Things I Like: Runner's High coffee from JustCoffee.coop

I'm a big podcast guy. In terms of running podcasts, my favorite is the House of Run podcast, and on the comedy front, I love Sklarbro Country, featuring the Sklar Brothers, Mohr Stories, featuring Jay Mohr, and the WTF podcast, featuring Marc Maron. WTF is where I found out about JustCoffee.coop. Thanks Maron!

JustCoffee.coop (aka Just Coffee) is a 100% fair trade coffee roaster out of Madison, WI that has some of the best coffee I've ever tasted (and at excellent prices for the quality of bean). Shockingly, my favorite blend is the "Runner's High" blend, which is a medium roasted blend of beans from Mexico, Columbia and Ethiopia. A 12 ounce bag of this excellent coffee is only $11.05 (and the nice folks at Just Coffee gave me a promo code below that will get you another 10% off).

You can get the coffee in whole bean form or ground course, medium, or fine. Personally, I like the whole bean, so I can grind them myself for optimal freshness (and it makes my house smell awesome). Here's a link to a great $20 coffee grinder on Amazon.com if you don't have one already. The coffee comes shipped via UPS and are in vacuum-sealed bags to lock in the flavor.

Vacuum-sealed beans are the way to go!

Aside from the "Runner's High" blend, Just Coffee has plenty of other great blends and even offers their customers the opportunity to go on international trips to meet with other coops. I highly suggest checking out their site as it's very informative about the coffee trade in general.

And use the coupon code: writingaboutrunning (sorry folks, the code has expired) when checking out to get 10% off your next order at JustCoffee.coop! An excellent holiday gift for running friends and family alike!

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Things I Like: Flotrack's new show, Run Junkie

There's a new running show on the block from the excellent team over at Flotrack. My twitter account was greeted to a tweet (from Flotrack) this morning, introducing their new show, Run Junkie. Hosts Ryan Fenton and Alex Lohr do an excellent job of keeping the news brief and exciting and interject some true track dork comedy. While there are other excellent recap shows like Runnerspace Live and the House of Run podcast, in my opinion, there's always room for more. Here's to the newcomer! Check out the first episode below:

Watch more video of Run Junkie on flotrack.org

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Things I Like: Universal Sports (and UniversalSports.com)

If you're a Track & Field fan, you probably already know Universal Sports. If you don't, it may be because Universal Sports is not offered in your area. Living in Raleigh for the past 10 years, I've been lucky enough to tune into Universal Sports on television for every Diamond League meet, Tour de France race and if it's your thing, beach volleyball match (Complete listings here).

One thing that everyone (in the United States at least) has access to is UniversalSports.com (in particular, their Track & Field page). What started as a way to follow my friend, Gary Kikaya, run abroad during the Golden League days, quickly turned into THE way to watch professional Track & Field. What they offer on UniversalSports.com that they don't offer on television is live coverage of Diamond League meets. They also have the British television crew working the live coverage with the popular Tim Hutchings making many of the calls.  There is also another excellent feature this year on the website that has Ato Boldon, who headlines the American television coverage, doing a "Cooldown," which is a post meet recap and Q&A. Check it out here. Ato is excellent at what he does and is a must follow if you are on Twitter.

When you need more coverage, Ato's got you

What annoys me most about the Olympics is the lack of live coverage. With all this in mind, those wanting live coverage of the 2011 IAAF World Championships in Daegu, Korea, Universal Sports is offering complete coverage of the meet for only $14.99. With NBC getting the rights to the next few Olympics, I am hoping they use this outlet to show the events as they were supposed to be!

Also, check out Universal Sports on Twitter and Facebook.

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Things I Like: Le Tour De France

One of my favorite sporting events starts this morning and goes on for the next 22 days; the Tour de France. Although it seems like whoever wins le tour is on drugs, it's a great annual event to watch. I believe much of it's appeal is created by excellent commentators, Phil Liggett, Paul Sherwen and Bob Roll. The Liggett/Sherwen combo is cycling's version of Tim Hutchings, while Roll is more like Ato Boldon (in the booth). All are extremely knowledgeable and are the best at what they do.

Things start with Stage 1 today, which is Passage du Gois La Barre-de Monts to Mont des Alouettes Les Herbiers. The final day is Sunday, July 24 (Stage 21), which is Creteil to Paris Champs-Elysees.

Le Tour will be broadcast live every morning on Versus and will have an edited for Prime Time showing every night. Here's the official TV schedule. Also, the tour has an official Faceboook page, an official Twitter and finally, an iPhone/iPad app (search your iPhone store).

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Things I Like: Runnerspace Live's Nationals Recap Raps

Runnerspace Live has always been an excellent weekly recap show. It comes out every Wednesday and has all the information you could want in a quick 10 minute package. One of the highlights every year is their zany nationals recap rap. Although not much of a presence on the show anymore, former host Matt Barnhart looks to be bringing the weird back for a 2011 nationals recap, which is now embedded below. For fun, check out their 2009 nationals recap and 2008 Olympic Trials recaps below as well:

2011's "Welcome to Tracktown"

2009 Nationals Recap Rap:


2008 Olympic Trials Recap Rap:


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Things I Like: The Irwin Belk Educational Foundation

Irwin Belk Track At Fetzer Field

If you're a fan of track and field, I would advise the next time you need to buy a suit, a pair of dress shoes or a pair of jeans, to head over to Belk. Like any department store you will see at the mall, Belk has nice things, but it's what is done with their charities, namely the Irwin Belk Educational Foundation, that has helped many runners in the Carolinas enjoy a good speed workout, a PR or even a chance to attend college on a track scholarship.

Irwin "Ike" Belk attended and ran track for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and then went on to become the president of the Belk Corporation before retiring in 1996 to focus his efforts on his foundation, while being appointed a U.S. delegate to the 54th United Nations General Assembly (in 1999). According to WikiRun, Mr. Belk's foundation has donated money to help construct 29 tracks in and out of the Carolinas from middle schools (Alexander Graham Middle in Charlotte) to many universities (UNC, UNC Prembroke, Davidson, High Point University, Johnson C. Smith, NC A&T, UNC Charlotte, Furman, Winthrop, etc). And these aren't any dirt tracks or cheap asphalt jobs!

It's people like Mr. Belk that help our sport flourish, so keep that in mind the next time you need a new tie! And take a look at the name of whatever track you are running on the next time you are doing intervals. If you're in the Carolinas, there's a good chance you'll see the Belk name!

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Things I Like: The Track & Field Superfan Blog

In my opinion, the best blog about the sport of Track & Field out there right now is Jesse Squire's "Track & Field Superfan" blog. I first heard some of Jesse's takes on the House of Run podcast and quickly added him on the Twitter machine and soon after traveled over to his blog to read many of his great posts. One you will want to read every week is his "Monday Morning Decathlete" offering where he recaps the weeks events and any hot buttons topics, like the Doug Logan situation, Stephanie Hightower's possible desire to be CEO and Dick Ebersol's departure from NBC so very close to the Olympics. His Track on TV and the Web section is an excellent place to find when the Diamond League meets are or the latest showing of Endurance. So if you're interested in the latest T&F news, stop on over the the newly branded http://tracksuperfan.com You won't regret it!

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Things I Like: The House of Run Podcast

There are a few podcasts that I enjoy listening to every week. My favorite being the comedy podcast, "Sklarbro Country," which is the Sklar Brothers' (Randy and Jason) hourly show that drops every Friday. On the Track & Field front, the newest entry into my podcast rotation has been the House of Run podcast. Being a certified track dork, I'm not really interested in running podcasts that will tell me how to conquer the 5k or how to ace hill running. My interests in mind, hosts Jason and Kevin do a great job of mixing in the latest news of the running world with a fair share of self deprecating runner humor that only the true has-been distance runner that still enjoys the oval will appreciate. Shows range from recaps of the latest marathon major to thoughts on a recent Diamond League meet to a fun segment call "Answers to rhetorical questions athletes ask on Twitter."

So head on over to their website and check it out or just go ahead and subscribe for free to the podcast on iTunes. It's a great 45 minutes to get you to and from work at minimum!

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