With fireworks and the beat of 2,008 drummers, the lighting of the Olympic flame kicked off the official Opening Ceremonies for the 29th Olympiad today, widely considered one of the most compelling, complex and criticized Olympics in history. China welcomed the more than 10,500 hopeful athletes, who will compete over the next 17 days, from 205 countries at the ceremonies as an estimated crowd of 91,000 jammed into the National "Bird's Nest" Stadium.
Now if you're like me, you'll be trying to catch as much of the action as you can. I know I'll be tuning in for the swimming and gymnastic competitions…Michael Phelps is virtually assured of at least a handful of gold medals this go around, while Shawn Johnson, who happens to be our hometown favorite, is the favored all-around contender herself. I'm also eagerly anticipating the track & field events, especially the men's marathon event that will be hosted on Saturday, Aug 23. Go for it, Ryan!
Though these events are taking place literally half a world away, that doesn't mean you can't be part of the action. If you are looking for a good way to celebrate the Olympic kickoff, might I suggest one of Non-Runner Nancy's newest virtual races...the official 8-on-the-8th Olympic Race. That's right, you too can be an "olympic" athlete! Be sure to join us in honoring the Olympic Games by running 8 miles today, all while in your own neighborhood and at your own pace. I took the challenge myself and logged 8 miles myself (8.3 miles to be precise) running through a challenging stretch of hills I've now officially dubbed "The Great Wall of…um...Iowa". Yeah, I am a bit sore, but it was well worth the effort for the cause. Thanks to Nancy for putting together another fine virtual race!
Olympics Coverage
For those interested, Wired's Wiki is compiling a list of places where users can watch the Beijing Olympics online. This includes NBC, the BBC and YouTube, though access will vary by country. There's also a link on the right hand side of the Beijing 2008 official site…just look for the box that says Olympic Video.
Also, for a short but detailed program guide of NBC's expected nightly broadcasts, check out the Guide to Olympics Broadcasts.
Best of luck to all participating Olympic athletes (both official and virtual)!
Found this interesting article over at the New York Times...I wonder if I could score a pair of these for my next marathon?
Later this month, Ryan Hall and Deena Kastor of the United States plan to begin testing the latest design from the distance-running equivalent of Manolo Blahnik. Their shoemaker is a Japanese master craftsman whose soles are renowned not for space-age gels or air bladders but for the gripping properties of rice husks.
The rice-husk shoes are custom made for a handful of elite runners by Hitoshi Mimura, 59, a former marathon runner who is a master craftsman for Asics, the Japanese sporting goods manufacturer. The husks, which are ground and imbedded in the rubber soles of racing flats, are designed to absorb water and to provide up to 10 percent better traction along the 26.2-mile marathon course at the Beijing Olympics in August. Various shoes made by Mimura have been worn by three recent Olympic marathon champions. His footwear is known for its minimal weight, cushioning and efficiency at dissipating heat, which could play a vital role in the expected hot, humid and polluted conditions of Beijing.
Marathon running does not exactly produce the same kind of skidding as Nascar racing. Still, the Beijing course could become slippery from rain, slick with humidity, slithery at water stops and misting stations, and glassy along a four-mile stretch of stones that have a feel similar to marble.
"The Olympics are the epitome of running," said Kastor, a bronze medalist in the women’s marathon at the 2004 Athens Olympics who, like Hall, is sponsored by Asics. "There is a very small margin of error in preparing and racing. You try not to leave any stone unturned. Those fractions of a second add up." Less than a handful of ground husks are used in each shoe. If a husk becomes dislodged, the resulting tiny crater is meant to suction water and to provide a reliable grip on the road surface. Kastor said she liked the fact that the shoes were also eco-friendly.
Shoes designed by Mimura, officially known as wet-grip soles, were on the feet of Mizuki Noguchi of Japan when she ran through the sometimes marbled and wet streets of Athens to win the women’s marathon at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He also made the footwear for Stefano Baldini of Italy, the 2004 men’s Olympic marathon champion, and the racing shoes — without rice husks — for Naoko Takahashi of Japan, who won the women’s marathon at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Noguchi was quoted in a Japanese news report as saying that she slept with the rice-husk shoes next to her pillow the night before the 2004 Olympic victory. At the finish line in Athens, she took off one of her racing flats and kissed it. Later, she called Mimura the "god of shoes."
Last fall, Noguchi said that she would wear an updated version of her "magic shoes" to defend her title in Beijing. Hall, the American, read a news-agency account of her remarks and became intrigued. This spring, running in a different model of Asics shoes, he finished fifth at the London Marathon and joined the list of marathon medal contenders at the Summer Games. "I'm looking for a shoe to get excited about," Hall said. "It’s kind of like when you’re dating a girl. For some, it takes two days for them to know that’s the person they’re going to marry. For some, it takes four years. You’ve got to believe in your shoes. I’m as curious as everyone else about what makes this shoe so special."
Hall and Kastor said they planned to give the rice-husk shoes a thorough test drive to measure cushioning and stability. If they are not satisfied, they will run the Olympic marathon in more generic Asics models. Even under the best of circumstances, marathon runners face sore and swollen feet, blisters and the occasional wandering toenail.
Mimura, the shoemaker, is something of a legend in running circles in Japan, a marathon-mad country. A former marathoner whose best time was 2 hours 28 minutes, he went to work for Asics 41 years ago, as an 18-year-old, gluing together the upper and lower portions of running shoes.
Kastor met him for a fitting during the 2001 world track championships in Edmonton, Alberta. Using a tape measure, Mimura spent 20 minutes measuring her feet, Kastor said, including the length and circumference of each toe, the width of her heel, the length of her Achilles’ tendon and the width of her foot at six or seven spots. "I didn’t know you could get that many measurements for a foot," Kastor said. "But the shoes he made fit like a glove."
At his office in Japan, Mimura uses a more high-tech method — three-dimensional computer models — to measure the feet of Noguchi, the reigning women’s Olympic marathon champion. Four or five times a year, he measures her feet at 13 various points. For Beijing, Mimura has made racing shoes for Noguchi that weigh a scant 3.85 ounces — compared with 11 or 12 ounces for an off-the-rack jogging shoe.
To view the Olympic course, Mimura went to China in April for the Beijing Marathon. He found the course to be flat but composed of various surfaces, including stone (that could cause slipping); newly paved asphalt (which will increase the heat); and concrete that appeared harder than Japanese concrete (perhaps because Beijing’s main roads are meant to accommodate tanks and other military vehicles).
To combat these conditions, Mimura said he had designed the rice-husk soles with a polyester upper layer meant to aid ventilation while resisting dust or sand that could irritate a runner’s feet. He hopes to reduce the temperature inside the shoes from about 109 degrees to 99 degrees. For cushioning, Mimura has installed a sponge mid-sole that he calls "light and bouncy." He has also engineered an innersole made of cotton and polyester that is intended to wick moisture produced by sweating and by dripping water poured on the runner’s heads.
"Samurai cannot fight without their swords," Mimura said. "It is the same for runners and their shoes."
It’s been nearly six months since Ryan Shay collapsed and died 5.5 miles into the Men’s Olympic Marathon Trials. Leaving his wife, Alicia, a widow just months after their marriage, that day literally sent shock waves through the running community. Recent autopsy results said Ryan died of an irregular heartbeat due to an enlarged heart. He had been cleared to compete by doctors who knew about his condition and was a contender in the 26.2-mile trials.
For Alicia, the past six months have been a period of mourning while figuring out what to do next. You see, Alicia and Ryan Shay shared many dreams as a newlywed couple. One of them was qualifying for the Olympics together. But now, she has been left to fulfill this dream on her own.
On Sunday, Shay faces her first career race since Ryan's death; the Cardinal Invitational 10,000m in Stanford, California, where she once broke the collegiate record. And providing a recent abdominal muscle problem doesn't worsen, it will take her another crucial step closer towards the Olympic dream. But this time, that step will ultimately come without Ryan's supportive sideline encouragement she used to enjoy.
"It is so difficult," says Shay. "What I'm coming to realize is that I miss Ryan so much I can't even explain it. I miss my best friend... (but) I have to realize my life is not over. I have to take the strength he left me and the love and the amazing time I had with him. I believe everyone has a wonderful purpose in life. That's what gives me hope and strength every day."
Her plans now carry her forward, towards running at the U.S. Olympic track and field trails in June in Eugene, Oregon. Here she will hopefully get the chance to earn her berth into this summer's Olympics, and grab hold of that dream that Ryan and her once shared.
Shay says, "I believe the Lord uses these situations to help people and be a source of strength to people. I don't believe Ryan died for that purpose. I believe God knows the number of our days, and Ryan passed on."
"I hope that through his death other people take away the reality that our life can be short. Ryan lived with so much passion and love in his heart. My prayer is that people will take that into their own life."
Ryan Hall, olympic marathon contender, has obviously been busy since qualifying for the games. Yet that hasn't slowed his pursuits or ambitions in becoming involved in worthwhile causes. Nor has it lessened his opportunities for where to spend his energies.
Here is a recent and inspiring excerpt from his elite athlete blog over at TheFinalSprint.com which just solidifies for me what a remarkable and Godly runner Ryan truly is:
The Olympics is not only about unity but unity with a purpose. The Olympic slogan for the upcoming games is "One World One Dream." The organizers describe this slogan as representing the Olympic spirit of "Unity, Friendship, Progress, Harmony, Participation and Dream" furthermore it stands for "the common wishes of people all over the world, inspired by the Olympic ideals, to strive for a bright future of Mankind."
A brighter future for Mankind is something we can all long for. As an athlete in these upcoming games, I hope that I can carry out these Olympic ideals and contribute to the progress of Mankind. The great thing about the Olympics is it gives athletes the opportunity to use their success to help others. Since qualifying for the games, it has been incredible for me to have opportunities to get involved with so many great causes. The most difficult part was deciding where to spend my energy.
When I look at how I want to use my running for the "bright future of Mankind" I think of what are the biggest needs in our world today and how can I use the gifts God has given me to help out. When I was approached by World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization working to fight world poverty and injustice, I already had a heart to help the poor but I didn’t truly realize the full extent of world poverty.
For example, I learned that half of the people in the world, nearly 3 billion people, live on less than two dollars a day. Just yesterday, I was doing my easy 35 minute afternoon run and thinking about how every three seconds a child under the age of five dies as a direct result of poverty. It has finally hit me that we have a major problem here. I know that a major problem can’t be fixed overnight and I realize that I am just one man but if I can use the gifts God has given me to feed one more mouth that otherwise would not be feed, then it is worth it. One of my favorite verses from Message version of Romans simple says, "strength is for service." I am convicted that whatever strength I have been given is not strictly for my enjoyment, but also carries with it the responsibility to carry out the Olympic spirit of providing a bright future for all humanity.
I have no doubt that God has many more plans for this young man and his pursuits. I look forward to hearing more about his efforts, both on his quest for Olympic gold and for the causes more precious than gold that he and his wife are embarking upon.
Below, Ryan reflects during a training run around Big Bear Lake earlier this spring. This is a great little video, much like all the videos he has done so far. Enjoy.
Stay tuned for my 100th blog posting later this week...
The Mens Olympic Marathon in Beijing is fast approaching. In little over a day Ryan Hall, arguably one of the most talented athletes this particular field has seen in many years, will be representing the US in the final event. Now, I'm sure there are those who will agree the American’s haven’t exactly led the world in competitive distance running in recent years. Though I'll give Meb Keflezighi credit for taking home the silver in 2004, our showing hasn't been very strong since Frank Shorter won the event in 1972. However, Ryan could change all of that if all goes well. Honestly, he may have already changed it, but just maybe the average joe will finally take notice.
One of the most unique characteristics about Ryan, obviously other than his stunning running ability, is his outspoken faith in Jesus Christ and about how his faith is why he runs. He places his faith above everything else he has accomplished in his life. Ryan was recently featured on the cover of the September 2008 Runner's World magazine and talked about his "run for glory" in the marathon in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing in the article The Power And the Glory. It's a good read, if you haven't already seen it.
Perhaps the most curious piece of the story is a picture of Ryan with a Halloween pumpkin he had carved when he was only a teen. The pumpkin had the Olympic rings carved into it, and above them the date...2008. That boyhood dream will obviously come true this weekend. And whether he wins a medal in Beijing or not, I feel God will continue to work in and through this young man's life. And that's just as exciting as watching the race on Sunday.
The Olympics are finally over…which means, I can finally get some sleep! I can't tell you how many times my wife and I stayed up to catch the memorable moments, many times live, on NBC. Very fortunate for us, we happened to check television coverage while out camping Saturday evening (we have a small tv/dvd combo for the kids) and were surprised to find the men's marathon had just begun. That prompted many in our group to pull up camping chairs to watch the action as it unfolded. And what a great race it was. I will be honest, I'll miss the Olympics and its seemingly endless camaraderie among athletes. Only about 18 months until the Winter Games!
As mentioned above, we spent the weekend out at the lake camping with family and friends. It was just a wonderful time to relax and enjoy the cooler weather we are being blessed with. The kids had a great time as well, as they made a endless mural of colorful chalk drawings along the entire length of road in front of our campers.
Gearing up for Farm Wars this weekend! What began as a simple idea months ago to get some of the guys together, has expanded into a two-day paintballing extravaganza. We'll be camping at a friend's 200+ acre farm while spending the days and evenings engaged in a host of games of skill and strategy.
After dodging paintballs this coming weekend, I'll be teaming up with a friend on Sunday to run in the GAAR (Great Ames Adventure Race). This race will put us together in a canoe for three miles, then on the bikes for 15 more miles, while following it all up with a 5K around the park. Look for a race report afterwards...
Despite warm, humid conditions, Sammy Wanjiru of Kenya obliterated the field and the Olympic marathon record with his 2:06:30 finish on Sunday. This was Kenya's first gold medal in the event. In line with the favorable cooler weather conditions, the lead guys were flying at world record pace at the 10k mark...crazy in the Olympics.
In an impressive showing at his first Olympic marathon - mind you this is only his fourth marathon ever - Ryan Hall finished in a very respectable 2:12:33, placing him 10th among the 98 participants. Here's a quick interview with Ryan where he provides some insight into his racing strategy and how this particular race played out for him. He also discusses a little of his future outlook on the sport.
Defending champion Robert Cheruiyot of Kenya won his fourth Boston Marathon on Monday, with Ethiopia's Dire Tune taking the women's crown in the event's tightest finish ever. Cheruiyot, the first Kenyan man to win four Boston Marathons after victories in 2003, 2006 and 2007, had an official time of 2:07:46 and followed by Abderrahime Bouramdane in second place and Khalid El Boumlili in third. It was the 16th time since 1991 that a Kenyan has won the world's oldest annually contested marathon.
"The course is so tough, so it feels great to me," he told a news conference after winning the $150,000 winner's prize and becoming only the fourth man to win four Boston Marathons. Cheruiyot also earned a likely chance to represent Kenya at the Beijing Olympics this summer.
The real drama was in the women's field, where Tune and Russia's Alevtina Biktimirova battled shoulder-to-shoulder through the final stages with both runners sprinting ahead of the other as they neared the finish line. Tune ended up winning in finishing in 2:25:25, just two seconds ahead of Biktimirova.
A (not so?) surprising face in crowd was Lance Armstrong this year, his first Boston race. Hearing different stories about Heartbreak Hill during his training for the marathon, Armstrong mentioned after the race that some runners had told him it would be much easier than he should expect. Apparently, he found it a different story by race end.
"They were wrong," Armstrong said shortly after finishing his first Boston Marathon on Monday 2:50:58. Heartbreak Hill, the last in a series of hills between miles 18 and 21, is a key test for runners nearing the end of the up and down course. The first of the hills was the worst, Armstrong said, and the heartbreaker lived up to its name.
Armstrong said he planned to run Boston again, though he added he’s too busy with other things to get more serious about running. "It is a hobby, it keeps me fit on a daily basis, it keeps me inspired and motivates me to go out and run," he said.
Armstrong added he regrets not training harder when he’s suffering in the middle of a race. "Every time I come out here, I swear to myself I’m going to train harder for the next one," he said. "But I never do."
Ryan Hall, who won the U.S. Olympic marathon trials this past fall in New York, will be testing himself at the London Marathon this Sunday on his way to Bejing.
Astoundingly, this is only his third marathon. He made his debut by finishing seventh at last year's Flora London Marathon, then went on to steamroll the field and the hills in Central park on his way to a trials record victory on November 4th.
Hall, who has lived at altitude (7,000 feet above sea level at Big Bear Lake, in the San Bernadino Mountains) since he was 3 years old, thinks he discovered his talent late. "My very first run was 15 miles around the lake," Hall said. "You would think I would have known I could be a distance runner."
After twice winning the California state cross-country championships in high school, Hall went on to Stanford in search of his Olympic dream. But, in the process leaving his close-knit family of five siblings, he began to struggle with results, weight gain and depression. He quit Stanford for one academic quarter and regrouped on long forest runs with his father, drawing strength from his deep Christian faith and family. He then returned to become the runner-up at the 2003 N.C.A.A. cross-country championships and won the 2005 championship at 5,000 meters.
"I think what I've learned from having success in high school and losing it all in college, it taught me you can't make your life successful based only on athletics," Hall said.
He learned that lesson painfully at the trials. He had trained with Shay in Mammoth, Calif., and he and his wife Sara were teammates at Stanford with Shay’s wife, Alicia. Hall was ecstatic after crossing the finish line first. Fifteen minutes later, he was overcome with grief. He and Sara stayed with Alicia Shay in January in Flagstaff, Ariz., where they trained and coped together. Sara, a 5,000- and 1,500-meter runner, will compete at the track trials in June with Alicia. Hall keeps a picture of Shay in the bible he carries with him.
This Sunday's event is his last big race before the Olympics. Apparently, he feels he needs this short-term goal to help gauge his training against some of the world's top talent later this summer.
"I needed something else to be excited about," Hall said Wednesday in London. "You could go crazy thinking about it for six months."
Well, today marks my 100th blog post for the Pursuit of Runningness. It's rather funny...I suppose if you would have asked me a year ago what a blog was, I'm not quite sure I could have provided you with an accurate answer. However, since starting this blog last fall I've rapidly learned what this resource is and can do. The blog has allowed me a chance to connect with friends, family, and new running acquaintances, while also allowing me to provide some plausibly interesting and individualistic commentary on life's adventures...primarily through the focus of running and faith. And although I've occasionally found myself stumbling here and there (I'll plainly admit, my writing skills lack), I've come to realize now the outreach and influence that blogging is capable of. And I am ultimately thankful for the ability to have this freedom, not to mention the relationships it has generated.
However, today isn't about a bloggy, journalistic celebration. Because the blog will continue on, much like my running and my faith. Instead, this 100th post is devoted to a vision of combining these two in a more unique way. It's about running for something.
Up until recently, you couldn't have expected me to believe that I will be running in one of the grandest of all marathons to be held later this year...the ING New York Marathon. But what started as a improbable dream has become one of the truest of all running realities for me this spring. That's when I'd learned ING would be accepting me as a sponsored runner for their November event. Admittedly, it gave me more than just goosebumps…it made me realize how blessed I am to be able to run in something I'd always hoped for. To be honest, the ability to run this race has been a longtime dream-in-making for this aging runner. And I know it will be something I cherish for many years to come. But competing in an event of its magnitude has recently led me to consider the question...why me, why now?
I mean, I have been relatively happy running in the Midwest up until now. My typical marathon circuit has consisted of trading off between Grandmas Marathon in MN and the Des Moines Marathon in my hometown. So why do I feel as though everything has effortlessly worked out for me to go to this fall? For example, take the totally unexpected sponsored entry, the cheap airfare we found for my wife and I, the discounted hotel accomodations (cheap for NYC standards) just mere blocks away from where I'll catch a bus to the starting line, as well as my wife's unexpected but totally enthusiastic response of "we're going!" when it all started going down...it just all seems to be fitting some sort of a plan. And although it seems beyond my comprehension at times, I honestly feel God has had a purpose for my participation from the start. I know He wants to use this race for His good.
As you have seen more than once on my blog, I've been following Ryan Hall's story for quite some time now. Ryan is a very gifted athlete who won last fall's 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials Marathon and will be racing the men's marathon event at the Bejing Olympics this summer. He also happens to be a man of deep faith and a firm believer of using the gifts God has given us to make a difference. Recently, Ryan and his wife teamed up with World Vision as a way to generate attention and raise funds to help support children and families in AIDS impacted communities in Africa. World Vision happens to be a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to provide things like: clean water, health care, nutritious food, education, and economic opportunities. Their Team World Vision organization has provided a simple way of giving everyday athletes the ability to reach beyond their own goals to where help is needed most.
In 1-John 3:18 it says, "let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and truth." Now, I know it's easy as a runner to set a goal of achieving a personal best in an event…it can be challenging, exhilarating, and satisfying on a deeply personal level. But there's more to experience and a larger impact that can be made - one that goes further than one can ever dream. For far too many years, I'll admit these races have been about me and my goals. So this year I want to purposefully set a goal that goes beyond me. I guess sometimes running accomplishments in and of themselves are empty without being done for a greater purpose.
After some long and careful consideration, I've decided that I would like to give my training and upcoming NYC experience a purpose. I've come to realize that there is something bigger than me - and it's time to take some action on its behalf. And I've decided as a way of running for something (rather than just "in" something) I am going to partner with Team World Vision for the 2008 ING New York Marathon on Nov 2. After talking with their sponsorship director, I feel this is an inspiring opportunity to hopefully combine my efforts with others to provide something to those who so desperately need it right now.
Up front, I want to clarify that the donations I will be asking for will not used to financially support me or the race in my behalf, and that all funds will be collected and used solely by World Vision for their outreach programs worldwide. Basically, what I am doing is joining a team of like-minded athletes who are using their particular racing event to help raise awareness and funds for some of the world's most vulnerable children.
Throughout the fundraising process, I'll keep track of these donations through a personal Team World Vision website where you will be able to see the numbers grow until the actual marathon event is over. (Currently, World Vision is working to add the ING New York Marathon to their list of team events, and I am waiting for this to be available. When it is ready, I'll be providing more information on my blog, as well as sending it directly to friends and family, about how you can participate.)
If you have EVER in your heart wanted to donate to a worthwhile cause such as this, but just couldn't decide the best way to do it, why not use "such a time as this" to support my efforts through Team World Vision by making a one-time donation?
Here are a few examples of how such a simple, one-time gift would be used:
$25.00.....provides basic lifesaving medicines and supplies to those who are weak or ill, or helps pay educational support for a child's school fees and essentials like uniforms, backpacks, and school supplies.
$30.00.....sends either seeds, tools, and training in Africa that can help thousands of hungry families survive, or goes to prevent starvation (every day, 14,000 children die by the suffering caused by hunger).
$50.00.....provides either livestock to a family that would supply a village or family with eggs, milk or even wool, or access to safe water and sanitation that can cut a community's child mortality rate by half.
A donation does not need to consist of much - even a few dollars will help; just whatever your heart leads you to give.
In summary, I simply feel God has given me the ability to do what I enjoy the most. Now I want to do my best to honor Him by using that ability to help others. And hopefully, by teaming with World Vision, maybe I can somehow use this gift to help bring a little hope to children and families in areas directly impacted by poverty, disease, natural disaster and war, who need it most right now.
Seeing the current events occurring around the world, I know we can all say the opportunities certainly abound to lend a hand. Maybe it's time to put a little hope in motion.
Thanks for your consideration & stay tuned for more info - Mike
It snowed this Saturday, just incredible...who would have thought our late winter would be hanging on with such a fierce grip still. Fortunately, the temps should be climbing up into the 60's this week, which will make for some nice, long training runs before the Drake Relays race on the 26th.
My business trip to New York this past week went very well…learned a ton of great stuff from my conference on web site usability, and had an amazing time exploring Manhattan. Even logged about 18 miles in and around Central Park while I was there. Now I'm excited to show my wife the city when we return for the NYC Marathon in November.
An update on the adventure racing gig in June…a good friend of mine, who happens to be a fellow youth group leader, has joined our team to now cement our four-person male squad. I am really excited he can join us! I'm hastily working on scheduling some training training, and if all goes well we might be able to get together hopefully in the next week or two.
We took the kids to see "Horton Hears A Who" this weekend (included voices by Jim Carrey and Steve Carell)…they loved it. It's a cute movie for kids that teaches us the important lesson that "a person's a person, no matter how small". However, my kids have me terrified of walking through my own garden lest I step on a speck-borne town of microscopic Who-villians.
Training update: Though I haven't had the chance to rack up the mileage as yet, my training is coming along nicely so far this spring. My runs have been quality and my base is slowly increasing. Also looking forward to hitting the singletrack trails with the mountain bike once the local trails begin to dry up.
A shout out to Ryan Hall on his Flora London Marathon race yesterday. Even though he placed fifth overall, his 2:06:17 finish time is now the fastest-ever by an American-born runner, eclipsing that of 2:09:41 jointly held by Alberto Salazar and Alan Culpepper. This guy is incredibly fast...can't wait to see what he does at the Olympics this summer!
It's the week leading up to the Boston Marathon (Monday, April 21)...another one of those races I dream of being able to run in some day. Guess I'd better work on New York first though...
My wife sent me this really great verse that I've been meditating a lot on. It's Psalm 84:11-12, "For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will be withheld from them that walk uprightly. O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in You." Learning to trust like that isn't easy, as I've found in my past, but God's grace is sufficient for everything I might question.
A runner who also enjoys road and adventure racing, mountain biking, traveling, climbing, hockey, the outdoors, friends & family, and being a Christian.
With fireworks and the beat of 2,008 drummers, the lighting of the Olympic flame kicked off the official Opening Ceremonies for the 29th Olympiad today, widely considered one of the most compelling, complex and criticized Olympics in history. China welcomed the more than 10,500 hopeful athletes, who will compete over the next 17 days, from 205 countries at the ceremonies as an estimated crowd of 91,000 jammed into the National "Bird's Nest" Stadium.
