Monthly review!

I have a paper due tomorrow afternoon, so what better thing to do than to update my blog? Blogging totally beats paper editing.

So let’s have a look at this month’s (very underwhelming) MapMyRun log.

Look at all that white space!

Between my taper, my race, and the knee problems that have persisted since the 9th… I haven’t gotten a lot of runs in, which is a huge bummer since the running trail along the lake is so gorgeous and the weather has been perfect However the last couple runs I’ve done have been knee brace-aided and I’m trying 4 miles on Tuesday afternoon.

Still not sure if I’ll be up to running my half marathon on the 21st. That’s sort of a bummer. But I might just do the 5k. Hoping my knee gets it act together in the next week or so though if I keep icing and bracing, but I won’t hold my breath. My knees are notoriously stubborn when it comes to injuries.

October will be a fun month either way. My Fulbright stuff is done, so now I can start focusing on grad school apps. And my research. And the end of my seminar. And the concerts I’m going to this month and a friend from Coe possibly visiting and finally being able to break out fall jackets and gloves and hats AND spectating the Chicago Marathon next weekend (which a friend from high school is running, so I’ll be cheering her on!). So while September was a bit lackluster on the running front, October will be fun (and hopefully becomes injury free!).

A concert, good food, and winning stuff! Oh my!

So this week has been sort of an up-and-down. Class stuff has been stressful. Managing class projects with my own research and working at the Newberry has been rough. Getting to the end of the project and getting some books in from other libraries that I can take home to do research with has been a huge relief though. The time constraints of the Newberry’s hours provide a unique sort of stress that is taking some time to adapt to.

Random picture of skyline! From a different angle than usual, because I went farther west to go to Panera to work on Fulbright stuff yesterday.

However this week also had some seriously awesome stuff! On Monday night, I saw First Aid Kit (and Dylan Leblanc) at Metro Chicago. It was an amazing concert. First Aid Kit is a duo of sisters from Sweden. I was right up front and those girls are gorgeous and so totally into what they do and incredibly humble about their talent/the zeal of their fans. And I went to the concert by myself, which was something I would never have done a year ago; it was a little weird at first not to be there with anybody, but then it got un-weird and it was really fun.

 

 

 

 

!!

First Aid Kit being lovely/amazing/wonderful

I’d post more pictures, but they’re all basically the same angle and look very similar. Just with different lighting sometimes. But if you haven’t heard of First Aid Kit, you should check them out. I’m biased, but they’re pretty amazing. Take my word for it!

Other good things this week? I found an excellent, and very cheap, Chinese restaurant two blocks away from me. And they’re open until 11:30 pm. And have the cheapest ever lunch specials. And amazing crab rangoons. So… that’s going to be a place I frequent when it gets cold!

Not the nicest inside, but the food is quite nice. And they have panda pictures.

And last but not least! Yesterday while at Panera finishing up my Fulbright statements, I got a call from a number I didn’t recognize. Leaving Panera, I listened to the voicemail, and it was the bar next door where my friends and I go once or twice a week for $1 tacos or sliders and, on Tuesday, trivia nights. I had signed up for their happy hour a few weeks ago, and they drew my name out and I won! So next Thursday, me and all my 21 year old friends can go in and drink from 10-12 for free! (Well… they pay $10… but then it’s all you can drink… so…) I was pretty darn excited. I rarely win anything, so this was a nice surprise!

And on the running front, I ran on Wednesday morning and wore my knee brace, but even at that my knee wasn’t very happy with me. I don’t know what I’m going to do about this half marathon coming up in 3 weeks. I had wanted to have a 2012 PR at this race, but it looks like I might not be able to run it at all if my knee keeps acting up like this. I’m pretty bummed, but I still get the jacket swag that comes with the race registration, and maybe I’ll be able to bump down to the 5k or something on race day. More worried about my knee getting better than running another half. As I should be.

 

 

I’m late! I’m late! For a very important blog!

This weekend really got away from me. I’ve been meaning to update for the last few days but… general laziness got in the way and then the Emmys happened (Sherlock got all of the snubs! Not cool!)

Last week, we really started getting into the nitty-gritty academic stuff for the semester. Lots of readings, a new research project to get us more in-depth into the Newberry’s resources, and long seminar classes. I found a bunch of great sources for my project, which is shaping up to be something about Gertrude Bell, British mandate in Mesopotamia (aka: Iraq) and 1920 revolution against British rule. Not sure exactly where I’m going with it, but my focus is Baghdad/Iraq for sure. I’m reading a biography on Gertrude Bell right now, and holy cow. What a lady! If you don’t know how amazing she is, just glance at her Wikipedia page. You’ll be blown away.

Now for fun city stuff! Last weekend, my roomie Nicole and I went to SummerDance because it was a Middle Eastern band and it sounded like fun. We didn’t do much dancing, but it was a people watcher’s dream! So many people with belly dancing skirts and some serious skills!

Cutest moment of SummerDance: Hipster moustache kid dancing with the tiniest grandma I’ve ever seen.

Also: cool books at the Newberry. It’s always fun to find cool maps and bindings and illustrations when your books get delivered to you in the reading room.

The Book of the Fair by William E. Cameron; from Special Collections, has magnificent maps/illustrations/photos from the 1893 World’s Fair

Map from my Gertrude Bell biography. Pretty handy reference for the cities I’m unfamiliar with/have never heard of.

And now… FOOD! Had more Thai food this week as well as some fantastic food from Big Bowl. Everyone now knows that we can’t touch the food until I take a picture of it because that’s a thing that I do every time we go out to eat.

Masana curry from Garlic and Chili Healthy Thai Restaurant. Tiny restaurant but amazing food.

Been keeping my eye out for this beer for the last 2 weeks. Finally acquired it, and it was worth the wait. Hoping it doesn’t disappear too soon!

Complimentary chicken summer rolls, fiery chicken dumplings, and Kung Pao chicken from Big Bowl. All amazing.

And now for the random/creepy picture I took on the CTA escalator last weekend…

Leopard print! Dyed into his hair!

Also, ventured all the way to an orthopedic doctor this Friday. Got my knee checked out after my knee decided running was not going to happen after a mile and a half on Tuesday. As I suspected, it’s my IT band. Not a whole lot I can do besides ice and stretch and rest and work on my hips not being sucky. Back to the ab workouts! Glad it wasn’t anything more serious though. Going to try to go run Wednesday morning.

And last but not least, I’m seeing First Aid Kit at Metro tonight, and I’m super excited! I watched so many videos of them performing live last night to pump myself up. I’m convinced that it’s going to be an amazing show.

A rough week two

So this was a pretty rough week. Not because of anything seminar related, but on Monday night my grandfather passed away. It was less of a surprise — he’s been in not-great health for years — but more of a shock. So I was at home on Wednesday night and Thursday, the Quad Cities on Friday, and came back to Chicago this morning. It was great to see my family and be with them this week, but I didn’t expect to see them again so soon (nor for such an occasion).

The service and memorial were very nice though. I learned so much about my grandparents and their history together and some cool little things about my grandpa. And I met and saw so many people whose lives he’d affected who I didn’t even know. He was a huge part of a stroke camp that he and my grandma went to every year since he had a stroke which gave him aphasia 5 or so years ago. There were also the servers from the restaurants that my grandparents were regulars at, neighbors who I’d never met before, and people who were vaguely family who I hadn’t seen in — literally — years. There were tears and laughter, and it was a good way to celebrate the life of such a goofy, family-oriented, kind-hearted man.

Flowers from neighbors, stroke camp, my dad’s work, and lots of other people. In the middle is the flag my grandma recieved since my grandpa was in the Navy, as well as a vase with 3 flowers, one for each of his grandchildren.

It’s been nice to be back in the city though. A few of us Newberrians went to the Chipotle Cultivate Chicago festival and ate tacos and chili and got coupons for free burrito/salad/taco. Which is awesome since Chipotle is just across the street! It was a marvellous place to people watch as well; the music was good and the hipsters were out and about and there were so. many. dogs.

Look! I was really there!

Tonight we’re looking to go to the penultimate Chicago SummerDance (Middle Eastern/Arabic pop jams!) and maybe find some karaoke somewhere. Good to be back in the hustle and bustle… but not looking forward to the homework day I’ll be immersing myself in tomorrow.

Back in the city! Hooray!

Week One in the Windy City! + Chicago Half-Marathon!

Still no wifi in my apartment, so I’m coming to you from the Newberry’s fickle internet in our ACM wing of the second floor! (Hopefully I’ll have at-home internet very soon though. I’m itching to post pictures on Facebook!)

So I’ve been in Chicago for one full week. And what a week it’s been! Since my last post, we did some more fun Newberry things. We went on a river tour of downtown, and I took a million pictures. However, I can’t show any because I took them on my real camera and forgot my camera cord at home. So once my mom sends that to me, I’ll be able to share them (they’re pretty great, if I do say so myself!). I took two one my phone though, so I’ll post those 🙂

In terms of Newberry things, I am in nerd heaven! Now that we’ve learned how to fully utilize the Newberry’s catalog systems, it’s so much easier to find everything I could ever want. I’ve already found somethings I might use as research project material (letters/papers about 1920s Damascus and Baghdad… yes please!). We had a cool “book as object” assignment, and I was assigned a book from 1714 that I got to touch with my bare hands. They brought it out to me on a pillow and it was so cute and small… I nearly died.

The front page of the book I used; the title was SO LONG!

And on a culinary note, I tried Thai food on Friday! It was delicious. And cheap. Three of us went and they had a special of buy 2 entrees, get 1 free. So we split the check and all escaped for about $8 a piece. Totally going to have to go back. Same night, I managed to get a group to eat Indian with me so I could have some samosas; they were outrageously delicious and well worth the wait (I’ve been craving samosa for weeks!).

Toasting to the Indian food! (Also: restaurant was really fancy.) (Also also: excuse the glowing eyes. Fancy restaurant was also quite dark.)

And now what you’ve all been waiting for (maybe): CHICAGO HALF MARATHON!

Ran the half marathon yesterday, and finished in 2:06:26. I was aiming for 2:05-2:10, so I definitely hit my goal! I didn’t even walk until mile 5 because the road was too congested to walk! There were 12,000-some participants. Definitely one of the biggest races I’ve ever done; it took me 7.5 minutes just to get from my corral to the starting line!

Amazing weather though. Upper 50s and low 60s, start to finish. Exact same weather as my 10 and 11 mile training runs, so I knew I was in for a good race. My right knee bothered me quite a bit (it’s become a problem just this last week), so I’m babying it for the rest of the week/until it’s better. But I have another half to run in just over a month, so my IT band better get it’s act together quick!

I have to say, though, that other than my knee, the race was amazing. I got over my cold just in time (see: Sunday morning) and I didn’t have blisters or chafing or anything at finish line. And then I got free beer and free pizza and it was lovely.

Now here are pictures!

 

Ran in my TMNJ top! But also: bib, medal (which is super heavy!), and race shirt (long-sleeved and super comfy).

Gonna be pretty proud of this one for a while :]

Bring on week two, Chicago!

Finally! A post! (I’m in Chicago!)

Well, I’m in Chicago, sitting at my kitchen table, eating a cheese stick, watching it rain. It’s my third day in the big city, but I already feel like I’ve been here for days, weeks even! Our days have been jam-packed with activities. Yesterday we went to the Newberry at 9:45 and then to the ACM Program office for lunch, dinner and a Chicago neighborhoods scavenger hunt, and we didn’t get back to our apartment until 8:00! Long, long day.

Front of our building. It’s 15 floors! (We’re on 6th.)

We (me, my dad and my little brother) left Cedar Rapids at 5:30 am on Monday morning and drove pretty much straight through to Chicago. Stopped in Reagan’s birth place to eat breakfast, and that was about it. We got to the apartment, unloaded, unpacked, and everything went pretty smoothly. We had a few hours to kill before I had to meet up with the group for a neighborhood tour, so we went down the street (see: next door) for lunch, then did our own neighborhood tour. My dad wanted to see the Newberry and I wanted to figure out how to get to the Lake Front Trail, so we went to both of those places (much to the chagrin of my little brother’s aching feet). Then we got back to the apartment, said our goodbyes, and I was all alone in the big city.

Driving into the city!

In front of the Newberry! (Not pictured: me and my little bro, me and my dad; not enough room for all three and I can’t pick between those guys!)

 

This is the farthest I’ve been from home (for this long at least) ever. I went to college five minutes away from my house, so this is the first big “college” move I’ve had. Everyone kept it together though, my mom in the morning, and my dad in the afternoon. And since then I’ve been too busy to be homesick, but I’m sure it will catch up with me soon.

View from our window

Yesterday was our first day at the Newberry Library itself. I need to get some pictures of the inside of the library because it is gorgeous! I’m going to be distracted from my research just looking at all how beautiful the building itself is! Anyway, we got an introduction to the library and a tour, and then went to the ACM office down by the Loop to do our neighborhoods scavenger hunt. We were all assigned groups with other ACM Chicago program students and sent by either bus or train (we had to use both) to a pre-selected Chicago neighborhood. My group was sent (way, way north) to Albany Park. We got some good pictures of the places we had to get to. The best part was that at the end, every group picked up food that ACM paid for at some restaurant in the neighborhood and brought it back for a huge pot luck back at the ACM offices. My group brought back Persian rice and kabobs, but there was also ribs from Obama’s favorite BBQ place in Hyde Park, egg rolls and fried rice from Chinatown, and hummus and falafel from Wicker Park. I ate more than I needed, but you’ve GOT to fill up on food when it’s free right? 😉

Picture from the Middle Eastern neighborhood in Albany Park

Gorgeous on-ramp to the Francisco brown line CTA stop

Then we headed back to our apartment to do seminar readings (our first in-semester homework!) to prep for our first seminar class meeting. I’m nerdy-excited for class to start. I just want everything to get going!

Also, I’ve gotten out and ran the past two mornings, and the Lake Front Trail is lovely. There are always tons of people, and it’s only a couple blocks (literally) from my apartment. I just take a tunnel under Lake Front Drive and voila! I’m at the beach, ready to run. The mornings have been pretty cool because it’s rained overnight the last two nights, so that’s an extra perk. I’m really looking forward to my race on Sunday! As long as I can kick this cold that my brother gave me (I got sick Friday, which was inconvenient since it was my last weekend in CR), my race should go really well!

Lovely view for running on Tuesday morning

Monthly Review: August!

So August started out with a bang. Things were consistent and good and I was quite pleased. I lost a few pounds this month, upped my mileage, bamf’d some miles, and it felt good. Until this last darned week! I was having some IT band problems with my right knee, so I was easing up a bit early for my race taper (race is in one week!), and then on Friday morning… BAM! My little brother, who is in middle school, has been gradually getting my whole family sick. I have spent the last two days packing, laying around watching Doctor Who, and eating crazy amounts of spicy soup to try to clear out my sinuses.

Not the greatest end of the summer. I missed out on some good friend-seeing time bc I don’t want to get them sick. I just really hope I don’t bring whatever god-awful illness this is to Chicago with me (moving in just a day and a half!) and get all my fellow Newberry-ians sick! That’s not a good way to make friends at all!

Either way, here’s the review for the month.

Not pictured: all my times improved drastically by the second-to-last week of August.

So that’s August. Once I get settled into Chicago and run my race, my mileage will pick up again to prep for my second fall race on Oct 21. September is going to be one hectic month!