NYT: The Heart of a Swimmer vs. the Heart of a Runner

Are sports drinks sending us to an early grave?

One in five people are eating themselves to an early death: Global study

Please just go outside and play. Why Even a Little Nature Is Good for Your Brain

In a few days we will do a ranger-guided snowshoe walk at Crater Lake. And maybe some cross country skiing.

Just finished Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President. James Garfield was two when his father died on a small Ohio farm, leaving behind a wife and four children. James only got several years of schooling. He was an innovative general in the Civil War. As a U.S. Senator, he went to the 1880 Republican convention pledged to John Sherman, the Ohio governor. In a deadlocked convention, the tide shifted to Garfield and awarded him the nomination he didn’t seek or want, family and farming being his true love… Excerpt. …Also recommended: Millard’s The River of Doubt.

Week That Was

Q&A with Olympic Medalist (and Avid Naturalist) Lynn Jennings …Update with pardner Bernd Heinrich.

What’s with Lauren Fleshman’s silence? She once camped out in Vin’s driveway when he was the athletic director at Oberlin College (2003-2005).

Mark Covert, 68, ran at least one mile every day for 45 years, the second longest retired streak in modern history, 149,653 miles, (159,651 career miles), or 66.8% of a run from Earth to the Moon. You can read our Q&A in the 2019 April OTC Newsletter

Are You Overdosing on Caffeine?

Alex Hutchinson: Your Psychological Skills Can Predict Injury Risk

Digital Detox Reading List

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez To Ask That A Tax On Distance Running Be Added To Green New Deal. And lots more.

April Fool, n. The March fool with another month added to his folly. ~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

The 5000m has been crucial for my career and has helped me to become the athlete I am today…~Eliud Kipchoge

My lady and Don are renewing our New Year’s resolutions for another 90 days. Don’s:

1. No alcohol, sugar, or junk.
2. Decaf only in the morning or at an outside function. Regular coffee only for long drives.
3. No gossip.
4. Decreased computer time.
5. Do procrastinated tasks assigned by my lady.
6. Do good works.
7. Increase sleep time.

You couldn’t call it flying. Photo

IAAF World Cross Country Championship Results

One Shoe, No Problems

Man Who Exercised Every Day Dies at 111. Even when he had to get out of his wheelchair to do it.

The Coddling of the American Mind

Jen A. Miller: The Races Are Virtual but the Running Is Real. With links.

Our book of the week: Aristotle’s Way

Q&A with Athing Mu

Reprise on our favorite 90+ athlete Colleen Milliman

“A phenom in basketball is different from a standout in other team sports because there’s no helmet on the kid and by the time he reaches junior year in high school and becomes an All-American, everybody knows who he is,” the agent said. “Everybody in that town knows him. Agents, college coaches, media and many other people in the basketball world know him. You and I went to college, matured, faced rejection at some point, and experienced failures and successes. You learn and you grow; it’s a healthy development. But these players – the five-star recruits who are known nationally – have a very unique development. From the time they’re 14 or 15 years old, they’re probably the most famous person in their community. …Read the whole thing. Here

World Cross Country Championships video. Wicked course.

Margaret Bailes Johnson, 17, won a gold medal in the 4 x 100 relay at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. And never raced again.

How many cigarettes in a bottle of wine?

Video: Running the Oregon Trail

Video: Stress, Trauma, and Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. I’m guessing you’re near the PCT, and that we’re all past due for a ramble.

Alex Hutchinson: How Treadmill Running Differs from Running Outside? Short answer: Not much. When an office slug, I’d train on them during lunch. Now I do so because I get up in the dark and it rains a lot in Oregon. And because it’s a good way to run intervals.

Ken Goe writes, It’s time for the sport to put spectators first

Deena Kastor on the hardest race in the world.

Steve Magness: The college admissions scandal and our obsession with status

What my DNA told me: Avoid fast food, eat vegetables.
…Uh, that’s what my mother told me. Watch what you swallow.

Hilarious: Morning Rituals

It is a hundred times more difficult to burn calories than to refrain from consuming them in the first place.

Every problem you have is your responsibility, regardless of who caused it.

And 86 other important truths.

Regular Running Can Double Your Chances of Making It to 85

6 Pro Cyclists Open Up About Their Struggles With Depression. …Head injuries are often a common denominator among athletes grappling with mental health issues.

A few stories on self-induced head injuries:

NYT: Marijuana Edibles May Pose Special Risks

CNN: Cannabis-related ER visits in Colorado jump threefold after legalization

the morning shakeout. Ches is going for the world record at Carlsbad.

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum name change sacrifices tradition for money

Politicized kids’ books are a new low in parenting

5 Lies You’ve Been Told About “Following Your Passion”

Forest Lawn: The Disneyland of Death

Prolonged sitting induces a state that they call “exercise resistance.” Read.

For that someone kinda full of it. Consider

Fiber: Only 5 percent of people in the US meet the recommended daily requirement

New approaches to the old problem of old age

Doctors want to limit sugary drinks for kids, teens. …Why the focus on the young? Lotsa obesity in every age group.

Tougher than thee and me. Women Becoming Marines: ‘I’ Will No Longer Be in Your Vocabulary