The Final (?) Chuys 5K

Bottled coffee because 6AM is early for me.
Half a banana.
5K in 35 minutes and change (official time unavailable so far). Slacker, I know. but I haven't been able to run much the last few months.
Krispy Kreme. Banana. Water. Reconnecting with old Chuys friends at different locations now.
Ibuprofen. Hot tub. Soreness abating.

The final (probably) Chuys 5K for the Special Olympics is gone. A good time was had by nearly all. A couple of little kids were melting down, but with that many people, that's not bad at all. Highlights:

• People passing me, pushing single and double strollers with kids in them.
• Tall, long legged guys, idling effortlessly past me. I never saw them again. They probably started actually running and went back in time.
• One of them was whistling. A half mile into the race, he passed me, whistling a tune. like he was moseying without a care in the world. Cool moustache, too.
• Two eight year old girls passing me, then slowing to a walk, not really out of breath. As I passed them, "You really gonna let an old guy beat you?" Thirty seconds later they passed me, grinning back until they were sure I saw them.
• Big busted women passing me at a good clip, bouncing more than my belly did even when it was much bigger than it is now. They were clearly not wearing sports bras. That has to hurt, and it's not healthy. Don't do this.
• A guy with at least 75 pounds on me, sweating, walking pretty fast the other way. "Yeah, I already finished." True or false? No idea. I assume it was true, and good for him.
• Really nice cops doing traffic control. When we thanked them, they almost always thanked us back.
• Sharon walked it, and knocked a few minutes off her usual time, probably because she was alone instead of walking with someone to talk to.
• A mariachi band at the finish line. Playing Beatles tunes.
• After the finish line, I met a lady who looked a few years older than me, with purple hair and a shirt to match. "I've never run one of these. I trained with an app; I never broke 54 minutes. Today I ran it in 41!" We fist bumped. I would have hugged her but I was a lot sweatier. (I probably should have offered.) You generally don't know what you're capable of until you try it for real.
• We met the 14 year old daughter of one of Chuys top managers (now in charge of training and opening new stores). I recall the mom, Lisa, managing a Chuys while pregnant. The daughter now takes classes from two of Lisa's favorite customers from back then.
• They raffled off a dozen or so prizes. A woman won a $250 gift basket. A couple of tickets later her husband won dinner for four at Chuys. Good day for them!
• There was no booth with race times displayed or posted, and they couldn't declare winners. They'll do that later and notify them how to get their awards. Kind of a bummer, especially for those who came in from other towns for the race. (One year the winner of the 80-89 year old mens' bracket (who beat my best 5k time ever) had come up from Port Arthur. He had lived here back when there were only two Chuys on the planet, which is when I first moved here.)
• It's always kind of a hoot to find out how many people a good deal older than me blew my time out the window.
• Ditto kids. A few years ago some 10 or 12 year olds ran the whole thing in just over 12 minutes, if I recall correctly. I ran my first mile today in that time. My best time ever was over twice that.
• A group of ladies in sparkly tutus and tiaras.
• A dog in a bright blue tutu.
• Whole families, from greats to grands to parents to kids, all running.
• I didn't see any of my runner friends. That was a surprise.

Once upon a time, there were not many races in Austin. When Chuys started their 5K to support the Texas Special Olympics, there was maybe a race a month here, if that. Now there are often several each weekend. But the race takes a lot of time and energy to put on. So Chuys plans to come up with something different to help out the TSO. They'll probably expand the Thanksgiving Parade a bit as well.

Thanks, Chuys, for all you do. Thanks, Brooke and team, for the great work. Chuys: great food, great atmosphere, even greater people. You're awesome, and we love you, and all the Special Olympian and their families, friends, and supporters. Hugs for everyone!

Random observations, vignettes, & questions from Chicago...

I didn't expect a city this far north to react this much to a Canadian cold front (-25 wind chill at the moment, -40F or so last night). But when I walked to Target (1.4 mi each way), about half the restaurants seemed to be closed. The city was shut down today other than, I suppose, essential services. (The buses and trains were running.) Schools were open, but all absences were excused if the parents contacted the school. My god-daughter had to go to work, but nobody else showed up.

A big, fat pigeon eating by the sidewalk caught my eye. In the alcove between the business door and the (closed and locked) security gate, there were 15 - 20 pigeons eating; someone had left them food there.

I expected Chicago to be like big cities in the northeast, but it's not. It's cleaner, generally feels safer to this out of towner, and is overtly friendlier. There are lots of friendly people in, say, NYC, but as a visitor you might not realize this. Chicago folk have that neighborly mid-western thing going on. Businesses make you feel welcome, and other patrons are ready to talk. Cars often defer to pedestrians. Less people will reply to a howdy on the street than in Austin, but more than will reply (or at least nicely) in NYC.

There are a lot of good restaurants here. I'm uptown, and the prices are similar to downtown Austin, but it's a much larger city. And the food is excellent. The icons (Lou Manalti's, Portillo's) lived up to their hype, but there are so many fantastic holes in the walls! And lots of good coffee shops. Within a block of here are Ch'ava (coffee shop with good, interesting sandwiches) and Tiztal Cafe (incredible breakfast fare all day long, among other things). Nellsyn works at a new restaurant, Endgrain, that has been open six months and already featured on prominent foodie shows. I would love to have all three in Austin.

I haven't seen anyone "reserve" a parking space on the street by sticking a lawn chair or something in it, but apparently that's a thing. I guess if I spent a half hour shoveling out a space I'd like it back, too. There's no legal basis for it but it generally works. I hear tires can get slashed if you "steal" one of these spaces. Kinda rough on newbies!

We're in a third floor apartment. The radiators are centrally controlled, and come on when they want. It's too bad we can't turn them off, because the floors below us heat the place just fine most of the time, even in subzero temps.

The other night I tried opening the inner and outer windows to cool my room off a bit, but sirens regularly scream by within a few blocks, as they do in any big city. Leaving the outer (double pane) window open and closing the old, single pane inner window made a huge difference in temp, but still kept the sirens at bay. Odysseus[1] would be proud.

Speaking of radiators, these are the noisiest I have ever heard, If I'm almost asleep and they start snorting, whistling, wheezing, coughing, hissing, and humming (at times reaching 65 to 70 db) I have to stick a pillow over my head to escape the raucousness.

Overall I have been impressed with the CTA[2]. There was that one bus that wouldn't sop, and the other night a couple of train cars smelled like someone had puked in them (identical smells in two cars, just less pungent in one). Nobody on the train had smelled it before. As far as I know the cars do not have common air conditioning, so what was up with that? Stinky cleaner? Bulemic convention?

As frustrated as I get in Austin that you can't readily find shorts and swim suits all year long, it's almost insane that you can't find cold weather gear here at least throughout the winter. We're just getting into the really cold part, and some places have no snow boots left; the rest are picked over. Other stuff varies, but overall the selection is less than I expected. To Heck with the conventional garment seasons! Where are Phil, the Prince of Insufficient Light, and his spoon when when I need them?

 

NOTES
[1] I started to write "Olysses". What's up with that?
[2] Chicago Transit Authority[3]
[3] The actual transit authority, not the band, or its sel-titled first album, still one of my favorites after all these years.

 

Copyright 2013 Miles O'Neal, Round Rock, TX. All rights reserved.

Gabby Douglas, You Rock

Gabby, you rock. You're awesome. Whether you get gold or not.

However you want to do your hair is perfect. Whatever you choose to wear is great (and you have totally rocked those outfits). Anyone who thinks the Olympics is about the color of an outfit is loco.

Ignore the people who criticize such things. Their words say a lot about them... and nothing about you.

I have heard a lot of people, both with my own ears and via social media, talk about you. Everyone loves you, respects you, is awed by your accomplishments, and thinks you are doing a great job both as yourself, and representing the USA.

As far as I'm concerned, you could wear a Chinese outfit, You'd still rock, and I'd still be both grateful and proud you are representing me.

Thanks to you, and to everyone competing on behalf of the USA.

My Valentines Day Protest

Valentine's day is supposed to be about love. Love isn't just a mushy feeling, nor is it only something that happens between what we think of as lovers (at whatever level of involvement). Do I love my wife? Absolutely! But I also love my kids, my siblings, my parents, my extended family (bio and otherwise), my friends, etc.

So, rather than rail against Valentines Day, rather than be jealous or angry or allow yourself to feel victimized if you are single, just find ways to love on people. If nothing else you'll have made the world a better place and feel good about yourself. But there's a real chance you'll feel some love back.

If you want to protest against the crass commercialization of yet another holiday, and in fact of love, or against the insane over-romanticization of the day, which leaves women (and men) feeling left out, lonely, rejected, abandoned and/or inadequate, which sets people up to feel like failures or to have absurd expectations, by all means do so. But part of your response should be to simply love on people. Don't just try to feel something, DO something. Tell someone they matter. Hug them. Buy them dinner, or a coat if they need it, or hand out friend valentines like we did in grade school. Sweep a floor. There are a gazillion things you can do.

Regardless of your take on this, know that you are deeply loved by the one who made you, and by me. We both think you're awesome. And if you want a hug, you know where to get one if you can get to me!