If you're a Sooner or a Longhorn, this is exactly what you've been anticipating. The showdown in Dallas at the Cotton Bowl. October 10th, 11:00 central time. Let the games begin.

Every year, the season can be over before it truly gets started. Throughout most of the history of the Big 12 conference, the early season meeting between the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas has had a huge impact on the season. There is the inevitable annual Red River bragging rights. The rivalry between these two programs is one of the greatest in college football. It was something that I knew about long before moving to Texas!

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The current versions of health care reform being proposed and debated are really starting to make me wonder. We started off with “making the system better”, “outcomes”, “efficacy”, and “coverage for all”. Now we’re talking about something that is becoming increasingly far-removed from that. And it’s getting worse.

We’re now being told – in the latest iteration of legislation - that there will only be coverage for part of the population (current estimate: 93%). We’re being told that tort reform has to be a significant factor in health care reform – yet in states in which it has occurred, there have been no savings to the patient. We’re being told that the patient will be forced to buy health insurance – in a system that has not inherently changed. It’s like taking your beat-up 1972 Ford Pinto into the shop for a quick coat of spray paint, thinking that might get you a few extra years of driving – but never looking at the oil leak or the old tires. Or the product recall.

The debate now is about protecting the status quo – and has become misguided to say the least, and unethical to say the most. But fortunately, it should now become readily apparent that there is but one solution to health care reform debate.

It’s name? Legislative reform.

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It should have been called something like "Governor Sunshine Goes To Washington" ... or perhaps "Washington University ".

Governor Sunshine - the smiling, awwwww-shucks, Joe-Six-Pack-and-soccer-mom-supporting Sarah Palin. The governor that spent the evening giving us a lot of fluff and not a lot of stuff.

I have to admit, it reminded me a bit of the 2000 and 2004 presidential debates ... in which we had the good-ole boy from Texas show us his relative lack of knowledge of anything worldly.

So here's what I heard her say tonight ...

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I am starting to think that our currently held beliefs on running and, specifically, running a marathon, are creating a new type of health risk.

The November 23 issue of the Austin American-Statesman has an article by Fit City writer Pamela LeBlanc entitled “Are slow runners ruining marathons?”. In it she refers to a recent article in the NY Times on the same topic. Here is the original NY Times quote:

“From 1980 to 2008, the number of marathon finishers in the United States increased to 425,000 from 143,000 … In 1980, the median finishing time for male runners in United States marathons was 3 hours 32 minutes 17 seconds, a pace of about eight minutes per mile. In 2008, the median finishing time was 4:16, a pace of 9:46. For women, that time in 1980 was 4:03:39. Last year, it was 4:43:32”.

She states that “making an effort to lead a healthy lifestyle is important, and having a goal like a marathon — whether you run it all or walk part of it — can help”. She then states that “proper training is crucial to prevent injury”.

And therein lies the quantum leap. I would totally agree with LeBlanc as she makes note of two critical issues – fostering active lifestyles, and doing so safely by preventing running injuries. But is it possible that the increased levels of participation – and the slower overall pace of the runners – combined with a high rate of running injuries, could actually be creating a greater health risk?

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