Friday Favorites

Happy Friday, everyone!

The unfortunate news is that I actually have to work this weekend. My team works one weekend per quarter, and this is the magical weekend that we'll be closing out Q3. Nevertheless, I am still happy that it's Friday.

(SIDE NOTE: The one highlight of these work weekends is the food that we order in for the team. Last quarter we ran out of cookies so I made it a point for us to order extra this time around. Translation: productivity will be up at least 235%! =D )

Today I'm going to play along with the "Friday Favorites" theme that I see on so many blogs.

1. Blue Angels
I've watched the Blue Angels several times as part of the Chicago Air and Water Show. Their performances are literally death-defying. They steal the show every year.

Recently, my workplace brought in former Blue Angels pilot, John Foley, as a keynote speaker. It was fascinating hearing his experiences. A few highlights:

• The distance separating the planes in their aerial formations is a mere 18 inches.
• Pilots are only allowed to be Blue Angels for two years because 1) their life expectancies drop significantly after two years of participation, and 2) complacency could start setting in after two years, and complacency in this role is very dangerous.
• The signature Blue Angels helmet is earned, not given. When a new pilot joins the team, the other pilots decide when the new pilot has reached the level whereby they deserve to wear the helmet.
• The pilots do debrief meetings after every flight session. They are BRUTALLY honest with each other in providing feedback and sharing thoughts on what did and didn't go well. However, no matter how tough the feedback or how difficult it was to admit mistakes made, the phrase, "Glad to be here" was constantly repeated. This was an ode to acknowledging and remembering how fortunate they were to be a part of such an incredibly elite team.

I could have listened to John Foley all afternoon. His keynote was the talk of our office for quite some time. For days afterwards, all of my colleagues and I found every opportunity to quote lines from "Top Gun"!!!

2. Big Apples
I recently won an 8-pack of Big Slice Apples from Erica's giveaway. Thanks again, Erica!

These are packets of kettle-cooked apples in a wonderful array of flavors (e.g. Raspberry Hibiscus and Green Coffee Extract, Boysenberry Chocolate, Cinnamon French Toast). My prize package arrived earlier this week and I immediately tore open the Banana Mango and Hemp Seed flavor. SO GOOD.

In all seriousness, it's rare for me to try any product sample and be blown away enough by it to immediately want to go out and buy it. But I really do love these apple packets. They would be perfect to throw in your bag for a quick snack on the go.

3. ClassPass
Speaking of winning prizes, I recently also won a ClassPass membership from Katie's giveaway. (Given this lucky streak, maybe I should go out and buy some lottery tickets...?) Thanks again, Katie! Thank you also to Jessica, the ClassPass community engagement manager.

ClassPass is a monthly subscription where you can visit numerous boutique fitness studios under one membership. Almost 90 studios are included in Chicago, and they keep adding more!

I've been using ClassPass for nearly two weeks now. This is definitely a topic for its own post, so I'll talk more about it next week. But in short, I am up to my ears with workout options and (to quote Maria from "The Sound of Music") having a marvelous time!!!

4. Shopping mayhem
This isn't so much a favorite as it is just something I wanted to share. The Blackhawks Store on Michigan Avenue is having a moving sale right now. Everything is either 50% off or 75% off (!!!!). I Divvy'd over there yesterday during lunchtime, hoping to snag a few things.

Unfortunately, in yet another testament to the Blackhawks' crazy popularity, the line just to get into the store stretched all the way down the street.

This picture was taken after I'd already been in line for 15 minutes.

I waited almost a half hour to get in. Once I finally did, it was total chaos inside. People were clutching and grabbing wheelbarrows-worth of merchandise like it was lined with $100 bills!

I picked out a few things and got in line to pay. The checkout line occupied every remaining free square inch of space. Most of the people in line were carrying so much merchandise that they looked like a parade of pack mules getting ready to stampede. It was kind of like this:

I waited in line for about 30 minutes and barely moved. I needed to get back to the office but there were at least 50 people still in line ahead of me. This meant that I ended up having to bail. Disappointing! (I bet the people behind me in line were thrilled, though.)

The Blackhawks even had to bring in security personnel to control the crowds at the store. Who knew!?!?

5. Divvy, divvy, divvy

The Divvy bike sharing program rocks. It's made it so easy for me to zip around the city. I used to balk at going to fitness classes or events around the city because of the inherent inconvenience of getting to/from on public transit. But now, I can just hop onto a bike, fly by the cars backed up at stop signs, and go! Why didn't I become a Divvy member earlier!?!?!

Someone's tearin' it up with Divvy
Source

6. No pain, with gain?

I came across this article on how to trick yourself into not feeling pain. A few suggestions are no-brainers, others are more interesting. I plan on trying some of these tactics out the next time I am dying in the final few miles of a run or race!

7. 2014 Space Odyssey

I've used an iPhone 4 for three years and it was basically operating on life support. It was far and away time for me to get a new phone. Normally I get my phones a model year or two behind the curve. But last week, in a rare feat of technology exploration, I got an iPhone 6. 

In case you were wondering, I preordered my phone online and got it in the mail. I did NOT do anything so extreme as to camp out for hours in front of an Apple Store, or anything like that. (I save my long-line-waiting for Blackhawks functions, haha.)

The iPhone 6 has been a night-and-day improvement in comparison to my old phone. The new Siri technology is impeccably good. It's to the point that it is scary!

Frames from three cities

I am linking up with Irina again this week on her Frames From the Weekend series.

In lieu of the "weekend," I'm tweaking the link-up to share photos from the last two cities that I've visited, plus some local shots from Chicago.

1. Georgia On My Mind

This past weekend, Adam and I went to Atlanta to visit Vanitha and Asheesh. It was so great to see them and catch up with them! We did lots of hanging out, talking, cooking, and eating. I really enjoyed getting to experience a glimpse of their lives in Atlanta.

Other activities included checking out the Coca Cola Museum:

Left: V and me, plus a giant Coke-themed art bottle
Middle: Adam and I trying one of approximately 3,000 different types of Coca Cola beverage samples (thankfully there were lots of bathrooms nearby).
Upper Right: Adam and me with Coca Cola "pop"-culture displays
Bottom Right: Asheesh, Vanitha, Adam, and me donning cool 3D glasses for a 4-D Coca Cola movie. We are stylin'! (Do people still say that!?!?!?)

I rarely consume soft drinks. Therefore, I've never given Coca Cola much thought beyond noticing some of their unique advertisements. But visiting the Coca Cola Museum made me realize the magnitude of the Coca Cola empire and all the science behind its products. Wow!

The four of us also met up with Chetan and Noreen (who were so great to meet!) to attend a Braves game at Turner Field:

Left top: The outfield and scoreboard at Turner Field
Left middle: The playing field
Left bottom: Watching the Heavy Hitters drumline performance
Right top: Chetan, Noreen, Adam, me, Vanitha, and Asheesh in the Turner Field Entertainment District
Right bottom: All of us in our game seats

Turner Field used to be the Olympic Stadium during the 1996 games, and was since converted to its current ballpark build. I've only been to a handful of ballparks in my lifetime, but I thought that Turner was a very nice stadium. The weather was absolutely gorgeous for an evening baseball game. I reveled in wearing shorts for what might be my last opportunity in a very long time. =)

Here's a compilation of various other scenes from Atlanta:

Upper left: We sampled some amazing frozen treats from the King of Pops
Bottom left: Unique beverage displays at Two Urban Licks, where we had dinner on Saturday
Upper right: Sunday brunch at Radial Cafe
Lower right: Exploring the Beltline, a former railway corridor which is being converted to trailways

The weekend in Atlanta went by so quickly. Thanks again to Vanitha and Asheesh for being such wonderful hosts! I absolutely can't wait to get together with y'all again! (How's that for attempting to channel my inner Southerner?)

2. There's more to Anaheim than Disney

I've been involved with NAAAP for over a decade, and have attended the annual NAAAP National Convention for 12 consecutive years. (In case you were wondering, it was definitely scary for me to do the math on that!)

As I mentioned before, this year's convention took place in Anaheim. The timing coincided perfectly with the Disneyland Half Marathon, which took place the prior weekend. I've obviously shared a ton of photos from the race, but nothing yet from the convention. So even though this is ridiculously delayed, let's remedy that right now:

Left bottom: The convention delegates from Chicago
Left top: After the Saturday night gala with Ben, Petula, George, and Rose, with Tim lurking in the background
Right top: Epic selfie/photobomb courtesy of Dominic, with Marynka, Tamara, Cynthia, Kelly, and me in the background
Right middle: Ben is one lucky guy - he's at dinner with seven women
(Cyndy, Sarah, Rose, Tamara, Marynka, Cynthia, and me).
We are giving him the thumbs up because how could we not?!?
Right bottom: Check out the sweet ride that Tamara got from the rental car company.
We are once again giving Ben the thumbs up because again, how could we not!?!?

3. Here Come The Hawks

This past Monday night was the unofficial kick-off to NHL hockey season in Chicago... Blackhawks Training Camp Festival at the United Center!

Left: Divvy's bike sharing system is releasing five Blackhawks-themed bikes. Here's me in front of the Patrick Sharp bike!
Middle top: Player warm-ups on the United Center ice
Middle middle: Fans started lining up outside of the UC starting at 8:30 AM (the doors opened at 5:00 PM). There were four lines, one at each corner of the UC. Each line stretched 3-4 blocks long.
Middle bottom: The United Center decked out in preparation for the festivities
Right: A feathery long-time friend came by for a visit!

The crowds at the UC were packed in and everyone was completely fired up. I am amazed at how the Blackhawks' popularity still continues to soar to new heights with every passing year. (I may get kicked out of the Hawks fan union for saying this, but I actually think that their popularity has begun going overboard. However, that's a whole other topic for another day.)

It always feels good to see hockey starting up in Chicago each fall. I am looking forward to a great season!

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Things in the office are going to get crazy for me starting this weekend. I'll be working to catch up on all of your blogs before then.

In the meantime, I hope everyone is having a great week!

Lung Run 5K race recap

I am very delinquent in posting my recap of the Lung Run 5K that I ran on September 13.

The Cliff-Notes version:
I ran to support Anne and her fundraising efforts for Uniting Against Lung Cancer. Simultaneously, I was hoping to achieve a new 5K PR but I was wildly UNsuccessful.

Now, let's talk about the race in more detail.

The Good

• In the days leading up to the race and on race day, the weather in Chicago was very suddenly and very starkly fall-like. Race-time temps were in the 40s. I wore tights, a long-sleeve shirt, and gloves, and I had even been debating wearing a hat or something to cover my ears.
• The race had a very comfortable 9:00 AM start for the 5K (the 10K started at 8:30 AM).
• In accordance with this article and this article, I was up at 7:00 AM to do a one-mile shake-out run on the treadmill. This was in the hopes that it would enhance my race performance.
• I hit no traffic enroute to the race, had no trouble finding parking, and packet pickup was a breeze.
• As is typically the case for events focused towards a cause, the event organizers and lots of participants were commemorating loved ones who had been stricken by lung disease. It was touching to see the pictures and signs.

• There were about 500 participants in the 5K. Anne and Bob had advised me that if I wanted to attempt a PR, to line up near the front as a lot of participants were not serious runners. This was great advice and ended up being easy to execute.
• The post-race refreshments included mountains of Kind Bars! I love them, but I don't get them often since they are rather expensive. What a nice treat!

The Bad

• Normally, the 40-degree temperatures would have been perfect for racing. However, I had recently gotten back from 10 days in Anaheim, where the sun was blazing and the temperatures were in the upper 80s/lower 90s every day. It would have been hard enough to acclimate my body to the sudden cold even had I been in Chicago the whole time. The contrast from Anaheim made it ten times worse.

• I had trouble getting my pacing right in the first mile. I was aiming for per-mile paces around 8:15 or 8:20. When I started out, my Garmin was showing a per-mile pace of 7:10! It sure didn't feel that fast to me, but my history definitely suggests that I do tend to start too quickly. I began slowing down but my Garmin still kept reading paces in the 7's. I kept slowing more and more to the point that it felt ridiculous. Then, all of a sudden my Garmin pace slipped to around 8:45. WTH? I tried to speed up again but by that point I had lost my rhythm. 
• My first mile was done around 8:30 - so not the best of starts for my goal. I was struggling not to let my mental state slip into the vortex of negativity. But as per usual, the discomfort was hard to ignore, and I wasn't thrilled about having to fight an uphill battle to make up for the lost time.

The Ugly

• Somewhere in the latter half of Mile 2, I started getting a cramp in my side and part of my abdomen. It hurt like the dickens for the remainder of the race.
• There were times when I was fighting the urge to slow down to a walk. Even though I already knew that there would be no PR for me that day, I thought to myself that walking would sure make for an even more ruinous PR attempt. So I kept running. The pain was so bad that I was doing my best imitation of the Hunchback of Notre Dame while running. I am sure that I looked like hell. But I kept running. 

Great running form, eh? I probably embodied the green color and furrowed brow as well.

• My second mile was done in around 8:45 or so. All things considered, that actually wasn't too bad. I knew my third mile was going to be a doozy, though, so I didn't even bother looking at my pace during the final mile.
• My Garmin ended up measuring the course at 3.24 miles. I talked to Anne afterwards and she said that she had also measured the course at about three and a quarter miles. I was happy she corroborated my measurement because I am starting to have Garmin trust issues. It's too much of a variance for a 5K, especially as I am militant about running course tangents.
• Too-long course included, my final time (28:06) was a personal wurst and worst for any 5K that I've attempted to run for time in recent years. Real nice, eh? (At least it was better than had I been hitting my paces throughout the whole race, only to realize a long course in the end.)

Here is the one and only picture that I have from the event. This is a post-race gathering of Team Take My Breath Away, led by Anne.

On a very positive note, Anne's team raised nearly $5,000 for the UALC, making us the fifth place team for fundraising. Anne herself was the second-place individual fundraiser, as well. Go Anne!

As for setting a new 5K PR, that goal still remains unachieved for me. One of these days I will crack the nemesis that is the 5K distance. One of these days...!

My next race: The Prairie State Half Marathon on October 11

Disneyland Half Marathon race recap - Part 2

Continued from here.

[Get ready for a TON of pictures in this part of the recap!]

On the morning of the Disneyland Half Marathon, I was awake before my 4:00 AM alarm went off. I had prepped all of my gear the night before so all I had to do was get dressed, put on my contact lenses, and head out the door to catch a shuttle bus.

As is sometimes the case for me on race mornings, I woke up with all kinds of bizarre aches and pains. My right knee was still feeling dodgy and out of nowhere my left ankle was feeling achy. The thought crossed my mind that perhaps my legs weren't going to work today. Even though I had exactly zero goals going into this race, the pre-race jitters still announced their presence with authority.

It was a good thing Mickey was going to be at the race!

I hopped onto a shuttle bus packed with runners dressed in all kinds of sparkly, glittery race costumes. Adam and I were staying at a hotel that was only about 1.5 miles away from the Disney gates, so it was a very quick ride. The runners got dropped off and everyone started walking towards the start village near Downtown Disney. The sun hadn't risen yet and the parks looked magical in the dusk.

Runners walking into Downtown Disney

I got to the start village and was mesmerized by the brightly-lit stage up front, accompanied by rocking music. I took this picture with some green military men in front of the stage:

The crowds were pretty thick but gear check and all of the other pre-race amenities were easy to find. I found a patch of asphalt to eat breakfast, apply BodyGlide, etc., and tried to absorb as much of the pre-race energy surrounding me as possible. Then I met up with Kayla and we took this photo. (Isn't her race outfit adorable!?!? You can't see it in the picture, but she's also wearing a matching sparkly headband.)

After visiting portapotty city and dropping our bags off at gear check (both were a snap), Kayla and I joined the mob of runners heading towards the start corrals.

An emcee announced that there were over 18,000 runners participating at the Disneyland Half. There were so many people that it felt like the number was much higher than that, though. There were runners everywhere the eye could see.

Trying to make my way to my corral

The corrals were packed. My corral didn't end up crossing the start line until almost a half hour after the gun went off. After all the waiting, I began needing to use the bathroom again and feeling nervous. As my corral inched towards the start line, I was overjoyed to discover that there were some portapotties nearby. I jumped out of the corral and made a beeline to the portapotties again. Afterwards, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. NOW, I was ready to run this race!

Here's a picture of the starting line:

As race adrenaline kicked in, I was thankful that all of the aches and pains I had been feeling pre-race were now gone! Not surprisingly it was quite crowded at the outset. I nearly tripped over a couple of the road reflectors embedded in the asphalt, so I started being careful of my footing.

The first mile of the course ran through the streets outside of Disney California Adventure. There were plenty of spectators, plus some local school bands and color guard team members (sorry about the blurry pictures):

Then, we rounded a corner and entered Disney California Adventure. Whoo! Right away, I started seeing parade floats:

We ran in front of Paradise Pier and the World of Color. So festive with all of the twinkling lights!

Here's what one of the mile markers looked like:

Then it was on to Pacific Wharf and Hollywood Land:

Pacific Wharf

Entering Hollywood Land

Me running through Route 66 in Hollywood Land

Time for Cars Land, with lots of runners lined up to take pictures with the adorable cars:

I saw at least one lovable Disney character in that area posing for pictures:

The runners exited Disney California Adventure to throngs of pom poms cheering wildly:

Then we headed into Disneyland. There was an enormous crowd of folks lined up to take pictures at the front entrance. I attempted a selfie but couldn't get it to come out very well, so I settled on taking a regular picture.

Here are pictures from Main Street and in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle. There was a very long line of folks wanting to take photos with themselves in front of the Disney Partners Statue of Mickey and Walt. This backdrop was too priceless to pass up for a photo so I decided to wait.

We ran through various "lands" within Disneyland (e.g. New Orleans Square, Tomorrowland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, Mickey's Toon Town):

We ran past Mickey's house and Minnie's house in Toon Town:

Mickey's house is on the left, and Minnie's house is on the right

There were lot of Disney characters available for photos, of course:

Running through Disneyland felt like one enormous party!

As the runners exited Disneyland, we were met by spectators of all different shapes and sizes. The crowds included this gathering, which really warmed my heart:

The runners then hit the streets of Anaheim - in a big way. Here's a picture of the runners en masse (this was taken around Mile 4.5):

There were TONS of local cheerleaders and dance squads giving us their all:

Lots of local high school bands were stationed along the course playing music:

We saw Mexican dancers and Hawaiian dancers strutting their stuff:

Dozens of spectators offered us fruit, pretzels, candy, cold sponges, ice, and hugs (literally - there was a guy with a sign that said "Free Hugs!") I high-fived as many people as I could, plus I thanked everyone for being out there and for all their offerings. I did get a Free Hug, pretzels, ice, and some orange slices. Everything was awesome but the oranges were a real standout for me. They were so sweet they tasted like candy. Delicioso!

As the runners started approaching the Honda Center and Angel Stadium, the streets were lined with a seemingly endless row of antique cars. Their proud owners were gathered amongst the cars, cheering us on:

I couldn't resist taking my photo with this particular car, which was adorned by the two guests of honor:

Amidst the antique cars, we passed by the Honda Center, home of the Anaheim Ducks. 

Check out the name of the street in front of the arena - "Stanley Cup Way." I think that's pretty bold for a team that has won only one Cup! Also, one of the Ducks' trucks was parked along the course. I wonder if they were trying to pass it along as part of the antique car lineup? LOL.

After passing the Honda Center, we ran along the Santa Ana River Trail. However, the Santa Ana River was dry as a bone. It was so dry that at first I thought it was a construction site for a new highway.

This made me sad. I know that California is in the midst of an extremely severe drought right now, and seeing this really put things into perspective for me. Water conservation efforts, unite!

Next, it was time for the biggest highlight of the race outside of the Disney parks themselves: running through Angel Stadium! Here are some pictures I took as I was approaching (they were also handing out Clif Shots right before we entered the stadium):

Inside the field, the crowd of screaming spectators was enormous. It gave me chills.

The entire lower deck was packed with spectators.

The Angel Stadium scoreboard was specially set up for the Disneyland Half Marathon

The Angels logo in front of home plate

I've never been a big baseball fan but there is something so magical about running onto an MLB baseball field (or through the field of any major sports arena, for that matter). It was an unbelievable experience.

I was snapping pictures at every angle I could think of. However, my phone chose that particular moment to run out of memory. Argh! I stepped off to the side and tried to continue enjoying the atmosphere while I furiously deleted old photos off of my phone to free up memory. Note to self for next time.

We exited the stadium a little before the Mile 10 marker. Then it was back through the streets of Anaheim to return to the Disney parks. Enroute, there were tons more cheerleaders, bands, and screaming spectators offering us all kinds of support.

A band playing outside of Angel Stadium

Up until this point, the weather had actually held up very nicely with overcast skies, which kept the temperature pleasant. But then the sun started coming out, and things started heating up big-time. I was thankful to be in the home stretch.

My Garmin was measuring the distance more than a half-mile longer than the posted mile markers. I had expected this to some extent, since my picture-taking frenzy had me doing a ton of veering around on the course. I was still surprised that it had added up to THAT extent, though.

After exiting Angel Stadium, I took fewer pictures and started speeding up the pace. (For once, my splits for the last three miles were by far my fastest of the day!) As we got closer and closer to the Disney parks, the crowds started swelling. Incredible amounts of energy everywhere.

I saw my old friend Minnie Mouse just before crossing the finish line. High fives all around! Whoooo!!! Then the finish amongst the roaring crowd.

Here's the medal:

What a blast it was to run the Disneyland Half Marathon! It was so exhilarating to run through the Disney parks and Angel Stadium. Everything was well-organized and I absolutely loved all the course entertainment and the incredible spectators. If it weren't for the high cost and time associated with the Disney races, I'd want to run every Disney race every year!

One last picture. After going back to the hotel and resting a bit post-race, Adam and I headed back to the Disney parks and met up with Kayla again. Here's a picture of Kayla and me in front of Big Thunder Mountain. She is wearing her Disney Coast to Coast medal (congratulations, Kayla!), and I'm wearing my Minnie-themed New Balance shoes (thanks again, Adam!) =D

I thought this picture was a great commemoration of all the fun and festivity of the Disneyland Half Marathon weekend. =)

60 days and counting before my next Disney race - the Wine and Dine Half Marathon in Orlando. Yee-haw!!!