The National Marathon and Half Marathon in DC is a fairly new event. The half sold out with about 5,000 entrants and the full is a perfect compliment to its sister race, MCIM in October. One big difference is is that National is run solely in DC whereas most of MCIM is run in Virginia. Both events take you by lots of our nation’s monuments. The one-day expo totally rocks. I sold out of books before closing and met a lot of first-timers and interestingly many, many triathletes in the course of the day. Race day started a bit chilly – a perfect day for unning long. I shared finish line announcing duties with Robbie Powers. Three-time National Marathon winner Michael Wardian finished second to new course record holder, 27-year old Patrick Moulton of Rhode Island. Jeannette Seckinger, 26, of MA wad the top female in at 2:48. DC mayor, Adrian Fenty, age 28, came in 249th overall with his time of 3:25 perhaps making him the fastest big city mayor in the country. Also impressive: Wardian, our country’s national 50K, 50-mile and 100K champ drove down to Virginia Beach so he could run the Shamrock Sportsfest Marathon on Sunday. There, the 34-year-old, ran a 2:35, good enough for third place overall.

Today was one of those “on the road” days – buses, cars and bikes but lots of work done! I went into the office eat 6 am to get some work done before catching a bus into the city so I could do rehearsal – four hours worth of rehearsal -  for next week’s “Club Night” – New York Road Runner Club’s annual awards banquet, I am scheduled to co-host with WABC meteorologist Heidi Jones. The NYRRC takes their events seriously whether it’s a race or a social soiree like this one. After I returned home I was able to get in a 30-minute bike ride before heading back to work and then up to the Poconos to the Aardvark Running Store in East Stroudsburg for a wonderful gathering of 30 or so local race directors.

This was my fourth trip down to Little Rock. The race, in its seventh year, is always fun and a bit crazy as the CICs (Chicks in Charge) Gina and Geneva want it to be. Met lots of wonderful runners at the two-day expo including Dick Soler, age 80 who was running his first marathon ever (6:15) and caught up with Gary Smith of Easy Runner as well as ultrarunning legend and pioneer, Lou Peyton, one of the first women to do the Grand Slam (four 100-milers in a six-week period). On Saturday night, I was honored to serve as honorary Duck Master at the famous Peabody hotel. One of the craziest things I’ve ever done. Fortunately, I wasn’t bumped as DM by Joe Biden who was at The Peabody doing a fundraiser for a local senator. Race day: For 7+ hours, I shared finish line announcing duties with Mark Bravo. Runners can even relive their finish with an online video. Check: http://74.125.93.104/search?q=cache:hFDaYD35XXAJ:www.fox16.com/content/marathon/default.aspx+little+rock+marathon+fox+video&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=safari

The 7-inch finisher’s medal is by far the largest one on the planet – and weighs about 37 pounds The post-race party, complete with local live music and BBQ-Little Rock style, was held at The Clinton Library.

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It’s good to hear from people I’ve met during my travels near and far. I recently received this email from Mr. Pandey of Delhi, India, the race director of the Himilayan 100 I ran in the 90s.:

Greetings from Indian Himalaya!

Hope my email finds you and your family in good health and spirits.

By now readers must be enjoying reading your book and wishing you the very best for its massive circulation.  May I request your goodselves to kindly send me a copy of the same at my given postal address.

Thank you and look forward to hearing from you soon.

Namaste!!!

With warmest regards,

MR. PANDEY

Pittsburgh hasn’t had a marathon since 2003 but thanks to the hard work of some local sports enthusiasts, a marathon will be held in this eastern PA college town this spring with the Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon on 5-3-09. It’ll be the 20th running of a marathon in Pitt. I came out here for the Spring Thaw races in the a.m. I was the guest speaker at the afternoon event, the Philips Respironics Half Marathon Kick- off at Senator John Heinz History Center . the great news is that all the events are already full but it looks like they will be taking 1500 folks from their various marathon, half and relay waiting lists. Welcome back Pitsburgh!

“Keep Austin Weird” is the unofficial slogan for this fun city. It has spawned some pretty hilarious parodies including: “Keep College Station Normal,” “Keep Round Rock Mildly Unusual,” “Keep Lubbock Flat,” and “Keep Houston Under Construction.”  You gotta love Texans. In Austin, there’s always  something to do, see and experience. I was here for the race director’s conference and to speak at the race expo. This year’s event, like last year’s, is a totally “Green Race.” And it was evident everywhere. The marathon sold out well in advance and the half was near full – a good thing to see in our current economy. A funny thing happpend during the marathon – a vidoographer caught a mysterious fireball/meteor/ufo while filming the first few minutes of the race. (Check youtube.com) Strange things happen during the Austin Marathon and Half and this wasn’t the first time: In 2005, some deer got caught up in the start corrals and made for a surreal experience not just for the runners but the poor deer. I wonder what they have in store for next year’s race?

I did make time to experience some of Austin’s more well known as well as lesser known venues including Barton Springs (famous) and Ginny’s Little Longhorn Saloon (infamous). The former, actually four natural springs, is located on the grounds of Zilker Park. The largest spring, Main Barton Spring always maintains a temperature of about 70 degrees regardless of time of year. I did some laps there one morning before the expo opened up. Our time in Austin culminated with an excursion to Ginny’s, a tiny, dark honky tonk known for its eclectic mix of locals who mostly hang out back in broken lawnchairs when the interior fills to capacity, $2 Lonestars, free chili dogs, the kinds of bands (Texas swing mostly) that just make you want to dance! And Chicken Sh_t Bingo every Sunday night. As luck would have it, it was Sunday night when our posse including local Genny (who had never even heard of the place) and five of us from four corners of the continent made our visit. While I left the building before the insanity ensued, this is how CSB works: A live chicken, this time an orange hen named Sissy, is placed in a large cage atop a piece of plywood marked with a grid. Ginny sells tickets for each of the 54 squares, then she let the chicken strut around the cage whiel honky tonk plays in the background. When the bird relieves itself, you’ve got a winner. PETA hasn’t complained and the bird seems to be liking the attention. We followed this little bit of craziness with an incredible Indian dinner at the Clay Pit in downtown Austin.

Another day, another island: We started the day with the 2nd annual St. Thomas Prediction Run, a 5K, an out and back road course that included many, many locals among the 200+ entrants. The top 10 runners “closest to the pin” won awards. This group, ranging in age from 21 to 65, were very impressive and were within 1 second to 6 seconds off of their respective predicted times. Post race a bunch of us shared in a much need latte on the water before deciding to find the nearest golf course. Within 30 minutes, we were lovin’ life at Mahogany  Run in Charlotte Amalie, – the most beautiful golf course I’ve experienced – even nicer than Spy Glass and Torrey Pines. Canadian-Brit Martin Parnell and I did 11 holes on this spectacular course. The Devil’s Triangle, three oceanside holes were beyond brutal but we actually golfed pretty well. Already looking forward to Mahogany Run next year and even know the date – January 25th, the second day of the 2010 Cruise To Run.

Tortola is one of our favorite islands. It’s beyond hilly so no sense in trying to map out a flat course to run on. The island demands you explore it via it’s hills so when Jerry Friesen and the locals designed the “King and Queen of the Mountain” course – some of the runners thought it was designed by a man who hates his fellow man. Even though the run was a mere 3K I immediately went into oxygen debt on the first turn which seemed to be at a 45 degree angle aroudn and up. The hill climb starts on the main drag in Road Town, we got up and around several winding paved roads – switchbacks that lead to a dirt trail that leads to the highest point on the island. Canadian triathlete Dave Cracknell and I had a plan – we’d only run when a vehicle or the paparazzi (other runners with cameras) were in view – it was all about looking good. Each runner/climber/walker gets to break the tape – the BVI flag – when they reach the finish at the summit. Within 40 minutes we had 200 folks on top checking out the awesome views 360. Last year during the hill climb, Tom White was onboard the ship on crutches saying next year he would do the climb. Next year came and not only did he do the run, his first hill climb on his new prosthetic, he placed in the top 10 overall – and on his birthday no less. Later, an Irish friend of ours, Helena Dunphy, who lives on St, Marten’s, shanghaid a bunch of us and before we knew it we were on one of the most gorgeous beaches we had ever experienced – The Baths at Virgin Gorda. I can see why Sport Illustrated does a lot of their swimsuit shoots there. The beach has everything – pristine white sand, giant boulders, flora, fauna (chickens!), and some cray waves to frolic in. If you ever go to VG, be sure to look for the most perfect shell ever; 10-year-old Whitney White found it but lost it in an undertow and will be much obliged if you find it and return it to her.

STRESSING IN ANTIGUA?   Impossible to have those two words in the same sentence. My wife noticed that by the fourth day of our running cruise,  almost every time a fellow cruiser was having a photo taken of themselves, they would tell the photographer the caption for the photo they were about to snap. I didn’t know I did this until our own running paparazzi  were taking photos of me out in the middle of the ocean -

me wearing Laura’s bucket hat and with two beers (Pitons) in my hands trying, unconvincing, to convince the photogs: “I’m stressing! I’m stressing! Really. I am.”  

DRINKING CLUB WITH A RUNNING PROBLEM   Ffryes Beach was the staging area for our third annual trail hash with the local chapter of the Hash House Harriers. For the uninitiated; HHH are internationally known as a “Drinking Club with a Running Problem” and in Antigua the drink of choice is rum! Antigua, pronounced “an-tee-guh”, is known for its beautiful white sand beaches and it’s said there are 365 of them so you can go to a new one every day but we’d be content to hang at Ffryes every time we visit. Antigua is our double workout day – a long morning run to and from Fort Barrington and an afternoon trail hash option where many opted to just frolic in the water instead.

BOOKS FOR ANTIGUA   Our morning run is mostly on country roads but starts in town and this year it went by a grade school just before classes started; it was a mutual lovefest between our 300+ runners and the 300+ students in their crisp plaid uniforms. Before we headed out on the morning run, we presented the local library staff with 240 new books – 145 of which were children’s books –  to stock their not quite done new library. (And yes, “My Life on the Run” was one of those books.) How cool it would have been to present the school kids with those books. Maybe next year?