It's a Midwest Thang

Well shootz brah it's been a long time. It's ya boy Jeb here, hollerin' at you from Chicago. I had planned to churn out one last nugget of love from my old Jersey IP, but alas it wasn't to be. Hell, I've been here a week and a half and I'm just getting to this now. Under ordinary circumstances I don't like to make my blog too synopsesy (yeah, we all know it's not a word), and yet it probably ends up happening a shit-ton anyway. In general blogs are themed, sort of niche marketing if you will, and my theme is that there is no theme except that the words put down here tend to be related to my retarded brain and interests.

So in the world of track, a world I'd inhabit a bit more if I were much faster, things have been going down. The world championships took place a couple of weeks ago and Usain Bolt did what Usain Bolt does, rewrite the record book for the 100m and 200m. Demented is a word that comes to mind when I watch this guy run, this guy who is younger than me. Of course, I'm biased towards the longer distances I have competed in in my lifetime, so when Dathan Ritzenhein crushed the American Record in the 5k, I was pretty stoked. I think it certainly helped that it seemed more unexpected than Bolt's tremendous performances and that Ritz graduated the same year as me in high school and I've been following the guy from my earliest love of the sport.

The only knock against Bolt, for me, is that he's so amazing I turn my surprise-o-meter off when watching him. I'm hoping humble little Tyson Gay can put things together after his impending groin surgery and make things interesting. Yes, I called Gay little because according to his USATF bio we are the same height and he only weighs ten pounds more than I do. Considering I run 50+ miles a week these days and my bicep is roughly the same size as my tricep, well, that surprises me. Not as much as reading that the man in the photo below apparently also only weighs ten pounds more than I. Corresponding photo of self on its way sometime in the next decade.



Blah blah, nerdly track commentary. Before I wrap up though, shout out to Matt Tegenkamp as well who dipped under the coveted 13-minute barrier in the 5k himself.

Quick notes on Chicago include that it kicks ass. It's a city, no question, but there's a friendliness to it that I never quite found in Boston and New York. Just roaming the streets as I try to get a feel for things I have had many a spontaneous conversation with strangers. On my runs too, I've been feeling the love. I have no problem admitting, as I frequently do in here, that my appearance might be something the average dick and jane are not used to. I'm shirtless, in tiny shorts, cross country flats rather than traditional trainers, probably sweating gratuitously and, oh yeah, I run like I'm sitting down. I must reassert as I always do, that when I'm running it doesn't feel like I'm adopting such ridiculous posture. I hope the high-fives from bikers continue but I think that as the weather gets cooler I will be one of the few souls out roaming the streets.

Also, every time I see photos people have taken while in Chicago they tend to include this giant shiny orb and I definitely was kind of thinking what and where the eff is that thing until I walked by it in Millenium Park. As usual I tend to forget my camera when doing anything so my own chronicling of the orb will surely follow...maybe.

So, until they create the camera built into your eyes or hand, I am going to continue to forget to photograph a bunch of pretty cool shit I have been lucky enough to see here and there. That applies to uncool shit as well, like the tow truck that backed up and crushed the front bumper of a Subaru that wasn't even going to be towed, just in the wrong place...Welcome to September folks, wake me up when it ends.