FuzzyCo

Great Western Half-Marathon

The Great Western Half-Marathon is the “Great Western” because it’s on a trail that was converted from the old Chicago Great Western Railway. It was also a point-to-point race, with shuttle buses taking us from parking at the St. Charles North High School to the start of the race at the Sycamore Speedway. It was flat and straight and the weather was gorgeous and if I hadn’t not-trained since my last half I might have even knocked a real nice time. As it was, I lost the 2:30 pace group at a port-a-potty around mile 4 and just had to run my own race.

The trail ran through some beautiful Illinois country side—I’m pretty sure I saw some beaver dams!

This marks nine of thirteen “Runner’s Dozen” halves done and I’m going to be making May my double-up month, so I’ll be back out for another half in a few weeks. Let’s see if I can keep some running going between now and then.

Time: 2:34:42
Pace: 11:48/mile
Place: 517 / 608
Place in Gender: 271 / 295
Place in Age Group (M45-49): 48 / 50

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Ravenswood Run 5K 2018

Fuzzy Shaun and Stella finishing the Ravenswood Run

Now that the Edgewater 5K exists, I guess I really do have a neighborhood run of my own, but for years the Ravenswood Run has fulfilled that spot in my race calendar.

Time: 29:09
Pace: 9:23
Place: 919 / 2307
Place in Gender: 614 / 1144
Place in Age Group (M45-49): 84 / 155

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Sly Fox Half Marathon

Why does April still have to be so cold?

Time: 2:24:10
Pace: 11:00 mins/mile
Place: 344 / 407
Place in Gender: 206 / 235
Place in Age Group (M45-49): 38 / 41

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Shamrock Shuffle 8K 2018

On St. Patrick’s Day last week there was a last minute sale on registration for the Shamrock Shuffle. I’m a sucker for a sale (I may just be a sucker) so I signed up.

I think all these half-marathons have broken me for “short” distances like an 8K. It’s fun to run around downtown on blocked-off streets, but the whole race felt like it was over very quickly. (I mean, I know the point of a race is to finish it quickly…)

Time: 51:48
Pace: 10:26 min/mile
Place: 11139 / 20901
Place in Gender: 6352 / 9249
Place in Age Group (M45-49): 568 / 898

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Bolingbrook St. Paddy's Half Marathon

Fuzzy running the Bolingbrook Half

OK, since this was 7 of 13 of my Runner’s Dozen, I can now officially say I’m half-way through. I’ll still have to run two in one month coming up, but only five months and six races to go.

Time: 2:38:49.1
Pace: 12:07 min/m
Place: 470 / 528
Place in Age Group (M45-49): 41 / 41
Place in Gender: 257 / 267

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Winter Trail Frosty Half-Marathon

Fuzzy finishing the Winter Trail Frosty
/Who’s that muddy guy about to finish a half-marathon? It me!/

I’ve done a lot of do-a-certain-thing-over-and-over self-challenges that I’ve documented here on this blog—part of the point of that sort of thing seems to be the public accountability you get by broadcasting that you’re doing it. I’m half-way through a challenge right now that, for whatever reason, I didn’t really want to talk about. I don’t know if it’s because I thought there was a reasonable chance I might flake out on it, or what, but it’s the case.

My friend Antonio first introduced me to the idea of a Runner’s Dozen—a self-challenge where you run a half-marathon a month for a year, and throw an extra one in there somewhere for a total of 13. It all has a nice numerical symmetry, what with 12 months in the year and 13 miles in a half-marathon and so on. I had the concept filed away in the back of my head and then last fall I realized that I had 3 half-marathons planned in 2 months. I flaked on one of them, but it still meant I was heading into November with 2 months of a Runner’s Dozen already completed. So why not just keep it rolling?

Winter, it’s turned out, is light on half-marathons, so I’ve been traveling a bit farther to do the races than I’d normally do. (There’s no rules to the Runner’s Dozen, since it’s a self-challenge, but my own personal guideline is that if at all possible I want to go do an organized race and not just run 13.1 sometime during the month.) In February, the closest half to Chicago was down in Eagle Creek Park in Indianapolis. So yesterday I drove three hours down to Indiana to run 13.1 on a reasonably challenging trail course in a torrential downpour. It’s the Winter Trail Frosty. Get it? Get it?

On the plus side, I planned pretty well on clothing and so I was drenched from the start, but never really uncomfortable. On the minus side, man what a slog all the mud was.

Time: 2:57:05.31 Lap 1 Time: 1:24:33.03
Lap 2 Time: 1:32:32.27
Pace: 13:31 min/mile
Place: 130 / 165
Place in Age Group (M40-49): 26 / 29
Place in Gender: 78 / 89

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Polar Dash Half-Marathon 2018

Fuzzy near the end of the Polar Dash Half-Marathon

The Polar Dash Half-Marathon was a little chilly this morning. 2° F, to be exact. It could have been worse—there was only a light breeze as we headed back north. If it had been really windy, as it often is by the lake, it would have been quite a different story.

As it was, the lakefront under snow was quiet and peaceful and beautiful. If my phone battery wasn’t so terrible right now (and if it wasn’t quite so cold) I would have paused and taken a few photos of the dramatic ice on the rocks or the sheets of ice in the harbors or… seems like there was a lot ice.

Time: 2:29:27
Place: 217 / 273
Place in Gender: 124 / 143
Place in Division (M4049): 34 / 37

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Books 2017

This year I’m counting graphic novels (and trade paperback collections) as books, not just to inflate my books-read numbers (54 with, 20 without) but really only to keep track of where I am in various series, which is really the point of this site no one else reads. As always on media consumption, I’ll remind you that I’m an employee of WB Games, but my book reading choices have nothing to do with my employer.

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur v1: BFF
Totally Awesome Hulk v1
Paper Girls v1-2
Southern Bastards v1-3
Descender v1
Descender v2
Sex Criminals v1-3
Rat Queens v1
Doom Patrol (1987-1995)
Patsy Walker aka Hellcat v1
Ms Marvel v1-4
Welcome Back v1
The Vision v1
Wildside
Before I Fall
Exo
Polymorph
39 Clues - Book 1
The House With a Clock in Its Walls
Anya’s Ghost
Spill Zone
Lumberjanes v1-2
The Motherless Oven
Bandette v1
The Can Opener’s Daughter
Every Heart a Doorway
Big Bad Fox
Bandette v1
Bandette v2
NOS4A2
Fuku Fuku Kitten Tales v1
The Dark is Rising 1: Over Sea, Under Stone
The Dark is Rising 2: The Dark is Rising
The Dark is Rising 3: Greenwich
Fuku Fuku Kitten Tales v2
Chi’s Sweet Home v1
Bandette v3
Where Angels Fear to Tread
Consider the Oyster
One of Us is Lying
The Coldest City
The Dispatcher
The Dark is Rising 4: The Grey King
Vacationland
The Dark is Rising 5: Silver on the Tree

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Movies 2017

I’ve long documented the movies I’ve watched each year. Below are listed the 68 movies I watched in 2017. As an employee of NetherRealm Studios, part of Warner Brothers Games, I should note that my movie watching choices are personal and do not reflect anything about my employer.