Aflac Spokesduck

Due to some comments made by Gilbert Gottfried, the voice behind the famous Aflac duck, he was fired and a campaign begun to find a replacement. It may not be widely known that Mike W. entered this contest. If you ever ran with MW, especially on Saturday morning long runs, you know that he makes excellent duck calls. He is an idiot savant when it comes to attracting ducks on the canal path. Mike has the uncanny ability to spot duck pooh from at least 10 feet away, saving the rest of us from landing in a squishy pile.

Unfortunately MW did not make the final cut for becoming the Spokesduck. Here are the top reasons why;

10. MW's skin is not downy soft (I don't know this from actually touching his skin, ewww, but have a good feeling this is true).
9. Unlike a duck, who easily floats and glides along the water, MW sinks.
8. Ducks have wide webbed feet, Mike's feet are wide, but not webbed.
7. Mike still has a slight Loooongg Island accent, despite Eileen's influence, and the selection committee didn't appreciate it like we all do.
6. There is such a thing as "Runner Ducks", I am not making this up. "Runner ducks are compared to the wine bottle due their shape and long legs." Alas, MW does not have long legs.
5.Runner ducks are quite friendly, but can easily panic if disturbed. Ever see Mike running in the dark at 5:30am, on a winter day, and begin to slip on some ice? That is a definition of panic. Due to this characteristic, Mike made it to the top 5,000 entries!
4.Runner ducks are prone to worms, and hence have to be de-wormed regularly every 5-6 months. Mike hates these doctor appointments.
3. Mike invited the judges to his home for a back-yard barbecue. He cooked one of his favorite meals...Peking duck. Big mistake.
2. Ducks seem to get chased by dogs quite often. Mike is a dog whisperer. A dog runs after him while out on a run and Mike gets so scared he can't speak in anything but a whisper. While Mike was doing a voice over test one of the Aflac Board members had a Chinese Crested Hairless dog in her arms. Mike couldn't do anything but whisper into the microphone.

1. Ducks waddle when they run or walk. Mike...Hey, actually MW does waddle, maybe he should have won the contest!

The Long Run: Test your knowledge of distance running and its history

The Long Run: Test your knowledge of distance running and its history

A neat quiz about running for all of you history and current event trivia buffs. I consider myself fairly knowledgable about these things, but only got 16.5 out of 26 correct (several questions had more than one answer). For question 9 I gave myself .5credit for knowing the year and the actor who portrayed him in a movie. I couldn't quite pull his name out of my brain cells in a short period of time. For question 13 I got 3/5 of the countries, should have had all five, I was close geographically, but I blew it.

Good Luck! Let me know how you did.

Boston 2011 Runner Video

Contributed by Pete Leonard.

RIP Grete

One of my heroines, a pioneer of women's marathoning and star of the sport, Grete Waitz, died today, April 19, 2011, from complications of cancer. Grete was 57. Her major accomplishment was probably winning the NYC marathon 9 times (1978-1988). Grete also has a silver medal from the first women's Olympic marathon, which was held in Los Angeles and won by Joan Benoit (1984). She won the gold medal at the World Championships in 1983. Her running career began in shorter distances, as women weren't encouraged to go much further than 1500 meters. Grete was in the 1972 Olympics as a 1500meter runner for Norway. She lowered the world record in the marathon several times, eventually running a pr 2:24. Grete won the London marathon twice and was a 5 time World Cross-Country champion. She is in the National Distance Running Hall of Fame.

Jan and I had the privilege of meeting Grete at a marathon expo one year. We purchased a poster of her winning one of the NYC marathons and she signed it. The poster is framed and hanging in our house. I remember coming up to the table and barely being able to speak, we were just in awe of her. But she seemed like a really nice lady who was happy to be meeting regular runners like us.

Marathon World Record?

I just read that Mutai's "world record" of 2:03 won't count because Boston is a net downhill course. I find this ridiculous. First, every marathon is different. The Rotterdam marathon, where the "real" record was set, is flat as a pancake, and there were pacesetters for much of the race! But this is okay?

Boston has no pacesetters, it's a real race. Yes, there are downhills, but most of that is in the first 2-3 miles. Maybe people from the sanctioning bodies of running need to run the 3-4 miles that make up Heartbreak Hill, especially after running 15 miles at a 4:40 pace. I bet the record will count then. Maybe they need to race someone over 26 miles and have it come down to a sprint finish in the last 600 yards, with the racers actually picking up the pace from a 4:40 mile to see who has the last ounce of energy left?

The only way you can really have a world record in a marathon is to run the race, all 26.2 miles, on a track, or use just one course somewhere in the world, that everyone who wants to go for the record has to run. Of course pacesetters can't be allowed either. I'm being sarcastic.

Listen, Mutai ran 26.2 certified miles, up and down hills, on flat, in a competitive race with no pacesetters and crushed the record, that's it, end of story.

Boston Marathon Elite

At a great moment in the race Jan and I found a live feed from a Boston news station that showed the women's finish. Evidently the feed was available for free for the entire race, but it took awhile to locate this and it wasn't advertised well. The feed was from CBS Boston, WBZ, and was supposed to be free for New England area only, but we got it with no problem here in upstate NY. The station continued to carry live feeds from Heartbreak Hill and the finish line throughout the day.

After New Zealand runner Kim Smith led the race for 14 miles, she was overcome by cramps and the lead pack gobbled her up. Unfortunately Kim couldn't complete the race. American Desiree Davila came on strong with 10 miles to go and battled two Kenyans over the last 2-3 miles for the lead. Desiree faded back a few times by 10-15 yards and looked broken, but wouldn't give up and put in a great surge up an incline just before turning right onto Boylston street, taking the lead from Caroline Kilel and Sharon Cherop. Turning left onto Boylston Kilel came back and surged ahead, but Davila stayed strong and picked up the pace again. At this point Cherop was dropped. Kilel put in one final surge and won by 2 seconds over the feisty American. Desiree set a personal best by 4 minutes. 1- 2:22:36, 2-2:22:38, 3-2:22:42, (5:25/mile pace) 5 (Kara Goucher, USA) 2:24:52 a personal best and just 6 months from having her first child!



The men's race was just as exciting as Geoffrey Mutai edged out Moses Mosop (both from Kenya) for first place in a world record 2:03:01, an average of 4:41 per mile. Ridiculously fast. This is a Boston course record by 3 minutes. Ryan Hall of the USA ran great, set an American record in 2:04:58 and finished 4th. How soon will it be before the 2 hour mark is broken for a marathon? Mutai earned over $200,000 for the victory, course and world record.

Boston Marathon

Two Sal's members qualified for and are running in the 2011 Boston Marathon on Monday, April 18, Pete and Roger. Pete qualified with a 4:03 at the 2010 Pittsburgh Marathon, which is an age-graded 3:06. Roger ran a 3:43 at last year's Boston, an age-graded 2:53 and good enough for 23rd in his age group out of 227 starters. When I mature I want to be as fast as Pete and Roger - they are in the 65-69 age group.

Top Ten Things About the Boston Marathon:

10. A BQ time is always a great goal finishing time in another marathon.
9. Even normal people know about the Boston Marathon and are impressed if you run it.
8. What other sport can you compete against the world's best? (so what if they finish an hour or more ahead, hey you were in the race too).
7. The cost is only $100+ dollars per entry, $250+ per night hotel, transportation to Boston, meals, parking $20+/day and marathon souvenirs from the expo.
6. The first half of the race is fast and some downhill miles might screw up your quads.
5. An American male has not won the race since 1983 (Greg Meyer) female since 1985 (Lisa Larsen Weidenbach). Ryan Hall, fourth in last year's race, and Kara Goucher, third last year, are back again to try and break through with an American victory.
4. I would be surprised if an American won this year.
3. Bill Rodgers averaged 2:10 in his 4 victories.
2. The Sam Adams beer never tastes better than during the post-race celebratory meal.
1. Here is a course tour, done in 5 minutes, led by Dave McGillivray.