Five Out

I got to my car this morning and found that it was five degrees outside. Ahhh... Minnesota. Right now, by buddy Brian is eagerly awaiting moving up here from Tulsa. If I were him, I think I'd want to stay in Tulsa right now. None the less, I plan to go for a run outside tonight. Stupid marathon training. I ran 7.23 miles outside on Monday. I think it was below freezing that night -- if not, it was close. But it was a comfortable run (see below).

The Spurs are in town tonight. I flippin' pumped. I've been a Spurs fan my entire life. Isn't everyone from the Midwest? ;) Since the T-Wolves are terrible, we got 18th row tickets for $29 each. Not too shabby.

Big Weekend in the Big O

Ahhh... Thanksgiving weekend in Omaha. I think I gained 37lbs. So much happened, I don't know where to start. We left late Wednesday night in a snow storm, and got to Omaha around 3:15 in the morning. Of course, we spent all day Thursday eating. However, we did go for early "run" first, for about 5 miles. I quote "run", because it was more of a jog. O well, it was something, at least. Friday was Holly's birthday, so we went out... after watching Nebraska put up 51 points and lose. Argh. How the hell does that happen? Saturday we went down to the Qwest center 18,000 other people to watch Creighton beat Nebraska, again. Today we drove back. Tomorrow, I'll start burning off calories, I guess.

Back to Nebraska. They're interviewing Bo Pelini tonight. That would be a good hire, I think. But what do I know? There's also rumors that Kirk Ferentz was offered the Michigan job. It could be an interesting couple of weeks.

Seconds and Firsts in St. Louis

For the second time in my life, I have registered for a marathon. Barring any thing odd happening, for the first time in my life, I'll line up and start one. Hopefully, I'll also finish one for this time as well. This one is in St. Louis. Last fall, I was signed up for the Twin Cities Marathon, but didn't even attempt it due to a double scheduling. I was in State College, Pennsylvania watching my Hawks get whooped. But tailgating and beer was still more fun than running 26.2 in 75+ degree heat with 90% humidity. Tell me there's no such thing as global warming, when that's the weather in Minneapolis in October. So I'll try again, this time in St. Louis. Why St. Louis? Why not? Perhaps I'm proud of it for improving to #2 in the violent city rankings. Actually, it's because that's where Todd moved to a couple of years ago, and being the great friend that I am, I haven't been there to visit yet. Apparently, we're not creative enough to come up with a reason to get together under the Arch and drink beer, so we'll run all morning instead.

So, I'm registered. I'm getting used to treadmill training, and spent almost $300 on gear that is suppose to make it bearable to run outside in a Minnesota winter. As a side note, I went to a small store in Edina, on 44th and France called Gear. The service was excellent, and extremely helpful. The selection wasn't huge, but it was adequate. This place now comes highly recommended by me for anyone who needs help or recommendations on clothes or shoes -- or would just rather support a local store than go to Dick's.

Quote of the Day

"I suppose you can do the obvious thing: defect. Renounce your Minnesota citizenship, buy land in Wisconsin, and move. Sure, you could find yourself sitting alone in a cheap apartment in Green Bay, wondering what that smell is."

--James Lileks, Minneapolis Star Tribune, on how fans can deal with getting blasted by the Packers

Quote of the Day

"The Nebraska defense couldn't stop a hot dog wrapper caught in the wind from blowing 90 yards through their defense right now."
--Spencer Hall, The Sporting News