Letsrun.com--does it get any better?

I hate to admit it, but I am a closet letsrun.com junkie. It is one of those websites that you don't really enjoy, but for some reason you go back every day or maybe even multiple times per day. The message board is the place to witness real runners interact with teenage malcontents with just some plain old wierdos. However, occasionally there are some great posts. What got me to write about this tonight was a thread started by one of the best runners we have here in Minneapolis (Pat Russell)... It starts something like this (and can be found here )

I recently witnessed an aquaintance attempt to eat the entire Dollar-Menu at McDonalds in under 10 minutes. He did it, but it looked painful towards the end. How do you think you would do?

1 Double Cheesburger
1 McChicken Sandwich
1 French Fries (~ size medium)
1 Medium Soft Drink
1 Snack size Fruit and Yogurt Parfait
1 Hot Fudge Sundae
2 Hot Apple Pies
1 Side Salad (w/ dressing)

I will be running 22 miles Saturday morning and make an attempt to do it in 9 minutes (1 min/item).

Then, there are pages and pages of people commenting. Honestly, does it get any better? Tell me why I can't stop reading this (crap)???

Sesame Streets

A must see. I'm guessing Bert or Ernie gets a best supporting actor nod.

Not my job award...I realize that you might have seen this before, but my bosses bosses boss sent this to the group today and it made me laugh. Was this idiot in that big of hurry to get to the Krispy Kreme? Was he asleep at the wheel(?) and this was a pure reaction? Was this the same guy who misspelled school in that other photo or was he seriously that lazy? Notice I call the person who called this a He and not a She. Sorry ladies, there is just no way one of you would have done this.

The most exciting piece of news in the world yesterday was the announcement of the Insight.com Bowl pairing of the Minnesota Golden Gophers versus the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Imagine the excitement of both the Twin Cities and Lubbock at the news.

The only reason I write about this is the fact that my friend Mike N. is (inexplicably) a Texas Tech fan. His degree says Minnesota, but for some reason, he prefers a team from West Texas over his hometown. I mean, the best thing about Lubbock is seeing it in your rearview mirror... Anyway, beers and food are on the line when the Mighty Red Raiders take on the Golden Gophers...

Enough about the game--lets talk mascots. Have you seen the alternate Red Raider Mascot? If not, here is a picture of him. Does he not look a little like Zorro the gay blade? I mean, the Gophers are a rodent and all--but Zorro as your mascot? C'mon. One more mascot picture because I think it is so cool and it is from the only time the Golden Gophers were good at football (think 1930-1950). How can you not like a picture of Alvin spiking a football? I'm guessing he caught a bomb from Dave (or maybe one of the other chipmunks...

Today was a Sunday, which meant that I woke up, brewed some coffee and read the Star Tribune. One story in particular stood out for me. You can find the article here but I'll save you the time and summarize it for you. Roughly 800,000 to 1,000,000 people supporting Hezbollah drove (or rode) to Beirut and protested the government. I'm not going to get into regional politics, but I am going to expound on this here. Here is a picture of the protest...



In college, I went to Lallapalozah with roughly 15,000 people when Ministry started up "Jesus Built My Hotrod". I thought I was going to die due to the movement of the crowd. Can you imagine a 1,000,000 person moshpit?

Another time, I was at a Wild Game with roughly 15,000 people in downtown St. Paul and it took me 30 minutes to get out of the parking ramp. I thought I was going to have to kill somebody. In fact, I got out of the car and started directing traffic in order to speed things up. Can you imagine going to a rally with 1,000,000 people? How long would it take you to get out of the local parking ramp? 1,000,000/15,000*30 minutes is one freakin' long time. I would kill somebody and I don't even end my celebrations with AK-47 shots! How could this ever end peacefully? I have a newfound respect for the Lebanese if it did. Of course, I am American and I tire easily of war. 4 years? Enough! The people in the middle east are fighting a war that has lasted 500 times that long. Can you even imagine???

I was out for a run tonight (surprise, surprise) and I began to feel sad. I was running on a fairly busy street at around 6 pm and I couldn't believe how many cars were on the road. Were all these people just getting home from work? Were all these people just driving around? All I know is that a ton of gasoline was getting burned by people driving around at 6 pm. I then imagined that all of these folks went home and ate Kentucky Fried Chicken and they all had chubby cheeks and chubby butts to match. I then started to giggle, just because the name Chubby Butts sounds so close to a '50's rocker...

Then I went to the gym. Mega Chubby Butts. Everywhere. And a guy wearing a shirt with holes in the back. I'm ok with the chubby butts. At least these people are working on it. But the guy wearing a shirt with multiple holes? Even worse, this is the second dork I've seen in the same predicament. Freakin' ridiculous. I have something like 1000 T-shirts. Maybe I'll bring them to the gym and hand them out to these folks.

Obviously, my mind was working overtime due to the very cold weather tonight (13 degrees F at the start of my run). Both of these things happen quite a bit in Minnesota. Cold weather and minds working overtime. I think that maybe Atmosphere has a song about that.

I went out for both lunch and dinner last night. I felt like a true bachelor, which I'm sort of this week, as my wife is out of town on business. Both lunch and dinner were great for different reasons.

Lunch was at Panera, but this isn't the story. On the way back from the restaurant, there was a flock of Pelicans flying overhead. This is really freakin' cool, as I see them very few times a year, mostly in Florida. Seeing them in Minnesota when it is only 52 F outside just seems wrong. But, Fall and the migration of the Pelicans brings this pleasure...

Dinner was at Matt's. This seems to be a recurring theme of this Blog. Maybe I should rename this blog to "I ate at Matt's tonight, here's my notes." I met Mike (see his blog hurtin' jackalope) and his lovely wife Emily. I learned a good number of things about Mike and Em and some lovely ways to woo my wife in the future--like writing I love Anne on the hamburgers with ketchup. Or, if you are imature, you could possibly draw men's genitalia on the hamburger with ketchup. NOT my idea. Mike?

So, you see how much fun dinner can be? Matt's forever...

All Four Seasons? WTF? Yes, All Four Seasons. This is my blog name because out of everything Minnesota has to offer, a true 4 seasons is what I love best. So...

This past Thursday, we had our 4th annual turning of the seasons celebration at Matt's Bar and Grill. Of course, we (being the Chris, Tyler, Anne and I) had Juicy Lucy's (sp?) as there is no better way to celebrate the fall equinox than with 1/3 lb of burger and some molten cheese. What the heck were you doing to celebrate the equinox?

In looking forward to the next celebration; anyone reading this is welcome to join us at Matt's on December 21st at 6:30 pm to celebrate the turning of Fall into Winter, the turning of darkness into light, the shortest amount of daylight you will witness for another year, the Winter Solstice. You get the picture.

Here's looking to a beautiful fall.