Running with Max

So even 5 weeks out from knee surgery Max was rocking the post-antitrust colloquium 8 miler on Saturday morning with my Back on my Feet running group.  Great to catch up and converse under the runners' privilege but depressing that it was all I could do to keep you with a post-surgery and allegedly out of shape Max.  Left the phone in the car so no pics and no precise times but clear that the great one was taking pity on me and allowing us to stick to a low to mid 9's pace.

In other running news, a salute to brother Matt Sag who completed his second sub four marathon yesterday in the Illinois Marathon in beautiful Champaign.

Can I run a Half in Three Weeks?

So, the plan was to run 10 this morning, but I woke up feeling lousy, so C___ and I agreed to just to 8. Good choice, I think.  I put kinesiotape (the stretchy stuff) on my heel, and headed out.  It was an absolutely gorgeous morning for a run. Prospect Park was really crowded, and we found ourselves running the wrong way through a race, no big deal.  Managed to maintain a sub 10 minute pace, with most around 9:30.  Not fighting trim, but some serious progress.  I think I'm still heading for a personal worst, but a half marathon at training pace followed by a beer could still be a lot of fun!!

Finals Time

The end of the semester ticklist:

• Classes done last Friday.  Woohoo.
• Secured Transactions final polished and turned over today.  Alright.
• Antitrust final in the percolation process.  

The end of the academic year, however, is marked by the Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies colloquium at Loyola-Chicago, held every April at about this time.  Not sure if this is deliberate, but the event frequently seems to follow the Boston marathon by about four days.

Why do I like the colloquium?  One denizen of the program, a person of considerable note in the Antitrust academy, once said "it is the Woodstock of antitrust."  Need I another reason?

In case I do, the colloquium predictably has a great program.  At least two of the speakers usually tend to be people whose work I do not know well.  The topics range quite broadly and -- Woodstock aside -- do not seem to be limited by political viewpoints.  (In two speaking roles there over the years I have argued (1) Twombly was correctly decided and (2) aggressive marketing practices that I label "behavioral exploitation" can serve as conduct giving rise to an antitrust violation.  Another denizen of some note told me I went from right to left so fast he got whiplash.)

Getting ready to head out for the pleasant drive to Chicago now.  Headlines that I'm particularly excited about:

1. We have the Chicago School, Post-Chicago, Neo-Chicago, Harvard, and Berkeley schools of antitrust.  How about a "Vatican school"?
2. US v. Apple and the need to restore public support for competition policy.
3. Econometric models as facts in judicial decisionmaking.  I read the thesis and I say "wow.  That's Twombly."  
4. The First Amendment/antitrust law interplay in the information economy.  

This promises to be a fun trip.

While all eyes were trained on London last week

turns out there was a marathon in North Korea open for the first time to amateur runners from outside the Hermit Kingdom.  How did we miss that?

And since we're at it . . .

Notes about the women's results:

2 under 2:20.  We have ruminated here at RP about the relative rarity of women's fields pushing world record paces.  No world records, but a women's course record, and Shalane Flanagan bettered Desiree Davila's 2011 American record by ~30".

Boston

How about Meb!

Meb Keflizighi.  Photo credit David Butler.

He turns 39 on  May 5.  He has medaled in the Olympics (2004), finished fourth (2012), won the NY Marathon (2009), and now won Boston (2014).  He just set his marathon PR on a famously hard course, 2011 excepted, at the very end of his 39th year.

Is it time to start the questioning -- does Meb give Bill Rodgers, Frank Shorter, and Alberto Salazar, all of whom competed in the "pre-Kenyan days," a run for the best American marathoner ever?

Longish run. . .

So I ran ten today.  I might even be able to run a half in May.  Here's proof that I at least started the run.   I paced the 10+ group. :-)