The new face of Western States 100!
The Western States Endurance Run Board just announced their selection of a new race director to replace the departing Greg Soderlund.
As of today, all the details I have are:
The WS Board is pleased to announce the selection of Craig Thornley of Eugene, OR, for the RD position.
Copper thieves hit the American River Parkway Foundation’s Volunteer Center last night.
The theft knocked out the power and left significant damage at the building near the entrance to William Pond Park. No word yet as to the price tag for repairs.
I’ve never been a fan of wearing headphones while running. I’ve had bad experiences in races with other runners getting in my way because they are isolated by the music they’re listening to.
It turns out that headphones aren’t just annoying–they can be deadly!
The number of headphone-wearing pedestrians seriously injured or killed near roadways and railways has tripled in six years, according to a U.S. study.
Read more about it at Business Week.
Time to plan for 2012!
I’ve just added a bunch of races for 2012 to the Calendar of Events, so start planning your year now!
If you are a race director, be sure to check the accuracy of my information. If your event is not there, be sure to let me know!
Lloyd Levine
(Editor’s Note: This is a follow-up to two recent, data filled articles that Lloyd Levine wrote on the status of American marathon running. You can find them here.)
The Olympic Trials have come and gone, and on the Men’s side we had what is being touted as a “record breaking” race. Unfortunately, the records that were broken were soft and old. The race was interesting and exciting, but rather than illustrate a resurgence in U.S. running, it illustrated how far behind the rest of the world the United States really is.
(A personal note: I do not mean to be negative, just realistic. I am a fan of running. I love running and watching races. I love Kenyan runners, Ethiopian runners, and U.S. Runners, as well as runners from many other countries. I like good races, fast races, and good stories. I would love to see the U.S. be competitive with the rest of the best runners in the world. I am not anti-American runner; I am pro-realism.)
I was standing on my driveway yesterday morning, watching a neighbor bundled up against the cold as she minced down the street in her new Vibram Five Fingers and remembered a friend telling me about the mountain of them available at the REI Used Gear Sale.
“They all have a little tag on them where you can see why they were returned,” he said. “Almost all of them said “Uncomfortable.””
You either love them or mock them, but they are everywhere. Last time I was at REI, I noticed that there is now even a “dress shoe” available in the Five Finger style.
You are probably by now aware that the Olympic Marathon trials were held in Houston this past Saturday.
During your long run this morning, you may have asked your running buddies something like, “I wonder how that woman from our club did? I think her name is Susan. Or maybe it’s Suzanne. I’m not quite sure but, you know, she’s has kind of brown hair and is kind of skinny? You know who I’m talking about?”
No. I don’t know, but I did look through the results and tried to pick out as many locals as I could find and collected their results here.
Desi in the lead! (Photo by Stephanie Ward)
Almost instantly, USATF”s official live update site has been overwhelmed. It’s here if you want to join in the fun.
Flotrack has mile by mile updates that you can follow here for the men and here for the women.
Letsrun has an official Olympic Trials Marathon discussion thread here.
It is one of my core beliefs that very few runners ever achieve all they are capable of.
There are many reasons for this, but often it’s simply that people don’t realize that they are capable of doing more and going faster.
Running is one of the few things in life that consistently and generously rewards you for diligent, and intelligent effort.
Of course, no matter how hard you train, to be an elite runner you need to have some talent. But how will you know whether you have the talent unless you push yourself a bit?
There are many exciting stories coming out of the Olympic Trials Marathon, but this has to be one of my favorites.
500 channels and no live coverage
This year, for the first time in US history, the Olympic Trials Marathon, for both men and women, will be held at the same time and at the same venue. This is a terrific opportunity to showcase our sport!
Sadly, Unless you’ve got a ticket to Houston, or are unlucky enough to live there, the only television coverage you’ll get to see of the Olympic Trials marathon will be a two-hour, tape delayed version at 3:00 PM Eastern Time on NBC.
Take out the 30 minutes of commercials, and that leaves about 90-minutes to cover a nearly three hour event. Take out the required 20-minutes of athlete interviews and jibber-jabber, and that leaves maybe 70-minutes of actual running.
