Packing in all the fun, and Apr 18 - May 1 training recap

Happy Monday! I got back last night from the long weekend in Pittsburgh and am right back at it in the office today. Wooo!!!

My dear friends, the Pittsburgh Half Marathon yesterday was simply awesome. Thank you to all of you for your tremendous support!

I am working on my race recap right now. In short, the event is extremely well-done and the hills weren't NEARLY as bad as I had envisioned. I had a blast. Many, many more details coming soon.

The starting line yesterday
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I am behind one week in sharing my weekly training recaps, so here are the last two weeks:

APRIL 18 - 24
MONDAY - Rest
TUESDAY - Yoga class, lift 45 minutes
WEDNESDAY - 3 miles incline work on treadmill (10 minute warm-up, 2-minute intervals between levels 3-7)
THURSDAY - 10 minutes stationary cycling, lift 45 minutes
FRIDAY - Yoga class, run 3 miles on treadmill
SATURDAY - Rest
SUNDAY - Ravenswood 5K

APRIL 25 - MAY 1
MONDAY - Rest
TUESDAY - Yoga class
WEDNESDAY - Zumba class
THURSDAY - 10 minutes stationary cycling, lift 40 minutes
FRIDAY - 3.5 miles of hillwork in Pittsburgh
SATURDAY - Rest
SUNDAY - Pittsburgh Half Marathon (recap coming soon)

Last Friday was my first opportunity during my Pittsburgh Half Marathon training cycle to do a training run on what I'll call legit hills. I've talked at length over the past few months about how I tried to simulate hills on the treadmill, bridge overpasses in Chicago, etc. However, there is truly nothing like training on the real McCoy. E.g.:

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My family in Pittsburgh lives within a stone's throw of some extremely challenging hills (as do probably 99% of all Pittsburgh residents). Traditionally, just going for a neighborhood run has always caused my quads tremendous grief. But wouldn't you know it - on Friday, I could already tell my incline work was handing out major dividends. I genuinely felt comfortable on those hills! This made me so much happier than I can even begin to describe.

I know some of you might be getting so tired of my hill talk that you are thinking about making a run for the hills. (Get it? RUN for the HILLS? HAHAHAHAHA yes I know that was a bad joke.) So let's talk briefly about a few other fun highlights from last week. If you follow me on Instagram (I'll follow back!), you'll recognize a couple of these photos.

Last Tuesday, I attended a Windy City Blogger event at Snap Kitchen. There, I got to try out my first-ever hand at food styling. Here is a snapshot of my finished product:

Spinach and goat cheese scramble plus an anti-oxidant juice - styled by yours truly

I learned food styling is SO MUCH HARDER than the professionals make it look on the Food Network or other cooking shows. This picture took me more than 30 minutes to stage. I went back and forth a dozen times on which props to use, where to place them, what colors to highlight, what background/plating/silverware to select, what angle to shoot, lighting considerations, on and on and on. I have much-increased respect now for all the beautiful food photos you see in magazines, etc.

Not surprisingly, the best part was that we all got to eat our photo subjects afterwards! The food was delicious - and of course, everything tastes better when you've styled it yourself. =D

Later that night, I attended the Fleet Feet RUNway Fashion show. This is a really fun annual event where various running brands showcase their latest runners' fashions. Here's an action shot from the night:

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After the fashion show, the Fleet Feet store hosts a shopping party with appetizers, beverages and goody bags. All attendees receive a $20 store credit that night. Obviously I couldn't let it go to waste! I snapped up a new running tank top which was already marked down - and made out like a bandit!

The next day, Fleet Feet hosted a giveaway for all the outfits featured at their show. I entered and was super fortunate to win the below outfit. Thank you, Fleet Feet Chicago!!!

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My friend Radhika is on the board of an organization called Asian Americans Advancing Justice. Last Wednesday, she invited me to attend the AAAJ Milestone Awards Benefit at the Chicago Cultural Center. What an honor! Many, many thanks to Radhika for thinking of me.

From L to R: Radhika, me, and Karthik

I met so many amazing people who work extremely hard to serve the Asian American community. The Milestone awardees were all incredibly inspirational. I loved hearing their stories.

Khai Yang, one of the night's awardees from Allstate's Employee Resource Group, making her acceptance remarks

In summary - it was a great, action-packed week! Now I am looking forward to a more low-key week to catch my breath. Whew!!!

How about you? Tell me about your week or weekend? Do you like having a calendar packed with lots of fun events, or do you prefer having a more open schedule to play things by ear?

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Linking up with HoHo and Tricia for the Weekly Wrap.