Fast Forward 9 months

Catch up:

- Went to pace & support Boston-thoners

- Electric Boogaloo defended their MC200 title again against the Cougar-tots.

- Shane-diggity got wedded.

- Bastille Day 5k motivated me to start training for second year in a row.

- Went to Maine with Fam.

- August will be 100 miles per week month.

- Got the Elvis is Alive title breaking 16 minutes for the first time in Chicago.

- 5 week trip (Italy, Greece, Austria, Czech Rep., Germany)

- Berlin Marathon: 2:38:54

- Oktoberfest in Munich

- I'm going to be an Uncle for the first time.

- Thanksgiving in Cleveland

- I think I may be in the worst shape in last two years

- Got tired of hearing about Tiger Woods

- Got motivated to train for a 1/2 thon but have not registered yet.

That's it. Glad I didn't waste all that time blogging that stuff over the past 9 months when I could have just done that.

Just trying to get back in the swing of things.

Reaping rewards

It's 6:30, it's still light out and I'm done running. That doesn't happen too often. So I can now spend the rest of my night blogging and working on the EB calendar (more to come) and then heading to bed early. I know, I know. I'm very popular.

I've been busting my ass lately and really don't feel like I have anything to show for it. I started looking back and see that I've really been training pretty consistently and intensely for the last 3 months. That is less than most of my marathon training cycles. Although, sometimes those are hard to define. But anyway, I turned a "new leaf" at the beginning of the year and decided to get serious. I had a bunch of goals for workouts, mileage and races and really don't feel like I've accomplished too much.

Things that suck:
- I've run two races in stupidly terrible conditions. One had tons of stairs and the other tons of snow.
- And one 5k time trial by myself on the track. Not bad conditions but not a great run.
- I've been sick for 3 weeks. Not violently but it is just nagging.
- I need new shoes but don't want to pay full price for them. I'm cheap, stubborn and about to be unemployed.
- I run tempo runs too hard and feel like garbage for the next two days.
- Unfortunately, I "attempt" track workouts two days after the tempo and have not been successful for at least the month of March.

A few good things:
- I've been running consistently every day. That is key for me to get serious.
- I'm averaging 9.81 miles per day since January 1.
- I actually weighed the lightest I've weighed sense high school. 167 lbs. Granted it was right after a 20 miler, but still. I'm usually in the 171 - 173 range.
- I'm not injured.
- My new haircut is lighter, quicker and with less drag.
- I've actually been lifting and doing core 2-3 days a week. Not much, but more than the last 5 years combined.
- The weather has broken and I can feel spring is in the air.
- I'm at least aware I run my tempos too hard. I can change that.

In the end, I'm not actually as negative as I sound. I do feel ok sometimes and strong others but am a little disappointed that I haven't accomplished what I've wanted to yet. At least at this point in the season. But we trudge forward. I also have nothing else to do. Did you see my first comment of what my free night consists of?

Overdue and not up to par... "Chicago Anniversary"

March 7th was my one year anniversary. I didn't have this blog back then but I did write an email to a couple of co-workers that I thought would be interesting to resurrect. See below:

March 14, 2008 - sent to 5 co-workers
· Subway is only a 2 minute walk from my place and is open late, but the voodoo witchcraft store is right next door from it and one is also across the street. They are ONLY open late and will steal your soul if you look inside. I saw two sets of lesbians making out/cuddling during my run yesterday. I’m going to run past there again today.
· I saw a rat as big as my head
· Everyone has a dog and some of them are smaller than the rats.
· If you don’t run on the right side of the bike path on the lake front, EVERYONE will tell you that “it’s like a road.”
· Everyone sports a pop collar and is metrosexual or gay, it’s hard to tell which.
· National City decides to put the bank up for sale.
· St. Patty’s day has been going on since I moved here on 3/7. I’m not sure when it ends.
· My bedroom is an IKEA advertisement.
· I have an air card, a docking station, and two laptop bags, but NO laptop.
· Girls that rollerblade are attractive Girls with shaved heads are not.

March 17, 2009
· It is illegal for cab drivers to NOT take credit card.
· Can anyone do 9 carbombs in one day? I know someone that can.
· Anyone who says they are a "Chicago" fan when you ask if they are a White Sox or Cubs fan is a liar.
· Obama is the only ethical politician in or from Chicago. At least, we'll stick with that for the next four years.
· I seriously need an iPhone and am jealous of all who have one.
· We don't like people from the burbs and they don't like us either. Especially Sue Cass.
· Actually, we just don't like people that don't do what we do.
· Be agressive, intense and emotional and GET INVOLVED!
· German beer is very agressive. I recommend not getting agressive back.
· Protein...Protein...I need more protein.
· One year later and now I'm trying to convince girls to shave their heads.
· Chicagoans were right, winters are worse here.

Who has two thumbs and is the worst blogger?

I'm doing a terrible job at creating you all's habits and expectations that you can always find an updated blog at Unyielding Crossroads. Needless to say this past week has just been busy and crazy and I've not felt great in health or running on top of that. Where does it end? Actually if it ended, that would just be lame anyway. So I'll do my best to create your instinctual behaviors to click the "Unyielding Crossroads" tab on the top of your browser whenever you are bored. I know it is there.

Quick recap of week 10, 2009:

- Decided I would host my own 5k on the North Park track by myself. Felt like garbage; got mono of the arms; ran 16:44; not sure what I was thinking.

- Decided this week would be a down week and minimized all runs. Just get through w/o ruining myself.

- 6 x 400 on Wednesday just to get moving. felt like garbage; got mono of the arms; ran slow; not sure what I was thinking.

- Continued to be sick and run like trash the rest of the week

- Different note: Thursday was a great day with St. Baldrick's. Got some tv time. separate entry coming soon.

- We are in the midst of St. Patrick's day as it is already March 17th. Good times with the Irish folk over the weekend. Guinness, green beers and rivers, bar hopping, parades and hangovers.

- Our little Michael's birthday celebration was on Sunday, and I celebrated that more than I did on Saturday. whoops. Yes, he is a badass.


- I'm now going to the Boston marathon weekend to repeat Austin. 5k on Sunday, pace on Monday. To actually race a marathon scares me. I really hope this doesn't become a habit. Also get to go to a Red Sox game in between.

- We finally got some clue of what is going on with my job. sort of. Anyone looking for a cool, hip, new marketing guy? Just kidding. or am I?

- Tempo run last night (Monday): 6 miles - average 5:31s. Those are Chicago miles of course so who knows how far it actually was. But thats fine, I'll take it. They are the same Chicago miles that I was running last year so I do have a reference.

16:46

If you've been running with me the last couple of weeks you know that I am eagerly waiting the opportunity to run a 5k. I really just want to test my fitness and see where I'm out and then figure out what I need to be doing. So after the joke of a 5k down in Austin, next on the calendar was the Wacky 5k up in the west loop of Chicago.

I had actually probably been taking it more seriously than I should have but I wanted to run fast and this was a course that after gmapping it several times, I trusted. There were to be 800 to 1,000 runners so there should be a good group of local talent that would maybe keep the race interesting and we could all run fast.

Mile 1: I didn't know any of the guys on the front line except for Brent and after the gun went off I quickly realized he was not racing this but rather pacing someone. So in the first mile there were about 10 or so guys that all kind of showed their faces up front but nobody was really being that aggressive. Two guys did gap a small pack (with me in it) towards the end of the first mile. I was still feeling pretty conservative and wasn't ready to commit to running with those guys quite yet. About a 10 - 15 meter gapped opened up. 5:22

Mile 2: Slowly my small pack broke up and I was left alone in third. About 1/4 mile into the second mile some guy came rolling up on me like there was no tomorrow. I know these types of guys. He is the guy that in his head was saying "ok, I went out smart and these 3 guys are idiots for going out hard, now they're dead and I'm going to ruin them." I love these types of runners because they think they are the only ones that run smart, they are overconfident and they have EVERYTHING to loose. I jumped on his tail and we rallied back up to the two leaders. Us four bounced around quite a bit trying to get everyone else to take the lead and break the wind. I conveniently never found myself in that situation. 5:25

Mile 3: Overconfident Guy is the first to drop off. Farewell and better luck next time. Leader Guy, who I think is clueless to the whole concept of drafting as he pushed the pace from the front most of this mile, is quickly gapped when Surger Guy starts randomly throwing in sprinting sessions. I kept covering everything he was doing and just kept thinking that we will just have to wait and see on the final stretch. The suddenness and how drastic his surges were really made me think this guy was still pretty fresh. He zigged and zagged his way through the last 1/2 mile. We came to the final stretch and I was ready to roll. I turned it on and he was out the back in the first 20 meters of our final 150 meter showdown. Not quite the dramatic finish I was thinking would happen. 5:58 (1.1 miles)

This was not the race I was looking for but I did get the W and it was a good time (experience that is). These were the conditions that we were greeted with on Sunday morning. It was also 15 degrees, 20 mph winds and windchills down to 8 degrees. Not ideal so I guess I will take it.

Props to post race activities at Michaels.

Also props to fotojack.com for not stamping "PROOF" across this photo.

Be Brave - Go Bald!!

Ok, ok, ok... I got sucked in, but at least it was for all the right reasons.

CLICK HERE if you would like to donate to St. Baldrick's.
Watch Fox Chicago on March 12 from 9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. or go to FoxJox.com for more information.

Together we can make a difference.

Elevator etiquette, rules and conceptions

It has been much longer than planned from my last blog but this couldn't wait.

Anyone that rides in an elevator daily should probably know a couple things about elevator etiquette and just some other things that their co-passengers think about them.

Etiquette
- ladies first at all times (on, off, whatever...) Even though logically if you let the women on first in a crowded elevator she will likely be behind you when you go to get off. Doesn't matter. You find a way. Ladies first.
- When you enter a crowded elevator, you walk in and turn around and face the door. We don't want to look at you and definitley don't want you breathing on us.
- When someone exits the elevator on an in between floor, the remaining people should rotate and use the additional space that was opened up. That is more personal space for everyone.
- If there is a tv on the elevator, look at it. Even if you don't care or can't read.
- It is ok to laugh and just shake your head about whatever you just read, but don't try to start a conversation about it.
- If you are in the middle of a conversation with someone when you get on the elevator you should reduce the volumn of your voice or pause the conversation all together.

Other:
- People on the higher up floors don't like people on the lower floors. The ride is already long enough and you should just use the stairs anyway.
- We don't like you even more if you are a frequenter of getting on at an in between floor to only go up/down one floor. You've just interrupted what we thought was a stop free ride.
- Just once I want someone to say to me "The weather outside is pretty average, huh?" Its always either too hot or too cold. I want average.
- If you sneeze, cough or sniffle....yes, the other passengers will be holding their breath for the remainder of the ride.
- At 4:30 p.m. everyone on the elevator is looking at each other thinking "Yeah, I'm leaving at 4:30...why are you leaving so early?" or justifying in their own mind why they should be allowed to leave and you shouldn't.
- If you accidentally hit the wrong floor, nobody thinks thats funny. Don't laugh.

Thank you for reading.

Breakfast with the Devil...

Monday in Austin, we woke up, got a quick run in and decided to head out for breakfast. We headed to a restaraunt and decided to sit on the patio because the line for inside was too long. The patio was enclosed and heated, so even though it was about 50 degrees it was still comfortable.

When we sat down I notice there was a bird that was trapped inside the plastic enclosure and was kind of just chillin watching everybody eat. So the waitress brings our food out and Kristen, Verdo, Ben and I start eating. I ordered these fluffy scrambled eggs, with crispy delicious bacon, tasty potatos and nice buttery pancakes. mmmmmmm, I'm saying as the aroma overwhelms my nostrils. As I'm eating I notice that there is a small hair in my potatos. Yowzers!! I exclaimed. Hmmm??? It was a small hair and I didnt want to be a pain, so I just brushed it aside and was going to eat around that portion of the potatos. So as I'm leaning over and taking a bite of my food that stupid bird flies over and picks a piece of egg off of my plate and flies away. Ok, so that is just disgusting. I'm really not into flying rats eating off the same plate that I am. After that, I had pretty much just lost my appetite completely. When the waitress came over, I had told her about the hair and the bird coming over and taking the food off my plate and just said that I couldn't eat that. I really didn't say it rudely, because honestly it was the bird that I wanted revenge on. Seriously. Below is me pouting. (p.s. this photo was staged) (but the hat is real deal).


The waitress took the plate and shortly after a manager came over and was nice and asked about the bird. I didn't want to ruin the breakfast of others around me so I didn't bring back up the fact that the potatos had a hair in them. So he, in his kindest voice, said "we will take that off for you." That was fine, I had maybe 2 bites of the whole meal and at that point didn't want anything else. Well, when the bill came, I was charged for everything except for the eggs. He ONLY removed the eggs from my tab. Are you kidding me? It was all on the same plate AND there was a hair in my potatos. Isn't it just common business sense that you remove the entire meal? I couldn't believe it.
But as far as that bird...His time is coming.

Austin bound day 3

So I wanted to wrap up a couple things from down in Austin.

The marathon morning was awesome and definitely had that buzz in the air that you just gotta love. Especially when you're are not about to put yourself through 26 miles of torture. But the weather was awesome and 12,000 people (half and full marathon) were out on the streets at 7 a.m. to go do their thing. My thing was to jump in with everyone for a part of their races.

I got a chance to run with Verdo, Michael, Lance, Ken and Ben during the race and had a great time. It was cool to be on the other side of things running with these guys that were out there to run fast. It's impressive to see them endure and push through the same pain that you feel during your marathons no matter how fast ya'll are running. And not just as they pass by, because I ran a lot of miles with these guys in latter parts of the race where the pain is the worst. It was cool guys and I'm glad I was there. Props to everyone on a very tough course. Big Ben brings home a 7 minute marathon PR. Nice work.

We all rested up and Kristen hosted an awesome cookout with all the town's folk. There were probably a good 25 - 30 homosapiens and a good 6 - 7 K9s. It was cool as we celebrated with beer, cornhole, food and cigars. After the cookout we headed to a couple local bars, drank our carbomb, and had a good time talking about our rodeo and barrel racing ventures. One of us, unnamed, also owns a limosine company.

Cowboys & superheros - Austin bound days 1&2

Went down to Austin this past weekend to support and pace some buddies while they ran the Austin marathon and half marathon. We left for Austin on Friday morning.

Friday was fairly relaxed. Verdo, Ben and I were staying with one of Ben's friends, Kristin. Her house was right downtown Austin and she was a great host. We checked in, got a quick run and then grabbed some food and hit up the marathon expo so everyone could pick up their bib numbers and some SWAG. Part of this SWAG were free cases of Zico coconut water which quickly became the drink and addiction of the weekend. Aside from the malt beverages of course. We then went to dinner on the south side of Austin (which is not much like the south side of Chicago) had a couple margaritas, beers, etc...


Saturday morning, Verdo, Lance, Helen and Caroline all went out with me to Texas State to run the big race of the weekend, the Valentine's Day Run for your Heart. Batman was victorious with a 16:10 for a 2.97 course. I did want to actually run this pretty seriously and did have a good time at the race. That went away quickly as the course was a little ridiculous with at least 20 flights, yes flights, of stairs. It was an out and back course completely downhill and 10 flights of stairs to only turn around at the bottom and go back up. I did win by 1 minute and 20 seconds and considering the conditions and effort, I'm fairly satisfied with my time for 2.97 miles (gmapped). First - Second - Third



Whoops...


We just chilled out the rest of the day drinking coconut water and wine. Carbo loaded with pasta to get ready for the big day. Good start to the weekend and trip. more to come.

Austin bound

Austin...Austin, Massachusetts? - Name that movie.

Going down to Austin for the weekend to support some friends for the thon and 1/2 thon. There is also a super competitive 5k that I will be partaking in down in San Marcos. My race is on Saturday morning and is supporting the women's soccer team at Texas State. I've always been a huge supporter of their program and I know that my $12.50 will make a difference. So in honor of the women bobcats I am going to sport my Batman costume during the race. Worst case scenario, T-Bud said it best. I wear this ridiculous costume yet still take the race seriously (this is possible) and lose to some 16 year old in training shoes. I agree, that would be pretty embarrassing. Luckily, my costume comes with a mask and my identity will be protected.

Sunday: I will have some pacing duties throughout and fully expect that I will be covering the 26.2 distance myself. The marathon and half both start at the same time and I will probably just jump in illegally a quarter or half mile into it. I'm going to take Verdo to the crest of one of the larger hills around 3.5 to 4 miles. He will be very aggressively facing off with the half and a long awaited PR in the distance. The plan after that is to just continue dropping back and running with each person that comes up next. This will be a great training run for me but hopefully it is also beneficial to some of these guys and I can take their mind off the race for a short while. Good luck guys...Kick some A.

Also, to make sure that us northerners fit in with all these Texan cow herders we went out and bought the finest and most authentic western wear we could find. By that, I mean we went to Alcala's. Hats, shirts, shoes and most importantly a good belt buckle. Yes, I fully expect that we will not be welcomed with open arms. But don't forget, we're from Chicago...so we don't care. Just kidding. Just kidding. But we are in the works to go shootin' cattle on Monday and that would just be embarrassing without a good hat and buckle. You don't need a permit for that right? Finally, you can't go traveling around Texas wearing the same gear all weekend, so, yes we did buy traveling apparel and multiple buckles.

I'm lovin it

Went to the Bulls game tonight with Michelle, Michael, Carolyn and two of Mike's other friends Mike & Andrea. Ben & Ken were also there but were not in the cool section 304. They surrounded us in sections 306 and 303. I can tell you one thing though, 300s is where it's at. It was a good night out, had a couple beers and the bulls pulled a 17 to 4 run to come back with 2.5 minutes remaining for the "W." Now turn that "W" upside down and the audience is rewarded with...


Since the Bulls scored 100+ points and won everyone gets a free Big Mac. Now if you happen to go with 5 runners, 3 of which are vegetarians, you get.....no, I only got 3 Big Macs. You tell me what those vegetarians are doing with those Big Macs. Also, these must be redeemed within 48 hours so I'm not even sure I will redeem my 3. Has anyone seen Super Size Me? Finally, I'm sort of convinced that this was destiny anyway since I had actually eaten a Big Mac value meal as I was walking to the game.

Half-time show was a tribute to Johnny "RED" Kerr, player, coach and commentator. There were several people there to give him props and say something about Kerr's spirit and passion for the sport. Among them were Scottie Pippen & Michael Jordan. Granted we were 300 feet away it was still pretty cool to see them "live" "in person" or whatever you want to call it. We were supposed to hangout with them at Gibson's upstairs after the game, but we were tired and I needed to get home and blog before Michael snaps at me again. Ironically, I am headed to Whitney Young HS tomorrow for a St. Baldrick's rally where one of Jordan's sons attends. Now, how can I turn that into a large fries and sweet tea?

Global warming what?

*71 miles - 8 runs.
Wednesday workout: 5x1000 - 1.5 min rest(3:12, 3:11, 3:08, 3:08, 3:03) then 4x100. Coach Savage was great to let Claudia, Robert, Verdo and I use the DePaul University indoor track. The entire facility is amazing. The track was good/ok. 200 meters with banked turns in the outside lanes. This would normally not be a problem since we would be running in lane one but at DePaul, slow runners get the inside and faster runners are supposed to use the outside lanes. Luckily everything was marked so I could still get splits and run a great workout but the banked turns gave me a little soreness. Can't complain too much though. Thanks Coach Savage.

Saturday: 19 miles in 60 degree weather with 6 miles of 6:25 ish tempo. This had been the first long run that I have not felt drained for for about a month now. A bunch of us again went out to Barrington and ran the hills and dodged the angry suburban SUV moms. We did not see Sue Cass but had our share of other road ragers.

If I can work things out right, I may be premiering 2009 with a Valentine's Day 5k down in Austin.

*As most midwesterners are experiencing right now we are having a wonderful week of 50 - 60 degree temperatures. Its a nice break but I fully expect another nasty 2.5 months. I've been thinking too much about summer already. I need to stop that.

Be Hungry...

*This past week has been very interesting and much different than my typical week. I backed off on the running, celebrated ole #27 and had a very intense interview situation.

*Running: I had a couple of questionable runs and lost a bit of weight drastically for some reason so I decided to back off this entire week. I continued my workouts and long run as usual but just notched down the "base" runs a few miles and hoped that I would get some of that bounce back. I've been hitting mid-70s and took it down to 51 this week. I'll admit that I felt much fresher for my workouts but my long run yesterday still felt like trash. No real goals still for at least another month or so, so just cruising along for now. I think that I may need to break out the compression socks again. Not the $30-$70 oxy socks but the $14 I bought these at Walgreens because I'm 85 years old compression socks. They make me feel like a kid again.

*When I turned 26, someone told me that their 26th year was their most challenging. So far, I concur.

*Interview: Last week a position with the new PNC was posted on our job board. It was still in Chicago and is the Director of Client and Community Relations. This also includes Marketing, Charitable, Media and will serve as the Chief of Staff to our State President. The position was posted with a VERY short timeline and I had decided to through my name in the bucket with no expectations. I thought maybe my name would show up and they would send me one of those emails "You obviously are an amazing person and have exceptional qualifications BUT....." At least I would have known I didn't miss an opportunity.

On Monday, an interview was set up with the State President and our HR executive here in Chicago. I found out that the Cleveland position was accepted by a very high level executive and I also knew some of the other candidates that had applied for the Chicago position. Of these people they all had a good 10-15 years experience on me. Good times...huh? So, obviously I was pretty nervous about the situation and how the conversations were going to go. Through several conversations with the good people in Cleveland, Milwaukee and Lexington, I convinced myself that it was a great opportunity to sit down with our State President and talk about what I bring to the organization, get some face time and show that I'm a team player, I want to advance and I want to learn this bank. My uncle sent me a very short email but it said something that I think was very important. "Be Hungry." And, you know what. I am hungry. Hungry for a lot of things. And growing in this company and becoming a leader, a go-getter and an expert is something that I am very hungry for.

This story is just dying for me to tell you that I got this position.That is not the case, but that is fine. I did have two great conversations with these executives and who knows where that will go. But at least now they know that I am hungry.

BLOG-ojevich

*Idiot

"BLOG-ojevich": My creativity is endless people.

We otta baby eets aboy...

*Oh yes, today is that day that we each long for when the calendar is flipped once more (yes, my calendar year begins on January 29th so back off) and we can say something that most others cannot say on this same day. "Today is my birthday." I know I seek out that point in every conversation where I can just drop it on them like "oh, I wasn't going to bring this up but since you asked what the date was I figure I might as well also tell you that it is my birthday. Weird, huh?"
I do want to drop you some stats and you tell me where the future in communication is:
I recieved "happy birthdays" in the following mediums:
0 MySpace messages
2 Instant message
4 Letters/cards
6 Text messages
6 Verbal (face to face)
8 Emails
8 Phone calls
42 FACEBOOK posts
Thanks to all 76 birthday wishes.

First place goes to Mom with the 6:34 a.m. phone call.

times a changin...

*Pretty mellow weekend this past weekend but that was definitely in order. We did drive out to Barrington again to get the final long run in for those that will be marathoning down in Austin. We watched the temperature drop from a balmy 7 degrees in the city to 0 out in Barrington by the time we started. It took me about 7 or 8 miles before I actually felt like I had warmed up and pretty much just plain out had a terrible run. Still finished hard for a good effort and 14 miles-esque. Then Egg Harbor for breakfast again and some great discussion. I learned to keep my lies short and simple when explaining why the rest of our group was not there.

*Monday started off with bad news as I found out that the camera that was holding the pictures of me and all the Cubbies was pick-pocketed while at the inaguaration. For some reason that doesn't really surpise me. But the convention was still awesome and this only gives us another reason to get invited to something like this again. But now, my facebook reputation is ruined as I had been bragging about these photos for a week now.

*Then Monday night after a fairly decent ~5.2 mile tempo run in 29:34 to average 5:40's, a bunch of us went out to celebrate the birthdays of Aquarius' with 1/4 price appetizers. That's a ridiculous amount of fried food for very little guacamole. Went home about 9:30 little a good schoolboy as there are a big couple of days ahead of me.

Expect the unexpected...

*Friday, 2:00 p.m., Holiday Inn: So this weekend started off early on Friday when my boss and I were invited to the Cubs Convention. I wasn't orginally sure what this was all about but it turned out to a very cool experience. Prior to the initial kick off rally of the convention there was a reception of about 100 people that my boss and I were invited to. Free drinks, food, etc... but also several all star players, Pinella and HOFs. This wasn't your traditional scene where these guys are sitting behind a table and you wait in line, get something signed, and you're on your way. This was very interactive with everyone where you could literally have a conversation and a beer with Carlos Zambrano. Very cool and a great way to start the weekend.

*Saturday, 5:30 p.m., Shoe's Pub: We were looking for somewhere to kill brain cells and we get this text from AA of whom we have not seen hide nor hair of for approximately 6 months to head to "Shoes Pub". Free pretzels and taffy can't be beat. Taffy can be used as an ice breaker and chicks dig it. Also, the guy Kyle Orton replaced was at Shoes playing flip cub with a few buddies. I did get a picture though, so i can't make too much fun. After the picture, the woman who suppose was his mother said "At least someone in Chicago still loves him." I, in my awkwardest voice, replied "oh we all do."

*Saturday, later, Zella's: After pictures with Sexy Rexy we headed around the corner to Zella's where some chick and I broke out into some sort of swing / hip hop / break dance. The crowd circled back and this girl and I got after it for a little bit. Then we ran into Ron Hutch (Indianapolis Colts) and we hung out with him and his publicists for a while. After dance party, Ron, Lynn and I went to some Mexican burrito place for late night food, and then to Big Ben's to finish the night off.

*Sunday Funday, 2:30, Victory Liqours: Yes, it continued for another 9 or so hours. Ouch, thank god the weekend is over.

You know you're hardcore when...

*you leave work at 2:45 p.m. and pay $22 for an hour and a half train ride up to Milwaukee to run a track workout and not get home til after 8 p.m. Yeah, I'm not sure that i'm good enough of a runner to be making this type of commitment. This is pretty serious folks, but this really tells you how inaccessible indoor tracks are and how terrible the footing is in Chicago during the winter. Not to mention that we have -20 degree windchills right now. Not good and not too productive. Its cool though (no pun intended) cause it is sort of a mini-trip, get outta town, have a good workout and good time with my bud Verdo and Claudia. Claudia is actually up there for work and will be driving us home afterwards. Let's hope for the best.

Other than some real quality workouts, my running is going fairly well. I hit 71 miles last week and am going to be right around there again this week. I registered for two races that I will be taking pretty seriously this year.

Shamrock Shuffle - Chicago - March 29th - top 100 entry

Indy-mini marathon - Indianapolis - May 2nd - Front of the pack entry

I'm pretty pumped and motivated to train for both as I really don't want to be that guy that starts up front and has a seeded bib and runs terrible. We will see. Goal is to be running in the 85 to 100 mpw range.

Soo...Do you workout here?

*So I think that I am finally convinced that Chicago's weather is worse than Cleveland's. It is consistently 15 - 20 degrees colder and almost always has a nasty wind to accompany it to consistently produce single digit and often negative windchills. This doesn't make it very easy to play the "tough guy" to all of my work friends and run outside so I've been finding myself spending more time on the treadmill than I really like to. I am however getting more motivated to start "training," so we will see how that goes. I hit 71 miles last week with a fairly decent tempo run on Monday. Six miles averaging 5:41 although there is some skepticism about the mile markers on the path. Damnit CARA (sarcasm). Also, Saturday a really good group of us drove out to Barrington (~45 NW of Chicago) to get a nice long run in. Groups ranged from 10 - 20 miles on a nice hilly, traffic free loop course. There are several loops that made it easy for people to cut off when ever they liked while others continued on. The footing was not great because of the 8" the night before but it was a good time and a great strength building run. Breakfast afterwards as usual was fun as well. Total trip time from home to home: 7 hours (ouch). I actually like these longer get aways as it gives me a chance to get to know some people that I have only heard their names and really made no connection with.

*Work is driving me a bit crazy right now. Not a lot of things going on since it is the winter and we have also just recently been acquired. The new acquisition sort of drags out many of the decisions and just adds more frustration because of the uncertainty of everyone's roles. I think this acquisition is going to be very interesting in many ways. I'll be interested to see and be a part of (maybe) how PNC moves into a market that they have zero presence in. How will they introduce the brand, the products, the systems, training, and even the PNC culture to our corporate offices. We are told that we will not be converting our retail stores until October 2010 so on that front things are moving pretty slowly. However, I am already beginning to see the cut-throat nature of people you work with when their jobs are in jeopardy. Don't get me wrong because I am definitely a gamer and love a good competition. I have and will make sure that I don't cross my own ethical and moral boundaries throughout this thing, but I will also make sure I get a fair shake and they know what I can do. Good times...more updates til October 2010.

*Another quick work update. I've been working with Fox Chicago the last couple of months on a sponsorship of the St. Baldrick's Foundation. It's been pretty cool and a lot of great experience working with a first class organization that is real deal. They've tons of capabilities and resources to produce some really awesome stuff that I've never had the chance to work on yet. I've got to meet some pretty interesting people as well. more to come.

First attempts always suck...

So this is definitely my first attempt to blogging. I've been increasingly becoming more interested in this whole twitter / blogger age and feel like I may have something interesting to say. Interesting to who? Maybe only to myself and those that are bored at work but blogger.com has so kindly created this website so I'm going to use it.

I'm also not sure how to start a blog. I feel like I should give ya'll a background of myself but more than likely if you're reading this its because you already know me. But if 1 of the other 13 Jason Reams out there (http://howmanyofme.com/) googled themselves and came across this blog here is a brief profile.
26 for now, Chicago, professional more or less, runner-esque, drinker some times, curser (the bad words, not the blinking line) often, edgy, openminded, thoughtful, good friend, hilarious always, judgemental sure but I try not to be sometimes, etc.... You decide for yourself.

For the rest of my biography you will have to facebook me. I'm not going to enable identity thieves without approving your friendship first.