The Daily Feed: Sites We're Searching 10/16

Credit: Danielle Walquist Lynch at flickr

Maybe it's the weather--it went from sunny to dreary and grey. Maybe it's the marathon I'm recovering from--legs are fine, brain is fried. As a result, I seem to only have the energy to sleep, stare blankly at the TV and click links online. Here's what I've been reading in the last 24 hours:

Who doesn't love a feel-good story? Maybe this one about the Chicago Marathon's final finisher will melt your heart. Thanks ABC Local, you won me over.

No wonder I'm always so tired after the Recruit class's warm-up. It mirrors the moves featured in Health Central's The 7-Minute Workout, which could be comparable to hours of moderate activity.

Who We'll Be Watching at the 2013 Ironman World Championship

Credit: Marian Doss at flickr

Forget college football Saturday. October 12 is all about Ironman, at least if you’re an endurance athlete…or know one. The best of triathlon’s best are in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, for the 2013 GoPro Ironman World Championship where professional triathletes and qualifying age-groupers will swim 2.4 miles from Dig Me Beach, bike 112 miles on the Queen K, and run 26.2 miles to finish on Ali'i Drive. You’re not thinking about your alma mater winning a football game (Go NU!), you’re wondering who will be crowned Ironman World Champion, and you’re cheering for your friends, family, coaches and training buddies.

I'm supposed to be gearing up for a Sunday marathon, yet I'm completely guilty of watching more videos, reading more tweets and staring at more paradise pictures about the Ironman than the Chicago Marathon. Maybe it's because I'm so used to running Chicago and my only chance of competing in Kona is to luck into a lottery slot (or hope that I have the race of my life and everyone else flops). All I know is that when the cannon goes off at 12 p.m. Chicago time, 7 a.m. Hawaii time, I'll be on my computer following some of these Ironman triathletes with Windy City connections.

Ironman Airs Earlier Than Usual

I tracked athletes online all day. I watched portions of the live stream at Ironman.com. But watching the NBC broadcast of the Ironman World Championship? That's usually reserved for December. After I haven't thought about triathlon in a crazed stupor for at least a month, and I could use something to fire up the competitive juices. The professional race, the age groupers, the inspirational athletes, they get me every time.

Is it really time to watch the Ironman World Championship? Yep. The coverage airs on NBC, Saturday, October 27, from 4 to 6 p.m. Eastern time (check your local listings for the other time zones), six weeks before its typical airing. The broadcast returns to a two-hour feature whereas  lately it's been limited to 90 minutes, less time than some triathletes take to finish the swim. We can thank Lance for sparking that one--he would have been a likely competitor until he was banned from participating--and NBC for not pulling the plug. Talk about a good alternative to watching college football!

Outside of the pro race, which saw winning performances by Pete Jacobs and Leanda Cave, who's going to appear in the footage? I have a few guesses...

• Will we see Lew Hollander and Madonna Buder, two of the oldest entrants in the race? Lew eventually went on to finish, his 24th I believe, but Sister Madonna didn't make the bike cut-off.
• Maybe Harriet Anderson who was the last triathlete to cross the finish line before the 17-hour cut-off?
• How about Bonner Paddock who became the first person with cerebral palsy to finish the Ironman World Championship when he crossed the line in 16:38?
• Or Adrienne Hengels who got engaged at the finish line (doesn't a marriage proposal make for good TV?)?
• Or the tough-as-nails competitors who crashed somewhere out on the course yet managed to pick themselves up and still finish? I watched a guy in the live stream finish the race in 10 something hours with his arm in a sling. 

The funny thing is I almost forgot that the Ironman would be on TV this weekend. I thought I'd be excited to watch it so early--but more so than I actually am. Maybe it's because I did watch a large portion of the race online and already heard some of the Kona Inspired stories. Maybe it's because I did randomly wake up at 3 a.m. to watch the final hour of the race and see Lew Hollander and Harriet Anderson cross the finish line. But the likely culprit--it's simply a busy weekend. The Warren Miller movie, a birthday party, a football game, friends in town, the World Series, a 5K. Yeah, I'll be setting the timer to record this year's coverage.

Who do you want to see during Saturday's coverage? 

Who to Watch and Follow at the Ironman World Championship 2012

Oh, Kona. Credit: seanhagen

Chrissie Wellington has taken the year off from competition. Lance Armstrong is out--as we've all known for months. But there's way more to the Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, than those two buzzwords. I could name a few more--Crowie, Chris Lieto, Macca, Mirinda Carfrae, Linsey Corbin, Meredith Kessler--except those names aren't enough to fire me up. I'm equally--maybe even more so--excited to track some of the age-groupers competing in the Ironman World Championship. Sure, it's tough to make it to the Big Island's big show regardless of your status--pro or amateur--but it's pretty inspiring when you recognize some of the competitors as your lane mates, camp buddies, team mates or neighbors.

Much like the list I jotted down last year, here's who I'll be following at the 2012 Ironman World Championship on October 13. And thank goodness I don't have a marathon to run the following day--I can stay up as late as I want to watch the live stream.

Dave Bartoszewski. His mom qualified for next year's World Championship at Ironman Wisconsin last month but turned it down. He qualified for Kona at Ironman Wisconsin last year.

Madonna Buder. How can you not love an 82-year-old nun who races triathlons? If Sister Madonna finishes Saturday's race, she'll be the oldest woman to finish the Ironman World Championship. And even if she doesn't, WTC had to create the W80+ category just for her, and she'll be the oldest female to start the race.

Can Lance Make Ironman Go Live?

Lance rides 2010 Tour Down Under. Credit

Only Lance is good enough for live TV? What about Chrissie Wellington, Craig Alexander, the Raelert brothers, Mirinda Carfrae, and all the other professional triathletes and age-group qualifiers who have graced Kona's Ironman World Championship stage?

If this post starts to not make sense, it's because I'm a bit enraged from reading this Bloomberg article--and thank you Timex Sports for sharing. It's not the article itself and not even that the World Triathlon Corp. is trying to capitalize on its biggest asset--having The Lance Armstrong race triathlons and finish second in his first 70.3 race--to gain live coverage of the infamous 17-hour event that takes place on Hawaii's Big Island in October. It's that Lance can have such a draw on the sport, and that Comcast's NBC network might actually agree to a live airing.

Triathlon is not all about Lance Armstrong. Sure, it's cool to follow him at the races--I'm 100 percent guilty of checking his progress in Panama two weeks ago--but I didn't go to ironmanlive.com just to see his name. I looked at all of the pros, men and women, to see how they stacked up in swim, bike, run, and how several finished a 1.2-mile swim in under 20 minutes, a feat that seems near impossible (ah, currents).

Age-groupers to watch and follow in Kona, Ironman World Championships

Craig Alexander. Chris Lieto. Andreas Raelert. Chrissie Wellington. Mirinda Carfrae. Julie Dibens. I could go on--Faris Al-Sultan. And on--Caroline Steffen. And on--Linsey Corbin. Sure, we can all name a laundry list of professional triathletes who are racing at this year's Ironman World Championship, the big hoo-rah in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, but what about the age groupers, Ironman Foundation athletes and lottery winners in the mix?

From age-group speedsters to friends and acquaintances who are racing on October 8 at the Big Dance, here's who I'll be following from my perch in middle America.

All in a Day's Work at Ironman World Championship

Between cloudless sunny skies and temperatures rising to above 80 degrees, you'd think it was still summer in Chicago. And if you ignored the changing colors of the leaves, imagined some palm trees and pictured those waves you saw in Lake Michigan last weekend, you just might be able to transport your mind to Kona dreaming.

OK, that's a far-reaching stretch. I know because I just caught some of my friend's Big Island honeymoon pictures and know that Chicago could never be a Hawaiian paradise. But when the Ironman World Championship is happening, I can watch it live via my computer, and social media has become the go-to source for companies when it comes to updating Iron-fans, the Windy City comes pretty darn close. In the few spare minutes I had today--between an awesome, insightful Nike meeting to driving my parents to McCormick Place to return empty-handed on a Bank of America perk for tomorrow's race, and pre-race stretching to a family dinner--I was following the faves I wrote about earlier in the week plus a few more whose names skipped my mind when I created my original list. Although the finish line has yet to close, here are some of the finishers among those I tracked. More to come tomorrow--it's almost midnight here and that means time to get to bed so I can run 26.2 tomorrow.

• Mirinda Carfrae. I know she's a fast runner and I know she wanted this win--I interviewed her in July, which means you'll have to come back to read some of those notes--but talk about an awesome race day. She ran her marathon faster than several guys, logging 2:53:32, and becoming the World Champion in 8:58:36. Some could argue that she won because Chrissie Wellington had to pull out after feeling flu-like, but I beg to differ. She dug deep to pass on the run and never had to look back. 
• Chris McCormack. Here's an Aussie who's back on top as Ironman World Champion--he last won in 2007. But this win at 8:10:37 certainly didn't come easy. I'll have to go into more depth when I can think again tomorrow.
• Andreas Raelert. This guy knows how to make a World Champion run fast for his win. Raelert pushed Alexander last year, and he and Macca were running head to head for a while (if I read Twitter correctly) until Macca pulled ahead. The finish was close with Raelert coming in at 8:12:17.
• Craig Alexander. How can you not like Crowie and root for him? From ironmanlive.com, it sounded like Alexander was at a distinct disadvantage during the bike this year, and while he could try to play catch up on the run, even his 2:41:59 marathon split wasn't enough to catch McCormack and Raelert. But he did log a 8:16:53 for the day.
• John Lloyd. I used to work with Lloyd's wife with Windy City Sports and Rocky Mountain Sports and let's just say, here's a family with a healthy Ironman obsession. They've traveled the world to compete and try for World Championship berths. Lloyd finally gained his earlier this year (again, I'll check tomorrow to tell you where), and finished today in 10:11:56.
• Adam Zucco. Dang, he took eighth in his 35-39 age group in 9:16:34.
• Christine Anderson. If you thought Zucco was fast, Anderson might be faster, comparative to her age group at least. She took seventh in her division (25-29) with a 10:28:25. 
• D'Arcy Lynch. I happened to be watching ironmanlive.com when Lynch crossed the finish line in 10:51:43. 
• Laura Sophiea. She just happened to be crossing the finish line at the same time as Lynch. Who knew?
• Julie Shelley. I think it's safe to say that Shelley just keeps getting faster--or that she really likes racing in the heat. Shelley capped off the day finishing in 10:58:51.
• Sonja Wieck. I've checked in on Wieck's blog throughout the summer and now I'll be looking forward to reading her race report. She came in at 10:17:53.

Stay tuned for more race highlights come tomorrow. It's shut-eye time for me as much as I'd love to continue watching these athletes cross the Ironman finish line. Talk about addictive--and inspiring. Darn, I'm so wishing I signed up for a 2011 Ironman, like Wisconsin again.

Who to Watch at the Ironman World Championship

For some, it's been more than a year in the making--qualifiers from Ironman Wisconsin 2009. For others, it's been only a few weeks in comparison--qualifiers from Ironman Louisville 2010 and Ironman Canada 2010 held on August 29. But if you're an Ironman triathlete, or just a triathlete who's into Ironman, all eyes are on this weekend's Ironman World Championship held in Kailua-Kona on Hawaii's Big Island. And not just for watching (or following online) Craig Alexander and Chrissie Wellington attempt to defend their titles, or hope anxiously that perhaps Chris Lieto and Mirinda Carfrae--the 2009 runners-up for the men and women--can usurp them. Oh no, I've got some locals in mind, or others with random ties (OK, call me a race-result stalker but I honestly only remember their names from races I've run), to follow come Saturday. They'll be running through the streets of Kona in their underpants today at the annual underwear run, fighting through the ocean with 1,800 other competitors, riding up to Hawi and back, traveling the Queen K, and running down Alii Drive toward the finish line. Here are some of those I'll be following online come Saturday (click read more in the lower left corner):