Michigan with the Rents

 Last week I went home to hang with my mom after her recent knee replacement surgery.  Anyone who thinks a total knee replacement is a small, elective surgery should think again.  But what better place to work on recovering than on Payne Lake (no pun intended).  Out the window mom can see blue herrons, swans, and turtles.

 Mom is giving recovery every ounce of energy she has.  She even made the 45 minute trip into town for her hairdresser appointment in the trunk of the SUV!

Those of you who know my mom know she is about as strong as they come.  She has inspired independence, diligence and commitment into my sister and me since we were young.  She is being tested right now, both emotionally and physically but we know she will prevail.

For my UA What's Beautiful Campaign one of the challenges was to create a photo of the person who inspires you.  I made mine dedicated to my mom.  She would probably kill me if she saw this.  But then I would just give her a Percocet and tell her she imagined this photo :)  Just kidding Mom.
Love you

Rock n Sole Half Marathon Race Report

Truth be told, I have been on only one run over 6 miles since Nashville.  And really running only once a week the last three weeks.  Sometimes life gets a little crazy.  I'm trying so hard to make my own health and fitness a priority, but it's not simple.  

So this weekend Jay and I ran in our first Milwaukee half-marathon.  My friends Abby and Sara had suggested this one to us.  We were excited because the registration came with free Summerfest tickets, so we signed up!

(sporting my UA BRING IT headband courtesy of #WhatsBeautiful Campaign)

I was pleasantly surprised at what a great race this was!  Probably around 6,000 runners lined up outside the art museum for the 13.1 run along the lake front.  Our luck with weather wasn't the greatest again.  This time a light drizzle and high 50s.  The race started with a run over a 2 mile long  bridge.  Quite the warm-up.  Then after we reached the other side, we turned around and ran right back over it!  Needless to say the first four miles were rough.  The runners' attitude was lighthearted, cheering each other over the bridge.

After that the race course went along the lakefront north to our neighborhood and back.  The course was lined with different musicians, ethnic dancers of all varieties and smiling volunteers.  I was really impressed with the staff, the well-marked and beautiful course.  The only thing that was disappointing was that there were no gels on the course.  Normally I wouldn't have cared, but I dropped mine at mine 2 and could have used the calories/sugar while out there.

Jay rocked this race.  He wasn't sure if this was his PR and I loved that he didn't know.  So we looked it up.  As it turns out, it was his second best time.  And his best in 10 years!  I've never been one to care about time, but I was hoping to improve on my Nashville time.  Especially since Nashville was such a hard course.  Well- my time was nearly identical.  I definatley felt stronger out there and loved running the lakefront in my new city!

We are looking forward to using our free Summerfest and Polishfest passes.
I am looking forward to moving from running races to triathlons for the rest of the year.

Thirsty Thursday

We've had the juicer for awhile now, so it was time to start venturing into vegetables that I'm not comfortable with.  Enter kale.  I never, ever thought I would enjoy eating something like kale.

And technically I still haven't eaten it....but it sure did taste great in juice!

Kale Creation
1 cup Kale
1 large carrot
1 lime
2 oranges
2 green apples

Result: Fantastic.  Both Jay and I agreed it was surprisingly great.

The only caviot, two days later the leftovers were terrible.

So, if you juice with kale, drink up quickly.  It doesn't keep well.

NEXT Restaurant Vegan

Saturday night Jay and I were lucky enough to make our second trip to Next Restaurant in Chicago. 
Grant Achatz's restaurant opened in April 2011 and we've been working on getting tickets as often as possible.  They aren't easy to come by, but not impossible.  The concept of Next is that you purchase a ticket for your meal/experience.  The price varies based on time of day and day of the week.  Your ticket includes a multicourse tasting menu and beverage pairings.

In the old Fulton Lounge space, its only a few blocks from our condo.  The decor is plain, allowing a blank canvas for the food and table setting to create atmosphere depending on the theme.  We went to Sicily last summer.  This time it was Vegan.  This is a stretch for us, meat lovers and all, but we loved it and ate things we never imagined we'd eat.

Half the fun of dinner at Next is having no idea what you are going to eat, but knowing it will be a culinary adventure.  So I'm not going to spoil it for you.  This photo I found on the web of the very first course, served on a rock.  A perfect example of how Achatz uses imagination not only with food creation, but the presentation itself.

We'll be back. 

Color in Motion 5K

I've seen so many photos of these "color' themed runs.  I was so excited when Carrie agreed to run Color in Motion 5K with me at Montrose Harbor.  Since I was suppose to do a really long run, I went up early and ran for an hour before the race.  Cold, rainy, windy made it somewhat miserable.

But once these smiling girls arrived, the fun began.  We were already covered in colored powder before the race even started (thank you, Carrie).

 Carrie gives the "Maize Starch" a thumbs up.  This Celiac girl was happy to see it was not flour based!

Normally I hate standing in the corral waiting for a race to start, but this time it was actually fun.  Kiss FM pumped up the crowd and people were throwing their color packets all around.  

Getting messy is so much fun!!

True to form, I was the messiest at the end.  I think being tall had something to do with it :)

Or I'm just a mess magnet.  Either way it was a really fun morning along the Chicago Lakefront.