Ellipsis

Or, the Post Series Formerly Known as Elipses. Massive public mortification, people. For all of us. You’re educated (right?). I’m educated. How is it possible that I’ve written ten “Elipses” posts over the last ten months and no one’s pointed out to me that I’ve been misspelling the damn word the entire time? It’s spelled: ee double-ell eye pee ess eye ess.

Lots of odds and ends to pull together here, I’ve been hoarding links for two weeks now… Title Nine has clearly drunk the Kool Aid as served up by the web marketing gurus, and has built a social network of sorts on its e-commerce site. I, of course, link its “Best of the Blogs” feature. Oh, and Husband already has my list for Christmas presents… For an excellent analysis of the debacle that was the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco, a philosophical chat on what constitutes an elite in any given race, and some unapologetic opinion-expressing, visit Races Like a Girl… Adam Nagourney stated the obvious in the New York Times last week, “From years of traveling around the country covering political campaigns, I have discovered that jogging can be one of the great ways to explore a city. It is a way to go sightseeing and to discover hidden paths or neighborhoods.” It took him years to discover this? In the era of MapMyRun.com and RunthePlanet.com, this article, which highlights Indianapolis (Indianapolis? WTF!), made me squirm with embarassment for Adam. But perhaps my real quibble is his liberal and clueless use of the word “jogging“… My friend and running buddy LS is racing the NYC Marathon to raise money for her passion project, the International HUG (Help Uganda Grow) Foundation. iHUG sets out to educate Ugandan children, and improve their health and standard of living through community development. To help LS improve the lives of some really cute, sweet African kids, you should CLICK HERE to donate (note “LS” in the notes/memo field). Or, visit the foundation’s site and learn how you can volunteer stateside…If you’d like to win a free copy of the most worthy film Run for Your Life, about Fred Lebow and the development of the New York City Marathon, go to this bulletin board to post your memories/thoughts/goals about the race. All entries must be posted by November 1… For those of you who enjoyed my post about the Blues Traveler concert, click here to see some photos from the show, taken by one of Husband’s friends… Everyone’s/Everything’s gotta have a blog, even the New York City Marathon. Have I jumped the shark?… Now is the moment for Liz Robbins’ book A Race Like No Other, as marathon madness heats up here in my epicenter of a city. On November 1st, she’ll be inteviewed on the NPR show “Only a Game,” and she will be appearing at various bookstores around the Tri-State and Denver areas this week and later in November. Apparently, the author’s been blogging (hm, great idea!), too. Definitely check out the review posted at 5th Sun, and you can also watch a video, embedded here for you…

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Six Words, Six Awards

You guys, thanks so much for the creativity and thought you put into your Six-Word Race Reports. My original Challenge Post garnered an all-time high of 20 comments, and a handful of you even posted your Six-Word Race Reports on your own blogs. (Mwah to you. Mwah is Frahnch for beeg keess.)Clearly, brevity is addictive since most of you couldn’t pick just one race to sum up, but rather submitted in multiples (there’s an oxymoron in there somewhere). Personally, I’m starting to believe that everything in life should be boiled down to six words or less.

Amy over at Runner’s Lounge actually tossed out my challenge to her readers for their Take It and Run Thursday column. And, a few days after I called all you bloggers out, Title Nine emailed with a link to their 6-Word Slam, asking their customers to write about “all that fitness is and does for us.” (Sounds a little woo-woo/granola to me. “Fitness” is one of those terms, which when used in an iffy context, is just a half-step removed from the similarly crunchy “balance” and “wellness.”*) Frankly, I want to know about who ran through a hailstorm, who PR’ed and who ran hungover. I don’t give a Downward Dog Pose about your “fitness.”

 Without further ado, here are the Six Best Six-Word Race Reports according to me, within categories arbitrarily designated by (once again) me:

Most Liberal Interpretation of “Six Words”
MIKE: ChampionChip tie-wrap continuosly whips leg–ouch!

Most Brutally Honest
JULIE: So hot I crapped a little.

Most Effective at Simultaneously Inciting Performance and Schwag Envy
SARAH: Won age group, six delicious rolls!

Most Clearly Written by an Athlete (as Opposed to a Mathlete)
AMY: Awful and awesome at once.

Best Insider Joke
MATT: Boston: Hartford with a good publicist.

Most Likely to Garner Approval of Non-Runners
JULIE: This wasn’t worth the ice cream.

And, the Award for Outstanding Interloper Participation Goes to…

MIKE: Too lazy. Smoke and read instead.

Congratulations running scribes! If you have a chance on Thursday, drop over to Runner’s Lounge and see what comes out of Amy’s Take It and Run Thursday… sounds promising to me!

*Actually, my real gripe is that Title Nine sells too many cutie-pie outfits and not enough technical clothing for endurance athletes. What’s up with this matchy-matchy? I don’t want to race in a shirt and shorts that have coordinating dogwood branch patterns. But Title Nine does get props for being the only joint that sells a sports bra in my size, and for their general positive portrayal for female athletes, even if all their models are skinnier than I was at age 12.

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