Monday, December 17, 2012

For this i'll make an exception


Recap of the weekend:
25 miles running, (Hit my goal of breaking 20 miles for a week!)
14 miles cycling




Saturday morning was cold and rainy but that didnt stop me from running 10 miles- my longest since the Chicago marathon (on October 7). About half were with a dear friend, and it was just refreshing to run in the rain and chat with her as the miles flew by.


Then there was the Chicago Running Blogger holiday party #CRBHolidaze where we ran 3 miles together and had brunch. It was awesome seeing old and new faces. :)

From L to R, starting in the back:

Back Row: AnneKatieEmilyCaryLaurenMaggieBobbiCharlyn
Second Row: AmandaKatieKellyAmyMarcia, Kim
Front Row: RiyantiEmilyLindsaySaraEricaErin
By herself: Kelsey
Not pictured: Christina

Sunday had a nice 3.5 mile walk/run with the churro dog. It was cold but not rainy. My ankle was not too happy about the 13 miles the day before, so we took it easy.
One of the best views of Downtown Chicago is from the Adler Planetarium.



One of the worst times to go run in Chicago, is when you're hungry and the Bears are playing an early game at home. One of my running routes takes me near Soldier field- so you can imagine the tailgating sights and smells. I could see the plumes of smoke from the grills rising above the cars in the parking lots, and oh my gosh did the food smell so good!




By the time we got home, the game was about to start so I got my camera just in case there was a flyover- and indeed there was! So cool being able to see the flyovers from my balcony.





In other news

This week no longer continues "pre marathon" training, but instead will start week 1 of 10k training. I've never run a 10k (seriously, on purpose) and after looking online for races in Brasil during my trip, I stumbled upon the most perfect race ever (minus the fact it's a 10k). I will make an exception for my "no 10k" policy for this race- it celebrates the 459th birthday of Sao Paulo. I think that's pretty damn amazing! 

Between the 10k and 6.3k, it will have almost 10,000 participants, shirts by Fila, and finisher medals! And the course is within the famous Ibirapuera park in Sao Paulo that I was planning on running in every day of my trip. I plan to loosely follow Hal Higdons 10k training plan- and take it day by day based on how the ankle and ITB feel. Who knows, I might not even "race" this one in favor of running with L and his Pai.. (also for the fact i'll be training in 30 degrees/snow in winter and then running this race in 80+ degrees/humidity in summer)

And in case you missed it last week, today (Monday) at 8pm est/7pm central time on the travel channel is Anthony Bourdain's "The Layover"(from last week) which focuses on Sao Paulo. I watched it last week and after seeing L's reactions to where Bourdain went, it was a well done episode. I was about to explode with excitement after watching it.

Basically we will be going to 87% of the places he visits because those are places L usually goes to. One of the restaurants Bourdain went to was across the street from L's high school.

Needless to say I will be parked in front of the TV to watch this episode for a 2nd time and get even more excited about going to Brasil next month.

Mortadella, Pastel, Coxinha, Feijoada OH MY! <<--- b="b">and because of those, I will continue eating "extra healthy" for the next few weeks...


- xaar

16 comments:

  1. Nice pics, I especially like the ones of the flyover. You must have had to take those quickly as those planes are fast! I would love to go to South America someday. I was only there for a few hours on a cruise a long time ago. I will be interested in reading about your trip. Hope the race temps aren't too hot. At least you will feel lighter on race day after training in lots of layers in the cold. Also, don't fear the 10k, it is one of my favorite distances! :-)

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    1. Thanks!

      Yes, I will feel lighter racing in the heat, but doubt I'll be acclimated to it by the time race morning rolls around... But it will be super fun to race in another country- I did a small 5k when I lived in Mexico which was fun. I have a feeling this will be crazy.

      I'm scared of 10ks... Not sure what to make of them. My dad was pretty speedy at 10k distance back in the day, but his love of the distance wasn't passed onto me. But who knows, maybe it will end up being my favorite distance!

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    2. It will be awesome running in another country. That is on my list of things to do! Good luck and have a great time!

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  2. Was a hoot running with you! Man I forgot how wretched those winds are. I'm getting soft.

    A 10k huh? You may like it! It's just kinda like a tempo run. And it'll be kinda warm right???

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  3. Awesome that you ran by the Bears stadium! I know what you mean about smelling BBQ while you run, sometimes I get nauseous smelling BBQ while I run lol. Great flyover pics! And your trip to Brazil sounds awesome, that is really cool that you saw that travel show about it!

    Yea, my knee is annoying. I'm likely going to email my sports doc to see what he thinks I should do - since my #1 rule about injuries is to talk to a sports doc first before doing anything else. And I likely need to follow my own rules. I was just overwhelmed with what I should do. Hopefully your knee starts to cooperate more too.

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    1. The show is on again tonight! Watch it and get pumped for 2016 :)

      I hope you figure out how to handle your knee. I can't imagine anything more frustrating than what you've gone through over the past year. :(

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  4. I'm bummed I didn't get the chance to meet CB because of the rain. There will just HAVE to be a next time, right? We still have to plan our dog park play date.

    Your trip to Brazil sounds so fun! I am looking forward to hearing all about it.

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    1. There is always a next time! CB just doesn't like the rain... Even less than me! (and I'm still surprised I ran in it this weekend!) how does Ms Pepper feel about the rain?

      I'm pretty excited to go to Brasil... Not excited about 10 hours in a plane.

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  5. LOVE LOVE how you're going to run when you're overseas!!!!!!!

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  6. Yes! So happy you found a race... despite it being a 10K! I am super excited about your trip! I love hearing about my friend's travels!

    Congrats on meeting your running goal this week. I hope the ankle (crankle?) gets better ;)

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  7. Oh my gosh, that race in Sao Paolo sounds AMAZING!!! You hit the jackpot in terms of fantastic races to participate in during your travels!!! Can't wait to see your pictures and hear all about your trip! In the meantime, I wish you a continued speedy recovery with the crankle and ITB.

    It was SO good to see you this past weekend! I am already wearing the new nail polish that I got from you. =D

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    1. I'm pretty excited- the 10k definitely pushed me over the edge. :)

      I'm going to take no less than 10000 photos of this trip.

      It was so nice to see you again. Must get together again soon!

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  8. I'm with you on that the US needs more mental health treatment options, and to make it easier to get help. That is too bad that someone in your family has a problem. I guess the main point I had is to eliminate the tool (availability of guns), so the problem sorts itself out. By not eliminating the tool, the problem of mass killings will likely keep happening. Some mass killing people are mentally crazy, but most it seems like have no prior mental or criminal background and just want to cause mayhem.

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  9. I saw this article about gun control written by Arianna Huffington, which pretty much perfectly sums up the USAs crazy addiction to guns:

    http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20121218182456-143695135-newtown-massacre-what-we-don-t-need-is-a-national-conversation-we-need-action?trk=eml-mktg-condig-118-p1

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  10. Yea, places like Chicago that have consistently high violent crime doesn't seem to get reported as much as it should it seems like. Even around where I live there are some really violent cities - Oakland, Richmond, East Palo Alto. Every city around me seems to be setting a new record for homicides this year. Scary. It's just way too easy to get a gun in this country, and seems like until they restrict access to guns or make people go through a much harder process to get a gun that things like Newtown will continue to happen.

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