Record 20517 entries for Stockholm Marathon 2011

Registration for the 2011 Stockholm Marathon has been closed at 20,517 entries, which is a new record.

I'm one of the lucky participants, running for the 5th time in Stockholm. This year I was able to improve my course PR from 3:14 to 3:06, and I'm planning for this trend to continue next year.

There would be more much runners for the May 28 event, but the organisers have decided to strictly limit the number of entries in order to guarantee that everything runs smoothly. Stockholm Marathon will never become as big as London, Berlin or New York marathons, but it provides a scenic and challenging course with absolutely fantastic atmosphere.

There will be about 5200 runners from Finland alone, travelling on marathon cruise ships with marathon food, shows and expos. Many will take their family or friends with them, ensuring a great crowd support.

By the way, you can watch Swedish TV coverage of previous events here.

Erwan Le Corre @ NASA

Houston, we have a solution.

Jake Gyllenhaal & David Letterman talk about running

Via Chris McDougall: Jake Gyllenhaal talked about running on Late Show with David Letterman. I'm not a big fan of either of them, but it's a fairly entertaining video.

Perfect Health Diet book review

Perfect Health Diet: Four Steps to Renewed Health, Youthful Vitality and Long Life by Paul and Shou-Ching Jaminet is not just another freakin' diet book to make a fast buck. This is definitely something different, a fresh approach. What's more, I think it might be beneficial - or even ideal - for endurance athletes.



There four steps they refer to in the title are:

1. Optimize macronutrition.
2. Eat paleo, not toxic.
3. Be well nourished.
4. Heal and prevent disease.

What's interesting about the diet is that although PHD is about 65% plants (by weight), it's far from being vegetarian. PHD says by all means do eat as many vegetables as you like, but also do eat fatty meats, seafood, and eggs, plus healthy oils and fats of course.

What I particularly like is that the diet is paleo-ish, but with a twist. For example fermented or fatty dairy are allowed.

What's not allowed are "the four most dangerous foods in Western diets":

• cereal grains,
• legumes,
• vegetable oils, and
• fructose sugar.

The book is not cheapest one around, but it's well worth the price. The writing is crystal clear, enjoyable to read and easy to absorb. It's too early to say whether all the promised results will eventually be there, but I do remain positively hopeful in that regard and plan to follow this program for a long time.

So without any further ado, get this gem of a book right away - or if you are not sure yet, go download their free Perfect Health Diet Color Companion (right click to download the PDF) featuring food pictures and images from the book.

2010 NYC Marathon time lapse videos