Sunday is My Run Day

Daylight savings time is pretty cool. It means I got up pretty early today and was fully rested. I had a leisurely breakfast of whole wheat toast with flax, peanut butter and bananas. After that, I hit the road to enjoy what could be one of the last nice days we get in Illinois. I'm not training for anything specific, so I decided to keep a comfortably slow pace for a long run. I ended up doing 11.16 miles in just less than two hours. I won't be breaking any records there, but it was nice to see the fall colors in the area. The weather was also ideal: 55 degrees the whole time, cloudy and just a touch windy.

I took an ice bath when I got home, which took way longer than expected because the first time I got in, I spilled my coffee everywhere. I had to clean up the mess, get a new mug and start the process over again. I really only drink coffee when I do ice baths as a distraction from the fact that I'm subjecting myself to my own personal polar plunge. I also talk to my mom on the phone or read a magazine for further distraction.

After that debacle, I had a lovely lunch with a college friend at Las Vega's Burrito. If you're ever in Glendale Heights, this place totally rocks. It's in not the greatest little strip mall, but those places have the best food. Get the steak tacos; you won't be sorry.

Next up was the hardware store to get a new furnace filter. After a $400 repair, cleaning and inspection yesterday, the very helpful repair guy suggested I start buying the cheapo air filters so that the furnace starter wasn't working so hard. He explained that because the furnace was working harder to push air through the fancy filters, it would reach maximum internal heat, shut off, cool down and start again repeatedly throughout the day. Here I was thinking I was doing the smart thing by using the mid-grade filters. Live and learn.

Finally, I hit up my favorite Goodwill and got some great goodies for the blog. I've been looking for some black plates and clear mugs to take better photos of my food and Goodwill certainly delivered. I also got a few cheap and cute spoons and forks for photos, too.

Sunday/Run Day/Fun Day indeed!