Chicago and a new PR (not necessarily related)

So last week I took my first train to an industry trade show in Chicago.  This was only the second time I've been to Chicago and definitely my first time on the Amtrak, so I thought I would share some pictures.  

 We had to drive two hours to get to the tiny little train station in Centralia, IL.  I'm not really sure what I expected from a train station (except tumbleweeds like in the old west), but I was hoping they would all at least have toilet paper.  No such luck.

 They do sometimes have historic wooden water towers across the street,

 and 7-Up machines.

 We decided that the coach class probable afforded less chance of the group of us getting kicked off the train for rowdiness.

 I'm happy because I'm on a train, and it has toilet paper...win!  I really like trains better than flying.  It is much more laid back and comfortable.  You can use your electronic devices and walk about freely.

 This is where we ended up in Chicago.  Much bigger than the Centralia station.

 As we explored the conference center at the hotel looking for registration we found some prom props.  I couldn't get anyone to take a prom picture with me:(

 I did get to go on a run my first day in Chicago, which was my goal.  It was about 4 miles and lightly raining, and it was great.  I found Navy Pier and ran along the river and took some pictures.  I really like running in Chicago, the trails were well populated with other, and except for the seagulls I actually felt pretty safe by myself (I'm sure there are much less savory parts of Chicago, but this was pretty decent).

 More Navy Pier.

 Oh how nice, Chicago knew I was coming and made an area just for me!

 The steps at the beginning and end of the run, I did much better than I thought running up them at the end.  I took a walk afterwards back to Navy Pier

Refueling at Gino's East, Chicago style.  This type of thing continued the rest of the week, which was probably why my first training run back home sucked so bad.  It was worth it though, I mean...look at it!

 There was a giant Marilyn Monroe near our hotel.  This was the the source of many a photo opportunity throughout the week.

 Like this one.

Now for the PR part of the show.  I ran a local 5K on Saturday and cut about 8 seconds off my previous PR time.  I couldn't bring my camera with me on this on one, so no pictures.  I was nervous about this one, because I knew the potential for a PR was there because of the course, but with the 3 days of eating and drinking in Chicago and everything else going on this week I was tired and hadn't run very much and I just wasn't feeling very confident.  I felt great that morning, and even though I struggled breathing (a lot! freaking humidity) I still managed to keep up a good pace.  I had to kick it at the end to make the time, but I did it!  Slowly inching my way to 25 minutes:)

Hopefully this week will be a little less crazy.  I need to get back on eating right, running regularly and cutting back the diet beverages again, I was really bad this week!

The Race and the Pace: St. Jude Give. Hope.Run. 5K

After last weekend's PR, I was fully not anticipating one for this race (aaannndd I was right).  It is super hilly and difficult, plus I got in some more miles by meeting a friend/co-worker at her house and we ran from there and ran back to her house after the race for a grand total of about 7.5 miles.

It is important to match your socks to your nuun

As hard as this race is, it is a really neat race to do.  This is the second year for it, and with around 1200 people last year and at least 1300 this year it is the largest St. Jude 5K in the country, which is pretty cool since we aren't that big of a city.  The atmosphere is pretty festive, they have music and bouncy houses, a kids run and a balloon release before the race.  Along the course there are pictures of actual St. Judes patients, so it is easier to keep pushing  (even as you tear up) when you see pictures of all these little kids that are fighting to stay alive.

Stylin'

Balloons!

99 Red Luftballoons

Kristy, Ashley, Me:)

Kristy and I had a good run over, and once we saw the huge line of cars waiting to get in, we were pretty happy with the running decision.  Once Ashley got there we took the obligatory photos of the fun socks we were wearing and watched the festivities until the run began.  The run starts straight up a big hill, then down a bigger hill then pretty flat until some fun little hillage at the end of the race.  I finished in 29:48, better than last year.  I was fairly happy considering sun + hills + hotness+ extra miles= not so fast.

Scientifically proven good post race food

After the race we refueled responsibly with boneless wings, orange sherbet, and cupcakes before taking off for home.  Sounds like a good nutrition plan to me!

We are heading to Chicago tomorrow for a trade show for work and taking the train.  Hopefully we will get to run at some point and I will give Chicago updates sometime next week.

Did anyone else run any fun races this weekend?

She's crafty and she knows it (race shirt redo)

Definitely not talking about myself, by the way.  I like to pretend I'm going to be crafty someday, but it's so much easier when my mom is crafty right now!  I always see ideas on Pinterest and I want to see when people I know try them to see if it really works, so I thought I'd share this race shirt redo from crafterhours that I found on Pinterest and my mom made for me (Note, I apologize to any men reading this, because you probably don't care).

I have a crap-ton of t-shirts laying around.  Three high school sports, sorority shirts, college shirts, and now racing shirts completely inundate my closet.  However, I belong on Hoarders:T-shirts and refuse to get rid of any of them.

This is about 30% of the T-shirts.  The labels are from when the husband  organized for me, I didn't do so well keeping it that way.

 I have a few that I like well enough, but not necessarily the fit, so when I saw the redo on Pinterest I had to try it tell my mom about it.  Plus it would be a unique tank top for the summer for free (minus the registration fee).

I was really happy with the finished product and will be shortly giving her more to do.  Plus my little sister saw it hanging in the basement and commissioned one on the spot for her as well.  She has a similar shirt problem.

To save face as a domestic wonder (riiiiiight), i will point out that even though I don't sew/craft very well, at least the recipes I find on Pinterest seem to be appreciated.

I'm always up for new ways to wear old shirts, so if anyone has ideas, let me know!

The Race and the Pace: Tri Fest 5K (PR edition)

It's 5K season!  As much as I love longer races and training for them, it's nice to have a break from the long runs and to just focus on getting a little un-turtlelike faster. This was my first 5K since the Jingle-Bell run in December, so I had no clue what to expect.  Last week I ran an 8K at a 9 minute pace, and I knew I would need around an 8:45 to PR this 5K, so I knew it was possible.

Pretty excited about the shirt:)

Chilling in the car and playing Angry Birds.  It was cold out there!

I am usually running right on time for races (also known as slightly late, but still making it to the starting line).  For some reason, I managed to get to this one an hour and 20 minutes early.  It was cold so I chilled (literally) in the car until it was Porta-Pottie time. I was worried how my legs were going to feel since it was cold and I had been sitting in the car for 45 minutes.  I found some E-ville racers I knew and we took a lap around the park to get warmed up.  Everything felt great, and we stayed loose with some Cupid Shuffle and Wobbling before the race finally started.

Ready to Run!

I don't have a Garmin, I just run with a stopwatch and hope that the course is marked.  Unfortunately this one wasn't, and you would think after running long enough I could guess what pace I was running by how I felt, but I just can't.  I did luck out at mile 1 and pass by someone who's Garmin chirped the first mile, so I know I did the first mile at an 8:40, but after that I had no idea until I got close to the end.

My main goal was to run well, with a sub goal of PR-ing (former PR was a 27:14 last November). My secret goal* was to break 27.  When I saw the finish line around the corner I was at 26:13 so I booked it and made it under 27 (26:47)!!!  I then tried not to puke on the chip cutting lady, but you'll have that...

The official time was a 26:47, disregard the fact that my watch  is somehow 5 hours slow.

Since my ultimate 5K goal is a 25, I've still got a ways to go, this race really boosted my confidence and I feel like I can probably do it.  My goal now is try actually working in some speedwork and see where that gets me.

Speaking of speedwork, I found this on RunnersWorld.com and it made me laugh.

*Secret goal: the goal you kind of want to do in your head, but don't tell anyone because you don't think you will hit it but it will make you look kind of BA (in your mind anyway) if you do.

My Internal iPod Sucks

I meant to post this yesterday, but I also needed to grill steaks and burn sticks last night

Fire is priority over computer time!

Anyway, I almost never run with an iPod.  I get annoyed with the cords and like the time to think.  This does however, leave me with whatever songs are stuck in my head at the moment to play incessantly until I get done running.  When a song or songs get stuck in my head they will play over and over until I feel like I might go crazy.  This can happen faster than normal depending on the song.  Yesterday was particularly awful and since no one likes to suffer alone, I will give my internal playlist so everyone can suffer with me :)

First song:  Soft Kitty, from the Big Bang Theory (please disregard the random French subtitles, unless you are French.  In that case, you're welcome!)

Next up..this gem "Chicken Fat" by Robert Preston.  I'm sorry.

Since these two were in a continuous loop and I couldn't take it any more, I had to pull out the secret weapon.

Source 

The old John Denver trick, from that moment on my run became this:

Not certain it was an improvement, but at least it was a change!

The Race and the Pace: Southern Indiana Classic 8K

Due to some issues earlier in the year, I had to miss out on some of the local races earlier this year that I usually do, as well as one or two new ones that I would have liked to have done.  As a result I was really ready to do a race!

I am not fast, so I don't do races with the intent of  winning anything (although I found once that being the only one in my age group means I can actually win it!).  I love races for the chance to push myself, they give me something to work towards, and I like being around so many other people that like running as much as I do.

Starting/finishing line

The Southern Indiana Classic (SIC) is in it's third year, and historically has been a marathon and a half marathon.  This year they added an 8K option.  I trained for the marathon last year, but the day before it was scheduled, they had to drop the marathon due to the heat, so I did the half.  This course is pretty freakin' hilly and has a lot of roads surrounded by open fields which always seem to have a headwind, so all the races are a challenge!  I knew I wouldn't be ready to tackle this half and get any kind of time I'd be happy with, so I decided to do the 8K with my friend Lauren.  This was her longest race, so I was excited for both of us.

Waiting to start

They started the races all at the same time, and it suprisingly was not all that crowded at the start, I didn't really have to do any   weaving or get in anyone's way.

Still waiting to start, but happy to be here!

Down the first hill

Overall, I thought the 8K went great!  I heard the half course had some douche-nuggets that came out and stole water and graffiti'd the course, which makes me sad.  Other than that it seemed like everything went over pretty well.  The race started at 7 a.m. and it was around 55 degrees and cloudy, perfect!  It got warmer, windier and randomly rained a few times as the marathon progressed, but it was better than last year!

I finished in 44:57, and Lauren finished in 45:51.  I was really happy with my time, especially for my first race back and I thought Lauren rocked it out!  She doesn't get to run on hills very much since she lives on the other side of town, and this course is hard enough even when you get to run hills all the time.

Go Lauren Go!

We got met after by Mr. Lauren and Dega, their Great Dane.  Dega quickly became the most popular person at the race.

I love these local races, because as the afternoon progressed I got to see a lot of friends and co-workers cross the finish line, several of them after their first marathons!  Seeing them do it really made me anxious to find another half or full to do. Probably in the fall though, It's getting more into 5K season right now and I do have some goals for the shorter races.

It was a pretty good day, and it definitely gave me the racing bug again.  I'm going to have to make room for more t-shirts!

Lauren's 120 pound puppy, Dega.  He was more concerned with trying to steal some beer.

Ladies love them some Dega!

Success!

Smooth(ies), like Keith Stone...

Backstories:

I got a new blender the Christmas before last because I had all kinds of great plans to make smoothies and shakes and other blendable treats.  And then it sat on my counter for a year.

And...

My stepdaughter goes on kicks of not wanting regular (cow) milk when she comes down.  Usually she goes for soy (not a fan).  This time she was fooled into the Silk Pure Coconut vanilla milk.  She saw the Silk and thought it was soy (she's only 6, so still impressive that she read some of the carton).  She liked it, so all was well. I tried it and it was ok, but I could never just drink a glass of it.  Thus, a few days later she's back home and I have half a carton of coconut milk.  So my blender looked at me and said "over here stupid!" and I decided now was the time for smoothies.  I've been making them for several weeks now and I wanted to record my favorites so far for posterity, and so when I forgot what I put in them I could look in a place where I couldn't misplace the random piece of paper I wrote it on.
*Note, I use all frozen fruit instead of ice, and I've been going back and forth between the Silk PureCoconut Vanilla, and Silk Unsweetened Vanilla PureAlmond.  And regular milk when I run out of everything else.

My smoothie on an outdoor adventure...in a beer glass.   Sometimes the dishes don't all get done.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Berries

Frozen Strawberries

Frozen Cherries

Frozen Blueberries

About half to 1 tablespoon of Dark Chocolate Dreams PB from Peanut Butter and Co. (or Nutella, or regular PB and cocoa powder) plus a dash of cocoa powder

Half-1 tablespoon of flax seed (optional)

8-12 oz. Milk of Choice (see note above)-I like the Silk PureCoconut vanilla best

Blend! Add fruit or milk to get desired consistency, I like mine thicker

.

If you take this to work, be prepared for a lot of "WTF are you drinking"?

My Green Monster Smoothie

*For more info on green monsters, go to this site.

Big ol' handful of spinach or baby spinach, put this in first so it is by the blades!

Nut butter o'choice (see above)

flax seed (optional)

1/2 a banana

Frozen Mango

Frozen Pineapple

Frozen blueberries

8-12 oz. of Milk o'choice

Blend it like Beckham! (yay for stupid puns!)

The first of the smoothies.  Love this one!

The I woke up the husband and made him try this smoothie Smoothie
Nut Butter of Choice, I really recommend either the chocolate or the Nutella for this one.
Flaxseed if you like
Frozen mango
Banana
Milk o' choice, the coconut vanilla one is awesome in this!

Blend and drink!

These are my favorites so far, and I really like the idea of getting a couple of servings of fruits and even veggies in before 8 in the morning.  I think they give me more energy and help me cope with the majorly less amounts of Diet Coke I've been drinking of late.  If anyone has ideas to share or suggestions, leave a comment, I like trying new ones!