Don's Diary

Week That Was. And why the California International Marathon is the best, still-kinda-legal course to race. The weather is usually accommodating. …More.

This College Makes Every Student Run a Half Marathon. …Don’s mate attended Quaker schools in Philadelphia. Every student was required to participate in after school sports, competing against other private schools. Year around. No exceptions. …Her sports were softball and field hockey. Always the best with the latter. She still has some hockey sticks around in the event I start acting out.

Why Dark Winter Days Bum People Out. …Like for most life’s ills, the cure is running.

Winston Churchill’s Doctor’s Note

Wait a sec. Coach Hunter S. Thompson?

Pity the poor pro athletes!

British Columbia’s Most Notorious Hermit.

The Woman Who Outruns the Men, 200 Miles at a Time

OK, so I read Jesse Itzler’s Living with the Monks. In about two hours. On the Kindle. Only $2.99. Liked it as much as Living with a SEAL. Itzler, 50, is a runner, finishing a 100 miler under 24 hours. Owns the Atlanta Hawks.

the morning shakeout

Jane Brody/NYT: The Secret to Good Health May Be a Walk in the Park. …Preferably with someone you love.

How to deal with those big hills

No phone zone …About our digital addiction

How ’bout an Everest-sized hike? Mmmh, won’t do that. But I do love running up mountains. In Santa Clarita, it was The Beast. In Eugene, it’s Mt. Pisgah or Spencer Butte. …Read Living with a SEAL. Funny and instructive. Just ordered Living with a Monk. …BTW, Cheever’s short story, The Swimmer, was turned into a memorable movie.

California International Marathon results. Ideal conditions on a fast course. No one we know we know was there.

Podcast with Dr. Michael Joyner: Why Training for a 5K is the Best Type of Exercise. Stuff that might surprise you. Don’t miss.

Must Read: Joyner’s Debunking the myths about lactic acid, fatigue and recovery

Scientific American: Normal Body Temperature Is Surprisingly Less Than 98.6

2018 December OTC Newsletter includes our Q&A with Curtis Anderson. …Ken Goe called Anderson “the “dean of Northwest track and field writers.”

Next up will be a Q&A with a buddy of Pre and constant friend with the Prefontaine family.

Eliud Kipchoge: the best athlete on the planet bar none

Jen A. Miller/NYT: Running Into the Holidays

Good Advice from Coach Werner Herzog …More? Be tough. Chew your fingers off

Likes no. Yikes yes. Just 12 Percent Of American Adults Are Metabolically Healthy

We checked out the Dick Fosbury sculpture at Oregon State University. See here.

Fosbury and the flop

Javier Sotomayor of Cuba set the men’s world record (8 ft .045 in) 25 years ago. Stefka Kostadinova of Bulgaria set the women’s world record (6ft 10 1/4 in) 31 years ago.

Week That Was and Running With The Buffaloes 20 Years Later here. The latter is one of the best running books you will ever read. Mark Wetmore is one of the best college distance coach ever. The Buffalo women won the D1 cross country championship this year. Buffalo men were fourth.

The Wetmore Factor

5 Places Where People Slow Down Aging

U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Further

Train for a Half Marathon By Running Just 3 Times a Week

Semi-Rad: Why Finish Lines Will Get You Every Time

Gretchen Reynolds/NYT: The Best Food for Athletes

40 best books to read before you die …Good list, but the author doesn’t know you. Ask a bookish friend for recommendations, someone who really knows you. And don’t feel inadequate if the book doesn’t grab you after, say, 50 pages. Leave it like you change channels, without shame. …A best book list without Faulkner, Twain, Swift, Dostoyevsky, Joyce, Hugo…?

The Race to Nowhere in Youth Sports

Tianna Bartoletta is a two-time Olympian with three gold medals. Read

Our tax dollars at work in higher education.

the morning shakeout

Screw running shoes

On Running in the City as a Woman

There’s no such thing as being too fit

Q&A with Olympian John Gregorek

Breaking news from Harvard Business Review: Making Kindness a Core Tenet of Your Company

I was about to line up against 44,000 Ethiopians at Africa’s largest road race…More