We stayed in my hometown near the marathon finish an extra day to have some time with my parents (and so I could get over some of the soreness before spending hours cooped up in the car for the drive home!) Today up there dawned bright and crisp, 57 degrees with 75% humidity, with a […]

Here’s what I learned yesterday:  marathons hurt. Okay, so I won’t bore you with all the gory details.  I’ll just say that my hopes for a nice crisp day were dashed; while it wasn’t hot, it was near 100% humidity and 70 degrees at the start, and up past 80 degrees with 75 percent humidity […]

Today was my last run before Saturday’s big one.  Lemme tell ya, two miles sure doesn’t seem like much of anything anymore! So I’ve got pluses and minuses going into the race.  Minus:  the weather forecast has taken a turn for the worse, and I now expect extreme humidity and slightly higher temperatures than earlier […]

Well, I’m firmly in my taper now.  Today was a mere 13-1/2 miles! And really, that distance wouldn’t be all that hard anymore — except today was HORRENDOUSLY hot and humid.  High 80s and 75 percent humidity when I started, and the first three plus miles were mostly uphill, downwind, and under blaaaazzzing sun.  I […]

Contador wins by the same 39 seconds he gained by throwing honor and tradition to the wind and attacking the yellow jersey on a mechanical. Bravo to Schleck for a strong time trial yesterday, but it still should have been the case that Contador cleaned up.  Instead he struggled to keep his lead at all, […]

The Tour’s going past the spot where Fabio Casartelli was fatally injured in a crash in 1995 reminded me of a similar incident that was much closer to home for me. Almost two years ago, the last time I did the Six Gap Century in north Georgia (after a full unbroken decade), a rider from […]

Brother Steve writes, “How weak was that Contador attack when Andy’s chain came off yesterday?” He refers, of course, to Alberto Contador (and Sammy Sanchez and Denis Menchov, among others) attacking Tour de France yellow jersey holder Andy Schleck after the maillot jaune suffered a thrown chain while himself launching what looked to be a […]

The training plan called for a half-marathon race today.  There were none around I could find, so I went out and did 13.5 miles hard myself.  As usual, it was warm and stiflingly humid. On the one hand, despite carrying and downing a boatload of Gatorade, I lost six pounds on the run.  (I’m praying […]

This year’s Tour de France has been fantastic viewing.  It’s back to the old days of ups and downs, and no clear winner yet as we head into the Pyrenees (note:  I haven’t checked out today’s results yet). What I find most interesting is how everyone is down on Lance Armstrong for his performance.  The […]

Not only did I cover 20 miles on Sunday, but as a result, I’ll be losing the requisite toenail. It’s on the “piggy that stayed home” on my right foot.  I’m not sure why, because it never hurt while I was running, but when I finished it was completely bloody underneath.  Now it’s pretty tender. […]