Things to come
House Hunting Story #4: So there is this house that I've always admired ever since I first saw it around the corner from the IAHC back in 1999. Well the house is for sale. I came across it by accident because it wasn't in an area I was looking or in my price range. Fortunately, since Realtors are bad at urban geography, one of the search engines listed Mayfair as part of Portage Park. ZipRealty was able to provide details on how long it was on the market.
I asked my agent to schedule a showing and we took a look. Their realtor, Mr Dublin, was friendly and chatted up the features of the home. This was a bit unnecessary because unless you are blind, the hardwood floors, hearth style fireplace, original woodwork and pocket doors speak for themselves. But he did say something that bothered me. He said that they considered the age of the building and work that still might need to be done on the place -- roof, siding, windows -- in the asking price. Except that the place was on the market for nearly 100 days before it dropped $20K and that was probably only because no one was showing any interest in the place at all. I'm sure if I were the seller, I'd want as much money for a place that size as I could get, especially since the lot is large, the house is big and the location is great. I imagine Mr Dublin and the Seller having conversations that go something like this:
Mr Dublin: well no one came to see the place again, are you sure you won't consider reducing the price?
Seller: no, it's a big house worth $600K.
Mr Dublin: not in today's market.
Seller: just show them the remodeled kitchen.
Mr Dublin: you really don't want to sell your place do you?
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An ex-girlfriend qualified for Boston three weeks after we ran the Chicago Marathon last year. I'm happy for her of course. Her passion for running is almost as intense as mine though she didn't start marathoning until last year and on her 4th attempt she managed to do what I haven't achieved in 20 tries.
It would be easy to cop out and claim that the 30 extra minutes females get over their male counter parts in the Boston Qualification times is what led to her getting in. But the truth is that 30 minutes is given for a reason: on average, most females take about 30 minutes longer than males to run the same distance, Paula Radcliffes and Deanna Kastor aside. Science has shown that, on average, females are better distance runners and males are better speed runners.
No she really worked hard this summer after being injured last year and just missing her BQ time in St Louis and Chicago this year. But it does kinda make me feel like I squandered all my opportunities to BQ and am suddenly experiencing a down cycle in my running ability. I seem to have lost both my speed and endurance lately and don't know if they are temporarily MIA or gone for good.
