Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Chicago Views-

Here is a picture that I took from my Apartment Roof Top, I pretty much get to see this every night and I am just a block under the streets to get to the Lake Shore Path to ride my bike or go for long runs.
Auto - from my Apartment View
The Lake Shore Path has 22 miles of paved path spooning the Lake...
Lake Shore Drive 
as I now FINALLY have access to my new bike
Chicago Trip 013
I do not have an excuse to not ride around Chicago.
But as I walk around Chicago, it seems as if Bike, is the fastest way to get around here anyway!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Chicago , Chicago

It's been a long several days, if you are friend of mine on Facebook, you have then probably seen my random rants with text messages from my phone and or photos of just random stuff of how long and what it took to make it up here.
From some special help that I recieved in Chicago, it only took about 45 minutes to unload the U-Haul.
The nice part is that we really did not have too much to carry from Texas to Chicago!  I am not saying that I do not have a lot of "stuff" but the reality of all of that fitting in a Chicago apartment is very slim!
I will be posting pictures later down the road, but it was cool to watch fireworks off on the Navy Pier for the first time from the apartment tonight.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

July 4th

July 4th is right around the corner!!!



Lance Armstrong - Cycling Legend
YouTube - Lance Armstrong - Cycling Legend
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF3vHjnXCe8

Monday, June 08, 2009

True Cyclists Shave their Legs!

True Cyclists Shave their legs!

Stuff That Makes Me Chuckle

You know you're a triathlete when....

You know you're a triathlete when....

When asked, how old you are you answer 20-24.

When asked how long your training was today you answer: three to four hours.

Your traning is more limited by available time then how far you can run.

Your first thought when you wake up is how high your rest HR is.

You go for a run eventhough there's a thunderstorm and you enjoy being wet and dirty.

You think it's natural to do your 'business' behind a tree in the woods.

You take part in the corporate challenge to improve your base speed.

You go for a 5 km cooldown run after a 5 km race just so that you can call it a training session.

You consider work, regeneration time between training sessions.

That something hard between your legs is usually a pull buoy

You have a water bottle when you drive your car.

You've forgotten how to drink out of cups.

You spend your 2 weeks annual vacation at a training camp.

You know inside out how much Protein each energy bar has.

You seriously consider applying for citizenship in Tonga, Jemen or Tschad so that you can participate in the olympic games.

When people praising you for being able to run 15 miles you're feeling insulted.

In the summer your legs are smoother than your girlfriend's.

In the winter your legs are still smoother than your girlfriend’s

You need a picture for a job application and you only have race pictures.

You use running T-shirts to clean your bike.

That charming "cologne" you wear to work is chlorine

You take more showers in a locker room than at home

6:30 am is sleeping in

the dog runs and hides when you get the leash!

You think there are only two seasons during the year, racing and off.

You shave way too many body parts for a guy.

You can't change the oil in your car but you can completly rebuild your bike in 45 mins

You spend more £ on training and racing clothes then work clothes

You spend 7 days going to 8 stores in 4 towns before buying a pair of running shoes but you take 1 afternoon to go to 1 car dealership and walk out with a new car 4 hours later.

when you see some lady watering her flowers and ask her if you can borrow the hose for a minute so you can fill up your water bottles.

You clean your bike more often than your car

You've been stung be a wasp or bee in your mouth but carried on running or cycling because "your split times won’t go down by themselves"

Your car smells like a locker room.

You have everything needed in your car to be Swimming, Biking or Running with 5 minutes notice.

When asked to mow the lawn in 90 degree heat, you say that its too hot to do that (and you mean it) and then an hour later you go on a century ride because its so nice out.

You tell your co-workers that you are going to "do a long brick" on saturday and just expect that they know what you are talking about.

When a co-worker asks if you are racing this weekend, you say "yeah, but I'm just running a 10k, so that is not REALLY a race".

You consider you bike saddle your "couch"

You consider Clif Bars as one of the four food groups

you are sick to your stomach at 2:00 in the morning and check the back of the Pepto Bismol bottle for caloric content and grams of carbohydrates, fat and protein.

you have plenty of water bottles, safety pins, and t-shirts.

You like going swimming the day after a race with the permenant penned number still visible on your legs and arms because the feel like a medal.

you have trouble keeping lunch under 2000 calories.

you usually wake up at 4:00 in the morning but do not get to work until way after 9:00.

you have a £4000 bike strapped on top of your £2000 car.

you have no trouble pushing a day's caloric intake to over 8000 calories.

you're always wet! Either sweat water, pool water, sea water, shower water, bath water or its p*****g down outside!

Instead of Marie Clare, People and Cosmo, you have piles of Runner's World in your bathroom.

your car has at least one Power Bar wrapper and two sets of work out clothes!
your kids idea of playing is a bike and run race followed by power bars, water bottles and awards ceremony.

your laundry continually smells like someone locked the cat in overnight...

you leave your apartment or house in the morning with your swim bag on one arm, bike on one shoulder, a change of clothes in another bag, and your running stuff in another bag in case you can get away at lunch for a workout.

you wave at other cyclists, because all triathletes are friendly and if they are not, they are probably purist cyclists trying to get into triathlons and they do not know that triathletes are friendly.

You have not one, not two, but three permanent chain ring scars on your right calf.

You are walking along a street and you signal left.

you can't decide what tee shirt to wear to your next race.

you have far more pairs of shoes in your closet than your non-tri wife does in hers

the one "suit" you own has orca written on the chest.

You wear your heart rate monitor during sex....


...and you keep within the right HR zone

you hear T2 and don't think of the film....

when "foreplay" is 15 minutes on a turbo trainer

your living room has the "swim pile" and the "bike pile" and the "run pile" and the "weight room pile" and you pick and choose kind of like a cafeteria on your way out the door.

your kitchen cupboards are organized into "protein", "carbs" and "etc"

you bring bottled water to a party so that you're properly hydrated for the next morning's long run, everyone else at the party also brought their own bottled water because you don't have a social life outside of triathlon. Oh yeah, and they all showed up by 7pm and left by 10pm.

your company announces mandatory unpaid shutdown days - every other Friday thoughout the summer - in order to cut costs and stay in business, and your response is "Great - now I can do two long workouts on the weekends and still have an easy day."

......but you dont!

your 8 year old comes home with the school record for the mile and says, he took it out in a nice pace he could hold.....everyone else died.

you fill your kids' water bottles with Cytomax instead of blue gatorade.

you can ask your mom and your sister and all other girlfriends for shaving advice.

no wait, they ask you for advice!

you say that you went to a race last weekend...and somebody responds "running or biking" and you are again forced to explain....


you wear your bathing suit under your work clothes to make a fast transition from work to swim on your lunch hour.

you show up at the neighborhood pool on your bike in a speedo and embarrass your teenage daughters.

Your idea of fast food is a power bar and SIS Go

somebody hands you a cup of water and you have to restrain yourself from pouring it on your head.

You catch yourself about to blow a snot rocket while walking around the office.

you forget that talking about daily LSD [Long Slow Distance] and speed weirds some people out.

you have no FRIGGIN idea what to do with yourself on your off day.

You feel like you took the day off because all you did was swim 3000 meters then go for a short run.

At any given moment you know exactly where your heart rate monitor and your swim googles are, but cannot remember where you left you car keys. (turns out 90% of the time they are in your bike bag)

Ice baths!

When non-racer friends tell you they ran/rode you automatically calculate their pace to see if you're still in better shape.

Cars pass you on the road when you're driving and you either drop back to get out of draft zone or speed up to attack!

You have no trouble converting mph into kmph

You've stopped buying high-heels because your feet are too swollen from long runs to fit in them anyways.

While your less athletically-inclined girlfriends are gorging themselves on plates of lettuce, you're occupying yourself with a plate of pasta and chicken (white meat, of course.)

Having a period has become less of a nuisance since menstrual cramps don't feel that bad when you're hunched over a bike.

You've stopped wearing dangly earrings because they just get in the way when you're ripping off your clothes to squeeze "just one more" workout into your already cramped schedule.

Your girlfriends are insanely jealous of your tan legs. Until they realize that the tan stops at your bike shorts.

You've given up trying to go on training runs/rides with your boyfriends because they don't take it too well when you kick their butt.

Your best girl friend gets a new bike and tells you that it's a really pretty shade of blue. You get a new bike and can tell her the chain ring ratios.

When checking out guys on the street/at the mall your friends notice eyes, hair, build. You notice if they have shaved legs, if they have runners/bikers legs, and if they're wearing a race t-shirt.

Thursday, June 04, 2009

When a Crocodile Eats the Sun

I have finally finished this book!
I have had this book for several months and it has followed me around from Europe and back, which I never finished until now.
I don't know what took me so long, as I have been pretty busy traveling a lot plus my job, running, and moving into Chicago took up a lot of my time. I have STILL had this before BEFORE all of that chaos!

Either way, the book is complete.
Now for the review:

At first the book started off kind of too dry for my taste or likes, but I had just come from reading several amazing reads and this book had A LOT of competition to be compared to!
So only into the last 25 percent of the book for "me" again, did I find it to be worth it. The ending is very sad, and pretty much the entire book is very sad. It makes you realize what we take for granted, and the resources that we have in America vs Africa.
The book called "When a Crocodile Eats the Sun" means, that when there is a Solar Eclipse, that the Gods are mad and that's why a crocodile eats the sun at this time.

What I did really enjoy was the way that the writer described things in his books, whether it be a persons hand, face, their town, cars, or cities, I really liked his examples to make you feel like you were part of the book!

I have made several more book purchases while I was in Phoenix, AZ. I will let you know when I start my next read soon ! ;)

When a Crocodile Eats the Sun on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Something Worth Sharing


Thought this was funny enough to share!
Stuff That Makes Me Chuckle

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

More pics that you'll not see in South Texas!

Mass Transit
mass transportation, we probably only see buses but we will NEVER see subways above or below ground in South Texas.

I helped out with the LA Marathon this weekend, and once I get back to California, I'll be helping out again with the San Diego Rock & Roll Marathon.

I ran this marathon last year, but this year I really do not want to run any full marathons. The only one that I have considered running as a full would be the Marine Corps Marathon that is held in D.C.

It is a beautiful run, in a beautiful city, in a beautiful time of the year, but most importantly.. I would run it for my father who serves 20 years and retired from the United States Marine Corps.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Things you Never see in South Texas!

I've added another folder in my FlickR account, I call it the "Things you Never see in South Texas!" Since I have actually been in the same place for awhile, of course minus my trips to Nashville, Indiana, Michigan and Los Angeles this weekend, I seem to compare Chicago to The Valley, whether this is on purpose or on accident, "I'm sure it's on accident, I laugh at some things I feel like Chicago needs, and then there are others things that I wish The Valley had going for them.
So while I am out driving, riding, or running around, I will do my best to capture photos of these "things"
Bicycle Parking
We can easily say that House Centipede was one, but Bike Parking and a covered area, wouldn't that be such a beautiful site to see in South Texas?

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Extreme Weather

Since I've lived here for the past month or so I have been caught in a lot of different weather extremes, lately the weather has been nice floating around the 60's which I think that Chicago deserves right about now!
Even today the weather is more than perfect, but yesterday, was the perfect storm!
It rained five inches in rain yesterday!
rain
Like my friend MarcoV once said, "it looks like we are driving under water"
and I believe we were in Chicago when he said that :)
whirlpool
Chicago Whirlpool
Above, is a water drain in the middle of a MALL parking lot!  I found it to be pretty crazy as I saw it while I was driving around trying to find a closer parking spot!  :)
The last photo is a video, I believe you have to click on it to work it!
But speaking of that great weather today, as opposed to yesterday, I am going out to put in another 6 mile run.

Friday, May 15, 2009

House Centipede !

what the!?

I have found a couple of these at the place I am staying at in Chicago!
It took me several days to find out what type of bug this was, and trust ME,
it's A LOT scarier to see in person!
House Centipede
I found this one crawling on my box of gummy bears, while I was watching TV :)

Monday, May 11, 2009

My NEW Running Jersey!


Chicago Police.jpg by you.


The best part about this shirt is that a cop stole it and gave it to me!
I love the little stick like figures and the simple MS Word editing! hahah

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Grand Rapids , Michigan

I am off and on the road to Grand Rapids, Michigan, there is a race there this weekend and I was going to run the 10k.  There is a 25k, but I was thinking maybe I should lower my miles a bit for now so that I can last through the summer! ;)

Anyone else running a 10k this weekend?

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Last Minute

I decided less than 12 hours before the Rock & Roll Nashville Marathon that I was going to participate! :)

I guess it's not that unusual for me anymore :)

There was a tragedy on the course this year, he crossed the finish line right behind me and then collapsed, we all obviously don't know the entire story, but all I can say is if you are not finishing first it's not worth it to push your body to such extremes. I see people collapsing and puking all the time since I followed marathons around the US.

In reality the HARSH reality, no one cares about your time except for you, do the events for fun, and be there for the crowd, the excitement and the environment.

I am obviously not the best example, but everyone should get checked up, with all the lay offs and slow economy marathons and half marathons are filling up left and right, and I COMPLETELY
encourage it, but I also encourage safety !

http://www.newschannel5.com/global/story.asp?s=10249198

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Indiana , Indianapolis

It's weird , only a year or so ago I never thought that I would be living in driving distance to so many other states! 

It took me only three hours to make it to downtown Indy, and that would only get me a little more than half way to San Antonio!  which is STILL in Texas!

I have a really really REALLY long day planned a head for me tomorrow, I plan on starting the day off with a 6 mile jog in the morning.  I plan on hitting 10 accounts, my company usually wants for me to do 5 a day, which is unrealistic in the first place just to give you an example of my day, and just for kicks, I'll end up with another 6 hours of driving in the mix!  It will not be a continuous drive, but it will be a lot of driving none the less!

See you at the finish line! ;)

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Sea Otter Classics

so , I did not and I am not going to the Sea Otter Classics.
 I am probably looking at going to Nashville next week to run the half marathon there!

I am sad because I've been to the Tour De Frace, Tour of California, and Interbike in Las Vegas, all big and grand cycling events!

But this year I would be able to make it to Monterey, CA , I just wouldn't be able to make it back! it looks like I have something to look forward to attend next year huh?

I will probably be going out to Starved Rock to do some more exploring and site seeing this weekend. 
I did look up geocaches and there is only one there in the entire park.  It's ok, I will still go to the park since it's such a nice scenery and it's really not that far away from the city!
I will have another busy week Mon-Wed, hopefully trying to complete everything so that I can make it to Nashville for the half marathon. 
Nashville is the second part to the Rock & Roll series.
I haven't gone for a run in a looong time, but .. that really has never held me back to begin with !

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Starved Rock Park

I did not spend Easter weekend at home in Texas, this seems normal for me now not to be with my immediate family for the holidays, since I have been on the road for so long.

I did check out a nearby park this weekend!
It's called Starved Rock.
Yes,
I took a lot of pictures!

Char Collage

Starting with Silly head :)

Starve Rock bridge

There were A LOT of water, streams, bridges, and waterfalls!

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Ed, just so that you know, Road Kill here are GEESE or DEER,
not snakes and turtles mixed with some possums !

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Above: All the recent talk about pirates, I did not walk the plank on this one!

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char


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leaves.jpg


hdr attempt

A SMALL attempt HDR, but I still need help with this also Ed!

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Star Rock

It's A LOT of pictures, because I NEVER really hold back! haha
but hopefully I'll be going back to explore the rest of the park beacuse I only had a chance to explore part of it.
I am fine with this so that I would have an excuse to go back anyway! I also avoided geocaching so that I could have yet another reason to go back.
I hope that everyone had a great easter weekend!

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Live Strong VIdeo

I got this video from Jahowies blog, but this is worth spreading and passing around.
My mom beat breast cancer several years ago and I admit and not ashamed to say that this video made me cry.
Watch it:

Embedded Video

Monday, April 06, 2009

Quiet Weekend

So I had the weekend off, this will take some time getting used to, since I'm used to be at full speed on the weekends!
I watched a lot of TV and fixed a flat that I got on my car, which is one of the reasons I didn't want a car!
But I need it for work, I spent pretty much most of my free time on reports and photo submissions for work also. I think now that I have gotten past the first week, keeping up with all of the reports and photos will be a lot faster, and easier to handle, now that I really know what I am up against!
It snowed last night, but this morning most of it has already melted away. It's suppose to be pretty damn cold the rest of the week!
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Maybe I'll take some more pics during the day while I am driving around. It depends how I am doing on time since I actually have someone to get home to tonight!

Saturday, April 04, 2009

Sexy Bike RACK

sexybikerack.jpg
While in NYC to watch the Phantom of the Opera a couple a weeks ago, I came across by far, the sexiest bike rack in the world !