Thirsty...For A Topic..Thursday

Rest day from running. I couldn't come to any good topic that has been burning my mind to talk about, so I'll just throw a bunch of ish at the blog this morning and you decide what parts are worth your read!

Links:

• Tongue in Chic already made a pretty good link list this week, check it out here

• Ever wonder about the mile markers south of Belmont on the lakefront path disappearing for some distance? This guy did, my guess is to lead you to the Nikefuel House, do you know why?

• Discussion over- What do you wish you had known before the first time you ran.

•   IAMA with Donald Faison (Turk from Scrubs!! note, Zach Braff has done multiple IAMAs and snoops around reddit, see here)

• Living Social deal for 2tough2bully fun run/walk 5k on 30 June

• And I've been wondering why the sun is always so pretty with the sunrise, easy enough explanation.

Dad Photo Stuff:
Kiddo at the park.. with her turtle again:

Little lady pulled a book into her crib from the changing table when we put her down for her nap.. she put it back after she was done lol

Running Gear:

I finally bought The Stick -Marathon Version - after much suggestion. Hopefully my leg keeps getting better so I can get back to some more intense runs.

Felt like a kid on Father's day getting a check from my mom, wait I'm 30... Hey lets get another pair of shoes right? Probably get another pair of +New Balance m890v3s in this wild scheme.

Questions:
How are you preparing yourself to get your runs done in the heat? Setting that alarm early or waiting for the dusk runs?  Need any early morning advice? (see here)

Should I do the runner photo challenge - Why we love summer? it will obviously include me breaking out the sun dresses and evening out my tan lines.

Favorite hot weather drink(s)? I'll go with a Sangria, it just tastes like summer liquid form.

Don't Chorizo Burrito and Run

Yesterday when I got from work, and these lace thingies came in the mail from +Saucony :

One for my wife and one for me

I'll put them on my Boston Marathon New Balance kicks tonight!

Last night we went to That Little Mexican Cafe in Edgewater to meet up with some friends of the family. I decided to take a selfie of the toddler (front facing camera, excuse the quality) on my back!

CHEESE! See my toys?!

Review in brief of the restaurant, food is about average, prices too high for what you get (even though their motto is "Where you peso little and get so much!".  The waitress was annoying, our daughter was eating with a fork and the waitress thought that was too dangerous, took it away and gave her a spoon. After getting the spoon, she stopped eating and let it drip on her lap.. I didn't want to start any ish with the waitress as we were with company, but I was sitting next to her and the last thing I'm doing is letting her get hurt.

I ate their Chorizo Burrito, which tasted fine, but didn't fill me up at all. So we went to Lickity Split afterwards and it was amazeballs as usual!

I got up this morning  for a 7 mile easy/recovery run. My stomach apparently wasn't recovered... Yada yada, runners you know what must be done before any run, I thought I was good to go... not so much, the majority of my run was spent fighting a sour stomach. If it wasn't for the burrito issues, it was a great run. I'm seeing more small groups of runners, which I imagine are pace groups for some run clubs, and the Elijah running group was out in force as usual.

Mr V was out on his bike and gave his usual inspirational hello, but the best one goes to this old man who was 65+ and was ecstatic to wave hello and say good morning.

I used my New Balance M890v2s that I am phasing out to retirement, and I can feel the difference from my newer M890v3 that I'm breaking in, I miss that cushioning!

My wife is trying to make a Vlog of our day, so be on the look out for that later on my blog.

We went out to get a Dirty Horchata ice coffee from Metropolis Coffee, I like it, my wife not so much, so I got them both :) Also, we picked up a doughnut (which they carry Bennison's Bakery donuts) since we didn't celebrate yesterday.

 

We went to the park after to let our tot run around and she also had a piece of the doughnut!

May I have a piece mom?

And the last photo for the afternoon, a view of the city and the standing paddle boarders thingies that +Emily Seto and others are going to in July!

This afternoon we are planning on going to Midsommarfest in Andersonville! Will I see any of you there?

Are you going to any festivals this weekend or runs?

Topsy Turvy Tuesday

4:40am, Tuesday is usually a fast day, time to get up and get some nice speed in the 50 degree weather..
Scratch that, I overslept. I apparently turned off both of my alarms and went back to sleep this morning. I woke up at 5:35 by my wife and she said: Declan, aren't you supposed to run today? (I love that this was the first thing she said) I was all sorts of confused. I thought it was Saturday at first, but then realized it was Tuesday.  Do I have time for a run.. maybe 3, but I was schedule for nine today.  No dice, but still plenty of time to get to work. I'll try to run later I told myself before I got rungry (run+angry from not running)

I get ready and leave my unit and am about to leave the building when I realize I forgot my CTA pass..so much for catch the bus that was coming! Go back and find it, wait another 10 or so minutes and leave.  Next bus is late and very full, it didn't have enough space to even stop at the last two stops before going express on Lake Shore Drive.

I took a half day today to do daddy day care as my wife has a non toddler friendly appointment this afternoon. I got home with enough time to sneak in my run while the baby napped and before my wife had to leave. Score!

I sported my Boston Marathon New Balance M890v3s (see here and here ) for the first time not on a treadmill, I'm going to rotate them in on my non recovery run days and when its not raining until my M890v2s are done.

I was a bit happy to be able to run in the low 60s and partly sunny skies I must say, but a few things I didn't enjoy:

• I felt like a stranger running at a different time, nobody was training on the art of nodding and waving. Did I betray my 5am crew?
• I didn't have my eating time down for this run. My last snack was at 7:30am, and I ran at 12:30pm. I definitely felt the lack of energy after a few miles, which surprised me as I usually run on an empty stomach in the morning. 
• There were a couple annoying runners, one whom I will describe in a moment.

I learned one lesson today, even if you feel like you can speed up during your warm up miles, don't.  I ran my warm up miles at ~7:15 minute miles, I meant to do 8:15-8:30. I didn't think anything of it since I felt great. 5 miles in I was noticing I wasn't hitting my times, by a good 10 seconds. Maybe a couple were GPS floating, but it was pretty consistent. Overall my time was quicker, but the effort part of my run was off. Just like I tell myself to respect a recovery run, respect warming up.

Now in the mornings I usually give a shout out to my favorite runners. Today, a wag of my finger to you mr annoying chicken wing doof!

In the last mile and a half of my run (cooling down, so 8-8:30 per minute at this point), I pass this guy, who I would like to call a Bro 2.0, shaved head, something shaved into it, he was walking, a little sweaty. Wearing cotton (warning sign) and long shorts. I think nothing of this. Last mile of my jog at this point, I'm relaxing and he has speed up and goes by me.. whatever I'm not going to leave my slow down for that guy...but his form, oh so bad. He is listening to music and has his elbows up like a chicken flapping its wings. Never seen this before, so much wasted energy doing that, that can't be natural. I start to get a little peeved, my inner reserves of energy say, USE US! Don't let him leave here like that. NO! I'm not that type of runner. But then he does it, he does some sort of two handed victory arm/hand pumps in the air. Not sure why this was bothering me, but I didn't want to look at it any longer. He is about 50 feet in front of me, I think it through and need about 25 seconds to pass him and no see this display any longer. I start my pace back up when he turns off the path and loops around to the lake... ugh. Well I guess it was for the better.  I know I'm not much of a better person for wanting to do that.

Do you ever have runners you see outside who you just HATE to see go around you? You see their stride too long, their build too big, or form too bad that you know overtime they'll fade and you will show your true training results? Or is this just me?

How do you deal with days where you oversleep and miss your run if you run in the morning?

Paying My Respects to Boston Marathon

Over the last week I was out in Massachusetts and Rhode Island visiting family, friends, and going to a wedding.  I'll dedicate this post to mostly the running related stops in Boston and Copley Square, the site of the Boston Marathon bombings.

My wife, daughter, and I spent the day up in Boston, and I lugged around my daughter as seen below:

She behaved very well!

We stopped for a bite to eat at Saus, which was a delightful experience into waffles and yummy sauces.  We then took the T down to Copley Square to pay our respects at the site of the Boston Marathon Bombings.  The weather was scattered showers for most of the morning and set a slightly somber tone when we visited.  I had trouble putting together deep thoughts as I walked around, had trouble accepting that the tragedy was real. I took a few photos to capture the memories and hopefully find new meanings to them over time.  Right now I am at, humanity always bands together and pulls out ahead (sounds very Dr. Who-esque).  We will never stop evil, and we are pretty sheltered in America to its magnitude compared to a lot of the world, but there is always love to overcome whatever happens.  And with that, here are my photos:

I didn't bring anything to contribute to the memorial, just my thoughts, prayers, and determination to keep running stronger, Boston Strong even.

Walking around Boston, the Boston Strong shirts and swag were everywhere.  Not sure where the proceeds are going from them all.

I stopped at the +New Balance store across the street from the memorial, since I couldn't resist visiting almost every sneaker and athletic store I walked passed (it was a bit hard to try on shoes with my kid om my back!).  I noticed they had a sale on the M890v3 Boston Marathons shoes (I currently run in M890v2), 20% off! which brought the price down to $90, which was pretty decent price and the mood was right. Plus, I was going to need new shoes in the next couple weeks. My daughter just fell asleep on my back as we walked in the store, so my wife had to get them on my feet to try on and tie them, bless her heart.   Here are the photos of the new kicks!

I tested them out on a couple runs (PR'd my half marathon time with them on Sunday, but that will be a different post) and they work great!

In the afternoon we grabbed some sandwiches from Sam LaGrassa's , then some cannolis from Mike's Pastry. Here is my daughter enjoying them on the way back home:

Nom Nom Nom

So that was my jaunt to Boston. My next post will recap my road running times in a not very run friendly area, a sub 1:30 half marathon time, and a video of me getting chased by a wild turkey in my mother's back yard!

Have you been able to get out to the memorial?

Are you a fan of cannolis?

Can you catch me up on the last week of running blogging in Chicago in short so I don't spend hours reading 100+ blog entries???

Thoughts on Thursday

Oh Thursdays! How I should love you more. A day of no running, an extended pit stop to refuel my legs, and spot check for any injuries that I may have ignored.

But as a lot of you can relate, I say today - Why can't I quit you... for 1 day.  At least I get some time in at the gym to flex my gumby arms around and work on my core!

Here are some things I have meant to share this week and haven't (mostly because they weren't all running related):

• While walking around River North (Near RPM), I walked by Bill Rancic who was talking to some random people, that didn't look like random fans (no photos or poses being done). He noticed that I recognized him, did a pause which seemed like, oh great.. But I kept moving on, did a double take about 30 feet away to ensure it was him and caught my train.  I told my wife, and she was all excited when she heard I was a few feet away from him.  She didn't have this reaction when I was that close to the POTUS!

•  I ordered my first grown up shaving kit from West Coast Shaving, for you guys out there, I'll be going to a double edged blade, brush etc. Here are the main parts: 

1.  DE89811 Edwin Jagger DE89811
2. Omega 643174 Banded Synthetic Shaving Brush 
3. Taylor of Old Bond Street Shaving Cream Bowl, Lavender
4. Proraso Pre & Post Cream, Menthol & Eucalyptus,

• I found the next set of running shoes I want, +New Balance M890v3 in the blue/multi selection that looks like crayons melted on them. (I got the eye roll at home about these!

•  And here is a really quick video that can help your form. I still refer to it from time to time.

That's all I got for today!

Guys: Do you use the more advertised 5 bladed razors? Or do you single/double blade it?

Everyone: Are you drawn to really ugly, bright sneakers like me? And how do you handle scheduled off days. Do you end up talking about running more than is healthy that day?

Happy Friday Eve!