Life on the RunThis is the world beyond Seattle's daily grind. "Trials of miles and miles of trials" are the stuff that bonds all runners together in an extended family of storied dreamers. This is their tale of the city, of Sunday 20-milers and 10k's and of marathons in far-away places.Running Scared- August 28, 2008 A little more than a week to go until Ironman Wisconsin means I'm in the middle of my taper. After months of long bike rides, long runs, short bike rides, mid-distance swims, short runs and multiple bricks (running after a long bike ride), I'm now in the taper.http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/marathon/archives/147331.asp?source=rss Beijing-Day 7- August 24, 2008 Marathon Day!! Today was the Men's Olympic Marathon and team USA ran well. The young Kenyan stole the show by breaking the Olympic record by three minutes on a warm day here in Beijing. Ritz, Hall, and Sell moved up throughout the race to end up 9th, 10th, and 22nd overall. Sell was in 66th place at 10k and around 40th at halfway. The team ran tough and no one left anything out there on the course! This was the deepest marathon field ever assembled and the US should be proud. The Hansons-Brooks.http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/marathon/archives/146940.asp?source=rss Beijing-Day 6- August 23, 2008 Today we headed out for an early morning 10 miler and talked about all the possible outcomes of tomorrow's race. I wouldn't put anything out of reach for our team!! All three are very fit and from what I have heard all three have different race strategies which should make it all very interesting. After our run we headed to the great wall of China! This was such an amazing site and we saw many other athletes there including Shawn Johnson from the US Gymnastics team. Such a small girl!! The wall.http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/marathon/archives/146915.asp?source=rss Beijing-Day 5- August 23, 2008 Finally had a full night of sleep and I felt much better today!!! Had a quick run in the morning and then headed out for some souvenir shopping. What a mess! These shops were more crowded than the french quarter during Mardi Gras. We just found out today that we will have the suite again at the "bird's nest" for the marathon on Sunday! It will be great viewing as they show the entire race on the big screens in the stadium. We are still planning on hitting the course first but will probably...http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/marathon/archives/146914.asp?source=rss Beijing- Day 4- August 22, 2008 Woke up for a 6am and had my first Beijing rainy run! It actually felt really nice and we also found a great park to run in today as well. Has some breakfast with the Sell family this morning and they told me that Brian was doing some interviews today with NBC for their marathon coverage. Yesterday the weather was pretty nice all day (just mid 70's) but the forecast is till calling for marathon day to be much warmer. That is great news for Brian since he seems to do so well in harsh conditions!.http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/marathon/archives/146807.asp?source=rss Beijing -Day 2- August 20, 2008 Went for my first run this morning and it was a hot 10 miles but it felt nice to sweat! After the run we headed to The Forbidden City for a tour of this ancient treasure. Pretty unbelievable!! I guess the Emperor had like 3000 wives and pretty much built a city to house them. Not sure if that is true but that is the part I remember from the tour. Brian has quite a group out here to watch him run! His parents made it from rural Pennsylvania, his wife is here with her sisters and their husbands,..http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/marathon/archives/146633.asp?source=rss Beijing- Day 3- August 20, 2008 Here is a quick video from last night at the track. Ludus Tours does a great job here and they were nice enough to give us tickets to their suite!! We were like little kids in a candy store...http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/marathon/archives/146631.asp?source=rss Beijing- Day 1- August 20, 2008 Finally arrived in Beijing this afternoon after a nice little 11 hour flight! Actually went pretty quick since Air Canada has an extensive selection of movies!! As soon as I made it through the madness at customs I headed straight to the hotel to drop off the bags and then over to the "birds nest" for the 1500m final. If you can believe it. . ..my Taxi driver had no idea where the National Stadium was located! Also, known as the "bird's nest", the National Stadium is the biggest stadium ever...http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/marathon/archives/146612.asp?source=rss |