- My mom loves to wrap gifts. I don’t, and am horrible at it, so when I was in my hometown last weekend, I brought my baby shower gift for her to wrap! Darn – looking back at it, I should have brought all those April birthday gifts for her to wrap, too!
- I forgot to mention two things in my 5K race report. One, I forgot my headphones. Gah! I was so mad when I realized it, forty miles away from home. Then I remembered how fast Pete runs without them, and told myself to suck it up. Two, when I was telling my mom I forgot my headphones, I said “at least I didn’t forget my racing flats!” Then, once she realized I was racing on shoes with less support, she worried about it that night and until after the race when she asked me if my feet hurt from using them. Ha ha. No.
- Woo hoo! I saw this sign at the nearby Van Patten Woods Forest Preserve last week. The Forest Preserve is making a wider shoulder to get to Van Patten Woods, and extending a trail from it to another preserve – Pine Dunes Forest Preserve. This all equals safer running for me! This small expansion is part of the Millennium Trail. Once that entire trail is completed, I’ll be able to run all the way to my old townhome (about twenty miles away) and even further beyond that!
- Steven and I enjoyed our “book club for two” last summer and have been wanting to read another book together. We finally picked one out – Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. I like reading about real people, and Steven likes reading about businessmen, so I hope it’s another winner!
- Blah. I’m so sick of seeing people trying to one-up each other online. Guys, we all live normal, mediocre lives. If you can’t say “good for you,” when someone shares something they’re excited about, just move along. Seriously.
Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 129
That’s great news about the trail work they’re doing to make for safer running! Have they said how long they estimate before the whole trail is complete? I look forward to hearing how that book is. I read the Alexander Hamilton biography by the same author and really enjoyed it.
I haven’t been able to find any information on when the entire trail will be completed! I am guessing in the next 20 years?! Hopefully I am still running/biking, ha ha.
I will let you know how the book is! It’s good to hear you like the author!
Your Mom looks so happy wrapping! Jealous of those trails, that’s like full marathon training distance without ever having to leave them.
She loves it!
You can do that now on other trails here! And when this one is ready you can do a 100-mile loop around the county!
Funny thing about wrapping gifts… I’m great with wrapping paper (as long as the paper isn’t cheap and really thin). But gift bags, which should be infinitely easier to use, are like kryptonite for me. I cannot make gift wrapping look good with those damn things. Some stupid paper fluffing and whatnot. Can’t do it.
Making the tissue look good is a lot harder than it looks! And nice paper is KEY for wrapping!
Oooh that books sounds super interesting! You’ll have to let us know how it is!
I am SO TERRIBLE at wrapping presents. I never cut the right amount of paper (I always cut WAY too much or WAY too little) and the wrapping inevitably ends up looking like a five year old did it. It’s embarrassing haha. Gift bags for the win!
I will! I wonder if it will be one of those books that makes me look up lots of other info on what was happening in that time. (I bet!)
Gawd. Are we the same wrapper? LOL. I don’t understand how I measure it and it’s SO OFF.
So, how was it racing without headphones? Would you do it again?
It was good! I think that is what allowed me to have those even splits – being more in tune with my body than relying on music tempo. However, I do think faster music would have gotten me a faster overall time, just with crappier splits, if that makes sense? I would do it again 🙂 It’s especially appropriate at these more crowded races!
Yes, I’ve heard that one of the drawbacks to listening to music is the uneven pacing due to different songs having different tempos (or even within the same song)! Makes total sense that faster tempo would push you to run faster, but may lead to burnout near the end if the pace was too fast. I’m constantly doing “self assessments” at certain points and one of the major components of that is listening to how labored my breathing is. I think it would be more difficult to do while listening to music. Anyway, glad to hear you would do it again! 🙂
Yes! I’ve tried with my 5K playlists to speed up the tempo with each song (and start with something slow) but apparently that doesn’t work for me!!!
It was good to be able to hear my breathing and tell myself I could keep going!
I’m like your mom and love to wrap presents, although I hate bows. They’re a pain!
Do you have specific racing headphones? Could you have gone to Target and picked up a cheap pair for the race?
Making bows? Or applying them?
Yeah, I wear bluetooth headphones that are $$$. I would never run with corded ones, which is what I would have bought for a backup.
I like to wrap gifts, which is a good thing considering we offer free gift wrap at the gift shop. It’s just a bag and tissue, but we can foof it up with tulle bows and ribbon.
Racing flats?? So you don’t race in your normal running shoes? I’m intrigued…tell me more, por favor.
Oh, that’s fun! I bet people love having you wrap them there!
Yeah, I wear cushioned Asics (Cumulus or Nimbus) for training, and a thin profile Asics Lyte for racing 5Ks or 10Ks. It’s a lot lighter in weight and the idea is that less weight helps and makes for a quicker turnover 🙂
LOL at your last point. I completely agree, but I would love to hear the story that sparked that comment 🙂
I stopped running with music a few years ago (when I realized my phone at the time couldn’t both play music AND track my run) and I don’t miss it. I also feel safer running in Chicago with my ears open. (That sounds weird.)
If you follow anyone on Facebook who posts an exercise achievement, you’ll probably see the sort of reaction I am talking about 🙂
I use the Millennium trail often as it goes right by our place. I still need to figure out how to take it further north. Though now that I am looking at the map I see it is still “planned” between McDonalds Woods and Pine Dunes which is where I am looking to go north from.
I still haven’t checked out Pine Dunes FP. I’ve seen some other FPs on our bikes that I want to check out too. Just have to find some free weekends! :/
Yeah, I don’t think there is an option north from there, yet!
Pine Dunes is nice! Mostly prairie, and just over a 2 mile loop. If you leave it and go down 173, you get to Van Patten Woods and the DPRT. I hope you get to check out the preserves you want! And that you have a cross bike for the crushed limestone trails!
I’ve been trying to convince Matt I need a cross bike as well but it hasn’t worked yet hehe. I’ll keep trying though.
Surely Matt knows the equation for how many bikes you need, x+1 (x being the amount you already have).
I know that! But I guess he just isn’t in agreement! We are running short on space in our current place so maybe I’ll be able to convince him once we eventually move!
Just add more hooks to the garage ceiling!
On the online one up, ignore my Journey comments on your blog post. LOL
Seriously, I hate that one up pattern. See it a lot on FB.
Ha! That was totally not an online one up! That was you sharing how awesome it is you’ve seen Journey!
What I am see is usually in the fitness realm. Someone posts “I did x today!” and the comments are “I did xyz (more!)” I know it sounds like I am describing you saying you’ve seen Journey more, lol, but it’s totally not the same. It would be odd for you to comment and not mention that!!!
Ahh, I get what you are saying. Always having to have the last update.
And I figured such. I thought it was funny that I just typed that comment about my Journey experience than read this post. LOL
Yeah, always having to be like “well, I did THIS!” Ha ha.
It was funny!!!!