For this i'll make an exception

Recap of the weekend:
25 miles running, (Hit my goal of breaking 20 miles for a week!)
14 miles cycling




Saturday morning was cold and rainy but that didnt stop me from running 10 miles- my longest since the Chicago marathon (on October 7). About half were with a dear friend, and it was just refreshing to run in the rain and chat with her as the miles flew by.


Then there was the Chicago Running Blogger holiday party #CRBHolidaze where we ran 3 miles together and had brunch. It was awesome seeing old and new faces. :)

From L to R, starting in the back:

Back Row: Anne, Katie, Emily, Cary, Lauren, Maggie, Bobbi, Charlyn

Second Row: Amanda, Katie, Kelly, Amy, Marcia, Kim

Front Row: Riyanti, Emily, Lindsay, Sara, Erica, Erin

By herself: Kelsey

Not pictured: Christina

Sunday had a nice 3.5 mile walk/run with the churro dog. It was cold but not rainy. My ankle was not too happy about the 13 miles the day before, so we took it easy.
One of the best views of Downtown Chicago is from the Adler Planetarium.



One of the worst times to go run in Chicago, is when you're hungry and the Bears are playing an early game at home. One of my running routes takes me near Soldier field- so you can imagine the tailgating sights and smells. I could see the plumes of smoke from the grills rising above the cars in the parking lots, and oh my gosh did the food smell so good!

By the time we got home, the game was about to start so I got my camera just in case there was a flyover- and indeed there was! So cool being able to see the flyovers from my balcony.





In other news

This week no longer continues "pre marathon" training, but instead will start week 1 of 10k training. I've never run a 10k (seriously, on purpose) and after looking online for races in Brasil during my trip, I stumbled upon the most perfect race ever (minus the fact it's a 10k). I will make an exception for my "no 10k" policy for this race- it celebrates the 459th birthday of Sao Paulo. I think that's pretty damn amazing! 

Between the 10k and 6.3k, it will have almost 10,000 participants, shirts by Fila, and finisher medals! And the course is within the famous Ibirapuera park in Sao Paulo that I was planning on running in every day of my trip. I plan to loosely follow Hal Higdons 10k training plan- and take it day by day based on how the ankle and ITB feel. Who knows, I might not even "race" this one in favor of running with L and his Pai.. (also for the fact i'll be training in 30 degrees/snow in winter and then running this race in 80+ degrees/humidity in summer)

And in case you missed it last week, today (Monday) at 8pm est/7pm central time on the travel channel is Anthony Bourdain's "The Layover"(from last week) which focuses on Sao Paulo. I watched it last week and after seeing L's reactions to where Bourdain went, it was a well done episode. I was about to explode with excitement after watching it.

Basically we will be going to 87% of the places he visits because those are places L usually goes to. One of the restaurants Bourdain went to was across the street from L's high school.

Needless to say I will be parked in front of the TV to watch this episode for a 2nd time and get even more excited about going to Brasil next month.

Mortadella, Pastel, Coxinha, Feijoada OH MY! <<--- b="b">and because of those, I will continue eating "extra healthy" for the next few weeks...


- xaar