Forget about cable, let's talk about peanut butter pretzels!!

While we were all wintering on the couch in front of the Olympics, apparently ConAgra snuck in and cornered the market for peanut butter pretzels.  This NPR piece tells the sad story.  The story raises a question that has puzzled me before, particularly in connection with intellectual property, whether antitrust is an appropriate mechanism for dealing with the "back end" problem when one enters into a joint venture with a monopolist.  It is a perennial problem for software designers who build apps that Microsoft/Google/whatever, develop a market, and then are unceremoneously ejected from the platform.  The classic example is Real Audio (who??) the media player before Internet Explorer . . .

Here, interestingly, the monopolist is ConAgra, but the platform is Trader Joe's. 

I ran!

Well, the non-running streak is over.  I went for a short jog this morning in the fog and drizzle under the BQE, through Brooklyn Bridge Park, past a long line of Jehovah's Witnesses on their way to their communal prayer breakfast, past a car that looks as old as I feel, and then I was home.  I went slow.  It didn't hurt.  It's great to be back, even heavier, slower and with no aerobic base. . .

Another six miles

My colleague M__ passed on the club run, which had the effect of feeding me to J__, a 2L with a goal (and a credible shot) of breaking 1:19 in the Indy Mini-Marathon this coming May.  Six-or-so miles in I huh huh huh encouraged huh huh J__ huh huh huh to continue huh huh without huh huh huh me.  Turns out four to five months on the couch takes its toll!  It also turns out I still love everything about this sport.

Gets the heart pumping . . .

Frequent commenter D__ shared this with me recently.  Posting before I finish reading it.  Gawd do I love a well-written running story.

Finally

28.  Sunny. Not too much wind.  First chance to run outside since he Polar half in January.  The park was mostly ploughed so did a 5 miler down to Fullerton and then back up to Irving Park and home. Not an impressive run and way too slushy and wet out but felt great.

I keep forgetting that I do better tired rather than stressed.

Fear of Running -- Newton's First Law

My non-running streak continues.  This is a bit surprising. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the foot doctor cleared me to run on Sunday.  It is now Monday.  I'm still on the couch with my feet up.  What's up with that?  Part of this is because it's cold, miserable and slippery outside.  Part is because I'm getting a lot of work done sitting in my comfy chair with my feet up.  The larger part, though is fear of a setback.

This is an odd reversal.  When I first got hurt, I was reluctant to stop running for an extended period of time for fear of losing my conditioning, built up over a long period.  Now, having invested over a month in resting my foot, and most recently, close to a week in being an absolute couch potato, I'm nervous about starting up too early and restarting the inflammation cycle I'm trying to break.

I have definitely made progress. My foot no longer hurts when I walk barefoot (at least after the first few steps in the morning).  I definitely have not licked it entirely.  All of the key spots are still tender, though much less so.  Right now, I'm feeling invested in healing, rather than training.

Inertia takes you as you are . . .

Ironman responds to the market

I received this e-mail today:

A LETTER FROM OUR CEO:

I am excited to announce a new program we are piloting for our IRONMAN athletes in the United States and Canada. Today we will launch the North American Transfer Program as a new option for our athletes. This program was designed in response to athlete feedback we've received over the years. We understand that you want to race with us, but sometimes life gets in the way, injuries happen, weddings pop up or your job takes you across the country. With the transfer program, we hope to address these issues by allowing IRONMAN athletes to transfer to another open race in North America. If you have a simple date conflict, you can move sooner or later in the calendar. If you have an injury, you can move down to a 70.3 distance or postpone to a later race. We're trying to give you every opportunity you can to get in a race with IRONMAN and keep you happy. A slightly altered version of this program has been available to our athletes in Europe for a few seasons and we are endeavoring to bring the most applicable elements to North America. That said, we ask you to remember that this is a pilot program and there may be some bumps along the way. We're excited to try something new to give our athletes additional options and serve you better. Additional details, including rules of the program, can be found here. Questions can be directed to transfers@ironman.com. I look forward to hearing your feedback about this new program and seeing you at the races. - Andrew Messick This is a new thing for Ironman, which for years had an embarrassing refund policy.  The result was that you had to sign up for a race a year in advance (or it filled up) but might well have life circumstances get in the way.  Very early notice entitled you to ~25% refund, but no opportunity to transfer and no way to get most of your money back.  The long-course market is becoming competitive.  Competitors Rev3 and Challenge are getting good traction in North America and overseas and there are myriad races that are not parts of larger series.  Nice to see the industry leader finally bowing to consumer demand.