Trip to the Windy City

Howdy y'all.. man I really love saying that but I would feel like a fool saying it in real life! So howdy y'all! Hope you've had a good week!

I'm a bit all over the place so I'll give y'all a recap on what I've been at since I went on my trip! On Friday, I headed for Fort Wayne, Indiana, where Mr. Man is at.  On Sunday, we caught an early train to Chicago and checked in to our hotel. We were starving for lunch and upon the advice of my foodie buddy Rob (check him out at The Food Buzz), we headed to Lou Malnati's to sample Chicagos famous deep dish pizza.. it was mmmm good! 

Later at the hotel, food coma set in for Mr Man so I hit the gym.  0.7 miles into a run on the treadmill I realised deep dish pizza is not the best running fuel.. funny that! So I stopped and did 20 min hills on the bike followed by 15 min elliptical. Major stomach issues after but I was well enough to eat at a delicious tapas restaurant a few hrs later.. You have to check out cafe-Ba-Ba-Reeba if you visit Chicago, delicious! I love food, so tapas and tasting as much as possible without the danger of exploding suits me damn fine! 

Tuesday started off with a workout at the hotel gym. I ate yogurt beforehand so after nearly seeing my deep dish pizza for a second time on Sunday, I decided to hit the elliptical instead. Knocked out 30 min. So glad I didn't run.. An hour in to touring around town a bit later and my left foot was hurting at every step. Insert sad face here. I did make it to the top of the Sears tower though (now known as Willis tower)!

note the fool lying down.. and the other fool wearing slipper-like shoes in Chicago.. lucky I didn't lose a toe!

By the way.. it was so cold in Chicago.. I know you may have no sympathy for me since I was practically around in bare feet. But even if my foor wasn't sore, there was no way I was running on the lake, like I had hoped. W had planned on a walk there one day and within a block of the lake the wind got too much to bear and I begged for us to turn on our heel! Total wimp now that I'm living in Texas... have the lagging jacket ready for me when I go back home in August!

Anyways on Wednesday I worked on abs a bit.. Working on my plank. Those things are boring as hell but apparently effective. First thing I did was call to book a doctor's appointment. The fear is that I may have a stress fracture (my totally uneducated guess), since I haven't run in 12 days and its worse now and I'm kinda getting worried. Best to let the doc do his thing and figure this out. 

I also haven't mentioned the fact that I have a 10k a week from Sunday.. Hence the fear! I'll happily back off the running beforehand but I really really wanna do it! 

Capitol 10k is a huge one on the Austin running calendar, with approx 25,000 people running it every year. I joined Austin runners meetup group in January and there are a number of my Saturday morning run comrades running it too. Since I started CCFA half marathon training I can't run with them anymore (group runs also on saturdays) so I'm looking forward to seeing them again. A great friendly bunch.  Because the group is so big there's always 2 or 3 of us around the same pace so I'm hoping to have someone to run with. I also convinced my friends Jackie and Aileen to sign up sooooo.. the after party is gonna be too good to miss out on it!

Chicago had been a great trip; the past few days have been a welcome break from pushing my fitness and healthy eating. Back on the wagon I go! 

Thank you to all who have supported my goal so far to raise $4,500 for Crohn's and Colitis. By the end of May, I need to commit to running and therefore meeting my fundraising target. This is because the flights and hotel needs to be booked at that time. Sooo (trying really hard not to sound like a money-grabber) if you were thinking of donating, then it would be great if you could do so in the next few weeks. If you weren't or can;t afford it then no worries obviously. 

I have a few tricks up my sleeve to do some fundraising events in the next few weeks.. possibilities are a movie night, a barbeque, a bake sale and a raffle.  I also accept donations in the form of bright ideas! 

Just to remind you what it's like to have Crohn's disease, read the latest post from Ali, a Crohn's sufferer/ runner/ editor-in-chief of a magazine.. what a gal. I really didn't realise Crohn's was this bad.

A special shout-out to Jackie Ahmad, Tom Kane and Victor Trevino and Mike Murphy for your generous donations. If you would like to donate please do so here.