#18 Sports, Beer, and Junk

Sunday 3/30

Raccoon Creek Park, PA
18.75 mi 5,000 ft elevation gain

Our run in a picture.

This was easily the muddiest run that I have ever agreed to do. It was one for the books though! Being two days before April, I was unable to appreciate the beauty of seeing all of Morgantown's trees and roads covered in snow. Instead, it just aggravated the hell out of me. I would have been quite content sleeping in bed all day. Eventually we, me and Josh, made our way to Sheetz for coffee and goodies. Then headed north to get out of the snow and into the mud. We met up with the 3rd triumvir of the triumvirate. I don't know of any other places that I have been to where we can run 19 miles without double backing on the same trail. One big loop. One big adventure. The legs felt fine through they spent a lot of time slipping and sliding through the mud. Somehow I didn't fall on the a run; a true miracle. None of us did. Around 80 minutes in we hit a snag on the course. A bridge leading us across the creek was gone. We crossed several small creeks through the loop (7 or 8), but this one was way too deep to cross. Plus I can't swim and the water was definitely moving fast enough to sweep the leg. No more Digem. We turned around and shortly noticed that we had passed a sign that told us there was a trail detour for the absence of the bridge. The detour took us around the lake and provided what I initially thought was a mirage; a portapotty. Withing minutes of getting the urge to go to the bathroom; poof. My fairy godparents dropped a potty off for me.
My odd parents, fairly odd parents. Wands and wings, floaty crowny things. Fairly odd parents. Really mod, pea pod, buff bod, hod rod! Obtuse, rubber goose, green moose, guava juice,
Giant snake, birthday cake, large fries, chocolate shake.

Morgantown being stupid Sunday

Haven't seen that show in years. I anticipate knowing the theme song when I am old and grey though. Around two hours my knee started getting tight which I suppose is bound to happen eventually. My großen Brüder felt better than me and put a good gap on me for a few miles. I did reattach to them prior to the last three big climbs. Knowing the finish line was directly in front of me and only 2ish miles away, I had no problem shutting down and falling behind. I enjoyed every second of that run, but at that point I was just ready for it to be over. I believe Raccoon Creek will be the host of most of our long runs because it has been the first place that has provided a decent amount of climbing. Around here people pronounce creek like crick. Which is hilarious. The absolute worst is Hurricane,  WV. Everyone pronounces it like Hurriken. It's disgusting. Goin go down to the crick in Hurriken. I much prefer the Minnesota draw. Which leads me to the next fun part of my week.

Monday I drug my legs out and ran six miles on the rail trail so it was basically not even a run. Tuesday was a personal day. Personally, my achilles was jacked and I just wasn't feeling it. It's funny how after you beat your legs to hell it can take two days for the pain to climax. There has been several occasions where I will race super hard, feel fine the next day. Then the following day feel like a truck ran me over in my sleep. Sleep can be weird too. I hate it when I feel 100% and ready to roll, take a nap, then feel like Droopy. Someone suggested that I watch a movie called Somewhere in Time which I have heard of and recall almost watching previously. I watched it and here is my review. After the review is my road trip! So grab a cup of coffee, or tea if if coffee isn't your cup of tea: it's going to be a long ride.

Wednesday 4/2

I pulled out of Fairmont a little before 9am to fill Tank up. Once I hit the interstate for north I remembered that I forgot my Minnesota Wild sweater that I planned on wearing in the United Center in Chicago. I returned for it... The previous day I had joked with pops that my Mikael Granlund sweater would come right after I left. I ordered a Wild road sweater so that I would be in uniform with the team rather than sporting the home colors, but that never came. Around 1pm he texted me and let me know that the road sweater came. Cool. By then I was west of Columbus and coming up on the Dayton. Signs like the one on the right make me laugh to myself because it has my name on it as well as the direction that I need to travel. It rained most of the way through Ohio, standard. Initially it was frustrating although certainly expected, but I jammed out through the entire state. Upon request I will put up one of my jam sessions. It's almost certainly hilarious at my expense.

throwback Camp of Champs '09 pink me by my pretend wife.

When I got into Indiana the rain temporarily stopped. That made me switch back to the idea of running at Turkey Run state park, but right around the time I decided to go there I was hit by a thunderstorm. I don't know if this has ever happened to you, but everything turned full circle on me and I suddenly felt like it was 2009 again. This is relevant to the trip because I am attending these Chicago events with my friend Kevin. I met Kevin way back in 2008 and 2009 at Wisconsin's Camp of Champions. 2009 was the first time that I drove myself to wisco and befriended several people that would remain friends for a few years, two that are still pretty good friends of mine. One being Kevin and the other being miss Gray. Two years ago Patrick and I stayed with her in Minnesota and she showed me her Minnesotan hospitality by drinking me under the table and carrying me upstairs. She also sits beside me at Minnesota Wild home games. The reason I have all of these memories in my head during Indiana was a combination of the thunderstorm and the music I was listening to. I just happened to rotate in Death Cab's Narrow Stairs which I originally purchased for that trip 5 years ago and I will never forget the thunderstorm I drove through in Indiana returning from that camp. Completely dark out and every twenty or so seconds the entire sky would light up with the lightning followed by rumbling that would last until the next flash. Driving six-eight hours from my home through that storm was awesome as a 16/17 year old. I remember then etching out all of my academic, athletic, and social plans for the future in Madison. But plans change.

Since it was storming I decided to turn north on 65 and just go to Lafayette, where I would be staying for the next two nights. My run for the day was eight miles on a treadmill because that was that was the only place that I could climb. I made it a workout because I can't run normal on a treadmill. That'd be like gripping the back of my head and smashing my face into a wall repeatedly for an hour, or until I died. Then I ventured down downtown Lafayette and West Lafayette to see what it was that the local Purdue kids do. I made my way to Lafayette Brewing Company to catch the Twins/Sox finish which was comical. Twins blowing a two run lead in the ninth inning due to two errors. When the third baseman went to throw it to the catcher to end the game, but missed the catcher by an Indiana mile, I realized that it must be the beginning of august in Williamsport because I was watching little league baseball. I had a Tippecanoe Common Ale and a damn good cheese steak in between the Sox and Cubs game. Then I left. I had previously researched a spot right on campus that I had to try. By on campus I mean Purdue University.

Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream

I can't stand it when places claim they have the best ice cream. You know who has the best ice cream? Babcock Dairy on State street. Madison, WI. That claim is no longer bias either because I could give two shits about UW anymore. But it's fact. Madison is home to Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream, the bee's knees, legs, and his arms. Hands down the best ice cream. Only in Madison, I thought. I walk into the Silver Dipper here on Purdue's campus and the first thing I see is the Chocolate Shoppe sign. My knees almost buckled. I walked closer to confirm that the picture of the sexy cow eating ice cream was the same sign that I thought it was. I proceeded to eat five scoops of various flavored ice cream. My god, was it great. I semi believe in reincarnation, I definitely think it sounds more fun than sitting in the clouds. I hope to come back in another life as Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream. Then once I am eaten, continuously return to life in the form of that ice cream. I returned to my hotel room and honestly planned on going outside and reading in my car because another thunderstorm had started up. Much more enjoyable in a car. But my ice cream baby was taking a bath in my beer and those ingredients made the perfect storm that knocked me out from before 9pm til 6am. I do not know what happened in my sleep, but forty percent of my pillows were on the ground and I had turned 180 from where I initially fell to sleep.

Most likely my biggest enemy in the world.

The rain had stopped by 6am. I assumed it moved up north to the White Sox field. At this point I had zero expectations of seeing a baseball game in seven hours. Chicago had to be getting slammed by the thunderstorms. I think there was like an 80% chance of rain. I decided to get breakfast and wait around for an hour or so, that's when the majority of this entry to this point was typed up. I then cracked open a new book that I look forward to reading. 11/22/63 by Stevie King. It's north of 700 pages so gimme a good minute on finishing it. Then I will review it. As I went up 65 toward Chicago I was slammed by a flash flood. Very rarely do I stop driving for weather, but I sat that storm out at a rest stop, only 75 miles from Chicago. While stopped at this rest stop another tank pulled up right beside me. Repping the wrong gang colors. I considered having a Tank fight, but thought better of it. At this point I knew that I wouldn't see the baseball game. When I hopped back onto the highway I spent 10 or so miles jockeying with three big 18 wheelers. Water spitting everywhere and I was trapped for what seemed like a lifetime. Sure enough, when I made it to the skyway leading into Chicago the rain had settled. Oh, I forgot to mention my wrong turn.

Considered getting a trim here.

I didn't use any navigation until I branched off of 65 by mistake and found myself driving through Gary, IN. I knew that Gary had a pretty bad rap, but I've driven through the bronx, harlem, detroit, huntington, etc so I knew it couldn't be that bad. It was worse than all of those places combined. I have never feared for someone's life more than that 4 mile stretch. I assumed that I would be fine, but I mean every door and window was barred up. Cars parked with slashed tires, missing windows. Shit was crazy. That's why I feel like this country is really 80 different countries. I talked to a young woman at the front desk in Lafayette who had lived in Gary for a year for school. She moved there from the country and said that in that first year she had four slashed tires and heard gunshots on her street almost weekly. She said that she lived in the nice part of town because on her door was equipped with metal bars. Her windows were bar free. I just assume people in Gary try to get out of the ghetto by moving 10 miles into Chicago's slums. Naturally the only wrong turn I make leads me through this place. I'm glad though; I like seeing knew places. Oh I should have added Florida to that least of sketch places I have been to. I forget where in Florida, but probably the sketchiest stretch of rail trail in the country runs through some town in Florida.

Foul ball That I (Kevin) caught

When I arrived in the windy city it was holding on to its stereotype. Very windy, misty, and 35 degrees. The wind made it feel closer to 20 degrees. I met Kevin in the bar attached to the Sox's stadium. I love being in part of the world where summer shandy is on draft. Evidently I packed for the beach when I left and I struggled to stay warm throughout the game. And I was wearing everything that I packed aside from my hockey sweater. One cool note- I am pretty sure that Kevin and I were apart of the White Sox's worst attendance ever. They said online that 11k attended but that HAD to be ticket sales. There were not more than 2,000 poor cold bastards in that stadium. In the 4th inning one of the Sox it a frozen rope directly back toward us and it hit a step and popped straight up in the air. It fell right in Kevin's hands. Easiest foul catch ever! It was awesome. Perfect conversation starter for the two Minnesotan ladies beside us. Two innings later, a steady mist started up and we moved from behind the plate and under a ceiling to keep dry. Everyone seemed to move except the Twins fans. I am pretty sure that my cover was blown. Though I sported Twins gear, I couldn't stand the cold like those who traveled south for the game. The Twins won 10-9. With two down in the last inning the Sox had a guy on third and I was praying that they would either get out like the did or hit a homer. I'd rather the Twins lose on that day than stay in the bitter cold for another inning.

Now, for what I came to Chicago for! I must give Kevin a huge shoutout for giving me one of his friend's season tickets. And shoutout to that friend for giving Kevin those tickets for the Wild game. United Center was an amazing atmosphere! The fans were intense and into their Hawks and being in the building that hoisted Michael Jordan's banners is pretty damn neat. Not to mention all of the Blackhawk's Cup banners. Shortly after Minnesota jumped up to a one goal lead in the first, Kevin and I made the scoreboard with the picture on the right. There is nothing I enjoy more than watching Minnesota Wild play hockey. They didn't have Granlund or Nino, but everyone played a pretty solid game. The final result was a 2-3 loss in a shootout after Crawford stoned all three MN shooters. But in April every point is massive and Minnesota jumped one step closer to securing the first wild card spot. Saturday's 4-0 whoopin on the Pens helped even more. The Wild have the toughest final ten game schedule which I believe will make them very playoff ready. Who knows, maybe we can steal a series later this month. Also, Josh Harding skated with the team and may return for the playoffs! I did a story on him in an earlier entry. He's my favorite goalie ever.

After the hockey game it took me 30 minutes to find the garage that I parked in. This is a common thing when I am in a different city and alone. Along my venture three local midnight tokers offered me a bite of there sandwich. My response shall remain disclosed. Eventually I found my tank and returned to Lafayette for the night. By the time I made it there my bladder was past full and I was very sweepy. I hopped out of the car, peed and crashed. The following morning I realized that I locked my keys in my car... So that happened to start my drive back east. I watched a guy pop my door open even though he just looked like he was taking my cars blood pressure. Leaving Lafayette for Chicago I drove through a flash flood and leaving Laf for WV I drove through severe wind advisory. Midwestern severe wind advisories means pretty strong wind. If you played football, imagine the drill where you try to secure the ball while you run through a line of teams that are trying to knock the ball out with blocking pads. And doing that for a few hundred miles. I stopped in Wheeling to run with Patrick. Patrick is my friend. That concluded my travels. For the day.

Someone suggested that I watch the movie Somewhere In Time on netflix in the comment section of the last blog. Since there was only one suggestion I decided to watch and review EVERY suggestion! The movie was extremely good and I think it is weird when someone says 'I think you'll like it' and I do. If you have never seen the film, it is a hybrid between a gushy romance and a time traveling movie. Superman plays the main character. Quick summary- in the opening scene an elderly lady hands this Chicago playwright an old pocket watch and says "Please come back to me." Not going to lie, that was pretty creepy. That playwright ended up spending time at a hotel where he discovered the most beautiful actress from the early 1900s. He did further research and discovered that she was the old lady that handed him the pocket watch. He then realized through guest registration archives that he was in that very hotel 68 years prior along with the actress. He goes to the past, then stuff happens. It's good enough to where I don't feel like giving away any spoilers. There were a ton of themes throughout the movie that I really enjoyed and related to. One big part of the movie was the actresses adviser who thought that Richard (main character) was there to only destroy his golden actress. He made it very clear that he would keep them separated to ensure that he could ride her coattails to the top. Funny how common of a thing that is. But Richard was persistent, far more than I would have been, and continued to pursue who he had traveled 68 years to be with. It helped that Elise tried to make it easy for Richard. My favorite character was Arthur. He was a really old worker at the hotel in 1979 and told Richard of how he had been in the hotel for 70 years. Arthur also thought that he recognized Richard when he first saw him. Back in 1912 Richard did meet little Arthur who was causing mayhem for his father who worked behind the front desk. I'd like to give a full summary of the movie, but it is good enough to where I will just say go watch it. I fully believe in time travel and I don't mind saying that because nearly everyone believes in something that has no proof of existence. I think that I will time travel one day; I just need to find out how to do so. I really like to think that I have been to the past before; that would rule. I think everyone should believe in cooler things if they are going to believe in anything. I do often attempt to get hypnotized and allow lucid dreaming to occur on an almost nightly basis. I think I could write a book on the lucid dreams that I have written down. One day perhaps. I like the ending of the movie a lot. Realistic endings are the best endings. Movies/books with happily ever endings turn me off because that will almost never be the case.

Freezing my ass off.

To end the week I ventured up to Pittsburgh to watch the Pirates play the St. Louis Cardinals with pops. On the way up we jammed to Elton John like the bosses that we are. He drove until we were almost in Washington, Pa then I took over the shift to drive into the city. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and drink at 7th street grille. Then we headed for PNC Park. It is much more beautiful than US Cellular in Chicago. Out of the 4 ballparks that I have been to, Chicago and New York Yankees are tied for last and Pittsburgh and Minneapolis are tied for first. The game was just as freezing as the Chicago one minus the precipitation. Sadly, the Pirates beat the Cardinals the previous night by ten runs. Naturally, they only had one run in store for us Saturday. 6-1 was the final score, but I enjoyed the game. For the first three innings I was pissed because I had to sit beside an annoying parent failing to take care of an annoying child. Luckily junior baby son of a bitch got cold and they left real early. We did have an excellent view of the game; I love sitting on the outfield fence. Center field was my position when I played and remains my favorite position in the game. So I enjoyed the point of view. After the game I was extremely impressed with the firework show. Probably the greatest show that I have ever seen. Needless to say, I am going to the next fireworks night at PNC.

Top 4 ballparks ranked by view from home plate:

4- New York Yankees (1 game last year)

3- Chicago White Sox (1 game this week)

  

2- Target Field (2 games last year)

1- PNC Park (3 games, last 2 years)

My favorite hockey arenas that I have watched Minnesota Wild play in are as follows:
1- Minnesota
2- Chicago
3- Columbus
4- Pittsburgh
5- Nashville

I am tired. I am excited to not travel for only 5 days before driving to Pilot Mountain, NC to run in my 2nd trail marathon in ever. What is your favorite sport memory? Best venue that you have been to? I want to hear about them all, especially places that I haven't been to. Give me new destinations. Also, I am out of netflix things to watch. Still open to suggestions.

One Love!