Lucky 13

My brother, Andrew Schmid, completed his 13th Detroit Free Press Marathon on October 18th.

Andrew has a propensity for getting media attention. He was in last years highlight video and this year, he's in the audio. If you go to the FreePress Marathon page, you'll hear him (at 12 seconds in) exclaim, "Relief! Relief! Just glad it's over. Train more next year". Now you have to realize he just ran a 3:20:39 marathon and ran the last mile hard to make sure he qualified for the Boston Marathon.

He made last year's marathon highlight reel on Channel 7 WXYZ, receiving his finishing medal while the reporter says, "an accomplishment they'll carry with them forever".

I asked him about his propensity to get media attention,above thousands of potential rivals. I suggested he should try to get on Reality TV. His response "I was just filling the balloon for Bethany (his youngest)."

Andrew's only regret this year is losing to fellow Michigan grad, and Haslett resident, Nick Stanko.

Watch my nephew fight crime.

He's the one shown alone and then with another officer on the Omaha news.

Crash for Clunkers

An entertaining and creative way to deal with old cars, boats, buses, and bailers via USA Today.

Have we ever had to digitize that many bums before?

Are ultra-endurance athletes out of their minds

That Which Does Not Kill Me Makes Me Stranger is a 2006 New York Times story by DANIEL COYLE on Jure Robič, now four-time Race Across America Champion, and the brain-body fatigue system.

Read the whole thing. For those who like excerpts, here you go.

The last days are marked by hallucinations: bears, wolves and aliens prowl the roadside; asphalt cracks rearrange themselves into coded messages. Occasionally, Robic leaps from his bike to square off with shadowy figures that turn out to be mailboxes. In a 2004 race, he turned to see himself pursued by a howling band of black-bearded men on horseback.

‘‘By the third day, we are Jure’s software,’’ says Lt. Miran Stanovnik, Robic’s crew chief. ‘‘He is the hardware, going down the road.’’

‘‘That is our method,’’ Stanovnik says. ‘‘When Jure cannot go any more, he can still go. We must motivate him sometimes, but he goes.’’

In this dual-brain system, Robic’s mental breakdowns are not an unwanted side effect, but rather an integral part of the process: welcome proof that the other limiting factors have been eliminated and that maximum stress has been placed firmly on the final link, Robic’s mind. While his long-term memory appears unaffected (he can recall route landmarks from year to year), his short-term memory evaporates. Robic will repeat the same question 10 times in five minutes. His mind exists completely in the present.

From the time of Hippocrates, the limits of human exertion were thought to reside in the muscles themselves ...

‘‘It was as if the brain was playing a trick on the body, to save it,’’ says Timothy Noakes, head of the Cape Town group. ‘‘Which makes a lot of sense, if you think about it. In fatigue, it only feels like we’re going to die. The actual physiological risks that fatigue represents are essentially trivial.’’

Fatigue, the researchers argue, is less an objective event than a subjective emotion — the brain’s clever, self-interested attempt to scare you into stopping. The way past fatigue, then, is to return the favor: to fool the brain by lying to it, distracting it or even provoking it.

If you suffer from vertigo. you shouldn't go ...

... to the new Sears Tower all-glass observation balcony. The imagines let you know what your getting yourself into.

Saluting our pyrotechincal heroes

Rhett and Link's salute to our pyrotechnical heroes.
If you can keep a straight face, I salute you, too.

Tour de France preview

Either Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador are playing major head games with the competition or they are a team torn between two lovers ... I mean, riders. I'm excited to see how this race plays out, not just for Astana but in general.

If you'd like to follow the race on the web the official site is a good source of information. The live ticker is nice if you can't see the action on TV.

My favorite site is Steephill.tv, though. They have links to more resources including live tickers, streaming video links, TV schedules, last kilometer and daily highlight videos, stage profiles and maps.

The race is 21 days of racing plus 2 rest days, so if you're short on time, you can conserve time by focusing on key moments that will likely be decisive to who wins the overall competition, commonly referred to as general classification or GC. If you take the abridged approach, you will miss other aspects of the race, like competition for the king of the mountains and sprinter's jersey, and some stunning scenery, but if something exciting happens in the race, you can always watch the rebroadcast or catch it on your DVR.

Here are the dates and stages that should have impact on the overall victory.

Mountaintop Finishes
Mountaintop finishes are significant because riding is generally most aggressive when the roads turn upward and finish on top. When there is a subsequent descent, riders tend to get reeled back in on the descent or the flats after the descent.

July 11 Barcelona (Spain) → Arcalis (Andorra) 224km
July 15 Pontarlier → Verbier (Switzerland) 207km
July 25 Montélimar → Mont-Ventoux 167km

Time Trials
Time trails are a race against the clock with no drafting (hiding from the wind), with the exception of course of drafting behind your teammates in the team time trial.
July 4 - Individual Time Trial (ITT) 15.5 km
July 7 - Team Time Trial (TTT) 37 km
July 23 - Individual Time Trial 40.5 km

I'd love to say more but have to run. Viva le Tour.

FDA warns on Zicam use

The FDA is warning that Zicam can cause long term or permanent loss of smell. I know some of you are thinking, it would be OK if you smell less, but this is referring to your ability to sense scents. Here's the story.

via Noel's tweet