Category: Sports

One of the side effects of Brooke and I getting into running has been an increased interest in watching the world’s elite runners do their thing. For the past nine days, the World Championships in Athletics have been taking place in Paris. It’s been fun watching some of the races. The marathons were a highlight, passing just about every Parisian landmark, and there were a few great Canadian moments, too. Perdita Felicien’s gold medal performance in the women’s 100m hurdles comes to mind, but also the two Canadian women Courtney Babcock (8th) and Émilie Mondor (12th) breaking the national record for the the 5,000m (5K). The French women’s victory over the Americans in the 4x100m relay was also pretty thrilling to watch.

The shadow of steroids unfortunately still hangs over the world of track and field. How do I know? Because after one particularly shocking come-from-behind victory, Brooke’s comment was “They better check her pee.”

I’ve been keeping a running diary of sorts over at Endurance Online. I figured most people didn’t want to read about my progress, but if you do, here’s the thread. If you run, swim, or cycle, you really should join up over there. It’s going to be a great resource.

Hurrah! Finally, someone has sent those smug, crappy-rapping, bad-movie-making, trash-talking primadonnas on forced vacation! San Antonio was all business tonight in knocking the Lakers out of the NBA playoffs….by a margin of 28 points!

Now, who to cheer FOR? The only team left that I’m really not fond of is Detroit, and that’s only because I don’t really know all their players. I guess this year is just an “Anybody But The Lakers” year!

Here are some fun links I’ve found while developing my interest in running:

• Endurance Online – a fairly new bulletin board community for endurance athletes (runners, cyclists, swimmers) that’s attractive and easy-to-use, a bit of a rarity, I’m discovering.
• Run The USA – Two lunatics are running across the country with no support vehicle or any budget for accomodations. Can you give them a place to sleep?
• Runner’s World – website for the excellent magazine
• Hash House Harriers – a strange sort of running which involves chasing a “hare” (a runner who leaves a trail of flour or some other substance). Apparently, this sport has a long and storied history. These runners seem to enjoy the occasional drink 🙂

The U.S. basketball team loses to Argentina, and Reggie Miller says something dumb:

“Reggie [Miller] brought us together,” Pierce said. “He said the world is against us. The world, the stands, the refs are all against us. The only thing we can do is go out and play hard the rest of the games and get the gold medal.”

One is surprising, the other, not so much…