Kelly the Culinarian: New to Me Running Places and Faces

Sunday, April 21, 2013

New to Me Running Places and Faces

I took a technology break yesterday to get some things done. First, Kelly and I met up at CrossFit Rise to sell treats during the Illinois Weightlifting Championship and Open.  More panorama photo fun!

I got to quiz Kelly on all things pregnancy and she gave me my running outfits from our Ragnar Relay sponsors, Oiselle and Haeleum. I love the Oiselle running shirt (especially the ultra line!) and the Haeleum shirt is mosquito repellent. Technology these days is pretty awesome.

After that, I pedaled 40 boring miles on the trainer in the basement in just a little more than two hours. Tim and I had a date night and went to Brazil Express Churassco Grill in Schaumburg. If you haven't been, it's awesome - very similar to another Brazilian steakhouse in Schaumburg, but better service, no wait and way cheaper. It's really classy on the inside and is only $25 per person. You can't beat that for all-you-can-eat meat.

To work off all that steak, I got up this morning to meet up with a new running group, the Western Cook Running Club. I drove out to the much-discussed Swallow Cliff recreation area, which features running trails and 125 stairs just ready to work your quads. I haven't seen this many stairs since I climbed the Great Wall of China. I only did the stairs once, then set out for my training plan-scheduled 60-minute run.
I actually had a great run. It's fun to meet new runners/walkers/athletes because you always have a common topic to talk about. I talk about this frequently, but I've been blogging since 2007 and initially wrote exclusively about food. It was only when I started writing about my running 2.5 years ago that I started meeting people and making great running blogger friends.

Runners are a special breed, which was evident today as I ran past a make-shift memorial for Boston victims. We trekked through mud and mini rivers thanks to this week's earlier flooding, and I ended up getting filthy as I tried to scale a hill to avoid a flooded underpass.

If you're in suburban Cook County, you have to check out this run club - they're inclusive of all paces and abilities and have a lively discussion group on Facebook. They meet in all sorts of places I haven't run in yet, but I'm looking forward to varying my training.

And now, there's meal prep, laundry and a small brown dog that would like my undivided attention.

4 comments:

Losing Lindy said...

no pictures of you eating as much meat as you want?? ;)

Sounds like you are having a great weekend!

Dan K said...

Thanks for the plug! By the way, you are pretty good at blogging. Your to the point and interesting. Me....not so much.

:)
Dan

Beth @ Running with the Sunrise said...

I'm just super jealous that you found a trail to run on that wasn't closed due to flooding. I am so ready for things to dry out. Sounds like you had a fun weekend. Have a great week!

carolina said...

Do you cook in bulk on Sundays? it's been a tradition for a few months and I love prepping for the week that way :)