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Barefoot or Barefaced?

Back in August 2009, Tellman Knudson sent out a press release announcing he would run barefoot from New York to Los Angeles to raise $100 million for homeless youth.

Today, a Vermont newspaper reports Knudson spent four months and $500,000 in road expenses to reach West Virginia, then returned to his Vermont home to “regroup.” Now he has to explain to the Internal Revenue Service how he’s collecting donations without being registered as a non-profit organization.

If Knudson’s charity seems a bit hinky, so does his Internet marketing business OvercomeEverything.com. The Rutland Herald lists some of Knudson’s consumer problems here.

Turns out his running mileage didn’t stand up to scrutiny either.

Off camera, however, Knudson wasn’t running his promised 26 miles a day. He didn’t hit that goal until Oct. 25, his Web site reports, then dropped to seven miles on Oct. 26, three miles on Oct. 27 and no miles on Oct. 28, when he took one of several multiday breaks because of problematic weather or persistent foot injuries.

Maybe this is all a misunderstanding and bad luck. Maybe Knudson really is a caring philanthropist. But I would suggest that if you want to give money to support homeless youth, donate to the organizations that provide them with direct services. And do your research, regardless.

Rainforest Action Network Booted from Marathon Expo

A team of runners from the Rainforest Action Network purchased a table at the Houston Marathon Expo at which they distributed stickers and pamphlets about “Chevron’s refusal to clean up over 18 billion tons of toxic oil sludge they are responsible for in the Ecuadorean rainforest.” Since Chevron is the title sponsor of the Houston Marathon, this didn’t sit well with the race organizers, so they removed the exhibitors from the expo and refunded their money.

“We’re not a political event, and we certainly don’t appreciate them using our expo to promote their politics,” said managing director Steven Karpas. “It’s our expo, and we have the right to control access to the expo. We just didn’t find their message to be appropriate given the title sponsor.”

“We are outraged that Chevron would deny marathon participants the right to run for what they believe, in our case, human rights in Ecuador,” said Rainforest Action Network runner Maria Ramos. “It is sad that the Chevron Houston Marathon – which raises awareness and money for many important causes – would deny the rights of participants to appease a corporate sponsor that is clearly ashamed of its human rights record.”

Valerie Bertinelli to Run Boston Marathon – Cheesecake Photo Added!

If I didn’t have to work for a living, I’d start up a celebrity running site. Sure, there are plenty of people who want to read about Meb Keflezighi and Deena Kastor running, but the numbers don’t lie. A lot more people want to read about Katie Holmes or P. Diddy running.

I need only look over at my own sidebar to see that my blog post from last July about Valerie Bertinelli running a half-marathon continues to get about 40 hits a day. Of course, the accompanying photos might have something to do with it.

Anyway, Bertinelli will be running the 2010 Boston Marathon to raise money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She talked a little about it on NBC’s Today Show, and it certainly won’t hurt the promotion for her new book (she should really get ex-husband Eddie Van Halen to read it).

After the Newsweek controversy, I posted photos of Sarah Palin actually running, and as you can see, decided to do the same thing this time with Bertinelli. But I can’t drive up my traffic without a cheesecake photo, so here it is!

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Yum!

Top Running Web Sites? I Didn’t Make It Either

RaceResultsWeekly.com ranked the top running information web sites (according to Alexa stats) and Running Is Funny is nowhere to be seen! A travesty! Nevertheless, here are the top 20 US sites. I’ve even embedded links to them because that’s just the kind of guy I am:

1) Active.com

2) Runner’s World

3) Competitor

4) LetsRun.com

5) MileSplit

6) Map My Run

7) Cool Running

8) Flotrack

9) USA Track & Field

10) Marathon Guide

11) DyeStat

12) Athlinks

13) Hal Higdon

14) Team In Training

15) New York Road Runners

16) Running Ahead

17) RunnerSpace

18) International Association of Athletic Federations

19) Running Times

20) Road Runners Club of America

Disney’s New Race Features Food and Drink

Disney ended their Race for the Taste 10k and Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 13k this year, but it looks like they’ve sort of combined the two to create the Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon for next October. It features food and wine and a night-time race. Here’s the video:

World’s Shortest Year-End Summary

Miles: 1,030

Races: 13 (3 half-marathons)

Most Memorable: 1,500 meter race

Lowlight: injuries

Highlight: You guys!

Happy 2010!

Habemus Papam!

While most of you search far and wide for the perfect Christmas gift, I have already received mine. Through the generosity of the enchanting and gracious Xenia, I am now the very proud owner of my own….. Popener!

It hasn’t been well publicized that this is a double-headed Popener, with current Pope Benedict XVI on one side, and the late John Paul II on the other – along with the acronym Pont-Max, short for Pontifex Maximus, or Supreme Pontiff. This is kind of like referring to Obama as Prez-US.

Now some may take a utilitarian approach to such a prize, as seen in this instructional video…

but I prefer to place my Popener on open display, along with some of my other treasures, including my sextant and Blue Meanie keychain.

Viva il Papa!