help im alive

heeeey blogging world.

i may have disappeared from the blogging world but im alive and well.

i don't have time to write any real updates right now, but i just wanted to let everyone know that i'm going to be volunteering at the san francisco marathon expo tomorrow, from 12.30 - 6, giving out bibs and race packets.

so, if you are there....come say hello!!!!

i have so much running, music, and exciting life news to share with you...but it will have to wait a few more days.

good luck to everyone racing SFM and anything else this weekend! everyone else, drink up and kick back ; )

just sleepy california

oh heyyyy. i haven't been blogging since i have been so busy. last week i was occupied going out and doing the whole last week in chicago thing....and now....i am in san fran!!

i got here wednesday and so far so good. my apt is beautiful, the most you can ask for from a craigslist listing really. and the new roomies seem good too.

wednesday i took a nice little 3 mile run up and down mission st. awesome. felt great. san francisco has great running weather!

but yesterday it got more interesting. i got up early since im not used to the time here and i went on a run since well, what else can you do when youre up too early. i heard delores park is sweet so i ran over there and figured id loop around a few times. well, i got to the park, and whoa. the park is like on a 45 degree angle. its nuts! and i ran it! my booty was hurting a lot but it was pretty great to run in a new place.

also, there are palm trees. thats amazing.

apologies that this might not make any sense. i went out last night and had after hours at my apt til like 5. so my head hurts tons.

xoxo.

jacking the ball

yesterday, as i walked past the bench in millenium park on which i collapsed after my 20 miler, i decided its time to get back in the running game. or, at a minimum, be less out of the game.

so i set my alarm for 7 am, hoping to get out and get a few solid miles in before it hit 90. i managed to get out of bed by 7.30, and out of the house by 8.15 to drive to the lake. the plan: 2 or 3 untimed miles. nothing spectacular, just a little morning run.

well, at 8.30, even at the lake, it was HOT. i love the heat if i am in a swimsuit, at the beach or a pool, and drinking cold beer. even 2 out of those 3 make me a happy camper. but i am kind of a baby when it comes to being athletic in the sun.

you can probably tell where this story is going. 1 mile in, i decided it was time to lose the shirt and be that girl that runs in her sports bra. 2 miles in, i decided to call it a day and walk back to my car. but with a half mile to go, i sprinted for that last little bit.

kind of a disorganized mess of a run, but it was a run, and it felt good. just hot.

in non running news: my smart talented creative and beautiful jen graduated from the art institute and yesterday i went to her portfolio show. now, i have had the privilege of seeing her work as she was doing it over the last 2 years, but it was really cool to see other people's work, and mostly to celebrate her being done with school.

and, since she is so inspired, she gave out sunglasses with her name and her web address on them. so clever right? i wore them on my run this morning. im her biggest fan.

if you want to check out her work (and you really should, its pretty darn cool), go here.

after her show i had some delicious dinner at blueprint with her parents. they are hilarious and the food was wonderful - i dont get to eat octopus quite enough : )

aaaaand i saw a wonderful concert last night! the dirty projectors and the sea and the cake played at millenium park for FREE. so jamie and i went over there and it was a pretty great show. both are great bands...jacking the ball and sound and vision are particularly happy songs by the sea and the cake. check it out.

sun sun sun all over our faces

oh hey. im alive. i havent been blogging for a number of reasons...i'm not really running, so i am not sure i have anything of interest to blog about, im on summer break so i am too lazy to do anything remotely productive, ive been very busy being social and enjoying my last weeks in chicago, etc etc etc

but i thought i would write a quick little post today.

last week was full of wonderful things like dinners with friends, day drinking with fellow teachers for the cubs game (yikes), reading something crazy like 8 books, occasionally making it to the gym, and lots of napping.

yesterday i had a perfect chicago summer day. i finally managed to wake up and get my butt to millenium park for the saturday morning workouts. i got there a little before 8, when tai chi was going on. i wanted to get a good spot for yoga, so i just joined the class. man, tai chi is kinda weird. i don't get it. maybe i missed something, but i think i was pretending to hold an imaginary ball and turn it and spin it and something about my energy movement...i dont know. i am not passing judgement on it because i know so little about it, but i am just saying, kinda weird for me at 7:30 am on a saturday.

for the 8 am yoga class, i was right up front. sweeeet. i hadn't done good yoga in a while so i was pretty pumped. i love yoga for the workout, but i am just not into the chanting and stuff. once we got past that part yesterday, it was a great class. it was already like 85 degrees by the time the class started (seriously, it was hot) and the sun was obviously east of us, so my right cheek and arm and leg were super super hot and in the sun the whole time. actually, with the sun and heat and yoga combined, i was a hot sweaty mess the whole time. but a happy hot sweaty mess.

after yoga i went to the library to get more books (im a bookworm). and in the afternoon...i went to the beach! there was tons of leftover booze at my house from our grad party, so i mixed up some vodka lemonades for my friend jamie and i, and whisky and coke for her boyfriend matt. and we had fun fun fun laying out at the beach until it got too hot- which is the exact moment we ran out of drinks. so, we headed on a little bar crawl of day drinking.

the evening ended with matt and i discussing our hatred for coldplay. this made me really very happy because i have never met anyone who hates coldplay for all the same reasons that i do. and then! he did something awesome! he told me that the only band he hates as much as coldplay is u2! which is exactly how i feel! ive known matt for maybe 10 years and that was the best conversation we have ever had.

soooo that was my week and weekend. and today? fathers day! and by some lucky coincidence, my dad is coming to chicago today because he has a conference here all week. hoooray! so i get to see my wonderful hilarious smart and almost as good looking as me dad.

to honor my father and to remind him how lucky he is to have me as a daughter, let me dedicate this photo montage of us to him. in fact...ill dedicate this whole post to him! he's that great.

my dad and i run the detroit turkey trot every thanksgiving, and do a re-enactment when we get home:


this year, we even did a re-enactment of our stretching. this picture just makes me laugh:


and here is my all time favorite picture of my dad and i:


happy fathers day dad! and happy sunday to all : )

summertime and the living's easy

friday's house party = great success (except that after the wings lost i got so upset and heart broken that i went to bed. but still, from 1 - 9 pm, it was a great party)

saturday's bachelorette party my running buddy/amazing friend colie = phenomenal.

my cumulative hangover from 2 nights out = ouch.

i made it home around 1 pm today from last night, with plenty of time to go to the library, or work out, or start packing. i layed out on the roof instead. i felt it was productive.

i managed to make it to the lake for a run this evening, but i just wasn't feeling it. whats going on with me? i think for so long running was the big event in my life, and now, its far from it. but still...if i ran a marathon less than a month ago, shouldn't a be able to churn out a 5 miler without feeling like i am going to die?

yes, this is when you can point out that my drinking, eating, and sleeping habit have been shit lately. i'm working on it. really.

in case you haven't discovered these lovely videos, enjoy, courtesy of brook's running super fans

i love their faces at the end of the story! hilarious.


barefoot, thats how the kenyans do it.



the insanity i have experienced during marathon training leads me to believe this seems about right for ultra training...


AND, i just got jenny owen young's album that came out a few months ago. i think "last person" is my new favorite song. but get the whole album, probably. she is rockin.

pump this party (don't back down)

today was the kids' last day of finals, and tomorrow is awards/graduation day. and then...the big party at the volunteer house (aka, my house)!!

which means...tonight we clean, get coolers of beer set up, and make sure we have ping pong balls for beer pong.

this is exciting for a number of reasons: its summer, my 2 years of being a volunteer are over, theres a huge party, the red wings will play game 7 of the stanley cup finals during said party....all great things!

tomorrow at about 1.30 pm chicago time, the party will be starting. i hope you are all excited for me.

oh! and guess who will be in attendance at this party?? Khalid El Boumlili. yeah, the guy who just won the san diego marathon. He is dating a friend of mine who used to be in the same volunteer program i am in. so, the two of them will be over at my house partying tomorrow.

i will let you know if i pick up any wisdom on how to run a 2:11 marathon!

smiley faces

i LOVE the photographers at races. okay, not necessarily the photographers themselves, but i really like that they are there, and that a few days after a race i can laugh at myself, because i inevitably look ridiculous in the pictures.

the pictures from sunday's 13.1 are up. here are some highlights:

this is clearly from my running portion of the race:


and here i am, taking a nice little walk break...


just going on a walk by the lake, its not a 13.1 mile race or anything...


dont you just hate when other people are in the way of your shot at the finish line?


you might not be impressed by these pictures. they arent that great. im pretty sure im cuter in real life than these pictures might lead you to believe. but, thats not the point. they are pretty entertaining, aren't they?