deena

As the Olympics were approaching, the event I looked forward to most was the women's marathon because Deena Kastor is one of my favorite athletes. So I was shocked and deeply disappointed to see her have to drop out just three miles in because of an injury.

Here's a video where she talks about the disappointment and how she's dealing with it. It's worth watching.

new yorker

A couple of years ago, my agent told me to forget about trying to write for the New Yorker. She said it's too clicky. You have to be a real insider to get a break with them. And besides, once you get in, they're a pain to work with.

So I stopped reading it. Sort of took the fun out of it.

But this week I'm going to have to buy a copy. They've got a long article about Ryan Hall.

medals map

This is a fascinating interactive data interface. It's interesting to click through the years and watch the spread of the circles. The first thing you notice is how north-heavy it is. That's to be expected, I suppose. But then when you get into the eighties, it's remarkable how much it spreads. It seems another strong piece of evidence for the so-called flattening of the world in the age of information.

super hot

This morning I ran 18.7 miles. It was about 80 degrees at the start, and 90 or so by the time I finished.

And I learned something along the way. When your body starts running low on liquid to sweat, you get goose bumps. It's kind of like a back-up cooling system. But it's not as efficient as sweat. So, soon after they appear, you start to bonk.

That's what happened to me. At about mile 15, I hit a wall. I had to do some walking and super slow jogging to make it all the way.

Afterward, I felt completely drained.

Allie and I went to the farmers market and we could hardly stand it, it was so hot. Allie couldn't believe I'd actually gone running in such weather.

When we got home, I flopped down in front of the TV and watched shows about the making of the National Stadium and Aquatics Center in Beijing.