House

By kilax, December 23, 2016 6:14 pm

It warmed up, yay! But watch out… because the snow is sliding off of our tile roof in BIG (dangerous!) sheets!

No snow on that part of the roof because it’s all here:

We can hear it inside the house when the snow starts to slide off the roof. We race off to watch it fall and go everywhere. Data is not a fan of it. This afternoon a huge sheet came off by where he was sleeping and he was freaked out!

This seems really dangerous for someone walking by. Luckily, no one is. Otherwise we’d have to put up signs like they do in the city:

I seriously saw a gigantor piece of ice fly off of a high rise in Chicago and land on the roof of a car that was driving down the street a few years ago. Those signs are serious!

Owning this home continues to be full of surprises! I wonder what is next?!

Life

By kilax, December 22, 2016 6:28 am

• Today is Steven’s birthday! Happy Birthday, Steven! No big plans… because we usually don’t have big plans… and he’s sick. Poor guy. Hope he feels better ASAP! I asked Steven if I could post this cute picture of him from 1986 – he said yes – if I added a beard. Ha ha.

• I haven’t mentioned Khali and Snow lately but they are doing well and survived outside last week when it was so damn cold. We bulked up their houses by putting rigid insulation all around them, putting a platform over them, and packing the space between with blankets. Steven is currently building them something warmer!

• Our driveway sensor is now linked in with a speaker, so besides hearing a tune when someone drives down the driveway, we also hear the speaker say “oh great, who the f*ck is here now?” Ha!
• Alyssa’s (my older brother’s wife’s) mom is so sweet! She sent me this frame and photo from Nick and Alyssa’s wedding in June. It means a lot to me. We’ve taken a photo of all the sibs at each wedding, and now the series is complete!

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 120

Running + Training

By kilax, December 21, 2016 12:08 pm

Ha, today is officially the first day of winter*, but because of the brutal (weather-wise) end we had to fall, I am already conditioned to be excited about temperatures in the 20s and 30s. Today’s run felt amazing at 30°F!!!

And if last week was a preview of the winter we’re going to have, I need to change things up a bit. It’s not safe (because of road speeds) to run outside at dark in the winter where I live. It’s also not safe to run outside during the daylight if there’s a ton of snow in the shoulders. So, I see more driving to safe places to run, indoor track runs, and even (gasp!) treadmill runs this winter. Gotta do it for my sanity!

*Happy Winter Solstice! The guy at the front desk at the gym this am excitedly greeted me with “I have good news! As of 4:44 am this morning, the days are getting longer!” Ha.

Life, Travel

By kilax, December 19, 2016 5:29 pm

Gah, December has been such a whirlwind, right?!

Two weekends ago, I had a four-day weekend in Texas with my otra familia:

This is the third year in a row I’ve gone with Luca to see Santa!

Steven couldn’t come, but we FaceTimed with him, and sent him some photos (including drawings by Luca).

I got to go to Luca’s school and have lunch with him.

Family pic!

Then after a short (and BUSY!) week (work, work holiday party, dentist, celebrating with Anne and Terry, house prep and shopping…), I had a four day weekend here celebrating an early holiday with Steven’s family:

Carbs, carbs, carbs

Me and the boys!

Up this week? Another celebration, Steven’s birthday, and Christmas with my family! I am having a lot of fun but I am so freaking worn out! I am definitely sleeping in on January 1st! (<— just kidding, if it’s nice, I will probably get up and run!)

Running + Training

By kilax, December 18, 2016 7:38 am

Highlight of the Week: Exercising with family – a run with Steve (like a brother) on Monday and fitness boxing on Saturday with Andrew (brother-in-law)!

Monday | December 12, 2016: 8 m run (w/Steve)
Loc: McKinney, Temp: 36°/39°, Time: 1:17:11, Pace: 9:39 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: decent, just like I was getting a cold
Tuesday | December 13, 2016: 5 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 15°/13°, Time: 51:57, Pace: 10:23 avg, Difficulty: easy, just slippery and slow in spots, Felt: good
Wednesday | December 14, 2016: rest
Thursday | December 15, 2016: 12 m ride + 2 m run
Indoor Trainer Time: 47:07, Pace: 15.3 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, enjoyed being indoors!
Loc: treadmill, Time: 20:46, Pace: 10:23 avg, Difficulty: easy-ish, Felt: better in my second mile
Friday | December 16, 2016: teaching strength class + 1,218 yd swim + 5 m run
Strength: one dumbbell and UNO core workout, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: FitNation, Time: 30:24, Pace: 2:30 min/100 yd, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good after I warmed up
Loc: hood, Temp: 19°/19°, Time: 52:37, Pace: 10:31, Difficulty: easy enough, Felt: good, happy to get a run in
Saturday | December 17, 2016: teaching fitness boxing
Strength: body weight, pads and gloves, Difficulty: easy (mostly observing), Felt: good
Sunday | December 18, 2016: rest

Notes:

• I am happy I got to start my week out with an eight mile run because I didn’t make much time for running any other day this week (ALL THE HOLIDAY PREP AND CELEBRATIONS!!!)! And of course, it was a treat to run with Steve, in Texas!
• On Monday, Gina, Steven and I went to see Meb speak! Meb told some of the same stories from the first time I met him, but he also talked about the Rio Olympics and how he’d still like to run marathons recreationally after his retirement next year. Meb’s such a great guy. If you ever have the chance to hear him speak, GO!
• On Thursday I ran on the treadmill for the first time in almost two years! I still stink at it, because, duh, I never use it. It’s a nice option to have though, at 9:30 pm when it’s single digits out!
• Our very cold days were followed by snowy days (then by very cold days again). For one of my runs, I ended up just running up and down my street (for safety reasons) – thankfully it’s just over a half mile long. I liked that better than the treadmill, ha.
• Andrew came to my fitness boxing class on Saturday! I can’t wait to hear how sore he is when he wakes up today. Ha! He says it was his annual “Kim is trying to kill me” workout, ha! I wish I lived close to Andrew so we could work out together more often!
• I also got a good workout from shoveling on Saturday! But that will probably not happen too often anymore now that we have a snowblower!

Link to Training Week 373

Life

By kilax, December 17, 2016 4:39 pm

You know you’re an adult when you get excited about receiving yard equipment for Christmas! Ha! It’s not even winter yet and we’ve already had at least seventeen inches of snow so… I think the snowblower will come in handy. Thanks, Santa (Steven’s dad)!

(Another lame adult thing on my wishlist this year? The Swiffer Bissel steam mop. Ha.)

Life

By kilax, December 15, 2016 6:25 am

• Steven’s brother, Andrew, asked for records for Christmas – two specifically, but then any other records as long as they weren’t country or folk. We were planning on only getting the ones he asked for, but I came across a record bin at a shop on Sunday and it was so fun to look! Sadly, the wrong record was inside the Nazareth Hair of the Dog album, so that one didn’t come home. But I got a few others. Too bad we can’t listen to them when he opens them – we don’t have a record player!

• I feel bad it’s going to be so freakin’ cold when Steven’s dad and brother are here for early Christmas this weekend – on Sunday the high is only 4°F. It will get in to the 20s on Friday and Saturday, but with a messy snowstorm. It’s not like we’d all go outside together, but I thought maybe Andrew would run with me outside. Maybe he still will!
• OMG, my snister’s work had a holiday costume contest yesterday and I am STILL laughing about her costume (that’s her pulled out on the right side of the photo). She won the contest, 0bvs.

• I also got a bit festive for work yesterday, too!

• And I got an early holiday present at work yesterday – the project manager I had been covering for while he was on paternity leave came back to work. I was SO relieved. They keep pushing me toward project management stuff at work, but I don’t feel like it’s for me. Or, maybe I should actually be trained and not thrown in to it.

• Did anyone else watch The Fate of the Furious trailer like “No, Dom, no!” Actually, I first saw it without sound in a restaurant, so it wasn’t until I could watch it on my phone later that I understood what was happening.

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 119

Running + Training

By kilax, December 14, 2016 5:43 am

The big graphic below is a bit of overkill with how little I participated in races this year. My racing year is better summed up with these two comparison charts/graphs:

Click to see larger

I participated in a lot less events this year – only five, compared to twenty last year.

Amount is in dollars

I spent a lot less on racing this year – the least I ever have. The next least amount was in 2008, when I also did five races. The amount I’ve spent is already higher for next year since I didn’t have (on purpose) a free entry for the half I signed up for!

Both of these trends (less races and money spent on races) are because we bought a house in 2016 that requires time and money, and racing took a step down on the priority list. It likely will in 2017 too. That’s alright with me! I actually still exercised the same amount this year, but I definitely was not in racing shape. The infographic might have a few more races on it had I been!

And now, on to the infographic! (You can see 2012 here, 2013 here, 2014 here and 2015 here. You can always find my race stats here.)

Also, if you would like to fill out your own 2016 Racing Statistics in the comments or on your own blog, I created a google doc here for you to copy and fill out/edit!

Running + Training

By kilax, December 13, 2016 2:57 pm

I finally took the time to call the park district to ask what was up with the switcharoo with the Frosty Footrace race distance today.  And… they had no idea what I was talking about (but were very nice!).

“Hi, I was wondering why the Frosty Footrace was changed to a two mile race?”

“In the catalog, it’s listed as three miles.”

“When you go directly to the event page, it’s listed as two.”

“Ahh, I see that now, let me talk to my director and get back to you.”

Okay, then.

They called me right back – “It’s a typo, it’s a three mile race.”

OMFG.

I don’t get the catalog at my house anymore, but found it online to see what it was listed as there, and yeah, it does show it as a three miler. And, there is a note from executive director saying they changed it:

Am I up for it? Probably not! Ha! I run on rocks, ice and very uneven terrain most times I run from my house in the winter. I don’t really want to pay and drive to do it! And it’s definitely not safe to try to run a fast pace on a course like that. We’ll see what happens. The race benefits the center’s senior programs, so they may just get my $25 donation without me showing up.

I really wonder how they are going to handle this – their catalog says three miles, but they mailed out brochures that say two miles. Are they going to do another mailer to all those homes? Or let people be surprised by the extra mile on race day?

And now it’s time to use my favorite emoji:

Running + Training

By kilax, December 11, 2016 6:19 pm

Highlight of the Week: Running with Gina and her favorite training partner in Texas!

Monday | December 5, 2016: 5 m run + 8 m ride + teaching strength class
Loc: hood, Temp: 32°/33°, Time: 51:26, Pace: 10:17 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, ready for a rest day
Indoor Ride Time: 30:21, Pace: 15.8 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, just tired legs
Strength: resistance bands, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Tuesday | December 7, 2016: 840 yd swim
Loc: FitNation, Time: 19:58, Pace: 2:17 min/100 yd avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Wednesday | December 8, 2016: 7 m run
Loc: Chicago Lakefront Trail, Temp: 28°/30°, Time: 1:11:47, Pace: 10:15 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, especially in the sun
Thursday | December 9, 2016: 4 m run (incl. 4×400)
Loc: xx, Temp: 24°/24°, Time: 38:14, Pace: 9:34 avg, Difficulty: easy-ish, Felt: good, despite the cold!
Friday | December 10, 2016: teaching strength class + 1,260 yd swim + 10 m run
Strength: resistance bands, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: FitNation, Time: 31:54, Pace: 2:32 min/100 yd, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great – felt inspired to swim move having someone else there
Loc: DPRT/Kilbourne Loop, Temp: 24°/25°, Time: 1:45:57, Pace: 10:35, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Saturday | December 11, 2016: rest
Sunday | December 12, 2016: 13.1 m run (w/Gina & Bob)
Loc: Wilson Creek Trail, Temp: 49°/51°, Time: 2:08:33, Pace: 9:49 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, warm!

Notes:

• It got cold in Chicagoland this week, and it’s going to be even colder next week! I actually wore tights for several runs, and even a long pair of thin capris under my tights once. Whoa! So running in warm Texas was a nice treat on Sunday.
• One of the other Efit trainers met me to swim Friday morning, and I felt encouraged to swim with better form (not that I know what that is) and longer, having someone I know there! And the quick Starbucks date after was fun!
• I really enjoyed running with Gina and her training partner, Bob, on Sunday. I love spending time with the family of friends they’ve developed in Texas.
• I think I am still on track to hit 2000 running miles for the year!

Link to Training Week 372