Speedwork...

May provide many benefits. The temptation to rest at home is tremendous.;

Driving runners crazy

Are people who drive imposing SUVs and are a) not sensitive to the people around their vehicle, or b) who like to intimidate the runners on the road or c) who like to hug the edge of the road. Of these b) is perhaps the most common reason for the excrescence to nearly run down runners on the road.

Paying the Price

The fees for running races have gone up quite a bit- $60 for a half marathon and $100 plus for a marathon are considered reasonable prices. Of course the event has to be organized, water stations have to be provided and many other elements of the race have to be accomplished.

Waste of running

The world cup opened today. Two games, 40 players (excluding goalies) running up and down for ninety minutes, and both games ended in ties.

Running Brooks no Sloth

Advertising - Brooks Sports Takes Aim at the Fun Run Crowd - NYTimes.com: "Fortunately for Brooks, running is booming. In 2009, 43.9 million people ran at least once, compared with 31.4 million in 2000, an increase of nearly 40 percent, according to the Sporting Goods Manufacturing Association. The number of marathon runners more than doubled from 1990 to 2009, jumping to 467,000 from 224,000, according to Running USA, a nonprofit group; half-marathon runners increased even more sharply over the same period, to 1.1 million from 303,000."

The Long Haul

It is interesting to delve into a runner's thoughts when he or she is going for a long run. Hauling the body over long distances takes some effort of body and mind. One lapses into thoughts and does not realize how the time passes, until the body sends signals of pain.

Running over Oprah...

Barbara Ehrenreich: Breast cancer diagnosis leads to an expose of positive thinking and the pink ribbon cult - chicagotribune.com: "n a phone interview, edited and condensed here, Ehrenreich talked about her latest book, High 'Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America' (Metropolitan Books,$23)."

...

"Q: You say you decided to look into the cult of happy out of a combo of anger and curiosity. Did you uncover any surprises in your research?

A: How widespread the ideology of positive thinking is in America. There's almost no problem for which positive thinking has not been proposed as a solution.

Q: You hang some of the blame on Oprah?

A: She's not the only one, let me put it that way. Her show has promoted one kind of guru after another or motivator, or something. But you could also put some of the blame on Larry King and Ellen DeGeneres and others that I'm not aware of."