Catching Up - February & Mardi Gras

Hello hello!  I am back in action for March after a fun, exhausting weekend in St. Louis!  We have so much to catch up on so let's get started...

Last Week's Running:

Tuesday - 4.25 miles OUTSIDE

Wednesday - 2 miles

Friday - 4.17 miles

Total - 10.42 miles

So the week wasn't very impressive, but I have to say that at least Tuesday and Friday's run were a good pace!

When I got to St. Louis on Friday, Angela and I went for a run at Queeny Park.  She told me it was a super hilly park and it was exactly that.  The loop we did was just over 4 miles and it was rough.  Most of the first mile was flat, except for one huge uphill.  Right when we got to the top, the Garmin buzzed that we did that first mile in 7:45.  We were both shocked because it felt very relaxed (except for when we had to power up the big hill).  The 2nd and 3rd miles were a combo of both up and down - 7:35 and 7:44.  Then the 4th mile was mostly flat, and we took it nice and relaxed at 8:01.  I was beat by this time and glad I didn't throw up my lunch because we ate only an hour before!

We were having some selfie-taking issues, but finally got a decent one and at least it shows off the success of my teeth whitening!  Also it was sooo warm!  We were wearing pants and long sleeves, but felt like I could've taken off the long sleeve top if I needed to (I had a short sleeve top underneath...it's not quite sports bra only weather yet.)

February Running Recap:

Total Miles - 92.77

Total Runs - 19

Average Miles per Run - 4.9 miles

All in all, I think the total mileage for the month was OK.  It's definitely not where I want to be, but when I compare to previous Februaries, it looks pretty strong.  Given the fact that the entire month was basically on the treadmill, I guess I really can't ask for much more.

Total mileage was significantly higher than January!  But average miles per run was lower (it was 5.5 in January).  But, 2 of the February days were two-a-days, so my average miles per day would be higher.  On another positive note, it looks like this was my highest February mileage:

I can't really guarantee that this is 100% accurate because I know I fell off logging my runs a few random periods at a time, but I would say this is probably accurate for February mileage.  I know for sure I logged my runs consistently in 2013 and that's the year I really want to compare to now!

 

But enough running talk for now, here's How I Rang in March:

Mardi Gras in St. Louis!  St. Louis has the 2nd biggest Mardi Gras celebration, behind New Orleans of course.  Liz and I started our morning with a trip to Starbucks and the grocery store for bagels (and to get cash back so we'd have money for the day).  Around 9:30am, the drinking games started and the rest of the day was probably the most fun I've had in a really long time!

We made it down to Soulard (the St. Louis neighborhood with the big Mardi Gras parties) in the late morning and met up with my brother, his girlfriend, and cousins Kevin and Katie.  It was quite the family affair :)

Sunday was a day of recovery and the weather in St. Louis was perfect for staying inside.  We did get out for lunch though at a cute little restaurant called Winslow's Home.
Next up on the social schedule is St. Patty's Day in Chicago!  I can only hope March will bring more warmth and more running miles (it's a direct relationship...I'm about finished with the treadmill.)

I'm also really hoping to have my new blog up and running this week so stay tuned for that!

Did you/are you celebrating Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday this weekend/today?

How was your February?

Back to Double Digits

After stressing all week about how I probably wouldn't get a long run in this week, I did!  Because of the cold and snow, I was on the treadmill all week and wasn't really getting myself to go over 4 miles. So doing 10 miles on the treadmill right now seems like a huge stretch.  But luckily, temperatures got into the 30s and the snow was melted from the sidewalks (for the most part) by yesterday morning.

I had plans to go out for the Dayton basketball game for a 10am game Saturday morning, but also really wanted to get my long run in that morning.  So I woke up at 6:30am, yet still laid in bed until about 7:15 when I finally talked myself into getting up since I wasn't falling back asleep anyways.

My goal was to do 8-10, but I really wanted to get up to 10 to get into the double digits.  I need to have AT LEAST one double-digit run every week for marathon training, hopefully up to the point where I have 2 every week.

Unfortunately, I'm at my parents' house right now and left my Garmin at my apartment so I can't tell you my exact splits...which I'm really upset about.  But they were all between 7:26 and 8:33 if I remember correctly.  From what I remember, the first few were about 8:10-8:30, then picked it up more to right at 8:00.  The 7:26 mile was a fluke...I'm pretty sure I had a 7:47, 7:55, and 7:59, but other than that, nothing crazy fast.  It ended up being 10.05 (I am an awesome route planner to not make myself do any more than necessary) at an average of 8:06...slightly over 1:21 total time.

Some things of note on the run:

There were a surprising number of people out running!

I ran mostly on the city sidewalks.  About 2.5 miles in, I was on the sidewalk of Wacker Drive, which is a pretty busy street, just minding my own business and a car drove through a big puddle I guess and BLASTED me with a shower of ice cold water.  My iPod now surely has water damage...but it still works.  Otherwise I would probably have to somehow hunt down that person and make them pay for me to get a new iPod.

After that incident, I was quite wet/cold for awhile, but it got better eventually.  I did make my way onto the lakefront path for about 2 miles, but then went back to the city streets.  I had heard the polar vortex we had last week caused "ice balls" in Lake Michigan and I was really hoping I'd see some, but I did not.

So besides getting drenched in icy water, the run was actually uneventful.  I'm just glad I made it up to 10!  And then I got ready as quickly as possible to head straight to the bar for the basketball game...work hard, play hard.

Dayton lost :(  But I got to go out with some UD friends (some who I haven't seen in ages) as well as my cousin Katie.  She goes to SLU, which is who we were playing, but we are very accepting.

On another note...I don't think I've posted many pictures here on the blog lately, but I have dark hair again now.  No more blonde.

(Long) Weekend Photo Bomb - 11/27 - 11/30

It's been a nice long holiday weekend off of work and I've been busy with all sorts or activities.  I did 2 races (a 5k and a half marathon) and will have a full recap of those in the next few days, but in the meantime, here's the long weekend in pictures:

Dinner and gambling at the casino.  Dad hasn't quite figured out that the iPhone can be turned sideways to get everyone in the picture.  Mom and Patrick were the big winners of the night.

Catherine and I ran the Edison Park Turkey Trot 5k (like we do every year) in matching turkey headbands and tiger-print shorts.

My dear little cousin, Elizabeth.  We share a love for bread.  I told her that's called carbo-loading and she helped me carbo-load for Saturday's race  :)  On Friday, we celebrated her new baby brother's Baptism.

Post-half marathon selfie.  Very cold!

All aboard!  The entire Smith family (and "SigOs" - significant others) took a Christmas trolley ride through the city.

A few of the girls, ready to go.

View of the Chicago skyline from Smith trolley stop #1.

 Dad and I at the Lincoln Park Zoo Lights - Smith trolley stop #2.

Things escalated quickly... even had to make a few extra stops for beer/champagne runs (and bathroom runs).

Started the weekend with gambling, why not end it with a little family gambling?   A pizza party after the trolley and a 30+ person game of LCR - Shannon was the big winner.

And another running selfie.  An easy 4 miles Sunday morning in my all purple outfit.  Just kidding, I put another shirt on over that, but thought it looked funny when I was wearing all purple so I had to take a picture.

So there's the long weekend in pictures!  How was your long weekend?  What did you do??

Guest Post: Erin's "17 Things About Colleen"

Today I have a special treat for you - a guest post written my by lovely cousin Erin.  We are like peas and carrots.  She is the one who got me into blog reading and encouraged me to start my own.  And now that I have been working hard on this blog and just yesterday finished my "About Me" page, Erin decided she would like to give my readers a little more insight...

Hey there! My name is Erin, and I am Colleen’s cousin. I am also a 20-something living, working, and working out in Chicago…I just don’t run insane distances like CSmith. I graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2012, and the only other real things you need to know about me are that I am obsessed with Christmas, the Cubs, and the number 217. The last one usually needs a little explanation, and it’s pretty simple: I was born on February 17.

In light of the fact that today is 817 (aka halfway to 217!), I figured today would be an optimal day to write 17 things about Colleen that you cannot learn from her About Me page. I could probably come up with a full 217 list items seeing as I have known Colleen since the very first 217 that I celebrated, but I think that’d be a little much for you to read. So here goes!

1. Colleen and I once bought a sign at a craft fair that said “Forget the dog, beware of Colleen.” We hung it up on the door of her room. I think she still has it.
2. Pennellwood Resort is Colleen’s (and my) favorite vacation spot. I know she already posted about it, but it’s so important that it deserves its own list item here, too. There are plans in the works to perhaps open up our own Pennellwood one day.

3. Colleen loves Christmas almost as much as I do, and we both love Christmas music. I start listening to it on October 17 (aka 1017) each year and force her to do so also. Our favorite Christmas song is “Joy to the World,” by Neil Diamond. We – along with our cousin Katie – made up a dance to that song and filmed it in 2002. We all wore our matching pink North Face fleeces in the dance.
4. Colleen ran the 2010 Columbus Marathon all by herself and with no spectators. Most importantly, she was number 217 for this race.

5. Colleen loves bread, specifically Pennellwood bread. Pennellwood bread is just what you’d expect it to be – bread that Pennellwood Resort baked each and every morning. It was fresh and delicious, but no one loved it more than Colleen.
6. Plaid skirts are always in style on Christmas, and Colleen and I (accidentally) coordinated our Christmas Eve outfits one year to keep with the trend. Great minds think alike.

7. Colleen, our cousin Katie, and I have dubbed one night each year “D-Day.” We use this night to annoy Colleen’s dad, Don, and it falls during the week of Thanksgiving. Examples of past annoyances include putting post-it notes all over the kitchen walls, turning on every single light in the house, and filling his car with random objects so that it’s nearly impossible for him to get in let alone drive. They are harmless pranks, but they are fun. And he gets annoyed, which is the point.
8. Tubing on our uncle’s boat (we call him Captain Ron) is one of our favorite memories and things to do. Sometimes we both tube at the same time and then execute a mid-ride tube switch.

9. Nesquik is not called Nesquik when conversing with Colleen. It is referred to as “the Q,” because she used to drink so much of it that it was essentially her drug.
10. Colleen and I once made a commercial for Juicy Fruit gum when we were about 13 and 11 respectively. It had something to do with Avril Lavigne’s “Sk8er Boi” as the background music I think.
11. Usually, for our birthdays, Grandma and Grandpa Smith give each of us cousins a bag of chocolate chip cookies as part of our gift. Going along with number 5, Colleen instead receives a bag of rolls for her birthday.

12. G-chat is where Colleen and I spend our time conversing every single day. We also text very pointless messages to one another, which occasionally include random Forrest Gump quotes.
13. Pizza Hut used to be a huge food staple in Colleen’s life. We spent many a Friday night sleeping over at her house and ordering from “the hut.” Their breadsticks are divine.
14. For about four years in a row (maybe more?), Colleen was a parrot for Halloween.

15. Acronyms are used far too frequently in our conversations. A few commonly used examples include: DTJ (“do the job” or “did the job”), BOG/GOG (“be on G-chat”/”get on G-chat”), YATWL (you are the weakest link”), CCC (“Colmone Country Club), LNPTDID (“Let’s not put the ‘duh’ in ‘dumb’.’’), and HIHACLY (“Happiness is having a cousin like you.”). That last one is a phrase we saw on a plaque at one of the Arlington Racetrack Craft Shows we attended.
16. The 4th of July is a big day for Colleen, although we typically call it “the FOJ” (gotta keep the acronym theme alive). A lot of our family members come to Niles to watch the Niles Parade, since it is pretty great. Colleen’s favorite part of that parade is the Little People.

17. Colleen and I enjoy making lists, and our best one was “CAEUSTDL 2010,” which was “Colleen and Erin’s Ultimate Summer To Do List.” It included a number of things that we never accomplished, but obviously we still have it and will cross everything off eventually. I hope you’ve enjoyed this list and keep coming back to CSmith Run to do just that!

The Past Few Days - Birthday Celebrating!

I have been so busy the past few days and completely failing to post things here.  So here is my recap of exciting things and running things over the past few days.

On Wednesday, Katie and I had big plans of rollerblading and sitting out at her pool. The weather killed those plans though. Instead, we went to Joann Fabric, looked up some ideas on Pinterest, and had craft time. We made these little rings:

I decided to stick with the Pinterest theme for the day and cook a new recipe for the padres and Kyle. I made these spinach, feta, mozzarella croissants (without olives). Kyle took a look at the mixture before it was done and decided there were not enough red pepper flakes,  dumped way too much in, and made them a little too spicy. They were still good though.

On Thursday, I suffered through terrible traffic and met Mac at the track, but we did a normal run instead of a track workout.  My legs have been really feeling last weekend's long run.  We ended up on a trail in the forest and of course, it wouldn't be a trail run without falling at least once...and hitting a tree with my shoulder on the way down.  I had to take a picture of the scrap on my knee.  It is actually a very small injury and is done hurting now, just 3 days later.  Despite the fall, I'll still call it a good run since it was cool to run on the trails!  We probably did about 5 miles, but who's counting?

After getting all the mud off, we went to a concert!  It was the CMA Songwriter's Concert Series at Joe's bar so it was awesome to hear a bunch of country songs performed by the people who wrote them.

 

Friday wasn't anything too exciting except for some cleaning, some errands, some chatting on the phone, and a 5 mile run on the lake.  But I did get THIS AWESOME PLANT DELIVERED from Grace for my birthday!!!  So that made the day extra good and not boring :)  I will water it and let it bloom and be excited that I now have some real flowers instead of all the fake flower decorations in my ultra girly bedroom.

 

The big day of fun was Saturday!  Angela and I went for an 8 mile run in the morning (I failed to get any pictures.)  We were both just not feeling a long run, and this was nice to just run and chat and enjoy the BEAUTIFUL weather.  Then, to continue enjoying the weather, we went to the pool for a few hours with her sisters and Kevin and then took a walk along the beach.  I got a little burnt.

Saturday night was my birthday party!  I was so glad so many people were able to come!!  Plenty of friends, cousins, and family were all there and then met up with a few more when we went out to the bar.  Even a few UD friends that I haven't seen in forever were able to come over!  We went to Bub City, which is a newer country bar in River North and it was a lot of fun!  The line took forever to get in and I attempted to get the bouncers to let us in early since it is my birthday, but they would not and it was a nice night out so that was OK to stand out there and chat.  Once we got in, we were lucky to get a little table to stand at and there was a live band.  Unfortunately, people were not really dancing and were more just standing watching the band.  But we had an enjoyable time anyway!  Some pictures from the night:

Angela and Christina are now real DOCTORS of Physical Therapy!!

And then today was Grandma's 80th birthday party.  I don't have any pictures from that uploaded yet, so I will paint you a visual picture.  We sat outside, enjoyed a bunch of snacks and appetizers, chatted, sang Sweet Caroline to Grandma because she loves that song (I hope a lot of people will sing Teenage Dream to me tomorrow?), had some lunch including Portillo's salad, and then started the REAL birthday festivities.  And by that I mean we sang a song about Grandma that we made up, read a poem about her, opened gifts, and had dessert (including a cake with 81 candles - one for good luck).

I wish every weekend could be filled with that much excitement  :)  Basically I want it to always be my birthday.  It is the best day (or days leading up to it).  I don't understand people that don't like their birthday or don't want to celebrate it.  So if anyone wants to come to my apartment every weekend bearing gifts and to go out with me, I would love it.  Also, it would be a reason to make sure my apartment is always clean and tidy.

Have you had any bad injuries from falling while running? - My worst was the time I got hit by a biker while I was running.

How do you celebrate your birthday?