The Cyborgs Amoung Us...

First of all let me just start off by saying how incredibly honored and humbled I am to be selected as a guest poster on one of my favorite blogs A Cube, a Croat and a Chilena... I've been a loyal reader ever since I was informed of it's existence and have loved it ever since. This being my first guest post I can only hope to emulate its high journalistic and editorial standards as well as entertain the literally tens of people who casually look at this blog from around the Chicago, NYC metro areas (plus randoms from Europe).

As an avid running enthusiast of Polish decent I've come across my fair share of funny anecdotes and humorous stories about the sport. One of particular interest to the contributing Croatian and Chilean female runners of this blog is my ongoing Nike Plus challenge with a one Cuban running nazi powerhouse. We are into our 3rd or 4th week of the challenge appropriately named Let's Do the Damn Thing, the winner of which will gain the title of most hardcore and lifetime bragging rights. In the beginning we were pretty neck and neck in terms of total mileage run and I was feeling good about myself. As the days went on however I began to notice a troubling fact about my Cuban challenger; her total miles run kept going up at an increasingly exponential rate. At first this didn't seem possible and I had to consult a former running partner who let's call Schmalvy or Rhode Islander. The Rhode Islander hinted at the possibility that perhaps Miss Cuban was walking around with her Nike Plus to accumulate miles. How else could someone explain the shear millage this little Platano was racking up? I entertained this theory for a while but knowing the Cube fairly well I am fully convinced of her integrity and know she would never intentionally do something like that. Which lead me to my current revised theory of her mutant, cyborg origins. I've come to suspect that or little Cuban is really a female cyborg from the distant future come back to run an insane amount of miles, torture me and save John Connor from a similarly constructed Arnold Schwarzenegger cyborg. That's what I am going with (to make myself feel better for lagging over 10 miles behind). If anyone has a more plausible story, which I highly doubt, I am open to suggestions.

p.s. On a final note of frustration I was in Las Vegas this weekend for a convention. Obviously the only thing on my mind was how I was going to get a run in so that the Cube's lead could look less embarrassing. I was staying at the Mandalin Bay (which by the way if you have never stayed in is HUGE and really nice). Being that it was Las Vegas and 105 degrees outside I thought I would suck it and run on the treadmill at the hotel gym (something which I find to be unbearable at best). I knew I had to get at least something in because there was no way the Cube was letting out and skipping a "long run" on a weekend. God forbid she upset old Hal. Turns out it cost 30 bucks to use the dumb gym even for hotel guests. I was like screw this I'll suck it up and run outside. So it's super hot and super dry out but I'm thinking ok Arts (I call myself Artie in my head, despite the fact that is and has never been my real name. Just a quick side note for all you (one) foreign readers). So I'm thinking ok Arts Let's Do The Damn Thing and run at least 2 miles in this desert heat. I get chugging along and manage to pull out a decent 3 miler despite the heat and obvious discomfort. I get home today and check the challenge website and come to find our little Pollo a la Barbacoa is smoking me by 10 miles. Anyway just a frustrating final note from this exhausted Pole.

Hope you all enjoyed my first guest post. I hope it was entertaining and somewhat enlightening to all the many (one) readers of A Cube, A Croat and a Chilena... Thank you and get those runs in.