What A Feeling

Until a couple months ago, I hadn't seen Jennifer Beals since about 1980. Then she was the 6th grade little sister of a guy on the tennis team with me in high school. Then there was Flashdance. After various movies and tv projects in LA, she now sublets in my apartment building while she films The Chicago Code which debuts on Fox on Monday night filmed here in Chicago where she plays the first female chief of police. She has a 4 year old daughter who goes to junior kindergarten at the same school where we both went (and where my daughter went until last year). We rented Flashdance in honor of this momentous occasion and I added the theme song to my running playlist for my Ipod. Probably have to re-rent Footloose and Fame to share the movie musical trio of the 1980s with the next generation. In case you are curious that particular fashion look is back in thousands of designated 80's days in high schools across America. More neon though.

Cross-Training with the Beautiful People

I recently joined the Equinox gym which is about 3 blocks from my office primarily so I can use the pool and a better variety of cross-training equipment beyond the couple of machines in the exercise room in my building. Based on the fact that something like 2/3 of Americans supposedly are obese or overweight and only 1% of Americans complete a marathon, I would have guessed that I would have been somewhere in the upper third of folks for fitness.

Not at this gym. It appears populated entirely by people of both genders who are models and train for ironmen competitions. While this provides a certain amount of motivation to actually go there, it is kind of embarrassing to be one of the older, more out of shape and less attractive people there. Even the one law professor I have run into there is better looking and significantly faster than I am.

On the other hand I do get a 30 minute free pilates session and a free year if I can persuade Loyola to sgn up for a corporate account.

Email Nirvana

My in-box is empty. Nirvana.

The Storm of the Century

Seems to have missed NYC.  On Tuesday I ran a loop of Prospect Park as the snow was just beginning to fall, and it turned out to be one of the best runs of the last couple of months.  It wasn't too cold.  The surface was soft but not slippery, and the company was good.  Yesterday it rained, but there was no major accumulation.  I walk to work, so the ice was not a problem.  This morning was sunny and cold.  Everything was ploughed or shoveled the only hazard was black ice.  I will say that both runs were slow and easy, but as satisfying as any I've done in a while.  I'm not sure what it is about bad weather running that makes it so satisfying, but it's good to be finally getting back into my training rhythm.

Okay, Paul is right

There is 2 feet of snow on the ground, 25 foot waves on Lake Michigan, and now it will be sub zero wind chill for the next couple of days. Treadmill here I come.

A few observations about the storm

It's remarkable how quickly I get cabin fever.
I saw one plant, a big clump-of-grass style bush, coated in ice. The ice had formed around the stalks in a straw-like formation, and it became sufficiently robust to support itself. So the plant maintained its perfect shape.
Cars sit really low on their springs when caked in ice. Mine looks like the Arizona police describe cars in police reports when trying to support probable cause for drug busts. Or at least they did when I was clerking.
A couple of cars were coated in ice, but for the windshields and front side windows. Oh yeah, and the grills and bumpers, which were not only ice-free but were broken up pretty badly. Somebody regretted driving to work that day.
People are really friendly in a storm. It's much like it was (1) the day after Obama was elected, and (2) on September 11, 2001.
I walked into work today. Twice. To quote Julia Roberts in "Pretty Woman," "big, big mistake. Huge." I'm in one piece, but I now owe karma several groin pulls and bruised rear ends.
Riding the bike on the trainer is much more fun when it's not the only way you can get a cardiovascular workout. After 1:45 I couldn't stand Lisbeth Salander's scowl any more.
Gotta say, this isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I think I even get to fly home tomorrow.

The Calendar

Mark Allen writes in the current issue of Lava magazine about putting together a race calendar. (Mark Allen is one of two six-time winners at the Ironman World Championships, in Hawaii, and a successful triathlon coach who usually has something worthwhile to say.) He argues an athlete can schedule "A" races three months apart, suggesting two such races in a year. I'm a skeptic on the notion of an A race for the recreational athlete. Our performance is so variable that running a PR means signing up for a bunch of races and hoping one will go well.

But I do agree with the notion of rest and recovery in endurance sports, so I'm following Mark Allen's advice in putting together my calendar -- sort of. Here are the "A" races: the Boston Marathon (April 18), the Vineman Triathlon (July 30), and some as-yet-undecided ultra-run in October. I'd like to PR in the first two, and for the third, finish at a distance at which I have not succeeded in the past (thus, necessarily a PR). I'm then filling in the interstices with shorter-term goals, which are smaller events. Except for one: today I send in my registration for the Big Wild Ride 1200K in Alaska. I'll attempt that with my brother, an experienced ultra-cyclist. It's not a race so much as it is a long bike tour with little down-time.