What is Hot? Photo Challenge time!

Me and the heat, we have a love hate relationship.


I hate it, and it loves to follow me around like a shadow.  I think heat is a challenge we all struggle to overcome (some more so than others).  I have had a rough time this summer so far, and i have diligently tried everything you guys have recommended to beat it.  I have put ice in my bra, a la maggie, i have worn Kim's shirt cape, i have tried Charlyn's salt tabs, and i have ever resorted to trying to replicate Bobbi's infallible optimism.  But in the end, i still end up whining and pouting the entire time.  It's in my nature.  But rather than post a picture of my sweating face pouting, i decided to go a little further.


So what does "HOT" look like?
Well, thats all relative.

What's hot to me is a joke to some people (primarily, anyone in Death Valley right now.)  No matter how much ice we dump on ourselves, we are going that have a terrible time running in the heat until we  learn how to adjust our perspectives.  "Hot" Looks different to everyone, but when i see heat blurs drifting off the pavement in the horizon, i try to visualize what "even hotter" could look like.  Because you know that when its 105, that somewhere else in the world its 120.  And someone is running much faster and farther that you.  And maybe they are barefoot.  jerks.

fashionably late photo challenge!

whoopsies!  I missed the cutoff again :D  (Sorry Maggie!)


Here is my "who do i run with" photo challenge anyway!


I am very lucky in that i get the privilege of occasionally running with some really awesome people.

But the truth of the matter is, my schedule sucks.  Between the long hours and the commute, it is really hard for me to make plans and keep them.  So as much as i love running with all these people, it is a rare treat that i always look forward to.  


There are a few people though, that i get to run with every day.

I don't even always have my ipod with me, but i always have the music.  It just plays in my head whenever i need a pick me up.  Last night as i shlepped my way down the running trail in the 101 degree heat, i just kept singing "Summer in the City" by the Lovin Spoonful, because it just made so much sense.  People probably thought i had heat stroke, and maybe they weren't entirely wrong, but i couldn't help but think "you are all crazy for NOT singing this right now!"  I know a lot of people are anti music when it comes to running, and to be honest, i usually don't have it on purely for safety reasons, but music is awesome!


How can you not finish a run when the boss is talking about tramps like us?  And i would like to meet the person that doesn't pick up the pace by at least 30 seconds when paradise city is on.  And you cant help but feel like a champion when Freddie crones on about triumphing adversity to be the champion of the world.  There is a song that can match every mood, every run, every weather condition, every trail, and i couldn't imagine running without these folks being on my side.  

Photo Challenge #7

So if you read any of my race recaps, first off - thank you, i realize how boring i am.  But secondly, you might have noticed Clucky, my race medal displaying stuffed chicken.

I bought Clucky like 8 years ago at target when he was 75% off (post-easter)  He is actually supposed to be some kind of pillow i suppose.  For some reason, despite moving at least 8 times in those past 8 years, and doing a clean sweep every single time, Clucky always made the cut and came with me.  When i ran my first race last September, i was so excited that i wanted my medal to be out in the open.  So i jokingly put it around Clucky's neck, making him look like a little olympian!  It kind of became the tradition, after every race, to come home and present Clucky with a medal.  You can see some additional medals off to the side - those are Matts, who has yet to find an oversized comical stuffed animal on which to display his race medals.

Photo challenge number, idk, 4? 5?

My ability to count has escaped me. 


So this weeks challenge from Maggie was about your favorite "seen on my run" photo.  Only i never bring my camera with me.  I just don't like to carry stuff when i run.  So, since i actually have a career where i draw stuff all day, i thought maybe i could use my artistic license to recreate a scene.  I have seen some pretty neat things when i run.  I saw a crawfish once.  And a skunk.  And about 30 obese raccoons. And once even a perfectly intact grilled cheese sandwich.  But i think my favorite sighting is a reoccurring one on the North Branch trail.  There's this guy.  I think he is some kind of bird photographer.  I see him on the trail maybe 70% of the time?  So he has to be out there multiple days a week.  He has a badass walking stick, a super nice SLR camera with a giant zoom lens, and sometimes binoculars.  He has an awesome straw hat, and a handlebar mustache.  

No, Seriously, i draw things for a living.

Even if i had a camera with me, it would probably be very inappropriate to take a picture of a stranger, so this very accurate drawing of him will have to suffice.  If you think i am lying, Keren can back me up, because she has also witnessed the awesomeness that is this guy.  SO, if you are ever running in the evenings near skokie lagoons, keep your eyes open for him, he is my favorite thing to see on the North Branch Trail!

A photo challenge to distract me.

Oh Maggie, if only you had waited a week i would have a different race to complain about.  (i would also be able to participate in the running in your bra challenge, which i fully intend on doing Sunday.  Talk about two birds with one stone!)


To date, the worst race i have ever run has been the 2011 Schaumburg turkey trot half marathon. (you all thought i was going to say Flying Pig, didn't you?  or perhaps Get Lucky?)

To read the full story of my complete mental breakdown on a race course, go HERE.


I can't pinpoint a reason why this race was so terrible.  In hindsight, i would actually KILL right now to run a race in freezing rain.  I'm not even joking!  I think the real killer for me in this race was myself.  I was mentally exhausted, and had been wanting a break from running, and i didn't give it to myself.  Instead, i kept pushing to make an unrealistic goal.  Half way through this race, i had a complete mental breakdown.  I didn't just start pouting, i started balling my eyes out, and had to sit on a rock for a minute and just cry.  In the rain.  It was a misery i had not experienced before, and could not cope with.  I hated running at that moment because i wasn't having fun anymore.  I eventually started running again and finished the race (after people kept asking me if i was hurt) and you can see in the picture that even though i am smiling, my face is red and puffy from my sob session.  I didn't run again after that for a month.  


Lesson learned - When your body demands a break, give it a break.  None of us are olympic athletes.  This isn't our job, it's our reward.  It should be fun.  It's also okay to cry - just don't wear mascara (ouch.) and make sure you eventually finish the race.  


Also, i am sorry for being lame this week and not visiting everyone's blog as often as normal.  I am in meltdown mode, and will be back to normal next week :)

My favorite race picture

This weeks Photo Challenge courtesy of Maggie is to post your favorite race photo.  Its really too bad it isn't worst race photos, because i have so, so many.  I ended up being torn.  I have a funny favorite from the Cincinnati half marathon last year where i crossed the finish line while hurdling a strategically placed banana peel, mario kart style (you can view it here at Kelsey's Blog).  In the end, I chose this as my absolute all time favorite race photo.

Technically it's after the race, but it was right after the Chicago Half Marathon 2011, and i had just finished my very first half marathon, and it just seemed like the most impossible thing ever at the time.  I had trained all summer, with no background in running, and involved a lot of difficult transitions to accommodate the training (hellooooo saturday 5 am).  My mom, brother, and all of my dads family, as well as Matt and my two best friends came out to cheer me on.  I know someone who was not me ended up winning the race, but i seriously doubt they had the crowd support that i did, so i consider myself the real winner of that race.

Photo Challenge #3!

For photo challenge number 3, Maggie asked "What is something that you HAVE to have for every run?"


My answer is....


....UNDERWEAR!

I seriously had no idea that most of you were free-balling it.  When i was little, my grandma told me that only floozies don't wear undergarments, and i just assumed that the rule applied to athletics as well. The worst part is, i don't even own special "runderwear"  I just wear whatever i happen to have on that day.  Those tangerine colored babies?  Lace.  I am pretty sure i wore a thong once for a half-marathon.  I never even thought about such things.  I am "that runner" that doesn't really bother with "proper gear"  Oh thats right - when i'm not wearing all my beautiful compression socks, i am wearing cotton socks.  Usually Matt's.   But think about it- if anything were to ever happen to me when i am running, i do not want one of my identifying characteristics to be "runner found - was not wearing any underwear."


**This is not to pass any kind of judgement on those of you running free as a bird - good for you.  I just personally can't do it.  I have to be wearing underwear on every single run.  You're welcome for way more information than you ever wanted.

I am fashionably late, but this is why I run!

Maggie came up with a great idea to do a weekly photo challenge of why we run.  Because it's me obviously, i didn't do it in time (it was supposed to be done yesterday!) But i still wanted to do it.


Why do i run?

Because there is no telling what the future holds.  After my dad died from Huntington's Disease, i was very sad, not just because my dad had died, but because this was a genetic disease, so after watching my dad suffer immensely, and then die, my brother and i had to return to our daily lives and try to ignore the impending doom of our impending deaths.


Like THATS easy.  Needless to say, i spent a long time just binge drinking and making bad choices.  I started running as a distraction (I had to finish grad school), but it became so much more than that.


I KEEP running because i can.  I'm not sick yet.  I'm not dead.  They could find a cure tomorrow, and then wouldn't i feel stupid if i wrecked my body.  Or we could ALL die tomorrow, in some kind of freak apocalyptic disaster.  Or zombie's could rise up and take over the world, and i would be one of the few survivors because i DO run.  Maybe it turns out that my body is so constantly tired from all the running that it just doesn't have the time or the energy to get sick and die.  Thats the whole point is that we don't know.  We don't know what will happen tomorrow, we don't know what will happen next year, we don't know what will happen 10 years from now.  So we have to do our best today, because its basically all that we DO know.  I know that today i have my health, i have legs, and they work (mostly.)


See you on the roads.