A great article from the New York Times , published June 11th…

Olympic marathon runners are no less obsessed about shoes than the gal pals in “Sex and the City.”

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 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.

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.

And no elite marathoner will soon forget the 2006 Chicago Marathon, where Robert Cheruiyot of Kenya — a favorite in Beijing — slipped as he crossed the finish line in first place, hit his head and sustained a concussion.

Continue reading…

Following is the latest editorial by Chris Kelsall and originally published on the Flotrack website .

Is American marathon runner John Little of Flagstaff, Arizona completely off his rocker? Is he delusional and possibly suffering from a bout of post marathon illusory psychosis? He just may be! He also may be fully and completely correct with his assertion that Canadian Olympic marathon standards are set too high by the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and Athletics Canada (AC). Of course John has nothing to lose by saying so when he talks to the Canadian press about his feelings on the subject.

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Jeff Bell, Times Colonist
Published: Monday, May 26, 2008

Donald Peterson won’t have to worry about keeping the rest of his team organized at this year’s 24 Hour Relay.

He is the team.

The 39-year-old running machine will be lining up for Saturday’s relay as the sole member of See Donald Run. It will be the first time a one-person entry has taken on the overnight event in Victoria.

"We did have a team of three people last year," said Pam Prewett, event manager for the Easter Seals 24 Hour Relay for the Kids. She said the lone-wolf approach has been done a few times at Vancouver’s 24 Hour Relay, and Victoria’s relay staff is looking forward to seeing Peterson take up the challenge.

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CBC News

The first Canadian man and woman to surge across the finish line of the Ottawa marathon this past weekend won’t be going to the Olympics in Beijing in August even though they both met international Olympic standards.

Gitah Macharia came 14th overall at the ING Ottawa marathon Sunday with a time of 2:16:55 and Tara Quinn-Smith came fourth in her category with a time of 2:33:58.

Quinn-Smith beat the women’s international A standard of 2:37:00 by more than three minutes and the B standard of 2:42 by more than eight during her first-ever marathon race.

However, she did not meet Athletics Canada’s tougher A and B women’s standards of 2:29:08 and 2:31:00 respectively.

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Katherine Monk, Canwest News Service
Published: Monday, May 12, 2008

They may be purest metaphor for human accomplishment, but movies about running and the art of the pushing one’s body to the extreme can be downright dreary — if not ridiculous.

The problem isn’t the marathon idea, but the lack of externalized drama until the race itself. The real dynamics are internal, as the runner is inevitably forced to face internal demons of commitment, strength, desire and will.

Finding the face of that drama is difficult to accomplish without resorting to cheesy dialogue that may involve a line like this one from Without Limits, Robert Towne’s 1998 film about Olympic hopeful Steve Prefontaine: "the real purpose of running isn’t to win a race. It’s to test the limits of the human heart."’

Films that have been most successful at conveying the personal magnitude of a marathon generally weave that struggle onto a larger, epic frame that allows the theme of personal sacrifice to be meaningful to the audience.

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Runners attempt to be first to cross 58-kilometre route

Carolyn Heiman, Times Colonist
Published: Sunday, May 11, 2008

Build a trail and they will run.

And so three keeners set out yesterday wanting to be the first ever to run the 43 kilometre North Coast Trail on the northern tip of the Island, formally opened yesterday by the province.

The new trail links with the existing Cape Scott trail, forming a 58-kilometre stretch west from Port Hardy.

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Another great Flotrack article written by Christopher Kelsall

Zach Whitmarsh toils on the Jack Wallace Memorial, Oak Bay High School track. Marley, his dog canters back and forth from the infield to the start area and back, taking splits.

“What breed mix is Marley?”

Zach writes: ”Marley is a pound dog. As far as we can tell he is a Shepherd-Collie cross. There may also be a bit of Burmese in him, he’s a big-pawed dawg and he’d probably weigh another 20 pounds if he didn’t get in the 50 miles per-week he’s gotten used to.”

Meanwhile some local, longer distance ectomorphs gut out a low-key invitational race, looking smooth in their attempt at sub 30 for 10, 000m (others drop at halfway or at 3,000 - they are here just to check fitness), they appear fluent, until Zach starts his sprint workout.

Whitmarsh re-defines the everyday runner’s paradigm of what is fluid motion.

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Some of us define a holiday as time spent supine. But adrenalin addicts live to work up a sweat while checking out the scenery. Denise Balkissoon talks to marathoners across the country about their favourite destination races - where the trails offer more than just that runner’s high

Denise Balkissoon
Special to The Globe and Mail
April 19, 2008 at 12:56 PM EDT

THE LONDON MARATHON

The runner Tania Jones, a Richmond Hill, Ont., mom who won the 2002 Canadian championship for marathon running.

The run An April marathon that winds its way over cobblestone streets from Blackheath to Buckingham Palace.

The rush Running past history. And the spectators. “You start the race at 8 a.m. and there are already people in front of the pubs, holding their pints and cheering you on.”

Off the track Jones spent a week in Harlow to get acclimatized before the race. “I trained on tiny roads in real English countryside, running right by Windsor Castle.”

Lace up Apply for one of 36,000 spots by August at london-marathon.co.uk.

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Written by Katherine Monk and published Thursday April 17th in the Vancouver Sun

hey may be purest metaphor for human accomplishment, but movies about running and the art of the pushing one’s body to the extreme can be downright dreary - if not ridiculous. The problem isn’t the marathon idea, but the lack of externalized drama until the race itself. The real dynamics are internal, as the runner is inevitably forced to face internal demons of commitment, strength, desire and will.

Finding the face of that drama is difficult to accomplish without resorting to cheesy dialogue that may involve a line like this one from Without Limits, Robert Towne’s 1998 film about Olympic hopeful Steve Prefontaine: “the real purpose of running isn’t to win a race. It’s to test to the limits of the human heart.”

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A great article by Chris Kelsall on the man who is one of Victoria’s running community staples.

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Should you be tasked in choosing an individual who, in toto, represents the running doctrine of greater Victoria, past, present and future, you would choose Bob Reid.

Bob is a cog and a catalyst to the sport of running in Victoria, yet he stands tall amongst the most dedicated of volunteers.

Whether being front and center raising thousands of dollars to purchase green space land for people to enjoy uninterrupted forested lands, assist elite athletes to make their all important qualifying race overseas or doling out bee sting ointment to a weekend warrior, out at the lakes, Bob Reid is the exemplar.

“It’ll be difficult to put into words how much he has done for the running community, I don’t think you can do it in the space provided.” offers one club member.

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From the recently released book Canadian Marathon Stories (more on this in a later posting), popular East Coast blogger Lancelot Smith profiles Canadian marathon legend Thomas Longboat. Here’s an excerpt from his blog:

Five years ago, Linda Rainville Wagar ran her first marathon. “It completely changed my life,” she said. “I just thought if I could do that, I could pretty much do anything.” After crossing the finish line in New York City, Wagar knew she wanted to give back to a community that had helped her get that far. “When something so significant happens to you, you want to give back,” she said. The Sudbury native, who now lives in Ottawa, returned home and launched a website called Canadianmarathonstories.com. Her goal was to compile a series of short stories written by marathon runners, about marathon runners. The stories come from people in all walks of life, she said. She didn’t want to stop there. “My vision was to publish the best stories,” Wagar said. It didn’t happen for her right away. But like her marathon running, she kept at it until she achieved her goal. When Wagar first started running eight years ago, she had no idea the path it would put her on. “I couldn’t run around the block at the time,” she said. “I just thought I would learn to run as an activity that I could do for a half hour every other day. It developed into a love of distances.”

Having share that - whenever I think of Canadian & Marathoning I am mindful of that historic figure, that man of Color, an Onondaga Indian from the Six Nations Grand River Reserve in Canada, Thomas Longboat (that’s him below). Few Americans know the story of Tom Longboat - it’s great The Ottawa Citizen’s Charles Enman summed it up best, ”

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Brian Drewry, Times Colonist
Published: Thursday, March 06, 2008

Beginners luck had nothing to do with it.

Cheryl Murphy is just that good of a marathon runner. So good, the Victoria native posted the fasted time this year by a Canadian woman, finishing second at the Snickers Marathon Energy Bar Marathon in Albany, Georgia, last weekend. Murphy’s time of two hours 40 minutes 12 seconds also qualified her for the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Athletics next summer in Berlin.

All of this, and it was the 38-year-old’s first marathon. The former member of Canada’s national duathlon team also earned $2,000 for her runner-up finish. Janet Cheroban of Kenya won the women’s race with a time 2:37:27.

Also competing in Albany was Victoria’s Phil Nicholls. The 48-year-old won the masters (over-40) division with a time of 2:38:29. Nicholls’ finishing time also placed him sixth in the overall standings.

Kenyan Simon Sawe, who resides in New Mexico, won the marathon with a time of 2:27:43.

An interesting article written by Ed Eyestone for Runner’s World

A coaching colleague of mine has a basic formula for cross-training: 60 minutes at or above 70 percent of your maximum heart rate equals a five-mile run. He uses this formula with his athletes in the summer to allow them to augment their base miles. He also uses it during the cross-country and track season when a runner becomes injured, and during the winter when inclement conditions make it difficult to keep actual running mileage high.

Is a cross-training mile exactly the same physiologically as a running mile? Nope. But intense cross-training for an hour can elicit the same aerobic benefits as a five-mile training run. And because of the low-impact nature of most cross-training activities, injury-prone runners can beef up their “mileage” using this formula without increasing their risk of injury. In the following two case studies, both Lisa and Dave used cross-training miles to become better runners.

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Vancouver Sun
Published: Wednesday, February 13, 2008

VANCOUVER - For Chip Wilson, founder of the Vancouver-based Lululemon fashions, raising money for charity is an uphill battle - one he hopes the rest of us will join him in fighting.

Wilson announced plans Tuesday to stage the first annual “Chip’s Not Dead Yet Memorial Mile,” an uphill one-mile dash along West 10th Avenue, from Alma to Blanca Street, on June 20.

Funds raised will go towards the BC Children’s Hospital.

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Friends and rescuers celebrate finish of race that heart attack interrupted

Joanne Hatherly(jhatherly@tc.canwest.com), Times Colonist

Last weekend, runner Ken Pungente finished a race that he started one year ago: a 12-kilometre event at Cedar, near Nanaimo. In the February 2007 event, Pungente’s heart stopped and, as one of his rescuers put it, he dropped dead.

“I don’t remember any of it, no pain, nothing,” says Pungente, 65. What happened next has been described as a miracle. Three members of a hospital Code Blue cardiac resuscitation team were running not far behind Pungente that day. They were on him within minutes of his collapse, alerted by a nurse, Melanie Cunningham, who found Pungente lying pulseless in a ditch.

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Written by Patrick White and published January 25th in the Globe and Mail

Forget the funny name. This runner’s club will cover 72 kilometres in sub-zero temperatures just for beer, haggis and the hell of it. Tales of hikers lost in Lynn Valley after nightfall saturate the logs of North Shore Search and Rescue. Every winter, without fail, a few veer off course and spend a winter night flirting with hypothermia on the cliff-strewn mountainsides that flank Vancouver to the north.

This time of year there’s an extra wrinkle: “Hazardous winter conditions,” warns the ranger’s stern voice on the park information line. “Expect snow and ice on all of our trails.”

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By Christopher Kelsall
Posted on Flotrack Thursday, Jan 24, 2008

I first met Diane Cummins at the track, what are the odds?

My son (then 9) and I were enjoying the Victoria International Track Classic at the University of Victoria, Centennial stadium, May 25th 2001. It was a cool, breezy evening and Diane had just handily run away from her competition in an 800m race, easing to a 2:04.

One of the best parts of Vic International is heading onto the track and meeting world class athletes immediatley after the competition ends.

When we got down onto the track, we caught up with Diane first. We found her to be, accommodating, engaging; effervescent. My son got her autograph, which he still has, on the two page program - within moments she was surrounded.

Running into Ms. Cummins around town a couple times a year since; she always remembers my son’s name, which him and I find highly amazing.

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An article from Active.com, written by Matt Russ

“Why do triathletes run funny?” is a question I was recently asked. The athlete was comparing the run form of elite marathoners to triathletes. The answer is simply: Because they swim.

It is fairly easy to identify an experienced swimmer from a postural standpoint. Swimmers tend to have tight neck, chest and anterior shoulder muscles that cause them to assume a hunched over posture. Their shoulders are usually slightly internally rotated (thumbs turned in towards the body) and their shoulders may be high (picture a shrug) due to tight trapezius muscles. Each sport produces specific muscular adaptions and swimming uses the pectorals, latisimus, and trapezius to a high degree. Imbalanced caused by over-strengthening these muscles can not only lead to “swimmer’s shoulder”, but it can also affect run form as well.

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Written for Flotrackr by Christopher Kelsall

Vancouver Island, a paradigm of rolling waves of coniferous, temperate rain forest, envelopes hundreds of miles of trails, sheltering runners beneath a canopy of thick moss and evergreen, perfect for running year round.

Catching up with Vancouver Island’s own Steve Osaduik, locally known as ‘Oz’ and more importantly as Canada’s second fastest marathon runner, regarding this Sunday’s (January 13th) race, the Pioneer 8km in rural Victoria BC. The Pioneer 8k is the first race in the Vancouver Island Race Series, directed by the local Prairie Inn Harriers Running Club www.pih.bc.ca. Oz has run as fast as 23:39 on the course, two years ago. He says he is aware of local expectations and looks forward to hitting a marathon qualification standard this spring.

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By JOSHUA ROBINSON and published in the New York Times

Lornah Kiplagat’s afternoon run is out of the question. Even though her training center in Iten, Kenya, is only a mile from her house, the short trip is more daunting than any race.

Daily life in her village 18 miles outside the city of Eldoret, which has been battered by bloody violence in the past week, is punctuated by the sound of gunfire. Every day brings more roadblocks of blazing tires soaked in gasoline. Vigilante groups, wielding knives and automatic weapons, are constantly on patrol.

“It’s very tough to go running,” said Toby Tanser, a member of the New York Road Runners board of directors who is training with Kiplagat, the half-marathon world record holder. “Because if one of the vigilantes catch you, they want to know what you’re doing just running when the country is at war. And the mobs are always trying to recruit anyone who is healthy.”

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