Category Archives: RCI

Paper Kenyan

Martin Dugard is a renowned author of books such as Chasing Lance, The Last Voyage of Columbus, Into Africa, and others. That is not what first attracted me to Dugard. During the 2006 Tour de France, I began reading his daily missives about traveling around France watching and reporting on the events surrounding the Tour as well as the actual tour itself.

I was hooked by his engaging style, rants against complacency, and his general discussion of running, cycling, and other endurance sports. Dugard is a professional journalist and author, who is not afraid to bare a little of his own soul and passion with his weekly daily blog posts.

I would highly recommend checking him out at his blog Training Ground.

Dugard, who is also something of an adventurer, has completed the two-week Raid Gauloises adventure race; sailed on a tall ship across the Mediterranean; and spent time in an African prison while researching one of his books.

On a miscellaneous note, Dugard lived for six weeks on the Malaysian island of Palau Tiga during the filming of the television show Survivor. This became the subject of the bestselling Survivor: The Ultimate Game, co-written with series producer Mark Burnett.

I was encouraged by this article to write about the blogs I read and share why I read them, with you my readers.

On a side note, Martin is running the New York City Marathon this weekend, so stop by and wish him good luck/congratulations.

Technorati tags: Blogs I Read

Upcoming Races for November 3

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I will be racing at the Mid-South Marathon in Wynne Arkansas on Saturday, don’t worry I’m only doing the half marathon again. We’ll be back late Saturday night and I’ll be volunteering at Run the Mounds. I’m not sure what my role will be, but I’ll be wearing my orange Chicago Marathon hat, so be sure to say hi!

Saturday, November 3

Jump the Gun 4 Miler begins at 8:45 at the St Francis Hospital South Campus in Indianapolis. This event has registration for the Indianapolis Mini-Marathon, expo, sign ups for a training program, and much more related to the Mini. The event is being hosted by Ken Long & Associates.

Highland Fling 8K & 5K begins at 8:30am at Highland Park Elementary School in Bloomington. This event is being hosted by the Bloomington Central Lions Club with proceeds being donated to several local non-profits.

Outback Scramble begins at 9:37 at Eagles Crest in Eagle Creek Park, Indianapolis. This looks like a “rugged and dirty” 5 mile race. This event is being hosted by Tuxbro.

Spirit Run begins at 9am at University High School in Carmel. The Spirit Run/Walk brings together people of all ages for the celebration of life and the spirit of young people. Individuals and families are welcome. Proceeds benefit University High School, IPS Elementary School #54, and Brooke’s Place for Grieving Children.

Owen Putnam 50/50 Trail Run begins at 7am in Spencer. This is a 13.2 Mi, 50K, and 50Mi race. There is no race day registration.

Technology Education Collegiate Association 5K (doc) begins at 9:30 am at Purdue Memorial Hall.

Health & Kinesology Majors Club 5K Turkey Trot (doc) begins at 10am at Lambert Fieldhouse at Purdue University. Costumes welcome and 50% of proceeds benefit Camp ASCCA.

Sunday, November 4

Run the Mounds (pdf) begins at 2pm at Mounds State Park near Anderson. Registration is at the pool. This is an excellent 5 mile trail race hosted by the Anderson Road Runners.

WEEKEND WEATHER

Technorati tags: Race preview, 5K, 5Mi, 50Mi

Indiana is Obese

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I recently did some research on “healthy living” and needed data related to childhood obesity, physical activity, nutrition, etc. The results are a little staggering.

Some of the results are here:

15.6% of Indiana Children are overweight, ranking Indiana 15th highest, 14.8% is the national average (Trust for America’s Health).
26.8% of the adult population in Indiana is obese, ranking Indiana 9th highest, 24.4% is the national average(Trust for America’s Health).
$264 is spent per Indiana resident due to obesity in the state, ranking it 22nd, $258 is the national average (Trust for America’s Health).
25.9% of Indiana adults do not engage in physical activity, the national average is 22% (Trust for America’s Health).
34% of Indiana youth didn’t meet the CDC physical activity guidelines (Indiana Youth Risk Behavior Survey).
10.5% of Indiana youth don’t participate in ANY physical activity (Indiana Youth Risk Behavior Survey).
The same data also showed a dramatic increase in the percentage of female students who did not participate in any physical activity over the past seven days.
32% of students reported watching three or more hours of television on an average school day (Indiana Youth Risk Behavior Survey).

The state and federal governments are trying to curb the rising trend in obesity across the nation. I personally tend to be more conservative and think the government should be a last resort to “rescue” us from our personal problems. But something has to be done to keep us and our kids healthier.

I was happy to report back in August about the increasing trend of more runners there was a 5% increase from 2005 to 2006.

The Trust for America’s Health report also included statistics on public opinion about specific related programs:

81% of Americans believe that the government should have a role in addressing the obesity crisis. Majorities strongly support government working on proposals to expand education programs about healthy living, provide low-cost access to exercise programs, and reduce the marketing of unhealthy foods.
55% of parents with children under 18 believe lunches provided in schools are not nutritious enough.
66% of Americans rated proposals to establish higher nutrition in school lunches as very useful.
Over 2/3rds of Americans believe children do not participate in adequate amounts of physical activity during the school day or engage in enough physical activity outside of school. More than 70 percent of Americans rated proposals to increase physical education in schools as very useful.
60% of Americans favor a proposal to measure students’ BMI annually and confidentially provide this information to parents or guardians.

I know the Anderson Road Runners has a Children’s Fun Run program and most races include some type of kid’s event. What do you think we, as people who value fitness, can and should do to promote a healthier lifestyle for today’s youth?

Technorati tags: Obesity, Running, Health, Indiana

Races on October 27

Olympic Trials Preview

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The Men’s Marathon Olympic Trials are set for November 3 at Central Park in New York City. The race begins at 7:30 and will be featured briefly throughout the morning on NBC, but will be streamed live at NBCSports.

A map of the course (pdf) and spectator guide are available at the NYRR site. The USATF describes the course as

… a criterium-style course in Central Park that will start in Rockefeller Plaza and finish near Tavern on the Green. The criterium loop in Central Park will be the reverse of the loop used when NYRR hosted the USA 8 km Championships from 2002 to 2004. Athletes will run the loop five times, with distance added to complete the full 42.195 km of the marathon.

According to a press release

2004 Olympic Trials champion Alan Culpepper (Boulder, Colo.), Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi (San Diego, Calif.) and 10,000m and marathon Olympian Dan Browne (Portland, Ore.) lead a host of contenders who have officially made their bid to become the first members of Team USA’s Track & Field squad for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Also joining Culpepper, Keflezighi and Browne on the official entry list for the November 3 event are half-marathon American record-holder Ryan Hall (Big Bear Lake, Calif.), 2004 Olympian Dathan Ritzenhein (Eugene, Ore.), Brian Sell (Rochester Hills, Mich.) and two-time Olympian Abdi Abdirahman (Tucson, Ariz.)

As of 10/21 Khalid Khannouchi has the fastest qualifying time of 2:07:04 (4:50). The slowest time posted is 2:22:02 (5:25) which is actually 2 seconds over the “B” standard. The “A” standard which means that USATF will pay for your trials participation is a 2:20:00 (5:20). You may also obtain the “B” standard by racing a 5K in 13:40:00 (4:23) or a 10K in 28:45:00 (4:37).

You can watch a video collection about the athletes, the event, and American running at New York Road Runner’s Chasing Glory site. Runner’s World also has a large selection of information.

It looks like it should be a great race, especially the finish. Who do you think will win this year’s Marathon Trials?

There actually is an Anderson connection to one of the runners, but I can’t remember who he is. Anyone remember??

The Women’s Marathon Trials will be held April 20 in Boston.

Technorati tags: Olympics, Marathon, Olympic Trials

Team Cross Runs and…

Follow the path of a runner, running where runners run! And so much more!