Morning running

We've been having a miserable heat wave here in Philly, with four days in a row of temps in the 90s. I attempted to run in the evening on Saturday and did not have a good time. I had to walk quite a few times before the end of the loop, and I emptied my water bottle long before the finish. I was completely drained. After that, I decided to switch over to morning running. So, this morning I was awoke at 4:30 and put in the miles before the sun came up. It was still in the 70s, but it makes a big difference to not have the sun beating down on you. The only downside is that I get to work later, which means I leave work later, which means traffic is worse both coming and going. But running under the sun in this type of heat is no longer an option for me.

Wanjiru wins London

The London Marathon was yesterday morning, and it turned out to be quite a race. It started around 4am my time, so I did not get to follow it live. I read about it and saw the results a few hours after the finish. The men's winner was Sammy Wanjiru, who is the defending Olympic gold medalist. It was no surprise that he was able to run such a great time - 2:05:10. He broke the course record and beat the runner-up by 10 seconds. Early in the race, the pace was very fast. The lead pack was on pace to break the WR, and I think they came through the half in the 61-62 range. But that took its toll. The top Americans in the race, Meb and Ritz, did not go out quite as fast, and they both ended up with good performances. Meb cracked the top ten with a 2:09:21, good for 9th place, and Ritz was just a hair under 2:10 at 2:09:59. Although now that I look at the official results, I see he is only credited with a 2:10:00. Still a good run for him. I understand that the media coverage of the race was very bad, with announcers mispronouncing names, not knowing mile splits, and being ignorant of the sport of running. What a shame. I also heard that the critical portions of the men's race were not shown in favor of the women who had already finished (they started before the men). So it was just shoddy coverage overall.

Sixers over Magic in game 3

The Magic won game 2 of their series against the Sixers down in Orlando, and the two teams traveled to Philly for game 3 last night. I turned on the radio when I went to bed, and at halftime the Sixers had a sizeable lead. I fell asleep early in the 3rd quarter so did not see the final score until this morning. The Sixers won 96-94. I'm not sure what happened, but they were outscored by Orlando in both the 3rd and 4th quarters and just barely hung on to their lead. Still, a win is a win, so I'm happy. I would not have been surprised if the Sixers hadn't won a game this whole series, and now it seems possible that they could make it to the next round. Assuming the Celtics can close out their series against the Bulls, round 2 will be a tough matchup.

Nadal tops Djokovic to win Monte Carlo

There has been so much sports action going on in the past few days that I haven't even had a chance to think about tennis. Let's see, there was the Boston Marathon, the NBA playoffs, and the ongoing baseball season. Well, the Monte Carlo tournament was held last week to kick off the clay-court season. It came as no surprise that Rafa Nadal took the title. He downed Andy Murray in the semis before winning a 3-set battle against Novak Djokovic in the final. Roger Federer had another disappointing performance, losing to Stanislas Wawrinka, a player whom he certainly should have beaten. My only hope for Federer is that he may still be able to elevate his play once the next major rolls around. I don't think I've ever seen him this vulnerable before.

Sixers up 1-0 on Magic

The NBA playoffs started over the weekend, and the Sixers were in action on Sunday against the Magic. I was driving home from my brother's house when the game started, and I tuned in to 610 WIP (the Sixers' usual station) but did not hear the game. Instead, it sounded like some call-in show for the Flyers. I really hate it when hockey pre-empts a more worthy sport like basketball. I tried 1210 and 950 to no avail, and those were the only stations I could think of that would broadcast the game. So, I ended up missing the Sixers' victory in game 1. It was a very close contest with a final score of 100-98, courtesy of an Andre Iguodala fadeway jumper with 2 seconds left on the clock. The series continues tomorrow in Orlando. Game 3 will be in Philly. The Sixers have put themselves in a very good position, and I hope they can take advantage of it by winning their home games and keeping the pressure on Orlando.

Hall takes third at Boston

The Boston Marathon was earlier today. The men's race started at 10am, and I tried my best to follow along on the internet. It was not easy. I've found that the most informative site is LetsRun.com, mainly because they have live updates on their message board. Unfortunately, during almost every big race, the boards crash. This was the case today. I surfed over to the official race website which advertised a live broadcast, but when I tried that, it also kept crashing. I think the longest stretch of coverage I saw was 30 minutes. The upshot of this is that I actually did some work (you know, that stuff my employer pays me to do) instead of continuously watching the race. It was still going when I took my lunch break, and I was able to get results shortly after it was over. Ryan Hall took third place behind an Ethiopian champ and a Kenyan runner-up. I think Hall had actually fallen off the pace and was closer to 10th or so, but he picked off quite a few runners at the end. 2:09:40, which is by all means an impressive effort. It is slightly disappointing because his PR is over 3 minutes faster and he didn't win the race, but Hall should definitely be able to look at this as a positive step in his career.

Sixers finish season with a win

At least the Sixers were able to finish their regular season on a high note. Even though they'd wrapped up a playoff berth, they went on a dismal 5-game losing streak leading up to Wednesday night's game in Cleveland. Somehow they managed to win that game, clawing their way back to a tie at the end of regulation and then winning by 1 point in OT. I'm not sure how much of a confidence booster that was, but it sure has to be better than ending the season on a 6-game skid. The Sixers also ended up the season right at 500, with a record of 41-41. They'll take on the Magic in the first round of the playoffs, and that should prove to be quite a challenge. Orlando won their division with a 59-23 record, third best in their division behind only the Celtics and Cavs. So they'll host the Sixers Sunday evening and again on Wednesday before heading to Philly to continue the series.

MRI

Running has been going okay lately. My Achilles still bothers me, but I'm able to run on it. I've been putting in about 30 mpw, and I keep hoping to bump that number up. So far I haven't felt good enough on my long runs for that to happen. A couple of weeks ago I saw an orthopedist about my Achilles problem. He said that he wanted me to get an MRI of my ankle, so I did that last week. Lying motionless on my back for 25 minutes was not the most comfortable thing I've ever done in my life, but I survived. Now I need to go back to the orthopedist to find out what the images actually mean. Eventually I may get some satisfactory answers.

Harry Kalas

On my way home from work this afternoon, I tuned in to the Phillies-Nationals game on the radio. The announcers seemed to be talking a lot about Harry Kalas, even more than they were about the game. I wondered if maybe he had died, and sure enough, a little while later I heard them say that he had indeed passed away today. Harry was one of the all time greats of play-by-play broadcasting, right up there with Ernie Harwell and Vin Scully. During today's game, the announcers related a story that I'd never heard before. When the Phillies won the World Series in 1980, there were apparently some rules in place that prohibited local broadcasters from calling the game (presumably in favor of the national broadcast). There was a big outcry after this, ultimately resulting in a change to that rule. But Harry Kalas did not get to call the Phillies' 1980 World Series victory live. It is fortunate, then, that he was able to finally call a World Series win last year when the Phils went all the way.

No Picnic On Mount Kenya

I recently finished reading a very interesting book called No Picnic On Mount Kenya, written by Felice Benuzzi. It is the first-hand account of a unique escape from a POW camp. Benuzzi, an Italian, had been working in Ethiopia after the Italian invasion in the late 1930s. After WWII broke out and Britain liberated Ethiopia, the Italians who were there were taken prisoner. In the case of Benuzzi, he was put in a POW camp in Kenya. The conditions were not bad, but the boredom of life in captivity took its toll. Mount Kenya could be seen from the camp, and Benuzzi had the idea to escape, climb the mountain, and then return to camp. He recruited a couple of other prisoners to join him, and after months of planning and preparing, they took off. This book tells the story of their adventure. They were successful, of course, and they even managed to break back in to the camp after returning. It's a well-written tale and definitely gets my recommendation.

Sixers lose their fourth straight

Just when I thought the Sixers were going to end the season on a hot streak, they hit a bad patch. On Thursday night they played the Bulls in Chicago, and, despite being even at halftime, they let the Bulls run away from them in the second half. Last night the Sixers were back at home to take on the Cavs, and that game went pretty much as expected. It's hard to blame them for losing to a team as good as Cleveland. Unfortunately, the Sixers' record has now dropped to 40-39, and they're perilously close to falling under the 500 mark. There are only 3 games left in the regular season, and they need to win at least 2 of them. Of course, technically it doesn't matter because they've already clinched a playoff berth, but I don't like to see them lose. Their final two games are against Boston and Cleveland, so I can easily envision them ending up at 41-41, or even 40-42. I don't know who they're first-round playoff opponent will be, but it's almost assured that they'll start out on the road.

Phillies finally top the Braves

The Phillies did not get off to a great start this season, losing their first two games to Atlanta at home. The final game of the series was played yesterday afternoon. I listened to some of it in the car on my way home, and when I first tuned in they were trailing 10-3. I figured they would surely get swept. By the time I got home, the score was 10-6, but I still did not have much hope for a Phillies comeback. I went for a run and did not think about the game again until this morning, when I saw the score on the morning news: Phillies 12, Braves 11. Evidently the Phillies scored eight runs in that 7th inning and tacked on another one in the 8th. What a turnaround. Now the Phils have some confidence, they avoided the sweep, and they got their first win of the season. I'm happy. Today was an off day, and tomorrow they'll be out in Colorado to start a series against the Rockies.

Baseball underway

Baseball season has now officially begun, and the Phillies played their opener Sunday night at home against the Braves. I listened to some of the game on the radio before I fell asleep, but unfortantely the Phils were unable to come back from an early deficit and ended up losing. Yesterday was an off day, and they'll resume their series against the Braves tonight.

Murray wins Miami crown

The Miami final was played earlier today between Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. I did not get to watch it because I was driving home from Baltimore at the time. Murray won a straight-sets victory, 6-2, 7-5, continuing his solid play. The quality of the top players in the men's field is evident when the 3 and 4 seeds make the final after the top 2 lose. I can remember a few years ago when it seemed like Federer was facing a different opponent in every tournament he won. Now it seems like there are only a select few -- Nadal, Federer, Djokovic, Murray -- who can come through in the clutch. The clay-court season is up next, which means it will be Nadal's time to dominate. It should be an interesting French Open, though. I'd love to see Federer get his act together and finally win the one major that's eluded him for so long.

Nadal out

Action continues at the Miami tournament, and now some of the top players are losing. Nadal fell to Juan Martin del Potro in the quarters yesterday, setting up a semi between del Potro and Andy Murray. Federer downed Roddick only to lose to Novak Djokovic in the semis earlier today. The second semifinal will be played tonight. Both that and the final should be interesting matchups. I'm inclined to think Murray will win it all, but it seems every time I pick him to win a tournament, he falls short. Maybe del Potro will surprise me and defeat both Murray and Djokovic. As for Federer, this is another disappointing result for him. He should have been energized after hearing of Nadal's defeat. I'm not sure why he couldn't find the motivation to win this tournament. Surely Djokovic is not on Federer's level yet, is he? The final should be Sunday. I'll watch if it's on TV, but I suspect it won't be.

Roddick vs. Federer

Quarterfinals are underway in Miami, and the most interesting matchup is undoubtedly Roddick-Federer. It is well known among tennis fans that Roddick's history against Federer is woeful, but since Wimbledon last year Roger has seemed vulnerable. He lost to Nadal in the Australian Open and again to Murray at Indian Wells. I don't doubt he has the ability to win another major, but I think he has to overcome some mental obstacles. Murray and Nadal can beat him regularly, although Roddick still has trouble. The other quarterfinal match today is already over. Djokovic defeated Tsonga 6-3, 6-4. Tomorrow Murray will play Fernando Verdasco and Nadal will take on Juan Martin del Potro.