Running Playlist

There's nothing that pumps me up for running better than the perfect set of songs. A fast beat, some guitar shredding and maybe some crazy vocals do the trick. So, what have I been listening to recently?

Some of the mainstream music on my playlist includes: Yellowcard (Rough Landing, Holly and Miles Apart); Paramore (Born for This and Fences); and Lady Gaga (Judas).



  

Mea Culpa Mea Culpa



But what delights me even more are some tunes by an indie rock band called The Kickback. While they have songs for all types of moods, my favorite songs for running include:



The Kickback - Roman Regret

The Kickback - Alpha Flight

The Kickback - Hate this City



Listen to these songs and more for free here. Check out their tour information and online store. Their next Chicago show will be at The Cobra Lounge on September 3, 2011.  

Fall Into Fitness 5k Run/Walk - September 25, 2011

Fall Into Fitness 5k Run/Walk will take place in Portage Park. This course will lead you through tree-lined streets similar to the ones in the Ravenswood 5k.

Website Link

This 5k run/walk is targeted to families and is very affordable. While other races cost from $30 upwards, the registration fee for adults is only $15 and there's even a discount family rate for up to 5 family members.

Entry Fees

Age Bracket	Pre-Race	Race Day
Adults (ages 18+)	$15	$20
Youth (ages 6-17)	$8	$10
Seniors (ages 60+)	$8	$10
Family Rate (up to five members)	$35	$45
Children 5 and under	Free	Free

Proceeds will go toward providing health care for the indigent who are treated at Our Lady of the Resurrection Medical Center.

Register by mail, in-person or online.

SkyRise Chicago - Tower Up!

Climb Chicago's tallest skyscraper for a good cause! Walk, jog or run up 2,109 steps to SkyDeck Chicago at the top of the Sears Tower. If you're not very light on your feet, you can try for the hand-cycle category using stationary hand cycles calibrated for resistance and time to match the stair-climbing experience.

SkyRise Chicago
Sears Tower (aka Willis Tower, begrudgingly)
Sunday, November 6, 2011
7 a.m. to 12:00 noon

You can register as an individual or form a team. Proceeds from fundraising will support the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago's (RIC) in their patient care and research. Registration details.

RIC is the nation’s #1 ranked provider of comprehensive physical medicine and rehabilitation care to patients from around the world and is the leader in research and development of the most cutting-edge treatments and technologies in its field.  Through aggressive medical protocols, RIC guides the patient care process toward a better patient outcome – involving repair, regeneration, and recovery of brain, spinal cord and musculoskeletal function. More about RIC.

I'm excited for this new challenge. Stairs are definitely a completely different monster.

Insanity - Elite Nutrition



Grilled salmon, asparagus, red onion and whole grain pasta



One of my favorite dinner options for Insanity. Instead of honey mustard on the salmon, I added some fresh lemon, garlic, french herbs and tossed in a few capers. The grilled red onion gave the dish a bit of sweetness, the asparagus was crisp and green and the whole grain pasta was filling. Grilled the salmon about medium and came out perfect. Only takes about 15 minutes to whip up. 

Shakeology Tropical

The new flavor of Shakeology was announced at Summit. It's pink. It's tropical.

As soon as it's for sale, I'll order some and let you know how it is. Also, if you're interested in trying a free sample of Chocolate or Greenberry, go to my Shakeology page and send me an email. Limited to the first 5 people who contact me. Or just wait until Tropical comes out.

Whatever floats your boat.

Run That Tune

It's been a while since I went for a run. My mp3 collection is in need of some major revamping. I need your help!

What's on your playlist? What songs or albums get you pumped up for running? The best suggestion will win a free copy of Lady Gaga's album Born This Way [+ digital booklet] which is downloadable from Amazon.

I realize I may be in the extreme minority of runners who are iPodless. However, I'm really digging Amazon Cloud Player. It lets you play your songs through a browser or Android phone and allows you to easily create playlists from your downloaded content.

Check it out! And don't forget to toss some song titles out there. Thanks.

Beach Volleyball League

Summer is here (kinda?) and so is beach volleyball! I'm excited to start up a new season next week. I don't know any of my teammates, so it'll be interesting to see what kind of level of play they're at. It is a rec league, so fun is the most important part anyway.



North Avenue Beach, Chicago, IL



I joined my first beach league last year and had an awesome time. Since I wasn't able to form my own team, I signed up as an individual player. Only 2 people on the team knew each other, so we were dubbed Team Indy. Interestingly enough, although we lost a couple of the first games, we ended up sweeping the number 1 seed team in the finals and making it to the Championships! It was a grueling last game where we lost the first match, won the second match and lost the third match by 1 point! Still pretty good for a bunch of strangers!

View from Castaways at North Ave Beach

If you haven't signed up, hurry up and check out what's available at http://www.playerssports.net/. In addition to volleyball, they have a variety of other sports including dodgeball, outdoor soccer and even cornhole.

Play hard. Summer isn't here forever!