Comments (25)

By kilax, December 25, 2009 6:01 am

Happy Holidays Everyone!

My family does a holiday photo each year (you can check them all out here). They usually have a funny theme, but this year, we actually took a serious photo to send out.

Anthony, Me, Steven, Mom, Nicholas, Dad, Thomas (baby) Nick, Courtney (SiL) and Christina

Don’t I have a gorgeous family (if I do say so myself)? I am happy we took these*.

The original Ilax clan

I get to spend today** with my other family – Steven’s parents and brother! They snuck in (from Kansas City) just before the ice storm and I am happy to be celebrating the holiday with them in our home this year! We’re so lucky that they were able to come out and share the day with us. It’s so nice to slow down and relax for once.

However you spend the day, I hope it is wonderful! Leave me a comment telling me your favorite part of the day!

*Even though, uh, it was 25 pounds ago
**I will see my family in January

Comments (15)

By kilax, November 9, 2009 5:22 am

… to ask the neighbor kids to stop hanging on the tree in our yard and breaking the young branches off?

… to ask the neighbor kids to quit playing IN THE STREET and yelling at cars?*

… to ask the neighbor kids to stop scratching on the back of the large residential mailbox with sticks?

I am not a parent. So, parents, ANYONE in fact, please call me out if there is any reason why I should just let these kids do their own thing.

I just wonder… why do their parents not worry about them playing in the street? Or defacing public property? Or ruining our already pathetic looking neighborhood trees?

Why do I have to be the neighborhood bitch?**

*One time, Steven bribed them to get out of the street by giving them fresh cookies.
**We’ve had to ask these particular neighbors, and others, unfortunately, to please turn down the loud music they blast out of their open garages in the middle of the night.

Comments (19)

By kilax, July 12, 2009 3:05 pm

Welcome to week 4 of marathon training! If you click on the activity links after the dates, it will take you to the Garmin connect website for full stats.

Day 22 | Monday, July 6: Cross-train for 30 minutes Rest

Ugh. I felt mopey and was suffering from a sugar withdrawal headache so I did nada for cross-training and went to bed early.

Day 23 | Tuesday, July 7: Run 3 miles

I keep repeating this, but I absolutely have to start doing these shorter runs slower. I ran the first 1.5 and last .5 miles of this run with Steven. We started out fast and I didn’t want to slow down. I also don’t want to over-train though! I promised myself I would run slower on Wednesday, but Wednesday’s run never happened.

Distance: 3.01 miles | Time: 26:10 | 1: 8:49 | 2: 8:52 | 3: 8:25 | 4: 00:02

Day 24 | Wednesday, July 8: Rest

I felt frustrated (and sorry for myself) since the moment I woke up on Wednesday, so I took the night off to relax.

Day 25 | Thursday, July 9: Run 6 miles

Six nice easy miles, at a comfortable “conversational” pace – check!

Distance: 6.00 miles | Time: 57:01 | 1: 9:25 | 2: 9:29 | 3: 9:47 | 4: 9:35 | 5: 9:24 | 6: 9:19

Day 26 | Friday, July 10: Run 3 miles

Three hot, accidentally race pace, PISSED OFF miles.

The two highlights (low-lights?) of this run both involved kids getting into my way ON PURPOSE. I wish I was imagining this, but their actions were obviously intentional.

The first time I was on the loop around our neighborhood park. I saw two kids on one motorized bike coming my way so I got over to the right edge of the path. They started swerving back and forth and back and forth over the path, crossing dangerously close to me before quickly swerving out of my way. The kid driving gave me a malicious look. I think it is the same kid getting in the way of cars on the street two weeks ago. What the heck?

The second time, I saw a kid dribbling a ball in the sidewalk, so again, I got over in the right edge to get away from him. When I got near him, he made eye contact with me, then he dribbled the ball in front of me and I had to stop and jump into the grass. What the heck?

Parents, anyone, reading this, what should I do? I doubt it is worth saying anything to these kids, but it is seriously frustrating me. These are not young awkward kids trying to figure out sidewalk etiquette. They are being little sh*ts on purpose. Maybe I should just stick to the early morning hours before the terrors get out of bed. Or try REALLY hard to ignore it.

Distance: 3.00 miles | Time: 26:34 | 1: 8:54 | 2: 8:56 | 3: 8:40 | 4: 00:02

Day 27 | Saturday, July 11: Run 6 miles at marathon pace

I set my regular alarm for 6:00, but had to rely on my kitty-cat alarm clock to wake me up at 7:30. Thanks Data! (Funny thing is, he started waking me up at 5:30 on Sunday. He’s a kind of unreliable alarm clock!)

Look! A talking shoe!

It was cloudy when I got to the park, so I was excited, thinking I wouldn’t be running in the sun. That quickly changed though! I got really hot right away. I was too lazy to put my hydration belt on, and ended up stopping at the car THREE TIMES for water. Yikes. I need to wear the belt next time!

The deceiving skies…

… quickly turned to sun!

I took a photo of my awesome bruised wrist to share with you all. I look forward to running as one of the few hours of the day when I don’t have to wear the stupid splint and wrap.

Pace runs make me so nervous and stressed out. I feel like I am constantly looking at the Garmin to keep on track. I feel guilty if my pace goes up at all. I much prefer the method we used for the half marathon – just putting the miles in, at ANY pace. I know this is the way to becoming a better runner though!

Distance: 6.00 miles | Time: 53:15 | 1: 8:55 | 2: 8:52 | 3: 8:57 | 4: 8:49 | 5: 8:55 | 6: 8:40 | 7: 00:03

Day 28 | Saturday, July 12: Run 11 miles

I found a new out-and-back trail to try near our house, but was concerned about getting too far out on the trail away from a toilet. The park by our house has a loop that goes by three separate toilet facilities (!!!) but I am getting kind of sick of running there. When I told Steven my dilemma, he suggested I run to the park by our house, then do a few loops there, to change things up a bit. I have always been a bit nervous about running on the shoulder of the street (especially with a 55 mph speed limit!), but it went well, and it was fun to run somewhere different for the first and last 2 miles.

Not driving there created another dilemma though – I couldn’t bring extra water. My hydration belt (this one) only holds maybe… 16 ounces total? And it LEAKS. I was definitely dehydrated today. I have been looking for a belt that holds more water, or a hand held water bottle, or maybe even a camelbak. Actually, I am really interested in camelbak, but worried about my back getting all sweaty and gross. What do you like to use for hydration? Have any of you used a camelbak?

Edited to add: My brother-in-law was disappointed that I didn’t mention I tripped over him and five of his friends on my way out the door that morning. So… Andrew (my BiL) was in town with his friends for a Cubs game on Saturday and the Brewers game on Sunday, and they all stayed at our house. It was fun seeing him and his friends, and finding spots for all of them to stay (three couches, one bed, one air mattress, and one sleeping bag!). Data enjoyed sleeping on their dirty sheets after they left. Ew Data, ew.

Distance: 11.00 miles | Time: 1:49:58 | 1: 9:42 | 2: 9:38 | 3: 10:24| 4: 10:08 | 5: 10:09 | 6: 10:03 | 7: 9:58 | 8: 9:46 | 9: 9:56 |10: 10:08 | 11: 9:59

Week Summary: 29 Miles

I seem to have fallen prey to the “I can eat anything I want, I am training for a marathon” mentality. Well, if that were true, would my jeans be this tight? My diet has been disappointingly junky lately, and feeling restricted by my wrist and moody all week surely didn’t help. I get through my runs just fine, but know I could perform better if I ate better, and lost a few pounds. I haven’t mentioned it, but I took my weight loss tracker off the site awhile ago, and stopped weighing myself. I didn’t want that to be a focus during training. I want my focus to be on feeling healthy. I’ll get there.

The end of week 4 means I am 25% through the training program! The marathon will be here before I know it! I just found out you can track the racers online during the race, so I will make sure to post all of that info closer to the actual date.

Comments (20)

By kilax, March 27, 2009 8:10 am

Do you “brown-bag” your lunch or a lunch for your kids/family members? How often?

A little blurb in the April issue of Marie Claire made me think about this. They had a little chart that compared the cost of making a sandwich at home, to buying one at Subway. They concluded that the cost was so close ($5.01 vs. $5.59), it might not even be worth the effort to make the sandwich at home.

Hmm.

I bring my lunch to work every day of the week, unless I have a planned lunch date. I usually only have one lunch date a week (with my favorite lunch buddy, diane), but this week, I had THREE lunch dates – one every single day I was at work!

It’s expensive to eat out downtown every day. But some people do. I know people at my old office who did. And I am sure there are people at my new office who do as well. I’d rather have it be a treat, then do it every day. Three days in a row was too much this week.

Comments (13)

By kilax, January 7, 2009 5:55 pm

I’ve posted a few times about my disdain for my neighbors (here, here, and here… and probably elsewhere), and how I felt it was normal to not know ANY of them.

After yesterday’s post, you might be wondering what my deal is, and if I have any friends at ALL. I do. And ironically, I felt inspired today to write about some of our newest friends – who, also ironically, are neighbors! We met them last spring, and have been hanging out with them and their daughter regularly since then.

I don’t know if I can accurately describe how nice, thoughtful, giving and fun to be around these people are. The husband is charismatic, gregarious, outgoing… he may be the friendliest person I’ve ever met. He’s one of those people that EVERYBODY likes.  The wife is very easygoing, easy to talk to, caring and thoughtful – the type that seems to find happiness in everything. She listens and shows interest – you know I like that.

And their daughter is absolutely adorable. I kind of thought it would be a problem for the five of us to hang out since we don’t have a child as well, but their daughter is so well-behaved and well-spoken that it has never been a problem. She sings and dances and plays with Data while we are having a conversation. She’ll tell you if she needs a nap or is hungry or wants to go to the bathroom.

We went to her third birthday party in the beginning of December. Oh my. They had A LOT of people in their home. A lot of family, a lot of friends, and a lot of kids. It was fun. Their daughter kind of just sat back and watched the other kids play (she’s an observer, until she begins to feel comfortable). At one point, her mother asked her to put away the toys to her kitchen set – plastic food, utensils, plates and so on. She sat diligently on the floor, packing everything into a storage bin, not noticing the other kids dancing and yelling around her. She put the bin away when she was all done then got up and went to another part of the room. Another kid immediately came and dumped everything out on the floor! Then her mother came back and asked her to put everything away, in that sort of voice like, “I already told you once!” She had a little pout on her face, but listened to her mother and put everything away again. Steven and I were just sitting there laughing. We knew she had put it all away once. We told the mom that story last week and she just laughed and laughed. She said, “I wondered why she hadn’t put them away when I first asked!”

Oops, that was kind of a tangent.

I get really excited when I tell people about our “neighbors,” because I think they are so awesome. Besides inviting us over all the time, feeding us, entertaining us, etc. (which we do the same), they’ve really helped us out a lot. I needed to find a church in the neighborhood, and they knew of one. I didn’t know where to go to vote and they gave me general directions. I wasn’t sure about taking the job with the federal government and they encouraged me, supported me and followed up with me – calling to ask my decision, congratulating me, asking how I like it so far, etc.

We’ve asked them to watch over Data the past two weekends while we were out of town. Both times, they came over everyday, sometimes twice! They leave a detailed list of when they were there, how much Data ate, if he went poo, if he had a treat, if he seemed happy… Steven and I think they do a better job recording him than the shelter does when we board him!

A family emergency came up and Steven and I have to travel again. Another four days away from home. I hated asking them to watch Data again, but I don’t like leaving him alone for that many days. I start to feel really guilty.

Well, you can probably guess, our neighbor was more than excited to watch Data. He said, “I wish I could watch Data every weekend!” Then he started to tell me about how cute Data is, how he is there when he opens the door and follows him around the house, purring.

I apologized for asking him to watch him, yet again, but he started telling me how he feels like we do so much for him and his family, and his is more than happy to return the favor. “We’re neighbors afterall!”

We are. I just never realized what that meant!