Archive for May, 2012

Characters at the Gym

Thursday, May 31st, 2012

First let me start out by saying I am loving reading all your workout/running goals for 2012!  It’s so awesome to see how many of you are going to run your first 5K, half or full marathon and how many of you are going for PR’s!  I am so excited to see what you do this year!

As I’ve mentioned before, I have a gym in my building which is pretty awesome.  It’s really convenient to be able to walk downstairs early in the morning or late at night and not have to worry about actually getting to the gym.  While I’m not complaining, I will tell you there are some serious characters at my gym. Every time I think I’ve seen the weirdest thing at my gym, someone does something even weirder that has me running upstairs to PartyDog, “O M G have you seen so and so…” They are pretty entertaining to me so I figured I would share with you some of my favorites.

1. The guys who sits and drinks Starbucks coffee for hours.

This character comes to the gym every time dressed in fancy gym wear, has on sunglasses and brings his yoga mat.  He walks in, lays down his yoga mat in the middle of the gym and sits there playing on his phone and drinking his venti Starbucks cup-for at least an hour.  Does he get up? Nope.  Does he workout? Nope. When he’s done playing games on his phone and drinking his Starbucks, he rolls his mat up and leaves.

2. The guys who lifts weights barefoot.

To be honest, this guy really bugs me.  I personally think it’s not only disgusting that he does this but really rude to the rest of us at the gym. Anyway, this guy takes his shoes off before he lifts at each and every machine.  And I watch, each and every time as he does it. Keep your shoes on man or get some Vibrams or something.

 

3. The guy who hops on the treadmill while it’s on. 

The first time I walked into the gym and saw an empty treadmill on as high as it could go (it was going so fast you could hear it outside of the gym doors) I thought someone forgot to turn it off.  That was until I saw a guy running at top speed from the weight area and hopping on the treadmill for 1 minute and then hopping off to run back to the weight area.  The first time he did it I was completely shocked, and thought “wait what just happened.”  Five minutes later he did the same thing.  I guess he’s doing intervals?  It’s really dangerous to try and hop on the treadmill when it’s going at like speed 12 but I guess that’s why he needs the running start? Do I even need to tell you this guy is my favorite?  This is pure entertainment each and every time.

4.  The couple who stands still on the treadmill. 

OK so they don’t stand perfectly still but the treadmill is on at .4 speed.  Literally at .4, I’ve watched to see where they put it.  .4 speed in case you have no idea is taking 1 step about every 10 seconds.  They do this and talk or watch TV the entire time.  And because they don’t sweat, or even take more than 12 steps total their workout they wear their clothes from work.  By work clothes I mean dress clothes and shoes.

And of course we can’t forget about the Fan Lady but you all know I can’t even begin to talk about her…

That’s all the nonsense I have for now! Don’t forget to enter the Drymax socks giveaway!

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve seen at your gym?

Drymax Socks Review & Giveaway!

Wednesday, May 30th, 2012

Things have been a bit drab around here with all the surgery talk and I’m getting sick of myself more so than usual (if that’s even possible). So let’s talk about something cool. Like these socks:

In my humble opinion, Drymax makes some pretty awesome socks. When I first started running, I didn’t really get the whole fancy running socks thing.  That was until I actually tried some and now I can’t go back. Since Drymax sent me these socks,they have pretty much been on my feet every time I’m at the gym.

The coolest thing about these socks is the technology behind them that keep your feet warm in cooler weather and cool in warmer weather:

Sweat pulls heat away from skin 23 times faster than air. In cold/freezing temperatures moisture on the skin reduces the skin’s temperature so rapidly that wet feet quickly feel painfully cold and are much more susceptible to frostbite. Drymax Socks keep feet drier than other socks and therefore can keep them warmer & more comfortable in cold weather. Also, the Drymax fiber is the least thermally conductive fiber used to make socks. That means less heat is lost through Drymax fibers as compared to other fibers like: nylon, polyester, acrylic, cotton or wool which all conduct heat away from the skin at a higher rate than Drymax fibers!

Pretty awesome right? Like I said, I personally really like these socks. I say if you aren’t going to wear compression socks while running these are definitely the way to go.  When I first tried them I was honestly amazed at how un-swampy my feet were post work-out.  I totes love that and so does PartyDog since he no longer smells my gorilla feet the second I walk into the apartment post-workout.  They are a bit thicker than normal socks, I so I had to get used to that but once I did, our love affair started.

The best part is the honeymoon phase for us won’t wear out:

The Drymax fiber technology is permanent and will work for the life of the sock. Drymax technology is not a surface treatment like many wicking fiber technologies.

Thank goodness because I don’t do well with breakups.  It would be a very, very sad day in my life (and PartyDog’s) if these socks stopped sweat-wicking and keeping my feet dry.  Just another reason why I like these socks: longevity.

Now that I’ve gone on and on about these socks it’s time for your chance to win a pair! Drymax wants to send one of my super fabulous readers their own pair of socks! 

How to enter:

Leave a comment on this post answering the following question:

• What’s your workout/running related goal for 2012?
• Extra entry for liking Drymax Socks on Facebook and leave a separate comment letting me know ya did!

**Contest ends Sunday at midnight.  Winner will be chosen at random and announced on Monday! Good luck beautiful people!

Don’t Be Bitter

Tuesday, May 29th, 2012

I’ve pretty much come to terms with the fact that I can’t run right now and won’t be in the near future. Recovery from surgery is my top priority so I’ve been OK just knowing in the fall my feet will hopefully be pounding the pavement or treadmill once again. However, sometimes I still get insanely jealous and bitter about my situation. Like this weekend.

Since I was supposed to be attached to the couch and unconscious this weekend, I didn’t give much thought to a race I signed up for being this weekend.  But my surgery got rescheduled which made me realize the Soldier Field 10 Miler was this weekend, the first race I signed up for and the one I was possibly most excited for (finishing at the 50 yard line sounds awesome!).  I woke up Saturday angry and annoyed that I wasn’t running it and all my friends were.

The rest of the day I put on a happy face and entertained PartyDog but inside I was upset, anxious, annoyed at my body and just overall bitter that I wasn’t running it.  And I couldn’t sign up to volunteer since I was planning on getting surgery so I was basically a bump on a log.

Sunday I woke up feeling the same, reading all the race recaps: the weather was awesome, the race was awesome and it was really fun. I made myself stop reading recaps and logged onto Facebook for some distraction and saw this:

OMG! That’s my love Guod! I forgot he was running his first half-marathon on Sunday.  My anger, bitter and resentment immediately turned into me punching PartyDog screaming OMG DOUG FINISHED HIS FIRST HALF!!! THAT IS SO AWESOME!!! After obsessing over every single picture from the race he was in via Facebook and Instagram, I shared via Twitter how proud and excited I was for my friend to complete such an accomplishment (and that awesome post-race hair he’s got going on).

Then I remembered how I felt the same way when my girl Kim ran her first 5k! So the lesson learned from all of this is that while you may be injured and on the sidelines, there are other people out there doing incredible things.  The way I look at it, for every runner at a race there is probably a runner sitting at home (or at the race watching) injured and dying to run.  If you’re injured right now, try to find joy in your friends accomplishments or try to find joy in volunteering and cheering runners on at races.  Right now might not be your time to shine but you’ll be running again at some point-you just have to wait for it.

That’s all the nonsense I have for now!

A Number of Things

Monday, May 28th, 2012

Happy Memorial Day! I hope everyone has a long weekend like me and has the day off (and if not I’m honestly really sorry).

1.  Friday night PartyDog and I went to my favorite restaurant in the whole wide world: XOCO. If you live in Chicago and have not been here, Rick Bayless and I are disowning you as a friend.  People, I dream of this food.  We don’t go there that often though because the line is normally out the door and I eat so much I feel really sick after. Every time we go, PartyDog asks right before we eat: “you ready to feel sick?” I can’t control myself around this food, pulled pork, chips and guac, adobe chicken.  I could die a happy woman.

2. We have been to the movie theater twice in the past two days.  First we saw Dark Shadows which was pretty bad,  and yesterday we saw Men in Black 3 which we actually really liked. The only thing I’m mad about is they didn’t play the Men in Black theme song!! HOW COULD THEY NOT PLAY THAT? I was sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to hear it and it never came, not even during the credits.  That just meant I had to come home and watch the YouTube video of it on repeat for an hour.  PartyDog loved it.

3.  Speaking of Will Smith, since he’s been everywhere with MIB3 out, I have spent a ridiculous amount of time watching his old music videos and singing the songs nonstop. When I’m not singing Men in Black, I’ve been singing and dancing to Get Jiggy With it. Now that is good stuff.  And now you will have that song in your head all day too so I’m not alone singing this.

4.  I’m one of those people who has really bad allergies.  I even have to take allergy medicine all throughout the winter because I just can’t survive if I don’t.  Thankfully warmer weather also means worse allergies and nothing I take ever helps at this point.  The best part? I’ve waken up with a bloody nose almost every morning for the past week.  It’s really great and attractive.

5.  Anytime there is a Yoga Groupon, I buy it.  Right now I have two Groupons for two different studios for 10 classes at each.  I bought the first one in September of 2011 and still have 8 classes left and the second in March and still have 9 classes left.  In case I forgot to tell you, I am quite possibly the worst person at yoga ever.  I can honestly say that at every class the teacher spends 97% of her time fixing my poses.  And for some reason my mind seems to race with thoughts each and every time I go, how much laundry do I have to do, what is Max doing right now, why is everyone else so much better at this than me, I hope someone awkward pose farts, if someone awkward pose farts will I get kicked out of class for laughing uncontrollably?  

6. Finally, it’s time to announce the CalNaturale wine winner!

#42: by Jamie on May 24, 2012 at 7:51 am: I am a white wine girl!

Because there were a few Jamie’s who entered, I’ll e-mail you for your information to avoid confusion!

That’s all the nonsense I have for now!

Any Memorial Day plans??