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By kilax, March 29, 2016 6:12 am

October and April seem to be my most birthday and anniversary heavy months – every week has multiple friend or family member’s special days – and some of them fall on the same day!

This usually makes me feel overwhelmed, but somehow, I’ve managed to plan ahead for April and already have a lot of gifts at home, or, ordered (or reminders in my calendar to pick up, ha)! Woot woot!

I especially enjoy shopping for Luca (who turns five in April!)!

Although, all this planning ahead has made me realize that a few of the friends who have birthdays in April are people I talked to about doing something together for Christmas instead of exchanging gifts… and we still haven’t done anything. Or even planned it.

Blah. I suck.

Well… as long as we plan that special date and do it before next Christmas, it counts, right?

Ha.

I know that no one is holding it against me that I haven’t planned things. I’ve been trying to keep as much free time on my schedule as possible for house stuff, teaching, and (yeah…) running… and I feel bad booking my calendar up! But it’s probably okay to set up a few things here and there… right?!

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By kilax, March 28, 2016 12:47 pm

I wonder what’s going on in the movie theater industry. I was (pleasantly) surprised when Marcus Theaters started having $5 Tuesdays* – where you can see any movie for $5 and popcorn is free and snack prices are reduced. Steven and I appreciated it – we enjoy going to the movies but couldn’t justify the high cost of tickets. $5 sounds good to us!

Of course, then Tuesdays became a mad house at the theater (which is probably what they wanted), so we stopped going as much because the crowds stressed me out. Until Regal Cinemas started the same offer**… so we went there… until word got out about that theater and it was too crowded. Ha ha.

So we haven’t been going as much. If we do, we try to go after the movie we want to see has been out awhile, so it’s not as crowded. Or, go any day, and pay full price for something we really want to see, like Star Wars. That’s rare for us though.

Or, go when we have giftcards, which is what we did last night!

So we were waiting in line and heard the cashier tell the person in front of us to select the seats on the keypad. Steven asked me what theater that was for. “It must be for the new, big theater that they just renovated,” I said. “They must have added those nice seats!”

Nope, I was wrong. We were asked the same question. Apparently, they’ve renovated almost ALL the theaters to have the nice, plush, recliner seats.

Which was an awesome surprise!

But man, they must fit a third (or less?) of the amount of people they could fit in there before? So how is that going to increase revenue? Unless they plan to jack all ticket prices up, except on Tuesdays?

Me so confused.

But I was really comfy during the movie.

(Unfortunately, as you can imagine, nice seats don’t prevent people from playing on their phone during movies and making phone calls… sigh. But it does prevent them from kicking the back of your chair!)

*The theater had previously been doing select movies on Wednesdays and Thursdays for $5 admission.
**Plus some other deals, like cheaper drinks and snacks on other days, and so on.

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By kilax, March 27, 2016 2:18 pm

Highlight of the Week: Workouts with bloggers!

Monday | March 21, 2016: 5.2 m run (4.6 w/xaarlin) + teaching strength class
Loc: Lakefront Trail to Northerly Island, Temp: 28°, Time: 44:57, Pace: 8:39 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good… minus needing to use the bathroom!
Strength: one dumbbell and body strength circuit, Difficulty: easy (mostly observing), Felt: good
Tuesday | March 22, 2016: 10 m ride + 10 mins strength + 5 m run
Indoor Ride Time: 40:25, Pace: 14.9 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good to do something before catching the train
Loc: Chicago Lakefront Trail, Temp: 61°/61°, Time: 38:47, Pace: 7:45 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good
Wednesday | March 23, 2016: teaching strength class
Strength: one dumbbell circuit and dice game, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Thursday | March 24, 2016: 15 m ride
Indoor Ride Time: 58:33, Pace: 15.4 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Friday | March 25, 2016: teaching strength class + 6 m run (incl. 3x1m)
Strength: kettlebell + boxing, Difficulty: easy, Felt: decent, but rundown (sore throat)
Loc: hood, Temp: 32°/34°, Time: 50:22, Pace: 8:23, Difficulty: hard, Felt: decent, but challenged
Saturday | March 26, 2016: teaching fitness boxing + 2.5 m run (w/Anne & Emily)
Strength: boxing and body weight, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 43°/43°, Time: 32:16, Pace: 12:54 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Sunday | March 27, 2016: 11.5 m run (incl. 10×1:00)
Loc: DPRT/Kilbourne Loop, Temp: 46°/51°, Time: 1:43:14, Pace: 8:58 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, but congested lungs

Notes:

• Blah! A sore throat/cold sidelined me and I ended up with an unintentional cutback week. Eh, I am sure my legs will appreciate it! I’m feeling frustrated though – this is the third cold I’ve had this season. I usually have one or none. I wonder what’s up. It could be a few things – not taking care of myself, running on E, something in the house, being in the office more, or spending some days last week with someone who brought a strain of a cold from DC. Whatever caused it… I hope it goes away soon.
• I had a pretty social (for me) workout week! I taught four classes, I ran with xaarlin on Monday, and with Anne and Emily (who came up from the city to take my fitness boxing class) on Saturday! Fun!

Link to Training Week 335

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By kilax, March 26, 2016 6:08 am

When we were putting things away in the storage room, I came across my box of one, two and three size too big work pants and jeans and said “Forget it! I am getting rid of these!”

So I did!

And hopefully, I don’t regret it.

Especially with all those peanut butter cups in the house!

(I still need to go through packed up things that still fit and see if there’s anything else to get rid of – I imagine there will be. I think there may be another box or two of things that are too big, as well, that I can donate.)

Comments (31)

By kilax, March 25, 2016 4:17 am

What’s the general consensus on group texts (you know, the text you get that happens to include many other people – and sometimes phone numbers you don’t recognize – then blows up your phone as those many people respond)? Yay or nay?

Only acceptable when sharing cute human or fur children pictures?

Only acceptable when everyone in the group knows everyone else?

Only acceptable for emergencies (in which case a phone call would have been better but wasn’t possible)?

Only acceptable for forming plans with large groups?

Only acceptable for continuing inside jokes?

Acceptable all the time?!

Hmm.

I admit, sometimes I like them and sometimes I don’t. And I am MAJORLY guilty of using one for a long time now.

I mentioned in December that I was doing a bad job keeping people updated on house stuff. So I started a group text to update everyone anytime we had news.

“The septic was finally fixed!”

“We think we’ll close in two weeks!”

“Nevermind.”

Ha ha.

I updated everyone throughout the move then asked if anyone wanted to be dropped off the conversation or if they wanted to keep getting house updates – because there is still stuff going on every day (as you’ve seen here).

Everyone stayed on! Ha ha.

And I’ve found the group text is a nice place for me to find house photos on my phone. I upload photos (and delete them off my phone) most days, so I can’t access them in my photos folder. I have a folder on Google Drive for storing photos (which I can get to by my phone), but sometimes it’s easier to find one in the group text (if I don’t want to show my blog to someone). Anyway.

So I enjoy the group text… but I still feel like I’m being annoying!

Comments (27)

By kilax, March 24, 2016 6:23 am

• Storage room update! Someone worked very hard on putting in conduit, replacing the light, and adding outlets (not all shown below)! A lot of our boxes are in there, and now there is much more free space in the rest of the basement. We still need to adjust the shelf heights – and get the rest of our stuff from the warehouse. We’re getting there!

• I read a lot of blogs, and often read the comments, and usually, all the commenters agree with the author or encourage whatever the author is doing. It’s true that we’re more likely to read blogs we relate to and comment when we relate (I am not trying to encourage trolling!!!), but please, please, don’t always agree with the author or encourage them when it seems like they are doing something unhealthy or harmful to themselves. It’s okay to ask if they’ve considering something else or if they are sure that’s a good decision. I try to… until I give up and stop reading the blog because of the repetitive bad decision and then “why did this happen?” cycle. Horrible, I know. And of course, please leave those types of comments here.
• Two years ago I wrote about a Runner’s World article about uncertainty speed workouts – not knowing what your speedwork would be until you were doing it, and how that uncertainty helps you mentally train for the uncertainties of race day. I thought it was a good idea, and still do. From time to time, I just go out and do whatever speedwork comes to mind. Well, Runner’s World is repetitive if nothing else, and they had a similar article with fresh ideas a few issues ago. I was waiting forever for it to come online to share with you – here it finally is (pdf here)!
• Ahh, I miss these days, and knew I would when I wrote that post. We’ve been go go go since the move and I am T-I-R-E-D. Which I also knew I would be. I look forward to when contractors aren’t coming in and out of the house most days. And I am looking forward to some visits with family and friends that will slow things down. And someday, a nice long nap! (I am very grateful we can have work done on our house and that we live in this home, period, I am just tired and in need of a recharge).
• I was in work training the first three days of the week, and I got to take the class with one of the first coworkers I ever worked with! She moved on to a different division soon after I started but we really clicked, and sitting next to her, well, may not have been the best idea in class. Ha ha. But it made it fun. I love how she laughs at ALL my stupid jokes. I tell a lot of them, guys. They don’t all deserve to be laughed at. I am not even sure 50% do. But it sure feels good when I make people laugh.

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 91

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By kilax, March 23, 2016 6:49 am

The Brussels attacks yesterday made me go in to a state of numb shock. Seeing a heavy police force in the train station in the morning made my stomach turn. While people around me were discussing what happened, I couldn’t get my head past the state of “why?” Why, why, why?

We all react different to everything. Especially acts as horrific as these. And that’s okay.

But what is not okay with me? Treating news like this like gossip. I heavily remember this bothering me after the Boston Marathon bombing – the way people discussed the event, all excited, waiting for the next bit of information. It made me go in to isolation for a bit. I couldn’t deal with it.

Part of the problem is the way the news portrays things – everything is sensational*! They seem to want you to get all jacked up and emotional. I can see why people do!

But I wish people would think before they speak about these things. Consider their tone. Remember to have some respect for the situation, and especially, respect for the people there and the lives taken.

Maybe I am just being overly sensitive, as I feel overly helpless.

*I never saw the effect of this more clearly than when I was with a young kid and we happened to walk by a TV sharing a story about a loose snake in Florida and all of a sudden they were worried snakes were going to be outside. We walked by that TV for a few seconds!

Comments (19)

By kilax, March 22, 2016 6:12 am

Like when Target stops selling your favorite vegan peanut butter cups… you naturally buy 100 of them…

Because asking the store to start carrying them again would be much too difficult!

And hey, since I am paying for shipping, why not get these, too?!

Someone please check in with me in a few weeks and make sure I haven’t already eaten all of these!!!

(I have a piece of chocolate – either one of these or a Ghirardelli square – after lunch each day, and sometimes (often) after dinner. For a few months I didn’t have any of these peanut butter cups because Target seemed to stop carrying them, and I didn’t want to place the order until we moved to the new house and were a bit settled. Long story long, I was CRAVING these. I love plain dark chocolate, but I need my chocolate and peanut butter fix* from time to time (and peanuts and chocolate chips weren’t cutting it!).)

*This reminds me of the summer I lived in Rome and traveled to London to visit a friend doing a summer internship there. We were talking about the things we couldn’t wait to eat when we got back to the states, and I told him the first thing I wanted was a Reese’s peanut butter cup. Then asked him if he thought that sounded good… completely forgetting about his severe peanut allergy. Oops. Ha ha. That was not the thing he was looking forward to eating!

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By kilax, March 21, 2016 4:22 am

The move is official now – Data and I have new ID tags that list Zion as our place of residence!

Data also got a new collar with his – and it’s a shout-out to his namesake:

In the correct color, of course.

I think these collars would have worked too, but whatevs. Ha ha.

There are so many places you need to update your address when you move. The ID tags were just one thing on a huge list* of items I wanted to update. Hence it taking me so long to get them updated (we updated Data’s chip much more quickly).

*Holy cow. That list. I’ve been working away on it since we moved but I am still adding things to it, as well! And a bad time to move? That would be when all your tax documents are being mailed to your home. We don’t know where a lot of them went. To the townhome? The rental home? Luckily we got the missing ones online!

Comments (2)

By kilax, March 20, 2016 6:10 pm

Highlight of the Week: Playing racquetball with Steven / a long run that flew by with Rachel!

Monday | March 14, 2016: 6 m run + 8 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: hood, Temp: 47°/45°, Time: 49:35, Pace: 8:16 avg, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: good, thirsty
Loc: to VP Woods, Temp: 50°/44°, Time: 1:10:02, Pace: 8:45 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: spent!
Strength: one dumbbell circuit and body weight circuit, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: tired from my runs (oops), too humid in the studio
Tuesday | March 15, 2016: 10 m ride + 7 m run
Indoor Ride Time: 37:29, Pace: 16.0 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, rushed to get back on time for a meeting!
Loc: Lake Andrea, Temp: 47°/47°, Time: 59:19, Pace: 8:28 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: ready for my rest day!
Wednesday | March 16, 2016: rest
Thursday | March 17, 2016: 15 mins strength + 5 m ride
Indoor Ride Time: 18:37, Pace: 16.1 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: fine
Friday | March 18, 2016: teaching strength class + 7 m run (incl. 6×800, WU, CD + RIs w/Bobbi) + 45 mins racquetball (w/Steven)
Strength: one dumbbell workout and body weight circuit, Difficulty:easy, Felt: good after I woke up!
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 33°/33°, Time: 1:04:13, Pace: 9:10, Difficulty: hard, but got easier, Felt: okay!
Saturday | March 19, 2016: 16 m run
Loc: Lake Andrea/VP Woods Loop, Temp: 33°/35°, Time: 2:30:25, Pace: 9:24 avg, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: decent, sore from Friday!
Sunday | March 20, 2016: 5 m ride + 20 mins strength + 14.8 m run (w/Rachel, incl. 5 x 20 sec strides)
Indoor Ride Time: 20:28, Pace: 14.7 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good to stretch out the legs
Loc: Lake Geneva, Temp: 31°/40°, Time: 2:26:29, Pace: 9:54 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great!

Notes:

• To keep my mileage where I want it while working more in the office (and losing workout time to the commute), I’ve been doing double runs. I enjoy doubles, but man, I’ve been reaching marathon level tiredness on run #2 if I went fast for run #1. It’s definitely good for me to run on tired legs and push through that… but probably not every week.
• I let my competitive ass get the best of me when running laps around the lake Tuesday afternoon… and wanting to pass someone, then not wanting to let two people pass me at the end of my last mile. Sigh. I wasn’t being a jerk by any means, but there is no good reason for me to be that way!
• I mentioned knowing I needed to run in newer shoes this week. You know what told me? Not my knees, but my left plantar fascia. It felt tight at the beginning of the week, so I made sure to rest, wear supportive shoes around the house, and wear newer shoes to run in. It felt fine by Saturday.
• It was so awesome of Bobbi to run with me on Friday for my speedwork, even though I did the repeats on my own. It felt great to get that workout out of the way in the morning! I have an uneasy feeling until I get my speedwork done all week. Not a worry about doing it, but that I am going to make the time for it!
• We used the passes our neighbors left for us at the gym and had a lot of fun playing racquetball Friday night! I forgot how fun it is. And how wild I get. Oops. I twisted my neck really bad and dropped to the ground to recover. Then it felt fine. Ha ha.
• It was so nice to run with Rachel on Sunday! I mapped out a 13 mile road/trails (paved and grass) route for us and the miles FLEW by! Even when I added on some extra by missing a turn. Oops (but we found our lunch spot during that part, so all is good).
• And because of those extra miles I got really close to 60 for the week! Last week I was frustrated a headache kept me from meeting my 60 mile week goal. Maybe in the next few weeks I’ll hit it! (I could have gone out for another 1.2 mile run on Sunday to hit it, but, eh, I don’t want to give the number that much power, ha!)

Link to Training Week 334