Beet it

beet it
Originally uploaded by Darwin Bell

Beet is in(expensive). Beet is healthy. But ashtonishingly, I haven't ever eaten a raw one. That's going to change today, I decided. But how exactly?

Wake up, little smoothie: a beet, a carrot, a cucumber, an orange, a little piece of ginger, a cup of sprouted quinoa, a couple of handfuls of green leafy vegs, some cold water and salt flakes. My Dualit blender did the job quick and easy.

Hmm, not too sweet, but 'bitter is better' as the saying goes. This stuff sure gives tons of immediate raw energy!

42 down, 10 to go

It was time for my weekly self-supported ultramarathon training run.

I totalled 43.4K in 5 hours 18 minutes.

40 down, 10 to go!

Crowie conquers Kona

Craig Alexander (35) won the Hawaii Ironman World Championship 2008 in 8 hours 17 minutes.

He showed everyone how to do it right: first swim 3.8K and bike 180K moderately hard, but not too hard, and take in all the nutrition you can. Then run a 2:45 marathon. It's as simple as that.   

Here's a pre-race interview, showing how relaxed Alexander the Great was.

By the way, Crowie is sponsored by Newton running shoes. I haven't seen the shoes available anywhere yet, but this video seems interesting. 

Also The Competitors Radio Show featured Alexander just before the race in their podcast.

Queen of Kona

Chrissie Wellington
Originally uploaded by Mariano Kamp

This is an awesome action shot of Chrissie Wellington winning the Ironman Frankfurt 2008 in July.

Queen of Kona will return to defend her Ironman Hawaii World Championship title on Saturday.

River crossing in Icelandic ultramarathon

In the video below you can see Iceland's Daniel Gudmundsson crossing the final ice-cold river in the Laugavegur Ultra Marathon 2008 in great style. Daniel eventually won this tough 55K (34-mile) race in under five hours.

215 out of 236 participants were able to finish.

The race was on July 12th, but I was reminded of it now, as Icelandic Prime Minister warns the nation of bankruptcy.

Like Geir Haarde told the press conference in Reykjavik, the entire world is experiencing a major economic crisis. Haarde said "With that optimism which characterises the Icelandic people, we will emerge from these difficulties and make a new and energetic comeback". 

What wasn't mentioned, is that perhaps not all nations will be able to cross this river as calmly and confidently as Daniel Gudmundsson did.