I know. You’re thinking “Who? The guy in the Barney suit?” (if it is indeed a “he”) Nope. See...ok...I'm not weird...ok...that's not true...but my problem is that sexy time is usually at night out of necessity, however, that is not my preference. I’m more of an &ld… Read full post »

I felt so much love for the city as I ran through all the neighborhoods. Boys’ town was a favorite spot (naturally) who wouldn’t love cheerleaders in bad drag? Pilsen was another favorite with drummers on every corner and people dancing salsa in the streets. Then Chinatown because my fami… Read full post »

Hey! Look at that. No longer malaised. (Sounds like a new sandwich spread) I’m pissed! Today I read the Root’s take on Gabourey Sidibe, the lead actor in the movie Precious, which is apparently: “Yeah she’s great and all, but she is so FAT. And that’s BAD. And you should… Read full post »

I haven’t been around lately. I could say I’ve been recovering from the big race, but that’s not really it. There’s more to it. A sort of malaise has set in. I’m not sure where to go from here in a lot of ways. With my running. With my writing. With… Read full post »

Yesterday was incredible. And cold. But that is perfect record-setting weather, apparently. Samuel Wanjiru of Kenya set a record for the fastest marathon time on US soil at 2 hours 5 minutes and 41 seconds. It is amazing to think I ran the same miles as someone like that. When I… Read full post »

This was playing on a huge screen as I entered the expo to pick up my packet with my running bib and timing chip. The expo was unbelievably huge and I probably walked way too much yesterday, but I kind of couldn't get enough of all the excitement buzzing around the… Read full post »

 

I’ve been semi-obsessed with “the wall” since beginning marathon training. If you hear about running marathons, eventually, you will hear about hitting the wall. The wall is a mental/physical barrier; the point at which you feel you cannot go on. The wall can be an ac… Read full post »

Sundays are my long run days. I started the program running long on Saturdays, but life has shifted everything a little to the left. Mornings have been beating me up and many runs are being pushed into the evening hours. I’m getting it done, somehow. I’ve missed a few workouts, but… Read full post »

Because apparently someone has to. I was going to title this post “Overcoming Fat Runner Shame” and discuss all my hang-ups about shopping for running clothes and how I felt rather disappointed in my half-marathon race photos (I did not look especially fab), but then I decided to do a lit… Read full post »

Running in a race is kind of like getting married or bat mitzhav’ed only you get to do it more often. It’s an Event and Events have a certain rhythm and story arc. They have ritual. There is the packet pick-up and expo in the week or days before the race.… Read full post »

It’s interesting living in a two-flat with your mother. Yes it is. There are definitely benefits. We essentially have a live-in babysitter. There were quite a few days when the only reason I was able to shower was because I could dump a screaming child downstairs. The people at work have… Read full post »

My life lately feels like a reality show challenge. I’m waiting to get voted off the island for excessive bitching and not pulling my weight. Oh you know you do it too; look for the cameras or imagine how you’d look on tv. Besides, it makes the drama somehow more survivable… Read full post »

I have always had a pooch; a little pocket of flesh just above my nethers. I have been a buck twenty five I have been well over two hundred pounds and the pooch just gets bigger or smaller, it never completely goes away. As a young kid in dance class, I… Read full post »

Oh Rush, do you do anything that is sane and sensible? I don’t know whether to admire your philosophical consistency, which is consistently extreme, or fear the level of cray cray you exhibit in even your personal life. Losing that much weight that quickly? A meth addict loses weight slower tha… Read full post »

Am I jealous of Lea Lane? You bet your sweet ass! What’s not to be jealous of? She’s smart, well-traveled, hotter than August in Chicago and she needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle. Have you read her Why I am Alone post? Made entirely of win. Go ahead… Read full post »

I’m behind in my mileage. Today should have been at least a seven miler. I barely drag-assed through six. The heat has finally hit. (And dear God has it hit. Hottest temps since 19bloody13) I knew it was coming. Everyone else pooh poohed my fear, but, with the obvious exception of… Read full post »

I'm struggling. I have a half dozen posts in my OS folder that I've abandoned without posting. My post yesterday was a spur-of-the-moment and it fills me with "meh."  In fact, I paged through some old posts the other day and was filled with an overwhelming sense of meh at my… Read full post »

John Hughes knew how to develop characters. I always wanted to be Molly Ringwald’s character in Breakfast Club. Well, really, any of the movies. But I desperately wanted to be popular in high school, even though I hid that desire behind a mask of sneering contempt for the popular crowd (not… Read full post »

I just want to say, “I SO called it.” Cast your mind back to late April or early May. Spring was in the air. Hope was blooming for many. Miss California, Carrie Prejean, was newly embroiled in the whole opposing same sex marriage while upholding opposite marriage. Ah. How the internet… Read full post »

Fox News had a guy named Michael Karolchyk on their show to discuss whether Regina Bejamin's so-called weight problem should preclude her from being Surgeon General.

How this illuminates anything other than a) Fox news can pick the most bizarre pundits ever  and b) This guy is a giganti…

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1. It takes a certain kind of insanity or obliviousness to sign on for either one. It’s deceptively easy to go online, whip out your credit card and bam! You’re pregnant. Or signed up for a/
… Read full post »

My first birth experience I was drugged to the gills.

 

My water broke around midnight Sunday night. It was not the experience you often see portrayed on tv where suddenly there’s a hilarious gush on someone’s shoes (Like Carrie Bradshaw’s Manolo Blahniks) and then huffing an… Read full post »

So hey! I ran ten miles by myself. Because I am currently losing the battle with morning. I was winning. Now, not so much. I woke up a little too late to make it down to Montrose beach for the Sunday group run. But I dragged my butt through ten miles… Read full post »

There’s a pretty big ruckus going on in the Chicago area right now, I don’t know if you’ve heard, the Burr Oak cemetery in Alsip where many African-Americans are buried has been desecrated. In a scheme to re-sell burial plots that had been dug up, the remains of as many as… Read full post »

We are the Sunday Shufflin’ Crew! Shufflin’ on down, doin’ it for you! Ok. Ok. No more eighties Bears references. I promise.

 

I realize I haven’t been keeping up with my marathon training reports. I would say things are going well, but I’m superstitious. I haven&… Read full post »