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Since there is some debate about the best way to measure who won the Olympics (correct answer: “We all did”), I thought I would prepare the results using several different methods so that various countries could claim to be the winners.

Usually the debate centers around do only golds count or do all medals count. The seemingly official method is to count by golds, but there are some other ways.

Since there are too much data to put into one post, I’ll summarize the results in this post and also point to another page that contains the unsummarized data.

Summary: Grenada won the 2012 Olympic games

The only category which Grenada did not win was normalization by athlete count. In other words, Grenada was very efficient as a country but not so efficient as an Olympic delegation.

For the complete data, please view the charts on the 2012 Olympics Results page.

Another Warrior Dash has come and gone. I was a little slower in this one, but I’ll blame most of that on the swimming. Last year there was some water but no swimming. This year we had to swim somewhere around 70 yards. And I mean really swim, in that you could not touch the bottom of the lake. That was in running clothes, with running shoes, and after having run for a mile. Even in a swimsuit and not having run, I am not that great of a swimmer.

On the bright side, the swim was a nice cooling-off break from running.

The mud this year seemed thinner. Last year it was more like a milkshake. This year it was more like dirty water. Now I sound like a snob: “The mud was not to my liking.” Don’t get the wrong idea – the race was still fun.

Now on to some pictures:
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As I set here recovering from the Warrior Dash, I have to to reflect on what made the WD a good event (I was going to use the word enjoyable, but that does not seem appropriate). Several things came to mind, but one that did not was grammar.

To show you why, I am providing the following image, which is what WD tells you to bring to the race.

And here’s a close-up of the section for what not to bring.

Any guesses as to the grammar problem?

They left out a hyphen.

I have extra hyphens here. I could donate them to any promotional or informational materials that can’t afford them.

They said that you should not have a “clean shaved chin”. Since clean and shaved are separate words, not joined by a hyphen, we can consider them separately.

So one could bring a shaved chin that is dirty.
And one could bring a bearded chin that is clean.
But one cannot bring a shaved chin that is clean.

The hyphen helps you to avoid ambiguity – do not be afraid to use it.

It should be “clean-shaved chin”. You want clean to modify shaved and clean-shaved to modify chin. You do not want both clean and shaved to modify chin.

But maybe they did want to say what it said. Maybe a clean bearded chin is acceptable.

I was pondering some things during my Saturday-morning run, and the one that seemed best to share with the internet was my list of fruit to eat during a race.

Yes, I said “during a race”.

In the longer races – half-marathon or more – you can be on the course for at least a couple of hours. You will definitely get thirsty, but the race will have stations setup to provide drinks for you. You might get hungry, but the race will probably not have stations setup to provide food for you.

One of the races in which I ran had an unofficial food station. It was unofficial in that the people who setup the station were not part of the race organization. They were just some people who had a location along the race course and were being helpful. It was a pleasant surprise. I encourage groups with a presence along a race route to setup something during the race. Almost anything is better than nothing: drinks, food, a live band, a stand-up comedian, a sprinkler, etc.

If you choose the food option, please pay attention to the following list:

Fruit During a Race

• Bananas
  Most people know that bananas are good for runners, but they are always served at the end of the race. I can see why, since bananas are not juicy enough on their own and require something to wash them down. That’s especially noticeable when running. If you do choose to serve bananas, make sure you are situated shortly before a hydrating station.

  Tips for serving bananas:

  1. Cut them in half
     No one wants to eat a whole banana while running. It’s too much.
  2. Peel them partway
     No one wants to try to peel a banana while running. It has to be peeled enough so that the thing can be eaten using only one hand (and a mouth, of course).
  3. But don’t peel them too far
     No one wants to hold the banana part of the banana. Runners should be able to hold only peel. I like to keep my hands relatively clean during the race, because I wipe sweat off my face. And one thing that’s worse than having banana stuck to my hands is having banana smeared on my face.
  4. Provide a bin or bucket or bag for the peels
     No one wants to slip on a banana peel while running. Set out receptacles for the banana peels so that the run does not turn into Mario Kart.
• Grapes
  Grapes are almost the perfect fruit to serve during a race – they are self-contained, have zero mess, and are plenty juicy. Their only drawback is the choking hazard, which is amplified by the deep breaths drawn by runners. If you do serve grapes, be sure to have Heimlich specialists placed after the grape station.

  Slightly related: do not serve raisins. Too chewy and not juicy.

• Oranges
  This is the fruit from my story above – where I was glad to have people providing fruit during a race. Oranges are flavorful and juicy – very refreshing during a run on a hot day. Be sure to cut them in wedges so that can be eaten using only one hand. The circles (or “wheels” cut) require two hands to eat.
• Watermelon
  This has good flavor and plenty of hydrating power – but does it provide any nutrition or sugar? Still, it would be a welcome addition to a race. Keeping with the previous notes about serving suggestions: be sure to serve the pieces with the rind so that the runner can eat with one hand while taking bites at his own pace and not get that one hand all messy.
• Cantaloupe
  Maybe better than watermelon. Maybe not. Either way, I think it has the same serving notes as watermelon.
• Raspberries
  Or blackberries or blueberries or strawberries.
  I would say these rank slightly below grapes. More flavor with less of a choking hazard, but less juicy and more messy. Plus they’re probably more expensive. You are not going to get any financial help from the runners – I don’t know anyone who carries cash during a race.

Any other good fruits?

My first 5k of the running season was this past weekend. “Running season” in Michigan means “months normally without snow”. I know some people like to use treadmills to stay in shape when the weather conditions are uncooperative, but I am not one of those people.

Here are three of the thoughts I had during or after the race (I did have more than three total thoughts during that time – these are just the thoughts that might interest other people):

1. Include pavement on your training runs
   I do not usually run on pavement – my routes keep me on dirt roads. The problem was that the whole race (except for about 400 yards) was on pavement. I didn’t think anything of that until halfway through the race, when my shins started complaining. I should have gone on some pavement runs before the race, to condition my legs to the harder surface.
2. Good race organizers mark the miles on the course itself and on the map.
   I saw the race map ahead of time and guessed where the miles were. During the race, I was feeling fine as I passed the area where I had guessed the first mile to be. Of course, I saw the actual one-mile marker a little while later, which produced some disappointment in me. The same thing happened for the two-mile mark.

   And really good race organizers have the current race time at each mile. That helps those of us who do not run with watches.

3. Slow and steady wins the race
   unless fast and steady is also running.

There are too many people already analyzing the 2012 NFL draft, so I won’t go into too many details. I just have 3 observations.

1. The NFL did a great job marketing the draft this year.
   I don’t remember caring much about the draft in prior years. In fact, most of the time I couldn’t tell you which weekend the draft was. But this year I knew.

   Maybe it was the switch to prime time. Maybe it was the breaking up of the draft over 3 days. Whatever it was, it worked. I paid attention.

   Or maybe it was the fact that the Red Wings were out of the playoffs. My sports focus did not have a particular target, so it settled on the NFL draft.

2. The Lions’ 2nd-round choice reveals careful planning.
   A lot of people are either criticizing the Detroit Lions’ 2nd-round pick of Ryan Broyles or they are simply scratching their heads at it.

   I have an explanation. Whether it is the actual reason the Lions went with him has yet to be determined.

   The Lions know one of their draft picks will get injured, so they are getting the injury out of the way.

   Think about the Lions’ draft picks over the last couple years:
   – Mikel Leshoure – missed his entire rookie season last year
   – Matthew Stafford – missed several games due to injury in his first two seasons

   With that kind of record, the Lions should assume that their draft picks will be injured at some point. Better to get the injury out of the way by drafting players who are currently injured. Maybe they’ll be ready to play at the start of the season, or maybe they’ll have to miss a few games. Either way, the Lions are ahead of the game.

3. The grades are generous.
   I read a review of the draft, and that review gave each team a letter grade on its draft performance. Most teams got As and Bs. Some got Cs, and only 2 got Ds (Seattle and Jacksonville).

   At first I thought “Wait a minute – the draft isn’t a zero-sum game. There are only so many good picks, so not every team can be above the curve.” But then I thought that every team can be above the curve, because each team has different needs.

   In the end, I suppose I agree with Coach Schwartz: “Is your draft grade a tiebreaker for the playoffs next year? When it is, let me know, and I’ll worry about what our draft grade is.”

The only problem now is waiting for football season to start.

In the last week or two, we had the announcement of the 2012 NFL schedule. Now that we know who will play whom and when, we can start predicting wins and losses.

I keep my predictions over at Some Fun Site. View results of previous football seasons.

2011 Summary

Last year, I predicted that

• Kansas City Chiefs = 11-5
• Minnesota Vikings = 4-12
• New York Giants = 10-6

How they actually did was

• Kansas City Chiefs = 7-9
• Minnesota Vikings = 3-13
• New York Giants = 9-7

Two of those were close. Not too bad…

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