Sacramento Running News

Pistorius in 2007 (Image courtesy of Wikipedia)

While on this very day, Oscar Pistorius will be running in the 400 meter semi-finals of the World Championships, over at the Science of Sport, Ross Tucker continues to dig into the research on whether those’ prosthetic lower legs give him an unfair advantage. (Hold onto your hat! Tucker posts five lengthy and interesting analyses of the science and politics.)

While Pistorius won the right to compete in the World Championships through a legal appeal, I have my doubts about whether he (or anyone else on these prostheses) will be allowed to compete in open competition for very much longer.

I have always viewed cross-training as something to help prevent injury. Some claim it can make you faster. The science on this has been sketchy at best, and some new studies (as reported by the New York Times) do not really clarify anything.

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Every year, around late June, I begin noticing a special kind of cyclist on the American River Parkway. Their typical equipment is spotlessly new or, as often, coated with a year’s worth of garage dust.

These riders are strangely intense–hitting curves at speeds testing their abilities, their faces in full grimace. Runners, leisurely cyclists, and elderly bird watchers are often shouted off the pavement as these frenzied cyclists whoosh past.

Usually, after several encounters with these strangely intense riders, I slap my head in remembrance. Eppies! Of course.

And probably adding to their intensity is each day’s installment of Le Tour, waiting at home on the DVR.

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