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Over the weekend, I drove up to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin with some fellow Chicago area running bloggers for a weekend full of fun, games, food, and running (of course). The drive up on Friday took longer than expected but we were able to make it to the expo on time (after briefly stopping at the rental abode).

En route with Maggie (left) and Kelly (middle)

The expo had some vendors but nothing major (I think I'm spoiled with the expos in Chicago).

After picking up our messenger bag packets, we headed to a different conference room and caught the end of a presentation on Trek Bikes. To be honest, since I don't own a bike and don't have much interest on picking up cycling, I was more interested in the food selection available for snacking.

After the presentation (and snagging some free Sock Guy socks that I'm excited to try), we headed back to our house to start prepping dinner. We wanted to keep it simple so we cooked up some runaroni pasta and took some horrible food photos. (More to come on that later.)

Back L to R: Maggie, Bobbi, Kelly, Sierra, Emily, Jenny (?), Kayla Middle L to R: Amy, me, Jackie, Marcia, Katie Front: Kim, Kayla, Erin

Race day morning, we snapped a quick group shot before heading to the finish line where there were shuttles to take us to the start. (The race was point-to-point.) I feel this was pretty efficient way to start the race. Sara Hall gave some words of encouragement before we were on our way. I even ran into Jess who was running the Half Marathon as a training run for her marathon later this year. Erin and I started the race together with the 2:10 pace group. After a few miles and some ridiculous hills, we knew we were in for an interesting race. We got the chance to run along the lake and it was absolutely beautiful. It was hard to keep your eyes on the road with such beautiful scenery.

Thanks for letting me steal your photo, Amy

As we continued on, we would periodically pick up the pace, walk a few steps through the water stops and continue on our way. At the half way point, I turned to Erin and asked "I wonder if the best or the worst is behind us?" The hills seemed never-ending, but we tackled each one without walking and I felt great throughout the race. And then, we reached about the 10 mile marker and we saw the finish line party. We just had a 5k left and we made a right turn for the only "out and back" part of the course. Well, little did we know that this would by far be the worst part of the race. The elevation map gives you some detail, but the hill we had to climb up was steep and it Just. Kept. Going...

You thought it was over and then PSYCHEEEEE... there was more! It was an evil, evil trick to have at the end of the race! When the turnaround point came, all I could think about was going down the giant hill (where I was nervous I would fall as gravity kept me moving pretty quick). There were a few more teaser uphills as we made our way down, but we knew the worst was behind us. I shouted to Erin that we could make it under 2:05! She said that she'll meet me at the finish line as I sprinted off. I heard the cheers of some of my fellow blogger friends as I zoomed to the finish line as fast as I could go.

I happily finished in 2:02:34. They even announced my name as I was crossing the finish line! I knew I wouldn't PR during this race given the amount of speedwork completed (not much) and my fitness level hasn't been what I'd like given my study schedule... but I'm still REALLY happy with this time. I still had plenty of gas in the tank at the end and this was one hell of a hilly course. I just know I have a 1:4x time in these legs... I'm looking forward to getting there in January! :)

After I finished, I HAD to get a photo with Sara Hall. She was so sweet and nice and she even responded to my tweet (that makes me famous now, right??) Sara's mom crossed the finish line soon after this photo was taken. :)

Overall, here are some of my pros and cons about this race
Pros:
Beautiful scenery course
Well-stocked aid stations (complete with adorable little girl scouts, happily helping out)
Enjoyed the out and back portion, just wish it wasn't on a ginormous hill

Cons:
Post-race food (I think it was a good idea poorly executed. The wraps were soggy and I just kind of wanted some pretzels and a bagel.)
Course was on the side of the road, seemed dangerous as cars were still driving by
Seeing the finish line and then having to do the most challenging part of the course

I think my pros and cons mirror some of the other folks' thoughts as well. I'm not yet sure how I feel about the necklace versus medal. I like the thought of being able to wear my race bling any day of the week, but I also kind of wish I would have gotten a medal.

Overall, I had a ton of fun at this race, but I think it was mainly due to the great company. If there wasn't a group of some of my favorite people from the internet to hang out with, I'm not sure if I would have had as much fun.

Who wouldn't want to hang out with these gals in a house for an entire weekend??

Will I do Zooma in 2013? TBD. Will I run another race with these fab ladies? Absolutely!

So today is another day where I am a bad blogger. I studied all day and Maggie will be arriving to my house any minute. We are then loading up my car, picking up Kelly, and heading to the Chicago Runner Blogger Party House in Lake Geneva, WI where we will all be running the Zooma Women's Half Marathon this weekend! Tons of Chicago Running Bloggers along with Run with Jess and Skinny Runner will be there too.

To follow along with our antics, check out #CRBZOOMA on Twitter. :)

Yesterday was a cold and rainy fall day in Chicago. On my way to the train station as I was cold and wet, I was happy to know that I was coming home to a hearty crock pot meal. This is only the 2nd time I've ever used the crock pot and I'm loving it so much. My cousin had made this recipe for chicken enchilada soup so I decided to give it a try. Of course, I had to make some modifications based on what we had on hand, as well as making it vegetarian (and vegan) friendly.

Here is what the recipe calls for, with my modifications listed as well...

3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
½ cup chicken broth (used vegetable broth instead)
2 cups milk (used almond milk instead)
1 can (15 ounce) black beans, rinsed and drained (used reduced sodium)
1 can (14.5 ounce) Rotel diced tomatoes and jalapenos (used 10oz can instead)
1 package (10 ounce) frozen corn (used 1 can of corn instead because that is what I had)
½ cup onion, chopped (we hate onions so I left this out, probably could have quartered an onion for flavor and taken out the big chunks before serving)
½ cup bell pepper, diced (didn't have any of these on-hand so omitted)
1 can (10 ounce) Enchilada sauce
2 whole chicken breasts (used 2 fake meat chicken breasts from Garedin)
1 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese (optional)

I did everything else according to the instructions. I prepped the dish the night before and popped it in the crockpot the next morning. I left it on the "low" setting all day. To serve, I added some shredded cheese, sour cream, and crunched up tortilla chips on top of the bowl.

Photo taken before almost forgetting to add the tortilla chips

The sour cream helped cool off the dish and made it extra delicious. (If you're looking to make this vegan, you could use margarine instead of butter, fake/soy shredded cheese or just omit, and Tofutti Sour Cream.) I was nervous about using the almond milk but it tasted just fine (and didn't require an extra trip to the grocery store). I have the leftovers for lunch today and I'm looking forward to when I can eat this again! I'd say this recipe made about 4 servings so it was perfect for me and my husband.

Please let me know if you try this recipe. Do you have any crock pot vegetarian favorites? I'm always looking for easy recipes to add to my rotation!

When I heard fellow Oiselle ambassador and blogger Lisa at Yo Momma Runs was coming to Chicago for a few days, we decided to plan a run together! Since she had never been to the city before, I knew we had to do it up right and made plans to head to the lakefront path. (Those of you unfamiliar with the path can check out some great photos on these blogs here and here.) Due to my short "lunch break" time frame, I jogged to Lisa's hotel and we headed to the lakefront from there without much haste. (I wanted to get the most out of the run.) It was so nice chatting about life and some of the differences between the south and Chicago. Once on the path, it was not at all crowded so we really got to experience the view of the lake and the city in some of the best ways possible. She's thinking about doing the Illinois Marathon (which I helped Amanda run earlier this year) so I gave her some ideas about the course, etc.

When setting up the self timer on my phone, we realized we had on the same capris... I guess that is what happens when you run for the same great brand! :) On the way back, my navigating skills were not as great as the way out so thankfully Lisa had remembered a short cut from her explorations earlier in the day. (You can check out some of her explorations here.)

I know I've said it before but I'm really lucky to be an ambassador of such a great organization and I get the chance to meet other runners and bloggers from across the United States!

Speaking of other bloggers around the United States, a ton of us from the Illinois/Wisconsin area will be running the Zoom Women's Half Marathon (and 5k) this weekend. I'm really excited to spend a whole weekend talking about running with some of my favorite internet pals IRL! So excited, in fact, that I was (procrastinating) packing on Monday night... I had to make sure I laid out all possible outfit ideas for all possible weather conditions.
You never know how it could be on race day morning, especially if you're racing away from home! Thankfully I've already packed most of the things on my checklist! :)

Have you done a destination race? Do you tend to overpack (like I already know I'm doing)?

Over the weekend I went to visit my grandparents with my husband. They live in a pretty rural area almost 2 hours away, so we don't get to see them as much as we probably should. It was shocking when we found a weekend with no obligations (even the Bears were on a Bye week), and we had to take advantage. We arrived Saturday morning and visited some antique stores in town. My Fiestaware collection grew slightly as we found a good deal on some mismatched pieces. (The best thing about Fiestaware is that it doesn't have to match.) While out shopping, we worked up an appetite and made a pit stop for a pumpkin pie blizzard at Dairy Queen.

Yes, that is a size medium.

If you live around the Peoria-ish area, you need to stop in Princeton, IL and the amazing pizza shop we discovered over 10 years ago: Pizza Cellar. It is some of the best pizza I've ever had. (And this is coming from someone that lived in the city of Chicago for 7 years.) My husband and I were really adventurous with our choice. PLAIN CHEESE! I say, you don't mess with the original. If a place can't figure out how to make good cheese pizza, they're not a good pizza place.

No such thing as too many slices

My grandparents have lived on the same lake for about 12 years. Despite running parts of it here and there, I've never made it the whole way around (roughly 5.5 miles) until Sunday morning. I knew it would be hilly so I packed my ProCompression socks and I was glad I did. When I started out, the first mile seemed to go on forever. I'm not quite sure why but the next few went by fairly quickly. I stopped to take a few photos of the gorgeous fall scenery but the photos just don't do it justice...

I even met a few "deer" friends along the way (pun intended). It was a great 6 mile run, but not without a little bit of a challenge. I knew that there would be hills, but I didn't quite know how many hills.

That elevation map is no joke! I like that you can tell my speed slowed when going up hill. It was a really fun way to enjoy the weather and fall scenery at a place I've been a million times before, but seen through a different perspective. I thought the hills would be good training for my next race, the Zooma Great Lakes Half Marathon this weekend! I'm looking forward to having fun with this race and completing it with some of my Chicago Running Blogger friends. If you're in the area running the race or cheering, look for us in our green compression socks! :)

On my way home from my grandparents' house, Kim called me and asked if I wanted to meet up with her and a few other bloggers (Erin and Sara) for a little haunted experience. We were going to go on a hayride to shoot some zombies with paint ball guns and explore a corn maize. (Get it? Maize?) I got home from my grandparents house and hit the books so I could have a fun evening out. I missed dinner but met everyone at the park. On my way out the door, I didn't have time for a full meal so I grabbed a Picky Bar to hold me over.

(I've struggled with fuel in the past so I'm trying out some different types of fuel on this next training cycle. I will let you know how it goes.)

Upon arriving, I met up with the girls and their respective significant others before heading towards the zombie hayride. Walking into the hayride tunnel, I heard some screams and immediately regretted my decision to come. I'm pretty much the biggest baby when it comes to most things scary. Turns out the screams were just from some guy trying to scare his girlfriend. I was a little jumpy. How am I going to get through a whole hayride if I can't even get through the tunnel?

Once on the hayride, I saw that there was an industrial sized grate keeping us in, and the guns were securely stationed on the side of the grate. We were given military-style instructions while some "hard rock" music played in the background. After a few practice areas, we were off. Some of the "zombies" were definitely more zealous about their current profession than others. It was fun being with a group as various members offered snarky remarks, and I had more than one back to hide behind when I got scared (which was often). I fully admit to not really committing to the gun and leaning back, daintily pressing the trigger for most shots.

Thanks for the photo Kim! (Photo editing done in Pic Monkey)

If these were zombies from the Walking Dead, we would have totally been overrun based on the amount of noise we were making. (Giant generator, tractor with trailer, screaming drill sergeant) After the hay ride, we headed to the corn maize (which I was assured wasn't haunted). Various spouses led the way while us ladies talked about running, marathons, coaches, and everything in between. (Running bloggers talking about running? What?)

Getting close to the end of the maze, a guy in a mask and an employee sweatshirt walked up to us, staring and making weird grunts/noises. He surveyed the group, looking for a weak link as I was trying to sheepishly hide behind whoever was close by me. I chose Kim and that was a mistake. When he went up to Kim she told him "Don't get me, get her!" He then tried to come towards me as I screamed and started running as fast as I could the opposite way, except I got tangled up in a corn stalk and just about ran Erin over.

Source

It was not one of my proudest moments, but I was absolutely terrified. Then the guy started to walk towards me again, so I ran the other way. He just kept following me as he knew I was the weakest link and was the most scared. Kim felt really bad afterwards as I don't think she was expecting me to be as afraid as I was! Lol! When he finally went away, we were at the end of the maize. Upon exiting, one of the employees asked us how it was. We said we had fun and mentioned that there was an escaped zombie! She said that there shouldn't  have been any zombies in the maze and asked for a full description of the guy that we saw. Apparently it was supposed to be a "family friendly" maze so this guy was in trouble (and he was apparently not an employee). Either way, it led to a fun story and I had a fun time with my friends and their spouses!

Are you someone that likes haunted things around Halloween? Haunted houses, haunted hayrides, creepy cemetery tours... (If you haven't guessed, I am not a fan.)

After my super running weekend, I rested on Monday but decided to go for some miles during my lunch break on Tuesday. My evenings are filled with studies so I don't really have time for much in the evenings.

I took this quick photo along the Chicago River before heading back to the office. My pace was a bit quick, but I'm enjoying the chance to go a little quicker now that the weather is nicer! It seems so much easier! :) I said it before and I'll say it again. I am LOVING these fall temperatures!! :)

This weekend my husband and I are going to visit my grandparents where we don't get good cell phone reception. It should be a fun weekend and I hope to get in some good studying time! The lake that they live on is really hilly 5 mile loop. I'm hoping to go around it once in preparation for the Zooma Great Lakes half marathon that I'll be running next weekend!

As you may know, I'm a huge fan of Asics and have been for years. The Kayano brand has gotten me through a full marathon training cycle without pain.

GR Marathon, 10/2011, Kayano 17s

I recently purchased a pair of Brooks Adrenaline and I have really liked running in them. However, when I switch back to my old Asics, it just feels like the glass slipper. I was looking on Twitter yesterday and saw an article that a new version of the Kayano is to be released in November. I am super excited to test them out, even though I'm not really in the market for a new pair of shoes. When the day comes for me to run another marathon, I just wouldn't trust any other shoe.

Do you have shoe loyalty as well? Have you ever gotten really excited about a new shoe version coming out?