It’s been a crazy few weeks. Last week I was in Virginia, spent the weekend in NYC, and then just got done with a long week in Chicago.

I stayed past Thursday in Chicago so I could do my leg of the Urbanathlon this morning. Now I’m back in Tampa waiting to get picked up so I can go to the Rays/ Sox game.

The Urbanathlon was an amazing experience. Like any other race- there was a lot of running. But, unlike any other race there were obstacles. After running for about 2 miles I started wraping around Soldier Field. As I rounded the corner I saw a big crowd of people and two dodge trucks jack up. I had to crawl under them and then through the mud under this net. As soon as I got done crawling (it seemed like forever) I stood up and realized I had to get across monkey bars also. I wasn’t sure I could do it- I think I was 8 last time I did monkey bars. As I was about to start them I saw the guy in front of me fall off then and splash is a big pile of mud. This motivated me- I made it across them with little trouble. And then I puked- just a little bit.

I walked a bit and then started running again. At the 4 mile point I saw another crowd and had to go down a steep bank to the beach. The next obstacle was marine hurdles. Good thing Im not short- it was pretty easy to lug my body over them. The poor short dude in front of me was having a hell of a time getting over them.

Once I finished the last one- I puked again in front of the crowd of people. Then I found my teammate.

Despite the puking- I enjoyed it. It was something new. It was exilerating.

Pictures from this trip in order: Statue of Liberty(duh), Gin Mill (NYC Gator Bar), teamates at the Urbanathlon, and the entrance of Tropicana field before game 6 of the ALCS.

Since the McCain campaign has decided to go forward and fully mis-represent Obama’s comments… I sure hope the Obama campaign can dig up some footage of McCain using this same phrase.

Both campaigns promised to run clean campaigns and stick to the issues. Obviously that isn’t happening. I’m biased and I won’t pretend otherwise. The McCain campaign is smart. They taking real issues off the front pages of papers and replacing them with politicized exerts of Obama’s speech. This time they made big headlines. This time, if the Obama campaign handles it right, McCain’s campaign made a big mistake. McCain’s former press secretary wrote a book called “Lipstick on a Pig: Winning in the No-Spin Era.” McCain has used this expression many times in the past. The hypocracy is overwhelming. The strategy of the McCain campaign is becomming more transparent as every day passes. It is the Bush Administration remixed.

See this article:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/10/politics/animal/main4433795.shtml

I am about to head out on the Nolan Trail. It’s here in Newport News right by the Mariners Museum. The trail is my favorite thing about Newport News. It’s nearly 5 miles of wooded, hilly trail. Today it looks like I’m running it in the rain.

Unfortunately, Newport News does not have the variety and quality of restaurants that nearby Norfolk and VA Beach have. This would be my biggest complaint. Luckely the Marriott is nearly brand new and has an amazing breakfast.

Canton Ohio had a little bit more charm but there are a number of advantages Newport News has over Canton. I’m happy for now.

Pictures: the Nolan Trail, a big bug that interrupted lunch.

Something strange just happened… I was about to go through the toll booth to get on the Skyway bridge and the lady in the car in front of me waved at me. As I struggled to come up with a dollars worth of change the toll booth worker told me the lady payed for me. Weird.

It turned out I didn’t have a dollar… Maybe she knew.

So I am on the orange line on my way to Midway Airport. I’ve had a really crazy week here in Chicago between work and my outings in the evenings.

I think this is definetely the place I need to move to escape Tampa. I understand the winters are wicked but I think I can endure this. Also the sales tax is rediculous… But I can deal with this as well.

My only complaint about the city is the multitude of vagrants. Some are agressive and I see the same ones all the time. They really should do something to clean that up… Especially given the crazy sales and hotel tax revenues they are bringing in.

I don’t get to come back for atleast four weeks for work (unfortunately). I am Definetely coming in October to participate in the Men’s Health Urbanathlon. Maybe I’ll be moved in by then.

Some of my stories from this week would be very entertaining but I know I can’t tell any of them. Some of my readership cannot be privy to such personal details. Maybe it’s time for a new secret blog. Anonymous even?

I am returning to Tampa for the weekend and then heading back to Newport News on Monday.

Pictured: view from my desk looking down Wacker.

Saturday morning I got a late start. We made a list of the things that needed to be accomplished and it was lengthy. Surprisingly, none of it was really touristy in nature.

We started out and walked to the San Francisco Marathon Expo on Embarcadero. I needed to pick up my shirt and packet for the following days race. My friends weren’t to big on going through all the booths buy they warmed up to it once they started getting free stuff.

After a BOA ATM stop (someone was very determined to find an ATM) we hunted for food. There was some drama because all of us were hungry… And we walked forever because the person who was suppose to know where we were going was really just leading us aimlessly. I’m not going to name names.

We eventually ended up at Chevvys Mexican… Which is terrible because 1) there were pigeons walking around inside and 2) it’s Chevys and they are everywhere. To make this be better… Super huge margaritas were ordered.

After a delicious lunch (any lunch is delicious after having a margarita that big) we took a cab and did some clothes shopping. It wasn’t my normal choice for clothes shopping but I ended up with 2 shirts. We stopped at a bar for some more drinks and then returned to the hotel with an unfriendly cab driver. Most the cab drivers are u friendly in SF… Cabs are not very abundant so I guess they can get away with it.

After hitting the hotel gym for a pretty intense workout I was due for a nap.

I woke up at 10PM with some text messages about going out. Despite having to wake up at 5AM, I joined my friend down stairs in a cab and headed out. I know, I’m an idiot.

I’ll spare the details of the debauchery that ensued… It was a blast. At 1:30AM I had the sense to head out and my drunk friend followed. I’m sure we offended the cab driver several times.

Fast forward 3 hours… The alarm goes off and I feel like complete shit. I couldn’t help but not the overwhelming nasty smell of booze coming from my mouth.

My friend was also up… He had a 7am flight to catch and was walking around the room bitching and packing. I think he was trying to convince me his situation was worse than mine. It was a hard sell… I was about to run a long distance race with a remaining subtle buzz from the night before.

I ran the race and met tons of cool people along the way. Running across the Golden Gate Bridge is almost surreal… Definetely one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. I finished and had lunch with some of the people I met a long the way. Later in the day I had dinner and drinks with an old friend from UF.

Right now I’m sitting in First Class on the plane to Memphis. I was 2 for 2 on upgrades this trip… Not too shabby. I am flying to Norfolk today for a 3 day work week and then Tampa Thursday night. It will be a short weekend home… Heading to Chicago Sunday or Monday.

So yesturday I woke up around 8 and after a delicious free breakfast I headed downtown via BART. BART is expensive… $5 to get into the city.

After failing to check in at the Westin (I’m not terribly thrilled with this hotel but that’s another story) I headed over to Hertz where I got a car for the day.

Big Basin state park is the oldest state park in California. They also allow dogs on their paved roads… So my friend and I took the dog on a lenthy 6 mile trek. It wasn’t anything really amazing but we definitely saw some big trees.

Along the way we ran into some locals who encouraged us to check out Great Boulder, a nearby town. We went to the tacqueria there and had some delicious tacos.

On the way back to San Fran there were these crazy cloud formations coming in off the Pacific. I tried to snap a pic to show what it looked like.

After making a brief pit stop in Buena Vista park we returned the car and checked into a hotel. Dinner was at some Italian restaurant in North Beach. The food was okay… But sitting out on the street was awesome.

After dinner we hung out at someones house for a while (if you were there… All I remember is ’sherpa’) and then, a little tipsy, went to bed.