The Self-Transcendence 3,100-Mile Race: A Five-Person PollAt this very moment, there are people in Queens locked in the midst of a 3,100-mile race around one block. It will take upwards of 40 days, and all their powers of meditation.
intel
Continued Investigations Into Marathon Urination
The day before the marathon two weeks ago, we suddenly got very worried about where runners might be allowed to pee along their 26-mile jaunt. A bit belatedly, we get the answer: alongside a Dunkin’ Donuts on Fourth Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn. But only, apparently, with a large, anthropomorphized coffee cup keeping a creepy eye on you.
Earlier: Can You Pee in the Park During the Marathon?
the morning line
End of the Race
• As you probably know by now, Brazil’s Gomes dos Santos won the men’s side of the New York marathon yesterday in a massive upset; Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia defended her women’s title. Lance Armstrong came in 856th. And, in a rare moment when the cliché actually makes sense, a good time was had by all. (Yuk yuk yuk.) [AP via NYDN]
• The Post, classy as ever, Photoshops a noose on Saddam’s neck, as Republicans furiously milk the dictator’s curiously well-timed death sentence for last-minute gains. [NYP]
• Jury selection begins in one of the weirdest murder trials in recent history: A one-legged Long Island man shot an arrow at a stranger he found threatening, piercing his heart and killing him. The alleged bow killer, although caught on the run, is pleading not guilty. [amNY]
• The Intrepid sails off! The museum ship — as familiar a fixture on the West Side as the Lincoln Tunnel, at least for the last few decades — is heading to Bayonne, New Jersey, for repairs. Eighty-eight-year-old Rear Admiral Lloyd Abbot Jr., who commanded it more than 40 years ago, will serve as skipper for the short journey. [WNBC]
• And Jeanine Pirro gets a late endorsement for attorney general where it counts: from the New York City Department of Correction Columbia Association (an organization of Italian-American prison workers). We don’t even know which joke to go with here. [Empire Newswire]
grub street
French Chefs Prep for Marathon the Way Americans Prep for Heart Failure
So how does a team of French chefs in town for the marathon prepare for the big race? By eating, of course. But we’re not talking old-school, spaghetti-dinner carb-loading. No, these guys — sponsored, we kid you not, by the French tripe council — are spending three days wolfing down enough butter and cream to keep us from walking much farther than to the bathroom, let alone running 26 miles. Their full gastro-itinerary? Josh Ozersky’s got it at Grub Street.
French Chefs Prepare for New York Marathon With Eating Marathon [Grub Street]
the know-it-all
Can You Pee in the Park During the Marathon?
Some 37,000 masochists will hit the city’s streets Sunday for the New York City Marathon. Everyone — even Rosie Ruiz, these days — knows runners can’t hop on the subway. But are there other rules governing the race? You bet your itty-bitty spandex briefs there are.
