I am transitioning my blog over to a website…. shit just got real. Come find me here now:
Chicago Marathon Recap
I meant to write up the 2016 Chicago Marathon sooner, but sometimes life takes over and we have to write these posts in unique places like the bus ride home which smells a smidge like pee.
In other news, the Chicago marathon is over! This was my first time running Chicago and only my second time running a marathon and quite frankly, it was a blast. My overall time was only 7 seconds faster than last year so of course I was a bit annoyed as I was determined to run faster, but since I have been dealing with ankle issues and I did not pay attention to my pace at all… I need to quit complaining. So yes, the good parts about the race (besides everything) is that after mile 6 when Lucy ran up to me and told me I was running 8:30 and I said oh shoot I need to slow down… I didn’t pay attention to anything except running and having fun. The Chicago spectators are the effing best and they are everywhere! I listened to music only a handful of times during my 26.2 miles and towards the end I kept thinking that I had just listened to Cake by the Ocean on repeat for close to 5 hours. I had not… it just never finished.
Let’s be real: I should quit complaining anyway because I ran and finished another marathon and I need to learn to just be proud of that.
Other details.
The expo
Going into marathon weekend I was playing it cool. My big plan is to run 36 miles in another week so running 26 is far less daunting, but by the time Friday and the expo rolled around I was excited and just wanted to get there. McCormick Place is a beast to travel to, but they provided shuttles to and from places like Nike which made it much more convenient. Vendors were plentiful and I managed to buy a jacket (of course) and a pair of Hoka Ones because I am intrigued on how they feel (lets hope they get rid of that ankle strain).
The race
OMG… I already talked about the spectators above but OMG. So well organized. So much fun. I wore my name on my shirt and hearing people yell for me the entire time was just so amazing. So many great signs along the course including lots of tump and Hilary, two T-rexes, and two corgis who I yelled corgi at… like you do. My friends are also so amazing and tracked me down throughout the city so they could support, cheer and run with me. I am so incredibly lucky to be surrounded by them and have their support on all of my adventures.
Running with a charity
Do it. Raising money isn’t necessarily the easiest but team support is truly divine and access to team bathrooms pre-race instead of the port-o-potties that everyone used is a total game changer.
Post race swag
Bananas. More gatorade (no thanks). Water. Bag from Mariano’s. I didn’t make it to the post race party because I went and celebrated with pizza and Jeni’s ice cream.
I know this recap is pretty quick, but guys… run the Chicago marathon. Everyone says how great it is, and it is. I am looking forward to a bit of a running break this winter but I also can’t wait to get back into training and work on getting faster.
Post race feels: ankles were super swollen next day and tight quads but I’m already on the mend and back to working out.
Oh… and their photographers are bomb.com and super fast!
Tomorrow We Run
20 miles.
Which means that tonight we foam roll.
See you on the flip side of this long run.
My Life in Some Numbers
I constantly feel like I am doing nothing and yet the other night as I attempted to sleep I realized that’s not the case. This summer turned out to be dedicated to a lot of things that weren’t necessarily expected. So… Here’s things:
40 hours a week – work
5 hours a week – workout (not including running)
1 hour a week – teaching
4 hours of week- slinging water at lake front aid stations for RAM racing
1 hour a week – blogging for City Fit Girls
2 hours a week – rehearsal for a show I’m not under studying
3 more weeks until the weekend of two weddings and my birthday (one wedding had involved me planning bridal shower and bachelorette party)
4 more weeks until the marathon and another wedding
6 more weeks until maybe I run 36 miles
8 more weeks until I see Hamilton
9 more weeks until I go to China for two weeks
I’m tired.
But also, I’m pretty happy.
Get Sweaty at Sweat
Friday night I attended my first blogger event at Sweat. I’ve been to Sweat before and I regularly go to HIIT classes so the format itself was not new to me. We need a shortened class, Tabata style, and it flew by. Let me break it down:
Show up to Sweat. Everyone is super nice. Duh.
They give a quick tour and lavish you with water… Sorry Propel but you are not my jam. Amenities in the bathroom however, are tops.
IV me comes in to sell us on their services. While I am sure that stuff works great and I am always curious to try new recovery techniques, I also consider $80 shots to rehydrate during a hang over rich people nonsense.
Class is led by Owner Paul who I haven’t worked with before. Class breakdown is above. If I had know DB push presses were going to be on the schedule I would not have used I such heavy weights in the SWAT class I took at Enrgi shortly before. Total arm burnout. Other thoughts on class: he gave us different instructions for sprints (raise incline, raise speed, etc) which really forced you to push, they have a target on the wall where you are supposed to aim and as a short as hell women I moved to a different wall as I was concerned about my form in attempting to reach the ceiling, rowing and TRx were standard and boxes came in various sizes and again as someone with no legs I thank you kindly.
After class we were treated to some juice ( yum), homemade protein balls (double yum) and Q&A.
It’s interesting to talk to an owner about their goal for their gym and he was really interested in what we all look for in a workout and what we find intimidating.
For $169 a month, I think Sweat is a bit pricey for me, but they are a great little community oriented group fitness gym in the Gold Coast. Or if you just want to roll into KitchFix and then stop by Sweat to purchase one of their awesome tanks you could do that too.
Whose Haus? Brahaus
I’ve been meaning to write about my experience at Nike’s Brahaus which I was pretty excited to attend because I am a girl and I wear bras and Nike. Since it was a week ago… let’s be real… most of those memories are gone already. So here is what I do remember. Nike very awesomely set up a social event that included freebies from Rx (which I LOVE – dark chocolate sea salt, mint, and coconut chocolate are my faves so far), pressed juice, customized bras with purchase and a HIIT class based on a workout inspired by Simone Biles.
So… the bra fitting. I was a bit early and I am awkward so of course this was slightly awkward. The lovely fitter guessed my size (she was wrong) and then when I told her my size she assumed I was wrong but after measuring, turns out I was actually right. Who thought that was going to happen? Definitely not me. She then brought me a bra in a size up with the same cup size and I know very little about bras, but I do know that if your band goes up your cup goes down. Sad for me as the Pro Bra was pretty great, but the cups were too big. I did end up buying my very first Nike Bra, but I realized that when I wear it with a tank top you can see completely down me…. soooooo high necks only. Otherwise, reports of working out in the bra are excellent. The support is really great for those of us with boobs. And sorry to Greg who reads my blog and doesn’t want to know this much information about bras.
The workout… was fun! Though the room was sweltering so my normal amount of sweat was only maximized. Sorry to everyone involved. We did some bear crawls, deadlifts, med ball slams and squat jumps led by the completely delightful Betina and Gina. I always find their workouts interesting because I am a gal who likes heavy weights and likes to move it, move it, but of course they have to teach to a slightly lower level as the experience level at these events is all over the place. I do highly recommend NTC workouts. The workouts are just as good as you get in a lot of gyms and are free (says the girl who pays for her gym but whateves, I love my instructors).
Moral of the story? If Brahaus is hitting up your city then you should definitely attend. Nike makes all of their events look like events you want to be attending. They are hip and cool.
In other random news, this skeptical lady bought the Kayla Itsines workouts/meal plans on ebay for $5 because I am curious and fully plan on reporting back. Thus far I have discovered that almost every meal involves cheese or yogurt which is awesome, but not when you are lactose intolerant.
P.P.S I am trying to sell a pair of very gently used 7.5 Women’s Mizuno Wave Rider (18 I believe) so if you know anyone whose interested please let me know!! Apparently all this running has greatly expanded my feet and I am now a monster.
Where My Ladies At?
Growing up I was a tomboy. I had some female friends but I felt closer to men. I had a better understanding of men. In recent years that’s changed and I have many more women in my close circles. What does this have to do with anything? It’s Olympics time and I am all about the girl power representing this year.
First of all, let’s talk about team USA which is comprised of 262 men and 292 women. That’s right. More sporty ladies are competing in Rio then our brethren. Now let’s talk about Saudi Arabia. They sent 4 women to the Olympics, one of which is competing in weightlifting. Ayesha Al Balooshi i I support you for being a bad ass, weight lifting woman in a country where that is surely frowned upon.
Please note that Al Balooshi was actually on the UAE team.
In the women’s 400 meter Saturday night Katinka Hosszu not only smashed her competition but she smashed records and is now the world record holder for the distance. No big.
In women’s cycling, while I was all about Maura Abbott taking home the gold…
She was bested in the very last less than minute but Anna van der Breggen and the follow pack and ended fourth. I still think Abbott’s a badass for holding tight and climbing 2000km hills in the lead two.
Tonight is women’s gymnastics and I think we all know how the world feels about the USA team.
Sunday is the women’s marathon. I admit I will be shocked if someone from Team USA wins, but I am team Desi Linden all the way (ok and Team Cragg and Team Flanagan).
What I am saying ladies is that if you aren’t watching the Olympics you should start because our #girlsquad is crushing.
Blogging With My Homies
I keep meaning to write to check in but this summer I am doing what I call hustling. I listened to a podcast the other day where someone said when people were asking them how life was they no longer wanted to say busy, and I am now working on that as well. Life is busy, but there still seems to be enough wasted hours in a day that I am not using to capacity so is it really THAT busy?
In other news, I am now blogging with City Fit Girls. You can check out my latest post on their site!
http://cityfitgirls.com/blog/keep-your-head-in-the-game
When Things Fall Apart
I am not one to walk around talking about my personal life… I mean beyond, yes I run, yes I workout a bunch, yes these are my personal thoughts and opinions… but when it comes to the deeper things, I just don’t talk about them. Not because I don’t want to share but because I am not quite sure how to share quite frankly.
Last night my grandmother died. I was close to my grandparents growing up and I spent a lot of time with them. But then I moved and in more recent years, she developed dementia and wasn’t an entirely nice person. Which I get but I also just didn’t want to spend much time around. I was fine this morning and then I called my mother and found out how she died (we aren’t entirely sure but the funeral now involves a closed casket and apparently everything in the bathroom has to be thrown away) and I kind of just fell apart. I am still kind of just falling apart. I think I am falling more apart now then when my dad died but I think it is in part due to the circumstances of the death and how crummy 2016 has been overall. Anyway, who did I tell this information to? My friend as I asked her to cat sit, my boss as I asked for his points and my ex-whom I still want to tell everything to. I had no clue how to tell my closest friends, the people I talk to everyday because it seems weird to send them a text like hey, good morning, my grandmother’s dead and I am falling apart.
Emotions about death are interesting. They hit you when you aren’t expecting it and you aren’t always entirely sure what to do with them. I will likely work out later because that is how I deal with things now. All in all, I will be fine and I genuinely do not want to talk about things nor do I want people’s sympathy which sounds weird, but I never know what to say beyond it’s OK. Because it is OK. It will be OK. But every once in awhile, you just fall apart.
So this is me, sharing my personal news with you. And I will be OK because that’s the truth. It’s now how we fall apart or why we fall apart. We all do it, it’s what we do afterwards that truly matters.
Pimping My Friends
If I was a ClassPass member I would rate this class but I am not and thusI can only force you, my dear readers, to read my review of ElectiFYD with Lisa D at All About Dance.
Years ago I was a regular at ABD but due to some schedule changes I made the jump to group fitness and found a new love. I use the term love because I love ABD and adore Lisa. This new class offers both dance (follow along, not learning a dance like their usual classes) and strength training. I will warnthe muscle heads out there (myself included) that this is more barre style with small weights and pulsing movements. I haven’t used small weights in awhile (except for at hardpressed when I scoff but then can’t lift 5lbs because I am dead) and while they feel like tiny butterflies in your hand, once you pulse for a bit you are thanking baby Jesus that they aren’t heavier.
And in other news, this was me from three years ago. My how things change quickly. I was just starting to run so I could get around the block in class and was attending a few 1hr classes regularly but not daily. Here we are, three years later, and I won’t tell you how frequently I work out, but I will tell you that I have vastly changed from the girl with the sandwich photoshopped on her (the class I was taking that day is BLT so it’s a most excellent pun).
TrainerTLace 