Beyond running

We were talking today among some of the race committee about the idea of adding, in the future, a second day of events around cycling -- as many marathons are doing. So you could make a weekend out of a run one day, ride the next, and choose from distances like 100 miles, 60, and 25.

    I love bicycle touring -- not riding fast so much as riding far. It seems more of us are taking to the sport, with the whole range of abilities that running offers -- from the slow Sunday drivers to the speedsters.

   So this week's poll asks if, and how, you cross train.

   By the way, this is no wimpy crowd. The majority of responders say you get yourself through a hard long run with tough self talk. Man. I was of the find-any-distraction-I-can segment, as in telling my running partners to tell me their life stories, beginning with preschool, and let me just pant alongside you.