MY LONG RUN - left the house at about 730AM, with a pretty stiff wind blowing and temps in the mid-20s. It didn't matter. I wanted to get in a long (for me) run. And I did it. Here are the stats:
DISTANCE: 8.02 miles
TIME: 1:18:53
PACE: 9:49 min/mile
CALORIES: 1125
Now I know I'm not setting the world on fire with times like that, but save for about two minutes worth of slowdowns for water, I ran the whole thing. For someone who two years ago really wasn't bothered that his man-boobs were blocking his sightline to the TV, this is nothing short of miraculous. I start my group runs with my half-marathon training group in two weeks and I am completely excited about that. I really think I may not humiliate myself. Don't worry...I'm not getting cocky. I don't have that luxury.
So after getting home on a pretty big runner's high (it's true), the stunningly patient and mighty fine SML, CAL, and the Boy and I drove into the city. It's the first weekend of the month which means free museum entrance to the Art Institute of Chicago, thanks to Bank of America. This is an amazing program and I encourage you to check out what is available in your area and take advantage of it. Well, three of the four of us hold BofA cards, so we were only going to have to pay for the Boy, but, bonus, February is free for all, thanks to ComEd. AWESOME! Let me just say that ARTIC is amazing. The Asian Art collection - a whole lot of Vishnu - is spectacular. The new Modern Wing and its collections make you go "huh?" The Impressionism collection is stunning. Seurat's "Sunday in the Park" is the showcase piece of work and it was amazing to see. I would have included the picture I took of it but it went horribly wrong as it included an unintended shot of someone's prominent crack as they bent down to count the dots in that incredible piece of work.
It was so cool to take in some of the other artists - Van Gogh and Lautrec, come to mind. The American collection is pretty awesome, too. Here are shots of Lautrec's "Moulin Rouge" and Garth Wood's classic "American Gothic:"
It amazes me that these amazing works of art, and so many others, are so readily available for us to take in. So this was our attempt to class up our kids and I think it went OK. For some reason, they weren't as taken by the Asian art as I was. C'mon, guys, it's Vishnu! And it wasn't long before the Boy began to lament that he might DIE if he didn't eat. So we caved and decided to head out in search of food. We planned on trying the new Chicago French Market in the Ogilvie Transportation Center. This is an amazing walking city even with its infamous winds barreling off the Lake so our walk wasn't that bad. The French Market is just what it sounds like - a collection of food vendors all under one roof, with a couple of French bakeries as a nod to the French name. We all wound up with something different for lunch - CAL, an organic turkey sandiwch; the Boy, steak tacos from the Mexican taqueria; me, a pork bahn mi from Saigon Sisters; and the stunningly patient and mighty fine SML, Belgian fries from Frietkoten. If you've never had the goodness of the golden double-fried goodness that is the Belgian fry, you have not lived. I ate these twice a day whenever I was in Belgium or the Netherlands. There used to be a place in NYC just south of David Letterman's studio on Broadway called BFrites that sold them - again, twice a day whenever I was in the City. When it closed, I nearly died. Seriously. While I liked my pork bahn mi, it didn't fill me and the scent of the double fried goodness was more than I could take, so I got my own order, with a side of curry mayo. This was an outstanding choice. So I'll close with a shot of the golden goodness:
So if the art didn't class us up, this did.
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