Life

By kilax, April 26, 2012 6:25 pm

We just got home from the vet’s office. Data was not too happy on the way home.

But once we got home, he was back to his normal self, starting to talk again and ask for food.

Okay, back to his normal self once he got that pesky bandage off.

His blood tested in “gray zone,” so the vet had to send his blood out to be tested in another facility. So, no news on a potential hyperthyroid yet.

He had his teeth cleaned, and the had to remove one! I feel so bad about that. But I am happy we got them cleaned.

Thanks to everyone’s warm wishes for Data today!

Life

By kilax, April 26, 2012 6:43 am

I was hoping to have something more substantial to post with the Under Armour Brave the Run Women’s Tee Giveaway winners, but I got this message when I turned my computer on this morning:

Just kidding! That is not my computer set-up. Sigh. It’s Steven’s. Notice how it’s grown since the last time I posted pictures of it?

I actually got this gem this morning:

No! The dreaded blue screen of death! Why didn’t restarting the computer 1238993 times fix that? Ha ha. 

Because I was dealing with the blue screen of death, I didn’t have time to come up with a brilliant post. Or, more importantly, say goodbye to Data, who is at the Vet’s office all day. 

FWP.

Anyway, here are the winners!

Size S: Kelly the Culinarian – Kelly
Size M: Out and About – Emily
Size L: Running: My Anti-Drug – Kayla
Size XL: The Blog With No Name – Anne

Winners, please email me your mailing address (kilax@ilaxstudio.com).

Thanks to all the participants! I just remembered another thing I purchased last weekend to giveaway so maybe I will do that next week!

Fashion + Beauty

By kilax, April 25, 2012 6:12 pm

I wore a dress today that I got in high school. 

Is anyone else rockin’ clothes from back in the day?

I think the dress is a bit out of style but I paired it with a cardigan and belt and that seemed to work. 

What amazes me is that I still fit in to it. I was probably a lot lower in weight when I got it. I am heavier now, but it’s all muscle. Right…

Running + Training

By kilax, April 24, 2012 4:34 am

I was reading the Runner’s World Trail Edition and wondering… do the “trails” I run on around here really count as trails?

I met Sara and Katie last night to run on a crushed limestone trail in a Forest Preserve. I prefer to run on crushed limestone because it’s so soft and forgiving. I call it “trail running” in my running logs, but is it really? I mean, I doubt those people running 1000 feet in elevation, through streams, covered in mud would think so. These “trails” are definitely not technical. But they aren’t concrete/pavement either.  They’re beginner trails!

What do you think – what counts as a trail? Are you a trail runner?

Fashion + Beauty, Life, Running + Training

By kilax, April 23, 2012 6:38 am

• My mom, sister and her fiancé visited. My mom and sister both have new jobs (!!!) and need new work clothes – time for some shopping, y’all!

• Steven made homemade cinnamon rolls Saturday morning.

• We ate lunch at El Famous Burrito.
• My mom found a ton of cute outfits (click photos to see larger)! My sis did too, no pics though. They got major deals on everything!

    

• Cute (man-made material) boots for moi. Only $15. Holla!

• I tried this on to be funny. Am I cursed now?

• I found a major deal on this Under Armour shirt that I HAD TO HAVE for me – on the back it says “RAIN. SNOW. SLEET. WIND. BRAVE THE RUN.” (Click images below to see larger)

 

This shirt is perfect for me because I am always out running in the crazy elements. The only thing that keeps me in is lightening, dangerous ice and bad visibility (okay, and broken garage doors). Do you feel like that describes you too? If it does… you can enter a giveaway to win this shirt! Hey, if it does not describe you, and you want it to, enter as well! Or… just enter! Even if you are male – maybe you have a female friend who would like it!

Under Armour Brave the Run Women’s Tee Giveaway Rules

1. Four readers will receive an Under Armour Brave the Run Women’s Tee. There are four to giveaway – one in each size – S, M, L and XL. For reference, I am wearing a medium. This is a HeatGear® shirt and meant to be loose but I liked it more fitted. 
2. Required to enter the giveaway: you must tell me which size of shirt (S, M, L or XL) you are entering to win AND tell me if you had to run in one of these elements (rain, snow, sleet or wind) which you would choose.
3. For an extra entry, link to this giveaway on your blog and leave me an additional comment telling me you did so. 
4. This giveaway is open until 5:00 PM CST on Wednesday April 25. I will probably write names on paper and draw the winner by hand. I will announce the winner on Thursday April 26. 
5. This giveaway is open to all readers. 

Running + Training

By kilax, April 22, 2012 6:39 pm

Highlight of the Week: Steven made homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Saturday. Oh wait, this is a running post.  Seeing a beautiful baby deer perfectly framed by an opening in the woods and lit by gorgeous sunlight during my Sunday run… and capturing a photograph of that moment.

Monday | April 16, 2012: rest
Tuesday | April 17, 2012: 7 m run
Loc: Neighborhood, Temp: 35°/34°, Time: 1:13:39, Pace: 10:32 avg, Difficulty: medium 
Wednesday | April 18, 2012: 10 m run (middle 5 miles with new GRC friend) + strength class
Loc: Mill. Trail to Nippersink FP and back, Temp: 71°/70°, Time: 1:31:24, Pace: 9:08 avg, Difficulty: medium
Strength: kettlebells, Difficulty: easy
Thursday | April 19, 2012: rest
Friday | April 20, 2012: 10 m run + strength
Loc: neighborhood, Temp: 43°/42°, Time: 1:44:03, Pace: 10:24, Difficulty: easy
Strength: free weights, core focus, Difficulty: medium/hard
Saturday | April 21, 2012: 6 m run
Loc: Neighborhood, Temp: 32°/39°, Time: 57:56, Pace: 9:39 avg, Difficulty: harder than it should have been
Sunday | April 22, 2012: 5 m run 
Loc: Grant Woods FP, Temp: 51°, Time: 44:53, Pace: 8:58 avg, Difficulty: easy/medium

Lessons learned:

• If the Garmin 405 freezes in the middle of a run, you can do a soft reset, and continue running with the same data from before the freeze. I hope I never have to use this information again. 
• If I want to do “first thing in the morning” runs, they are really going to feel the best if I have given myself 30-45 minutes to wake up.
• Do not eat a vegan hot dog before a run. 

Reminders for next week:

• Focus on keeping my arms closer to my body when running. 

Running + Training

By kilax, April 22, 2012 6:27 pm

I was going to tack this on to the end of my weekly recap, but it was just too long. So… you get two posts today. Sorry! To make up for it, come back tomorrow for a sweet women’s running apparel giveaway…

Maggie just started a Runner Photo Challenge – check it out here, and participate! This week’s challenge: A picture of memorabilia (bib, shirt, medal, trophy, etc – can be just one thing or multiple things) from your favorite race. Include an explanation of why it’s your favorite race. 

Hands down, my favorite race is the New York City Marathon. And not because I PR’d, or because it was my best race ever, but because it showed me the true spirit of running, and the amount of support I have in my life.

I got in to the NYC Marathon via lottery. Opening Day was 4/27 last year. It was the same day my NYC bff (Gina) had her son, and a day before my grandpa passed away. I really felt like someone was watching over me that week. That is kind of hard to explain, since I am not very religious. But it’s just a feeling I had.

Everything said about how awesome the NYC Marathon is is true. The spectators, the race itself… the runners. I had a man from France, that I did not know, or could speak to, help me run the last few miles of the race. It’s just amazing that all of those people (from all over the world!) come together on race day.

And support. My sister and her boyfriend came from Iowa to watch me race. My NYC bff and her husband housed us and spectated. All of my family wore “Team KIMBOT” shirts that day, even though they couldn’t be there. I called my Chicago bff (Erin) when I finished and babbled/cried to her for a good 20 minutes. Bobbi was sending me encouraging texts during the race. A lot of my Facebook friends were really supportive. And Steven. I cannot believe he puts up with all this running. He is the best!

Anyway, the NYC Marathon was just a truly spectacular experience that reminded me why I love to run. I hope I get to try it again someday!

Opening Day for NYC is 4/25! Did any of you enter the lottery?

Blogging, Friday Questions

By kilax, April 20, 2012 4:35 am

Do you often subscribe to new comments/replies on blogs? Or do you manually go back to see if someone has responded to what you wrote?

I never remember to go back, so I subscribe to a lot of comments. I have been searching for years for a plug-in that does this for my blog, but to no avail. Despite ilaxSTUDIO being a wordpress blog, because it is self-hosted, that feature is not included. 

BUT! I think I finally FINALLY FINALLY found a plug-in that will do this. So if you hit “Notify me of follow-up comments by email” before you submit your comment, you should get an email when someone else posts a comment. 

If this is the truth, this will save me SO MUCH TIME in responding to comments. Because right now, I respond on my blog, then copy and paste that response in to an email. 

Yeah. 

Time consuming. 

Also, this will let all of you interact with one another. A few times people have commented on other people’s comments… and there is no way for that person to see the response unless they come back to the blog. 

So do me a favor and let me know (in a comment in this post) if you are going to check “Notify me of follow-up comments by email” and I will respond and you can let me know if it works. If you check this button, you will probably get an email confirming you are subscribing, which takes you to the wordpress subscription page, then you will get comment emails. 

If I find out this does work, I will probably quit manually replying to comments via email. You will be able to subscribe if you want to see my reply/other people’s comments. 

I also added a sidebar for email subscriptions. I think most people use Reader, or some other RSS aggregate, but someone was asking me about this awhile ago… maybe this is what they were looking for. 

Fashion + Beauty, Life

By kilax, April 19, 2012 6:29 am

• Something about the photos Steven has been taking for my end of April fashion post give me the impression he is getting a bit tired of taking them. I just can’t pinpoint what it is…

• April fashion post wise, yesterday was the first time I changed out of what I was wearing from the photo. I had a jean skirt on, but it was quite cold in our house so I put on sweat pants and a fleece jacket. Today was the first time I wore an outfit I have worn before (in March) – the outfit I had in mind for today just didn’t quite work out. I am still having fun trying to be creative with my wardrobe, but sometimes the things I imagine look good in my head really don’t when I try them on.
• I thought you guys would like to know that I found some shorts. Erin took me shopping on Saturday. I tried shorts on a Gap, Eddie Bauer and Old Navy (in that order). I have to admit, I was disappointed when the very first ones we tried on at the Gap were not winners. But! I like the Eddie Bauer ones. And they were only $16.99 each, holla! Ignore the fact that my shirt is too tight (also ignore that I have this shirt on in the photo above, and while you are at it, ignore how tired I look in those pics – I did just wake up from a nap when Steven took them on Sunday):

• We had wine to celebrate our shopping success. I am still a lightweight. But! My 20-miler the next day was a success.

• I worked from home yesterday and decided to take a nap during my lunch break. Even thought it was during my allotted lunch break, it felt wrong. And it didn’t really make me feel any better. But damn, I am so tired lately! The only thing that seems to give me energy is moving (working out, standing up, etc.). Maybe next time during lunch I will take Data on a walk. In the meantime, I can always count on him to be my nap buddy.

• A few weeks ago, when Steven was working from home (and I was downtown) he heard some derphole drive through our neighborhood and crash in to something. This tree. Wth. That tree is right before the curved part of the street, as in, you should be slowing down to follow the curve. What the heck was this guy doing? I was impressed that he stayed there and called the cops, but I am still sad that we have one less tree in our already cookie cutter young (tree) suburban neighborhood.

Other Random Thoughts Thursday Posts: XIV, XIII, XII, XI, X, IX, VIII, VII, VI, V, IV, III, II, I.

Running + Training

By kilax, April 18, 2012 9:18 pm

Do you guys track the mileage on your running/exercise shoes?

I started tracking mileage when I got my first pair of Asics Gel Cumulus in October of 2010. If you are really bored, you can look at my shoe mileage stats way down on my right sidebar, and here. 

I am lucky if I make it close to 300 miles on a pair of shoes. I wear them down really fast. I severely supinate, especially on my left foot – and that shoe gets worn down really quickly. Tracking the mileage has really helped clue me in to when I need to rotate in a new pair of shoes and swap out the old ones. 

Tuesday was a new shoe day! Wow! The shoes felt so cushion-y!

Actually, the felt a bit stiff. They will feel good on the next run. 

I embarrassingly have a lot of pairs of Asics. The photo below does not include the two pairs in other locations and the one pair in the mail… shh…

I am usually alternating between at least two pairs for running, if not more. Then I use them for other things when I am done with them. 

How many pairs of running/exercise shoes do you alternate between?

I gotta say, I love the Asics Gel cushioning. It rocks my world. I am a very happy Asics girl.