back

after almost a month's hiatius (okay, maybe it was closer to 3 weeks), i'm back. time just slipped by, but not without thought, so here's some random musings:

- my brother is asking for the book "Deranged: The Shocking True Story of America's Most Fiendish Killer" for Christmas. There are so many things wrong with that. Seems more to be like a Halloween gift? But I might just get it for him out of irony.
- i ran the turkey trot the other day. an 8k "race" (fun run, really) up in Lincoln Park. My time was okay -- 46something? -- which works out to a 9:18/mile. There were too many people to go any faster, although I most certainly could have. Plus, when you run a crowded race with a partner, it doubles/triples/quadruples the difficulty of navigating the crowds. The thing I couldn't get over most was that, in a race with 6400 people or so, they allowed dogs! And twice I saw people go down, tripping over the dogs. I'm a super big dog lover, but that's just not smart.
- i've moved indoors for winter training for the past month or so. lots and lots of treadmill running. it's pretty awful. trying to convince yourself that 90min (almost 10miles) isn't that bad is getting harder by the day. If I bought a strap-on handheld water bottle, I might just go running outside. But that impending purchase is holding me back. Silly, I know.
- went over to Northbrook Court (a massive mall in the burbs) on Black Friday. I was there to see a movie, but what scared me the most was the emptiness of the parking lot. It looked like a random Tuesday afternoon.
- was on Michigan Avenue later in the day on Black Friday. Lots of window shoppers, but not a lot of bags. The rough economy has me worried. For the first time, I don't think I'll mind the crowds on Michigan Ave -- so long as all the shoppers have bags with them.