Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Marathon

First off, since a lot of you have been asking, Steve is fine after running the Chicago Marathon on Sunday. He finished in just over 3:22. Considering the heat and the problems that others were having, this is an excellent time. True, it is about 30 minutes over what he trained for and would have run if it were normal temperatures, but I am just very, very glad that he came through with no major problems. Steve looked good through the whole race, but he said that after mile 18, things got bad for everyone. He started in the “A” group, which basically means you are one fast individual. The only people before him were the Elite and the Top 100 group. He said EVERYONE was walking at about mile 18/19. He finished looking really good, but had some effects of heat exhaustion and was pretty sick once he sat down outside of gear check. Luckily, my dad saw a cop he knew and we were allowed to get our car right up to where Steve was to load him into the car (a little hairy to have cops stop traffic on Lake Shore Drive so you can get in your car, but whatever works). While we were waiting for the dads to come get us, we saw about 50 ambulances come and go from the medical station. Sirens were constantly going. People were laying everywhere. It looked like a disaster simulation that high schools have for the fire department, but this time it was real. We heard the announcement that the race was shut down about 30 minutes after Steve finished. I think that it was a good call. Despite all of the problems, the Chicago police and fire, as well as suburban ambulance companies that were called in, all did a remarkable job.

Because, thankfully, Steve is doing great (other than puking Gatorade out the window of the car on the way home), here are some pictures.

Katie and Dad waiting for Steve at about mile 3. We already missed him at this point, so we were waiting for the runners to thin so we could cross the street. People were already soaked through their clothes at this point.


Runners on their way to Greek Town.


Steve in Greek Town at about mile 17. He looked great.


Outhouses in Grant Park.


The finish. Looking at him, he looked fine. I only knew that he would be feeling bad because his time dropped significantly from the half-way point.

Thursday, October 04, 2007

This really takes the cake.

You have probably heard me complain about yoga before. I like to go for exercise and stretching reasons, not some sort of spiritual crap. I don't want to learn Sanskrit. I don't want to become vegan (damn cheese haters). I don't want to be inspired to become a fake Buddhist.

Yesterday I knew that I was in trouble the minute I walked in. First, not the regular teacher. I was prepared for the regular teacher's own form of yoga craziness....overly happy, huggy, sings in Sanskrit at the end. It used to make me want to get up, scream, and leave the room. I learned to "breathe through" my anger. No, this teacher was a new form of wacky. We had to all sit facing each other in a big circle because she "loves circular flow." ok. This seemed doable at first until i realized that there would be no privacy when you were literally 2 feet away from the person facing you. I soon realized that this set up gave me a clear view of this doofus three people over who chose not to wear a shirt. This must have been so distracting because it took me about 15 minutes to realize that he was wearing BOXER SHORTS. Who does that? I feel bad for the woman right in front of him because she has to be getting nut sack views the whole time. SO. GROSS.

It went downhill from there. I kept getting distracted. Then we had the sleepy time thing at the end. I much have had bad chi or yang, or some other shit because the teacher insisted that I use an eye pillow. I soon hat itchy eyes and a nose from whatever twigs and berries were in there. An just when I thought I was free to leave, I had to sit though 5 minutes of candle light Sanskrit chanting. LORD! I can't wait for the overly happy teacher to come back.

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Where to start?

I sort of got off the whole blogging kick for a while. Surprised? I didn't think so. I guess I will start at the beginning.

What do you get when you put a bunch of Italians in 1920's costumes in the same room? No, not The Godfather Part II. Nani's birthday! My Nani turned 80 (can you believe it?) and of course had to have a blow out party. Granted, this is normal for my family, so really no one questioned a 150 person themed costume party costing thousands of dollars being held at an authentic location. This is why we eloped.


Mom, Katie, Nani, and Me. You can see that 1. Nani does not look remotely near 80 and 2. I strategically used my fabulous blue faux fur wrap to cover my 80 year plus disgusting armpit stains.

oh, and the best was one of my aunts, who shall remain nameless, but is a super crabby appleton. Hopefully there really is Karma...she's due. Ok, so she says to me "I really like your costume the best because it reflects your personality the most. Conservative and plain." Beee-atch. You know what is conservative and plain? Wearing the same black flapper dress that everyone else and their mother (really, that is true in this case, everyone was related)was wearing. At least I stood out in the crowd! How is that conservative? Grrrrrrrr.


Sort of all the grandkids. This is going to be one of those pictures that we all end up hating 5 years from now. I cringe when I look at old family pictures with me in them. I had an abnormally long devo stage. In fact, that seems to happen with all of the kids. Hmmm. Maybe it is genetic.