Run to Win

How did your fantasy track team do last week at the first “Pick & Win” for the Visa Championship Series? My team put me into 296^th place with 91 points. Hopefully this week I will do a little better, but at least I made the top 500. I was less than 30 points behind first place.

This week’s fantasy track meet is the 101^st Millrose Games in New York. You have until Friday, February 1^st at 5:40 p.m. EST to make your picks.

Should Dwain Chambers be allowed to compete on the international stage despite his previous use of performance enhancing drugs and the UK Athletics tough stance on doping?

According to the IAAF, then yes, he should be allowed to compete. This is a huge blow to the strict UKA anti-doping policies that they are trying to enforce.
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How far would you run to see a movie?

Last week, there was a 1 night showing of The Spirit of the Marathon in 1 theater here in Maine.

Crow Athletics and the Spudland Racers got together to send some runners down to Brunswick to catch the movie last Thursday evening.

The catch? They lived in Bar Harbor, which is 130 miles north of Brunswick.

The idea started out as a random conversation between a few friends wondering how cool it would be to do a relay down to watch the movie. Things spun out of control, as they usually do, and the media got wind of what was going on.

“The amazing thing is the word or mouth thing. We never asked for the excess media attention. We just said let’s run to Brunswick, simply because we can,” Gary Allen said. The idea of running from Bar Harbor to Brunswick “happened so quick we haven’t added a lot of hype about it.”

You can read about some of the local media attention here:

• Village Soup » Runners get into spirit of marathon
• Lincoln County News » Maine Runners Make 130 Mile Trek To View Marathon Movie
• Bar Harbor Times » Bar Harbor to Brunswick on Foot, to see a Movie
• Bangor Daily News » Running for ‘Spirit’

So, how far would you run to see a good movie?

In a continuing collaboration with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we wrote about food and recipes for the month of January. I’d like to finish the month up by offering a few of my favorite chicken recipes.

Chicken is a great source of protein because it contains all of the essential amino acids in the correct proportions required by the human body for optimum growth of lean tissue. If you have a local butcher or farm, it might be worth investigating the possibility of purchasing your chicken through them rather than getting prepackaged chicken at the grocery store.

In my experience, buying chicken from the farm or the butcher yields a bird that has not been injected with water to make it appear plumper (or to add to the weight before purchase!) I prefer the taste of fresher chicken, although it cooks faster and can become dried out easier if you aren’t careful while you are cooking.

Here are 2 of my favorite chicken recipes, which are both quick and easy to prepare. I recommend warming up a good loaf of bread to serve alongside of either meal.
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Spectators at this year’s Boston Indoor Games got to see some more records set, continuing last year’s trend. Meseret Defar took the spotlight, leading Kim Smith into a world record pace in the 2 mile with a time of 9:13.94. The former indoor world record of 9:23.8 was set at the 2002 Boston Indoor Games, and Smith watched Defar cross the line in 9:10.5. “It’s nice to beat a World record (best),” said Smith, “it’s only too bad that Meseret was there first.”

Craig Mottram also had a good day. He broke the American soil record in the 3000 meter by almost a second after he ran 7:34.5, which also lowered the Australian national record. “It was a good time, and I’m happy with it. I’m running as well as I’ve ever done, in about the same shape as I was this time last year. I just need to keep a lid on things, keep turning the screws, and keep getting ready for Beijing.”

Local runners Dan Franek and Pete Bottomley competed in the Masters’ Mile to open the meet up. Both men run for my team, Dirigo Running Club. Dan Franek came in 2^nd place with a time of 4:31.37, and Pete Bottomley was 8^th with a time of 4:40.81.

The Boston Indoor Games is the second of five meets in the indoor Visa Championship Series.

(Sources: 2008 Results - USATF - IAAF)

It is that time of year again. If you live in Maine currently or are a native Mainer, then the Maine Running History website is looking for updates on your personal records in the marathon and at other distances. You can email them your relevant info or fill out a form right on the website. The site is maintained by Crow Athletics and the Maine Running Hall of Fame.

Relevant Links:

• Maine Running History
• Maine Marathoners
• Maine PRs

• I began the week last year by writing about safety equipment for road runners, such as shoes, identifications, clothing, and reflective items.
• I wrote about race etiquette that every runner should follow.
• I discovered how easy it is to slip off of a swiss ball when working out. That’ll teach me to use a smaller swiss ball!
• Every time that I go to a professional meet with my friend Andrew, we get to see world records. Last year I went down to watch the Boston Indoor Games and got to see some more records, both national and international. I planned to go down this year, but wasn’t able to make it.
• Steve Pavlina weighed in last year with why health research is worthless.
• This week two years ago, the World Marathon Majors were announced and I demonstrated how to do a dumbbell bench press, which is still a staple exercise of mine.

The USATF has put together a Fantasy Track & Field game for the Visa Championship Series called Pick & Win. You need to live in the United States and be at least 18 years old to win, but each week you can win a gift bag by picking the athletes who perform the best in the meet.

After the conclusion of the 2008 AT&T USA Indoor Track & Field Championships, the person whose teams have scored the most points during the Visa Championship Series will win a grand prize trip for two to the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Track & Field, presented by Visa!

Overall second-place prize is a $250 Visa Gift Card and Nike gift bag, including but not limited to a Nike/USATF duffel bag, jacket, t-shirt and cap. The third-place prize is a $100 Visa gift card and Nike gift bag.

If you are interested in playing, be sure to get your first picks in before tomorrow afternoon. The first meet is the Reebok Boston Indoor Games on January 26^th, 2008 at 5:30 p.m. EST. Picks need to be made before 3:00.

I’ll be setting up my account and making my picks tonight.

For more information:

• Pick & Win Fantasy Game home page
• USATF Press Release
• Official Rules