The marathon takes place Sunday morning at 7:30 in China, and NBC will be covering it LIVE! I’m very happy about that, as I’ve been getting tired of the taped delayed track and field treatment. Of course, the marathon is one of the final events, so I guess they’re out of choices. Regardless, I went to TV Guide.com and plugged in my zip code… NBC coverage will take plan Saturday 8/23 at 7:30 pm. The listing also lists “Track and Field” and “Diving” in the coverage. Someone really needs to start some sort of running network similar to the Golf channel, so that way we can watch these events with limited interruption. With the diving and likely other lame events thrown in, I imagine we’ll get to see 30-60 seconds every mile or so, before they cut away to some guy prepping for five minutes before jumping into a pool.

Here's a flaw... most races that cost $30 (or even $15 - 20) have some kind of charity in mind. Others that have larger fees (like many urban marathons) have some sort of "festival" atmosphere attached to it. Most of the entrance fee would probably go towards that. What we need to do is find 10,000 wealthy runners, come up with a really cool course, and somehow make them feel special for having finished this race. ----- EDIT: Well, one could make the argument that many people watch NASCAR for the crashes. That's kind of sick, but it tends to make up the monotony. Maybe ratings would rise if NBC was twisted enough to show footage of runners who collapse due to exhaustion. However, I think there would be too much of a connection in watching a human collapse vs. watching machines crash. Combining these two points... if you set the crashes aside, any kind of auto racing is much more monotonous than a marathon. In auto racing, you rarely (if ever) see the driver's face, his reaction to those around him, or the pain/determination/anguish that he is experiencing near the end of the race. Maybe that's why runners can watch running without requiring cut-aways, because we've been there before (just not nearly as fast).

And once again on money... If I were to win the lottery, rather than retiring early, I'd still want to open a running shop similar to the ones up this way. I think someplace like the shops in Leonardtown or Wildewood would be a great place to get this done. I think there is a solid number of runners in Saint Mary's, but I have no clue where you getting your gear from. JC Penney? Dick's in Waldorf? Some people may not mind that, but imagine being able to get service targeted toward runners and triathletes that is about 1000 times greater than what you might get at someplace like The Sports Authority. Here's why I'm hesitant. I once had a soccer coach named Sonny who opened up a multi-sport shop in Wildewood (Sonny's Sports). It only lasted for a few years. I'd love to know why it failed. I think it had a lot to do with how it mainly had soccer equipment, with a little bit of the store devoted to many other sports. I think he tried to cast the net way too wide, and failed to find a niche with one particular group. A running store like this would be a perfect "partner" with a club like the CBRC, as one would easily be able to market the other. It kills me that I'll likely never be able to help bring this to fruition. I just know that someone else is going to come up with this idea in SMC, set up shop, and then make a boatload of money.

My experience up here is that Wal-mart and Target sell a lot of C-9 gear and maybe some low level stuff otherwise. No offernse to those of you who wear C-9, but I find that it tends to be too heavy, and fails to wick moisture as well as some other brands. I guess this is the whole "you get what you pay for" deal. Some people can wear discount running gear, but I struggle with anything less than midline Nike stuff. As much as I hate to trump UnderArmour because of the high cost, it truly is amazing stuff. There is a Target and a Super Walmart within a couple of miles of Charm City Run. However, CCR has been in business for quite sometime. I don't think they would pose much of a danger. If nothing else, I think customer service would have to prevail. It seems much easier at the running shops then at larger retail establishments, because the customers tend to act like jerks less (think Bay Books [probably]). I kick myself for not being a runner in college, because then I probably could have worked at CCR, gotten experience there, and seen how the business should have been run. That could be my new biggest regret of college (even more than not taking any business classes!). The store would be most difficult to set up... small business loans and such.

It's like the Dunder Mifflin vs. Staples battle --- customer service is the little guy's best weapon. Going back to what Joe was saying about eschewing charities ... it seems pretty apparent that the most hugely successful races --- like the KOMEN RACE FOR THE CURE, for example --- are made such box office successes by the hordes of people who are deeply, deeply concerned about the particular charity. You know, the type of women who send mass e-mails to all their coworkers asking for support, because the cause has become so personal to them ever since their dear old mums got lopsided. These are the same people who lambasted guys like us for wanting to know our Komen 5K times and placement, crying, "It's the race for the cure, not the race to win!" It's as though they think no one should be racing at all, but rather just jogging along smiling and cheering --- thinking that that act alone will fight off an incurable, unthinking, unpersonifiable disease that eats microscopic cells. Granted I think all those charitable causes are wonderful ideas, and probably really do accomplish great things for suffering people, but whatever the cause is, I'm really just there to outrun as many people as possible, set a satisfactory time, and win awards. That's why I like the Lower Potomac River Marathon --- all it supports is the Piney Point Lighthouse and the Chesapeake Bay Research Lab!

Halfway through the race the weather conditions in Beijing were mid-to-upper 80s with high humidity. So just imagine trying to run an Olympic marathon in the midst of the 2007 Chaptico Classic! Oh yeah, and yesterday Joe and I made some progress with the League website. The Hospice 5k and the Robbie Miles 5k are now resulted!

I hope it's on Netflix!

Sierra just forwarded a post from the Annapolis Striders saying that that Spirit of the Marathon movie will show at Senator Theatre (apparently somewhere in Baltimore) on Tue Sep 30.