Thursday, October 21, 2010

What You Missed While You Were Running

Since I started working again I've had much less time to surf the web and read random articles of interest. This week though, I've come across a few that are quite interesting and I thought that I would share them with you today since chances are, at least a few of you don't get as much time to surf the web as you'd like. The first few are running related but head to the end if you want something else.

1. Well, the first few sentences of this article were wrong (it sold out within hours, not days) but THIS is an interesting article about the idea of tightening the qualifying standards for women to run Boston. Since women made up 42% of Boston finishers this year, it would be interesting to get Kathrine Switzer's view point on this as the first woman to wear a number at Boston.

2. In response to the swift Boston sell-out, runners and organizers voiced their frustrations and it sounds while Guy Morse was quoted in the article above saying that he didn't foresee any changes to the qualifying standards in the near future, THIS article says differently. Guess we'll see next Spring.

3. If you've ever wondered how Mary Wittenberg (President of the New York Road Runners) spends her Sunday, HERE is your answer.

4. THIS article appeared in the NY Times the other day and explores what it takes to be an elite runner.

5. The Marathon as we know it began as a celebration in honor of Pheidippides who ran from Marathon, Greece to Athens to announce that the outnumbered Greek soldiers had overcome a Persian invasion. On October 31st, runners will retrace his steps in the Athens Classic Marathon. The organizers and the country, which has been hit extremely hard by the down economy, is HOPING for a strong showing this year.

6. A HALF-MARATHON in Wales over the weekend ended up being 211 yards too short. Instead of 13.2miles, it was just under 13 (and this wasn’t due to running the tangents). Needless to say, some runners were not very happy and the race organizers have a bit of explaining to do.

7. THIS one is not at all running related. A 20-year old woman named Marisol Valles Garcia is the new chief of police in the Mexican town of Praxedis G. Guerrero. Apparently no one else would take the job. She is one courageous woman.

8. This last article is just funny and odd. Joel Stein writes a weekly column in Time Magazine. His LATEST piece explores make-up for men.

9. Zachary Cohen explores new marketing techniques being utilized by companies on Twitter to target potential customers. Has THIS happened to you?

My run this morning was pretty good. I did just over 4 miles and the last 1+ mile was the best, I was really cruising. It was really foggy out, so much so that I couldn't even see the outline of Lady Liberty, and quite windy once I hit the promenade. I typically hug the rail on the promenade and could see the dark water swirling from the strong current this morning. I made sure to take time for a longer warm up this morning and my left quad felt great today - definitely not wonky like yesterday! Lesson definitely learned!

Have you read any really interesting articles this week?
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today's workout -
4 mile run
stretching before and after

6 comments:

Alisa said...

Thanks for all these articles! I don't really have a position on the BQ thing. Since I'm not close to ever qualifying I don't really think I have a right to say one way or the other. All I know is that it seems to be MUCH harder for guys to qualify than girls. My hubby is fast and he's still 9 minutes away from a BQ. One thing I will say is that I didn't realize until recently that you can use your qualifying time for two Boston Marathons that seems wrong. I think it should be one BQ = one Boston.

Lindsay said...

Wow great finds! I'm off to read over half of these links, aka productivity at work ;)

Kruns2 said...

Isn't it SO nuts that Boston filed up in one day? I wouldn't be opposed to some changes although I know that can be hard for traditionalists. Thanks for all the other interesting reads as well!

RunToTheFinish said...

what great links!! I have been reading a lot about boston and it's very interesting

Lisa said...

So glad you're all loving the articles!

Middle Name Marie said...

I've been following the Boston Brouhaha. Crazy stuff