Comments (10)

By kilax, October 17, 2018 6:06 am

On to the rest of the weekend!

SATURDAY!

Mom, Dad, and I hung out at bit after the race, but not for too long – we had to get ready for my cousin Danielle’s wedding! Luckily we had a late (1:00 pm) checkout, had plenty of time to get ready, hit up Taco Bell (the post race hunger kicked in!), and drive to the wedding in Amery, Wisconsin.

Mom rode with me for the hour and twenty minute drive to the wedding, which gave us a chance to catch up. We spent a bit of time driving near the Minnesota/Wisconsin border, and the views were stunning – more gorgeous trees, and some rock formations.

We drove by the Wisconsin Interstate State Park and saw people hiking along the road and it just KILLED me not to stop and explore it! UGH! So many nature-y things to do! So little time! The weekend felt packed!

The wedding was at 3:00 pm in a park in Amery. I love outdoor weddings. It was chilly (in the 30s?) but they had blankets out for the guests to use! What a great idea! I enjoyed the ceremony. They actually got married in a courthouse last December and made lots of jokes about this being their second wedding. It was cute, and humorous.

My brother and his wife drove my Grandma’s car up for the wedding

After the wedding, I beelined to the car to eat some leftover stale donuts. Ha! I just wanted to let you guys know that those donuts got some redemption and tasted better on Saturday, only because I still had the post race hungries.

Alyssa (my sister-in-law) and me. I took that hat off for the wedding, ha. 

The reception was about thirty minutes away at a Ski Lodge in Taylors Falls, Minnesota. My grandma (Dad’s mom) rode with me, and it was nice for us to have a chance to chat, just the two of us!

Twinning it up with our jean jackets!

At the reception, I immediately got drinks (Angry Orchards!) for myself, my older brother, and his wife. It was time to PAR-TAY! (i.e. time for Kim to act MORE obnoxious than usual)

They had the MOST AMAZING wedding food – a taco bar! Yes, puh-lease! We may or may not have asked our aunt to re-open the room to the food so we could get more tacos. Ha. No shame. (But we did feel those tacos out on the dance floor later, oops.)

So yeah, just your regular wedding – drinking, eating, dancing, being a bit inappropriate…

Aunt Tracy, me, and Alyssa

CW from top left: Mom, me, Danielle, Cousin Taylor, Second Cousin Jill, Aunt Sue, Alyssa, Grandma

Mom, me, Danielle, Andrew, Alyssa

It was a fun way to end a fun day. I enjoyed seeing and meeting a few of my cousin’s friends. One table was laughing SO loud and having the greatest time and my aunt told me those were her work friends. How fantastic! I love that my cousin gets to work with people like that!

My cousin made most of the decorations and they turned out fantastic! I was impressed.

And I loved seeing my family that was there. It’s not that often we get together, being so spread out, and so busy with our own lives.

We left the wedding around 9:00 and headed to our hotel in North Branch. My mom, brother, sister-in-law, and I spent some time in the hot tub then called it a night.

SUNDAY!

I really wanted to sleep longer on Sunday (meaning, more than 6.5 hours), but I had suggested to my dad that he bring his bike to ride with me while I ran, and he did, so I wanted to make sure we got out!

There ended up being a trail right by our hotel, schweet! We went out to it, and spent eight fun miles catching up. I say this every time I get to run with my dad, but I love that one-on-one time. I love hearing what he’s up to now, stories about the past, things he’s loving, his vents, and what’s new with other family members. What a treat!

I ate a little hotel breakfast with Mom and Dad, packed up, and we said goodbye! (Sad face) I hit the road at 10:00 am and it was snowing. What. Da. Fuq.

At first it was a light snow, melting when it hit the road, but then it started sticking a little bit. Sigh. It ended up snowing for the first two hours of my drive, and raining for the next hour. I was very tired. I stopped several times to help myself stay awake.

Snow accumulation on my car!

At my final rest stop, I wasn’t able to lock my car. It buzzed when I tried to, telling me the key was inside the car. I thought that was odd – it stays on a hook in my purse – how could it have fallen out? And when? I locked the car when I got out of it at previous stops!

I searched the car for about twenty minutes and didn’t find the key and was getting pissy.

Then I remembered – I had the key in my jacket pocket last night at the wedding. Did I ever take it out? Did I really lock the car earlier?

And that’s where it was. No, I never locked the car earlier when I stopped. Oops.

Gah, I’m so glad my car is smarter than me and doesn’t let me lock myself out. I’m also glad that little exercise woke me up. I was obviously very out of it to not remember where my key was!

I chose to re-route so I would not have to drive through Milwaukee to get home (otherwise it was all major highways from Minneapolis to Madison to Milwaukee). I knew the horrible construction and congestion in Milwaukee would make me nuts. I listened to podcasts the last three hours, and drove the last hour home on country roads.

Well, almost home. I stopped for groceries. I just wanted to be home with my babies, but knew I would regret not having produce later.

I picked up these cuties at Aldi

It was minutes before Apollo and Starbuck went after the birds

What a long (but fun!) weekend.

I was home for a bit putting things away and starting laundry when Steven arrived home from his trip (he was in Kansas City to celebrate his brother’s birthday). And after a small dinner, conversation, and taking the trash out, I was in bed by 10:00 for a much needed 8.5 hours of sleep!

I’ve been on the go since then – working all day Monday and teaching, then in the city yesterday for training. I’m ready for a quiet day!

Comments (12)

By kilax, October 16, 2018 6:36 am

I enjoyed this race so much. It was a crisp fall day (36°), there was gorgeous foliage, the course went up and down over various terrain, and best of all, I got to run with Thunderstruck, my hobby horse.

Well, with Thunderstruck, (from L to R) Khaleesi, Starbuck, Apollo, and Data!

The Gear Western Country Half Marathon was in Long Lake (west of Minneapolis), Minnesota on Saturday the 13th. It started and finished at the Gear West Ski and Run store. This race was not on my radar, but Mom suggested I run it before my cousin’s wedding (somewhat nearby) that night. When we looked in to the race more, and saw they had a hobby horse division, we could NOT stop laughing about how funny that was. And we immediately signed me up and started designing my horse.

An early sketch

Mom and Dad, and I drove up to Minneapolis separately on Friday and stayed nearby in Plymouth. The race was easy to get to, and parking was easy to find. We waited in the store before the race started, which was great, since it was chilly and windy.

I was excited on race morning to see all the other hobby horses. But when I got there, I was the only one. A few more showed up, but THERE WERE ONLY THREE OTHER HOBBY HORSES IN THE HALF. THREE. A total of four. There were a few others doing the 5K.

I thought it was so funny that there were so few of us. They had two hobby horse runners in the half last year, so this was a 200% increase, which they were excited about. Here I thought there would be at least twenty of us! (No idea where I came up with that number! It looks like 213 people ran the half, overall.)

They had the hobby horse runners start in the front (8:30 am start), over to the side (I wanted to make sure I was NOT in people’s way with my dowel!). There was one man, with a BoJack Horseman, horse, a lady with a colorful cardboard horse, a lady with a “sock monkey” style horse, and me. The ladies and I chatted that while we were supposed to run with it between our legs, we thought side saddle would be better. Although the one with the sock monkey horse had a “cheater strap” (that is what she called it) hanging down her back for hers to rest on. She ended up running the whole race with it there (and said it felt awkward).

I did gallop with it between my legs like I was supposed to at the start. But after that, I moved it to my side and kept it out of people’s way. The wind immediately made Thunderstruck’s neck bend in half. Poor guy, his neck is STILL sore!

The course went through a lot of quiet residential country roads, and on some paved and crushed limestone trail. And it went up and down and up and down. The hills kept it interesting! The long stretch (3.6 miles) on crushed limestone felt odd because it was flat for so long. (That part had the one tiny out and back of the course and I got lots of comments on Thunderstruck then. And many others throughout the race. Also, I wish I had my gaiters for that part – I ended up with lots of rocks in my shoes!)

I thought about not bringing a water bottle since I was going to be holding Thunderstruck in my other hand, but I’m glad I did. I drank it all and filled it up twice on the course. I would have loved to take photos of the pretty route and trees, but the one photo I took was tricky enough. Taking gels was tricky too. I somehow finished the race with gel remnants on my face – I think from holding the gel packet in my mouth to eat it, instead of my hand. Other than that, holding Thunderstruck was fine (except for when the wind picked him up.)

Mom and Dad saw me twice on the course which was an awesome surprise! The course map wasn’t very clear (for non-locals) and they couldn’t track me (Glympse wasn’t working, or maybe their phones weren’t), so it was awesome they saw me the two times they tried to!

I wanted to run easy and average 10:00 minute miles. The downhills helped with that – I finished in 2:10:40, with an average pace of 9:59. My miles were consistent, except for the last water stop. I put Thunderstruck between my legs for the last tenth of a mile but forgot to gallop! Oops!

The post race party had pancakes, hot dogs, and corn on the cob! And a few cookies and bars. I was cold and just wanted something hot to drink. My post race hunger didn’t kick in until later.

Awards started right when I finished. I would have been second in the hobby horse division, ha (but obviously no where near that in my age group!). There were also spirit awards, where everyone who “dressed up” got a prize, but I missed those because I was still running. But they gave me that pink cowgirl hat when I finished!

I was smiling the whole time I did this race. The weather was beautiful, the course was challenging in a good way, and it felt great to run. The race was well organized, I love the medal and race “shirt,” and the post race party was fun. I would love to do this race again, especially with friends.

And I loved having Mom and Dad there, cheering me on! I’m glad Mom found this race and signed me up!

Comments (13)

By kilax, October 15, 2018 12:17 pm

This got too long so I am breaking my weekend recap in to two posts!

FRIDAY!

Ugh, Friday was surprisingly hectic. My original plan was to teach and train (one on one), then swim, then run, then take a nap (because I get up at 3:50 on Fridays), then drive to Minneapolis, and go to packet pickup, then the hotel.

That plan got scratched. Apollo woke me up at 3:00, and I was worried if I took a nap I’d never recover, so I taught and trained, went home and packed quick, then hit the road. I figured I’d have loads of time in Minneapolis to do a shakeout run, chill, and even nap.

No.

The drive was mostly okay (although at one point the forecast showed snow and I felt worried because the last time I drove in it I crashed my car). Milwaukee is a COMPLETE clusterf*ck right now and I felt bad for the few times Steven’s had to drive through it the past two weeks. After I got through there, it was smooth sailing with miles and miles of gorgeous fall foliage.

Sample rest stop tree

I got really tired for the last two hours though. I stopped a few times, cranked the music, made it really cold, ate some snacks. Blah.

When I got to Minneapolis, I made an unplanned stop at The Herbivorous Butcher, per Steven’s suggestion. It’s an all vegan deli, with all sorts of vegan fake meats (that look like real deli meats),  cheeses, and other things. I ordered the Italian Cold Cut (they only have five things on the menu – seems they really wanted it treated as a deli). It was delicious, BUT WAY TOO BIG WHAT WAS I THINKING, and I could totally taste it on my run later. Oops.

The I Like You store (crafts from local Minnesotan artists) was next door and I had to stop in. They had a huge card collection and I wanted to spend ALL the time reading ALL the cards (and buying a zillion of them) but I didn’t.

I went to packet pickup after. I had a dumb Google Maps snafu that added some extra time, then when I got there, they said I wasn’t registered for the half marathon but for the 5K, and they were all out of my size of socks. Oops! They fixed it and got me signed up for the half, and gave me the wrong size of socks, and the flannel race shirt, which I opted out of (hobby horse registrants paid a discounted fee, and got socks, not the race flannel, but could choose to pay extra for it). That was nice of them to give to me when they didn’t have to do anything extra.

And BONUS! That flannel is a soft fleece material and amazingly cozy, comfortable, and warm, so I will  be wearing it every day until March.

I finally got to the hotel way later than I thought I would, and looked (on a map) for someplace to do a three mile shakeout run. After wasting time looking for a pretty route, I just ran from the hotel, which was quite pretty.

Then I hopped in my car to go on a special mission to pick up a Starbucks Minnesota “Been There” mug for Gina. She wanted to get one when she was in Minnesota in June, but I think they told her they didn’t have them yet? Anyway, success!

While I was out, my car buzzed that I was low on gas. Crap. I totally had forgotten to get some. And I only had my license and phone with me. I wondered if a gas station would take Apple Pay, but decided to go back to the hotel, get my purse, then go to the closest gas station… which did appear to take Apple Pay. Sigh.

Then I rushed to take a shower before my parents arrived, and changed hotel rooms (from a loud first floor room right next to the lobby/entrance to a room on the third floor). So much for R&R!!!

My parents arrived around 7:15 and we left right away to get food. I’d been dreaming about Pizza Luce  since I booked this trip, but was too full from my sandwich to go there. Sad face. I was NOT too full to try some vegan donuts, so we picked a restaurant closer to Glam Doll Donuts, and ended up at Christos, a Greek restaurant (my falafel was good but the tabbouleh had too much mint for my taste).

I almost forgot to look for vegan donuts on this trip. I’m not very dedicated to my Vegan Donut Tour, am I? Luckily, I did remember on Thursday before I left and found Glam Doll Donuts. And I saw they were open until 1:00 am on Friday night/Saturday morning, and figured that meant I didn’t have to worry about them running out of vegan donuts – they probably keep making fresh donuts all day… right?!

So we got there and I was super excited to see one case (of three) with TEN different vegan donuts to try! TEN!

I commented on how they didn’t have the “Vegan Marvelous Maiden” available (a sweet potato filling one I’d seen on their Instagram) and they brought one out for me! So here is what I got to try, clockwise from top left:

Vegan Gidget (Maple Buttercream & Toasted Coconut), Vegan Night Moves (Blackberry Henessy Icing, Fresh Jam, & Brown Sugar Bits), Vegan Chocolate Starlet (Chocolate Icing & Sprinkles), Vegan Femme Fatale (Fresh Raspberries & Vanilla Icing), and Vegan Marvelous Maiden (Sweet Potato Filling).

I also asked for the Vegan Pin-Up Girl (Bourbon-Infused Apple Fritter), but my parents got a regular apple fritter, and I think there was a bit of confusion and I didn’t get one (not a big deal).

I was SO excited to try these because they were mostly yeast donuts and those are my favorite type. I was especially excited about the raspberry one.

We got back to the hotel and I took a small bite of the sweet potato one and liked it. Then every other one tasted stale and blah to me. What a disappointment! I wrongly assumed they’d be fresher since they were open late. They were not. Maybe the sweet potato one was the freshest? The flavor of the raspberry and Hennesy ones were decent, but I really didn’t like the cake donut or the buttercream long john. Oh well! Fun to try!

State	Date	Name	Flavor(s)	Rating (0-4)	Photo
Kansas	1/15/18	Mud Pie	Cake Chocolate Frosted
Illinois	2/7/18	Do-Rite	Chai Maple
Illinois	2/17/18	Holcomb Hollow	Lemon Vanilla
Ohio	3/23/18	Holey Toledough	Blackberry Hibiscus & Cinnamon Roll
Wisconsin	4/1/18	Holey Moley Coffee + Doughnuts	Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Glaze, Cinnamon Sugar, Banana Bread, S’mores, Raspberry, Samoa, and Apple Fritter
Ohio	5/12/18	Brewnuts	Lemon Ginger and Oreo P’Nut Butter
Minnesota	10/13/18	Glam Doll Donuts	Maple Buttercream & Toasted Coconut, Blackberry Henessy Icing, Fresh Jam, & Brown Sugar Bits, Chocolate Icing & Sprinkles, Fresh Raspberries & Vanilla Icing, Sweet Potato Filling.

At that point it was 10:00 pm. And my mom was beginning to work on my hobby horse for the race (she signed me up as a birthday present, and offered to make my horse). She had the outline done, but still had to finish drawing it, color it in, and attached it to the dowel. It was kind of a long night! And we still had to finish attaching it in the morning! But it turned out fantastic and I can’t wait to show you… tomorrow!

Comments (2)

By kilax, October 15, 2018 6:18 am

Highlight of the Week: Running a half marathon with a hobby horse, and running with Dad!

Monday | October 8, 2018: 4 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: hood, Temp: 82°/82°, Time: 41:40, Pace: 10:25 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: surprisingly good (given the temp and my poor weekend diet!)
Strength: kettlebells and cones, Felt: good
Tuesday | October 9, 2018: 15 m ride + 7 m run
Indoor Ride Time: 1:00:13, Pace: 14.9 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: VP Woods Loop, Temp: xx°/xx°, Time: 1:10:10, Pace: 10:01 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: surprisingly good, again, with the heat
Wednesday | October 10, 2018: rest
Thursday | October 11, 2018: 3 m walk
Friday | October 12, 2018: teaching strength class + 3 m run
Strength: kettlebells and cones Felt: fine
Loc: Plymouth, MN, Temp: 46°/45°, Time: 30:20, Pace: 10:06, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, chilly, regretted that sandwich
Saturday | October 13, 2018: Gear Western Half Marathon
Loc: Long Lake, MN, Temp: 36°/42°, Time: 2:10:40, Pace: 9:59 avg, Difficulty: mostly easy, Felt: good!
Sunday | October 14, 2018: 8 m run
Loc: North Bran, Temp: 35°/34°, Time: 1:21:47, Pace: 10:13 avg, Difficulty: mostly easy, Felt: good, tired at the end

Notes:

• We had high temps (low 80s, high 70s) back for Monday and Tuesday’s runs. And they surprisingly weren’t horrible! I’m glad we didn’t have that weather a day earlier, on Chicago Marathon day. Their overcast rainy day looked decent (to me!) for running. My last two marathon PRs have been in that kind of weather.
• I kind of forgot that I was running a half marathon on Saturday, when I was thinking ahead about my workouts for the week (I figured I’d do my normal six days of running). I remembered by Thursday and swapped my run for a walk, and did a somewhat easier strength workout Friday morning.
• I didn’t make time to go to the pool Friday morning, so I could hit the road to Minneapolis instead.
• My runs in Minnesota were my coldest of the fall season, for sure. And they felt great! But I was freezing after each of them. At home I’d jump in to a hot bath to warm up. A hotel shower just doesn’t have the same effect.
• The half marathon was so fun, and I loved the hilly course! I can’t wait to write about it later this week.
• I got to run with my Dad on Sunday! Yay! (I was with my parents because we were at a family wedding Saturday night, more on that later today?)
• I think last week was my ninth year of tracking my workouts here. Nutso!

Link to Training Week 468

Comments (17)

By kilax, October 11, 2018 6:01 am

• Jen and I saw A Star Is Born Tuesday night. We both loved it! I thought the acting (and singing!) was great. I didn’t know much about the story going in, so if you’re familiar with it, you probably know what that means. Vague much? (Don’t want to spoil it!)
• I finally finished reading The Ensemble, and liked it! (My slow reading was due to being too tired to read before bed, not from lack of enjoyment.) The Ensemble told the story of a string quartet from the time they formed the group, up to twenty years later. The book focused on family relationships – theirs as a family to each other, their families from childhood, and the families they formed as adults. It was very relatable, and the only annoying part was the often used musical metaphors. But it’s about music, so what did I expect?! Now I am reading a mystery/thriller my coworker recommended – Give Me Your Hand (which I like, except the main character works in a lab and they mention testing on animals). That coworker just finished reading Aurora, on my recommendation!

• I was going to tell you guys about something that’s bothering me, but I forgot what it is, so that’s good, right? (I could fill this spot with complaining about my doctor wanting me to pay for an extra test they had to do because they screwed up the first one, but, eh. I’m still not sure what the outcome of that is, so I’ll save it for later.)
• We got our TSA Pre✓ Known Traveler Numbers within four days, like Shelley did. I applied the numbers to all our upcoming flights, so we’ll see if that works! Also, I realized when doing this, that ANYONE I send my flight email to, with the “edit traveler info” link in, can, well, edit my info. I usually just send it to whomever I am traveling to see, so while I doubt they would edit things, it’s probably not a good idea for me to share that link, in practice.
• Here’s a random Apollo picture for you. He decided it would be a good idea to lick and chew on my hair that day.

• I’ve been running weekly construction meetings (sigh), and realized I do something obnoxious – I say a statement, then a person’s name to confirm what I said was true. Like, “Since xyz happened, we’re on schedule, right, Bob?” But what if that person wasn’t 100% listening? I think it would be better for me to say, “Bob, since xyz happened, we’re on schedule, correct?” Then they know I am addressing them. I’m gonna work on doing it that way.
• And one more random cute cats pic:

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 198

Comments (10)

By kilax, October 10, 2018 7:01 am

I can’t believe I haven’t blogged about these things before. I have failed you guys!

I was thinking about the things making us laugh this weekend and I have to share two of them. Maybe you can relate to our VERY childish sense of humor? (it’s not just me!)

Mica sent us this hilarious postcard in November 2016. It has an image of a Victorian lady with a strategically cut hole, and you bend your index finger and place it just so to make it look like a butt. Class-ay.

Instructions:

Before:

After:

Steven and I got SO. MUCH. ENTERTAINMENT. out of this postcard. Our favorite thing to do was “surprise” the other person by getting it ready, then saying “have you seen this?” or “did you see what came in the mail?” And nine times out of ten, they’d be surprised to see the butt, and laugh.

Eventually, this card got placed in the back of a stack of cards (I know, for shame), but I resurrected it when I went through all my cards in August, so we’ve been pranking each other again.

We showed it to Gina and Steve this weekend, and they thought it was hilarious. Now we can prank them by texting them pictures of it. If only I had the postcard book itself to send to my friends in the mail…

And, the other thing.

We have a rule in our house, if you fart and you aren’t in the bathroom, you owe a quarter. Only, we’ve never actually paid up. So it’s mostly just an opportunity to yell “quarter!” when someone farts.

The ground rules:

• The minimum charge is twenty-five cents, no less
• If it’s really bad, it’s fifty cents, or a dollar (you know, if it sounds like the person ripped a hole in their pants or whatever they’re sitting on)
• If you laugh when you get charged, you get charged more (and more and more if you keep laughing)

Yes, we run a very mature household.

I shared this rule with Gina and Steve in April because I had a funny story that happened at their house that I couldn’t keep to myself. I was in the bathroom, getting ready for the day, and I had Steven on speaker phone, and didn’t even think about it, and farted (you know, cause I was in the bathroom!) and he goes “Did you just fart?!” and I said “I’m in the bathroom! I’m in the bathroom!!!” and he yells “QUARTER!!!” Ha ha ha. Guess you had to be there. Or maybe not.

So I told them about it then, and it came up again during our river trip because someone was a little gas machine (Luca!), and again, on this trip. So while no adult got yelled “QUARTER!” at, there was lots of pretend quarter yelling, and some not-pretend quarter yelling to Luca. Again, so mature. I’m so glad we can pass this on to Luca. Ha!

Comments (10)

By kilax, October 9, 2018 6:45 am

We had such a fun weekend with Gina, Steve, and Luca. I felt like a kid waking up on Christmas each morning – so excited for the day ahead! I also very much felt like a mid 30s adult waking up each morning – exhausted from too little sleep. Ha! But more on that below…

FRIDAY!

Their flight from Dallas was delayed an hour, then baggage took a while due to the storms in Chicago, so we had a late first night. Like, dinner after 10:00 pm late, and going to bed past 1:00 am late, eek! We weren’t on a set schedule for the weekend, but man, those late nights EFF. ME. UP. For days. Worth it though (obviously).

Obvious Friday dinner choice

SATURDAY!

We chilled at the house a bit Saturday morning. Luca (well, everyone!) loved playing with the kittens and I’m glad they got to meet them when they are still small-ish, and super playful. It warmed my heart when they happily told me about the kittens sleeping with them at night, and later in the day, when Luca was excitedly telling Rachel story about them.

We had loose plans to spend Saturday in Madison and do local basic b*tch things on Sunday. Gina, Steve, and Luca have been to a few state capitals, and were interested in seeing the Madison Capitol. And we love going to Madison!

Our drive took us through Milwaukee, so naturally, we stopped at Holey Moley to take down a few donuts.

We (later) all discussed how we eat healthy the majority of the time when we’re apart, but when we’re together, it’s such a treat… that we have more treats. A LOT more treats than normal. Especially on a short visit like this! We’ll be more conscious of this in the future.

We got to Madison and walked a bit of the Farmers’ Market (I avoided the angry pepper man), and headed down State Street to window shop and look for a place for lunch. It was busy because of the Badgers vs Cornhuskers game, and it was fun to see the sea of red and black, and the interesting outfits, and behavior.

We ended up at Chen’s Dumpling House, which was DELICIOUS, but affected all of our stomachs, some immediately, and some later.

We got the scallion pancakes, vegetable dumplings, and red bean buns

So we tried to do a bit of shopping on the way back to the capitol building but I had to call it short to go use the bathroom. Eek.

But not before stopping to take some photos!

We walked around the capitol building a bit, seeing parts of a few floors, the observation deck, and inside the rotunda.

So… the blog post title. I had another “VEGAN CAKE!!!!!” moment this weekend. Some of our party (me and Luca) aren’t so great at inside voices. Or being quiet. And we were in some really echo-y spaces.

While we were walking down the stairs out of the museum, Luca was talking to Steven and Steven jokingly says to him “I see you still haven’t learned how to whisper.” Gina was behind them and heard it, then I came down the stairs behind her yelling “Twenty-five cent postcards! I should get one!” (I saw a sign about them in the museum). Gina started laughing and crying so hard she couldn’t talk. We had no idea what she was laughing about, because she was the only one who heard those two things. We all laughed too when she finally explained it, then enjoyed randomly yelling “Twenty-five cent postcards!” to each other all weekend. Ha ha.

After the capitol, we visited Rachel at the tailgate her company puts on to raise money for the American Family Children’s Hospital. Rachel’s told me about all the work that goes in to this event but I didn’t understand it until I saw it. Wow! Just wow. And they raised $62,844.29! I was so impressed, and proud of her.

I loved that she got to meet Gina, Steve, and Luca! I talk about them so much to each other!

We headed home after that. A pit stop for a bathroom break took us to an outlet mall where we found some killer deals at Bath & Body Works and a tool store. I am very proud of myself for NOT buying anything at Bath & Body Works.

We got home late and had another late dinner. Oops. We kept joking about it, saying we must be on “river time,” because we often eat late during our river trips!

Steven was inspired by our search for vegan ramen in Madison (I was too overwhelmed by the place we found to order there), and made an Asian soup. Then we had a very adult discussion over dinner about property taxes. We’re so fun!

SUNDAY!

We took it easy on Sunday, and focused on our list of basic fall b*tch activites. We ran in the local preserve while Steven and Luca watched The LEGO Ninjago Movie.

We got Starbucks on the way home from our run, and forgot to document it as one of our basic fall b*tch activities. Darn it.

Lunch was salad and leftover soup. Okay, and some tater tots. And a few of the “chicken” tenders we made for Luca. And let’s not forget those cookies bars we made Friday and munched on all weekend.

We hung out after lunch then went to Kroll’s Harvest Farm. We checked out the animals, got our cider (ugh, forgot a picture AGAIN!) then went through their corn maze. The corn maze was “horse” themed – the center part of it was designed as a horse head, and you read horse facts in the beginning. We were given a piece of paper with twelve spots on it to punch, then had to find the twelve stations inside – some just to punch the paper, and some with trivia based on what we read (there were two hole punches corresponding to the two answer options, and you picked one to use).

It was fun! And muddy. It had rained a lot before, and was sprinkling lightly during. But we found all the stations (in order!) and made it out, and all of our answers were right. We only googled one. Ha.

After that it was on to basic fall brah activities. Steve mentioned wanting to get some cheese curds and Steven said he HAD TO get them at the “Antique Cheese Store” (really, called the “Rustic Dairyland Antique Mall”). So we went there and they got their curds and were very happy.

Then we did something REALLY exciting. Went to Menards. Steve has never been, and Steven is there once or twice a week, and wanted Steve to experience it. I think Menards is great, but don’t always enjoy our trips there (because if I’m going or was sent, we are usually in the throes of a project), however, going with Gina, Steve, and Luca made it really fun and we were a bit silly and inappropriate. I wish they could come with us on every Menards trip!

We ordered pizza for dinner (I had this amazing burger instead),

and had a fire.

Luca and I played Blokus, and after he went to bed, we played 5 Second Rule, which resulted in lots of laughs (and uncontrollable laughing and crying for me). I love that we have serious conversations together, but also have extremely goofy moments. I remember both, but the goofy moments hold a special place in my heart. I was laughing so hard at times that my face hurt!

MONDAY!

We left the house at 6:00 am Monday for their flight. I wish we would have had more time together! We did so much in two days, and the days felt long because we did so much, but it also went by so fast, sad face. Luckily I see them again in December! Woo hoo!

Comments Off on Training Week 468

By kilax, October 8, 2018 5:39 pm

Highlight of the Week: Running with Gina and Steve!

Monday | October 1, 2018: 10 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: VP Woods Loop, Temp: 61°/60°, Time: 1:37:53, Pace: 9:47 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good
Strength: boxes and dumbbells, , Felt: too hot and sweaty and tired
Tuesday | October 2, 2018: 4.5 m run (incl. hills x 8)
Loc: hood, Temp: 56°/58°, Time: 46:09, Pace: 10:15 avg, Difficulty: easy-ish, Felt: okay, but tired from Monday’s run
Wednesday | October 3, 2018: 4 m run
Loc: Chicago Lakefront Trail & Riverwalk, Temp: 79°/82°, Time: 37:47, Pace: 9:27 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Thursday | October 4, 2018: 7 m run
Loc: VP Woods Loop, Temp: 53°/53°, Time: 1:09:53, Pace: 9:59 avg, Difficulty: mostly easy, Felt: good, especially in the sun
Friday | October 5, 2018: teaching strength class + 504 yd swim + 8.5 m run
Strength: kettlebells and cones, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: FitNation, Time: 10:24, Pace: 2:04 min/100 yd, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, annoyed I grabbed the wrong goggles
Loc: Redbox Loop, Temp: 58°/61°, Time: 1:25:23, Pace: 10:02 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great
Saturday | October 6, 2018: rest
Sunday | October 7, 2018: 5 m run (w/Gina & Steve)
Loc: VP Woods, Temp: 53°/55°, Time: 46:09, Pace: 9:13 avg, Difficulty: mostly easy, Felt: great

Notes:

• When I left for my ten mile run Monday before teaching class I thought to myself “doesn’t this normally turn out bad – running ten miles then immediately teaching?” Yes, yes it does. Ha. I just don’t have enough time to run that, recover, then go teach (all after work). Actually, I thought I’d have more chill time at home but Data’s portrait came in the mail and I used that time to put it in a frame and admire it. Oops. Anyway, I ran hard, then did a challenging workout in a very humid room and felt okay, just weaker than I should have been! Will I make this mistake again? Yes, yes I will.
• Man, the newer Asics Gel Cumulses (19s, I don’t have 20s yet) don’t have the support I need anymore. Wah. I alternate between those and the Nimbuses because I don’t always need the support of the Nimbus, and the Cumuluses are cheaper, but I may just have to switch over to Nimbuses, completely.
• I ended up running on the Chicago Riverwalk by accident Wednesday. It was neat to run someplace “new” (despite all the foot traffic)!
• Thursday was one of those (rare for me) runs were I under-dressed and felt good running in the sun!
• I stupidly grabbed the wrong goggles from my swim bag Friday morning and decided to just go with it… and had to cut my swim short because they hurt my face so much. I won’t make that mistake again!
• Running in the local preserve with Gina and Steve on Sunday was such a treat. (Broken record—>) I rarely run with friends, and sharing a favorite place of mine with mi otra familia is special to me!

Link to Training Week 467

Comments (16)

By kilax, October 5, 2018 9:19 am

So maybe I jinxed myself by talking about nope ropes. We were in the basement last night, and Steven goes “what the f*ck?!” while looking at the wall, and I am looking at it, looking for whatever he is what the f*cking, and I don’t see anything.

“What is it?!” I ask.

“A nope rope!”

It was maybe a foot long

Ha. Ha ha ha. I love that he called it that, because the whole reason I polled you guys on knowing what it is is because he said no one does.

Fun fact: nope ropes are called danger noodles when they have poisonous venom (Steven said he likes danger noodle better), and apparently, they have many other names:

These Lucidchart vids crack me the hell up

I grabbed our small animal transport box, which is a shoebox with a bunch of holes punched in it.

Hey! Guess what? Snakes can get through holes!

I hurried upstairs to release him, but he was slithering out by the time I got to the door leading in to the garage. I had to turn the box so he wouldn’t drop on the floor (in to our house!) and hurry to open up the garage door and run outside in my socks and put him in the driveway. Ha. I went back in, put my shoes on, put him back in the box, then put him in the woods.

Fun times.

But really, snakes don’t bother me. Spiders don’t either. Just things that have TOO MANY LEGS. Like centipedes. Okay, and earworms do gross me out.

Here are some other animal pictures from yesterday:

Comments (14)

By kilax, October 4, 2018 6:18 am

• I often wonder what it would be like to have ONE day where everything I tried to pick up or place somewhere DIDN’T fall on the floor. One can dream.
• We ordered another camera (to place in the attic) and had it sitting out on project peninsula and look what it picked up – Starbuck!  – jumping up there to get the milk rings. Steven said she’d jump up and grab one, then come back later for another. Naughty, naughty.

• Steven was doing some work on the tile by the basement door and created this barrier to keep the cats off it. I’m shocked they didn’t climb it!

• And your final cat story – guess what happened to Apollo when he decided to keep me company during my bath? Yep, he ended up getting a bath. He didn’t freak out, but did want to run around the house shaking off the water (I didn’t let him – I towel dried him – I didn’t want him to get too cold since our AC is on as it was 85°F yesterday EYEROLL).

• Now Starbuck is curious about baths too. At one point she jumped up there on him. Surprisingly, that is NOT when he fell in.

• To answer yesterday’s question, this is a “nope rope” (below). Definitely google “funny animal names” for some laughs! (For some reason the polls turned themselves off on that post, so I added a second set.)

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 197