2008: By The Numbers

Week 13: 250 Miles Down

We're one-fourth of the way through the year and I'm one-fourth of the way towards the goal. Not bad, eh?

This week I started a sleep study where, among other things, I have to wear a stunning metal pendant around my neck and to periodically rate how I'm feeling on a scale of 1 (so glad to be alive!!!) to 10 (worst day ever!!!!). This week's running log is up a little earlier since I'll be sequestered in the lab from 4:00 today through tomorrow afternoon. Fun times!

In honor of the good people at the Rush Hospital Sleep Lab, I'm rating this week's runs on their scale:

Wednesday - 4.5 miles, still too cold for comfort (4)
Thursday - 4.5 miles, weird pains made this a chore (6)
Saturday - 7 miles, one of my best long runs in a while on a sunny, crisp morning (1)
Monday - 3 miles, rainy but a fairly painless dash (3)

Week 13: 19 miles

YTD: 250 miles
On pace for: 1005 miles

Week 12: 231 Miles Down

The promise of warmer days has me running during the afternoon rush, when neighborhoods are kinda sorta coming to life. Since I don't motivate to hit the pavement until around 6, I find myself running into the sunset and having George Harrison-esque transcendental moments. Now if only I could play the guitar like he did. I'd settle for having his hair.

But I digress. The view from here:

Wednesday - 4 miles, watching the sun set over Chicago Avenue
Thursday - 5 miles, watching the sun set over Webster Avenue
Saturday - 6 miles, watching the sun hover over the Y (thanks, sloppy late winter snowstorm!)
Monday - 4.5 miles, watching the sun set over Logan Avenue

Week 11: 19.5 miles

YTD: 231 miles
On pace for: 1006 miles

7 Down, 45 to Go ("The Book of True Desires")

This novel's a silky dream, a delightful bon bon washed down with a flute of champagne.

No, I haven't turned into a middle-aged housewife. The Book of True Desires was my book club's romance novel selection. Krahn's a queen of the genre and one of its best sellers. Subtle she ain't, the hero & heroine are passionate about everything. Passionate about each other, about being jaded, about travel and discovery, about life, love, their egos.

True Desires follows the romance novel formula to a T. To rachet up the fantasy, it's a period piece jetting between historic Florida and Ancient Mayan territory. Still, the whole thing's compulsively readable, the characters are sympathetic and complicated enough, and the resolution's only mostly predictable.

Week 11: 211.5 Miles Down

Hard to tell whether my shoes are going through normal decomposition or going a 1/2 size up was actually bad for my shins. I'm supposed to get at least another 100 miles out of these guys but who knows?

What I do know:

Wednesday - 4 miles, shins asserted themselves at the worst time
Thursday - 5 miles, somehow easier than yesterday
Saturday - 7 miles, the neighborhood starting to come alive, could spring be far behind
Monday - 4 miles, if spring's not far behind, it wasn't showing it today

Week 11: 20 miles

YTD: 211.5 miles
On pace for: 1003 miles

Week 10 in Review

Week 9: March 4-10

Books Read: 1
Shows Seen: 1
Miles Run: 20.5

News of the World:

The longest Presidential primary in a long time just got longer.  Sen. Clinton won Tuesday's primaries in Rhode Island, Ohio and Texas (although the final results of Texas caucuses won't be announced until the end of the month). Sen. Obama won Vermont and, later in the week, Wyoming. Sen. McCain tries to stay in the news now that he lacks a GOP nomination rival.

In New York's Times Square Thursday morning, a small bomb detonated outside a National Guard recruiting station, injuring no one but keeping bomb squads and the police busy.

Israeli and Palestinian officials resume peace talks despite recent violence in Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

Beloved Packer quarterback and future-Hall-of-Famer Brett Favre announces his retirement after 16 seasons with the same team.

Week 10: 191.5 Miles Down

I learned this week that staying warm right before and after a run is key. Overexposure to the cold makes my shins ache, my knees still and my arches whine. Yes yes, I'm sounding like an old man.  Deal with it.

What I dealt with:

Wednesday - 4.5 miles, another frigid night on the treadmill
Thursday - 5 miles, ran to the Loop, then my funky smelling self rode the train back home
Saturday - 7 miles, coddled my aching shins on the treadmill... as much as 7 miles can be considered coddling
Monday - 4 miles of outdoor recovery

Week 10: 20.5 miles

YTD: 191.5 miles
On pace for: 1001 miles

Week 9 in Review

Week 9: February 26-March 3

Books Read: 1
Shows Seen: 1
Miles Run: 19.5

News of the World:

GOP nomination virtually in hand, Sen. McCain starts attacking Obama as all hope and no delivery, but apologizes when one of his surrogates goes too far. Clinton joins in with the now infamous "3 a.m. ad" and some crazy story about an Obama advisor assuring Canada that his tough talk on NAFTA is just posturing. Clearly we have nothing substantial left to talk about.

Violence between Israel and the Palestinians escalates, more than 100 are killed, prompting an angry Mahmoud Abbas to call off peace talks.

Dmitry Medvedev wins the Russian Presidential election. Citizens take to the street to protest Putin's hand in a flawed or possibly rigged election.

On the 46th anniversary of Wilt Chamberlain’s record-setting 100 point game, the L.A. Lakers’ Kobe Bryant scores 52 points, largest tally of the season to date, in an overtime win vs. the Dallas Mavericks.

 

Links of the Week:

(This recap's later than usual so here's two.)

The greatest hits of the 80s, 90s and today... in PowerPoint!

Why do pro basketball players, past and present, all-star and reserve alike, love the Cheesecake Factory?

 

 

 

 

 

Week 9: 171 Miles Down

Late winter blues: massive potholes everywhere. That one over there swallowed a minivan!  A few much smaller ones caught my ankle. Better than ice patches?  Ehh, I have no control over these things.

What I could control:

Wednesday - 5 miles, another frigid night on the treadmill
Thursday - 4 miles, fun, surprisingly pleasant day
Saturday - 6.5 miles, tiring run on a grey morning.
Monday - 4 miles, taking it easy

Week 9 : 19.5 miles

YTD: 171 miles
On pace for: 993 miles

14 Shows Down, 86 To Go ("Machinal")

The free show from the Theatre School of DePaul, part of their New Directors Series, was a good deal. Most of the cast had a few years of experience in Chicago, NY, LA, and the like, the director and leading actress are both on the Masters track, and the scenic artists made everything look fantastic.

Machinal was a 1928 Broadway hit that packs a punch. It's dated, in that everything's so grand dahhling!!! kinda way. Or rather, everything's so suffocating. Machines transformed office workers into working stiffs. A "Young Woman" marries her boss, making her rich but dissatisfied. She has an affair with a dashing stranger who inspires dreams of a Mexican "quien sabe" life that spoil her pitiful domestic scene. Then, somehow, insanity sets in and she kills her husband.

The script's based on the story of infamous Long Island Housewife Ruth Snyder, who got the death penalty for offing her husband. Must have been a sensation back then. And while last week's version was well-produced, the intro and conclusion packed a punch that the living room drama couldn't touch. The final image of her execution would've had more resonance if her crime seemed more shocking or resonant or... something.

Overall, a better show than expected and I expect to see these kids around town soon.

13 Shows Down, 87 to Go ("Contraption")

Newton, Tesla, Graham Bell-- who are these people?  Yes, yes, they're great inventors and great minds who advanced science and human progress. But who are they really?

Contraption reminds us they, and many of our most revered scientific figures, were obsessed, antisocial and what charitably might be called in another world. At worst, the inventors were suicidal, unrecognized, isolated and detestable personalities who happened to leave something useful behind.

Like many Neo-Futurist shows, Contraption starts with a basic question-- what makes the inventor tick?-- then unpacks all the nuances and complications. It's like a term paper brought to life.  Here, the protagonist becomes obsessed with inventing a contraption like you've never seen. The ensemble reminds him, and us, that his ambition will likely drive him crazy, alienate his loved ones, and likely relegate him to the dustbin of history, if he's not lucky enough to earn posthumous accolades. He's brought down to earth via interludes of psychological diagnosis, fun meta-touches (like a sidekick whose business card taglines read "antagonist", "plot device" and such), and reenactments of the lives of his historical counterparts.

As heady as that sounds, the show's actually a ton of fun. The contraption itself is fun to look at, if ultimately useless. But getting there, as it's said, is half the fun.  A wicked sense of humor elevates the experience from the opening museum-exhibit parody onward and the self-conscious references ("I can't answer that, I'm only a voice-over...") never get old.