Tuesday, May 24, 2011

The Sammy Saga

The news cycle these days is a rather fascinating animal. Big stories break on Twitter. Next, the scramble, during which reports - many half-baked - are filed as quickly as possible. Mistakes, of course, are made. Theories, of course, are posited and rapidly discredited. Finally, though, something sticks. The truth - or at least a very compelling story - emerges.

With the case of Sammy Wanjiru, the Kenyan marathon champion who died at 24 from a fall from his balcony, we probably never will get that dose of truth before the shock wears off and we move on to something else.

To that end, I think Running Times senior editor Scott Douglas' recent blog post, "Wanjiru: We're Never Going to Know What Happened," is spot on.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

#9 - A Rural Marathon

May 1, 2011: 1-mile warmup, Gettysburg North-South Marathon (1st, 2:37.12). 27 miles.

Splits: 6:05, 5:51, 5:57, 5:53, 6:02, 6:00, 5:59, 5:59, 5:54, 5:47, 5:48, 6:06, 5:47, 5:48, 6:10, 5:51, 6:01, 6:14, 6:14, 5:50, 5:48, 6:03, 6:15, 6:18, 6:10, 6:21

Elevation chart: It's in the lower right corner. Splits are here, too - though you will see that I forgot to stop my watching after crossing the finish line.

Slideshow: All the photos have captions.

Gettysburg College Sports Information picked up Cory Mull's article for the Hanover Evening Sun

In all of these videos - particularly with the fourth one - background talk is the best part. This picks it up at photo No. 4:



Russell Tavern Road, one of my favorites from college:



Halfway:




My mom took this video in the early 20s. Listen to the background chatter:



Finish (clock shows unofficial time):

Monday, May 2, 2011

Gettysburg North-South Marathon ...

Video and slideshow coming soon ... For now, I think this photo tells the story pretty well.

That's my dad on the side of the road. That's me down there yonder, following the lead bicycle.