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By kilax, November 16, 2018 6:17 pm

Woo hoo! My new blog is up! Check me out at kimhastheruns.com!

My new blog design is by Riss Blog Design (Riss Design), which was recommended by Shelley (I liked Shelley’s redesign so much I asked her who did it!) I love the design Rissa came up with! It’s modern and runner-focused, but not cheesy. And I love how bright, fresh, and clean the page is now. Go check it out!

Here’s how you can follow me:

• Via RSS feed (or on Bloglovin’) with https://kimhastheruns.com/
• On Facebook here – click on the “Follow” button to get notifications when I post.
• Via email – click through to my page and enter your email address on the right side of the page where it says “SUBSCRIBE TO BLOG VIA EMAIL.” You’ll get an email to confirm you want to follow.
• By remembering to look at it, ha

I bought the url “kimhastheruns” in December 2012 because I thought it would be easier to remember than “ilaxstudio” when I told people about my blog. And… it took me six years to act on that. <— Go me.

So, why “kimhastheruns”? Because:

• It’s easier to remember than ilaxstudio
• My last name hasn’t been Ilax for ten years, and my blog is no longer “studio” (design) focused
• I like to run
• I like toilet humor

And there ya go!

Let me know what you think of the site! And you can find this week’s Random Thoughts Thursday and San Francisco! (part iii) & Vegan Donut Tour! there!

Thanks for following me at my new url!

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By kilax, November 15, 2018 6:57 am

I have two posts ready to publish – Random Thoughts Thursday and part iii of our San Francisco trip (which you may have noticed was up and taken down yesterday) – but I am going to hold off on posting them here. All of the content from ilaxstudio was transferred to my new domain yesterday, and if I post them here, I will just have to repost them there. All the comments will be lost.

So hopefully the new domain will be live soon, and the posting can recommence!

Khali says, “Ugh, whatevs.”

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By kilax, November 3, 2018 12:53 pm

View down our driveway – we’re taking care of leaves today!

Crazy busy October is over and most of the things I’m looking forward to this month involve being lazy:

• Spending time with friends
• Watching the New York City Marathon with Bobbi
• Seeing Bohemian Rhapsody
• Going to San Francisco and visiting Mica and Harrison!
• Publishing the new blog layout
• Having more free time
• NAPS
• Listening to Christmas music… and maybe putting up Christmas decorations? (I’m undecided about decorating since we’ll be away on actual Christmas)

What’s on your list?

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By kilax, November 1, 2018 6:23 am

• I finished Vox! I became less anxious after the main character’s wrist counter (that tracks her speech and zaps her if she says over 100 words for the day) came off so she could work on an anti-Wernicke’s aphasia serum for the president’s brother. (BUT SPOILER, the government’s intentions are more sinister!) The entire book was suspenseful and made me feel on edge while reading it. But I obviously liked it because I finished it!

• Now I’m reading Little Fires Everywhere, which Amy recommended to me. It’s appropriate I’m starting it today, as I’m traveling to Cleveland, where the book is set!
• This morning was my first time using TSA Pre✓. It went much quicker than regular security, even though they still had me take my jacket and shoes off. It was so nice to leave my laptop in my bag though. <— welcome to the 2010s, Kim, I know. Ha.
• Today is an exciting day – it’s the day I start listening to Christmas music! Woo hoo! (But… I didn’t have time to load it on my phone this morning, so that will wait until tomorrow, sad face.)
• Speaking of Christmas, I bought a few gifts last week!
• Do people still share business cards at meetings? I always have to make sure I have some when I travel for work, or meet someone new. I haven’t received new business cards at work in YEARS. I don’t really use them – I use digital contacts. (Click through to take a poll)

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• My sleep has been such SH!T lately. Gawd. I’ve realized this month that waking up at 3:50 am on Fridays is killing me when I have a weekend full of plans. And about half of each week, the cats wake me up in the middle of the night, or, yay, even better, thirty minutes before my alarm. I’m looking forward to the extra hour gained on Sunday. I won’t get to sleep in (see: cats) but I can take a nap!

Who, us?! We NEVER try to climb the back of the headboard during the night. NEVER.

• I’m having my blog redesigned and love the look so far. I can’t wait to show you guys. Thanks to Shelley for recommending the designer!
• I have a few more “randoms” to share, but maybe I can stretch those in to a full post, ha!

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 201

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By kilax, October 19, 2018 12:07 pm

So, the last time I did this, my crappy blog closed all the polls on its own. Now they are all miraculously open, somehow, also on their own. Sigh. (Yes, I am looking in to updating my blog.)

Anyway. So if the polls stop working, feel free to leave a comment. BECAUSE THIS STUFF IS OBVS WAY IMPORTANT.

not

In (my work) class this week, we were talking about how NO ONE still uses checks. But guess what?! I do! That’s how I give Steven extra money for our joint account when I get paid (because we use two separate banks so I don’t think I can transfer it easily electronically?), and that is how I pay for my massages. And usually how I give someone money if I owe them.

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We also talked about who still has a land line. Yeah, not me. Ha. Ha ha ha.

This one is from a conversation with Mom and Alyssa about walk-in bathtubs which I had NO idea were a thing. They were saying how it must be odd to have the water fill up around you, when using one. Um, is that not part of the fun of taking a bath?!

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I get in when there is a bit of water in it. If I don’t, I tend to make it the wrong temperature. (Although Steven pointed out, if you fill it up with yourself in it, you can make it too hot and not realize it, too.)

And finally…

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My swim pass expires on October 31st. Last year it cost $225 for the year, and I assume it will cost that or slightly more, for the next year.

A drop-in fee to use the pool is $6. Therefore, to make the pass “worth it,” I need to use it at least 38 times ($225/$6 = 37.5 visits). So far this year, I’ve gone 40 times, which means I’ve paid $5.63 for each visit.

So I use it enough, but man, the drop-in (“open swim”) hours are not very convenient! Friday morning open swim is 5:00 am – 7:30 am. I used to teach at 5:00, drive there, and be swimming by 6:20 am. Now I’m training someone at 6:00 am though (after I teach). So I’m rushing to get there and swim before open swim closes (who knows what they’d even do if I swam past then, ha).

And note – I swim for relaxation and exercise, not because I’m going to do a triathlon. I do feel it helps my body, but is it crucial… no? Would I miss it…? I don’t know. Ha.

Such deep thoughts for a Friday!!!

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By kilax, August 28, 2018 6:12 am

When I started my blog in 2005 the purpose of it was to keep in touch with family while traveling abroad. It was before Facebook was prevalent, before everyone had smart phones, and before WIFI was widely available. Skype was kind of new. I still took photos with an actual camera. I didn’t text, I called (whut?!).

Anyway, things have changed. Now we can get in touch with anyone within seconds – IF we have signal, and IF they respond.

So the purpose of my blog is no longer to keep in touch with family. It’s to document what I want to from my life, and sometimes, to meet new people (rarely happens anymore though! blogging is dying!).

I’m writing all this because sometimes people say to me “Sorry I haven’t been reading your blog” as a reason why they don’t know about something about my life, OR, just because they actually feel sorry, and like I expect them to.

NO – do NOT be sorry. If you know me, if you are a family member or friend, and we are in touch with each other outside my blog, I do NOT expect you to read my blog to stay “caught up” on my life (I don’t expect anyone to). I’d really LOVE IT if you’d ask me questions about my life. I write all of this for me. And while I LOVE when people read and respond, I do NOT expect them to AT ALL.

PLEASE. TALK TO ME. I spend a lot of time alone. I crave someone asking me a specific question about my life. I crave someone reaching out and just asking me how I am doing. I crave purposeful interaction!

And I do have it! I do! What I am saying though, is, you don’t have to read my blog, or follow any of my social media, as a primer for talking to me! You don’t have to be sorry for not reading this!!! Really!

Social media* can make us lazy (along with a lot of other things). We see someone’s posts, and we don’t reach out to that person – eh, we got an update on Facebook. Or worse, we see someone’s post, and they are a completely different person online than in-person, and we don’t WANT to reach out to them anymore – the online them ruins the in-person them for us.

That will always blow my mind – having a completely different online persona than in-person. The internet DOES bring out the worst in some people! And then, yes, there are people who only post happy stuff online, so if you don’t reach out to them, you do think things are all hunky dory (usually not the case).

What is the point of all this? Ha. Just a reminder to actually talk to people, to ask how they are doing**. And if you want to be extra, to remember something important to them, or something going on in their life, and ask about that. I guarantee they’ll appreciate it! I do!

You can always ask me about our cats! Ha!

*Not that you need social media to be lazy in relationships. Some people are without it!
**And I am not implying that people need to be asked to share information. Just that it’s NICE to be asked!

Comments (19)

By kilax, August 23, 2018 6:12 am

• Thanks for all of your kind and thoughtful comments on my post yesterday about Data. They really made me feel better, and supported!
• I’m going to keep posting silly posts like Random Thoughts Thursday as long as I feel like it – a lighthearted distraction is good for me.
• Our library was closed for a week, and it seems like all the books I’ve had on hold for several months came in during that time. Eek. I’m still trying to finish A Lady’s Guide to Selling Out!

• We saw Mission: Impossible – Fallout, and I really liked it (and figured I would!). I knew this was a movie I wanted to see in the theater from the time I saw the first trailer. The end was so suspenseful, I kept wanting to bite my nails (but didn’t since I have a no chip, ha. Instead, I just kept tapping them together). I knew I should have worn some bracelets so I had something to twirl when the movie made me feel anxious!
• We shared baby pictures at work yesterday, and guessed who everyone was. A few of us younger people on the staff were saying we should have made ours black and white to throw people off. Ha. Ha ha ha. It was fun to see whose was SO obvious, and which ones weren’t!

• Apollo got to try being outside on the harness yesterday, for the first time. He was definitely freaked out – he had his tail low between his legs! He eventually chilled a bit.

• And, I have to share this picture of Steven’s lunch companions yesterday. What a bunch of troublemakers.

• Yesterday someone at work told me that an email I sent was the best part of their day because it was so concise and clear, and had everything he needed in it. And that he was going to send it to someone else as an example. Hearing that made MY day, especially as it was for something where I don’t feel like I know what I am doing (project management).

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 191

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By kilax, July 21, 2018 6:26 am

I’ve been blogging for thirteen years as of today!

I started this blog in 2005 to document my college semester in Rome (in spring 2006), then liked writing and connecting with people so much, I stuck with it!

At first, I hand coded my blog, and didn’t add a way for people to comment. I just wanted to document my experiences. Then I saw on other blogs how fun it was to leave comments and interact with the blogger. So I added a widget to side of the blog that allowed people to leave comments, in general. I eventually added code to each post to comment specifically on that post, then in 2007, my blogger friends told me about WordPress and RSS feeds, so I bought the “Dummies” book for that, and the rest is history!

So, from the beginning, my blog was about documentation and story telling, and STILL is. I’m not here to make money, get free stuff, push an agenda, give you advice, or get “famous” (ha). I love and appreciate having a place to document some parts of my life, and I love the awesome surprise of it connecting me with people from around the world (pretty much what I said last year)!

So, again, thank you for reading! There’s not as many of us blogging for story-telling purposes as there used to be, and I appreciate all of you that still do! And I appreciate all of you that don’t blog but take the time to read this, and interact with me!

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By kilax, March 26, 2018 6:16 am

Well, my weekend started out AMAZING, because SEE TITLE ^^^

I was already stoked Anne was in town (for a Sunday race in the city) and we’d get to hang out Friday night, but then she shows up at our house with these beauties?!?!

OMG YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

They’re vegan donuts from Holey Toledough, in Toledo, OH. Anne stopped on her drive in to get them for me! Isn’t that sweet? (pun not intended, ha)

The flavors were cinnamon roll and blackberry hibiscus. Hands down, these are best donuts I’ve had this year. They’re yeast donuts (my preference over cake), and they got everything right – they were light and airy/fluffy, with great flavor, and the perfect amount of icing. I’ll be thinking about these donuts for some time to come. Yum.

State	Date	Name	Flavor	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

And that was my entire weekend! Ha ha ha, I kid.

Before we indulged in donuts, Anne and I did her weekly long run together, yay! I stupidly dressed too cold, and the wind made me feel even worse. I don’t know what I was thinking. But I loved having all of that time to chat!!! <— duh, broken record, any time I get to run with a friend.

After our run (and donuts!), we made enchiladas for dinner,

then tried to watch Downsized. We almost made it to the end! What a neat idea for a movie. Too bad it never went anywhere.

Anne is one of Data’s favorite people to sit on

The weekend could only go downhill after that awesome Friday, right?

Ha, it kind of did. I woke up a little before 3:00 on Saturday with a headache, and could NOT fall back asleep. So I got up.

I worked on blog posts, rode my bike, read a little, tried to nap… then hung out with Anne when she got up, and left to teach fitness boxing (and go to Aldi) shortly thereafter.

When I returned home, I had to take a nap since I got less than four hours of sleep. I LOVE naps but I wanted to work on something for Steven and was not happy I was too exhausted to do so. Sigh.

While Anne was here, she told me about the Walmart Grocery app and I decided to give it a try for Sunday pickup, when I’d be near a Walmart. Imagine my surprise when I got a text during my run that my order was ready. On Saturday. Doh, I had requested the wrong date! I sped up and hurried home so I could go get the order during the window I asked for. I’m not sure if that matters or not, but I didn’t want to find out the hard way!

Pickup was hella easy, and I was impressed by the service (it’s free!). I will definitely use it again. I don’t like to shop, and really don’t like wandering around in (ANY) big box stores.

And they gave me a goodie bag with samples! Thanks to my lovely assistant for modeling it on the dining room table. Eyeroll. (He’s not supposed to be on the table, or counters, for that matter.)

Steven asked me why I hadn’t used it before – if I didn’t know about it. I did! I saw someone talking about it online, but all that person does is promote stuff, which makes me not see them as a valid source for reviews (seems insincere when every post is “this product/service is THE BEST EVER!”). I had to hear it from Anne. Sorry, internet marketing – I still use legit word of mouth.

Saturday night was chill! We watched a show and a movie and made dinner (pasta with sauce and meat-a-balls-a! <— have to say it that way).

I took NyQuil so that I would be able to fall back asleep whenever I woke up during the night, Saturday, and it worked! Hurrah!!!!

On Sunday I did my long run and was able to work on the thing I wanted to help Steven with. Yay!

I also got my manicure. Thank you to everyone who voted on the color. I did stick with blue, since it matches my singlet, but went a bit lighter, with “Gelato On My Mind.”

We felt like going out Sunday night (who are we?!) so we met Jen, Troy, and the kids for bowling. I was surprised at how busy the lanes were for a Sunday night. It was hectic! I felt like I couldn’t focus and my bowling was all over the place, but I still had fun.

Picture in which it does not look busy at all, ha

And we were still home and in bed by 9:20 pm! Win win! Ha.

I’ve been reading at night to help me fall asleep, and right now, I am reading Hanna Who Fell from the Sky, a novel about a young woman who lives in a polygamous town that she’s never left, and is about to turn eighteen and be married (to a man who has several wives and many children). Before her wedding, she meets a stranger who makes her think more seriously about things she’s been subconsciously questioning about the way of life in her community. I am curious to see how it ends! And I have just over a week before it’s due back at the library to do so! Ha.

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By kilax, March 16, 2018 7:13 am

I’m not happy to only be blogging my “check-in” posts – weekend recaps, Random Thoughts Thursday, and my training recap. I actually have a long list of things I want to talk about, but they’re mostly negative and I’d rather discuss those with my snis or friends, so I keep that stuff off of here. Hopefully that list will turn positive soon, and I will be blogging more, because I MISS IT!!!

My goal 5K is three weeks from tomorrow! Woo hoo!

Beyond the physical training, I’ve begun the visualization portion of the mental training. I imagine myself at the start of the race, feeling calm (HA!!!!). I run through the course in my mind, and see myself with good form, feeling strong while running the tangents and not weaving around too many people. Then I visualize not being completely out of it at the finish!

This course is one I’ve run several times, in a park in my hometown, so I can visualize it quite well! I’ve been working on this each night as a fall asleep, and then whenever I wake up in the night, too.

Visualization is a useful tool, for me. It’s practice of my mental game plan, before race day. I practice my mental pain management during speedwork (intervals and tempos), but this is more about my overall mental state for the entire race. How can I be calm as I start? What will my mantra be? Where will I check in on pace and form? And so on.

Visualization is NOT daydreaming about an awesome finish (which, hey, is fun to do, too!). Visualization and daydreaming are different. Daydreaming is defined as an “usually wishful creation of the imagination” and a “pleasant distraction from every day life.” Daydreaming definitely has its uses (during long meetings, amirite?). But visualization is useless without putting in the actual work, to achieve your goal! It’s not fantasy-land, it’s what you’re going to do because you trained for it!

One of my favorite quotes from last year’s calendar, that reminds me of this – don’t waste so much time dreaming that you don’t do the work!

Yes, please roll your eyes over how seriously I am taking this 5K. It’s quite ridiculous! Ha!