Astonishing, Even By Ultrarunner Standards

Meet Simon Wheatcroft, a 29 year old British runner who is in training for the Cotswold ULTRArace.100, a 100-mile ultramarathon. And he's blind.

Barefoot Steve Explains His Strange Hobby

Michael Sandler Reviews A Barefoot Running Sandal

Very interesting...



Update: By the way, here is a direct link to Michael's site.

Barefoot Running in the Back of a Volkswagen

Let me admit right up front that I am fascinated by the creative opportunities available through various sorts of digital manipulation. Photoshopped photos, altered audio, and edited video can be provocative, funny, or just entertaining. A recent Volkswagen commercial is a terrific case in point. The ad appropriates old television video of a Gene Kelly/Donald O'Connor dance routine and re-situates the already clever concept into the back seat of a Volkswagen Jetta.

The music that serves as the ad's soundtrack is a song by Pigeon John called The Bomb. It's an energetic tune that features a challenging 185 BPM cadence along with some interesting rhythmic changes. It's a great barefoot-style running tune, especially for workouts or races where you want to push yourself just a bit. 

The Fresh Air Fund and the New York City Half Marathon

The Fresh Air Fund is an organization that's been doing great work for an awfully long time. They've been providing free summer vacations for New York City children from low-income communities and have been doing so since 1877. Sure, there's no shortage of organizations that deserve our support but this is one for which I've developed a soft spot in my heart over the years (I remember their commercials on television back when I was growing up on Long Island).

A great organization that deserves our support.

One of the fundraisers on which the organization depends is the New York City Half Marathon. The race covers an amazing 13.1-mile course that takes runners through beautiful Central Park, electrifying Times Square, and ends with breathtaking finish-line views of the New York City harbor. More than 11,000 runners finished the race last year, including a team of Fresh Air Fund-Racers that raised $100,000.00 for this outstanding group.

This year, the race takes place on March 20th and the Fresh Air Fund is looking for runners and sponsors. If you're in or around New York City, I can't recommend this race—or this organization—highly enough. Check out their site and learn a little bit about the great work they're doing. If you take a few moments to do so, I'm pretty confident you'll figure out what to do next.