Run DMZ

I'll soon be posting on another acclaimed film -- and this one with a running angle -- but in the meantime, I wanted to share a story on Slate magazine about the federal government's battle with search engines to drill down into their databases for terrorist activity touched off by "Bush better behave" and other incriminating keywords. In the piece, Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu questions whether the ire being directed at the White House for requesting the data should really be aimed at Google and Yahoo and others who have tracked and tucked away every search each of us has ever made. Now, I don't know about you, but I've already come up with a convincing argument for why I needed to type in "Rob Lowe sex videotape" years ago (smiling wryly as I hit the "I Feel Lucky" tab to narrow my search). How 'bout you?

Last night I caught the last 5 minutes of "At the Movies" with Ebert and Roeper and was delighted to see both had my favorite movie of 2005 in their top 3. Roger Ebert even ranked it No. 1 . If you haven't seen Crash , you must. Sure, all the buzz now is about Brokeback Mountain , but Crash is one of the best written, directed and acted movies I'd seen in a long, long time. Very powerful.

It’s all good again. Thanks to that snow-filled, therapeutic run and the encouraging comments (thanks to every one of you!) that followed my writing about it, I privately forgave all the slights and sour remarks and vowed to watch my mouth. In turn, the week indeed improved, as I hoped it would, with a terrific dinner with true friends, a decent night’s sleep and hugs all around the office before I left for Logan International Airport on Friday afternoon. As I write, my dirty underwear is in Denver and my damp Sauconys are probably molding while enroute to Los Angeles, not San Diego. To top it off, I didn’t get back in time for this morning’s Legoland Run that I was so looking forward to doing with our marathon training group. Worse yet, there is one guest speaker that is a must for me and, naturally, former Olympian and cancer survivor Steve Scott picked today to give his pep talk. Yeah, yeah. I’ll live. So here’s how it came to take an extra day to get home. Shortly before I was due ...

No one knew. Not the employees I’d unintentionally slighted to the point that they now ignored me. Nor the editors I’d annoyed all afternoon with my know-it-all comments, or the higher-ups who gave each other ‘the look’ when I turned to join the group. And especially not the pretty young things I’d overheard make fun of me at that night’s office party. All these incidents were carefully cataloged behind laughs and smiles, only to be called up all night long while in the bed next to mine a pregnant colleague slept off a lukewarmly received karaoke stint that I had encouraged. By early Wednesday morning, disappointment had settled into dread. Soon as I could, I dressed in the dark, grabbed my hotel key card and headed out of the lobby doors for a second snowy run. As with the two previous mornings, this one seemed made for running. The air was calm; the concrete buildings and denuded trees softened by an ongoing sprinkling of snow. I started down a steep hill and slipped twice before rea...

My first morning in metro Boston, it snowed. Hard. It was beautiful, the way the white flakes thickly coated surfaces and muffled the foot and car traffic dealing with dicey pathways. It was still and clean and wet and wonderful. Unfortunately, I woke just in time to shower and head down to the hotel lobby to meet up with a shuttle to the new Boston Convention Center, the site of this year’s annual company meeting. I made a mental note to get a run in the next morning, no matter what, and during a break in sessions sought advice on a safe route from a seasoned runner on staff. That private declaration also meant I had to pace myself that evening at an after-hours party across from Fenway Park and a few blocks from Boston University, my graduate school alma mater. The nostalgia alone would normally lead to an over consumption of alcoholic beverages, but this time I miraculously returned to my hotel room sober enough to set my alarm for 6:15. The next morning, when other runners within m...

In our marathon training program, we have a run leader known as the YeHaBo, short for Yellow Hat Boss. YeHas are experienced ‘thoners who assist the others training for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon, a good portion of whom are first-timers. We wear neon yellow hats to set us apart from everyone else. My friend Tara has been the YeHaBo for the past three years and last month asked for my assistance. She said I could be “the YeHaBo2,” which I then remarked translates to the YeHaBoBo. And so became my new designation. Remind me next time to keep my mouth shut. In any event, my Saturday runs will now be worth reporting because they take place in great locations throughout San Diego amongst wonderful company, and because I am confident they will include significant performance improvements over the next several months, culminating in qualifying for Boston in June. Or, at the very least, setting a new marathon PR. (Which, as I’ve mentioned before, is pretty much one in the same goal.) This morn...

I'm hitting the friendly skies Sunday for a week of work in Boston. I'm bringing my cold weather running clothes...but shorts and T-shirt too for the hotel gym, just in case. I'm still fine-tuning my 2006 race itinerary to incorporate more races in places where I will travel this year for work. That's how Chicago ended up as my fall marathon. I love running in new venues, but I normally don't like to race in them because my delicate system's always thrown into chaos by the change in sleep, hydration and fuel patterns, not to mention the additional stress of not really knowing my way around town. Here's some great advice from our track club's nutritionist on racing in another town .