Now the Derby was won by a long shot, a good horse that no one had ever heard of, named Mine that Bird. Bird ran in the Preakness, and finished respectably, but he didn't win. In fact, his jockey jumped ship before the race to try a horse called Rachel Alexandra.

Rachel Alexandra is probably the best horse you've never heard of. Before the Preakness, she'd only run against other fillies, but she was always winning- she was, simply, bigger, stronger, and faster than the competition. The new owners thought the three-year-old filly would do well against the boys, and ponied up $100,000 to enter her in the Preakness. The bookies gave her 9-5 odds.

She delivered.

She took a lead right out of the gate, and she never gave it up. Two other horses, including Mine that Bird, came within a length, but never really had a chance to overtake her. Sometimes, it can be boring to watch one athlete dominate a race, but this wasn't one of those times. Rachel Alexandra just showed that she's one tough girl.

And she did it in Balitmore, my hometown!

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I've written here before about how I've started running with my wife. It started on the indoor track at the gym, and later I started jogging on my own. I've grown to like it; it's a good exercise, it helps me to wake up in the morning, and while I still prefer cycling, I integrated jogging into my personal program.

Yesterday, I was up at 5am, went running, and instead of taking a slow go around the neighborhood, I did something a little different: I ran straight out for one mile, turned around, and came back the same way. I timed it, too. I ran 2 miles in 19 minutes.

That felt great. I hadn't broken a 10-minute mile before. I know it's nothing to sneeze at, but with my knees, I think I can feel a bit pumped about it. I feel even better that I barely broke a sweat running it. I guess 18 months of slow jogging has finally paid off.

Is there any deeper message here? Nope. I did this strictly for myself, and I liked it. On my next run, I'll still do a slow go around the neighborhood, but I'll start it out differently from now on: with one mile straight out, at as fast a pace as I can manage. Let's see if I can ever hit a 4 minute mile.

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There was also real money betting and books, winners and losers. For the most part, the losers were the ones who'd bet on the favorite, a horse named Friesan Fire, who only finished 18th in the field of 19. So much for odds-on favorites.

The big winner was Mine That Bird, a 50 to 1 long shot, who won by more than 6 lengths, the widest winning margin since 1946. He's also the 9th gelding to win the Derby, and first since 2003. It's not that geldings are slower runners; rather, racehorses have a fairly short productive career, and much of their value is realized after they finish racing and start serving as breeding stock.

So all in all, it was an exciting race. There were a lot of firsts, some unexpected and unusual statistics, and a big payout for those who where lucking enough to pick the winner. Now it's time to pour a nice cold mint julep, drink a toast to Mine That Bird, and wait for the Preakness on May 16.

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With that in mind, I watched the Kentucky Derby recently, and then the Preakness.

I found the Derby to be the better race, at least to watch. It was more exciting, and the finish was more impressive. The winning horse, Mine That Bird, won by a wide margin, and he was a long shot beforehand. Apparently, only his jockey thought he had a chance; that jockey pushed to ride that horse, thinking he'd win the race. Lucky guy.

The Preakness was won by a filly, a great big female three year old, who was held her own against the colts. Normally, in horses, the males are bigger; this is the opposite to the trend in most mammals, and, in fact, to most animals. This filly, Rachel Alexandra, was one big horse, though. She took a lead early, and even though the colts, including Mine That Bird, came close and challenged her, she never lost her lead. Her jockey was the same guy who'd won the Derby. He'd switched horses, wanting to ride a winner.

I think, if I ever to bet on a horse race, I'm gonnna follow this particular jockey. He's got some good horse sense. And winning will be fun.

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For ordinary riding, especially around city streets, I ride a mountain bike. I like having the range of gears, including, as I get older, the low gears that are easier on my knees. Of course, I can't ride on knobblies on the sidewalks, which brings me to my favorite bike modification: the tires.

I buy Continental, because I like real rubber. It's got a natural propensity to self-seal the small knicks and tears that will wear out a sythetic tire over time. For city riding, I use a good set of road slicks, tires that are bald or nearly bald, and mount them on my mountain bike. I even have a whole second rear wheel, with a higher ratio gear cog, for road riding with the mountain bike. It helps to keep things comfortable.

For off road riding, I use the same bike, but with differential directional tread knobblies. These are tires with rugged tread, and the front and rear are not identical. In addition, the tire needs to be mounted in the correct direction, as the tread only grips properly when it turns in the correction direction. My rear wheel for trail riding has a much smaller gear cog than the road riding wheel.

Too often, we overlook our tires, but that's at our own risk. They're important; after all, they're the contact between you and the road!

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The first water bottle I ever put on a bike was a plain, one-pint plastic bottle, with a pop-top and metal cage. The cage was held onto the frame by flexible metal bands. Eventually, the cage and bands rusted, staining the bike's paintjob....

These days, most bike frames have built-in fittings for mounting water bottles, usually on the seat tube and downtube. The bottle cages are plastic, and of standardized size, so there is no problem fitting them onto the bike. The bottles themselves have gotten larger: the last one I bought was a 2 pint bottle, and most bottle cages will even accept 1 liter plastic soda bottles.

All of this is important, because drinking enough water on a ride, especially in hot weather, will prevent dehydration, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. Having succumbed to heat exhaustion before, I can tell you that it's not fun. Not at all.

Whenever I ride in the summer I carry two bottles on the frame of my bike: a 2 pint on the downtube and 1 pint on the seat tube. I keep them filled with electrolyte drinks, like Gatorade or Powerade, and I try to drink at least 1 pint per hour. On longer rides, I also wear a Camelbak water bladder. I only fill this with water, and I keep it clean. It's my backup water supply for rides going longer than 50 miles. Personally, I prefer the bottles; they're easier to clean between rides.

It's impossible to overstate the importance of drinking enough on a long ride. Between sweating and breathing, we lose a lot of water, and it's vital to replacethat water as it's lost. Make a plan for hydration, and stick to it.

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There are few bike accessories more important than lights, especially if you do any night riding. On the road, at night, the main purpose of a good set of lights is no so much to see, but to be seen. Good lights are bright, long lasting, and visible from a great distance. Let's talk about that middle factor, long lasting.

When I first started riding seriously, back in 1989- (wow, that long ago?), there were two choices for poweing lights on a bike: batteries, or generators. Both had lots of flaws.

Alkaline batteries are heavy, and short lived, and not particularly powerful for the task at hand. Some riders, myself included, tried using small generators to power front and rear lights. The generator mounted to the frame, under the seat, and had a rotor that touched the rear tire. As the tire turned, it turned the generator, producing electricity and turning on the lights. Very nice. The price was paid in the great weight of the device, the drag it produced on the tire, and the lights' dimness at lowspeed and darkness at full stops.

Today, there are numerous models of lightweight lights on the market, using more powerful, longer lasting, lithium ion batteries, LED-type bulbs, or combinations of the two, to produce bright, long-lasting, beams. There are lights that can be mounted on the handlebars, under the seat, on the front or rear fork, or even on the rider's arm or leg. When used with reflectors, they really do make night riding a lot safer.

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I have decided that a little bit of snow, sleet, slush, and frozen mud won't stop my regular morning jogs. I've bought some fairly lightweight, waterproof hiking boots, with rugged soles for good traction, and every morning I'm bundling up to get out there and run.

I'm not going as fast as I was last summer, or as far, and my wife, who actually enjoys running and is a better runner than I am, is staying in bed until the good weather returns, but I'm getting out there. This past fall, I finally ran better than a 10-minute mile, and I don't want to lose that good feeling.

I know, it's pathetic. I'll huff, and I'll puff, and you'll just leave me in your dust.

But that doesn't matter. Since I've started running regularly, at least 3 times a week, I've been feeling better, my bad back has cleared up, and my doctor says that my heart and lung efficiency have improved, which, with my family history, is reason enough to keep running.

It's bitter cold today, and as I got started running, I could feel it biting the back of my throught. The cold, the snow, the slush, the sleet, and the occasional frozen mud don't bother me so much, but pneumonia would, so maybe I won't run quite so much through the winter.

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Well, in case we missed the point, Sarah Shleper drove it home again.

She's not a household name, but she is a three-time Olympian, and a world-class skier on the American team. She recently skied in the Giant Slalom World Cup race in Aspen. She hoped to finish in the top 30.

She finished 13th, overall. Shleper was not a likely pick to finish so high in the standings: she's 29, the oldest member of the US women's ski team, and in the last two years she's had a career threatening injury and given birth to her first child. She was determined to get back in competition, though, and like Torres, set her sights on the Olympics.

I think we should watch her closely. Someone with that kind of determination is likely to work through mere physical obstacles.

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Last night was December 1, and there was a spectacular conjunction in the early evening sky. A new crescent moon, the planet Venus, and the planet Jupiter were clustered together about halfway up from the Western horizon. The moon and Venus were clearly visible from about an hour before sunset, and Jupiter became visible as the sun went down. It was amazing, to see the three brightest objects in the nighttime sky so close together.

Jupiter has been visible, and prominent, for over a year now, while Venus has been a brilliant evening star for the last several months. This conjuction, however, is only for one night, and when it's gone, it won't come back. At least, not for a long time. I'm no astonomer, so I can't tell you when.

What I can tell you, is that this got me to stop my evening ride, dismount, and take a look. I sat on a park bench for a while, and watched the sky. Sometimes, I wondered why I run so much, so fast, and so far. Mostly, I just took a break, and let my mind wander. The world is bigger than we are, and sometimes we need the reminder.

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That's the game where we're walking along, and she'll yell, "Come and get me!" as she takes off running. Of course, she's only 4, so even a clumsy, awkward runner like me can catch her, but she gets away half the time. I hafta admit, it's a lot of fun chasing her, but even more fun watching her run. She holds her hands up, takes as large a stride as she can, and tries to go fast! Sometimes, she even does go fast.

I don't say that to knock her. Toddlers need to learn everything, even competition, and if they're learning competition, then it should be friendly competition. We need to teach them how to run, and how to compete, and how to want to win, without teaching them to sacrifice everything to set a record, beat an opponent, or win a race. Kids need to learn that competition is fun before they can learn that competition is serious.

And so, I chase my little niece. Sometimes, I let her win, and sometimes, I pretend that she smoked me. Either way, she giggles until she's out of breath, and says, "Let's race again!"

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Some folks like to equip their bikes with a small computer, that can record their speed and mileage, and sometimes other data. These are battery powered, and connect to the bike by a wire that runs down to the bottom of the front fork, and ends in a small electromagnetic contact. A second, magnetic, contact is mounted on a spoke.

A good, light weight, computer can be an essential accessory, but I prefer something even more powerful, even more light weight, and less expensive: it's called a brain. OK, maybe that's a little pontifical. Let me elaborate.

A long time ago, I bought a small mechanical odometer for my bike. It mounted on the axel bolt (the quick-release, nowadays) of the front wheel, and a small knocker was mounted on a spoke. As the wheel turned, it turned the odometer's wheel, and advanced the mile counter. The odometer I bought was designed for a 27 inch wheel. And so, I knew my mileage after every ride.

The other piece of equipment I had was a $13 Casio wristwatch, with a timer. I set the timer when I started a ride, and turned it off at the end. And so, I knew how long I'd been riding. A simple calculation gave me the miles per hour, or average speed of the ride. That calculation could be made during a ride, too, as long as I remembered not to turn off the timer early.

This worked for a long time. In fact, it still works. A $7 odometer and $13 Casio are providing me with all of the information that a $77 bike computer could provide, at less than half the cost. There is an ongoing cost for pencils and small notepads to record ride data, as I do not have a computer's memory function.

Maybe one day I'll break down and buy a bike computer. Probably not. I'm pretty old-school about my riding. Also, while knowing my time on the ride, mileage, and average speed are good things, I can do without knowing my average blood pressure.

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The key to pedometer accuracy, and usefulness, is to get an accurate stride measurement. A stride is defined as the distance you cover in one step; you can measure your stride from any point on one foot to the corresponding point on the other foot. I like to measure toe to toe. Simply stand with your feet together, mark where your toes are, and take one step. Before putting your feet back together, mark where your toes are on the foot you stepped with. Measure the distance between marks, and you have your walking stride length. Stride length increases as your speed increases, so you need to keep that in mind when you set the pedometer. You can find pedometers with memory functions that allow you set various stride lengths for runs or walks.

So I went out, and bought a pedometer. I haven't used it yet. I'm not sure I want to know how many steps there are in a mile, or in a three hour run. I especially don't want to know how many steps I take in a day. Still, it's a good measure of daily activity. It's recommended that a person walk at least 6000 steps each day, to maintain good health. 10,000 steps per day is recommended for an exercise program. That's a lot of walking. I'll let you know how I measure up, after I've given the pedometer a try or three.

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Yup, I, who never liked to run at all until last year, am now out running 5 miles every weekend with my wife, even in the pouring rain. The advent of lousy weather meant that we had to go and buy some good cold-weather running gear, which my wife loved: it meant a shopping trip! I can do without shopping, but we had fun together. And we stayed warm (sort of) last Sunday on our run, so I guess that umpteen gazillion dollars in overpriced running paraphernalia was worth it.

Actually, it wasn't that bad, and as overboard as my wife can go on the running gear, I've sometimes done worse on the bicycle gear, so who am I to complain? What's important is, that even pouring cold rain couldn't stop our friendly run together. Which is what it's all about, isn't it? Running, no matter what?

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Color tours are something I always associated with my mom; go 'up north' and drive around looking at the pretty leaves on the trees. Big deal. Oddly enough, as I'm getting older now, I find it relaxing...

The bike club I ride with seems to agree, because they organized a ride to see the fall colors. We went out, with our cold weather gear and our gatorade, and spent two days riding around some federally protected forest lands, admiring the trees, and the way they were changing from summer to fall.

OK, so there wasn't any competittion in this, but I did manage to log 120 miles on the bike. We kept an easy pace through the whole ride. The basic idea was to take some time out and relax, to get away from the rat race. At that, the ride was an incredible success. There weren't too many of us (about 30), and we were able to spend two days in a brisk October riding on empty roads in some of the most beautiful forest land I've ever seen. Sometimes, you don't want to compete. You want to get away.

And then you'll get home, ready to face the world again.

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The surprising part is how he got is friends to agree to participate. He has lined up 16 pro athletes to agree to donate their brains to science. I would guess that they've been concussed a few too many times, except that they do get to keep their brains until a natural death.

Jokes aside, concussions are a serious matter for athletes. We all could see the public decline of the boxer Muhammed Ali, as he went from a charming wit, and great sportsman, to a degenerating wreck, suffering from the cumulative affects of years of taking head shots by his fellow heavyweights. With any luck, the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy will help sports doctors learn how to better treat closed head injuries, and prevent other athletes from suffering the same fate.

That multiple concussions leave long-term effects should be clear to everyone:

The BU School of Medicine has studied the brain of John Grimsley, a former linebacker for the Houston Oilers, who died last February at age 45 after being shot in his suburban Houston home in what authorities said was an accident.

His brain showed similarities to that of an 80-year-old boxer who had dementia for 20 years, said Dr. Robert Stern, co-director of the BU School of Medicine Alzheimer's Disease Clinical and Research Program.

Athletes love to compete, but it's becoming increasingly clear that they are also beginning to see the toll that competition takes on their bodies, and they are starting to demand additional protections. Competition isn't worth a brain injury, seems to be the consensus in professional sports.

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No, I'm not talking about the underage Chinese athletes. I think that's been talked about enough online already. We all know that China cheated, and they got away with it because China is a rapidly growing powerhouse of a country that was able to bully the International Olympic Commission.

I'm talking about the honey.

Go look at some taped coverage, and you'll see it. There were jars of honey somewhere near the gymnasts' chalk buckets. It was subtle and understated, but it was almost always there. Why?

The chalk we already know about. The athletes use it to keep their hands dry, so that they can get better grip on the bars, the rings, the mats, and the pommel horses. Honey, however, is tacky...

...And then it hit me: in pro-football, receivers want hands of glue, but adhesives are outlawed. They use gloves with slightly sticky rubber palms and fingers. Gymnasts can't use gloves, but they can't use adhesives, either. So they resort to honey. A kitchen staple that won't violate the rules or dampen their hands, but will make their grip just a little more sticky.

Personally, I don't think this should be outlawed in competition. Honey is not some "miracle glue" that's out of the budget reach of small teams. A majority of competitors can get it from their own kitchen. So make it available to everyone, and even out the playing field of grips. Besides, it'd be pretty sweet to shake the winner's hand afterwards....

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Sometimes, however, I have to wonder about the quality of the Games. The Olympics are supposed to bring together the world's best athletes, to compete in world class competition, to see who emerges on the top as the world's best. It sure sounds like a good idea.

And then you get the Jamaican bobsled team. Or the Bulgarian women's hockey team.

I don't want to knock them for wanting to compete, or for heading to the Olympic trials, but I think it's fair to wish that some competitors, no matter how hard they try, just don't deserve to reach the Olympics.

The Bulgarian women's hockey team played 4 qualifying games, and gave up 192 goals. That's more goals in 4 games than the Detroit Red Wings, last year's Stanley Cup champs, gave up in a whole season (184). During those 4 games, the Bulgarian ladies managed to score 1 goal, against Croatia during their final game. The Croatian team went home, and is currently training hard on defense.

I don't think the Bulgarian team is headed for the Olympics. They met their debacle in a qualifying tournament, and a performance like theirs simply doesn't qualify. And I know that Bulgaria is not one of the world's hockey powerhouses.... but still, despite ambition and national pride, couldn't they see beforehand that they weren't in the same league as their potential opponents? What kind of chumps were the Bulgarian champs playing, before the tournament, that led them to believe they had a chance?

I think there needs to be some better kind of monitoring or regulation of Olympic qualifiers, if only to make sure that the performance at the games is truly world-class.

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The first, of course, was Michael Phelps. I had to watch him compete; like him, my family is from Baltimore and I attended the University of Michigan, so it felt like treason not to watch. Phelps is know to everyone now: 4 years ago, he won 6 gold medals and 2 bronze, in a feat of swimming prowess, power, and versatility that hasn't come around since Mark Spitz won his 7 golds in 1972. This past year, Phelps broke Spitz's record, taking home 8 swimming golds, and reaching a career total of 14 gold medals.

Phelps won for the obvious reasons: like Spitz, he was bigger, stronger, and longer armed than his competition, attributes which, combined with his natural athletic ability and his drive to win, made him unstoppable. Fortunately, he's also a decent-seeming guy who didn't get all arrogant about winning. I think the world will the get the pleasure of watching him compete again in 2012, and that'll be a great show.

The second great American swimmer at the 2008 Olympics was Dara Torres. In some ways she was less impressive than Phelps: she competed in 3 events, and took home 3 silver medals. In other ways, however, her performance was truly amazing.

Torres has a career record of 12 medals (4 each in gold, silver, and bronze), won in 5 (yes, that's 5) Olympic games. Her best Games performance was in 2000, in Sydney, when she won 5 medals. She's one of a very few athletes to have won medals in 5 Games.

The longevity of her career says something about her performance this past summer. She was 41 years old, nearly 20 older than the average Olympic swimmer, and she'd given birth less than two years previously. As a parent, I have seen the physical toll a pregnancy takes on a mother, and I know that my wife would never perform at her best just 20 months after giving birth.

Torres, however, has a competitive streak and a giant urge to win. She showed that 8 years ago in Sydney, when she was 33 and the oldest member of the US womens' swim team. She was also the most successful member of that team. With this recent comeback she wanted to make some statements about age, motherhood, and capabilities, and I think she made her point quite well. She didn't win gold, but how many swimmers her age can compete, with a real chance to win, at the Olympic level? Even Mark Spitz, swimming's living legend, failed in a comeback bid at the age of 41.

There's no real way to end this. Mostly, I was just a little bit awed by what these athletes did, and how far they showed it's possible to push the human body. I hope we see them again in 4 years.

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If I were in half as good physical condition as Lance Armstrong, I'd be one happy camper. And he survived testicular cancer and a shotgun wound to the gut.

For those of you who don't know, Lance Armstrong is the guy who won the Tour de France, the world's most grueling bicycle race (and possibly the most grueling race of any sort, anywhere, The Great Race notwithstanding) seven times.

That's right. He won a 2200 mile race seven times. He rode 15,400 miles to victory. On a bicycle. At an average of 25 miles per hour. In the Alps and the Pyrenees Mountains.

Armstrong is 37 years old, and "retired" from competitive cycling after his 2006 Tour win. That race was his 7th Tour win in a row. He'd dominated the Tour since 2000, and some wags had started calling the race the "Tour de Lance." He's said that he wants to come back, and he'll be competing in the 2009 Tour Down Under in Australia, to see if he's ready for the big race in the summer. This being 2008, he has also volunteered for anti-doping testing of every sort imaginable.

Personally, I wish Armstrong well. I'd like to see him with the Tour de France again. And for the record, I think that he'll pass the drug screens and doping tests. He's a natural athlete, who takes good care of his body and trains hard, and is also possessed of an enormous drive to compete and win. That drive my very well propel him into the history books again. And it'll be great fun to watch.

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Anyway, after that, I got on my bike and rode. Maybe I had to prove something, or maybe I just wanted to get the most out of my day off, but I rode more than 30 miles before lunch. I ended up in a small town, about 17 miles outside the metro area, tired, sweaty, and a little uncertain about how to get back home. Fortunately, the folks at the library were nice about letting me peruse their local map section, and after I had my bearings, I bought some food at a convenience store and ate lunch in a little park near the main street of town.

It was pleasant sitting there, so I lay back in the sun, with my bike locked to a nearby tree, and mused on my jogging weaknesses for a while, and then headed back.

I was a good 25 miles from home, and hadn't really intended to be out this long, and didn't have my cell phone, so I was pretty sure that my wife was worrying. She might smoke me at jogging, but she's a good sort, and our rivalry is friendly. So I put some speed on, kept an average of 11 miles per hour, and was home in less than two and half hours. As usual after a good bike ride, I felt energized. I even called that local bike club, with the weekly group rides, to see where they're going next. And best of all, my wife wants to go mountain bike shopping with me.

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So, as frequent readers will know, I've taken up jogging. Every day. For at least 30 minutes. For a year now. And it's finally paid off:

Last weekend, when my wife and I went running together, I finally kept my wind the whole way. And finished with a sprint that got me back to the house first. At long last, I have not been outrun by a girl!

OK, so maybe I'm a little too happy about this. The next day it was raining, so we went to the indoor track at the gym where she blew me away over five laps. I guess I forgot that she ran track in high school and college, and likes to go out for marathons twice a year. Maybe she let me win....

Anyway, the upshot of it all is that even the most non-running runner can do well, and can train himself to run efficiently over a long haul. It takes a lot of work, but it's worth it. And not just because you can finally match your wife at the one physical activity she was always better at. Rather, it was worth it because of the other benefits. I've noticed over the last few months that I feel better. I don't get tired so easily, I have more stamina, and I can't remember the last time I caught a cold. There are holistic benefits to regular exercise that just can't be denied.

The next great adventure: Get my wife on a mountain bike, and see how long before she beats me down the trail!

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He's a South African sprinter, at the world class level of competition. I've written about him before, because he has no legs. He was born with a congenital birth defect, and before he was a year old, his legs were both amputated below the knee. He has prosthetics for walking, and refuses to consider himself handicapped. He won't even park his car in a handicap spot. Considering his abilities, I don't blame him.

He holds the world record in the Paralympics 100, 200, and 400 meter sprints, and until this past winter, was competing in South Africa's Olympic trials. And then he got derailed.

The IAAF, track and field's world governing body, ruled this his running prosthetics give him an unfair advantage over "able-bodied" athletes. They said that the tension and spring effect of his running blades give better performance than a human ankle. You can read an article about it here:

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-run-iaaf-pistorius&prov=ap&type=lgns

I'm not going to get into the ethics or physics of this sort of ruling. There are a lot of questions about the performance of his blades versus the abilities of human bone and muscle, and about whether it's fair on either end to have paralympic athletes enter regular competition. Rather, I have some questions based on Pistorius' record in competition with non-amputee runners.

In non-paralympic competition in the South African national championships last year, he finished second. In South Africa's Olympic trials for the upcoming Beijing Games, he was 0.8 seconds off the qualifying time. It seems to me that his running prosthetics are not giving him an unfair advantage. Based on performance, there are apparently some 'able bodied' runners who can beat him. So why not let him run? By a combination of grit and technology, he's running with no legs, and manages to match the world's best. Sounds like a real challenger to me.

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My wife wishes I hadn't done it, but I had to. I got back into it as part of an exercise program, urged on my by my doctor, but I stayed with it because I love it.

That was in the summer.

Now it's getting on towards winter, the weather is changing, and for some God-awful reason, I'm still on the bike. I've made some changes, though.

For starters, I'm no longer filling the water bottle with cold Gatorade. I start each ride with two bottles of hot coffee, with plenty of cream and sugar. It might not be the best for hydration, but it'll definitely warm you up and give you a kick in the pants.

The next big change is leg warmers. I broke down (while riding, no less), and bought a pair of leg warmers. There's actually a funny story behind them: I was riding through a rural area, about 30 miles from home, when I realized that no matter how hard I pedaled, I just wasn't warming up... The first store I came to was in a small town (you can still find those in the Midwest, even if you are less than an hour's drive from a Rust Belt city), and it was a hunting store. I bought two pairs of cotton/wool blend leg warmers. Even in a cold rain, they're better than nothing.

I've made some equipment changes, too. I popped the wheels off my bike, and fit an older, wider set of wheels on it, with a different rear sprocket and a set of hybrid tires instead of road slicks. The tires get better traction on wet roads, and the new gears give me lower bottom ratios. I can't go as fast, but I have better control in the rain and sleet.

So what are you doing for exercise this winter?

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I've taken my self-training program pretty seriously, and I'm making progress at teaching myself how to run. My knees aren't liking it much, but that's a small price to pay for not getting smoked by my wife when we go jogging together...

And I'm not getting smoked anymore. We went to the track again last week, and ran a few laps. This time, I didn't collapse after one lap; I made it through 4, and then we both called it quits and went swimming. Then we went home for lunch. She was impressed that I've started taking running seriously. She ran track in high school, and has always tried to get me to run with her. Something about the quality of the exercise.

Anyway, I'm not going to stop my early morning jogs. I've started liking them, and I don't think that I'll be giving that up anytime soon. More importantly, though, I'm able to keep up with my wife. And if that's not a point of pride, than I don't know what is.

And isn't competition all about pride? I don't think it matters who you're competing against. Whether it's another team, or another person, or just yourself, it's still about pride. Because without our personal pride, what motivation do we really have?

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Why do we compete like this? What is it about human nature that makes us do this? Some people run marathons; some people swim the English Channel; I ride bicycle centuries. But why do we do it?

I don't know about you all, but sometimes, I feel driven. I feel that I need to push myself, to see how far I can go, how hard I can push my body, how fast I can move. I don't often feel that I'm competing against the other riders, but I do feel that I am locked in a race with myself. I always want to surpass my last best time, or exceed my personal best single-ride distance. I think I just want to see if I can.

The exception, of course, is when I go jogging with my wife. That's strictly a matter of pride, because I just can't let her show me up. Of course, she jogs three times a week, and I barely go three times a month, so I don't usually look so good jogging. But again, pride won't let me stop.

So what do you think? Is this human nature? Are we "hard wired" for competition? Or is this a cultural phenomenon, something in the way we're brought up that glorifies the game, and because we've taught to think this way from childhood, we don't even notice it anymore?

Does it really come down to the old nature/nurture dichotomy? Or is it just that competing with each other, and with ourselves, is fun?

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Anyway, it went better than I thought. I live on a long block, and I set my pace pretty slow; I wasn't trying for speed, just a constant, steady pace, without getting a stitch in my side. Actually, I've trying this for the last 4 days, going out in the mornings and running. Each day, I've tried a different pace, and a slightly different route through the neighborhood, and today I think I found the way to go. And with that in mind, off I ran.

Well, 'run' may be the wrong word, because my pace wasn't much faster than really brisk walk. I was moving in a running rhythm, though, and not a walking rhythm, and there is a difference. Even at slow speeds, a running rhythm will feel faster. Just try not to think about how you look; with quick, short steps, you'll probably look as silly as a power walker. See, I said that in the second person, so I wouldn't feel so dorky.

But I digress. Back to the run. It was a good one. Not too fast, or too far, to strain my legs, and I kept my pace the whole way. That last is important: keeping a constant speed, and slowly increasing it over time, will gradually train your body to get used to running. People aren't machines, and can't be switched to full power right away. So I'll just make the same run every other day through the winter, and start building up speed and distance come spring. My goal is to go jogging with my wife in the summer, and not collapse because I can't keep her pace.

But she's been jogging regularly, for years. I'd like to see her on a bicycle. Fat chance, at that, though.

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This time, I found the Free Slots Tournament. This was a blast. I was playing the slot tournament at the All Slots Casino, in the Sit & Go category. I think this was the best tournament I've ever played in an online casino. The basic rule is, as soon as enough players have signed up for the tournament, it starts. Any time of day, whenever you want, you can find a good slots tournament to play. And the other great thing about tournaments is, they multiply the prizes and winnings.

I won't give away too much. You'll have to play the games to see for yourself, but I will say that I had a great time playing. Definitly took the edge off my ankle, and took my mind of my pains.

You can find the basic rules, and some links to the slot tournaments, here. I won $100 at it. That was the minimum prize, but when you figure that I'd only had to deposit $20 to get it, that's not bad at all. There are plenty of prizes, a lot of great games to choose from, and I promise, you'll have a great time!

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We all know what happened. The Pats lost the Super Bowl to the Giants, finished with an 18-1 record, and while they had more wins than the 72 Dolphins, they didn't have the perfect season. Ya gotta admit, that's gotta hurt to end the season.

The Giants, for their part, have been taking a lot of flak. I keep hearing people say that their win was cheap, that they didn't deserve it, that the touchdown pass at the end, in a low scoring game, was just luck... I don't buy it, for two reasons.

First, the Giants won, fair and square, by the rules of the game. And second, the Giants have a history (remember 1991?) of winning the Superbowl on a last minute decision. The Pat's coaching staff should have been more careful, going up against that sort of Karma.

Mostly, though, I like the Giants for the way they won. That was just a great play to end a game which was dominated by the defense. Better luck to the Patriots next year.

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You know that sort of thing really ticks me off. I like my job, and I like the work I do, and I like the people I work with, so going to work is hardly a chore. It's easy to get out of bed in the morning, when you've got a situation like mine. But when the "higher ups" do this to us, send us a big project, that'll use up a lot of man-hours, and tell us a 9:30 am that this needs to be done by close of business, it really takes the joy out of working.

So file this one under 'life is a race,' and take some advice: on a day like that, don't stop for lunch. Don't pass go, don't collect $200. Just buckle down, do the job, and when you get it in under the wire, breathe deeply, and go out with your coworkers for that well deserved beer.

But not too many beers, because you're going jogging in the morning. At least, I am.

Because if I'm going to race, I'm going to race on my terms, and not the boss's.

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