Parents can be Athletic too...

Putting together a couple of blogs for our family goings-on, I realized that the blog has become very Miles-centric.  I love that little man - don't get me wrong!  But why not step out a little to let you know that Nate and I do have active lives that do not involve 4-6 year old athletics! This is a blog about the family, is it not?!

To begin, Nate is studying and taking exams, like-a-boss!
He's been combing through binders of material to review the facts and formulas needed to pass the 7 exams that make up the Architectural Registration Exam for licensure. So far, so good!

Nate's softball league with his co-workers starts up again on June 7th.  He'll play every Thursday, assuming he's not injured or backed-up with a tight deadline at work.  Again, it's an architectural league this year. Local firms put together teams and they play each other for bragging rights.  If there's one thing that I've learned about architects in my long-time relationship with Nate - it's that they prefer to mingle with their own kind! (see bullet point #13 pasted below from "Dating an Architect" by Bob Borson)

• Be prepared for all your new friends to be other architects. Architects lose the ability to speak like regular people because in college, “archispeak” is drilled into their heads like waterboarding. Listen to an architect talk for an evening and I can guarantee that you will hear at least one of the following words:  ”juxtaposition” “axis mundi” “clarity” “truncated” “uniformity” and “composition”.

Can I also add "phenomenological" and "methodologies" ??

Nate's also planning to run a race this summer (Thurs., May 23)! Again, his office a put together a group of active bodies to run in the J.P.Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge! It's a 3.5 mile race.  Miles and I are super excited to cheer him on, even though Nate HATES running!!

I've also signed up for a few races.
Coming up on Saturday, May 25, I'll be running the Soldier Field 10-miler!  I've done it once before, but this  year is super exciting!  It's the 10th anniversary of the race and the shirts are FINALLY ChiBear's colors!

On Sunday, June 23, I will be running in the Chicago Women's Half Marathon. Also, on Saturday, July 27th, I will be running in the BTN BIG10K. Fun, fun!  There are so many other fun races yearning for my attention, but I really need to settle down.

Other than that, our summer will involve weekends to the beaches along Lake Michigan, camping getaways, family time, and far-away family time!  Happy start to your summer!

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Posted in: Baseball,Chicago,Kelly,Nathan,running

Shamrock Recap, 2012

The Shamrock Shuffle was a family affair!


I hadn’t run Chicago’s Shamrock Shuffle 8K before, but wanted to give it a shot.  It’s the race that kicks off Chicago’s outdoor running season! Rather than running it with 39,999 strangers, I opened up the idea to several friends.

I know, for some of you, family and friends cannot be used interchangeably, however, I am one of those lucky people who can.

Runners and goals:
My goal was to finish.  For my first time running any distance for a first time, I don’t have a PR to try and beat.  My goal is always to soak in the atmosphere and finish the race.  Deep down, I wanted to hit 47 minutes and 14 seconds for a 9:30 pace per mile. I like this calculator for setting my goals…

Nate joined in!  I was super excited that we could do this together. He was up for the challenge, but seriously loathes running. His goal – to beat me!

Next to sign up were my sister, Sarah, and my soon-to-be BIL, Scott!  Sarah had been running short distances and was training for a few weeks for the race to increase her mileage.  Her goal was to finish! On the other hand, Scott ran in high school and set an INSANE goal for himself.  He challenged his high school self to a brutal dual.

Last to commit was my brother, Russ!  He’s the outdoorsy runner type.  He runs for fun, not so much for distance or time, but for the opportunity to get outside and enjoy nature. His hope was to keep a faster pace than he held for his 10 Miler last fall.

WaHOO for 5 runners….. + 39,995 strangers!


We had the best spectators, by far!  My parents came to help watch Miles. Kelly (Russ’s wife) also joined in for the family adventure.  She had plans for their cute little 6mo old niece. Last, but not least, my youngest sister, Emily tagged along.  She gave up the tail end of her spring break for this family weekend.  I’m going to speak for everyone else (I know – nothing new) and say ‘thanks fans!” THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!  We wouldn’t have had near as much fun without you!

Now onto race day!
Here’s the course map and the ‘players.

Aren’t we an adorable group?!

Here’s two of the spectators. They both love to people watch!
 

Out of respect for the other runners, I will only share my time.  However, I will tell you that everyone met or surpassed their goals despite forgetting to start watch timers, failing GPS’s bouncing off the huge buildings, and the overwhelming crowd.

Bib

FName

LName

City

State

Country

Age

Sex

ChipTime

ClockTime

Overall

SexPl

DivPl

23237

Kelly

Klinge

Chicago

IL

United States of America

30

F

49:21

1:35:39

17705

7624

1644

My pace was 9:55 per mile.  Yes, I met my “finish the race” goal, but an obligatory port-a-potty stop messed with my secondary goal. That urgent scare kind of makes me want to give up running/racing all together.  Eh… there’s always next year!

Anyway… congrats runners! 
I’m so proud of each of you and happy you made the trip to Chicago!!


Oh.. and want to know how we relaxed the night before??

Super fun family weekends are my favorite :)

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Posted in: Banwarth's,Chicago,Kelly,Miles,Nathan,running

300th post

Yes… this is my 300th post!!

I started this blog WAY, way back in May 2009 – just DAYS after we moved our family to New York.  Miles was just 6 months old.  It seems like forever ago….

I thought I would have passed the mark a long time ago. I feel like I’ve been narrating our lives for many more than just 300 posts.  How do we celebrate such a milestone? We don’t. I’m late.  There’s nothing to celebrate when you’re late – well, unless you’re pregnant. I am not :(

Anyway… I have averaged about 100 posts a year, but have recently fallen off the wagon a bit. I don’t want to be the giver of excuses, but  I do have a couple.

1) When I started this blog in May 2009, Nate was a grad student (read: never home) and Miles had an 8pm bed time.  I was alone, a lot!  Not only was our family far, far away missing out on Miles’ development, so was his dad.  I felt a strong obligation to keep up with Miles’ ever changing skill set.
2) After grad school ended, life got busy.  We moved and settled into Chicago.  I didn’t like blogging my evening away while Nate was home.  However, I home with Miles all day (read: unemployed) for the first 4 months we were in Chicago.  I tried to keep up as well as I could,  but also wanted to make the most of my stint as a stay-at-home mom while simultaneously looking for a job.  By this time, I had printed out the “first chapter, the New York Chapter” of the blog using blog2print.  Luckily, I realized how much I LOVED having weekly updates of the goings-on of the family. I was still doing a pretty good job..
3) Now.. I’m lazy, distracted, bad about keeping up with photo documentation. Blogs are always more interesting when they are loaded with pictures AND commentaries.  I’m usually missing the picture part of that these days.  Miles isn’t changing as fast as he used too and a lot of what we do seems repetitive.  Also, the new, blog-able moments pass WAY too fast.  Miles is smart, clever, and funny.  He’s a real person functioning in real-time at full speed like a real person. Where did my baby go?  I kind of miss the baby-delayed-actions (however, I didn’t feel life was very slow motion back then…)

Yes, these are excuses. Yes, they are poor excuses. I will try not to dwell on them, but improve on them.  This is just how my family has changed… and since this is a blog about my family, it's how my blog has changed.

So… since I’ve been lacking on the updates lately, here’s a few things you might like to know:

• Miles is signed up for Spring Soccer!!! I enrolled him in a preschooler park and rec league for 3-5 year olds that will take place for 2 hours on Saturday mornings for eight weeks starting in April.  Miles is stoked!
• Nate started a new job in the last week of February.  He’s now an architectural designer at Gensler.  It’s a large corporate firm headquartered in Chicago. Nate’s really excited about the opportunity to learn from peers and be involved in a diverse set of projects.

Nate’s photo for the company website! So official! 

• Grandpa and Grandma Klinge visited 2 weekend’s ago between drop off and pick up of two of their kids in Rockford.  We loved having them. Nate’s new job had a crazy deadline that really cut into the visiting, but we still have a great time together. Sadly, I was a little too flustered by the chaotic work schedule to remember to take any pictures. Miss you.. and ready for another visit whenver you are!
• The Shamrock Shuffle is this coming weekend (3/25). Nate and I are both running it alongside my brother, one of my sisters and her fiance.  I would love to say we’re excited to finally run the race we’ve been training for, but training would be an overstatement.  We probably averaged running 1.5 times a week since January.  Sadly, we were stuck running on junky treadmills in the complex, running about 4 feet from a stagnant, sage green wall.  It’s miserable!  However, these last few weekends, we’ve enjoyed running outside.  It’s still far to dark at 5:15am to move my run outside during the week though… We’ll posted about the race once we’ve completed it. We are excited to race, and excited to host the family for the festivities!

• Nate’s been taking on quite a few freelance projects. We finally set up a little workstation for him.  Nothing fancy.  Just an organized, well lit space with a desk, and extra monitor and a few other computer related perks. So far, so good!

• Miles was recently asked to be a ring bearer for Uncle Caleb and Aunt Laura’s wedding. He couldn’t be more excited!  He IS a pro, you know!! Miles was a ring bearer for the first time at the age of 2.5 months!!  In January 2009, Miles was ring bearer for Nick and Beth SyWassink . Again in April 2009, Miles was ring bearer for Tim and Carrie Klinge. Yes, he was exactly 6 months old! Ring bearer #3 was at 19 months for Russ and Kelly Banwarth in May 2010. Bring on October 27th, 2012!  Just 2 days after Miles’ 4th birthday  - Do I see a Wisconsin Dells birthday party coming on….?

(PS – Thanks for the shirt, Caleb and Laura!)

• Cooper turns 7 today.  Cooper was born in the Chariton, Iowa humane society on St. Patrick’s day in 2005.  He was one of 10 in a litter from a Jack Russell terrier stray.  We’re guessing the father was a large beagle (mix?). We were anticipating a 25lb dog, but still adore him, as is.  Even if he is twice the dog we signed up for… :)
• Miles loves the ladies.  That’s really no secret.  Yesterday, Miles’ teachers filled me in on Miles’ newest behavior.  He’s taking a liking to kissing his favorite girls. The teachers have been telling him to save his kisses for his mom and dad instead of his friends. We second that motion.  3 years old are efficient enough at spreading germs. We really don’t need this to speed the passage of cooties and illnesses, even if his two favorite ladies are super cute!!  Miles did assure me that he only kisses girls inside the school, not on the playground.  (did I miss something – was that supposed to make me feel better?) What a kid!  Daddy’s, lock up your daughters!

From SyWassink wedding in Jan 2009, 2.5 months old.

• Finally,  I think there’s a growth spurt coming on.  Miles has repeatedly downed enough food to feed me for two meals. For example, Miles as the following for lunch last weekend: one little tub of applesauce, 4 peanut butter sandwiches, 2 clementines, 1 piece of string cheese, and a large glass of milk. For Miles, one PB sandwich is 1 piece of bread with a light layer of PB folded in half - BUT STILL  - That’s a lot of food for anybody, especially a 3 year old!!

Yikes…. so now you’re caught up! I’ve missed you!

Happy 300th post!  Here’s to 300 more……

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Posted in: Banwarth's,Chicago,Kelly,Klinge's,Miles,Nathan,random,running

Getting stronger

Nate and I have already registered for a race this spring!

Chicago’s famous Shamrock Shuffle (8K) on March 25, 2012

Therefore, it’s officially time to step up our mileage. Over the break, we took a family trip to the fitness room in our building. Miles was super excited to see Nate and I putting on running shorts and lacing up our shoes. He followed our lead and picked out his own outfit perfect for running, completed only by his ‘fast’ shoes and sweat band.

Please excuse the photo quality. My phone has issues with quick action shots.

  

Aren’t they the cutest things you’ve ever seen?!

The best part of the morning is that we all walked down our extremely long and winding hallway to get to the elevators. The elevator already had a passenger with a dog on their way to do dog business. We entered anyway. Miles looks up at the dog owner and says “We are runners!!” He was grinning ear to ear and loving his sweat band. He was so proud of himself. Such a big boy!

I was torn between thinking he was the most adorable kid in the world and feeling a bit embarrassed….. 

I can’t help but love that little boy (and his dad)!

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Posted in: Miles,Nathan,running

Family moments

I apologize for not blogging more this weekend.  I intended to put together a couple posts yesterday, but decided to go for a leisurely 3 mile run instead.  My anxiety levels have been climbing lately and the run was exactly what I needed.  I feel so much better!  So.. onto what you subscribe to this blog for: Miles updates.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Big night last night…..

Miles woke up on his own AND  went to the bathroom unassisted!

On a normal night, Miles  will walk into our room and wake one of us up to help him, however last night all we heard  were his little footsteps and toilet flush!  Like I said, BIG night at our house.  My baby is growing up so fast!  I admit, hearing the toilet flush when both Nate and I were still in bed was a little weird – but exciting as ever!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On a more comical note….  Would you like to see my boys prepare for Sunday Night Football?!?!

 

As I write this, the BEARS are dominating the Vikings,  39 to 10 halfway through the 4th quarter.   What a bright end to a fun weekend!

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Posted in: Miles,Nathan,running,Video

Race Weekend, Part III: Time to Run!

Ah… Chicago! Once again, you’ve blessed me with fun opportunities!

It’s Race Day – right in my “backyard” :o)

August 14, 2011

4:30 AM - Time to wake up
I got myself ready to go. I ate a blueberry crisp cliff bar and downed some water. Next, it was time to get the boys ready to go. Nate was easy – it’s just a matter of waking him up and pushing him towards the shower. Miles was quickly walked through his morning routine and sat down to veg in his chair while I packed a bag of snacks and toys.

5:15 AM – Travel
Finally, out the door.  Only 15 minutes behind schedule – but no worries – I padded the schedule a lot!  We jumped in the car and raced down the express lane of 90/94 to my work parking lot (free-ish for me!).  Miles was wired already and excited to cheer me on! He loves race day! Once parked in the ramp, we loaded the goodies and the adorable child into the jogger stroller and trekked one mile (exactly) south to the race start. 

Here’s the view as we approached:



6:06 AM – Heading in
My nerves were ramping up a little. We pushed through the crowd towards my starting corral.  We looked around for friends who were also running. No such luck. Here are a couple views of large crowd chaos. I was in starting corral 12…
 


6:25AM – On your mark, Get Set……
Hugs and kisses from my boys and the best wishes for a great race. Thought about jumping the fence for a good position – my competitive spirit was quickly suffocated by nerves and adrenaline.


6:30AM – GO!!             

The gunshot rang out right on time, but I wasn’t able to cross the line for another 5-10 minutes.

Click route to see the map of the run. It was a NEW route – moved entirely to the city streets from previous years where a bulk of the race took place on the lakeshore path.  GREAT course!!

Now the time of day starts to get a little fuzzy.
Because of the way the course was set up, I was able to see the boys at Miles 2, 7, and the finish! They were able to stay at Grant Park the whole time. Miles was also always positioned right on top of Nate’s shoulders, making them easy to spot.

I was still feeling great at the 3 mile (5K) mark:


Here’s a picture that Nate got a Mile 7:

Here’s one that the professionals snapped around the same time – you can see that I LOVED seeing them! It’s hard to concentrate on running when the spectators are so adorable!

Nate took this picture (below) near the finish…. not my prettiest moment. I was tired.  Where’s the last minute energy boost? I look like I’m walking…. but I am not. I promise!


The bands were GREAT! Yes – there was live, local music every mile!  I heard many fantastic covers of high energy music.  Of the thirteen or so bands, 3 of them played the blues, while others played Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, Third Eye Blind, Bon Jovi.. and more.  Some of the cover bands take their jobs seriously. For example, the Bon Jovi band had fluorescent leggings, eye liner, crimped mid-back length blonde hair, and sheer shirts. They looked the part and sounded incredible. The music really makes this race a blast!

~9:00 AM - The finish

As I crossed the finish, they gave us bottled water, ice water soaked towels, a sports drink, bananas, popsicles, energy bars, pretzels and medals! They wouldn’t let us out of the finish corral until we posed for picture.


Again.. not my finest moment. Definitely not a glamour shot – but I am so happy (and tired). The high school version of me used to put up a fight to get out of running the mile for the presidential fitness junk. Now, adult me runs for fun! Weird!

The post race party was supposed to feature Brett Michaels, but he was sick with the flu. We hung out and watched Dan Evans (biggest loser contestant from Chicago) instead.

Well, until it started to rain, anyway… 

…… then we turned around, headed home, showered, and took naps.

Here are the final stats:

Race Splits (from my Nike+ run log):

My run ended with a total distance of 13.44mi in 2:14:40 for an average pace of 10'01"/mi.

My OFFICIAL race stats:

Finished In:

02:14:48

12114

Kelly Klinge

Chicago, IL

Age: 29 | Gender: F

Overall: 7685 out of 15317 · Division: 1140 out of 2490 · Gender: 3858 out of 9505

Pace	5 Km	10 Km	10 Mile	ChipTime	ClockTime
10:17	30:35	1:02:35	1:42:03	02:14:48	02:20:41

This race was SOOO much fun! I’m actually looking forward to next year.

Who's in??

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Posted in: Kelly,Miles,Nathan,running

Race Weekend, Part I

On Saturday before the big race, we had to head way downtown to the health and fitness expo.  It was mandatory as it was the only place I could pick up my race packet.

There was loud music, fitness demonstrations, free samples, and expensive workout apparel and accessories. Bring your money and your self restraint!

There were booths for cutting edge GPS systems, audio gear, nutrition supplements, and high-end garments to embelish your curves at their sweatiest, most disgusting moments. It was crazy!

There were even booths promoting other big time races remaining this calendar year - like the princess half marathon at Disney (wish I had money - I would LOVE that!!) and then the mini marathon in Indianapolis!

Miles LOVED that booth - you can see why below:

The race takes place on the Indianapolis 500 track- they have have to bring a car to show off, right?!?  Well it definitely caught our eyes.

RACECAR!!

P.S. Thanks Indy booth for the ANNOYING hand-clapper dealy-o!

While waiting in line to get our picture taken in front of a green screen, I was handed a water bottle from a new running club and invited to join. I was both flattered and curious.

 [insert blushing mom here] 

I signed up immediately to get more information.

Thank you - don't mind if I do :)

So onto the photo booth, we stood in front of a green screen and snapped a quick photo and chose our background! The watching crowd loved my little ham! Miles is becoming a big race fan - the running kind!

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Posted in: Kelly,Miles,running

My new Shoes!

 

Yesterday, I cashed in some old (25-29 yr old) savings bonds I forgot I had stashed away in our safe.  I made a trip into downtown to the local running shop!  I was fitted for a new pair of shoes!

All over the store – they have signs that you CANNOT shop for running shoes based on COLOR.  I couldn’t agree more!  I tried on a few pair, ran on the treadmill a little while and settled on the Adidas Supernova Sequence.  Yes, I’m a pronator. Since we’ll be spending the next 400 or so miles together, I wanted to make sure we were a perfect match. 

This is the beginning of a beautiful, sweaty, pavement-pounding relationship!

Don’t you find that new relationships are a little awkward?  I need a good ice breaker.  I’ve got ~6 weeks until race day and we’ve yet to have our first formal date! Do you think 4 miles on Monday morning is a little too much too soon?

My clock is ticking – I might as well be aggressive, right?! Hope there’s little to no blister lash-back, knee discomfort, ankle anguish, or arch affliction :)  Wish me luck!

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Posted in: Kelly,running

Racing – and not the Nascar kind!

A week ago – I ran in another race!
I ran the Hope Run for Hospice 10K in Ames, Iowa!
I loved being cheered on by friends and family! I finished the race with a decent pace, but sadly have no photo documentation to share. But I can tell you, having trained in Chicago, the elevation changes along the course in Ames made this 6.2 mile race much more challenging than the Soldier Field 10.


Since then, I’ve committed to yet another endurance run, the Rock’n’Roll Chicago Half Marathon. This race is just a little over 8 weeks away! I ’m back to the flat Chicago race course and will be able to enjoy live, local music at every mile!
For those who are interested, here’s my training plan:

To answer many of the comments and questions I’ve been getting…

Running is MY thing.  It’s something that I’m doing for me! It clears my head and makes me more productive. I’m a stressed out individual [Duh!]– running calms me in a way that allows others to enjoy being around me a little more.
I really hope that this is not just a phase.  I really love what running is doing for me both physically and mentally.  I have found no better way to conquer my anxious self.  Would I say that I’m obsessed…? Not really.  Would I say that I’m addicted? Yes, there’s a good chance of that. Do I plan to keep increasing my distance to take on a full marathon – not likely.  I’m not super human - but big KUDOS to those who are!  In my opinion, a full marathon requires a MUCH stronger mental readiness than any of the other races I’ve entered.  A full marathon is beyond my capabilities. (At least for now)


In the near future, I’m just really excited to pick out my next pair of running shoes!  To be fair, I'm just trying to avoid injury, but its still super exciting!  I have less than 8 weeks to break them in :)

Anyone want to run with me?!?!
What are your reasons for running?
What keeps you from becoming a runner?

I can tell you - that if I can do it - you can too!

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Posted in: Kelly,running