July Polar Vortex

The current Chicago weather pattern is just wrong. July in Chicago usually averages temps the mid-80's with nice hot days in the 90's. This July we've been wearing hoodies a lot. It was in the fifties going into the office the other morning. Really can't enjoy our limited amount of summertime to its fullest: too cold to boat, fill up the kiddie pool, etc. Even Tizzel is wearing a hoodie at nights. The vortex is just mean regardless of the time of year it appears.



This is the only good Polar Vortex:

Since there hasn't been much to share about what's going on, here are some random items:

Spotify Playlist
Found the Upbeat + Summer Fun playlist on Spotify while on the treadmill. Lots of great songs on this list at a decent enough tempo to keep the workout interesting. You can sign up for a free Spotify account and link it to your Facebook, Twitter, etc. You can also follow playlists developed by other users, or make your own. On the iPad and Mac versions we are able to listen to full albums.

If this embedded playlist isn't supported by your browser you can look up the Upbeat + Summer Fun playlist directly in the app:



Mush's Blog

Our friend and Team AllEars teammate Chris posted the final installment of his WDW Marathon report. This was Chris' first marathon and it's been fun to follow along.  Check out his latest post through this link.

Upcoming Weekend
This weekend we are heading to Chicago to meet up with friends coming in from across the country to participate in the Rock and Roll Chicago Race Festival Weekend. This is the 6th running of this race and Holly currently has a perfect streak. Some of our group will be doing the half  marathon while others will do the 5K (and stop calling it a mini marathon). R&R has been dealing Chicago some raw deals on the headliner acts for the after party. While Virginia Beach gets Train, we get Cold War Kids. Who?

We know that we are dining with a smaller group at Ditka's on Friday and having a larger group dinner at Pizano's Saturday. We're spending Sunday night in town as well and are thinking about having dinner at RL Restaurant.

Magnets

On our sidebar you will see some thumbnail pictures of various magnets that represent the spirit of various runDisney race events. Our friend Michael is selling these magnets in support of various charities. Purchases of the WDW Half Marathon magnet will support one of our recent Charities of the Month: Save-a-Pet no-kill shelter.

To purchase this particular magnet, click this link.

For the main magnet page, click this link.

Fall Race Schedule
Unfortunately Holly's first marathon of the fall season is 2 months away. It is unfortunate because that means fall is almost here and we haven't even had a summer yet. Currently scheduled marathons include: Top of Utah, Hartford Marathon, and the Route 66 Marathon. As usual Dave will be race chasing all these events.

Speaking of race chasing.... Our guide Race Chase is still available at www.racechasebook.com. Runners can find out how to plan for a destination race while their family and friends can learn the tricks to finding runners multiple times on the course.

That's about it for now. In upcoming weeks we should have some updates from our Chicago weekend and the R&R races.  For now we'll leave you with some pictures from The Chain o' Lakes: