I can't stop thinking about this ad from ChatGPT

My best friend since third grade Chad has encouraged me many times over the years to start running.  Chad knows something about that, being an active runner and also the veteran of numerous full marathons and countless shorter races.  Running is how he and his wife first met, during a running ministry at their church.  So maybe it's something I should have looked into a long time ago already.

Now, I can run very fast over short distances.  Maybe even faster than a lot of seasoned pros.  It's just the way I'm built and it came in handy a few times when I was at the state department of mental health.  But perhaps running a mile or so a day, if that much?  Nah, that just hasn't seemed feasible.  I have harbored doubts all this time and it didn't seem that anything could dispel them.

But then I saw this commercial for ChatGPT that aired a few times over the weekend during the NCAA basketball tournament...

Now I can't stop thinking about getting a start at running.  It seems pretty easy enough.  Maybe I needed something to synopsize the experience, in bite-size morsels of text, accompanied by epic strains of Minnie Riperton's "Les Fleurs" (a song that is stuck in my head now).

This is the very first commercial for an AI that I've seen.  I'm sure there have probably been at least a few others already but I'm not much of a television watcher, apart from my set being almost constantly tuned to nostalgia channel MeTV.

I might at last start running for exercise and fun.  There is a nice straight road that goes past my house, and every so often I see others walking and running on it.  Might as well take advantage of it too.  I turn 52 next week (though the kids I work with keep telling me that I look 35), I don't think that's too old to start anything new.

(Speaking of which, I'm considering visiting a new game store nearby tonight.  Tuesdays are when they have people teaching newcomers how to play Magic: The Gathering.  I know nothing about that game other than it uses lots of collectible cards but I'm feeling a curiosity to educate myself on what it's about.)

 

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Chad races 2 miles, eats 12 donuts and runs back. Did he hurl?!?

For the past few months my lifelong bud Chad Austin has been talking about running the Krispy Kreme Challenge. It's an now-annual charity race that takes place around the campus of North Carolina State University in Raleigh.

Here's the deal: start at the bell tower on N.C. State's campus, run 2 miles to the nearest Krispy Kreme donut shop, devour a dozen original glazed donuts, and then race back to the bell tower. All within the span of one hour.

As you can no doubt imagine, people blow chunks all over the place on the return leg of this oxymoronic endurance test.

So, how did Chad do? Could he go the distance without adding his own decoration to the landscape? Here is his full report on this year's Krispy Kreme Challenge. And you can also read about what happened from Chad's friend Ashley, who not only ran but also has gory full-color pictures chronicling the gastrointestinal aftermath.

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Poignant report by Chad Austin on the 2007 Chicago Marathon

You may have heard about the 2007 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon that took place this past weekend. Unfortunately the race made very sad news because of the record-high temperature that resulted in the death of one runner and about 300 others having to be hospitalized for heat-related illnesses. Conditions became so severe that the marathon was ultimately canceled before everyone had a chance to finish.

My life-long friend Chad Austin was one of the participants. He was able to complete the race, but not before becoming an eyewitness to some of the heartbreak that happened during what should have been a triumphant event...

After plodding along for the final six miles, I finally turned the last corner and with the finish line in sight I heard a firefighter or police officer yelling to the runners, urging them to walk, saying "The race has been cancelled." What did that mean, I wondered? Did I hear him right? Well, stubbornly I told myself I didn't run 26 miles to walk the final two-tenths. That's if you consider the pace I was going at that point actually running. So I decided to finish what I started and run the rest of the way in. And making that final turn is when I saw my first runner collapsed on the ground. Medics were tending to him, giving him water.

Click here for the full report that Chad filed on his blog about this year's Chicago Marathon.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Chad Schieber and to the hundreds who were injured during this year's marathon.

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