Runnerville

In 2005 I zigged and zagged my way across the country, documenting the lifestyle and training of some of the top collegiate XC programs. chasingTRADITION was my first blogumentary, before I even knew what a blogumentary was. It was a lot of fun and - looking back - was probably the springboard to my career as a…whatever it is that I do.

chasingTRADITION was an experiment. I did some things well and some things poorly. I learned what worked and what didn’t. One thing that worked really well was giving Stamos an audience. Through his Outkicked! columns and Public Service Announcements, Stamos burst onto the scene. But his 15 minutes of fame expired with the NCAA XC Championships - also known as The End of chasingTRADITION. But Stamos and I stayed in touch. We wrote long letters. We sent text messages with smiley faces. We even clinked glassed at the LetsRun.com after party in New York City. And so it’s with great pride - and laughter - that I present to you:

The Return of Stamos! Read more…

In a series of photos showcasing “Olympic Training Towns,” Sports Illustrated gives us a few of pretty spectacular, running-related images:  The Churchville, NY facility used by Jen Stuczynski…

…a pair of Olympic hopefuls, and one guy with a punched ticket…

…and, the money shot: Mammoth Lakes, California.

Apologies for following one link-heavy post with another, but whoo-wee Mammoth Lakes looks nice.  Note the ability to pass on the tights and just go with shorts.

Big Money
The newest edition of “the world’s richest run”, the Zayed Marathon, will debut this weekend in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.  The 21km event is offering $300,000 to its champions and an additional $200K for a world record with an overall purse of $2,000,000.  Lornah Kiplgat and Samuel Wanjiru along with Paul Tergat head the fields. Now these are STAKES we’ve been talking about!

Athletics Canada on the Move, Eh?
Athletics Canada has decided, in cooperation with 1989 Road Athlete of the Year John Halvorsen and his ING Ottowa Marathon and the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, to make an attempt to reinvigorate Canadian marathoning at the highest level.

The Brojos at Their Best
Great to see Weldon and Robert bringing back The Week That Was (or will it soon be, “The Column Formerly Known as The Week That Was?) Thumbs down to USATF and a good little rant against race walking. Amen!

Boston Marathon Field Announced
Cheruiyot, Ivuti, Kwambi, and Baba round out an impressive field, but still overshadowed by London. Cheruiyot aiming to be first four-time winner from Kenya.

What a difference one day makes. Before Sunday’s men’s 800m dash, the rivalry between Nick Symmonds and Khadevis Robinson was nearly not existent. While a few knowledgeable individuals may have labeled the duo a quality tandem that could really make an impact on the world stage, few were pitting the two against each other.

Now, in less than four news cycles, Symmonds and Robinson are being touted as the greatest rivalry in our sport. Whether or not you agree with these two being matched up, I completely agree with the idea of creating rivalry in our sport. Any type of sport, anywhere in the world, thrives off of rivalry. Duke v. North Carolina in basketball, Boston v. New York in baseball, Chicago v. Green Bay in football. Match ups between rivals get the most media exposure each time they face off because of the great battles between these groups in the past and what fans hope to see the next time they face off. Read more…

In this week’s episode:

Jeremy Mosher goes into great detail.
Lauren Fleshman on soapbox, asks professional runners of the world to unite.
Matt Taylor on soapbox, asks everyone else in the world to call them professional.
Amby Burfoot gets smoked by Shalane. Talk about pedigree.
Toni Reavis is a proud papa (no, not in that way).
Chris Lear solicits help for his new gig as College Editor at Running Times.
Jay Johnson gives some shout-outs.

We’d love to hear from you. Call the comment line at 206.888.0346 or drop us line below.

[Music is “Sunflower” by one of my favorite new artists, Machelli. I love it when young artists embrace new media.]

Toni and Matt can say what they wish about Indoor Nationals and the ESPN coverage of the meet. But I have to admit: I came away nothing short of inspired. Sunday evening, I retired to my meditation room, turned on my little self-contained, gurgling rock fountain (just 39.99 from Ikea(TM) for a limited time) and put brush to rice paper (just 12.99 per roll at your local Target(TM) store).

Today, I finally emerged. The results? Strong to quite strong. If you didn’t have the chance to attend or tune in, put aside the naysayers, and read on.

Read more…

The Toni & Matt Show #4

Chris Lear joins Toni & Matt on Episode #4, without a doubt the best one so far. Not because of Chris (although he provides brilliant insight), but because of you - the listeners. Four audio comments made it into the conversation, which adds an entirely different dynamic to the show. If you have a question, comment, criticism, or suggestion, send it to 206.888.0346. Does that number scare you? Then record it as an mp3 file and email it to comments (at) runnerville (dot) com.

In this episode:

Impressions from US Indoors in Boston, MA
- Best races.
- Difference in atmosphere from Rbk Boston Indoor meet?
- Should World Indoor Champs stay on an annual cycle?
- Listener comment from Dwight.

Recap of US XC Champs in San Diego
- Ritz & Shalane dominate competition.
- San Diego shows itself off well.
- We need to package this event for the long-term.
- Listener comment from Tom Borish of TrackShark

Who Takes Performance Enhancing Drugs
- Listener comment from Joel asks Chris Lear about a comment he made referencing drug use of foreign athletes.
- Chris responds.
- Matt advocates for the devil.
- Toni stays mum.

A Message from Baghdad
- One of our growing legion of podcast listeners joins the conversation with a fascinating look at running in a war zone.
- Listener comment from Russell Stewart. Unreal.

“Spirit of the Marathon” Review
- Toni is lukewarm; prefers dodgeball and tag at recess, not “everyone is a winner.”

A Quick Look at the Women’s Oly Trials Marathon
- A run-down of top four or five contenders.
- Matt speaks with Terrence Mahon, then confuses his podcast host (Libsyn) with host of one of the world’s fastest half marathons (Lisbon. Toni laughs.
- Are Mammoth and Madison the new hotspots, and Schumacher and Mahon the new hot coaches?

One Minute Close Outs
- Toni previews the LA Marathon, which, apparently, still exists.
- Chris and Matt stir up old rivalries - Heps Weekend is Here!
- Georgetown and Villanova: the rivalry is back.
- USATF wants a new CEO by June 1st; hires consultancy to look outside of the sport (hooray!).

Call the comment line: 206.888.0346

[Music is “When We Say Goodnight” by Jonah Smith.]

With the second showing of “Spirit of the Marathon” this week, one is left with the impression that Katherine Switzer was the first woman to run the Boston Marathon. But as Craig Snapp of San Diego writes, there was one who came before; one who was left on the cutting room floor when “Spirit” was produced.

Each played a vital role in the development of women’s running. Bobbi Gibb showed by her solo efforts that the marathon distance was, in fact, no big deal for women. Katherine Switzer showed by her tenacity in the face of adversity that women could compete in more than the athletic arena. Her subsequent work in developing the Avon International Marathon series was a critical element in achieving a women’s Olympic Marathon in 1984. Both deserve our praise, but make no mistake - there remains a cool relationship between the camps of the two women. Craig’s revealing story is below. Read more…

…on Nintendo.

And I’m not impressed.

Konami recently announced a reincarnation of its wildly famous track and field game from the original Nintendo system. The game — called  New International Track and Field* — will be released in North America this summer for the Nintendo DS system, and will feature 15 classic Nintendo characters competing in over 20 standard track events.

I have a couple questions:

1. Will there be a Power Pad?  C’mon … the Pad was Wii 20 years before its time — a workout and entertainment all rolled into one. Nintendo Track & Field without the Power Pad is like Bonnie without Clyde … Bush without Cheney … Bershawn Jackson without headband…

2. Why not use actual track & field athletes? As much as I want to see Frogger break a world record in the javelin throw…  Why weren’t the IAAF or USATF banging down Konami’s door to get its athletes plastered all over this new game?  What if millions of kids could pick up a game with Powell or Wariner’s mugs on the cover in the same way they can with Manning or Wade?  Imagine what that would do for face recognition and new fan creation within the sport of track & field.  Seems like no-brainer marketing to me.

I’m not a video game nut, and I’m sorry, but New International Track & Field for Nintendo DS is certainly not going to make me a convert.

*is this name the best Konami could do?

According to French scientists, no one will ever again set a world record. According to me, that’s great for the sport. Okay, so French scientists didn’t say it quite like that and I don’t mean exactly what I said, but I needed to get your attention. This is extremely important.

I was recently browsing my website of choice - aljazeera.net - when I came across this article. It states:

Experts from France’s Institute for Biomedical and Epidemiological Research in Sport (IRMES) examined 3,263 world records in track and field, swimming, cycling, speed skating and weightlifting. The records spanned from 1896, when the modern Olympics was revived and accurate timekeeping began, through to 2007. From 1896 to 1968, excluding the two World Wars, when real international competition was impossible, world records were frequently and substantially smashed.

However after 1968, the pace of record-breaking slowed and, in some cases, stopped completely. As an example, Florence Griffith-Joyner’s 10.49 seconds for the women’s 100-metres, set in 1988, remains unchallenged to this day.

In other words, world records will continue to be broken, but by smaller and smaller increments. However, forty years from now, the paper suggests, we will hit a world record ceiling, a ceiling that will require us to change the way we measure times if we want to continue seeing world records.

“It means we can change the unit of measurement to take this into account, for instance using thousandths of a second for the 100m, hundredths of a second for the marathon, or grams for weightlifting, but then we might have to wait for half a century for the record to be broken,” the study’s author suggests.

Now here’s where it gets interesting. I hope you’ve been paying attention. Read more…