I had a great ride today; 60 miles of beautiful weather.  I practiced talking on the cell phone.  Verdict–it’s a mixed blessing.  I used my earbud, so I was able to (mostly) keep both hands on the handlebars, but talking and riding at the same time is hard work.  I suppose that explains why I ride alone so much–chatting really takes it out of me.  On the other hand, it was a nice distraction for quite a lot of miles.  Thanks Catherine, and Lisa, and Lee.  I probably won’t do that very often, but sometimes I just need a little extra something to get me out the door.  Besides, sometimes I just need to get the phone calls returned.

While I was out there, I got passed by several guys who were apparently on a lunchtime ride originating at SAS.  I enjoyed chatting with them for a brief moment at a traffic light (even the tiniest diversions are welcome on a long day!), and then their next wave caught up with us, including Cid Cardoso.  Cid owns our local triathlon shop, which also happens to be one of the largest tri gear suppliers in the country.  Check out their website sometime–insideoutsports.com.  They do a booming mail order business, but if you happen to live in the Triangle area, visit the store in Cary sometime.  Nice guys.

Another guy was on my mind while I rode today:  Dean Karnazes.  If you don’t know about this guy, you must, must check him out.  I first heard his name several years ago; can’t remember where.  But then he was suddenly everywhere.  He wrote a book, Ultramarathon Man, which I bought as soon as it came out and LOVED, and did the rounds of the talk shows and radio programs.  His story was fascinating–how he went from stressed out, overworked, unfit suburban Dad-type to hard-core ultra-distance runner, practically overnight.  Great book.

But it gets better.  He has now embarked on a fund-raising effort to benefit a foundation that he started:  Karno Kids.  He’s all about youth fitness (a subject near and dear to my heart, as well), so he has set out to run 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days, all to raise money and awareness for the foundation.  AND–here’s the cool part–we can all go run with him.  He started running this past Sunday, on Sept. 17, and will finish up with the NYC marathon in early November.  In the meantime, on the weekends he’ll be running in “official” marathons, with lots of other folks.  But given that regular marathons aren’t usually held on say, Tuesdays, he’ll be using sanctioned courses, with the help of race organizers, to put on his own mini-version.  And we ordinary mortals can join him!

His NC race will be in Greensboro on Halloween.  Check out his website endurance50.com, as well as his blog enduranceis.com.  And come run with us!