Newsletter ep. 110: hey.

Maybe you’re friends with me on Facebook, so you already know this, but I had a fairly big family emergency this week and had to drop everything. And so I’m not in Morocco right now and I won’t be at the New York Marathon in 10 days. Those are both the most unimportant things at that moment and also kinda sad.

The answer to your question is: Yes, everything will be OK here eventually. Give it time. (And, yes, obviously there will be other races.) It all just seems so hard and far away right now.

So I hope you all understand that this week’s newsletter will be short and we’ll skip the commentary. Here are simply some things I read while sitting at the hospital.

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Photo: A cyclist on the Queen K. (Tom Pennington/Getty Images for IRONMAN)

• If you listened to the podcast we recorded last week, you heard me mention Jan has gotten kind of touchy on Twitter. He’s not very happy about some of the vague accusations thrown at him, which is somewhat understandable, though some of the accusations are also understandable. How much should we doubt amazing performances? What if there’s no proof and we’re just being spoil sports? Doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Doesn’t mean it is. Peruse all of Jan’s Twitter replies for a full sense of drama. (Live Feisty/Twitter)
   
• I also mentioned how the day after Kona is the annual DNF excuses day. (Though I recognize not all excuses are excuses.) Triathlete rounded up the various reasons the pros DNF’d. (Triathlete)
   
• Shalane Flanagan is finished for good. And she’s left an amazing legacy. (Women’s Running)
   
• Emma Coburn got silver, fuck yeah, and was reprimanded on Twitter for using a curse word and being a bad example for girls. Because Twitter sucks. She had a great response. (Twitter)
   
• A race where you have to either fail or quit, and the last one standing wins, is a special kind of race. There is no finish line until you decide there’s a finish line. The Big Backyard Ultra is one such crazy race: run a 4+ mile loop once per hour, until you can’t or you quit. Maggie Guterl became the first woman to ever win the thing this weekend after 60 hours. 60 hours of running, in the run and mud, dark and day. It’s an event followed largely on Twitter. In some ways that just adds to the feel of it all, the back to the basics roots of run until you can’t.(Runner’s World/Twitter)
   
• It’s a far cry from all the debate about The Shoes. What should be done about the shoes? (New York Times)
   
• Speaking of things there’s a *lot* of debate about: USA Triathlon’s new sponsorship/partnership deal signed with the CBD company Pure Spectrum. It’s the first CBD deal signed with a national governing body. CBD companies have been eager to sign big deals with lots of sports teams. And, look, I get it. It’s a lot of money and I get that a lot of people use CBD products for sports recovery and injury and stuff. I understand why USAT wants to be able to back one that has some verification and testing behind it. But, still, man, I dunno. I’m staying away from CBD products for awhile, until they’re federally regulated. And USAT clearly got so much pushback they had to release an FAQ to their members. (USA Triathlon)
   
• It was also pointed out to me that someone else had an announcement this week. Wildflower Triathlon is claiming it’ll be happening May 2020. Announcement about an announcement on registration details coming. (Wildflower)
   
• Climate change is so bad we have to air condition the outdoors, which doesn’t seem like a great plan to prevent climate change. You know? (Washington Post)
   
• The issue with the democracy of travel and the internet and 2019’s overtourism all in one town. (Outside)
   
• NBA’s sleep deprivation problem is the next major sport league crisis after the NFL’s concussion problem. (ESPN)

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‘If We Were Riding’ is a weekly triathlon-ish newsletter written by Kelly O’Mara and produced by Live Feisty Media. Subscribe to get it in your inbox every Wednesday morning. You can also read past issues. This episode is from Oct. 23, 2019.