Friday... Tea Totalers (Sigh)

 

A damn busy day ahead of me at the U, so I thought I would take one quick stab at some rapid, free-form writing to at least get some of my journey written down here.  I suspect it may take a few days overall.

When I arrived Friday, I was on a rather tight time frame.  I landed in O'Hare, and took the Blue Line (of the "L") to Downtown Chicago to the conference hotel.  I checked in and had ~2.5 hours before the work would begin.  I quickly pulled my running shoes and shorts and t-shirt out of the bag and proceeded to fully disrobe so I could put on my running gear and go find the fitness room to get my miles done.   I was on the 16th floor, and the fitness center was apparently on the 2nd floor.  

I got there, and the fitness room was pleasantly large for hotel standards.  It had at least 10 treadmills, and a whole helluva lot of other sundry equipment.  But I only needed the treadmill.  Fortunately, it was also rather sparsely filled with exercising folks.  Only three of the treadmills were in use.  I was easily able to get on one of the damnable beasts and have at least one empty treadmill on either side of me.  This is helpful from me as I feel very self conscious about running when people are about, for it brings back a lot of memories of my former very heavy self (for most of my life I was very heavy, and at one time weighed just a bit under 300 pounds. It was about 15 years ago I shed 130 pounds.... but I think I will be unlikely to be able to shed the emotions and mindset of being labeled a "fatso".  I always feel intimidated around real atheletes.  That is why I almost always run alone).  

I hoof out my 11 miles (~18 km).  For the first few minutes I have the treadmill set on a low speed (~4 mph (~6.5 kmph)) so I can get my bearing on how to run on this treadmill's track...  safely without falling/tripping and breaking my head.  But after about 5 minutes I have brought my speed up to a comfortable 7 mph (~11.25 kmph) which is a good, casual running pace for me most days. 

The only time I wear "tighter fitting" clothing is while running.  And, I do this only with my shirt because I have found over the years that looser shirts will cause rubbing and chaffing on my nipples as I run, and that is not particularly comfortable.  I will sometimes wear two shirts (one tight and one loose) for warmth or to protect from the sun.  If I have two shirts, the outer one is comfortably loose.  At home, I actually have a dispenser of nipple protectors that are sold online and in some athletic stores.  These protectors look like circular bandaids.  And, I think this is what they actually are.  And, they work well and I often use them even when wearing a tight running shirt, because there is still some movement that occurs from swinging my arms while running.  But, with this budget flight, and my having to carry everything I needed in a simple backpack..... I had only 1 exercise shirt and did not bring any of the nipple protectors. The only difficulty with these protectors are in the discomfort of removing them. They stick quite well, and trying to remove them is painful because they seem to attach especially well to my chest hair and do not want to give up that hold.  I will sometimes leave them on for a few days (like a band-aid) to avoid that discomfort.  

After 11 miles, I was soaked through with sweat in all my exercise clothes.  As I wiped down the machine afterwards, a fellow commented to me about my "great beard".  That made me chuckle and I thanked him.  I told my wife about the comment when I called her on the phone later.  I could hear her rolling her eyes at me through the phone line. :)   

I quickly went back to the room and I took a two-minute shower.  I quickly jumped into my clothes and got into the Conference Room with about 10 minutes to spare.  

I met my team mates for this "adventure" and then we proceeded to hear the opening talk by the host.  He then guided us through a skeletal outline of what we were hoping/expecting to accomplish by the end of Friday.  

My team mates and I worked diligently through the afternoon up until the point of Dinner Break.  I had thought (hoped) we would break apart for dinner and then reconvene afterwords. But, unfortunately, most of my team was extremely (overly) "gun-ho!" about wanting to work together THROUGH dinner. This meant we would have go to a restaurant agreeable to everyone.  So we went to eat at an Italian place called "Carlucci Restaurant" which was "ok".  I have had plenty of Italian food, so I was actually hoping for something more "different" and "exotic".  But, oh well.  

It was fine working with the folks through dinner.  But, I did feel a bit sad about the fact that apparently the folks on my team may all be "tea totalers," for when the waitress came up asking for our drink orders while we looked at the menu, everyone chose water, coffee, or soda.  I am used to having a beer or two or a glass of wine or two at these sorts of things as a treat or perk of the travel.  But, since no one else was having a drink, I thought it would be bad form for me to have one myself.  I did not need to be perceived as if I were a drunken old sot by folks on my team.  

I would have been far more enthused with a cuisine like Ethiopian or Pakistani or Thai or Turkish food or something similarly less widely available.  I wanted a food I do not have as frequent access to as so many wonderfully diverse cuisines are  available in Chicago.  And, I would have also enjoyed a beer or two, truth be told. 

But, it was fine.  The dinner session was productive.  And, we worked well into the late hours of the evening when we returned from dinner as well.

• Ran 11 miles this morning.
• PCS = 8.5.  Very, very strong desire. Very, very challenging.
  

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