I’m so proud of my friends Derek and Kerrie who finished their first marathon.

I started running at 7:30 and it was cold. Like in the 30’s cold. Even though I was in the 3 hour pace group, it was crowded for the first 15 miles. Chicago is a flat course but there are lot of turns which means lots of slowing down and speeding up. I felt great until mile 24 when my left hammy and calf started tightening up. I thought I could run through it but with less than a mile to go the hamstring cramped and I was forced to stop and stretch. I managed to start running, kept the 3:00 pace guy in my sights and caught up with him with about 100 yards to go. I finished running at 10:29.

Last week I spent a couple days in Chicago for a JETAA National conference. I arrived a bit early so I decided to venture out and check out the Art Institute. There was a lot to see and some of it was typical of most big city museums, art by famous people… There were a couple pieces that made me think that even I could become famous as I didn’t get how the piece was considered art. A canvas with nothing but orange on it doesn’t seem so creative. There was one area where as I was walking to it, a lady walked in and immediately walked out mumbling under her breath, “I don’t do clowns.” This should have let me know that this area wasn’t for me as I don’t do disturbing/scary and clowns are scary. Well, I went in and it freaked me out. Luckily I had the frame of mind to record it and give you a chance to see what I saw.