1. The course has finally been set for the Congress Avenue Mile next Saturday--and it won't be the traditional downhill drag race of a course down Congress. But it'll still be plenty fast. Because of the annual gala at the Paramount (and its tents that spread across Congress), the Mile has had to shift. It'll start at 11th and Colorado and head south before turning onto 5th Street. From there, it'll continue south on Congress back to the traditional finish on the Ann Richards Bridge. Because of the turns, it probably won't be quite as fast but it will still have plenty of downhill running. Many of the top high-school milers in the state, age groupers and thousands of kids are expected to run one of the numerous mile heats. Also for the first time, the Mighty Dog Walk will be part of the extravaganza, along with the Lonestar 5000. Should be fun.
2. Conley Sports celebrated its one-year anniversary last Friday at Zax Pints and Plates and made the get-together into a fund-raiser for the Texas National Guard Family Support Foundation. John and Stacey Conley personally presented a $1000 check to the Foundation. Conley Sports has another fund-raiser planned for August 17th at the Dell Diamond. Conley Sports will sell discounted tickets to the Express’ game that night against the Nashville Sounds and all proceeds will benefit the Dick Beardsley Foundation. For more info or to buy tickets, call 560-4802. The night will also serve as the kick-off event for several of the groups who will be training for the AT&T Austin Marathon.
3. The man himself—Dick Beardsley—is on the road as he usually is this time of year. (Beardsley’s on the road more than Willie Nelson). Anyway, Dick is up in Duluth this weekend, but next weekend he speaks at the wonderful Woody’s RV World Marathon in Red Deer, Alberta. (I’m not making this up.)
4. BTW: John Conley is pitching in to raise travel expenses for Derek Yorek for travel to the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta on July 4th. John’s trying to raise $500 to help defray some of the costs for Derek who ran 30:15 at Peachtree last year. If you’re interested in making a contribution, email John @ John@conleysports.com.
5. It isn’t exactly marathon weather, but—believe it or not—on-line registration opens on June 1st for the AT&T Austin Marathon on February 15th. Guess it’s never too early to plan ahead. Last year, both the half and marathon sold out in January and even though both fields may be expanded in ’09, the race almost certainly will close early again. For more, go to www.attaustinmarathon.com.
6. It might not be marathon weather right here in the heart of Texas, but that’s not stopping Frank Livaudais. Mr. Marathon is doubling this weekend. Frank’s running the Brookings, South Dakota Marathon on Saturday and the following day he’s doing another 26.2-miler in Ames, Iowa. Why? Why not?
7. Austin’s original Mr. Marathon—John Ferguson—is retiring. Well sorta. Ferguson, who has run a marathon in every state and just about every continent (save one), is retiring from teaching math at Hays High School in Buda after 31 years. Ferguson, our resident course certifier and all-around good guy, will still coach cross-country, but it’ll be in Ouray, Colorado where he has a summer home. Ferguson is planning to nail down his final continent next winter when he runs the Antarctica Marathon. A word to the wise: Stock up on Scopolamine. It’s a rough crossing from Argentina to the Antarctic Peninsula.
8. Jason Epstein, who graced our roads and trails for several years before moving to Seattle for a new job last year, had a huge PR at the Eugene (Oregon) Marathon last Sunday. Epstein improved his marathon best by a whopping 11 minutes as he ran a perfectly paced 2:59 on the button. He went through halfway in 1:29:13 and came back almost completely even. We still miss him…I think.
9. In a related matter, Runner’s World conducted a poll of its readers to determine which sacrifices runners would make to run a sub-three hour marathon. Nearly 2300 runners responded and more than half said they’d give up TV for a month in exchange for a sub-three. About 10 percent said they’d give up any human contact for a week and eight percent said they’d give up 24 hours of their lifespan for a sub-three. Guess chips and hot sauce weren’t part of the equation.
10. Paul and Katie Carmona were the successful bidders for the ‘08 New York City Marathon package at the Born to Run/Carrozza Foundation Gala two weeks ago. But the Carmonas are flipping the trip and using it as a fund-raiser for the Twenty-Six Two Marathon Club. The package includes one guaranteed entry into the ’08 NYC Marathon on November 2, two round-trip tickets on American Airlines from Austin to New York and free training with Twenty-Six Two’s marathon training program. Tickets for the raffle for the trip cost $50 and only 200 tickets will be sold. The drawing will be held at the Twenty-Six Two spring party on May 24th from 6-8 p.m. at the RunTex annex in the parking lot of the Riverside store. All the info you need is at www.twentysixtwo.org.
11. Alan Besselink’s new book—RunSmart: A Comprehensive Approach to Injury-Free Running—will be released next Saturday night (May 17th) at a publication party at 7 p.m. at the South Congress Athletic Club (1109-B, South Congress). A physical therapist and running coach, Besselink’s book is centered on his injury-prevention based training approach.
12. Mellow Johnny's, Lance Armstrong's bike shop at 4th and Nueces, opens this Saturday witha star-studded cast of celebrities. The man himself will be there all day and will sign autographs from 6-7 p.m.
13. The Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati had an eventful race last Sunday. First, a group of firemen, emergency medical techs and paramedics were running the race together when 55-year-old Bobby Edwards collapsed with a heart attack right in front of them at mile-10. The paramedics and firemen switched gears and immediately began administering CPR to the fallen runner and revived him. The race itself was delayed by a downtown fire which forced race officials to detour the course around it. The detour added about a quarter mile to the race which may have cost a few runners shooting for a Boston qualifier. But Boston officials said anyone on the cusp of getting a BQ at Flying Pig who just missed would still get their qualifier.

Have any juicy news for me? (It doesn’t have to be entirely true.) If you do, email it to Wish@runtex.com.