Fit But You Know It

Two days in a row. I'm outta control. Just wanted to catch up on a bunch of stuff I didn't have time to blog about yesterday. So away we go:

• First off, sad news on the rock front to report. Karl Mueller, bassist for Soul Asylum, died of throat cancer at 41. It was only last October that a number of Minneapolis rock luminaries gathered at a benefit in Mueller's honor; included was a mini-reunion of Husker Du creative forces Bob Mould and Grant Hart. (Speaking of which, Mould told Billboard last week that a full reunion of the Huskers ain't happenin'. Bummer.)
• Trust me, I know from experience that it ain't easy to run a marathon. So imagine what the poor schmucks who ran the Lakeshore Marathon in Chicago were feeling when they found out that race organizers mistakenly added an extra mile to the course. Apparently, they also bungled the half-marathon going on at the same time, with runners being directed to go further than they were supposed to. I've had a few similar experiences, although not at a marathon. One year, I did a 5K in Ipswich, MA, in the pouring rain and they had the miles marked incorrectly and we ended up doing a little more than the 3.1 miles we were supposed to. Then a few years back, I was running the East Coast Fall Marathon Tune-up, which is a 30K (18.6 miles), a grueling jaunt along the coast in Lynn and Nahant in 85-degree temps. I was running it pretty quickly, but the heat was so intense, I was woozy and desperate for water coming up to the last mile. Unfortunately, the water stations had already packed up and gone and the water fountain along the beach wasn't working. I crossed back across Lynn Shore Drive to finish the race and admittedly was a bit disoriented from the lack of water, but there were no clear markings on which way to go and no other runners around and I ended up going the wrong way. It was still in the right general direction, but I quickly realized that I was not going back the way I came. Eventually I figured out where I was and found my way back to join the race route for the last 50 yards or so, but I was not happy about it. I still finished at an 8:30 pace, which was pretty good for me going that far in that kind of heat. But I was a hurting unit at the end of that race.
• Hannah has decided that after three years, she doesn't like her name. She now insists that we call her Princess Fiona of Shrek fame. Although I'm not sure if she wants to be the regular Fiona or the ogre Fiona. Sometimes, she's definitely an ogre.
• The Live8 concerts to fight hunger in Africa have been able to attract so much talent that they've been turning away bands, including Motley Crue, Meat Loaf, and veteran Brit rockers Status Quo. The shows are scheduled for July 2 in London, Paris, Rome, Philly and Berlin, with rumors that Toronto and Tokyo will also host concerts. The concerts are the brainchild of Sir Bob Geldof, the former frontman for the Boomtown Rats who organized the original Live Aid shows in 1985.
• Nike's going into the personalized sneaker business, unveiling a NikeID store in NYC where customers make appointments and then design their own shoes. Interesting concept, but it harks back to a push by Levi's a few years back to sell personal fit jeans; you'd go in to a store and get measured and then order jeans to your personal specifications. Totally bombed. At Webnoize, I actually worked briefly with a woman who helped come up with the idea for personalized clothing and was at Levi's when they rolled out the concept. I always wondered if she got the idea from the Seinfeld episode where Kramer wants to open a "make your own pizza" restaurant.
• I predict this will debut as the biggest-selling DVD release of all time. Yeah, I know, tough pick.

Okay, that's enough for now. Later.