Eyes on my lunch
I am temporarily leaving my foggy/quiet state of mind to tell you that there has been a surveillance camera permanently installed my office’s break room.
To find out who is stealing people’s lunches.
I am serious.
Does anyone else find this hilarious?
Surprisingly, I have not yet been a victim. No one seems interested in my veggie sticks, hummus, and vegan hot dogs!
Why it’s quiet here
I’ve been feeling so overwhelmed with work/life lately that I haven’t been talking about it. I don’t feel like it helps, and I don’t feel like talking. Instead I’ve just been shutting down.
I keep hoping that the next new week will be the one that allows me to relax and recharge, but it never is.
You would think that now, with my bad shin keeping me from running, I would feel relaxed, but I just feel frustrated. I am in so much pain when I walk, especially when I go up and down stairs, that I just want to give up.
So, I am sharing this just to explain where I am right now – in a pretty frustrated state of mind. So I’ve been keeping it quiet. Don’t worry about me… just don’t expect to hear much from me… winky winky smiley face.
Just pick up the damn phone and call
I’ve had a myriad of customer service issues over the last year (and currently) that I haven’t mentioned here. Any extra time thinking about it makes me feel even more infuriated, so I try to avoid it.
But this weekend, Steven and I were sharing customer service horror stories with my mom, and it got us all thinking – what is the deal with people NOT returning business-related phone calls? Ever?
I don’t get it. I leave a message with my info, you call me back in about a day. It’s that simple. It’s a business relationship, and that is what I expect. Unless your message said you are out, and left another person to contact, I expect to be called back.
So why am I not? How do people get away with NEVER returning business phone calls? Why do I have to call back, again and again and again?
It makes me even more upset, when I am just trying to be an easy-going customer to begin with. It makes me more likely to turn into a difficult customer, and I don’t want to be THAT customer.
What has happened to good customer service? Maybe someone has a good customer service story to cheer me up? Or maybe you’ll just join in my rant!
Marathon Training Week 7
Welcome to week 7 of marathon training! If you click on the activity links after the dates, it will take you to the Garmin connect website for full stats.
Day 43 | Monday, July 27: Cross-train for 40 minutes
Why did biking 4 miles take me forty minutes? I can run faster than that! I must have had the resistance set very high, because I really worked up a sweat and felt sore afterward!
Bike Time: 39:34 mins | Distance: 4.0 miles
Day 44 | Tuesday, July 28: Run 4 miles/Run 7 miles
4 miles at the office gym during lunch… 7 miles at the park in the evening.
My body DID NOT like that.
I tried to save some time later in the week by combining my Tuesday and Wednesday runs. The first one wasn’t so bad – my left shin just hurt. I iced it after.
The second run was just bad. My legs felt like garbage. Bugs were sticking to me like crazy. The park smelled. My bra was digging into my back*. My hydration belt was digging into my side. My left side itched so I pulled my earphone cord out of my shirt and all it did from then on was get caught in my elbow.
I was so angry.
The good news is, Steven ran 3.2 miles of the second run with me, after doing P90x Ploymetrics. That’s awesome. Oh, and I didn’t have to poo during my run. Woo hoo!
Distance: 4.00 | Time: 37:31 | 1: 9:31 | 2: 9:23 | 3: 9:23 | 4: 9:14
Distance: 7.00 | Time: 1:07:16 | 1: 9:45 | 2: 9:45 | 3: 9:37 | 4: 9:46 | 5: 9:30 | 6: 9:27 | 7: 9:20 | 8: 00:02
*I think I have discovered which bra is giving me issues, so that is good.
Day 45 | Wednesday, July 29: Run 4 Miles
My shin was so sore on Wednesday, I was limping all over the place and people kept asking me what was wrong. The only time the pain felt better is when I was moving “fast” – speed walking or running slowly.
I ran these 4 miles with my neighbor, Fritz, and his daughter, Maya, who was in the stroller. We took it nice and slow. At one point, Maya said, “Move Daddy, move!” Ha ha. He said, “We are, honey!” Ha ha. It was nice to run with Fritz. He distracted me from the pain in my shin, and offered to give me a massage later if I need it (he and his wife are licensed massage therapists).
So… I think I am chafing on my back and under my armpit. I have some nasty sore spots. Time to start using the Body Glide!
Wonderful chafing by my armpit. Hurts more than it looks!
Distance: 4.00 | Time: 41:36 | 1: 10:16 | 2: 10:28 | 3: 10:30 | 4: 10:19 | 5: 00:01
Day 46 | Thursday, July 30: Rest
Day 47 | Friday, July 31: Rest
Day 48 | Saturday, August 1: Run 7 miles at marathon pace
My dad rode his bike with me while I ran these 7 miles. I lubed up with the Body Glide before hand, so I didn’t have any chafing issues. Woo-hoo! And, my shin didn’t hurt too much (I still iced it after, just in case)! I think the two days of rest helped.
But, I was pretty slow for a “race pace” run. I averaged under 9:10 a mile. I think I should adjust my race pace to about 9:15 miles. When I was running with my dad, I told him the only way I would be able to keep up a 9-minute mile during the marathon would be if I lost about 15 pounds. We’ll see about that! Ha ha!
It was fun to run with my dad. I don’t see him often, and rarely get him all to myself, so it was a nice hour for me to blab.
Check out the new running outfit my parents got me for my birthday! Isn’t it cute? I haven’t worn it running yet, but I love it. It’s from Kohl’s. I am surprised how nice of running outfits they have.
A new running outfit from my parents!
Distance: 7.00 | Time: 1:04:00 | 1: 9:06 | 2: 9:01 | 3: 8:57 | 4: 9:00 | 5: 9:10 | 6: 9:19 | 7: 9:22 | 8: 00:02
Day 49 | Sunday, August 2: Run 14 miles
My longest run ever (both distance and time-wise) but also my slowest MOST PAINFUL run ever.
The shin pain came back with a vengeance, almost as soon as I stopped running Saturday. It usually only hurts when I am moving, but it actually hurt while I was sleeping Saturday night. Of course, I still got up to run in the morning anyway…
My dad came along on his bike again. I am not sure if he knew what a long, slow bike ride he was in for!
We ran from my parent’s cabin to the downtown area and back. It was such a slow, hot, long, painful run. I stopped 4 or 5 times to go to the bathroom and get water. Every time I took off after running I limped for quite a bit. I really expected the limping to go away, but it took a long time.
We ran along the Mississippi River.
We ran by the Lock & Dam No. 10.
My dad carried all of my junk for me in the child carrier on his back. I wish he could ride with me along the marathon like that. It was really convenient. For me.
I look like I am running faster than I really am. I felt like I was walking, more than running, during this 14-miler.
Every muscle in my body felt sore when I was done. I hurt just taking my clothes off to take a shower.
Thanks for sticking with me, daddy. I love you!
So many things were wrong with this run. I was up too late. I woke up too late. I ate crap all weekend. It was too hot. I was dehydrated. My shin hurt. I just WAS NOT prepared. As a result – major run FAIL. I am sad about this run.
Distance: 14.00 | Time: 2:33:48 | 1: 9:58 | 2: 10:15 | 3: 10:58 | 4: 11:03 | 5: 10:35 | 6: 11:04 | 7: 10:58 | 8: 10:49 | 9: 10:52 | 10: 11:06 | 11: 11:21 | 12: 11:42 | 13: 11:57 | 14: 11:03 | 15: 00:01
Week Summary: 36 Miles
This week was… hard. My body (shin) is in a huge amount of pain. I may have to cut back to running 4 or 3 days a week, and slower, until it gets better. I plan on buying/ordering new shoes right away, but I don’t know how much that will help. I am not sure what to do.
I’m feeling really bummed about my pain and my slow running.
Friday Question #75
What’s your perfect summer day?
Have I asked this before? Probably. Well, my perfect summer day is a day on the river, eating food, swimming and napping – a day like today! We’re at my parent’s cabin on the Mississippi River this weekend for my birthday, and we had great warm weather today!
The newest issue of Runner’s World came right before we left last night and I enjoyed reading it on the tube (I can’t ride it yet because of my wrist).
When we got here last night I opened up the door to the bedroom we stay in and my sister and her boyfriend were sitting in the bed in the dark, waiting to surprise us! I didn’t know they were coming. I screamed when I saw her (because it’s creepy when someone is sitting on the bed and you don’t expect ANYONE to be there). I am happy we got to see them.
Steven, me, Christina and Will at the beach.
Steven made me Tori’s special vegan cupcakes for my birthday. So good! I heard my grandma made me a vegan cake too. I am on my way over there now to find out… nom nom nom.
I hope everyone else is having a great summer day! August 1st is always a bit depressing for me – I feel like it is the beginning of the end of summer, probably just because it is the day after my birthday.
Be careful what you say in the elevator…
…well, be careful what you say ANYWHERE, really, but I’ll get back to that.
This morning, I was riding the elevator with a man and a woman that I don’t know, when one started talking to the other about a building project that my team worked on. The woman asked the man, “Did your team work on that project?”
“Oh, no, no, no,” he defended himself. “I wasn’t involved, but it is my understanding that A LOT of effort went into the decision making.”
“Well, it sure doesn’t look like it!” she responded. The she went on a bit about her ideas for the design.
I had one of those internal dialogues like “should I say something?” The thing is, the project had SO MANY people involved that my team really struggled with it. We were trying to please many different people (all with different opinions!) at once. BUT, all of that doesn’t matter; I still think we did a good job.
So when the guy got off the elevator (after she ranted a bit more), I said, “MY team worked on that project…” kind of inviting her feedback, not that it mattered. The decision was made.
“Oh! Sorry! I just think…” blah blah blah. She went on again about how she liked things the way they were. I just kind of laughed to myself.
You have to be careful what you’re saying. You never know who you’re around!
Earlier this week, I was walking back from a job-site meeting with two coworkers, and I asked who would be managing the project after us. When one of them responded with the person’s name, I said, “Oh, great! It seems like he has a really good understanding of the project.”
Well, after I said that, they went on a bit about one of his coworkers they don’t like as much. And… guess who walked up behind us right after that? The guy who would be managing the project after us. Nice.
I think these conversations are best behind closed doors, and even then, I wonder…
Bugs in my bra
When I got home last night from running in the park, I looked in my bra and I had about 10 bugs crawling all over my boobs.
Wow.
I asked Steven if it would be appropriate to take a picture to show you all and he said, “That would be absolutely INAPPROPRIATE.”
Sorry, you’ll have to use your imagination!
Armless Data
Steven sent me a text message yesterday with this image and said:
Data is missing an arm!
I am not sure why, but the text really made me laugh. I am still laughing about it today.
Sometimes you just need a good laugh to distract you from the things in life that are stressing you out. I get caught up in the little annoying things and forget that they are just little annoying things. Things that upset me but don’t really matter in the long run.
I am lucky to have someone in my life with such a fun sense of humor (meaning Steven, and well, Data too?).
Good times with friends
Last night’s meet-up with Nilsa, Tori, Kevin and Sizzle was a total blast! It was my first time meeting both Nilsa and Sizzle. Nilsa and her husband were gracious enough to host us in their beautiful Chicago home and feed us wonderful food! Nilsa is so fresh and down to earth. I can imagine having lots of long conversations with her. And sizzle is so animated! She is a wonderful story teller and so much fun! I always feel refreshed and excited after meeting up with bloggers. I wish I could do it more often!
Tori, Me, Sizzle, Nilsa and Kevin in the front.
Steven chatted with SoMi all night. Just kidding. He loves meeting other bloggers too!
We had college friends over two weekends ago that made me feel the same way – stimulated by discussion, excited, and energetic. The thing is, we hardly EVER see them. Coordinating a visit with them takes a lot – it’s kind of stressful. But we always have so much fun with them then say, “Why don’t we see each other more often?!”
It is because we are also so busy and wrapped up in our own lives. We don’t always make the time to do fun get-togethers like this. We let our crazy schedules get in the way. Well, I do anyway.
I don’t want to be like this. But I don’t want to have a super packed schedule either. The month of July has been really stressful for me because all of our weekends have been packed with activities. Balance. It’s always about balance…
Marathon Training Week 6
Welcome to week 6 of marathon training! If you click on the activity links after the dates, it will take you to the Garmin connect website for full stats.
Day 36 | Monday, July 20: Cross-Train for 30 minutes
I finally did it – real cross-training! I went to the office gym during my lunch break and put in 30 minutes (6.2 miles) on the stationary bike. I am not a biker, so I have no idea if that is a decent pace or not. Maybe it isn’t, because I didn’t get sweaty enough to take a shower (read: I was too lazy to take a shower!).
Bike Time: 30 mins | Distance: 6.2 miles
Day 37 | Tuesday, July 21: Run 3 miles
On Tuesday I ran without music to try to become more in touch with my breathing and form/rhythm, but just ended up being frustrated with my breathing being off. What I thought would be an easy 3-miler felt difficult. My lower legs still hurt, despite stretching before running. Maybe I should stretch after running as well (rather than jumping into the shower immediately!).
I got pissed off when I uploaded the Garmin 405 and it didn’t send my stats to Garmin Connect. Ugh. Does that ever happen to you? Apparently the new firmware is supposed to help with that… ugh, if I ever figure out how to install it! When I connected on Sunday to upload Saturday’s run, Tuesday’s run miraculously appeared.
Distance: 3.00 | Time: 28.05 | 1: 9:38 | 2: 9:26 | 3: 8:58 | 4: 00:01
Day 38 | Wednesday, July 22: Run 5 miles
Lately, I have been having some problems waking up at 4:30, so I slept in until 5:30 on Wednesday, meaning I wouldn’t get home until 7:15… making it pretty late for dinner and a 5-miler. So I ran the 5-miler on one of the treadmills in the office gym (too pissed off at the Garmin to bring it and run outside, plus, it takes more time to run outside) during lunch. I was excited to be able to control my pace with the machine – I just sped it up every mile.
BUT, the shins were still bothering me. Mostly the left one. I was doing some reading, and found out that shin splints come from overtraining. Hmm. The remedy seems to be rest. Hmm. And icing and stretching. I will try that first.
Distance: 5:00 | Time: 46:54 | 1: 9:41 | 2: 9:31 | 3: 9:23 | 4: 9:14 | 5: 9:05
Day 39 | Thursday, July 23: Run 3 miles
Another lunch break workout. Jeez! That is three this week. You would think this made my evenings relaxing and quiet but it actually didn’t. Oh well. I felt happy during my hectic weeknights because I knew I got my run in.
My left shin hurt on and off again. I iced it after the run and that felt pretty good. I talked to a coworker who does marathons (14 so far!) about my shin and he thinks I need new shoes. Yeah… I was thinking that (Carol suggested it too in last week’s training post!). I got mine in March and have probably put 300 miles on them by now. I wear the Brooks Adrenaline GTS (does anyone else?). I am hoping someone will get me a pair for my birthday next week. In size 12. Normal width. The ones with the red accents. These:
This is my last 3-miler for awhile! Next week, I bump up to 4-milers, then 5-milers a four weeks after that. I won’t see another 3-miler until it’s almost marathon week!
Distance: 3:00 | Time: 28:33 | 1: 9:31 | 2: 9:31 | 3: 9:31
Day 40 | Friday, July 24: Rest
I was in Kansas City this weekend for a wedding so my grand plan was to bump my Saturday and Sunday runs up to Friday and Saturday because I figured I would be more likely to get them done that way (probably true). But I took Friday off to rest and iced my shin a bit. Maybe I should have ran – my schedule didn’t work well for it the next two days.
Day 41 | Saturday, July 25: Run 6 miles at marathon pace Run 4 miles
I went to Macken park with Steven and his parents and brother to do this run in the afternoon. I think it was close to 90° when we were there. I kept my pace up for 3 miles, then pretty much felt like I was going to keel over. So I slowed it down for the fourth mile, and decided that was enough for me. I didn’t want to make myself sick running in that heat. My shin did feel better while I was running though!
Distance: 4:00 | Time: 36:31 | 1: 8:48 | 2: 8:39 | 3: 8:58 | 4: 10:03 | 5: 00:01
Day 42 | Sunday, July 26: Run 9 miles Rest
Here is what my Sunday was like – wake up (still exhausted from wedding the night before) and eat with Steven’s family then catch plane to Chicago. Drive to party in Chicago. Drive home where friend is spending the night on the way back to Toronto. My schedule just killed me. I wanted to get up early and run before we left for our flight home, but I knew I needed the extra sleep with my crazy schedule. Instead of feeling bummed about it, I will look at it from the perspective that I am giving my shins extra rest.
Week Summary: 26 Miles 15 Miles
This is the first week I haven’t met my training schedule. I shortened my Saturday run and completely missed my Sunday run. I do need to be more flexible with my schedule, but… of course, I am bummed I didn’t get my mileage in. It was probably bound to happen with the way our schedule has been packed. Do you struggle with running while out of town? This is the first time I have had a problem with it, but I’ve only been out of town twice during training!
This weekend, Steven’s mom brought up her concern about the hilly terrain on the course. Check out the elevation… I don’t have any reason to be worried… right?
No, seriously, those hills are going to SLOW ME DOWN. Hopefully I can finish under 4:30. But I know it may be killer and I may have to adjust.
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! 🙂
