Lacking balance
And that’s “balance” in both the literal and figurative sense.
I was nervous about publishing this post for some reason. I think because it has a lot of anxious energy in it, and I don’t always feel like that needs to be shared. So, read ahead if you want!
Ah, stupid end of the month revelations. After my Sunday race I was thinking about how good I was feeling and what a great month I had, and then, the thought struck me:
Oh sh*t. I am doing it again – putting all of my eggs in one basket.
That would be the running basket. The “I feel great and happy when I can run” basket. That is a nice basket to put your eggs in, until the basket gets a stress fracture, you can no longer run and you end up eating your weight in Oreos.
Okay, so I am not making any sense. Plain and simple, I did have a great month, with a lot of running and running socials as well as other fun get-togethers (a birthday party and baking day), but I am worried about how good of a month it was. Worried that my happiness will be thwarted by another stress fracture and I will have to stop running again. Worried that letting so much of my happiness rely on whether or not I can run is dangerous. It is. It’s way out of balance.
And I am not sure how to fix that. I had stress fractures in August of 2009 and May of 2010 and each time, I kind of… wallowed in self-pity. And ate those Oreos.
What a dumb thing to worry about. Moving right along…
Do you feel like your personal interests are well-balanced? Or is there one interest that kind of takes center stage in your life?
This next part is about body weight, so please skip if it will make you feel uncomfortable.
Obligatory snow pictures
It seems like we got a bit of snow here in the midwest. Or maybe it’s just blowing around a bit? Either way, I am pretty certain we are stuck in the house for awhile. And that is okay with me!
Being stuck in the house actually makes me feel grateful for quite a few things:
- That I have shelter and food
- That I am able to work from home
- That I have Steven and Data for company
- That we have a lot of things in our home to entertain us
- That we have exercise equipment in the house (plus snowshoes if I want to go outside!)
- That I made it home safe last night (despite a long delay on the train)
- That my car is parked in our garage
- That the power, heat, cell phones and internet still work
The list could go on and on!
If/when you are stuck at home, what’s on your grateful list?
The Exercise Widow
I read a really interesting (to me anyway) article today – A Workout Ate My Marriage – about (amateur) endurance athletes who spend a lot of time exercising, and maybe not so much time with their families.
The article described situations where one spouse was up early to work out for a few hours in the morning, leaving the other spouse to wake up alone. Then at night, the athletic spouse (the one who woke up early) would either want to get another workout in, or go to bed early so they could wake up early the next day and repeat (sound familiar Steven)? On the weekends, the athletic spouse would be gone, working out for maybe 5-6 hours, sometimes both days.
Hence, the “Exercise Widow” – the spouse left at home, feeling like the don’t have a spouse at all.
The article brought up a lot of interesting points, and I want to touch on a few.
- Apparently, a lot of couples go to therapy to discuss how one spouse is always gone exercising. This makes the non-athletic spouse (for lack of a better term) feel lonely, and like they are left home to take care of all of the chores and raise the children (if applicable).
- One woman was quoted as saying that after she started exercising and lost weight, she felt attracted to other men, and less so to her husband. She said she “settled for him” because she thought that was the best she could get. My mom, sister and I were actually discussing this back in November. Apparently, they know quite a few women who have done this. The article said there is no concrete data on how much having one exercise-obsessed spouse in a marriage affects divorce rates.
- Another exerciser’s family had an intervention to ask him to exercise less!
The article’s solution? Workout together, if you can. Or at least, both be interested in exercise, if you can, and support your spouse at their athletic events.
I know that’s not always realistic. I would say, like with any other marital problem – COMMUNICATE. Let your spouse know the commitment your training takes and see how they feel about it. Make compromises. Be considerate. Don’t be (too) selfish. And don’t be gone all the time.
I am not always the best at that, but I try. I DO STEVEN, I REALLY DO!!!
What do you think about the article? Do you think it’s an issue when one person in a relationship is a heavy exerciser and one isn’t? Have you ever been in that situation?
Vegan Pizza Day
Did you guys know that Saturday was Vegan Pizza Day?
What, you didn’t?! You did not celebrate?! Shame on you!
Just kidding! I didn’t know it was going to be Vegan Pizza Day either. But by chance, I saw it on a blog on Saturday morning, and also by chance, my friend Jen was planning on coming over on Saturday to, yes, bake a pizza!
Jen is my friend that Erin and I ran the Rotary Santa Run (5K) with in December. Jen is completely hilarious, honest and a blast to be around. I wish she would start a blog so I could get a little more of her each day (or each time she posted). Come on Jen, do it, do it, do it!
Have you ever met someone and thought, “Wow, this person is awesome, they should start a blog?”
Hmm, it sounds weird when I ask like that, but maybe someone can relate? Maybe? Or should I ask, Have you ever met someone and not wanted to read their blog anymore? Ha. Tell me all the dirt.
Anyway, on to the pizza and baking. Jen was actually over to make some Cookie Dough Lara Sarahbars (Peas & Thank You) and Pumpkin Pie Brownie ‘Cupcakes’ (Oh She Glows) while Steven was going to make the pizza. Let me just say, I should have been wearing my “Nom Nom Nom” shirt. YUMMY!
Making the Sarahbars (balls, really). Many ball jokes were told.
And the Cupcakes…
And now for the pizza. Steven has been wanting to make a deep dish pizza for a long time, and he finally did. And whoa. It was a-m-a-z-i-n-g. Like a slice of savory heaven. Ha.
For the record, he made 1/3 vegan and 2/3 with cheese.
Have you ever had a baking/cooking day with a friend?
To be honest, I was a bit nervous about doing all of the kitchen stuff – because I do not know what I am doing. But we all had a blast. Yay!
Oh, and Data had a blast too. He really liked Jen’s bag and the grass she brought him. Thanks Jen!
Frozen Zucchini Snowshoe 5K Race Report
Your first race of the new year is always exciting – especially if it’s something ridiculous like a snowshoe 5K!
Yesterday, myself and 150 other crazies ran/walked the Frozen Zucchini Snowshoe Adventure (5K) in Barrington, IL. The course was two 1.55 mile loops at a park.*
While waiting for the race to start, I was feeling nervous for some reason. I was worried I wasn’t dressed warm enough, and I guess, that the race would be really hard. Well, it was. But at least I was dressed warm enough!
I started near the back of the pack, expecting to be slow.
Dad, I challenge you to find me in that photo.
However, I quickly moved more toward the front! Apparently a lot of people were out there walking. My goal was to run as much as possible, and take short, timed walk breaks as necessary.
I did really well the first mile, running a 12:26. YES, that was running. I saw my heart rate was going up to 186, so I stopped to take a one-minute walk break. Then I started to run again. And fell (crossed the backs of the snowshoes by accident). A nice guy asked me if I was alright – I said yes and kept going. Then I got to a hill and fell twice while going up it. Oops. The same nice guy helped me up both times.
When I ran past Steven at the end of the first loop, I was feeling the burn. And mostly in my right hip! I figured out what was causing it – when my right leg slides down a slope in the snowshoes, it tweaks it. No surprise there!
Anyway, I cheesed it up…
… but also let Steven know how hard the race was!
During my second mile (14:42), I caught up with the nice guy who helped me. We introduced ourselves to each other (he’s Ben) and I told him I was going to stick with him in case I fell again. Ha! We ended up chatting the rest of the way of the second loop. I found out he ran the Chicago Marathon – and we both said we thought snowshoe running was harder!
I took another one-minute walk break in the last mile and walked up two hills (so I wouldn’t trip again, ha), and when Ben and I made it to the finish, we gave it all we had!
When we were done (in 44:02) I felt like crawling up the hill to reunite with Steven. My legs were so worn out! I met up with Steven and immediately took my snowshoes off. My wool socks were soaked!
But I was ELATED!!! The race was a blast, despite being so hard, and I felt really proud of my time. I feel like I kicked butt, based on my little snowshoe running experience. And to put it all in perspective, the winner had a time of 29 minutes. My time was 44 minutes** – running in the snow is HARD!!!
Update: I was third in my AG, and 32/118!
After the race, we hung out in the shelter by the fire, then went to the post race party at a local bar/grill.
So. I have to tell you about how awesome the volunteers in this race were and how completely awesome the goody bag/post race party was!
There were tons of volunteers who had Frozen Zucchini hats on to help identify themselves. They cheered us on and helped us out. Thank you volunteers!
And now, I have to show you the loot from my goody bag:
An energy drink, Pirate’s Booty, Kettlecorn, Honey Stingers, a bag clip, apple, chocolate dip, granola bar, clif bar, compass, race shirt, gloves, hotties, wool socks, a reusable bag, and fliers. WHOA! That is a lot of stuff! Updated to add: Erehwon, Smartwool, Whole Foods provided all of the awesome items in the goody bag.
And? AND?!
They had FREE pizza at the party! FREE PIZZA! How awesome!!! Updated to add: Wool Street Grill & Sports Bar sponsored the free pizza party afterward.
Steven said, “That is what happens when you run in Barrington.” Barrington is a very rich suburb of Chicago. I guess! Steven suggested running more races in rich neighborhoods. Ha.
And another highlight?! I got to meet Ian, a blogger friend (check out his blog Running Off Road). He was there to cheer on his friends and recognized me and said hello! He was super nice and I hope we get to meet up again.
And I chatted quite a bit with Ben during the race and at the after party. He is also a vegetarian! I wonder if we will run in to each other at another race.
Alright, this is getting long. Long story short – this race was a blast and the 2011 racing season is on!!!
Where are the mascot’s snowshoes?!
Garmin stats | Distance: 3.1 | Start Temp: 27° | End Temp: 31° | Time: 40:47 | Avg Pace: 14:09 | 1: 12:26 | 2: 14:42 | 3: 15:40 | 4: 1:12 <– 10:50 pace!!!
*When I got to the race and saw it was two loops, I told Steven, “I am not going to feel like doing that second loop.” Apparently, others didn’t either – Steven said a lot of people stopped after the first loop.
**I think the winner in my AG was 41:something.
Training Week 67
My next race is the Frosty Footrace (5K) on February 27th. This is the week of the Frozen Zucchini Snowshoe Adventure (5K) on January 30th.
Day 463 | January 24, 2011: 4 m run (4x400s) + yoga
Speedwork! During lunch I used one of the office gym treadmills to do 4×400. Something about that gym treadmill makes it feel much easier than the one at home. I wonder if it’s mental or actually something physical about the machine.
Anyway, I started out slow with the 400s since my speedwork has been non-existent since, well, who knows, the summer? Before then?
| 1st 400 @ 6.6mph/9:05mm |
| 2nd 400 @ 6.8mph/8:51mm |
| 3rd 400 @ 6.9mph/8:41mm |
| 4th 400 @ 7.0mph/8:34mm |
I did a 1-mile warm-up (@6.0mph/10:00mm), 4×400 with 2:00 minutes of recovery (@6.0mph/10:00mm), then about a 1.4 mile cool-down (@6.0mph/10:00mm). The workout felt good and easy. Success!
Distance: 4.0 | Incline: 1.0 | Time: 38:57
In the evening I did the YogaWorks Beginners DVD. Wow. Did that ever feel good! Note to self – do yoga immediately after running, when possible (even if feeling distracted)!
Day 464 | January 25, 2011: cross
Tuesday was one of those days where I was lucky to get any sort of workout in. I was in training all day, and barely had any time at lunch. And had a headache and was moody when I got home.
I get headaches when ever my routine is thrown off and I don’t drink as much water and eat at my normal times. Does getting thrown off your eating/drinking schedule cause you to have headaches?
Recumbent Bike Time: 25:00 | Distance: 4.72 | Set on “Manual”, Resistance Level 3.0
Day 465 | January 26, 2011: 4 m run (tempo) + strength
During lunch I used the office gym treadmill to do a quick tempo run – .5 miles @ 10:00mm, 3 miles @ 9:05 mm, and .5 miles @ 10:00 mm. Not much for a warm-up and cool-down, but that was all the time I had.
This run was hard, but not really in a physical way – more in a mental way. I had to keep repeating, “you can do this!” And I did.
Unfortunately, my left shin was bugging me a bit when I first started, then the pain went right away. Ugh. Guess I am on “shin alert” – any pain and I must not run.
Distance: 4.0 | Incline: 1.0 | Time: 37:18
Kandi and I were talking about how red our faces get when we work out (and how people like to comment on it) at the beginning of the week, so I took a photo of me after my shower. I look really bad (angry or something, but I am not) but you can see how red my face is!
Is your face super red after you work out?
And yes, someone commented on how red my face was on Wednesday!
In the evening, I did Level 1 of The 30 Day Shred. I used 2-lb dumbbells for most of the moves, and 5-lb dumbbells for the Dumbbell Row and Chest Flies.
You know, the 30 Day Shred always kicks my butt. I like that about it.
Day 466 | January 27, 2011: cross+ strength
At lunch time, I rode the bike.
Bike Time: 30:00 | Distance: 6.01 | Set on “Manual”, Resistance Level 3.0
In the evening, I attended a strength clinic being held by the running club. It was hosted by a local personal trainer, and he shared a lot of good moves with us! I did about a 30-minute workout, sampling the moves below, and using two 5-lb, and sometimes an 8-lb weight (depending on the move).
| 1. Kettlebell Swings |
6. Toe Raises with Dumbbells on Shoulders |
| 2. Jump Lunges | 7. One Leg Squat to Side Raise |
| 3. Pushup Row w/Core Hold |
8. Core: Rower/Ab Crunch /Ab Crunch to Dumbbell Press |
| 4. Squat & then Toe Raise |
9. Tricep Extension to Knee Up |
| 5. Dumbbell Squat | 10. Reverse Lunge to Dumbbell Curl |
That’s me in purple (below), trying the Ab Crunch to Dumbbell Press move. Ouch!
Day 467 | January 28, 2011: 10 m run + yoga
Whoa! Heatwave! 30°F!!! Time to celebrate!
I was so excited to see the temperatures so high! I liked not wearing pants over my tights (although I do have shorts on that you can barely see).
I tried to run this 10-miler quickly, to see if I could. I averaged a 9:30 pace, which is really good for me right now. But it was admittedly hard in the end. Especially because my neighborhood has a lot of short hills!
I had to stop at mile 1.3 to put on wired headphones because my wireless bluetooth adapter stopped working (I thought I would try it since it was warmer). And I stopped at home at mile 5 and Steven had a warm pretzel for me to eat! What a sweetie!
After eating my pretzel, I changed in to something more “visible” since the sun was starting to set. I ended up being at home for maybe 10-15 minutes. Oops!
Yellow Uni-Boob! I am getting the feeling yellow is not a good color for me!
The rest of the run went well, but I did have to stop and stretch my right hip a few times. Nothing major, I could just feel the road on my left shin, left outside knee and right hip. I miss running on trails!!!
Run stats: I wore the Asics Cumulus 12s. I stopped at home and had a pretzel and a sip of water in the middle of the run. In the beginning, I had on tights, shorts, Under Armour ColdGear, my green jacket, a headband and gloves (which I took on and off). After stopping, I put on a new layer of Under Armour ColdGear, the yellow top over it, and the reflective belt.
Distance: 10.0 | Start Temp: 30° | End Temp: 28° | Time: 1:35:04| Avg Pace: 9:30 | 1: 9:38 | 2: 9:34 | 3: 9:26 | 4: 9:22 | 5: 9:26 | 6: 8:58 | 7: 9:29 | 8: 9:42 | 9: 9:37 | 10: 9:43
Day 468 | January 29, 2011: 4.2 m run
Saturday was another fun run with the Grayslake Running Club! We ran around Grayslake then had a little social at Dunkin’ Donuts afterward. Every time I meet up with the group I am so happy I joined. There are so many wonderful members. And it’s a lot of fun running with them! And I love that someone is always taking photos – makes me feel like I am not the only crazy photo-taker out there.
After the social, we even went over to the club president’s house so Steven could help with their speakers. Everyone helps each other out!
Oh, and a funny thing – this was my inaugural outdoor run for my new Asics. I was running and something felt funny – there was a tag inside the shoe! I had to stop and take the shoe off and get it out. Ha ha.
Distance: 4.2 | Start Temp: 32° | End Temp: 32° | Time: 40:47 | Avg Pace: 9:43 | 1: 9:51 | 2: 9:59 | 3: 9:34 | 4: 9:31 | 5: 1:51
Day 469 | January 30, 2011: Snowshoe 5K
Time to go “run” this…
And see what happens!
Week Summary: 25.3 miles
This was a good week, with the return of some easy speedwork and tempo runs. I felt like I slacked a little on the strength department. Maybe I can fit something in later today…
Defriended / Magnetic Photo Frame Giveaway Winner
I read an interesting and brief article this morning on the WSJ about defriending (“Why I Defriend the Old-Fashioned Way“), and how the author thinks it is a cowardly thing to do on Facebook. He thinks defriending should be a “face-to-face,” or at least performed in an honest, straight-forward manner. He says that when you defriend someone on Facebook, they don’t know if it’s because of something they did, or just because you were purging your friend list. I suppose that’s true.
The author even (sarcastically) mentions Dunbar’s number (which I talked about last January) – the idea that human beings can only handle 150 relationships at a time, and your brain cannot handle anymore than that. That’s probably also true.
However, people amass so many Facebook friends, that I think getting defriended on Facebook is quite a bit different than ending a relationship in real life. For example, awhile ago I was reading a friend’s Facebook status and saw a mutual friend had commented on it. “Oh,” I thought, “I haven’t seen what mutual friend is up to in awhile! I’ll click on her name and check out her Facebook page.”
Access denied.
Yeah. I was defriended. And it wasn’t because I did anything. It was a mutual friend that I barely knew (and through the internet, nonetheless). The mutual friend was probably just purging their list, and decided to take me off. And that is fine. I didn’t mind at all. I found it funny, in fact.
Of course, I wouldn’t recommend defriending your actual close friends, it’s just that Facebook is a somewhat different beast than real life relationships.
From here
So, how do you defriend in real life? That is something that had evaded me. You know, all of these “Start Fresh in the New Year!” articles advise on ending toxic relationships, but how? How do you say to a friend, “I am sick of your bullsh*t and need to end our relationship. You bring me more stress than happiness.” You would have to have a lot of balls to say something like that. I imagine most people just slowly cut back on communication. And maybe defriend on Facebook. Ha.
In fact, this article “How Do You Break Up With a Friend?” doesn’t have many great suggestions – they say to avoid the friend, ignore them (?), and only have a true heart-to-heart if they are a close friend. And even then, maybe just write a one-sided email. Hmm. In the end the article says that letting nature take its course might take care of it as well.
I haven’t had to break up with any friends. I don’t have the luxury of having that many friends! But I find this all very interesting.
Have you ever been defriended on Facebook? How did that make you feel? Or have you be the “defriend-er”? Have you ever broken off a friendship in real life?
The winner of the Magnetic Photo Frame Giveaway is J! J, please email me your mailing address, and I will send the frames your way!
Friday Question #146
Which scents do you like to use for your home?
Food scents! Since Steven cooks almost every day, our house usually smells like food – and quite often something with an onion base. An onion-hater would not survive long in our home. And we like it when the house smells like food!
But we also use air fresheners and scented soap – warm vanilla sugar in the fall and winter, and cucumber melon in the spring and summer. See? Still food scents.
I also like pumpkin and blueberry scented candles. Yummy! Then there’s buttercream, french vanilla, vanilla cupcake…
Photos, photos, everywhere – Magnetic Photo Frame Giveaway
I love photos. Love them! I take a ton of them, print them out, and plaster them all over our home. A quick tour…
In the kitchen, we use magnetic frames. I rotate in new photos, and keep photos there with special meaning.
In the office, we have a folding photo frame with some wedding photos in it. I also have a bulletin board, where I put up a few snapshots (as well as my training plan and an inspiring photo from my first half marathon!). And we have a few formal frames on top of our bookshelves.
On my nightstand, I have a memory board with favorite photos.
And I even have photos plastered up at work!
Surprisingly, I do not have many photo albums (we don’t even have a wedding album!). I just have individual pictures printed and hung up all over.
I had to order some new magnetic photo holders, because mine are so used and abused that they started to rip (I just kept putting new photos in – then they got too fat and tore). I decided to order an extra set of 12 4×6 magnetic frames to give away!
These are actually hard plastic cases, with magnets on the back. The ones I had before were plastic sleeves.
Magnetic Photo Frame Giveaway Rules
- To enter the giveaway, leave a comment telling me where you display photos in your house.
- This giveaway is open until 5:00 PM CST on Friday January 28. I will use random.org to select the winner. I will announce the winner on Saturday January 29.
- This giveaway is open to all readers.
No can speak well
When speaking informally, I am not very eloquent. Words evade me. I ramble. I stumble through what I am saying, rarely getting my point across. And I mispronounce words all. the. time.
Some of the top culprits on my mispronounced list? The words February, plethora, glutton, hierarchical, reconcile… and I am sure many others that I cannot think of right now. It’s bad. Like I never learned how to speak (and to a greater extent, read).
I do feel better after reading this list of commonly mispronounced words – there are a lot of words on the list that I say correctly (although I am guilty of pronouncing the “t” in “often.”).
And there is one word that many mispronounce and I do not – mischievous. I think I learned in high school that it is not “mischievious“* but I still hear many people pronounce it that way. In fact, before the holiday, I was at Hallmark looking for a specific ornament I always buy for my mom – the Mischievous Kitten ornament. A lady working at Hallmark asked if I needed help finding something, and I told her yes, the Mischievous Kitten ornament, to which she replied “Oh, the Mischievious* Kitten ornament?” thinking she was correcting me. I didn’t say anything at the time, but later asked Steven if I had pronounced the word correctly, and he said that I did. Phew.
This is the 1999 ornament, not the 2010 one
Are there any words you habitually mispronounce? Or do you go crazy when people mispronounce words?
I go crazy when people use words that don’t exist, or say idioms incorrectly!
*Dad, this is spelled incorrectly on purpose.
Hi! I’m Kim, a 40-something-year-old living in northeastern Illinois with my husband Steven, and our cats, Khaleesi, Apollo, Starbuck, and Eddard aka Ned. My current main hobbies are running, painting rocks, flying, reading, and eating. I follow a vegan lifestyle and work in an account management role. I write about a variety of topics and consider this a “life” blog – a place I can share anything that’s on my mind. Please visit the “About” page to get a better idea of who I am! 🙂
