Extend Your Race Season - Without Burning Out

There's an easy way to add 3-5 more races to your season. It doesn't require additional training. It doesn't require new equipment, or even $1 in registration fees; and your injury risk can actually be reduced - how?

VOLUNTEER
There are a ton of great reasons to volunteer for a race in the second half of triathlon season:

1. Support other triathletes in your club and/or community
2. Give something back to the race organizers who shed blood, sweat, and tears to create fun races for you to do each year
3. Cheer on new triathletes, and get inspired by their triumphs
4. Recruit a friend who might be interested in triathlon but hasn't yet registered for one
   
5. Pick up a few tips from watching race leaders in action
6. Get more "Thank you"s in one day than you'll probably get in a full month
7. Be a silent hero to someone's best race day ever
8. Free volunteer T-Shirt!

Give to the triathlon that is giving back: The Marin County Triathlon

For those of you racing or touring around the San Francisco Bay Area next month, there is a triathlon event NOT to be missed! The Marin County Triathlon will take place on Sunday, October 26, 2008.

The event is giving 100% of the race proceeds to three of my favorite organizations:

• Lupus Foundation of Northern California (Did you know that 1.5 million Americans suffer from this auto-immune disease and that the number of cases are increasing for reasons unbeknownst to scientists?)
• Jenny's Light is a foundation created after the tragic loss of Becky Lavelle's twin sister Jenny and her newborn son Graham. The non-profit organization is devoted to raising awareness of postpartum illnesses and helping families in need.
  
• Girls on the Run Bay Area offers training programs that help 8-13 year-old girls in the area develop higher self-esteem and healthier lifestyles. No doubt Bay Area athletes have spotted girls on the run alongside them in local 5k races.

The Marin County triathlon sponsors are giving out prizes to the top fundraisers on race day. Race organizers are also touting the event as fully-sustainable, thanks to a variety of initiatives ranging from biodegradable aid station materials, hybrid lead vehicles and prizes/medals made from recycled triathlon equipment and materials.

Not from the Bay Area? You should definitely consider this as an opportunity to come by as this race is just a hop away from legendary Sonoma and Napa Valley wine country (and harvests are at hand!).

Register on Active.com!

Where's Karl? 1 Man: 2,174 miles, 47 days

For almost a month now, Karl Meltzer has been running. No, I don't mean he started heading out to the treadmill 3x/week. He has been running, all day, EVERY DAY, since August 5th.

Karl is aiming to beat the record for clocking the fastest running time on the Appalachian Trail. That's right, he's on schedule to cover a full 2,174 miles in 47 calendar days. Karl started at Mt. Katahdin and is moving southwest through Pennsylvania.

Let's do some currency conversions here to get a better perspective of this challenge:
2,174 miles is:
83 FULL MARATHONS, on trails
1 ULTRA MARATHON every day for 6 weeks
7 (at LEAST!) destroyed pairs of running shoes (generally running shoes should be replaced every 300-500 miles)

Based on his web site, whereskarl.com, it's still too close to determine whether or not he'll beat the record. As of yesterday (day #29), he's chalked up the following numbers:

Total Miles: 1,010
Total Hours: 315:50
Calories: 169,473
Avg. Pace to date: 2.64mph
Vertical: 185,010 ft

Check out his daily blog for stats, live Karl tracking via GPS and posts from the crew on how he's doing!
http://www.whereskarl.com