Photo and blog post by John HoffAs much as I enjoy running around the Jordan Pond for exercise--interrupted, from time to time, by some kind of interesting drama--I don't enjoy jogging in Minnesota's winter weather.
Thankfully, there is a great alternative to jogging outside in winter: on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, from November to March, you can run in the Metrodome for only $1. Click here for a website with more detailed info.
Last Tuesday was the first night of the season, and my very first night running in the dome. I've jogged for exercise a lot of different places, including...
...truck stop parking lots while out on the road, but this has to be one of the coolest places to run EVER. Where else can you run beneath banners of Minnesota sports hall of famers? (Hey, there's Carl Eller representing the Northside!) It's a little bit maddening to jog past locked up beverage coolers with their contents on display but there are water fountains and convenient rest rooms.
The people jogging there are the best of all: everybody from housewives to senior citizens to people who appear to be professional runners. There's always somebody you can overtake while running, but always somebody who can overtake you in return, so you're constantly gratified by small victories yet motivated by small defeats. The super fast runners go clockwise on the inside of the Metrodome concourse, while everybody else goes counter-clockwise on the broad outside.
I'm one of those bookworm types who doesn't care about sports at all, except for their economic and social impact. So as much as I revel in being an involved citizen of Minneapolis, this was actually my first time inside of the Metrodome. Standing on the concourse, looking down on the field, I thought to myself: So this is where it all happens!
By which I meant: Here it is where, in that movie "The Postman" with Kevin Costner, legend has it the "Restored United States Government" convened and, inter alia, revived the United States Post Office to reestablish order in world torn asunder by apocalypse.
Click here for a clip of "The Postman."
4 comments:
Is this post your aliby?
Emergency services responded Friday night to a hit-and-run accident in which a driver knocked over a fuel pump at a Chevron gas station in Spenard.
Anchorage Police Department Sgt. Michael Kerle says shortly before 6 p.m., a truck driven by 41-year-old John Hoff spun out of control then hit and knocked the gas pump onto the ground, slamming it into a nearby minivan.
“I just heard the car hit the gas pump – boom! And he ran away,” said the minivan’s driver, Boun Thanh Kanhalikham.
Flames were spewing 5 to 10 feet out of the gas pump, which was on fire for 10 minutes before it was extinguished by firefighters. No one was injured.
Hoff continued driving away and left the scene, but witnesses got his truck's description and license-plate number. Police were able to catch Hoff Downtown.
“He's not a person, he's some kind of animal,” Kanhalikham said. “Maybe he was drinking or something, I don't know. He ran away from his problem.”
Hoff is charged with driving under the influence, leaving the scene of an accident, criminal mischief and reckless endangerment. His bail has been set at $15,000 cash, plus a third-party custodian.
(Sarcasm font)
Oh, you got me.
And I also lied to the police in Anchorage, Alaska about my age.
By the way: Alibi.
Please note the spelling.
I went to "Fun-derdome" again on Thursday night and they were piping in music over the audio system while we jogged. An INCREDIBLE bargain for only a buck!
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