Mr. Rude in Berlin...

Here he is...on his last trip to Europe in a while...he is chilling out at the Reichstag (German Parliament) and then hanging out at Checkpoint Charlie...the Checkpoint Charlie pic had to be quick cause an orange stuffed ball on a guy's shoulder in the middle of a busy touristy intersection sure sticks out...i don't quite know if the germans have a sense of humor of these things...danke...

a disastrous good time...

first on a bright note, berlin was a great place to run through...it is a surprisingly beautiful city with such great architecture...probably some of the best blends of modern architecture blended in within the years old buildings...absolutely awesome...these germans know how to roll...

on an even brighter note, the support team that came with us to watch and scream and run with us were absolutely "awesome"...we'll talk about them later...

and now onto business at hand...yeah, m and i didn't do so well...we both got injured during the race...

first about my race...i was doing great for the first 18 miles...i was on pace to meet my goal of 4:30...so, through 18 miles, i was exactly where i wanted to be...then disaster struck...my right foot slipped into this small little pothole in the road...i didn't see it because we were turning a corner and its always packs up when everyone tries to cut the corner...my heel basically stayed on the road surface, but my toes went into the pothole...i'm pretty sure it was the smallest little pothole in the world...but with my luck, i hit it...so, i stumbled out of it and bumped into a runner beside me...i regained my form and started running again...but i knew something was wrong...i felt a slight twinge in my calf and hamstring...in my head i was like "oh geez...why god why!"...so, i was hoping to run it off and that it would all go away...but by mile 20, it really started to feel sore and really tight...

and at that point, i had to walk because the pain was unbearable...i wasn't going to make my goal at that point and was pretty disappointed, but i still wanted to finish the race which seemed to be in jeopardy...so, i limped my way to mile 22 where there were massage stations...basically twenty cots along the side of the road where people were getting their legs massaged...so, i ran to an empty cot and i got worked on for about 10 minutes...but it really didn't help because it wasn't a cramp because i pretty much pulled something...the two people working on my right basically told me that i shouldn't go on anymore...but i obviously wasn't having it and just got up and limped away...my left leg felt fine...so, i still had one leg to work with...so, i was off...

so, i basically limped my way through the last 4 miles...and my finishing time was the worst time i've gotten so far...it is definitely disappointing, but that's life...live and learn i guess...will there be a next time...hmmm...based on the pain i am in right now, i would probably say "are you crazy"...but my competitive side really wants to run another one as soon as possible...just to get this awful taste out of my mouth and to reach my goal of a much better time...i still set the goal, and i haven't reached it...why give up now...so, yeah, i'm running another marathon in 2010...hopefully in the spring if i can find a good one...i'm crazy...

as for m, i guess i'll let her tell you of her experience...

here we go...

eating breakfast now in the executive lounge...other runners in here too...it will be a wild party...not a cloud in the sky today as forecasted...high of 75 degrees which is a bit on the warm side...but we will be okay...we did train our last month in humid chitown...later yo...

are we going to PR tomorrow???

PR is running talk for a Personal Record time...so, here are our times in the chicago marathons we've run...

AML - October 7, 2001 - 04:46:10

AML - October 12, 2003 - 05:14:51

i hope to beat these times...the second marathon was a disaster...lack of training...MOL actually beat me when she ran the following year!...man, i'm slow...but its been 6 years since i ran the last one...we'll see...i think i'm two age brackets higher this time around...and a few pounds heavier as well...but does being wiser help...yikes...

MOL - October 9, 2004 - 05:12:44

MOL - October 22, 2006 - 5:12:39

yes, your eyes aren't deceiving you...MOL beat her first marathon time by 5 seconds!...so, you run 26.2 miles and you end up five seconds faster...i bet that if you drove the same route home everyday, that you couldn't consistently get within 5 seconds of pulling into the garage...yet running 26.2 miles! so, we hope she beats those times as well...although it would be cool if she finished in between those times...that would be nuts.

Mr. Rude at the Berlin Marathon expo...

Since I'm sure we aren't going to be bringing mr. rude around during the race...here is a pic at the expo where we got our bib numbers and race souvenirs...sweet...

we are now in berlin...

its going to be a fun run.

we're baaaaack...

that's about it.

dogsitting...

so, over this labor day weekend, we dogsat bode - since my parents were at the wisconsin house and my sister was on a weekend trip to michigan...it was definitely a handful and bode is a nutty little puppy...lots of mayhem and chaos...but when they crash, they really crash hard...here is a pic of them absolutely pooped...

quick hit...

sorry for no posts lately...been very busy with settling in, but not much to write that's interesting...i just came back from my first trip out of town since returning...back to the regular grind i guess...but nothing really worth writing about...i'll write a longer status report over the much needed holiday weekend...

only a couple of weeks left until i close out this blog...the berlin marathon awaits and i'm looking forward to it...

gus meet cooper...cooper meet gus...

in another first meeting since we left london...our friends got a pug...we've met cooper (aka Mr. Cooper or the Coop) before when we visited during Xmas, but Gus has never met him...cooper is a crazy little? dude...again, an active little puppy...gus must be so tired of meeting these puppies!!! cooper is very quick, likes to do the army crawl alot, and he is a big ol' licker...i think he is a little plump, but his parents keep telling us that his head is just proportionally small...hmmm...i like to call him a pillow with legs...

gobble gobble...

i've had a turkey sandwich with muenster cheese, lettuce, tomato, and mayo about 6 times in the 18 days that we've been back in chicago...i probably had a turkey sandwich less than 3 times while in London because you really couldn't find it at too many places, unless it was a sunday roast type of thing...i'm sure its the brits disdain over anything that has to do with Thanksgiving...

americans do love their turkey...even after i toured a turkey production facility a couple of years ago for one of the M&A deals i worked on...i had to wear a full body suit to protect myself...i witnessed the whole live crazy turkey going into the facility...and saw the whole process until it was nicely packaged ready to be cooked to sit on your dinner table...i'll save the gory details in between for anybody that wants to ask me...

yum. yum. and yum.

welcome brits and aussies...

btw...i forgot to mention...when we shut down this blog, we plan on printing the entire thing out and binding it into a book...so, any posts and comments will be immortalized forever on our coffee table...enjoy.

good as new...

so, we are still living out of a suitcase at the moment...crashing at our wonderful friends' place...they have plenty of room, plenty of food, and plenty of entertainment...so we definitely owe them lots...

we haven't moved in because we are updating our place a little bit...with the uncertain times nowadays, we decided to pull the conservative (and smart) card and just move back to our old place rather than trying to sell it now and then saddle ourselves with a huge mortgage at another place...this way, we can live very comfortably and not have any worries...we'll move into a bigger place soon enough...our place isn't too shabby anyways and is 3 times bigger than what we had in london!

so, since we aren't upgrading to a bigger place...we decided to throw some cash at our old place...we got fancy new carpeting for both bedrooms (we still like carpet)...painted some of the walls different colors (the tenants painted the entire living room white again...snoozeville), which I've been working on almost every single night since being back here...and today we are getting the hardwood floors refinished and revarnished...after that, we'll get a few pieces of new furniture and a brand spanking new flat screen as big as we can afford to put up on the wall...

this is how our place looked before we left...we'll see how it turns out in a couple of weeks...

how much longer...hmmm???

so, this blog was initially set up by my significant other to write to my fellow americans about our misadventures, trials, and tribulations in bloody london...and it was definitely fun to write random things about random happenings...however, a couple of things have happened since then...1) my significant other stopped posting blogs many moons ago..and 2) we have moved back to chicago...

As such, the purpose of this blog has been served...so, how much longer should i keep it up? At this point, maybe I should just keep it live until our running of the Berlin Marathon. Since we will be passing through London for a few days on our way to Berlin. It definitely will not go any further than that point.

The other reason to keep it up is that we haven't invited or shown this blog to any of our London friends unless of course they wisely searched for it on their own...I plan on inviting them soon (after I read the previous blogs of course to make sure I don't offend too many of them...oh who am I kidding...who cares!)...and maybe posting a few blogs until Berlin to keep the Old World up to date of how m and I are transitioning back to Chicago and how our lives are over here...since Chicago isn't exactly first on their list of holiday destinations...

stay tuned.

dude...its freakin' hot...

so, m and i did our long run today...it was a stepback week, so we just had to run 13 miles...we definitely got used to the pleasant temps of london...anyways, we knew it was going to be a typical hot chicago summer day...so we tried to wake up early to beat the heat, but failed at that...but we still ended up getting to the lakefront trail by 9am...it didn't really matter...at 9am, the temperature was 88F/31C...not a cloud in the sky...luckily, there was at least a faint lake breeze...regardless, we were soaking in sweat after 0.2 miles of running...and had to stop several times to walk just to cool down because we were starting to see blue spots...anyways, we just jogged/walked 10 miles cause it was getting unbearable...its supposed to hit 97F/36C today...ridiculous...

gus meet bode...bode meet gus...

so, even though gus flew in a week before and stayed with my parents, we forbade my sister from bringing bode over until m and i were present...cause we wanted to be there for their monumental first meet and greet...gus and bode came from the same farm and may have come from the same parents...they may be brothers or maybe in half brothers...we don't really know because m and i failed to keep track of the names of gus' parents...sorry gus...forgive us...

anyways, we landed in the US on saturday, stayed overnight at my parents place with gus...and then my sister arrived with bode during brunch the next day...here are a few pics of their encounter...we took tons of pics and videos...

here's one of bode first trying to sniff out gus...
here's another pic of them sniffing each other out...

after the initial sniffing out, a whole lot of running around ensued...leading to a lot of panting and drinking of water...so, i decided to throw them into one cage so they could calm down...and was secretly hoping for "mad-max of the thunderdome"-style...a "two dog enter, one dog leave" type of event...but nada...they were so calm and studious looking...hilarious...

it was a fun morning and both dogs are so different...because gus is 3 years old and is definitely more mature and calm and likes his space...while bode is a typical puppy (almost 8 months old) and wants to play, play, play, and constantly tries to get into gus' face...quite an annoying little brother...

thanks mom for taking care of them this week...cause m and i need time to settle in and get our chicago life in order...and my sister is heading out of town this week...meaning that both dogs have been together ever since...craziness...

back home???

weird.

cheers d-bags...

chuck james, tim tam, and geoffrey dubay...it was a pleasure...

it took only 15 minutes...

for the bright sunshine to come out...craziness...

the weather gods are angry...

that we are leaving apparently...

the entire time from 9am to noon that the packers were packing...it was unbelievable sunshine...they put all the boxes together so that they could all move it into the truck at the same time...

the minute they started to move things into the truck...the clouds rolled in and a torrential rain storm has begun...hopefully it will stop soon so they can be on their way...thankfully, they aren't moving anything in the rain...i don't really want wet boxes in storage for a couple of weeks...

anyways, i'm sure if we wait another hour, it will be completely sunny again...