Sweet Victory

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The whining over the past two weeks about Medtronic accomplished "something." (Thanks for the heads-up, Jerry) Now on the Global Heroes page , Medtronic gives you the option to learn more about the diabetic exclusion. When you opt to learn more, you learn this: Medtronic Global Heroes is a joint program created by the Medtronic Foundation and Twin Cities Marathon, Inc. (TCM) to recognize runners with medical devices. As part of TCM's role in managing the health and safety of all 15,000 runners on the course, the organization has worked with Medtronic to create guidelines for runners participating in the Global Heroes program. These guidelines are designed to help manage the overall risk of participants. Under those guidelines, the TCM medical director determined that runners older than 40, who have been diagnosed with diabetes for more than 15 years, are not currently eligible for the Global Heroes program. This decision was based on increased

As Tim McGraw sings, "It's just a clock on the wall, but it's ticking away." I'm in one of those phases... it feels like a rut, but it's far too fast to be a rut. Work is piling up, miles are piling up, family to-do's are piling up... there's a lot I'm plowing through, but there's a lot I'm not, too. We tend to be a relatively productive group at work, with minimal meetings except when our out-of-towners come in town. This week, the key out-of-towner is here and my to-do list grows by the hour. All week, I've crossed off one lousy item. I'm a big crosser-outer and though I suppose there's something to be said for adding things to your list, I find little value in that. But crossing stuff off? I gobble that action up. Training's going well, too, though I still haven't committed to the half marathon in 10 days... Setting 5k and 4mile PR's is one thing, but I honestly don't know if I've put in the work to warran

I've been watching the "six word memoir" game for a while, ever since Smith Magazine came out w/ their anthology , which includes submissions from my friends Ellen , Myfanwy and probably some others from my old writerly days. Because it's a fun (and challenging) exercise, it's currently making its way around the blog scene, and in the same day, I've been tagged by Jamie and Kelly . Coming at me from me from both ends, who am I to refuse? For those out of the loop, these are the rules: 1) Write your own six word memoir 2) Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you want 3) Link to the person that tagged you in your post, and to the original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere 4) Tag at least five more blogs with links; and 5) Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play! I had a half dozen that I was tempted to include, but decided the exercise was most potent if I only listed my number

So, running log-wise, I'm a RunningAhead.com guy. I've tried many and this one works for me. But I'm always on the lookout for new ones, cuz I'm curious like that. Particularly when John mentions one I've never heard of. John's a local runner, who is currently running four times the mileage every week that I am. He also runs most every mile substantially faster than I run mine. Here's a typical entry from John's blog : Monday, Feb. 25 19 miles in 2:07:47 – before heading to the airport to go to Florida Last 7 days: 123 Tuesday, Feb. 26 13 miles in 1:32:08 – 80 degrees in Clearwater… got heat cramps and threw up in a Target parking lot before guzzling four bottles of Gatorade. Last 7 days: 116 Yeah - that's John. Anywho, at the bottom of that entry, John casually drops in that he uses Athleticore.com to log his stuff, so I checked it out. Guess what? Turns out that this is where a lot of the fast people record their crap. Unlike a lot of logs and si

Hey Medtronic: I ran 5 miles over lunch today. In the pouring rain. Did I mention it's 46 degrees today? Guess what? I didn't die. Just thought you'd want to know. Sincerely, Marcus PS. Did you get my e-mail today? The one where I said you guys are uncool? I thought that was a little nicer than saying you "suck," though I don't regret putting that in the blog. Just wondered, since nobody wrote me back.

So I'm continuing my slow boil over the fact that Medtronic isn't considering diabetics " Runners 40 years and older, who have had diabetes for more than 15 years " for their Global Heroes program. After Jerry let me in on the fact that this is a NEW guideline this year, I decided to see how many previous "Heroes" would've been ineligible under this new criteria. I was able to uncover three: From the 2007 Class: Scott Wiebold Cartersville, Georgia Wiebold, 36, a Type 1 diabetic, has an insulin pump. A Type 1 diabetic for 27 years, Wiebold decided to try pump therapy after meeting other diabetic runners at a half marathon in Kona, Hawaii. “At the time I was taking 4 to 6 insulin shots a day. I realized that I needed to get better control of my diabetes if I wanted to run a full marathon. After seeing and talking with other diabetics with insulin pumps, I knew that an insulin pump would be an essentia

I should mention at the beginning of this post that I have a love/hate relationship with Nike. Nike reminds me of a guy I went to college with. While I wouldn't normally mention names, Tim Jones is hardly Google-able. Anyway, I hated Tim Jones. Why? A. He was handsome. Gorgeous handsome. Like, make me think-gay-might-not-be-the-worst-thing handsome. B. He was captain of the soccer team.... leading scorer on a team that won the national championship, mind you. So, he had it all going for him. Needless to say, I HATED him muchly. And then one day I had to train him to be a DJ at the campus radio station. Guess what? He was one of the nicest SOB's I ever meant. Try as I might, I couldn't hate him anymore. That's how I feel about Nike. I hate the cult. I hate the cache. I hate the fact that their shoes cost four dollars to make and cost $100. But here's the thing: Some of their stuff is really good . When I take business trips to Chicago, I almost always allow time to s

UPDATE: The following post is about a policy I felt was unfair about the Medtronic Global Heroes Program. The policy has since been changed , and I no longer think Medtronic sucks. :) Yes, that title is link bait. I chose it on purpose so that when anyone Googles "Medtronic Sucks," this post will rise to the top. Now, I know what you're thinking. "Marcus, doesn't a Medtronic insulin pump keep you alive?" YES. And "Haven't you said you love your pump?" Yes, again. And - if you're a really close reader - "Aren't you Mr. April in this year's Medtronic Calendar??" Once again, yes, baby. However, I found something out about Medtronic yesterday that ticked me off. The news came from Jerry Nairn. Close readers of this blog know that while Jerry and I both have diabetes and both run a lot - we often disagree. We disagree about marathon training and sometimes about blood sugar management. Still, I have a huge amount of respect for

So results have been posted . All I can say is that though I won the AG, I came very close to going home hatless. Glad I had that good first mile. Now then, here's something funny. Whilst Googling, Nate found a blogger posting about the Run4Luck (Everyone say "Hi!" to E ). Anywho - like some Grassy Knoll pic. for the running crowd, E didn't realize that the background of one of her pics included 3 of the most famous bloggers around (kind of) - namely myself, Nate & Eric . So he sent E an edited version of her pic . :) Too funny.

Yesterday was the 4 miler Run4Luck - quite possibly the closest race there is to my house. Last year, I came in 27th in this one out of about 90, running it in 27:50. However, there were about 2 inches of packed snow on the road. This year, I decided to set a crazy goal of sub 26. While 2 minutes faster, that's what I was hoping my fitness would give me. Also, moving to a probably half-marathon in a few weeks, I wanted to know if I could go after a 1:30. According to V-Dot, I needed a sub 26 to be within 90 seconds. Also, last year I came in the 4th in my age-group. I knew that with good weather, the crowd would be bigger, but I hoped I could sneak into my age group placing. However, early in the week I got my first cold of the winter, so I wasn't sure how strong I'd be, even though I'm well on the mend. Off the gun, I settled into about tenth place and tried to relax. The first mile's a wicked downhill and it took a lot of will-power to hold back. I wanted to come

The day job and the hobby collide head-on as I'm featured in a running newsletter produced in Nxtbook format. Click here to view and read . If that's not enough of my mug (and you're in the vicinity of the Big Apple), head on up to the Publishing Executive conference tomorrow and hear me chatter about all things digital .

Every now and then, you find yourself going down the rabbit hole of the Web. You find yourself someplace strange and think, "How the hell did I end up here?" This is one of those posts. This report details the BMI of Marvel superheroes. Upon seeking out my fav. of the marvel characters - Frank Castle, aka the Punisher, I was going to start a rant about the BMI being flawed. After all, the report has my man tagged as being overweight. The Punisher I remember from the late 70's, though, was crazy strong, but tall and thinnish. However, it turns out that Frank's been punishing himself with carbs. I know your wife and kid are dead, Frank - but the answers can't be found in the pastry aisle.

So, aside from the bloody nipple video from last week, it's been quiet around here, eh? As always, though, a quiet blog usually means a busy life: 1) Training is nearly back to pre-injury levels. Despite the fact that I promised to embrace cross-training again, apparently I lied because I ran five days last week and am planning on doing the same again this week. HOWEVER, I'm making certain that two of those days are very very easy paced - 8:30/mile or slower and no longer than four miles. The idea here is to build mileage slowly and steadily until June, when I start up my marathon plan. The only hard running I'll do until then is a few races: Run 4 Luck . Advertised as a 4 miler, this course is short. However, it's a cool shirt and barely 2 miles from my house. How do I say, "No?" I don't. Goal time: 26:00. Brave the Race 1/2 Marathon. A new half-marathon the first weekend in April. I won't be in peak shape for this one and I know very little about it.