The Carnival of Running #27

Welcome to the 27th edition of The Carnival of Running!

Watch as Boston Marathon spectators pit themselves against the 27 mph top speed of Usain Bolt:

If you’ve never seen the episode of Nova where coaches at Tufts take 12 people off the couch and train them for the Boston Marathon, it’s available on Hulu and well worth your time just for the stuff about how your physiology adapts to training.

Bryan Green of The Runner’s Tribe hammers the marathon coverage by Universal Sports. He was being too kind.

Sara at Run On is doing a 26.2-mile run – to train for her first marathon. No wonder she’s tired of running.

A little Internet research might have directed her to this blog, with a pretty good post about why it’s a very, very bad idea to run 26.2 miles without a race being involved – particularly if you haven’t trained, and have no water or food.

Even dogs require training for distance runs. But if you’re in Milwaukee keep them away from the Racing Sausages.

This article in Toronto Star explains research claiming that human beings are evolutionarily adapted to long distance running so that we could run down wildebeests and other wild game. This guy asks the next logical question: If that’s true, then why didn’t the wildebeests evolve?

I realize Running Is Funny has been overloaded with runner-in-costume stories lately, but these guys run in a white tux and tails.

Here’s a pretty good article about a part of track and field you rarely hear about: rabbits.

Sharon Chesworth isn’t that kind of a rabbit, but she dressed up in a bunny costume and completed the London Marathon in 8:08:09. I’m sure she would have done better if she had this bunny chasing after her.

Vanilla at Half-Fast complains about the enticing aroma of barbecue while he’s out running in the evening, but Roisin at The Beat of My Noisy Heart complains about the enticing aroma of doughnuts while she’s out running in the morning. Maybe you guys should eat first.

Gina Kolata of the New York Times writes that if you want to get seriously faster, you need a professional trainer. I think this is nonsense, but maybe it helps sell newspapers.

Apparently chasing ambulances is good training for Boston. I kid. This is a pretty good race report from a personal injury lawyer.

Olympic gold medal marathoner Sammy Wanjiru continues to astound, even without a giant pink nurse to motivate him.

I’m not a technophobe, but if you’re tweeting during a marathon you’re running too damn slow.

Are carbo-loading tips really necessary? If you’re unsure how to stuff your face with pasta and pancakes, Run Oregon can help you out.

Loving the debate over the benefits of running shoes? Believe it or not, Popular Mechanics weighs in.

Seven ultras in seven days on seven continents. Nuts.

Want to test running shoes? Contact The Running Man.

Talia Peery lists the top 10 reasons to run. She says number one is better sex. That’s a good motivation for anything, but do you really need to do a six-minute mile to run it down?

That’s all for this time, friends. May Day is approaching, so a shout out to the commies. Submit your posts to carnival@runningisfunny.com. Now run away!