Rise and Run

Engagement Photos

Kelly — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 04:19:52 +0000

These pictures are way overdue, but about a month-ago, my soon to-be Sister In-Law took our engagement photos. We went to a park near St. Louis and spent about an hour sitting in gazebo’s, swinging on swings, playing in the playground, walking on bridges, and sitting on benches. The weather was absolutely perfect and A did such an amazing job taking the photos. She has such raw talent for this stuff.

Here are just a few of my favorites:

No big updates on the wedding planning, except, that we now have the date, the church, and the reception hall all booked….hmmmm, I guess those are big updates. We will be sending out save-the-date cards soon and I will be dress shopping within the next month or so. Gosh, it is all so exciting!! I will of course keep all of you ‘blog’ readers up-to-date as this wedding planning progresses.

Happy Running.

A bit of news….

Kelly — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 01:47:43 +0000

November 5, 2011 started like any normal day; the BF and I were racing the Chicago Hot Chocolate 15k and had planned to go to my favorite breakfast place on the northside…Victory’s Banner. The morning started out just as we had planned: get up, get ready for the race, eat a quick breakfast, drive to Chicago, park, walk to the start line, stretch, get in corrals, and RUN! Everything was going smoothly, nothing seemed out of the ordinary…until….

My BF and I decided to go get our pictures taken after the race. We found a photographer, put our water bottles, etc. on the ground, and my BF walked up to get his picture first, then he stepped aside, and I took mine. Then, he walks towards me, so that we could get our group shot. But instead of facing the camera, he turns to face me and starts saying some incredibly sweet things. I find this to be a bit strange, but since he normally says really nice things I don’t think too much about it. Just as I am about to tell him that we should ‘really take the picture’, he is down on one knee holding out a ring and asking me to marry him!!!! That’s right, my BF proposed to me that morning! I was totally surprised and couldn’t believe it. I think the exact words out of my mouth were: “really”, “here”, “now” and then of course “YES”! Even after saying ‘yes’ and after he had gotten up, I was still totally speechless and completely shaking. He was so cool and calm that entire morning and I never saw it coming…he is good!

After he proposed and I stopped shaking, he had another surprise planned for me…he had invited several of our closest friends to be there and to share breakfast with us. It was such a blessing to have them all there to share in our special moment. One of my friends drove all the way from Kansas to be there….pretty amazing! I have some very incredible friends!

It’s been 2 1/2 weeks and I still can’t believe it. I never imagined that I would find a man who could make me this happy and whom I want to spend the rest of my life with. God has been so good!

Check out a few pictures from that day:

Flying through the air….

Kelly — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 02:50:31 +0000

…well, perhaps not flying, but I did ‘zip’ through the air today for the first time up in Lake Geneva at Aerial Adventures. A few weeks ago, a coworker and myself were discussing things we would like to do someday and ziplining came up. So, we did some research, found a place up in Lake Geneva and the date was set. Neither her nor I had ever done this before. I wasn’t too nervous as I am not one who is afraid of heights, but the thought of flying through the air while you are attached to a cord, kind of freaked me out.

Well, the day arrived (today) and I had managed to persuade the BF to go with me, so the both of us went North and met up with my coworker. I have to say, I was a bit surprised when I got there….I thought the ziplines would be longer and perhaps even a bit faster. I never felt like I got up to max speed, nor did I think the course was all that long, but we still had a fabulous time.

Steve was a pro…he zipped 3 times, never went backwards, landed perfectly, and never got nervous. I, on the other hand, twisted a few times, was very nervous on the first zip, and had mediocre landings. But, it was a good time! I would definitely go zip-lining again, but I think this time around, I would go to a place that the lines were higher off the ground and longer. But, if anyone is looking for a quick zip that is fairly inexpensive, I would check out Aerial Adventures up in Lake Geneva.

Here’s a pic of Steve and I after we had zipped. Unfortunately, we didn’t get any with us actually zipping

Steve and I at the Zipline Course

And running update…ran 6 on Saturday at an 8:38 pace and 10 on Sunday at an 8:48 pace. October has certainly started wonderfully in terms of mileage! Goal for this month is 125 miles.

A 5 miler that wasn’t and a 5 miler that was

Kelly — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 23:28:40 +0000

Well, my plan of running on Thursday and Friday didn’t quite pan out. Wednesday night, I ended up staying up way too late, so when the alarm went off at 5, I promptly hit the ‘off’ button, rolled over and went right back to sleep. No guilt, no hesitation, nothing…my body clearly needed the sleep.

I couldn’t run that evening because it was ‘date night’ as the BF and I like to call it and it was wonderful! We ate at Chipolte and then headed over to GameWorks for a bit of competition in the racing games. And, I actually did quite well….he did win most of them, but I still put up a good fight To end the evening, we walked over to Starbucks and had some nice warm coffee (well, he had hot chocolate). It was absolutely wonderful!

This morning was much better in terms of running because I was actually able to get up and get out. I did 5 miles at an 8:45/mile pace, which felt pretty easy. And finally, my legs feel back to normal after the half marathon this past Sunday. Whoo Hooo!!

Tomorrow, I’ll skip the running and do Yoga and then on Sunday will be 8 miles!

Happy Running!

Great friends and good food

Kelly — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 04:22:24 +0000

Do you have those friends where you can go months even years without seeing them or talking to them and then you meet up for dinner and it seems as though you just saw them and the conversation picks right back up from where you left off?

Well, I had one of those nights tonight when I met up with a good friend of mine that I hadn’t seen in almost two years. Myself, another good friend of mine, and this long-lost friend met up in the city at Mon Thai. If you live in Chicago and haven’t tried this place, you totally need to check it out. I had the Mango Chicken and it was fabulous! I highly recommend this restaurant if you are looking for good Thai food.

But the highlight of the evening was being able to catch up with my friend. It was so good to see her and to hear about all the great things that have been happening in her life. And honestly, it felt like I had just seen her, even though it had been almost two years. Friends like that are hard to find and sometimes I forget just how blessed I am to have a few friends like that. (You know who you are)

Here’s a picture of me and my friend when we used to work at Loyola Press together…ahhh, the memories:

Friends!

We both had to show off our Michigan State t-shirts. Although, ISU will still be #1 in my books!

Now on to running…today’s run was an easy 4.5 miles and the goal is to get 5 in tomorrow, followed by 3 on Friday and a rest day on Saturday.

Happy Running!

Where does time go?

Kelly — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 02:56:08 +0000

Gosh, it has almost been a year since I last wrote anything on this blog. Where does time go? It seems like just yesterday, I was getting ready to run the Minnesota Marathon. Since then a lot has happened both in life and in running. I am happy to report that I gained a new PR in the Minnesota Marathon and shaved off 25 minutes from the Chicago Marathon that I ran in 2009. However it did come at a cost and I ended up tearing my meniscus in the left knee and had a stress bruise from over training. Due to the injury, I took several months off from running and it wasn’t until April of 2011 that I finally made a comeback….and what a comeback it was!

I started the year with the Shamrock Shuffle in Chicago were I ran an average pace of 8:43 minute/miles and this was after the injury! And it only got better from there…I ran my fastest 10k ever at the Champion Run in Chicago in August at an 8:15 minute/mile. Followed up with a new PR in the Johnsburg Roadkill 5k with a time of 22:59, which is 7:25 minute/miles. It all just took the cake when I gained a new Personal Record in the Chicago Half Marathon this past weekend with a time of 1 hour and 49 minutes. And I still have 4 more races to go this season!

Who would have thought that after my injury, I would be running faster than ever. I contribute a lot of it to a change in my training. My BF has introduced me to speed workouts, tempo runs, and pace runs all of which I had never done before. And boy, is it making a difference…WOW! If I can keep this up, I know that a Boston Qualifying marathon could definitely become a reality.

I know I have said this a gazillion times on this blog, but I do seriously hope to keep this blog going….I am sure there are a few of you out there that still likes to read about all my crazy running adventures

And just for grins, here’s a pic from the Half Marathon this past weekend.

Happy Running!

Just a little bit of shopping before the big day…

Kelly — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 03:50:40 +0000

So, today after an easy 3 mile run with my sister, I headed over to Dick’s Sporting Goods for some much-needed ‘Marathon’ day supplies. I picked up some K-Tape, which I have never used before, but am going to try to see if it helps the pain in my left knee. Then, I picked up some Body Glide for obvious reasons. And I couldn’t pass up buying a brightly colored shirt, so that my sister can easily spot me in the pack of runners on race day.

I also bought some Smart Water and some FRS energy chews for the day of the race. I haven’t tried the FRS energy chews in training, so I am kind of taking a gamble on these things. I just hope that they are better than the gels. My stomach definitely does not do well with those.

So, with all those items now bought, I am feeling a bit more relaxed about this marathon…thankfully! I just need to start packing and carbo loading.

Only 4 more days to go!

Happy Running

Is it really happening?

Kelly — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 02:23:51 +0000

Only 6 more days and I will be lining up with 11,000 other runners in the 29th annual Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis, MN. I really can’t believe that it is already here. I remember signing up for this thing many, many months ago and here it is. Yikes! Where did time go?

Even though, I have already run 3 other marathons, I still am very nervous about this one. Even with all the training I did, I just never know what my body is going to do. And as with the other 3 marathons, I always have a gazillion questions running through my head. Will my body run strong for all 26 miles? Will it break down at mile 20? What about my knees – will they hold up? And that achy, burning pain in my left knee – how will that be? What about the weather? Should I bring my iPod? What should I wear? How many gels should I take? Should I walk through the water stops? Should I run with the pace group or go it alone? Will I set a new PR? Where should I meet my family at the end? And so many more…

Then there are the crazy dreams where I dream that I miss the start of the race or I get off course some how or I forget my running shoes and have to run in my sandals. Arghh..

Maybe watching Spirit of the Marathon will help calm me a bit It is such an inspirational movie and always gets me excited to run the marathon.

Happy running!

Long Runs continue to baffle me

Kelly — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 17:22:48 +0000

No matter what I do, I just can’t seem to figure this long run thing out. It never fails, no matter the distance, when I get to those last 3 miles, my body decides it has had enough and just wants to quit. Today on my 16 miler it chose to do the same thing.

I thought I was going to be ok this time…I had a great carb meal the night before (although, it was a light meal), some G2 right before I took off, and then a GU packet and 16 ounces of water at mile 10.5.

Maybe I didn’t have enough GU? Maybe too little water? Maybe it was the hills? Not enough sleep (got 6 hours)? I have no idea but at mile 13, it took all I had to keep pushing through. And then to make matters worse at mile 15, I got a severe cramp in my upper stomach which made it hard to breathe. But with all that being said, I did manage to run the full 16, which was my goal today, so a big ‘yeah’ for that. Thankfully, the marathon is still 6 weeks away which gives me some time to figure these longer runs out. Next week, I have my 18 mile run…Oye Vay!

Totals for the week – (40.7 miles):

Sunday: Johnsburg Roadkill 5k

Monday: 7 miles

Tuesday: 4 mile hill repeats, 3 miles w/sister

Wednesday: 4.6 miles

Friday: 3 miles w/sister

Saturday: 16 miles

Happy Running!

7 weeks and counting

Kelly — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 01:46:45 +0000

So it just dawned on me today, that I have less than 7 weeks until the Twin Cities Marathon. Where did the time go? It seems like it was just yesterday that I signed up for this crazy run. And now I am left with exactly 46 days to train – eeek. In those 46 days, I need to find the time to get a 20 mile, 18 mile, and at least two more 16 mile runs in. Possible? Maybe. Hopefully.

As in the past, I will just take it one day at a time and continue to pound out the miles. Today, was an easy 7 and on the schedule tomorrow is 4 miles of hills, followed by an easy 3 miler with my sister. The hill workout will definitely be interesting.

Happy running