Crossing LSD

There was a big question heading into Sunday (a.k.a. Long Run Day). What do you do for your long run when you have to work from 8-4, plus and hour commute on both ends. You could wake up at 4 am and run it in the morn-

Sorry, I can't even say that with a straight face.

(As I type this, Michael Barrett launches a Grand Slam! Go Cubs!)

No, there would be no 4 am runs for us. Instead, we came up with the brilliant idea of running home from the train station. We turned one end of our commute into our long run. A stroke of genius, I think.

So, around 6pm, we left the train station for our 10 miler. We meandered through downtown for awhile until we got to the lakefront. It is really a different sensation, running amongst the towering buildings. It makes each step feel very insignificant. This was one of the most interesting things about starting out the Chicago Marathon last year, feeling that insignificance. And terror, of course, but that's a different post.

We crossed Lakeshore Drive (get it? Crossing LSD? It's also the title of the post) and made it to the lakefront path, turning heading south for about a mile. On our way out toward Soldier Field, we passed a running coming towards us. He looked a bit familiar...do I know him from somewhere? Maybe he's a lakefront regular? At that point, Leah turned to me with wide eyes,

"Jason, that's Rob Gardner!"

Nah, I said, really? Holy shit, it is him. He had already passed him so we shouted his name until he stopped and turned around, at which point we ran over to him.

Now, at this point, you are all wondering who Rob Gardner is (well, 95% of you are). Is he a famous runner? Maybe an obscure Cub bench player? Concert pianist? Nope, he's the guy that brought Leah and me together...indirectly.

You see, he was Leah's and my lab instructor in our first undergrad lab together our sophomore year of college. It was completely random, but Leah and I were placed together as lab partners. It was here that she realized what a wonderful guy I was and, a mere year and a half later, I asked her out. And a mere 5 years after that, we were married (I'm sort of a fast mover). Rob Gardner, of course, was at our wedding. After all, if not for him, maybe we would never have gotten married (nah, it was meant to be). So this was terrifically cool and got our run off to a great start. 8 miles later we were home.

The run went really, really well. We both fell into a rhythm and the miles just melted away. Neither one of us had any pain and we ran at a very reasonable pace. I'll tell you one thing, we are gonna kick that 1/2 marathon's ass. Yeah.

So now I'm very, very ready for bed. Nothing says sleep like snapping off a quick 10 miles.

Leah has updated her little nerd plots. Below are the plots for this week. The lines keep going up, just like I like. The link to the right has been updated too. A milestone: we passed 25 miles on the week. Yay for us!

CUBS WIN!!!
CUBS WIN!!!
CUBS WIN!!!