard copy). Steven finished the audio copy yesterday. I am behind in Book Club for Two!
• The last time I shared this chart, it had a slight incline at the end. Ideally, it would still be gently sloping down, but if I can maintain my weight during this very busy month, I will be glad!

• We had our yard and house sprayed for bugs last Saturday, and the spray left the windows SUPER streaky. Ick! Luckily, I have tons of anxious taper energy and could spend a few hours cleaning them yesterday after work. Ha! I’m actually glad I’m so busy this weekend and the weekdays leading to the marathon so I don’t think as much about how little I am running.

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 181

Comments (6)

By kilax, June 6, 2018 12:38 pm

A friend of mine is on an amazing anniversary trip in Spain right now and it’s making me think of how I’d LOVE to go back there, especially with Steven (who’s never been). So I pulled up my pictures from my first trip there and HOLY SHEET how has it been sixteen* years (to the date)?! HOW.

In Toledo, España with Dad

Once a crazy cat lady, always a crazy cat lady

Time flies… with too little travel!!! We’re in a spot right now (and have been for years) where the majority of our travel is small trips to see friends and family (because time and $$$). And that’s totally cool! But we’d love to see more of the world… someday.

*Ha, I originally erroneously wrote twelve years. No. MOAR years.