Welcome to Trials Week

Here we are: a week out from what has been billed as the greatest localized weekend of distance running in the history of the galaxy. The Olympics pale in comparison. The World Championships grow sick with envy. A week from today, the IOC will collectively commit hari kari after they realize their blunder in awarding the 2012 Games to London with their bad food, crappy weather, and kindergarten-quality puce-and-yellow logo.

And we are going to be there for all of it. Especially the collective hari kari. (Our tickets to France are already booked, and hopefully we'll even get to assist!) Sure New York is crowded and messy and dangerous and 6.5 days out of the week we wonder why we're living here... but now it all becomes worth it as we can access all of the events of the coming weekend, and get a gyro from that guy in the truck over there, to boot. And since we're in the area we'll be doing a lot of quote-unquote "coverage": the Trials, Bad Boy, INGNYC, the St. Jude's Hospital 5k Run/Walk... the works. We'll be weighing in with a look at the Trials field, your cut-the-crap guide to visiting to NYC on this glorious weekend of running, hopefully a little video, and definitely plenty of photos of each event. So check back often.

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Sensationalism Beats Out Sensational Finishes

I admit: I typically get excited to check major marathon results to see only a) if an American had a huge race, or b) if there was a world-record or near-world-record performance turned in. So with a WR newly-minted and the Marathon Trials nigh one month from now, leaving few elite Americans at Chicago, I didn't even make a point to look up the results while out of town over the holiday weekend.

I first heard anything about the marathon on the evening news that I just happened to be watching - not my typical source of running information. And what did they cover? The medical issues caused by the heat. I was aghast that they didn't even MENTION the winner. Now that I'm come back to civilization, and have the seen the videos of the finishes, I'd even aghaster. How can you not spare 15 seconds to cover these races? On the off chance you haven't seen them, here is the terrific men's finish, and the equally dramatic women's finish. Reflecting back on last year and all the attention Cheryiout's fall got (it even made PTI), the coverage of THIS year's Chicago Marathon only drives home the point that the anchors and producers of American's sports news prefer sensationalism over real human and competitive drama.

I only wonder if the average American sports fan sees this coverage and wonders to himself if there was any story beyond that nasty fall or this even nastier heat.

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