Running Shorts

Not racing for all of the last fall season got me thinking: do we race too often? Like most running-related questions, the answer is simple; but unfortunately, that's where it gets complicated. I decided to break this down into two parts with two different answers. And really, I think these parts speak to the divide between the competitive sport and the participant activity. The first one (this one) is a scholastic edition, focusing on high school and collegiate cross country and track athletes. The next one will cover more of the road, trail, and ultra racing scene. So. Do scholastic athletes race too often? Yes. Absolutely unequivocally 100% in the affirmative. Ok sure there are a select few elite NCAA teams who have the luxury of resting their top athletes for most of the season until conference champs and NCAAs (then I think the case could be made for racing more), but the vast majority of the rest do, in fact, race too often. Think of the high school team which, duri...

File this one under more-serious-less-fun articles . It's kind of depressing, but it's something that I'm passionate about and feel needs to be discussed. If you haven't read about it already, the New York Times wrote a pretty good summary of what's going on in the NCAA. And there's more about it here . But let me just give you the TL;DR version: the athletic departments of the Big 5 conferences (Big 10, Big 12, Pac 12, SEC, and ACC) now have the authority to essentially play by their own rules - they can pay athletes a living stipend, increase the value of their scholarships, give out health insurance, let players contact agents, etc. From the second article, it also gives athletes the rights to royalties that the NCAA was making off of their likenesses (mostly from video games). Sounds great, right? More power to the athletes, let them get paid, stick it to the man! And it is great... if you play football or basketball, and if you play one of those spo...