Get ready for Canadian Running magazine

Runners, start your Garmins!

This February, Gripped Inc. is launching a new magazine called Canadian Running. It will be the first and only running magazine published in Canada, covering all the issues important to Canadian runners.

And the best part? I'm the editor.

So if you have any ideas about what you'd like to see in the magazine, write a comment here, or shoot me an e-mail.

The first issue is already shaping up to be a doozy. And before you ask ... no, every other article will not be about joggling.

Mango profiled in ibiketo.ca

Here's my "cyclist" profile from ibiketo. It should really be tryclist, but I'll let that pass.

Updates to this blog will be less frequent for the next little while as I'm now working about 756 hours per week.

U.S. marathon trials take tragic turn

The running community is reeling from the news that veteran American marathoner Ryan Shay has died after collapsing at the 5 1/2-mile mark of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. The cause of death has not been released.

My thoughts go out to Shay's family. By all accounts, he was a brilliant athlete and a great guy.

Hall of fame

(Photo: NBC)

It turns out the online NBC video feed for the U.S. men's Olympic marathon trials was only available in the U.S. I tracked the race on Runner's World's "near-live" text feed, which is a surprisingly exciting way to follow a marathon with no video.

So my prediction was correct: Ryan Hall pulled off a superb victory, blasting ahead of the lead pack with a 4:32 18th mile and ramping up a merciless pace for the rest of the race to finish in 2:09:02. Hall broke the U.S. trials record by more than a minute.

What's more impressive is the fact that the trials course was in Central Park, a route that has almost no flat sections. I ran the NYC Marathon in 2000 and I'll never forgot those torturous rolling hills of Central Park leading to the finish. To run an entire marathon on those rolling hills in 2:09 is unimaginable.

Dathan Ritzenhein and Brian Sell also grabbed U.S. Olympic team spots, placing second and third in 2:11:07 and 2:11:40. Former world record holder Khalid Khannouchi took fourth place and could still go to Beijing as an alternate.

Tomorrow, it's the New York City Marathon. One year, I'd like to joggle this one.

Tracking the trials in NYC

It's a new age of marathoning for the American men. I can't wait to track tomorrow's trials in New York City. The stunning lineup of contenders includes Alan Culpepper (pictured above), Ryan Hall, Meb Keflezighi, Khalid Khannouchi, Abdi Abdirahman, Mbarak Hussein, Dathan Ritzenhein and Brian Sell. It would seem almost impossible to predict a winner, but I'm going with Ryan Hall, based on his recent 59-and-change half-marathon. My second pick is Abdirahman.

Now if only we could get some Canadians running at this level...

WANTED: Bedside rack for juggling clubs

"Many customers are buying one for each side of the bed." I nearly lost it when I first heard that.

They should design something like this for juggling clubs. I could work on my 3-club patterns before I even get out of bed. And if an intruder comes it – BLAMMO! – a club to the head. The Canadian answer to the shotgun.

How many drops?

Here's a question I get all time as a joggler: How many times do I drop? Riyaad Ali just asked me this in a comment from yesterday's post about Perry Romanowski 50-mile joggling world record. Perry had only four drops during the entire race.

Here's my progression in the marathon:

• Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon 2005: 20 drops
• Boston Marathon 2006: 14 drops
• Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon 2006: 8 drops
• Salt Lake City Marathon 2007: 4 drops
• Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon 2007: 2 drops

My typical drop rate these days in about one every 25K. That's about one drop for every 18,000 catches. My 10K world record was drop-free.

Albert Lucas, who once held the marathon joggling record, has joggled several marathons without a single drop.

I drop a lot in training because I'm usually doing tricks.

One thing's for sure: the more you think about not dropping, the more likely you are to drop a ball.