Chicago: Part II

So today my girlfriend an i ventured into the city again, finishing our last visit.  Last time we did everything we wanted, except didn't have time for her to shop.  So we went back and spent the majority of our time on Michigan Avenue shopping for mostly her, some for me (i got a new pair of running shorts from the adidas store).  It was a nice time, much less stressful than last time and it was not nearly as hot.  We had a great day. 

Although, it started off shaky... When we got to the train station, we bought our tickets and as we went out to cross the tracks to get to the side we needed to be on, the train started to come and the lights and stuff were flashing, so we weren't supposed to cross the tracks anymore... My friend did this once and she and her 3 friends all got $100 tickets from a police officer that saw them.  We were scared to cross because of this, but we were going to anyway... As we were about to cross, a guy on the other side screamed at us, alerting us of a police officer no more than 200 feet away! I was very thankful! I waited a minute until he turned around, and we bolted across- making it with no problem.  We thanked that man, and he told us that they have been giving out up to $500 tickets now!  On the way home, we had another train adventure...we boarded late, so we got some of the last seats and they ended up being on what we later found out was the "Quite Car"... We got kicked out of this car midway through the trip for whispering. It was ridiculous because there was no need for quiet, everybody was playing on their phone!

Anyway...I talked a lot about the adventures haha.  We did not do any biking today, but that's okay! i finally go back to work tomorrow and it will be nice biking there and back after cross country- can't wait to wear my new shorts!

Total summer mileage: 145.1 miles
Money saved on gas (20 mpg at $3.96 per gallon): $28.73

Feeling Better

Today was day 3 of my recovery. Although the swelling was at it's worst when i woke up, it gradually went down throughout the day.  With a proper regimen on medicine and icing, it is feeling a lot better.  I still did little physical activity, except mow my yard this evening.  I did hang out with my girlfriend again just for a little bit.  I did not run, i plan on running again tomorrow.  However, i have an ultrasound on my gull bladder in the morning so i will have to run after that, not at cross country practice.  I am still tired from my pain and medicine, goodnight.

Total summer mileage: 145.1 miles
Money saved on gas (20 mpg at $3.96 per gallon): $28.73

Day 2 of Misery

Today was extremly painful from my surgery early on... However, the pain medicines did help.  I did not run obviously because of the pain.  My swelling is expremely bad, it looks as if i have baseballs in  my cheek!  I pretty much sat around all day and watched tv... I did pick up my girlfriend and bring her bacl hoem for a little bit.  It was nice seeing her for a few hours, and then i drove her back home.  My friend also came over with a gift card to an ice cream place! I am super tired tonight, hopefully i feel better tomorrow and i hope to be 100% by Monday to get my running back on track!

Total summer mileage: 145.1 miles
Money saved on gas (20 mpg at $3.96 per gallon): $28.73

NTD (3.3 miles)

Nothing To Do.  Three words to describe a 10 hour day at work.  Beforehand, at cross country, we ran a 5K time trial, 3.1 miles, and i hit 17:38.  I am happy with that sub 6 pace.  I rode my bike to and from work, 3,3 miles, and on the way there, i was in a hurry and hit a curb...Haha i made a great save and didn't fall but my chain did fall off! My hurrying definitely backfired.  At work, i did pretty much nothing... Then tonight i laid around and watched TV. I am getting lazy toward the end of summer! Tomorrow is widsom teeth day, i cannot wait. Jk.  I am so tired from work and running i need some decent sleep! No running tomorrow because of surgery, goodnight.

Total summer mileage: 145.1 miles
Money saved on gas (20 mpg at $3.96 per gallon): $28.73

Yay! (5.0 miles)

As i mentioned last night, today was my girlfriend and I's one year anniversary.  We had a great day, we woke up and got delicious McDonald's breakfast- our favorite.  We then swam at my house for a few hours, then i took her to olive garden for lunch.  We ate dinner at her house and then went to Oberweis and got some delicious ice cream! Although an expensive day- it was well worth it!  We also visited Raceway Woods, the place where i asked her out one year ago, and spent soem time there.  While there, we saw 5 deer...it was crazy because they were like 20 feet away from us!! Prior to all of this, i had cross country practice at my high school, so i biked to and from, accumulating the usual 5.0 miles.  While there, we ran a pretty easy 5 miles.  Usually it would be tempo, but we had gone hard a lot lately so he gave us a day off! We still went at a sub 7 pace, so it was good.  That's all i have for tonight, goodnight.

Total summer mileage: 141.8 miles
Money saved on gas (20 mpg at $3.96 per gallon): $28.08

Bad to Good

Today started off okay with a good 7 mile run right by my house.  Then, hours later i was struck with a terrible terrible stomach ache.  It would not back off, so my mother took me to the emergency room.  I finally got some help and it went away after a couple hours- the pain was excrutiating.  Finally, i got to hang out with my girlfriend after a long wait.  We pretty much just laid around all day because my stomach still wasn't 100%.  I did not biking today because none was necessary and i had a stomach ache, all i did was drive 6 miles.  It was still a fun day with my girlfriend though, we had some really good conversations and tomorrow is our one year anniversery so we discussed what to do.  We planned on going to downtown Chicago again, but we both agreed today we were too tired to do that!  Tomorrow will be fun, and maybe we will bike a little! Goodnight.

Total summer mileage: 136.8 miles
Money saved on gas (20 mpg at $3.96 per gallon): $27.09

Awesome Day (5.7 miles)

Today was an awesome day...! Started off by a decent cross country practice, running a 6 mile tempo in just under 40 minutes.  After that, my girlfriend and i hung out.  We were clueless on what to do, and then we thought of buying a slip 'n' slide. Then, being my frugal self, suggested making one.  We decided to just take a big tarp i already had and soaked it in water and just kept spraying it.  We had a huge thing of water at the end of it that we spashed into, it was so fun! It was almost as good as one i would buy, and it was even better because it was FREE! Haha it was awesome, but we started to get rug burns, or whatever you want to call them.  So we jumped in the pool for an hour or so.  I then warmed up some awesome fried chicken for lunch, it was just delicious.. 

After that, we went for some ice cream.  This time to a place called Coldstone, if you haven't ever heard of it, it is amazing ice cream but very expensive.  We biked there and back, giving us 5.7 miles and it felt very easy- i can feel the difference from the beginning of the year.  The only reason we went to this place is because i had a gift card, but i found that if you buy the ice cream correctly, it isn't that expensive.  We split a large banana ice cream, and it was only $4.30.  A little more expensive than DQ, but it is a lot better... The price gets ridiculous when you want your own ice cream! Anyway, we did that and had a blast on the ride too.  After running, swimming, and biking (a triathlon) i was exhausted.  We just chilled for the night.  This bike ride was probably one of our best so far, since it was a significant distance away and i never would have thought we would bike there because of the busy roads, but it was awesome.  Just a great day today! Work tomorrow though....

Total summer mileage: 107.3 miles
Money saved on gas (20 mpg at $3.98 per gallon): $21.35

Bad Idea (6.6 miles)

If you read my blog regularly, the title gives it away... Rollerblading to work was a terrible idea.  Especially after running 6 miles at cross country (it was at raceway woods and i was forced to drive once again).  Rollerblading is incredibly tiring, i played a lot of hockey- but not for a few years, and i had to skate for 10 minutes straight. In hockey, it is usually 2 minutes! As soon as i got to work and began to take off my skates, i had a sudden realization.. i forgot to lock my dog in her kennel (she is a puppy still).  My parents were both at work, so i had to skate back home- already exhausted- and lock her in.  Luckily, she didn't cause too much damage while i was gone! I then made a smart decision and biked back to work haha.  I never clocked out for leaving and nobody really knew... score! 

Work was so fun today! It was just me and my buddy- and no man manager today! So we did some work for a little bit, and then played real basketball on the hoops.  Then, we played hide and seek in the warehouse for five hours.  It was the most fun i have ever had at work.  We found some amazing hiding spots! That's right, i got payed $40 for playing hide and seek...sweet haha.  We then quit and did some work for the remaining few hours, it was the best day of work ever! I biked back home after work, and it was kind of chilly...very odd.  That completed the 6.6 miles for the day, and put my over 100 miles for the summer!

Total summer mileage: 101.6 miles
Money saved on gas (20 mpg at $3.98 per gallon): $20.22

Back from Injury (5.0 miles)

Well, today i decided to go to cross country to see if i could run... turns out i can still run pretty well with a sprained ankle.  I ran a 4 mile tempo in 25:34- a little slower than last week.  The bike ride there hurt my ankle a little, but it was also a nice warm-up! The run was pretty much painless except for the beginning and a few hills along the way.  My favorite part of the day was biking home with my buddy.  He is a competetive byciclist, so we rode on the streets like we were cars (like you are supposed to) and it was really cool! We went on busy roads and it was weird being at intersections, surrounded by cars waiting for a green light!

After practice, my girlfriend and i swam for hours and then just chilled out for the day.  I barely drove today, probably only like 10 miles.  My tank is still on full- a very satisfying sight.  Tomorrow i work, and i may change it up a little bit by going to work on roller skates! This still counts as biking mileage, but it will be much more fun (i am a hockey player). 

Total summer mileage: 95 miles
Money saved on gas (20 mpg at $3.98 per gallon): $18.91

Work=my life (3.3 miles)

I had work again today, and i have it again tomorrow.  This week, i am working 40 hours... Anyway, i biked to work, into the wind.  It was a brutal ride alone, although my buddy worked today too- he chose to drive.  Work was good, i build furniture that came in on the truck all day.  It was hard work, but much more relaxing than yesterday! Today, i built a huge sectional couch and afterward, i lied down for a 15 minute break haha.  I biked back home to make it the 3.3 miles- this time with the wind at my back.

Tonight, i hung out with my girlfriend and we pretty much just chilled out.  We went shopping for a little bit- and the unthinkable happened.  My car alerted me of needing to fill up on gas...I was quite sad and disapointed.  But then i remembered that i drove to the dentist's, and my friend's house to help him move- which paid for today's fill up.  My car has a 13 gallon tank, and at $3.89 a gallon it cost me $50.01.  That is a lot of money- but i also saved a lot this year, so it is okay.  This tank should last me the rest of the summer and even a little into the school year.

Total summer mileage: 86.7 miles
Money saved on gas (20 mpg at $3.99 per gallon): $17.30

Trucks... (3.3 miles)

Well, today all i did was work all day.  And i worked hard.  3 fully packed trucks came today with one of our most valuable stock boys out of town.  I was the only smart/ hard working one there.  I did probably 80% of the work with 3 of us there.  Needless to say, i am very tired.  I biked to and from work, once again without the speedometer...  It was a nice day out, i wish i did not have to work.

So yesterday in Chicago, my girlfriend and i walked nearly everywhere.  We went to Millennium Park, Grant Park, and Buckingham Fountain.  We then walked along the shore of Lake Michigan to the Shedd Aquarium and Planetarium.  We did not go i neither, but we just walked around them where there were some great views.  We explored Museum Campus some more and Soldier Field.  We then made the long stretch along Michigan Avenue to Navy Pier.  After that, we shopped a little on Michigan Avenue and then walked back to the train station.  It doesn't sound liek we did a lot...but we did.  It was hard walking back to the train station, we were so tired, but we had to hurry because we barely made the train!  That is all for today's post, i have work again tomorrow, goodnight!

Total summer mileage: 83.4 miles
Money saved on gas (20 mpg at $3.99 per gallon): $16.64

Chicago!

Well, today my girlfriend and i ventured to Chicago, Illinois (we live in a suburb called Algonquin).  We took the train in, driving 8 miles each way to the station.  We barely made it there on time for the 8:08 train.  We arrived in Chicago around 9:30 and spent until 7:00 in the evening there.  We took the 7:30 train back- just barely catching it again.  The day was awesome!! We walked EVERYWHERE. Literally, no taxi's were used because of the outragous price.  We ended up walking over 15 miles! Needless to say, i am exhausted and ready to go to sleep! We did not get home until 9:00 and i am ready for bed now. Perhaps tomorrow i will go into detail on our trip.  The trip cost $20 for each of us, not too bad for an entire day of fun! I would say we saved a lot of money walking- too bad i can't included that in my statistics, but if i did- we would have saved $3 on gas today by walking, and the view was much better on foot.  That's all i got tonight, goodnight!

Total summer mileage: 80.1 miles
Money saved on gas (20 mpg at $3.99 per gallon): $15.98

Run 'n' Work (3.3 miles)

As you can see by the title, i got up and ran this morning at Raceway Woods. Unfortunately, again, my mom was home so i had to drive there.  That is 6 miles of driving.  While there, i ran 7 miles.  After that, i worked all day.  I biked there of course, accumulating the same mileage as usual- 3.3 miles.  The wind was a little rough and so was the heat.  Work was hard and boring, an overall bad day.  After work i hung out with my buddies though and we are all right now. 

Tomorrow i am going downtown Chicago, so there will be no biking- but a lot of biking to save money on cabs which are ridiculously expensive.  We will take the train down for almost the whole say, it will be awesome.  We are going early, so i need to get some sleep- goodnight.

Total summer mileage: 80.1 miles
Money saved on gas (20 mpg at $3.99 per gallon): $15.98

Perfect Day (8.1 miles)

As you can see, today was my highest mileage day of the summer! I woke up early to go to cross country practice at my high school which is exactly 2.5 miles away.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day out, sunny and breezy, although a little hot.  We ran a four mile tempo, and i hit it in 25:10-- a 6:18 pace, not too bad for a hilly run and my first tempo of the season.  Afterward, i biked home with a friend (my house is on the way to his).  After that, i was exhausted so i relaxed for a long while.  I also blogged for yesterday since i had forgotten haha.  So that was my first 5.0 miles of the day.

Around 11, i picked up my girlfriend by car and took her back to my house.  Here i made breakfast for us, i ate three scrambled eggs, a necessary breakfast after a run like that.  We then relaxed a lot in my pool until we got hungry.  We decided to go to subway for lunch, so we biked the little over 1.5 miles there.  Adding on to the 5.0 from earlier, it added up to 8.1.  We then returned to my house and played with my dog for awhile and took her for a walk.  We also considered riding our bikes to Dairy Queen again, but my parents would not allow it. If i had, my mileage would be super high!  We just went back to her house and relaxed, planning a trip to downtown Chicago Thursday.

Tomorrow, practice is at Raceway Woods- the place my mother does not want me riding too.  Hopefully she forgets and i am able to ride there.  I also have work at 11, so my mileage may even exceed todays if all goes well.  I am tired from a long day! Goodnight.

Total summer mileage: 76.8 miles
Money saved on gas (20 mpg at $3.99 per gallon): $15.32

Happy Fourth of July! (3.3 miles)

Many of you probably have realized that my life is a but hectic this summer... It has finally shown through on my blog, as i forgot to blog last night! So this morning is my blog for last night:

Independence day is a great day, with swimming and BBQ and games and fun! Oh wait...that is for most people. I worked. 10-4 on July the fourth.  Not only did i work, but i am NOT receiving time and a half for working a holiday...No surprise since i didn't get overtime either.  I of course biked to work...I was supposed to ride with my friends again, but i was running late after a 7 mile run.  I left a few minutes later and eventually caught up. Work was busy and annoying all day. I got into a fight with my friends at work, and they left without my...so i biked home alone.  Without my speedometer working, i biked 3.3 miles.  I think the battery is broken on the receiving  magnet by the wheel, i will check that out.

My family and my friends family had plans to go to fireworks together, but i was so upset about work and the day before him not inviting me to go to fireworks with him, i just left to my girlfriend's house.  I thought we would go somewhere far, so i drove.  But we ended up staying at her house because 3 of her neighbors were putting on spectacular firework shows.  They were battling each other for the better fireworks, it was awesome and we were right next to them.  By far my best fireworks experience.

Total summer mileage: 68.7 miles
Money saved on gas (20 mpg at $3.99 per gallon): $13.71

Busy Sunday (3.3 miles)

Today i got up and ran 4 miles again in the morning.  Then, i mowed my lawn.  Then, i went to work all day! Work was a little crazy today, people getting ready for fourth of July parties.  I biked to and from work with my friends again, with my speedometer still broken.  The mileage was 3.3 miles as usual.  After work, i hung out with those same friends for about an hour, and then they decided to go hang out with other friends.  I ended up just laying around home this evening then.  Tomorrow is the fourth- i work until four, then i plan on going to see fireworks with my girlfriend.  Also, gas today has gone up in price from last week to $3.89, bringing the new average to $3.99.

Total summer mileage: 65.4 miles
Money saved on gas (20 mpg at $3.99 per gallon): $13.05

The Weekend (3.3 miles)

Today was another hot day out, but not much wind today.  I had work for the most part of the day today, i biked to and from work.  Without my speedometer again today, all i have is my mileage of 3.3 miles.  Work was boring and stressful again today, and i had to watch all the people going to swim in their pools while i was working.  I got off at 6. I had plans with a friend, but they ended up not working out.  So i just sat around for the rest of the night.  I am very tired after waking up to run 4 miles in the morning, and biking to and from work.  My summer mileage is getting up there now, i feel like i am saving a lot of money now, it is nice!  I am tired, goodnight.

Total summer mileage: 62.1 miles
Money saved on gas (20 mpg at $4.01 per gallon): $12.45

Hot and Windy (3.3 miles)

Today was an extremely hot day and i took it off from running.  I was running late to work, but i still biked there...with 15 mph wind in my face the entire way. It was absolutely brutal.  I still made it just in time though.  We had a big truck at work today- so that is what i did all day basically. After work, i biked home with the wind at my back.  My speedometer is still not functioning, so all i have is the mileage of the usual 3.3 miles.  I am going to try to get my speedometer fixed asap, but i work the next few days so it may be a little bit.  We are almost halfway through the summer, now in July... Time flew by, and it is kind of sad.  It has been a great summer though and will be continue to be great.

Total summer mileage: 58.8 miles
Money saved on gas (20 mpg at $4.01 per gallon): $11.79

Long Day (3.3 miles)

Today i woke up at 7:30 for cross country... i went to practice, ran 7 miles, walked home (it was right by my house), got ready for work-exhausted, and went to work.  It was over 90 degrees today so i was so tired before work even began today.  I worked a 10 hour shift, and was so tired the whole time.  However, i stayed committed and rode my bike there and back.  For some reason, my speedometer was not working so i do not have my time or speeds, but i do know the normal mileage of 3.3 miles.  After a long hard day, i relaxed and watched tv.  I work again tomorrow, so i better get to bed!

Total summer mileage: 55.5 miles
Money saved on gas (20 mpg at $4.01 per gallon): $11.13

Disappointing Day

Well, i woke up this morning ready to sneak out on my biek if my parents were already at work- but they weren't. My mom was still home, and she said if i rode my bike there she would ground me for a month (ridiculous, right?)  So i reluctantly drove the 6 mile round trip to and from cross country.  Later in the day, i drove to and from my girlfriends house a total of 4 times, adding up to 18 miles of driving today... That is not good. I am almost down to a quarter tank of gas now, and my car is having problems.  But i still have saved a lot on gas this summer, so it is still satisfying! i am exhausted from a day of swimming and a recreational 6 mile bike ride...I cannot count it because there was no pre-determined destination.

Total summer mileage: 52.2 miles
Money saved on gas (20 mpg at $4.01 per gallon): $10.47