Chicago Sights

Kathy and I walked all over Chicago. There's no shortage of things to see.

 Pickup sidewalk chess game.

 Escalators to heaven in Macy's.

 Sculpture on a bridge.

 Shepherding the children.

 It's bigger than just 1.

 Sidewalk buskers.

 Hardest working bike theft I've ever seen.

 The bike share program is heavily used.

 Even though vehicles must yield to pedestrians, I saw drivers, cyclists, runners, and walkers cutting it as close as possible.

 Fire storm? Really?

 Public transit is awesome but the el trains are loud.

 Mom: "So what's the name of your band?"

The resulting devastation of a plate of ribs at Miller's Pub.

Chicago Marathon

Kathy and I went to "My kind of town" last Wednesday to hang out, see some sights, and then run the marathon on Sunday. She ran. I took photos. On Friday we picked up her packet at the expo. There was a free shuttle from the hotel, which we rode. What we didn't know was that there were four different shuttles going to and from four different parts of the city. We took shuttle #3 to get to the expo. We got on #4 for the ride back and ended up about three miles from our hotel. So we had a nice walk and saw more of Chicago.

Honestly. With 40k+ people running, would they ever say the threat level was anything other than low?

 Plenty of photo op locations at the expo.

 Our runner before the start.

 Teeming masses lined the race as well as participated in it. I missed Kathy at the two-mile mark. You can probably see why.

 One of those people passed by while I was waiting at the halfway mark.

 Doctor Dribble making a respectable showing.

 I cannot tell you how many bright yellow shirts I looked at. I finally spotted my girl looking smooth midway through the race.

 Doctor Dribble bringing it in with a mile to go.

 I don't know. There's just something about this outfit thats screams "wrong" to me.

 One of those people again.

 I found the majority were not smiling at this point.

 And there she is. Wrapping it up with a time of 5:07:07.

The happy finisher.

Crosstoberfest III Video

Here's the video I shot yesterday. Unfortunately, something came up and I couldn't make it up to the races today.

Crosstoberfest III Day 1 from hank greer on Vimeo.

First Cyclocross Race of The Season

I signed up for Crosstoberfest III in Sandpoint, which is held today and tomorrow. I rode One Greer in the single speed race and Top Greer in the men's 50+. The Sandpoint course is one of my favorites. There are difficult parts but you have time to recover after them. I love the technical parts better because that's where I make the most headway against the others. People complain about the spiral of death but I love it because I seem to get through it pretty smoothly. I range the chimes in the center each time.

I wasn't comfortable jumping the log with the single speed but I cleared it all five laps in the men's 50+ race. It's a good thing, too. This year it's a larger log.

I gave my friend my camera for the single speed race and he got a couple of me.

What's The World Coming To?

I found the mail where Kathy left it on the kitchen counter and saw this as I browsed through the stack. My first thought was, "What the hell? Did Kathy get on some bizarre mailing list or something?"

I flipped it over and saw it's an ad for blush makeup.

It says, "SNEAK A PEEK AT THOSE CHEEKS!" You see what they're doing there?

They're objectifying men. The nerve!

I'm Pretty Strange All Right

This morning I was at the intersection of Rowan and Addison counting bicycles and pedestrians for the Washington State Department of Transportation. Lidgerwood Elementary School is right there. My volunteer time was uneventful until with 30 minutes left a woman in a van stopped. 

"What are you doing. You're standing on school property and you have a camera. I think that's pretty strange and I have a child that goes to this school."

I wasn't holding my camera in my hand at the time. It was hanging off my back. I told her I was a volunteer counting pedestrians and bicycles. She didn't have anything to say to that and drove off. But such is the state of fear in our country that a man standing on a street corner near a school with a camera hanging over his back is considered a possible threat.

Or maybe she got the idea I was strange when saw me taking pictures. Here's what I shot.

 Evil red eyes.

 The rising sun skirting around a garage.

 Vapor trails.

 A bug with large round wings.

The remnants of yard sale..

...and lost pet sign postings.

 Risking a $100 fine.