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.

I left work today around 3:00pm to head to the airport in Norfolk. After sitting in tunnel traffic for over an hour I made it with plenty of time to spare.

The flight to Cleveland was quick… Especially since I ran into someone I had met at work earlier in the week. We had some drinks at my old stomping grounds in terminal C of Cleveland.

I boarded my flight to San Fran and sat down in my seat in the emergency exit row. Just as I had come to terms with the fact that it was going to be a long flight with the big man sitting in the seat next to me, a flight attendant informed me I’d been upgraded. Thank you very much!

It’s kind of chilly here but Im thrilled to be in 60 degree weather after the hot crazy week I had in Newport News… Not to mention the weekend in Hiawasse.

It was definetely a week to remember.

Tomorrow morning after checking in to my downtown hotel I will head out to Big Basin State Park.

I’m almost to the Sheraton now so I’d better go.

Today is my last day here in the North Georgia Mountains. We started the day with lunch at Papas Pizza. It’s nothing special but it’s one of the places I have to go when I’m up here.

After lunch we picked up Martini at the house and headed out to hike High Shoals. It’s a nice hike (a little over a mile) and shaded the whole way. It’s easy to get into the waterfall but it’s not quite as fun getting out (it’s all up hill). It’s really a nice waterfall that you can climb all over when the water level is low.

After dropping the dog off we headed to the Deer Lodge. Even though some new people are managing it, very little has changed. The interior of the place still had it’s charm and the food hasn’t changed a bit. The trout was awesome as always.

Apparently my last post was quite offensive to some people in the North Georgia area. I’ll admit my experience is limited and my generalizations may lack accuracy. However, I did spend 12 summers here in the area and I works at Fred’s Super Dollar Store for 2 of those summers (when I was in high school) and I feel like I know the area quite well.

The people here (the locals, not counting the Florida imports) are quite amazing. People are friendly and very neighborly… Much more-so than in Florida. I won’t take back my dental comment but it’s not a completely fair characterization of the people here.

This place has a lot of funny things about it.. I tried to make light of a few of them. Bill Bryson’s book “A Walk in the Woods” has one of the best, most humorous characterizations of Hiawassee I’ve seen. I highly recommend checking it out.

Tomorrow I head back to Atlanta to catch my 11am flight to Newport News. It’s going to be a lllloooonnnggg day.

Pictured: Martini on the way home from High Shoals, Brasstown Bald out the car window, Deer Lodge, Deer Lodge trout