Month: July 2010

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Chicago Rock & Roll Half Marathon Expo

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This morning I attended the Chicago Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon Expo to pick up my packet for tomorrows race. The expo ran all day yesterday and runs today, Saturday, from 9am to till 5pm. I left the house at 8:15am and was in the parking garage at McCormick Place East by 9:00am for the opening of the expo. It was not too busy when I pulled in but by the time I exited the building at 9:30 the line of cars at the parking entrance was starting to get pretty long.

The race organizers anticipated this Saturday rush thinking the out of towners would be coming to the expo today to pickup their packets, so they suggested that if at all possible that the locals should shoot for a Friday pickup. They even tried to incentivize pickups by offering prize drawing entries to anyone who did come in for a pickup on Friday instead of Saturday. Unfortunately my schedule did not permit a pickup yesterday so I wanted to get there for opening today and that plan worked out pretty well.

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Lots of the usual race branded clothing, sports accessories, bars, gels, sports healthcare providers and a ton of Brooks stuff, the main sponsor of the race. Even a couple of electric vehicles on display for a healthy planet.

I know I am not fully ready for the race tomorrow so I am going to run with the 2:15 pace group and see how it goes. I expect to loose them at mile 11 when I stop to say hi to my brother Joe and his band who will be performing there, or before that if I have trouble. At any rate it should be a beautiful day and I am really looking forward to it.

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Mile Marker

Mileage 4.5
Time 7PM
Location Indoors – Treadmill
Weather Humid +++

This will probably be my last run before the Rock and Roll Half as I am having lots of trouble breaking through to anything meaningful as far a miles. I know I need to adjust my eating habits but most of all I need to do something about my sleep patterns. Getting 4 or 5 hours of good sleep a night is not enough to achieve my running goals or any other goals that I have set so far. Starting Monday (this sounds like a new years resolution) I will be going to see my doctor, my accountant and look for a new lawyer all in that order.

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New US Copyright Laws Just Updated

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stignygaard/44390337/

via flickr

The new US Copyright rules were just released today and include some major tech related changes, including the ability to Jailbreak your iPhone, copy DVD’s and defeat dongle protection. There are rules (within rules) around when you can do this and most are for ‘educational’ purposes only, but this is a step in the right direction.

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Mile Marker

Mileage 3.5 Miles
Time 1:40PM
Location Indoors – Treadmill
Weather Hot and Humid

 

The Chicago Rock and Roll Half Marathon is fast approaching and I am having trouble increasing my miles. I am actually going backwards as each run seems to be a major effort and I feel more tried than usual during the effort. I feel fine afterwards but I just cannot increase my miles without feeling flat out exhausted during the run.

I only have 1 week till the race so I have already resigned myself to the fact that I will need to walk run this one to even survive. A bit depressing but it is better than just giving up and not trying and besides I can’t let my brother down and not hear him play.

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Can I Get An Amen?

Minnesota 019

On our recent trip to Minnesota to see the Sox play the Twins at the new Target field, I was able to hear my uncle play the awesome pipe organ at the First Baptist Church of Saint Paul. The church opened in 1875 and at the time had one of the most impressive pipe organs in the Midwest. He plays there every Sunday morning at 10:45, driving in from his home in Excelsior, about 45 minutes away.

My Son, Brother, Nephew and I had the pleasure of hearing him play for about 30 minutes before we had to hit the road to head back to Chicago. I recorded his practice session on my phone and posted the 7 minute video of him getting his practice in before the service.

The first half of the video is him explaining to us, how all the different knobs, buttons and keyboards have an affect on the sound that comes out of the massive pipes at the front of the church. The second half is him practicing his opening song for the service. The sound is a bit low in the beginning but once he gets playing you may want to turn it down as that organ has a big, big sound.

In the church I grew up in, the organ and pipes were at the back, but he explained that the setup can be in the front, in the back or on the sides of the church as it is up to the discretion of the architects and organ designers where to put the hardware. The placement of the pipes and the shape of the space work together to give each organ a unique sound and this old girl was pretty impressive.

Check out the video below.

Stephen Schaefer plays at the First Baptist Church of Saint Paul
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Mickey On My Mind

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I have been riding motorcycles since 1979 and regardless of the laws, I have always worn a helmet when I ride. I started with a used Kawasaki 400 in college (that was all I could afford) but soon graduated to a used Harley Sportster soon after I was married. I kept that bike for about a year before moving up again to a used Harley Low Rider. Once we had kids I knew I wanted to get something bigger so that the kids could ride one at a time with me on some of the poker runs etc that I did with the Harley Owners Group and some of the local dealerships, local fundraisers etc. I ended up selling the Low Rider to make a partial down payment on the house we had bought in Downers Grove, and gave myself three years to save for a used Harley Ultra Glide, the rolling couch as some people call it. The Ultra has a raised seat in the back so when the kids were old enough they could see

When I ride alone, I usually wear a half helmet as I like to hear what is going on around me and don’t want my ears to be covered, but when I ride with the kids, especially when it is cold, I want to be able to communicate easily with them so I wear a full faceless helmet. The Ultra is intercom capable so I just needed to get a set of integrated headphones to put in my helmet and in the kids helmet.

So now the reason for the paint job. I wanted the rider behind me to be able to look at something other than a big white ball if they wanted to so I put a lot of thought into what I would put back there. One night I was having a conversation with a friend about our DVC (Disney Vacation Club) membership, all the times we have visited Disney World and why I enjoy Disney so much. He asked if think about it all the time and I said “It is always kind of in the back of my head”. Boom!! There it was. The perfect idea for my helmet. What could be better than Mickey climbing out of the back of my head, where he always seems to be. Within a week I had the design worked out and the painting done.

Sadly this helmet has been on the shelf for many years as I have gone back to my half helmet since I ride alone most of the time (the kids are big enough for their own bikes now should they choose) and I sold the Ultra to prepare for college tuition. I share a bike now with my younger brother when I get the chance, but have vowed to get another as soon as they are out of college and those bills have been paid.

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Mile Marker

Mileage 3
Time 7PM
Location Outdoors
Weather Hot and Sticky

 

Today was really tough for some reason. Found it very hard to breath which cut my 6 miler into a 3 miler with a few extra walking miles. I’m really going to have to step it up to even make a decent showing at the Chicago Rock and Roll Marathon on August 1st.

Time to pick it up.

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Mile Marker

Mileage 5
Time 3PM
Location Outdoors
Weather Hot and Sticky

 

Summer is definitely upon us here in the Chicago area. Today it was in the upper 90’s with what felt like 99% humidity in the air. Not the best running weather but we need to take advantage of the time we have to get our miles in.

As soon as I stepped out side I could feel the sweat beginning to bead on my body and once I started to run it only took a few blocks before my shirt was showing a few soak through spots. One thing I inherited from my dad was his sweat glands and although it can feel great to work up a good sweat, my clothing gets soaked pretty fast during a workout. My other problem is trying to wear any type of sunglasses during a long run as the sweat ends up depositing droplets on the inside and outside of the glasses until it gets hard to see. I have to keep taking the glasses of to clean away the moisture as I run otherwise the vision starts to get blurry and a bit dangerous. I used to just use my shirt but it gets harder and harder to find a dry spot on the shirt during a run so now I carry at least one small washcloth for the purpose of cleaning the glasses.

What do you do to stay cool during a race or a workout when it is unbelievably hot? Put ice in your water bottle? Run early in the morning or late at night?

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Do You Have The Stones?

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I now know why I have been feeling tired on my runs with no energy and just plain feeling lousy lately. I woke up this morning with tell tale signs (I won’t get into the gross details) that I have had a kidney stone brewing over the past few weeks.

I had my first attack soon after I got married (no correlation I am sure) more than 20 years ago. We we down in Florida on one of our Disneyworld trips with another couple that I have been friends with since high school. We were all staying in the same room in the Caribbean Beach resort when at about 3 in the morning I got the most terrible pain I have ever had in my life. My wife drove me to the emergency room which thankfully was only about 30 minutes away, but what an agonizing 30 minutes it was. I was in with the doctor for only about 10 minutes when the pain suddenly stopped and I was able to sit up from the hunched over position I had held since the attack began more than an hour before. I told the doctor the pain had stopped and he just looked at me and said ‘You’ve got a kidney stone and it just dropped into your bladder. Your going to feel bad for a few days but the major pain is gone’. I will again avoid the details but he was right and I was able to confirm the stone bay ‘catching it’ so to speak about 15 minutes later.

We made it into the parks later that day and still had a great time. I just had to keep a bottle of water in my had and sip all day, plus take a bathroom break after every attraction we visited as the increased fluid intake and freaked out urinary tract kept me guessing all day.

I have had 3 other major attacks since then, one requiring surgery and although I can never corroborate the similarity, I have been told that passing a stone is the male equivalent of giving birth. After experiencing the cutting action of those pieces of mineral deposit each time I believe it. The major cause for me has always been lack of hydration and with the heat here this summer and as much as I sweat during training runs, I have not been taking in enough water. Time to put down the coffee cup and pick up the water bottle.

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Mile Marker

Mileage 4 Miles
Time 8:00AM
Location Elknorn, WI
Weather Hot and Sunny

We were up at the lake for the 4th of July weekend holiday with most of the family members. Jenna could not make it as she was still in Arizona for the volleyball tournament and would not arrive back in Chicago until late Saturday night. Matt and I waited until Saturday night to go up as he had to work until 5 and I wanted to take advantage of the day to clean the garage and get it in order (yes I know boring but necessary).

Since I knew Saturday would be shot as far as activities, I made plans to go for a run with my sister in law on Sunday morning before everyone got up. Little did I know that I would again be bitten by the sleep depravation bug. I usually sleep in a certain room at the lake but by the tie I got there the room was already taken, leaving me with only the room that has two twin beds, not made for, in my opinion, anyone over 5’10” in height. Anytime I sleep on those beds my feet hang over the edge and make it had to get comfortable. Plus I felt like it was about 90 degrees in the room that night. I ended up tossing and turning till about 3 am them finally I finally put a pillow on the floor and got a few hours of sleep.

We had planned on getting up for our run at 7 to beat the heat, but my alarm could not coax me off the floor that early. I decided to rest for 8 and give my self one more hour as it was cooler in the morning than the night before and was actually very comfortable.

When 8 came I got up, woke my sister in law and we were out the door by 8:30 for our 3 plus miles. It was just starting to heat up as we got on the asphalt but despite the heat we both felt very comfortable for the first 3 miles. It was at about the 5K mark that we both noticed we were having extra breath sounds which made the run increasingly difficult. We had wanted to do 5 miles but ended up stopping just short of 4 this morning. Strange that we would both experience the same breathing difficulty, but her son had a major allergy attack the night before so perhaps there was something in the air.

I have less than 1 month before the Chicago Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon where my brothers band Scarecrows Grin will be playing, so I need to pick it up here in the next few weeks.