Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Chicago Weekend

ORN: Sunday; 7 miles total, with 5x1 mile intervals at 8:29

As I walked in the door Sunday afternoon from a run in 36F drizzle and wind, I laughed. My wife, who is used to such odd behavior, waited for the punch line. "You know," I quipped "most people wouldn't believe you could actually be comfortable when running in such weather." She's heard this before and gave me the benefit of the doubt.

The weather was a key thing this weekend, as the first really lousy winter weather rolled through. We had spent the weekend in Chicago, visiting son Matt who is now a sophomore at Wheaton Colleage for Parent's Weekend. It was great to see Matt in his element. He showed us much of the campus, many classrooms and the ROTC facility. We took a bunch of his buddies from the dorm out to dinner on Friday. As Matt wryly observed "Dad, no college kid ever turns down free pizza." Yeah, that has never changed.

I must aplogize to Waddler, as the trip put me in her backyard, yet I didn't call. I simply didn't have any idea what my schedule would be and, as it turns out, the weather was pretty nasty. Perhaps another time we'll connect and run the DuPage trail system.

It was great to see Matt. Having just turned 20, he's rapidly turning into a confident young man. Hard to believe our youngest is at this stage of life, yet it is very gratifying. And, on the Veteran's Day, I'm proud to have a fine young man like this preparing to take a leadership role in the Army.



Persevere.

7 comments:

Journey to a Centum said...

Joe,

Sounds like a wonderful weekend with your son! Great idea to take him and his buds out for pizza! I'll need to bank that idea for when I go over to visit Riley.

We are in the transition period where long sleeves are a tad warm and short sleeves too cold. I suppose our current weather at 45 degrees would be best for arm warmers. Worked good for me this weekend.

Glad you had a safe and fun trip. Take care.
Eric

Darrell said...

There's just no accounting for the weather. It has been beautiful fall like weather for the past week or so, but this weekend is supposed to get back up into the 90's. It's November for crying out loud.

The IPP will have to wait for another visit.

IronWaddler said...

Joe,
We will absolutely catch up sometime. Nothing is going to stop me from doing thie Indy Mini this year with Snips.

About the weather, I felt the same way. Snips has never run outside in the winter so I printed off your chart of what to wear. Thanks. You can feel warm out there.

Waddler

Wes said...

Runners are a crazy bunch :-) I can't think of a better way to spend the weekend!!

Karen said...

I have to note that Matt is tough.... no coat!! We're proud of him too!

Karen

Backofpack said...

Eric must of posted before the deluge started. It's been raining buckets for 19 hours straight and the rivers around here are near cresting. Funny though, I ran in the downpour this morning and it was really warm at 57 degrees. The Pineapple Express.

Glad you had a great weekend with your son. Pizza and college go together like salt & pepper!

David said...

Yeah, what's with you old folks wearing the coats and Matt looking like it's September.?