An Inconvenient Truth

I took several pictures of the breathtaking sunset last night. The reality of living around here is no matter how awesome the natural beauty is, we're never too far remove from reminders of heavy industry. In the center of this shot is a coal fired generating plant. Tonight I watched An Inconvenient Truth and realized again that it's not enough to carve out a small oasis of natural beauty like the dunes because pollution from that plant looms over it all. We're killing ourselves by degrees (pun intended). It gives me a higher purpose to do as much bicycle commuting as I can. See this movie if you haven't done so already.

Remembering George Cheung

I could see the big buildings of Chicago as I ran along Lake Front Drive in Beverly Shores this morning. It's the Chinese New Year. Today begins the "Year of the Pig" in the Chinese lunar calender. I can't think of the Chinese New Year without remembering George Cheung and his 50k fun runs. It's hard to believe that the last run was thirteen years ago. I never really spoke with George as we passed one another on the Chicago bike path, but he always came to our table at the buffet afterward at his restaurant. I have some great memories of my many trips into town for that run. One year Stu Mittleman showed! You can really freeze your ass off running 50km in February on the Chicago lakefront! I notice that there's a George Cheung Memorial Race in March along the same route.

Valentine's Day Snow

I caught up with this couple just before sunset at the top of Mount Holden. I forgot to get their names. It was a wonderful evening to snowshoe at the park.

Moller geht Schielaufen

Pardon my lousy German. It's all I remember from high school. I took advantage of a couple of inches of new snow yesterday and went snowshoeing at the dunes this morning. The snow was really starting to fly by the time I was finished. I wound up with a snow day of sorts because my work decided to close at noon due to the promise of really crappy weather this afternoon and evening. Maybe I'll go for another spin on the shoes later too!

Fun on Trail -9 (degrees)

This morning's run was the coldest of the year so far. The wind was howling in the trees but it was really alright in the woods. John (left) and Steve are looking a little frosty don't you think?

My String is Broken..

Well, it looks like my string of weeks with at least one bike commute will end. This morning the weather seems ridable (Temperature about 10 degrees; 6 mph winds) but this afternoon the winds will pick up to 40 mph! With the temperatures falling the wind chill values are predicted to be in the -25 degree F. range. I'm just not ready to brave those conditions yet. I count on some of the bloggers I have listed to provide me with inspiration to get back out there sometime over the next week. Doug and many other amazing winter athletes are actually going to race in this weather. I'm not worthy...I'm not worthy....