Tag Archive | running

When Birds Attack

Jul18

After way too long of a break, I am finally back to running. The break was due to being sick with a cold. Colds in general are bad, but the ones you get in the summertime suck the worst. At first, I thought it was allergies, but sadly it was a cold.

In any event, officially I was back this past weekend when I ran in the Fleet Feet Chicago Women’s 5K and 10K race. Originally, I signed up to do the 10K, but given the high temps and my lack of running, I went down to the 5K race.

All was looking pretty good as I was warming up. Until the bird. I was minding my own business by the area where everyone would be lining up to start the race when this thing came flying into me, was buzzing around, and flitting at me. It was a bird. At first, I wasn’t sure what the hell it was that had started to attack me.

Needless to say, I was sufficiently freaked out. Not knowing what it was, I tried not to swat at it, in case it was something that might kill me. (And in case you are wondering, I consider myself a closeted hypochondriac. Any ache, pain, etc. I immediately think is due to some horrible life-threatening illness.) I managed to turn slightly and the bird went off of me and over to the side of the road. Continue reading →

Full on Panic

May27

That is how I woke up on a crisp, yet sunny Friday morning. In less than 24 hours, I will be running in my biggest race of the year. The Soldier Field 10 mile.

Why the panic? Mostly because I feel so unprepared for the race. I’ve also been scattered with writing stuff and busy with work related things. All stuff that is making me miss out on precious sleep.

The good news for the day is that I only have to put in a few hours at the office. Then I can spend my afternoon relaxing. Maybe take in a yoga class later to calm myself down.

Work better fly by and the weather better stay nice. Tomorrow will be go because I say it will be. Hopefully I find out that I’m actually over prepared for the run.

Such Slow Going

Mar26

I’ve been bad. I haven’t been out running in a few days. I really need to go considering that one week from tomorrow, I have a 10K to run. Surprisingly, I am feeling a tad apprehensive about it because it will be the first actual 10K race I have ever done. Sure, I have run longer distances and shorter distances in races, but for some reason I feel like I have a mental block on the 10K. The plan for the morning is to do 4 miles before getting on with baseball stuff later in the day.

My fantasy baseball league is having our draft tomorrow evening and I am highly unprepared for it. This has to do with being busy with work stuff and writing. I want to get more into the writing I have been doing and maybe even write something that is novel-like and maybe get published. I’ve also lost a bit of interest in playing fantasy baseball this year, mainly because there are some in my league that seem to want to do as much as possible to make my job difficult as commisioner of the league.

In any event, I really do want to try to make Sandy K’s Brothers get to the playoffs this year and succeed. As much fun as it was the first year to put together a team full of Jews, I want to seriously compete just to show up the guys driving me nuts in the league. Of course, this will also probably require me lifting my ban on any players who play or played for the Cubs. Now to go try and figure out who to draft with my crappy draft position this year. Right smack in the middle of the picks — ugh!

no turning back

Feb1

February 1, 2011 will live as a big day in my life. First, registration for the 2011 Chicago Marathon opened at midnight cst. Also, G9 Sports launched. It is now official that the new website that I am covering the White Sox is live and it is called South Side Hit Girl. Feel free to go browse it as well as all of the other sites that cover the various teams in MLB, NBA, NHL, NFL, Soccer and other sports. And feel free to leave me comments and tell me what you think about it.

As for the marathon, I was up at midnight to register because I am “slightly” paranoid that I might not get a spot if I didn’t do it early. Sure enough, the site was crashing as I tried to register, but around 12:45 am, I had my confirmation email sent that I was in fact registered. No turning back now as I will find a way to conquer the hometown race. Especially since I’ve put it out there in the universe for all to know and ask me about later.

Training won’t begin for a few months, but I am already running and prepping for some races such as the Soldier Field 10 as well as the Shamrock Shuffle and a new race that starts at the United Center and ends at US Cellular Field. I will find time to write about the training, etc, but feel free to wonder and prod me as to what I am up to.

In the meantime, go visit G9 Sports and South Side Hit Girl.

Pitchers and Catchers Report

Feb22

February 21, 2010 and my boys in black are in Glendale, AZ to get ready for a super fantastic season. This is always a super fun time of the year because, pardon the cliché, the grind is about to begin. So, I decided to start blogging about baseball and running because that is what I live for. And while some may think running – no way, well, in order to play the hit and run and steal bags, you do need a tad bit of speed from RUNNING in addition to base running smarts.

It took a while for me to get excited about the White Sox this year because they are definitely different, however, I really like it. Even though I am not THAT old, at times I feel like a curmudgeon because I lament the days that baseball was more of a defense game and you would see the guys out there taking as many bags as possible and not trying to hit as many bombs as possible. And who would dare doubt that “Ricky Ball” was awesome to watch. This also hurts a bit because US Cellular is a hitters ballpark. When New Comisky Park was built, it was actually a pitcher’s ballpark, which being a huge fan of pitching and defense was a dream. However, the renovations to the park (which, let’s face it, made the park more enjoyable to watch games in) made it more homer-happy.

It will be sad to not see some true class acts on the south side this year coming and going from the 3rd base dugout (Thome – he is so going to kill me now playing for the piranhas; Jermaine – wherever he may end up), but I am looking forward to seeing a team on the field that doesn’t rely on the homerun. I can actually say that in the past few years, when I would be at games and see balls flying out of the park, I never thought of it as a good sign. Sure, scoring runs is always great, but when it happened via the long ball, I would feel like the team just wasn’t going to go far in the post season if they got there. It will be different this year, but I am looking forward to it. Can’t say I was beyond thrilled with the off seasons moves by Kenny & Co, but he hasn’t really let me down, so I will continue to trust what he does. And, if things don’t work super well, they can always make a mid-season move.

Anyway, this is just the first of many, many musings on baseball, running and the occasional hockey comment. Speaking of Hockey, HOW ABOUT TEAM USA! Unbelievable game against Canada. Too bad NBC blames women for its choice to show figure skating as opposed to Olympic Hockey. Huge NBC fail, but with them, what is new?

In any event, here is a post by one of the tweeps I follow, Victor Rojas (who is the play-by-play man for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) about what baseball is. Pretty well sums up what I am looking forward to now that Pitchers and Catchers have reported. Let the grind begin.