Cornellians in Houston

I'd like to propose an informal prediction contest for our blog readership. I probably should have posted this earlier given the irregularity with which most people check the site, but we'll see what turns up. Better late than never.

As you all know, Max King (2:15:34 in B'more), Sage Canaday (2:16:52 in San Diego), and Zac Hine (2:16:54 in Boston) are running the Trials tomorrow. Your job is to pick their finish order and times. Here's how the ultra-complicated scoring will work:

5 points if you pick their respective finishes correctly (e.g. Max then Sage then Zac; you don't need to say how they'll measure up against the rest of the field.

1 point for each time guessed within a minute of the actual time run.

2 points for each time guessed within 30 seconds of the actual time run.

3 points for each time guessed within 10 seconds of the actual time run.

10 points if you predict a time to the second.

Time-related points are not additive, so the maximum number of points you can get is 35.

The winner will get something cool. Most likely, I'll send you a free racing singlet once I get around to designing and ordering them. Everyone else who wants one will have to pay for it, but you'll have a free one. Look at you. You in your free jersey. Hey, how'd you get that? You won it; that's how.

Send it in

Thank you for registering for the Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon! When you registered you selected a seeded pace of 6:49 minute mile or less. In order to receive a seeded position you must provide a qualifying result in a half marathon or greater and in the 2010 or 2011 calendar year. You did not provide the race result URL that shows your seeded qualifying time. Please email me this information at your earliest convenience.

If I do not hear from you before April 30, you will be placed in the Non Seeded – Under 8 min mile category.

Thank you,

Katie Pavlich

Special Events Director

Dick's Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon

310 Grant Street

Suite 1123

Pittsburgh, PA 15219

kpavlich@pittsburghmarathon.com

Half

A few months back, the three of us decided to run the Pittsburgh Marathon. I knew at the outset that I'd be in better shape, figuratively speaking, if I could get a half-marathon under my belt before the big day. I made this promise to myself and to you, loyal readers.

But then the half in Phoenix--originally appealing since I would be out there for a conference the week after--fell through, and things weren't looking good. It appeared that, given the half-marathon shortage in March (likely the result of these tough economic times), I would be going half-less for my first fully-dedicated full. In the end, though, things worked out.

I suppose I just didn't want to let all of you down. Thankfully, today I have the privilege of letting you all know that the half is still on, so my promise to you has been kept.

Dare I say, not since Gordon's famous "The Return" blog post two-plus weeks back have the expectations of the MaT community been so solidly met. If you'll recall, at that time, Gordon let us all know that he was hopping back on the proverbial blog saddle, making an ebullient rededication to keeping us informed about his life, running, and pending nuptials. And we all know how that turned out: "The Return" marked the beginning of near-hourly posts on topics ranging from foot corns to Save-the-Dates. Gordon has spent each day since then pushing away his pre-pubescent pupils at a fever-pitch, so that he might have more time for blogging.

Today I extended an invitation to Gordon run the half-marathon with me. This invitation goes out to any and all of you, dear readers. Here are the details:

Celebrate Life Half-Marathon
Rock Hill, NY
10 am March 13th