9.12.13
8.12.13
Making Race Shirts
Long, long ago I posted about making
race shirts for a friend and myself. I still have that shirt
and you can see it every year when I run the marathon. It has an outline of the state of Minnesota on the back (since I do run other places) and my name on the front so people can cheer me on.
At Team:Work we make 'race bibs' and by that we mean 'shirts that we cut into a bib so we can pin it onto the parka we're wearing to race'. We had some really good luck this year with the paints and I learned a couple new techniques. My favorites were splatter, shading, and stripes.
Here's the basic situation:
Things that make it harder are lots of curves, very thin lines to cut, or the hole in As and Os.
Things that make it easier are an awesome exacto knife and putting cardboard in the middle of your shirt so the paint doesn't bleed through to the back.
I did this one other time, besides Team:Work. That was Team Jayhops for the Brew to Brew relays. Those were the coolest shirts ever but I am never doing that again because it was way too much work. See the leaves on the tree above? Those took forever. Now imagine cutting out that stupid bird. And I had to do six of them.
At Team:Work we make 'race bibs' and by that we mean 'shirts that we cut into a bib so we can pin it onto the parka we're wearing to race'. We had some really good luck this year with the paints and I learned a couple new techniques. My favorites were splatter, shading, and stripes.
Here's the basic situation:
- Draw, Print, or otherwise create the pattern.
- Trace the pattern onto freezer paper, shiny side down.
- Use an exacto knife to cut out a negative of the pattern.
- Iron the freezer paper (now also a stencil) onto the fabric.
- Paint.
- Let dry.
- Tear freezer paper off.
- Enjoy.
Things that make it harder are lots of curves, very thin lines to cut, or the hole in As and Os.
Things that make it easier are an awesome exacto knife and putting cardboard in the middle of your shirt so the paint doesn't bleed through to the back.
I did this one other time, besides Team:Work. That was Team Jayhops for the Brew to Brew relays. Those were the coolest shirts ever but I am never doing that again because it was way too much work. See the leaves on the tree above? Those took forever. Now imagine cutting out that stupid bird. And I had to do six of them.
7.12.13
Wednesday Snowing Day
It snowed today. Massively. To the point where I just purposefully went to work an hour late. Whatever; if I'd left earlier I still would've wound up there about that time. Traffic looked that bad. I was able to get a quick mile in before work. It was another mile in my new trail shoes. And another mile that reminds me to never ever run in ProCompression socks. I love the socks but they hurt my feet when I run. Yes, a sock can do that to me. I just wear them for recovery. And warmth. I had to run in glasses today which was not my favorite thing at all. Check out the pictures and see if you can tell why I don't like to run in these glasses.
6.12.13
Workout Tuesday: Eye balls and Q-tips, oh my!
I hadn't really thought it'd be possible to have a more chaotic day than yesterday, but I sure tried to match the chaos with today.
Run workout: Things started out nice and lovely with an indoor workout. It was ice and slush and nastiness outside, so there was no way. I planned on doing a workout similar to this one but instead of doing 400s, I just ran one lap hard and one lap easy, which winds up more in the 270m range per lap. It was still a tough workout and there was one lap I was utterly ready to throw in the towel. I stuck with it. Glad I did because it produced the cutest workout graph ever.
Eye doctor: I hate having my eyes dilated. I'm a total baby so I'd already taken the morning off work. I was all good until we had this conversation:
Work: I did eventually show up at work, around 1pm, not understanding my eyes were actually going to be dilated even longer than that. So I left again around 2:30pm becuase I was totally done. I couldn't look at the computer and couldn't see my paperwork. I am so over this.
Dinner: Turns out Nathan had been having quite a day too. We'd made plans for tonight and I was all "I don't want to drive at night in these stupid glasses" and he was all "I don't want to drive" so we walked up to Marla's. It was a cluster f*ck. Two groups were seated ahead of us so it took over an hour to get our food, plus longer for his. Mine was shrimp. I think they were plucking the chicken for his. Then one of the groups with at least eight people in it walked up to the cash register to pay one at a time. We left cash on the table and left. But I got some hilarious pictures of him while we were waiting for our food.
Shirt making It's a long story why I had to make stencils for race shirts and bibs tonight, but there's that piece of information. My pooky bear helped me make the stencils last year and she agrees that the leaves on the trees are the worst parts to cut out. I only had to do six this year and gave someone else the other eight. Thank you so much! And I don't have nearly the number of paint brushes I'd thought I had. Oh well.
Run workout: Things started out nice and lovely with an indoor workout. It was ice and slush and nastiness outside, so there was no way. I planned on doing a workout similar to this one but instead of doing 400s, I just ran one lap hard and one lap easy, which winds up more in the 270m range per lap. It was still a tough workout and there was one lap I was utterly ready to throw in the towel. I stuck with it. Glad I did because it produced the cutest workout graph ever.
Eye doctor: I hate having my eyes dilated. I'm a total baby so I'd already taken the morning off work. I was all good until we had this conversation:
Doc: It looks like you're starting to get a corneal ulcer.It's a good thing my eyes were numb because I can still see where she stabbed me. And I have to use eye drops the next five days. Eye drops were $50 after insurance. Wow! And I can't wear my contact lenses except to run. So I was a grump all day.
Me: What's that?
Doc: It's a..{starts explanation}... Oh wait. That's not an ulcer. I think you have something in your eye. Hang on. I'm going to see if I can get it out with a q-tip.
Me: !?!
Work: I did eventually show up at work, around 1pm, not understanding my eyes were actually going to be dilated even longer than that. So I left again around 2:30pm becuase I was totally done. I couldn't look at the computer and couldn't see my paperwork. I am so over this.
Dinner: Turns out Nathan had been having quite a day too. We'd made plans for tonight and I was all "I don't want to drive at night in these stupid glasses" and he was all "I don't want to drive" so we walked up to Marla's. It was a cluster f*ck. Two groups were seated ahead of us so it took over an hour to get our food, plus longer for his. Mine was shrimp. I think they were plucking the chicken for his. Then one of the groups with at least eight people in it walked up to the cash register to pay one at a time. We left cash on the table and left. But I got some hilarious pictures of him while we were waiting for our food.
Shirt making It's a long story why I had to make stencils for race shirts and bibs tonight, but there's that piece of information. My pooky bear helped me make the stencils last year and she agrees that the leaves on the trees are the worst parts to cut out. I only had to do six this year and gave someone else the other eight. Thank you so much! And I don't have nearly the number of paint brushes I'd thought I had. Oh well.
5.12.13
Workout Monday: Reasons to workout in the snow
I broke one of my cardinal rules as a professional. I broke the rule in a big way. And wound up paying for it. The rule is 'no visits or meetings on re-entry day after a long absence from work'. Instead of doing zero, I had three scheduled in one day. I immediately regret this decision.
7:15am - my alarm went off; I rolled out of bed grudgingly. Remember, I went to bed at 8:50pm the night before. Because I love long car trips.
7:30am I was out the door, and by 8am I was where I was supposed to be.
8:15am is when I heard "and they're coming back to spray for bed bugs" so 9:15am is when I wound up back at home, stripped naked with all my clothes, my coat and my bag in my bathtub, about to be loaded into a washing machine with very hot water.
10:30am is when I had to leave for the next trip. I turned the dryer to hot and let it run for 2 hours, so we're all good. That next thing ended around 12pm and I was back home by 12:30 to get my clothes out of the dryer.
1:00pm is when I had to be back at the office for the third thing that day. I lost my mind sometime after that. I wound up working over 10 hours that day.
And then my running partner had an injury and had to bail. I f*cking hate this day! I wound up heading out for a run on my own, on a loop that's just over a mile. I told the receptionist, who works really late on Mondays, to look for me by a certain time. If it was miserably slushy I'd do one lap and if it was good I'd do two laps. Turns out running was the best part of the day. It was slushy but just on the main street I run on and that's only a couple blocks. Once I could run in the snow itself I had good traction and started to calm down. Also, Christmas lights are being put up and that makes me happy.
7:15am - my alarm went off; I rolled out of bed grudgingly. Remember, I went to bed at 8:50pm the night before. Because I love long car trips.
7:30am I was out the door, and by 8am I was where I was supposed to be.
8:15am is when I heard "and they're coming back to spray for bed bugs" so 9:15am is when I wound up back at home, stripped naked with all my clothes, my coat and my bag in my bathtub, about to be loaded into a washing machine with very hot water.
10:30am is when I had to leave for the next trip. I turned the dryer to hot and let it run for 2 hours, so we're all good. That next thing ended around 12pm and I was back home by 12:30 to get my clothes out of the dryer.
1:00pm is when I had to be back at the office for the third thing that day. I lost my mind sometime after that. I wound up working over 10 hours that day.
And then my running partner had an injury and had to bail. I f*cking hate this day! I wound up heading out for a run on my own, on a loop that's just over a mile. I told the receptionist, who works really late on Mondays, to look for me by a certain time. If it was miserably slushy I'd do one lap and if it was good I'd do two laps. Turns out running was the best part of the day. It was slushy but just on the main street I run on and that's only a couple blocks. Once I could run in the snow itself I had good traction and started to calm down. Also, Christmas lights are being put up and that makes me happy.
4.12.13
Thankful Sunday: Relaxation Level - Couch with comfy slippers
You know that feeling after you've driven all day? Yeah. Me too.
I woke up slightly before my 5:30am alarm clock. I am not joking. I wasn't thrilled either because I really didn't sleep well last night. I put the finishing touches on packing and headed down for provisions. I had a Turkey Sandwich, Nut Cups which are a desert you have to see to believe, water, some other snacks, a cup of coffee and coke. Plus Sour patch kids and Popcorn in the car. Due to a weird confluence of events, I wound up getting a coffee a bit later in the trip as well.
It was around 7am when I realized I was going to hit a detour in Indiana just before Chicago. Well f*ck! It wound up being okay though. Usually I'd hop on I-80 to the beltway around town. Hopping on I-80 was not an option today so I took I-90 straight through the center of town. It's 7:30am on a Sunday. How bad could it be? Turns out the worst part was the one cash lane open to pay tolls so I waited a while for a truck in front of me. The downtown skyline was pretty covered in fog. Even so the Sears Tower is impressive. And I'd never seen the White Sox stadium before.
I wound up getting home slightly after 2pm. Anyone who's tried returning to Minnesota via I-94 in Wisconsin knows that stretch between Eau Claire and the cities can be brutal on a holiday weekend. It just gets so packed that everyone winds up going 40mph. I am not making this up. It doesn't seem to get bad until later in the afternoon and evening which is why I tried to leave so early. As soon as I got home I asked Siri about the weather this week. Siri is not my bff right now. Sigh.
Once I settled in back home and the room stopped spinning, I badly wanted to try out my only Black Friday purchase: new running shoes. For the running geeks out there, these are New Balance Trail Minimus. They are usually expensive shoes but I snagged a pair for around $30. I can only assume they are last year's model. I'd never run in a trail shoe before. I need to mind more trails to run. This was a quick workout, and involved trying a different stock interval workout from my Endomondo app. The stock workouts are short, about 20 minutes including warmup and cool down, which was perfect for a 2-mile run. After the run I had a nice stretching session, important for cooling down and doubly important for my legs after the long car ride.
I woke up slightly before my 5:30am alarm clock. I am not joking. I wasn't thrilled either because I really didn't sleep well last night. I put the finishing touches on packing and headed down for provisions. I had a Turkey Sandwich, Nut Cups which are a desert you have to see to believe, water, some other snacks, a cup of coffee and coke. Plus Sour patch kids and Popcorn in the car. Due to a weird confluence of events, I wound up getting a coffee a bit later in the trip as well.
It was around 7am when I realized I was going to hit a detour in Indiana just before Chicago. Well f*ck! It wound up being okay though. Usually I'd hop on I-80 to the beltway around town. Hopping on I-80 was not an option today so I took I-90 straight through the center of town. It's 7:30am on a Sunday. How bad could it be? Turns out the worst part was the one cash lane open to pay tolls so I waited a while for a truck in front of me. The downtown skyline was pretty covered in fog. Even so the Sears Tower is impressive. And I'd never seen the White Sox stadium before.
I wound up getting home slightly after 2pm. Anyone who's tried returning to Minnesota via I-94 in Wisconsin knows that stretch between Eau Claire and the cities can be brutal on a holiday weekend. It just gets so packed that everyone winds up going 40mph. I am not making this up. It doesn't seem to get bad until later in the afternoon and evening which is why I tried to leave so early. As soon as I got home I asked Siri about the weather this week. Siri is not my bff right now. Sigh.
Once I settled in back home and the room stopped spinning, I badly wanted to try out my only Black Friday purchase: new running shoes. For the running geeks out there, these are New Balance Trail Minimus. They are usually expensive shoes but I snagged a pair for around $30. I can only assume they are last year's model. I'd never run in a trail shoe before. I need to mind more trails to run. This was a quick workout, and involved trying a different stock interval workout from my Endomondo app. The stock workouts are short, about 20 minutes including warmup and cool down, which was perfect for a 2-mile run. After the run I had a nice stretching session, important for cooling down and doubly important for my legs after the long car ride.
3.12.13
Thankful Saturday: New Running Workout
I tried a new workout with my Endomondo App. I finally paid up for the pro version of the app. (This is somehow different from a premium membership to the webiste.) The pro version of the app has interval workouts and today I tried the Pyramid workout. The app told me to warm up, when to run hard and when to run easy. I had no walk breaks. The audio coach is a bit annoying because it was telling me half way through the running intervals and for a 30 second interval, that was a bit excessive. Still, glad I tested it out and will probably use the feature again. Here's what it looks like:
After the workout I did some laundry and hung out for the morning. We took lots of pictures, including the most recent one of all three of us, and an hysterical fail of my mom about to sneeze. In the afternoon we headed over to the museum to see Mountain Man. No, I am not kidding. Nor have I ever seen so many beards north of the Mason Dixon line. After that my parents headed back to their own home. I headed back to the couch to watch Ohio State play and then took a nap.
After the workout I did some laundry and hung out for the morning. We took lots of pictures, including the most recent one of all three of us, and an hysterical fail of my mom about to sneeze. In the afternoon we headed over to the museum to see Mountain Man. No, I am not kidding. Nor have I ever seen so many beards north of the Mason Dixon line. After that my parents headed back to their own home. I headed back to the couch to watch Ohio State play and then took a nap.
Thankful: Black Friday
At roughly dark-o-clock my aunt woke my butt up. It was time to shop. My goal was to not wind up in debt since I'd already accomplished most of my Christmas Shopping objectives.
O'dark-thirty we left and headed to the mall. It's not as crazy as people say it is on Black Friday, at least where I am. We wound up at Macy's for most of the time. I picked out earrings which Mom will gift me for Christmas. We did shopping for Dad. We shopped for Grandma. I bought nothing. We are considering that a win. The rest of the mall took less time than just Macy's. Because that's how we roll.
We headed home for lunch and to plan out our next strategy. Every time they started talking about going to the next place, I just wanted to roll over and croak. Seriously, going for a hard run sounded better to me. So that's what I did. It wasn't a super hard run, but I was very happy for it.
The run re-energized me and we headed out to Marshall's to do more shopping. Mom and I got more for Dad. She also got me a pair of running gloves (which I picked out) and a hair dryer. While we were waiting forever for Mom to try on pants, I started touching stuff int the shoe department. I was inspecting a box of what I thought were New Balance walking shoes and discovered instead a very expensive pair of running shoes for about $30. I was all, "I'm buying these for myself, I'm not even waiting for Christmas". Win!
O'dark-thirty we left and headed to the mall. It's not as crazy as people say it is on Black Friday, at least where I am. We wound up at Macy's for most of the time. I picked out earrings which Mom will gift me for Christmas. We did shopping for Dad. We shopped for Grandma. I bought nothing. We are considering that a win. The rest of the mall took less time than just Macy's. Because that's how we roll.
We headed home for lunch and to plan out our next strategy. Every time they started talking about going to the next place, I just wanted to roll over and croak. Seriously, going for a hard run sounded better to me. So that's what I did. It wasn't a super hard run, but I was very happy for it.
The run re-energized me and we headed out to Marshall's to do more shopping. Mom and I got more for Dad. She also got me a pair of running gloves (which I picked out) and a hair dryer. While we were waiting forever for Mom to try on pants, I started touching stuff int the shoe department. I was inspecting a box of what I thought were New Balance walking shoes and discovered instead a very expensive pair of running shoes for about $30. I was all, "I'm buying these for myself, I'm not even waiting for Christmas". Win!
Happy Thanksgiving!
I ran 10 miles today. Yes, that is the longest since the marathon. I can't say it totally reinvigorated me this year the way it has in years past. I started off by running a warm-up mile. Then I opened up my run-walk strategy. It was a 5-minute running, 2-minute walking kind of day. I've used the same workout in past years. It's a bit more recovery time which helps keep the heart rate lower, and lets me go a bit faster when I am running
Sadly, my phone died just before mile 7, so I had to make some adjustments. The goal of the run was 10 miles. Happily, I was in a place where I knew the distance between the house and one point on the road was 1 mile so I made some adjustments to my course. The interval plan became 'stop and walk a few seconds when you're half way'. Then I had to stop and go to the bathroom. Also thankful for construction port-o-pots. It was a nice run, a bit of wind when running south but otherwise I was almost completely by myself. Good practice for running the Minnesota cold all winter.
After the run, I came back and napped. Hard. This has also been a tradition from years past. I'd only had a bowl of cereal yes, after a 10-mile run so I was pretty happy when the snacks came out in the middle of the afternoon. We were scheduled to eat around 3pm but it wound up being closer to 4pm. I'm told 26 people were in the house at one point, but I didn't count. After dinner, I was told go play card games with the kids and the trade off being I didn't have to do dishes. For 26 people. I accepted immediately. I'm glad "selfie" is a word now, because 'selfies with the aunties' was a great part of this afternoon.
I think I headed to bed around 9:30pm. I have no idea what time the wrecking crew is coming in my bedroom in the morning to roust me for Black Friday shopping. I told them to surprise me. I'm imagining I won't actually fall asleep for a bit because I can hear my dad snoring through the walls. Like a buzz saw. Wow.
Sadly, my phone died just before mile 7, so I had to make some adjustments. The goal of the run was 10 miles. Happily, I was in a place where I knew the distance between the house and one point on the road was 1 mile so I made some adjustments to my course. The interval plan became 'stop and walk a few seconds when you're half way'. Then I had to stop and go to the bathroom. Also thankful for construction port-o-pots. It was a nice run, a bit of wind when running south but otherwise I was almost completely by myself. Good practice for running the Minnesota cold all winter.
After the run, I came back and napped. Hard. This has also been a tradition from years past. I'd only had a bowl of cereal yes, after a 10-mile run so I was pretty happy when the snacks came out in the middle of the afternoon. We were scheduled to eat around 3pm but it wound up being closer to 4pm. I'm told 26 people were in the house at one point, but I didn't count. After dinner, I was told go play card games with the kids and the trade off being I didn't have to do dishes. For 26 people. I accepted immediately. I'm glad "selfie" is a word now, because 'selfies with the aunties' was a great part of this afternoon.
I think I headed to bed around 9:30pm. I have no idea what time the wrecking crew is coming in my bedroom in the morning to roust me for Black Friday shopping. I told them to surprise me. I'm imagining I won't actually fall asleep for a bit because I can hear my dad snoring through the walls. Like a buzz saw. Wow.
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