Trivia: Who was the first woman to break 2:20 for a marathon?

BAD EXAMPLE.

During the Tour de France this summer it was posited that each day on the Tour was like running a marathon. Don't know who said it but the notion needs serious amending before it's accepted at face value. Cycling is much easier on the body than running and recovery faster as a result.

Cycling three to four miles compares favorably to running one mile in workouts. But racing throws the comparison out of whack.

Tour competitors cover an average of about 100 miles a day over three weeks, with two rest days. Some Tour days are longer and more demanding while others are time trials that take an hour or less. The longest race I can picture runners being able to churn out on a Tour schedule in good time is somewhere between 10-15 kilometers per day. I'm being generous with that amount. This, then, about triples the favorable ratio of 3/4:1 in workouts to greater than 10:1 for racing. I've not consulted anybody on this or asked around. Just my best guess having sampled hard doses of both.

If I've made it appear Tour riders have it easy, think again. If the strain of racing doesn't make you crack, time in the saddle training for the Tour is a daunting, considerable sum. Tour riders also have few peers as managers of energy, which includes tactics, fuel consumption and under-appreciated rest.

The Tour is a fascinating juggling act of human nerves, resolve and endurance. It's tempting to call Tour winner Lance Armstrong the greatest male athlete in the world, but I leave that debate to others. His Tour prowess the past four years leaves little room to argue otherwise. If you do any cycling and don't own a helmet, please, please buy or borrow one. A "brain bucket" has saved me unspeakable damage.

POETRY IN MOTION. Sometimes really neat things fall into your lap, which is the case with the following poem by Bridget Stang.

I met Bridget in Summer '01 when she started working part-time at Running Fit in Novi while attending Plymouth Salem High. She ran for the Salem cross and track teams and wrote sports for the school paper. Now, "I'm at Grand Valley State. I've missed cross country so much. So I wrote a poem. I hope you enjoy it."

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Dreaming

I dream of cross country

The blazing heat of late summer after noons

Kissed by the sun, body soaked in sweat

The crisp early-autumn Saturday mornings

Wind chasing the leaves, swirls of leaves dancing around me

Memories are hazy in my mind

Memories burn vividly in my heart

I dream of it all

Riding the bus to the meets

Butterflies fluttering in my stomach

Jogging the course

Eyes fixating on that white spray-painted line

I miss bathing in Ben-gay before the race

I dream of the pre-race warm up

Mind and body working together for one goal

I dream of the race

The split second of time

Standing on the starting line

Floating in a new dimension

The gun goes off, and I race into a new existence

I dream of coming to the hill

The feeling of rising over it

Arising from accomplishment

I dream of the parents - ultimate fans

The coaches - always there at certain spots

I dream of running beyond the finish line

The PR's and even the bad times

I dream of the cool down

Running the race over again in my mind

I dream of my teammates - hugs, tears, pain, joy - we all shared

I dream of being in the reality of cross country

But I am in a dream world, forever

I dream of cross country

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Bridget, your poem deserves a much bigger audience.

SURPASSED. I'm looking to lend this piece perspective but know the forces of nature and events we have no control over will cloud the numbers. Let's start with the idea that I'd make a darn good woman. You're laughing, right? Good. Let me explain.

Over the past 15 years I've noticed that the women's world records at distances from 800 meters to the marathon have eclipsed my PR's by as little as seconds in some cases and as much as 10 minutes in the marathon. My 3000-meter steeplechase PR is still a couple seconds up on the WR for women, but as sure as summer follows next spring, my best will inevitably fall to a faster woman.

So, for a guy, I've run some pretty good times for a woman. Had I been born female, opportunities to compete would've been rare since I'd graduated from college by the time Title IX boosted school sports for girls. It's ticklish wondering if I might've ever run since only about 1:15 women run. For all the women reading this, my hat's off to you for getting out there, putting in your miles, sharing with friends and working toward your goals. To all the women who've bettered my PR's, I salute and expect more to follow you.

As a guy who'd make a darn good woman, I've run a whole lot of miles since Sept. '67. Peak mileage has been 650 in a month, 5,600 in a year, and as little as a handful of slow miles in two different years. After '82, when most of my fastest racing was behind me and for the next dozen years, I averaged about 6-10 miles a day. I've overcome my share of injuries but couldn't put a name to, figure the source of or understand the recovery time needed for foot stiffness that started in '95.

Except for a reprieve year in '96, I've spent equal amounts of time on and off running since '95 due to the puzzling stiffness. Why, you ask, didn't I go see a doctor? You ask a good question which I only have a vague answer for. Anyway, following a physical exam last spring, I asked my doctor, Kevin Snyder, about my foot. His diagnosis didn't surprise me nor did it bring me the kind of relief felt when we finally learn what's been nagging us. "I think you've got arthritis."

Oh. I don't think arthritis is the sort of condition where you ask, "Now what?" It's in a bad place for running and I run mostly on soft surfaces to absorb the blow. In a nutshell, my running hasn't been the same since '95 and I'm at a loss to know what's in store. I can trot a few miles but don't know what to expect from day to day.

The bike, she has been very, very good to me.

ANSWER: Naoka Takahashi of Japan ran 2:19:46 to win the '01 Berlin Marathon.