Category: Thoughts on sport
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Friday Inspiration — Steph Curry
Like much of sports watching America, I’m obsessed with Steph Curry. With the Nets and the Kicks stinking up the joint, the Warriors games are the only one’s I watch with any consistency. Today I read this fascinating article about Curry reworking his court movements to take pressure off his ankles and transfer the stress…
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Kilian Jornet At Hardrock
This weekend, Kilian Jornet destroyed the course record at the legendary HardRock 100. He ran the famously “wild and tough” 100 mile race in a previously unheard of 22:41:33. In doing so, he cemented his reputation, at least in my mind, as the best mountain runner ever.* If you don’t follow the sport of ultrarunning,…
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Hardrock
The Hardrock 100 is widely considered one of, if not the, hardest 100 mile race in the United States. It is surely the most beautiful and also wonderfully eccentric. Organized by a bunch of rocket scientists (seriously) and mountain weirdos, entry is determined through a complex lottery that rewards those who have finished the race…
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Race Autopsy: The Front Runners LGBT Pride 5 Miler
In 1982 when New York Road Runners and Front Runners partnered to host the first ever Front Runners New York LGBT Pride 5 Miler, the world was a very different place. Sodomy laws were still prevalent throughout much of the country; the AIDS crisis was killing the community (and Reagan had still not said it name),…
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On The Low Cost Of Running Fast
One of the great appeals of running is its low barrier to entry. If you’re not getting out the door and running, in all but the most extreme cases, it isn’t because you can’t afford it. High tech wicking clothing is nice, and replacing your shoes every five hundred miles is recommended, but to experience…
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16,438 Days Is A Lot Of Running
Running streaks — impressive? Stupid? Stupidly impressive? Obsessive and unhealthy or a healthy obsession? Like many runners at different points, I’ve viewed them from different angels. I’ve found them helpful in getting me out of a rut and hurtful in getting me injured. I have said that they are stupid and I have said that…
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Friday Inspiration – Gutting it Out
For weeks now, people have been talking about Meb Keflezighi gutting it out in the final miles of the New York Marathon and crossing the line with local Staten Island runner Mike Cassidy. If you read this blog, you probably already know this story – Meb has battled injuries all fall and wasn’t a hundred…
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The Hungry Fighter
I’m currently reading the Sports Gene by David Epstein, a fascinating book which, in addressing how genetics affects sports performance, ends up raising interesting, and challenging, questions about gender and race. I may write more about those topics later but this morning I was reading about the dominance of Kenyan runners at endurance events and…
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The Long Run – The City Slicker In Nature
I have spent my entire adult life living in urban environments. In those years, I’ve spent very little time in nature. I spend most of my time pounding the pavement of the streets of New York. New York City is my home, and the urban landscape is where I am most comfortable. I love the…
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“The Community”: Cult or Spiritual Seekers?
I’ve long been interested in the out edges of the running community – ultra runners, streak runners, and mega-mileage runners are all areas of the sport I’ve written about frequently. A fascination with those willing to take the sport to the edge coupled with a lifelong interest in new religious movements* has lead me to…
Milo and the Calf 