Jive SBS Syndication Feed

November 8, 2009

guest — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:13:59 GMT

I'll be running in my very first 5k...Clarksburg Country Run.

Eric will be running in the half-marathon.

Opening the Search API

guest — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:04:44 GMT

I'm happy to announce that we've opened the API that powers http://searchbeta.active.com, the solution scheduled to become the new Search engine behind active.com in the coming months. By opening the API we're hoping developers will think of interesting ways to use and mashup our data. The API provides programmatic access into our core directory of assets, including:

Events
Classes
Tournaments
Training Plans
Race Results
Articles

While this data was already available before through the Asset Syndication API, it is now possible to conduct relevancy-based searches based on keywords. Plus, the new Search API is fast and allows for a variety of output formats including:

XML
HTML
RSS
JSON

The Search API is documented at http://developer.active.com/docs#search. Signup for access on developer.active.com, we'll approve your application and get you going. And let us know what you think of the API, either by commenting on this blog, in our API forum, or by sending a tweet to @jgrahamthomas.

8 Week 5K Training Program

DanielRicica — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:02:37 GMT

My name is Daniel. Well I finally started something that I have wanted to do for some time. I started the 8 week 5K training program. I motivated myself to get up off the couch and start a running program. I am a Type II diabetic and needed to start this program to reduce my glucose levels and start to live a healthy lifestyle. November 6, was the first day of training. I am following the training plan listed on this site. After the first day, my legs were really hurting. But I know that if I keep up with this program the pain will soon begin to dissapate. I hope that my fellow runners in this site will help to keep me motivated and continue running. Along with losing weight and living healthier, my second goal is to prepare myself to run in a local marathon in September 2010. I am looking forward to making friends with my fellow runners.

"Hey, Brother......"

guest — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:02:08 GMT

There are a few phrases out there which belie their actually meaning. I've been watching a lot of bad movies lately and it seems like when someone starts out a conversation with "Hey friend..." that means that the smack is about to go down. Their is no warmth in the greeting. Clearly, there is an agenda about to be enforced.

A couple of weeks ago, I was out on a five-hour ride and decided to stop in one of my favorite local stores out on the California coast a few miles south of San Francisco. This store has wood floors and they have a sign posted outside asking that cyclists please remove their cleats. This makes sense since some road cleats can damage wood floors.

I ride on the road with mountain bike shoes and cleats. One nice thing about Sidi Dominator MTB shoes is that they are built with the same upper as their Genius road shoes. The only difference is the sole and the sole on the Dominators has a recessed cleat. Not only does that make it the Dominators easy for walking, but the cleat does not damage wood floors.

Because of this, I don't remove my cycling shoes when I enter this particular store. As I was about to enter the aforementioned store, one of the locals called out to me "Hey Brother, the sign there says to remove your cycling shoes." Obviously, I was not this person's brother; this is another one of those phrases.

I guess I could have gotten upset at some local, who doesn't even work at the store, trying to enforce some policy. Even though I wasn't on my bike, this seemed like it was heading for yet another "car driver versus bicyclist" confrontation. The recently concluded road rage trial of the LA Doctor started because the doctor yelled at cyclists to 'ride single file' and the cyclists flipped the driver off. I thought it was the duty of the police to enforce the laws.

Confrontations never seem to resolve anything so, instead of starting something, I just pulled off my shoe and showed the local that I had recessed cleats and that the request therefore didn't apply. It was the right thing to do. It was the right thing to do and my ride was just as enjoyable as before I made my stop.

Bruce

Longhorn Half Ironman, Jonathan Hinkle finishes 17th in Age Group!

JonathanFit — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:30:00 GMT

I finished the Longhorn Half Ironman in Austin, TXsetting a Personal Record of 4:50:23 finish. The PR was unexpected as my focus was a fast swim and transitions. I had not been able to put the training time into the bike and had been nursing a sore Achilles with little running time.

After a fast swim and T1 I held on through the bike. Once on the run I saw the PR was possible and just needed to maintain my pace. The run course was three loops and fill with something different at every corner. From Bands every mile, snacks, candy, all kinds of hydration, cold sponges and towels. So much to choice from I had to skip a few things and keep moving.

Results:

Finish - 4:50:23

Overall - 123 of 1991

Men - 71 of 1458

Age group - 17 of 340

Longhorn Half Ironman, Austin TX Oct 09

This was my 18th race of the year and with Fall/Winter coming to North Virginia, it was my last Tri of the season.

It to let the body heal, spend sometime reflecting and catch up.

At least for 2 weeks as it is almost time to start Marathon training. Gasparilla Marathon here I come.

Jonathanfit.com

Save $10 off Any $50 Purchase thru Monday Nov. 30th

JonathanFit — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:26:52 GMT

Fellow Cyclists,

Fall is in the air! It's the perfect time to get out for a bike ride. Stop in at any of ourfour convenient locations and enjoy savings of $10 off any $50 purchase. Print your coupon by clicking on the "Save" button below. The coupon is valid thru Monday, November 30th, 2009. We have a great selection of fall clothing and every imaginable bicycle and accessory to meet your cycling needs.

We have the best deals of the year on select 2009 Model Closeout Bicycles.

Spokes Etc. Bicyclesis sponsoring instructor-led Computrainer classes at ourVienna location. Go to BikeReg.com for more information regarding the selection of available classes and to register. Feel free to call 703-281-2004 if you have questions.

Thank's for being a loyal Spokes Etc. Bicycles customer. We appreciate your business and hope to see you soon.

Sincerely,
--The Folks at Spokes

Army 10 miler, Jonathan Hinkle set's new Personal Record!

JonathanFit — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:22:38 GMT

I took the starting line in Washington DC at the Army 10 miler with 21,289 other people on Oct 4th. It could not have a better day for a 10 mile run through DC. I was fortunate to be wearing the new Saucony Triumph 7’s. I had received them a couple of days before. Not only do they look fast, they made me feel fast.

I set a PR of 1:11:53 finish, which put me on a 7:11/mile pace. I did not start with that in mind. The first 2 miles rolled by at 8:00/mile pace and then the congestion thinned out and I eased the speed up a little mile after mile. Next thing I knew the finish line was in sight.

Results:

Finish – 1:11:53

Overall – 1306 of 21,289

Men – 1168 of 11690

Age Group – 194 – 2146

JonathanFit

Day 1-Today is the first day of the rest of my life...

guest — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:31:39 GMT

I am still a newbie to the sport of running. The only running I have really done in my life is to run to the refrigerator for a bite to eat, or running after my kids. I am the mother of 3, Step-mother to 4 more, and Step-Grandma of 2= a total of 9 kids in one shape or form that make a fantastic family for my husband and myself.

I started a new job roughly a year ago. A new co-worker had been discussing her "runs" and the enjoyment that she got out of it. To be quite honest, I didn't know anything about running. I had no idea that people would just show up and pay a fee to have the privilege of running in a race, supporting a cause, and get a t-shirt to boot. I didn't know what a 5K was- how long it was, or why people would bother to run it. After a lot of encouragement and explanation, my co-worker, Susan, finally talked me into signing up for my first 5K.

My first 5 K was on Mother's Day 2009- I did not properly train (I did start walking several times a week- but not near enough to really make a difference.) I think I kept telling myself that I have more time, and kept putting off. Well, I wish I would have had more determination to stay on a routine, but I have the glamourous job as a Nurse in the ER, that happens to work nights (strike one), and has a rotating schedule (strike two), and I work 12.5 hour shifts (strike three). There is no "routine."

The day of my first race, I got off work at 7:15 in the morning after working all night, headed to the event. Upon my arrival I found about 3,000 other people that were far more prepared than myself. Not to dwell in all the gory details, but I did finish, I walked most of it, panting along the way. What I did enjoy was the atmosphere, just being involved in a activity, and the people- I cannot tell you enough of how amazed I was at all the people cheering everyone on, supporting and encouraging me along the way- despite how ill-prepared I was. I was not fast, I was not graceful, and there was not a stitch of elegance as I trotted across the finish line.

I did a lot of thinking and decided that despite my misgivings, I throughly enjoyed my experience so much, that I decided to make this my new hobby. Since that initial run I have participated in a handful of 5K's that include:

Sancturay of Hope- run the good race
CTK 5K
Race for the Cure
Head for the Cure
Levee Run

What I have the most difficulty with is having any sort of consistency with any type of training regimen. I have struggled so much with this one issue.

I have tried to sign up for about 1 run a month. I did take the month of October off- my 12 year old son, Joe, also running partner, and overall motivator, decided to join his Middle School Cross Country team. I took that time to support him, return the favor and be his motivator. He was fantastic...

My next run is November 22nd. I just finished fighting off a nasty upper respiratory infection, so I feel like I am back at square one. I am going to try and use this blog to track my progress, and to hopefully motivate me to have some regularity in my exercise schedule. I just want to really run or jog the entire 5K- without stopping, walking or panting.

We will just have to see.... wish me luck!

Autumn Rugby Internationals 2009: Betting Preview

guest — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:36:45 GMT

Autumn Internationals Week One Betting Previews

Saturday, 07 November 2009

England v Australia, 14:30

Wales v New Zealand, 17:15

No Australian team made the finals of the Super 14 this season. Australia have lost five of their last six games, and not only that, but they were losers on the bookmakers’ handicaps, too. And yet, the layers believe that the Wallabies are a considerably better team than England in the opener to the autumn international series at Twickenham on Saturday.

On the face of it, it is easy to see why the layers have taken that particular view. The November internationals have been a happy hunting ground for the Tri Nations teams in recent times. The Six Nations teams have won just four of those 23 matches going back to the autumn of 2006. It’s a shocking record, and it shows quite how far ahead the southern hemisphere teams are at the moment.

Australia come into this weekend’s fixture with the heartbeat of the team ripped out of them. Their skipper, Stirling Mortlock is still absent through injury, and if that wasn’t enough, his midfield partner and vice-captain Berrick Barnes also misses out. It’s quite an absentee list, and one that England coach Martin Johnson will appreciate. The former world-cup winning skipper has named three of his 2003 colleagues in his matchday squad, which includes a return to action for hooker Steve Thompson, who last played for England in 2006. His hand was forced by 13 injuries to his Elite Player Squad of 32. On that injury list, there were seven certain starters.

So what we have is a watered down version of the full-blooded Test that we were all hoping for. Australia’s squad may be thin on the ground, but it is their lack of experience that may be the greater weakness. Despite England’s threadbare cupboard, the return of Jonny Wilkinson will steady the ship somewhat. Wilkinson is in sublime form for his new club Toulon right now, vying to be the league’s top scorer with Clermont’s Brock James. Although statistics can be misleading, England have always played better with their talismanic fly-half – with him they win 78% of the time, without him, 47% of the time.

Australia gave away countless penalties throughout this year’s Tri Nations, and if there are too many indiscretions from the Green and Gold team, Wilkinson will punish them with his deadly left boot. Wilkinson has said himself in the build up to this series that he is in the best form of his life, but one if you want impartiality, Dave Alred, his long-time kicking coach, thinks the same. Alred has said that Wilkinson’s remodelled kicking action is leagues ahead of what it used to be and that is enough to consider buying England’s kicking meters on the spreads. It’s an unconventional way of making money, but if Australia are half as bad at giving away penalties as they have been in the past few months, and Wilkinson is half as good at Alred says at converting them into points, the kicking meters could soar.

In the other international, Wales try to stand tall and proud in the face of the mighty All Blacks at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium. A match between these two sides is always worth watching for sheer attacking intent, but as far as the handicap is concerned, the bookmakers look to have got it spot on. Where a bit of value may be squeezed out of the game is in the half-time market. Wales are a side that like to start quickly, as evidenced by the fact that they have been leading at half-time in seven of their last ten matches, and they were drawing after 40 minutes against France in the Six Nations.

New Zealand are the ultimate come from behind side, which was obvious when they beat Australia in that manner in Tokyo last week. As a result, punters should be looking to either side with Wales on the half-time handicap at about six or seven points, or go for the big win and back Wales to be leading at half-time, but for the All Blacks to win the game.

BetRepublic Betting Recommendations:

1pt buy England kicking meters with Sporting Index

1pt Back Wales on the best available half-time handicap

Check out BetRepublic.com for Autumn Rugby Internationals 2009 Rugby Betting Picks, Rugby Betting Tips.

My First 21k Run

guest — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:44:09 GMT

So I'm not really a serious runner, biking has been my number one sport but when my friends insisted that we would join an Iron Man triathlon next season, I really had to prepare well. We then planned out our training regime. My girlfriend said that I should hire a personal trainer. A suggestion which I did not bother to think about because the people in our neighborhood that I know whom hired a trainer were either two men living together or housewives which lay around all day while their husbands make the big bucks and hit on attractive secretaries month after month.

I started to choose which of the three divisions I would concentrate on first. Of course I would be leaving the biking stuff for later because that would be the easiest for me. Swimming should be fun but the weather's pretty cold so I decided to run first.

3k was my first run and all my friends made fun of me. I told them that I take things at a slow pace so I really don't care what they say. I've participated in three runs and decided that I should go 10k. There was this essay I read in a forum about Chi running and it really got my attention which made me purchase the book and has never left my side day and night. The day of my first 10k came and I did not find any difficulty in that run, as a matter of fact I even took three more laps around our neighborhood park after crossing the finish line. unlike my friends who go straight to their naps after running the same distance. This week will be my first 21 k run and I'm really looking forward to it.

Run Boston in 2010

Active Giselle — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:44:18 GMT

Press Release

CONCORD, Mass. -- Applications are now available for running in the Boston Marathon(R) as part of the Melanoma Foundation of New England's marathon team, Running for Cover. With Bill Rodgers back again as the honorary team captain, the Foundation is looking forward to another successful Marathon year.

Runners can go to www.mfne.org and download an application for Boston. The fundraising minimum is $3,250 for invitational runners, and $350 for qualified runners (runners who ran a previous marathon fast enough to qualify for Boston). Applicants will be notified in mid-November if they make the team. Team members receive Running for Cover apparel, fundraising tips, training support including meetings with Bill Rodgers, and the satisfaction of knowing they will make a very real difference in the fight against melanoma. Last year's Running for Cover team raised over $200,000 through the Boston Marathon.

Melanoma is now the fastest growing cancer in the United States -- in fact, one person dies each hour from the disease. However, if detected in the early stages, melanoma can usually be treated successfully. The Foundation is committed to improving the statistics by educating the public about the need for early detection and prevention and by offering programs to help patients and their families cope with melanoma.

Skin cancer is the number one diagnosed cancer in the United States, and melanoma is the most preventable of all cancers. The Melanoma Foundation of New England was founded in 1999 and is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization.

SOURCE Melanoma Foundation of New England

A day and then another day....

guest — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:18:40 GMT

Day one...a friend of mine from work adv that i check on the website for training for a 5k .....I find an awesome one and begin to make friends. So much encouragement which I really need. Dont we all?

Day Two, taking stairs at work, no elevator for trips less than 4 floors...i can do two floors and still somewhat breathe, I went for a walk after my lunch and walked uphill about three blocks and back. Yay! I felt so good. Slowly but surely. Thanks so much for all the wonderful words of encouragement.

much love

Cheryl

Update on Albumz Launch

guest — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:27:08 GMT

We know everyone’s as excited as we are about the launch of the new eteamz Albumz Center so we want to keep you up to date on the progress.

Within the next couple of weeks, the new experience will be available to you! In preparation for the launch, we must migrate everyone’s photos to the new photos platform. It’s okay - the images on your current site won’t be affected at all in this process. The only side affect you may notice from this is the amount of space used as shown in your disk space monitor. Until we release the Albumz feature, it may appear as if your images are not counted in your amount of “disk space used”. Please know that the space used by these images will be reflected once we release the final product.

No worries – this won’t cause any problems to your site and all your photos, images, sounds, music and such will still be there at time of the final launch. Please keep this in mind as you upload any additional photos during the migration phase.

Sugar Decreases Life...of a Worm

guest — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:28:38 GMT

You've heard that you should stay away from added sugar -- here's another reason. Researchers reporting in the November issue of Cell Metabolism, say it might also be taking years off your life.

By adding just a small amount of glucose to C. elegans usual fare of straight bacteria, they found the worms lose about 20 percent of their usual life span. They trace the effect to insulin signals, which can block other life-extending molecular players. Although the findings are in worms, Cynthia Kenyon of the University of California, San Francisco, says there are known to be many similarities between worms and people in the insulin signaling pathways. (As an aside, Kenyon says she read up on low-carb diets and changed her eating habits immediately – cutting out essentially all starches and desserts -- after making the initial discovery in worms. The discovery was made several years ago, but had not been reported in a peer-reviewed journal until now.)

Breeder’s Cup 2009 Preview: Classic brings out lady

guest — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:28:41 GMT

Watch out, It’s Billie Jean vs. Bobby Riggs all over again this weekend, except for the fact that this Billie will have to beat TWELVE Bobbie’s. The 5-year old female sensation Zenyatta will race against twelve males in the Breeders Cup Classic, second only to the Kentucky Derby as the biggest race of the year. It will be the mares first time in the Classic and first time running against the boys.

No female has ever won this race and only three have even tried, with Jolyphya’s third place finish in 1992 being the best finish by a female so far. But this is a very un-girl like girl - the mare stands at a massive seventeen hands (for readers who are unfamiliar with horse latitudes and longitudes seventeen hands is freakishly large.)

In addition to running against males for the first time, it will also be her first time running the distance of a mile and a quarter, but apparently both facts are overshadowed by her 13-0 lifetime record, because she is still the betting favourite at odds of 5-2.

Between now and Saturday, I will work on whittling down the field to isolate my play in The Classic and the other races on the card. Handicapping the thoroughbreds is very unlike ‘capping other sports, with your picks changing right up until post time.

My final plays, including head to head match ups, will be sent to team mates via PUB’its at Bet Republic, all throughout the day on Saturday.

To me, ‘capping the nags is more a matter of eliminating also-rans than picking the winner. I haven’t completed all of my work, but I have my identified the first two horses that do not make my cut.

I start by tossing out the Birds – Mine That Bird and Summer Bird.

Mine That Bird won the Derby in a huge upset. His last start? Disappointing 6th in the Good Wood stakes last month. Already beaten by a girl, he gets no respect from me in this one. Summer Bird? Two problems – he doesn’t seem to like the synthetic surface that they have at Santa Anita, and, like Mine That Bird, he has also already been beaten by a girl.

I should mention that the girl that beat them both was Rachel Alexander who some, like her trainer, think is the best female horse today. R.A. won’t be at the Breeder’s Cup this year, just like last year, because her trainer says she doesn’t like the artificial surface, plus, it’s easier to say you’re #1 if you don’t actually ever race the mare who many say is the real #1 – Zenyatta. It is a hotly debated question in horse circles, and if they went head to head I would ride with Zenyatta.

But the most anticipated and desired head to head match will never come off - Rachel’s people announced she is done for the year, and next year when she runs at four-years old, Zenyatta will be an old-for-horses six, and rightfully retired. So, in the hypothetical race I stand by my pick of Zenyatta, since Rachel’s handlers seem to be gelded when it comes to her participating in a contest that would settle the debate once and for all.

For the rest of my eliminations, and final picks for the Classic and all the Breeders Cup races, be sure to join me at bet republic come Saturday. See you there….