My weekly “Friday Five” link up has ended. Sad as that is, it will be fun to revisit and reinvent an old feature. Goodbye “Friday Five” and welcome back, “Friday Finds.” My old “Friday Finds” format was to tell you about one or two cool apps, events, etc. and to post links to great deals. The latter took a ton of time, but not too many people weighed in on or used the links as far as I could tell. So… I’m going to kick it more freestyle and make this more like Erin’s “Five Things Friday” and go with things I’m loving lately.
New York Marathon Pre-Game
For the first time ever, I gave a NY Marathon Course Talk. Having run sixteen New York Marathons since 1996, I’m pretty qualified, I guess. I wrote my talk slides based on my Friday 5 post from last fall with a ton of tips on NYC. I then crowdsourced on Facebook and got some great quotes and additions.
The talk was hosted by the EDGE Athlete Lounge. About 20 folks skipped the Cubs game to hear my thoughts on all things NYC Marathon from logistics, pre-game, course, head space and post race. In the crowd there was one first time marathoner and almost all first time NY Marathoners. Given how straightforward the start and finish of the Chicago Marathon are, the majority of questions and concerned were around race day logistics. The next biggest were questions about the hills and the eternal question of “why do people say the second half is harder than the first?” [Because “people” including me always start too fast!]
Want more of my NYC experiences? You can read my recaps from 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012 (cancelled).
Have any NYC Marathon questions? Leave them in the comments and I’ll give you my two cents!
Chicago Ideas Week
Chicago Ideas Week started a few years ago with the goal to “be the world’s leading catalyst for inspiring, connecting, and empowering curious people in order to make the world a better place.” It offers an affordable and innovative line up of educational entertainment, grassroots initiatives and hands on activities. For the last few years, I’ve made it to a few programs each time.
I went to the first evening’s main stage program “Life’s Big Questions.” It kicked off with Abby Wambach and included Designing Your Life‘s Dave Evans and Bill Burnett, Sebastian Junger and Jose Antonio Vargas. Each of the segments were interesting and I’m definitely going to get a copy of Designing Your Life and keep my eye on Vargas’ Define American Movement.
The second day, I checked out “Creativity at Work.” It was hosted by SportsCenter’s Linda Cohn. I was super excited to see my fave Charles Duhigg and really enjoyed Jesse Itzler. I was a huge fan of the Power of Habit (review) and will definitely read Duhigg’s new book “Smarter Faster Better.” Itzler was super inspiring in his unorthodox way of moving through life. He reminded me that it’s worth “going for it.”
Last up, a conversation with Bryan Cranston and a copy of his new book, A Life in Parts this Sunday. So cool! If you can’t make it to CIW, you can watch the Live Stream or replays on the CIW site.
Fall Flavors
I know I outed myself as not being a PSL fan, but I love pumpkin and squash – especially roasted. I’m going to grab a few small pie pumpkins this weekend and roast them up. Yum! I also have the opportunity to try these pumpkin simmer sauces from Urban Accents, a local Chicago spice company. The flavors include Pumpkin Tagine, Pumpkin Mole, and Pumpkin Curry. If you’re curious and in Chicago, Urban Accents will be sampling the new simmer sauces in Chicagoland Jewel stores on Saturdays in October! Not in Chicago, they sell online, too. I’ll post a full review soon.
The Sky
Wednesday Day morning was phenomenal. Here’s a shot at North Avenue Beach.
And at the Chicago River and Michigan Ave.
And this crazy huge moon out our front window.
That’s all from here! What are you loving lately? Please tell me in the comments!
Have a great weekend!
PS. Don’t forget my great giveaways!