Thursday, August 7, 2008

Torching the Competition

The suspense will kill you. All the expectations of a final blowout between two boisterous braggadocios in their quest to best one another shall evaporate in this empty space. Read up now. There will be no more word until Monday.

Light the Flame
You may think the Olympics start tomorrow, but really Vanilla and I will open the games on Saturday with our head-to-head, transcontinental 10K-v.-half marathon PR challenge. For some reason NBC will not be showing this event, which is peculiar as it is the only event that you could realistically wake up for and watch live. Their loss.

Political Interlude
Ah, yes, the Olympics. If you think the Olympics are not about politics, you're naive. I've tried to stay naive. I really am excited about some of the events. Running, baseball and basketball are all tops on my list to watch, and it will be hard to ignore the swimmers. However, it has become hard to ignore morality.

I will not force you to read any commentary you don't want to, but Washington Post sports columnist Sally Jenkins pretty much sums up my disgust in "Partners in Grime."

[Drunkard's note: If you like good sports writing, check out Jenkins' columns and books. Here's an interview with her, which is one of my favorite interviews ever.]

Poynter Institute writing coach Roy Peter Clark has a few more, and perhaps less contentious, reasons to skip the Olympics, in "Let the Games Begin Without Me." (Some of us have a pennant race to watch.)

Back to Idiocy
Nitmos has yet to graduate to nitwit. I have now completed two full weeks of stretchy-banding. It seems that laundry is a ways off yet. However, I'm feeling soreness in that good way in what I hope to make formerly flabby areas.

You Are the Decider
Vanilla will be happy to know that I'm conflicted about my running schedule today. Although I'm trying to reach a goal on Saturday, the race is also a training run for the Akron Marathon. In effect, I switched my usual workouts and made today a long run (10 miles) and replaced my tempo with the 10K. Now, I'm doubting the wisdom of my planning. So far, my training plan has felt perfect, but I wonder if my legs will be too tired to race well. What say you, peanut gallery?

Either Way He's Toast
I expect some attempt at sabotage in the above request. Sadly, Vanilla has taken my attempts to be positive as some disingenuous race tactic. You'd think I was killing him with kindness. I expect him to retaliate with some bogus advice like he provided in yesterday's post. I'll simply do the opposite of whatever he suggests. Take that!

A Day Away
Tomorrow, yes, tomorrow, I won't be at the office and therefore not bored enough to post Flashback Friday. I'll be at a park, wasting energy by playing games and water skiing. That shouldn't hamper my plans for Saturday at all. Until Monday!

Good luck with your race, Vanilla. I look forward to the results of this challenge. Let the best man win.

And good luck to anyone else who might be racing this weekend. Have a fine weekend, teammates. Run well and drink well. Cheers.

12 comments:

chia said...

I'm going to laugh so hard if both of you lose.

Nitmos has probably been polishing a retort for weeks. I'm so staying tuned :-)

Marcy said...

I don't know, you tell me how it goes. I was going to do the same switchero if I had planned on going to that 5K. But there's a bit of difference between a 5K and a 10K soooooo . . .I still don't know :P I'm am so freekin helpful LOL

This will be a tight one. I can't wait to see all the sweet and loving comments on Monday. GOOD LUCK! ;-)

Ian said...

I think you should do the 10 miler today or maybe tomorrow since you aren't working.

I don't think it will matter either way to be honest with you; I think you've got the 10K PR in the bag already.

S said...

Who needs the olympics when we have this amazing athletic display going on in our own country?

Good luck with the race Saturday (and I'm definitely agreeing with Chia's comment).

Spike said...

I pulled a similar 'long run' early to allow for a race on the weekend two weeks ago and the legs were fine. If you can, hit a cold whirlpool tonight or tomorrow. If you don’t have access to a cold whirlpool, pull the ice cubes out of your scotch and use them. The bartender will give your more free ice…trust me.

Best of luck.

C said...

I'm with Chia, though my laughter is going to be severely delayed since I'm gone next week. Eh, something to look forward to when I return.

Good luck and enjoy your long weekend.

Nitmos said...

You'd think I'm running this weekend as I've somehow been pulled into this unholy triumverate of blogger bashing.

I wish you good luck (though saturated with heavy sarcasm.) I believe 8-10 water skiing trips on Friday are the perfect warm-up for your 10k. Nothing prepares the legs better than bouncing along on unruly waves with 2x4's attached to the feet.

Jess said...

I'm a big Jenkins fan so I'll definitely check out that column.

Good luck with your race this weekend. Looking forward to both you and Vanilla's race reports.

Laura said...

Good luck! I'm really disappointed that there is no video coverage, but will look forward to the race reports instead.

Vava said...

Stay hot... That's all there is to say. Have a great race - I'll be checking in next week on your race results for sure!

tfh said...

That Sally Jenkins column is a good one. Sure makes you think. Which is why I avoided rereading it.

It is good to know there is at least one sporting event I can follow this weekend with a clear conscience...good luck! You're gonna kill that old PR.

Ian said...

Turns out you'd have been better off avoiding the list altogether.