U.S. Women's Olympic Marathon Trials - huh?

NYC hosted the men's trials the day before their marathon and we're doing the same up here in Boston... only better. Read about this and more from the quotable David McGillvary today.

After reading the article, let's have some fun: comment here about the other 10% of the time Dave crosses the Mass Ave. bridge.

I’ve run over that bridge and on Memorial Drive over 1,000 times. Eighty percent of the time, it’s the most enjoyable run I have all year. And then ten percent of the time, it can be windy.

Huh???

Adidas technical tshirts for Boston Marathon!

Yes, it's true... no more long sleeve cotton tshirts! The BAA is giving us technical tshirts from Adidas this year. I heard this last night at a BAA runners clinic for members of the Boston Marathon charity teams; I'm running with the Dana-Farber team this year. (help me!)

While discussing the chip timing system, David McGillvary, Boston Marathon Race Director, explained how "back in the old days" nobody would know if I was having a bad race and quit the marathon. "Nowadays, your progress is tracked every 5km and posted to the web for all to see," he quipped. "So if you have a bad race, everyone's gonna' know about it the next day." And then he delivered one of those lines that remind us why he's such a great race director...

So if you're having a bad day, you might wanna' just take your chip off!

Leaky calcium channels & snips of thigh muscle

Scientists claim to have figured out why muscles get tired and developed a drug to eliminate fatigue. Clearly, this would be a performance-enhancing drug... so should it be banned? Is this really that much different than ibuprofen?

And how the hell did they get anyone to agree to this?

"Highly trained bicyclists rode stationary bikes at intense levels of exertion for three hours a day three days in a row. For comparison, other cyclists sat in the room but did not exercise. Dr. Nieman removed snips of thigh muscle from all the athletes after the third day and sent them to Columbia..."

Joe Paterno and the Boston Marathon

Penn State's proudest, Joe Paterno and his wife Sue, are coaching a team of Happy Valley runners training for the Boston Marathon.

While a junior at Penn State, I rode my mtn. bike past JoePa's home every day on my way to and from campus. One fall morning, while riding through the woods nearby, I nearly slammed into someone on the trail. HOLY SHIT, it's JoePa! I was speechless; he just laughed. "Hello, lad! Have a great day!" he quipped, while moving off the trail so I could pass. "Thanks JoePa, you too."

No matter how late I was for class, I never rode through those woods that fast again. Just imagine if I'd taken him out? Penn State was ranked #7 that year. I would've been chased outta' town.

Super Sunday Medals @ Marathon Sports Boston

Mailing all the unclaimed medals from the Super Sunday 5K/10K is a pain in the butt. Instead, they can be picked-up at Marathon Sports on Boylston St. in Boston starting Monday, 2/11. If you placed top 3 in your age group and didn't get your medal, please visit the store soon. (like in the next few weeks?)

And in related news, Marathon Sports' owner Colin Peddie recently purchased the Runner's Edge store in Melrose, MA. While signage still hasn't been replaced, Peddie's staff has already taken over operations of this 6th location.

Was the Super Sunday course short?

I've heard that question a lot in the last 24 hours. Race director claimed 5K sharp... so what happened? Honestly, I have no idea. Too much reliance on technology? Keep in mind, a small discrepancy gets multiplied when using the same start and finish line for a 2 lap course. I think the line was 5/100ths of a mile off, which translates to being a 1/10th of a mile short per lap or a 6.00 miles 10K rather than 6.21 miles. That's not really what I meant when I wrote "Fast, flat course" on the race flyer.

In late December when I began planning this race, I measured the course on mapmyrun.com to design the 5K loop. Then on Jan. 9th, I measured it with a Garmin Forerunner to determine exact placement of the start/finish line. From that measurement, the line was planned about 75 meters down the road, closer towards registration. I didn't mark it on Jan. 9th b/c USATF was going to measure the course for certification, but they never made it out b/c their calibration course was iced-over the last few weeks. So I went back out there with my course crew this past Saturday and we measured again. This time, we used an older Garmin as well as a cycling computer. The Garmin hit 5km about 100 meters back up the road, farther from the water towards Harpoon. And the cycling computer had us farther down the road, about 10 meters into the harbor! Talk about frustrating.

To measure a course like this, you must first measure the one way section, subtract that from your goal (5K) and then go half that distance down the two-way section to determine the start/finish line placement. At 7:30am on race-day, we measured the entire course with both Garmins side-by-side, one more time. Ugh, two distances for the one-way loop of the course: 4.28km and 4.40km. We split the difference which left us going .66km of a mile down Seafood Way for the line. That's where we started and finished yesterday... about 75 yards away from where we'd planned to start. USATF will measure our course for next year... for now, congrats on the new *PR!

TODAY'S RESULTS

Please email me with any concerns.
http://www.coolrunning.com/results/08/ma/Feb3_Boston_set1.shtml

WOW - Thanks for coming out today!

There were some potholes, a few bumps in the road and more "congrats" than I ever would've expected with so many glitches... but the first ever Super Sunday 5K/10K is now "in the books."

Thanks to all of you for coming out to support a great cause. Yes, there are many areas for improvement. And with an extra 11 months of planning, you can bet things will go smoother next year. I presented the idea for this race to the City of Boston on Jan. 8th; less than 4 weeks ago. Yeah... what the hell was I thinking?

Quick post-race stuff:
RESULTS: Just off the phone w/ the timing guy; they'll be posted on coolrunning by 8pm for sure, probably by 6pm.
CHIPS: Return to: Psyclone Sports, 7 Harcourt St., Boston, MA 02116
LOST & FOUND: I've got a car key w/ remote and a debit card from Catherine. Pls email me.
MEDALS: Go to top 3 in every AG (male or female, 5K or 10K.) Want it mailed? Pls email me.
PRIZES: I had Legal Sea Foods gift certificates in my pocket for the top 3 overall (male or female, 5K or 10K) but I forgot to give them to a few of you b/c I was bonking. Pls email me.
SWAG: We expected 200, planned for 300 and ended with 365. Sorry if you got jipped!
PICTURES: We don't have any... got any to share?