Over the weekend, I found a lost racing pigeon. Actually, my dog found it, and my kids and I saved it from the dog. (Really, this ties in with running.)

It's a polite, gentle, little thing. You would hardly know that it's a professional athlete at all. It doesn't make any outrageous demands, though it does, on occasion, strut. We call it "209," which is evidently what its owners call it, as they put a band on its leg to make that christening official.

In our quest to reunite 209 with its rightful owners, we searched the Internet and found the right people (they're glad to be getting the bird back, whether or not it has a future as a homing pigeon). We also found out way more than we ever imagined about the sport of racing pigeons. Believe me, I think that the running world could learn a few lessons from its avian equivalent.

The American Racing Pigeon Union, which calls itself "AU" out of an apparent desire to avoid being called "ARPU," brings together many of the clubs that organize races. These are not silly little events where a bunch of bird people get together and race for fun. There's big money on the line. The Vegasrace.com features a half-million in prize money, with $250,000 going to the winner.

It seems to me that's quite a bit more than the bonus Tim Montgomery got for breaking the 100-meter world record recently. Now granted, track stars are sometimes underpaid. There are caddies who do about as well. But birds?

The bird folks make good money because they know how to build things in a pyramid fashion. Big entry fees, lots of birds enter and so there are big payouts to the fastest birds. Track stars, however, are always whining about how they deserve more money because they're better athletes than golfers, but they're always expecting the money to come from somewhere else: TV, governments or the dwindling number of corporations that would rather give unearned money to athletes than to CEOs. Track stars never pony up money themselves.

Let me suggest a Fastest Man (or Woman) contest with every entrant paying a fee. Have runoffs in all the major American cities, all boiling down to a national elimination contest. TV comes in here. It really wouldn't take too much participation to generate some serious funds (the bird folks pay in the hundreds sometimes just to enter).

As near as I can tell, there are a lot of different kinds of pigeon races. One common type has a bunch of birds released in the same place. They all fly to their respective homes, and their time and distance is measured. Whoever flies the fastest average speed wins. How neat that would be for humans! Instead of mundane marathon races where everyone follows the same line, just take everyone out to the country, fire a gun, and say, "Go home!"

Of course, pigeons wouldn't pull out their credit cards and rent a car. They're way more honest than humans that way.

Still, I wonder if there's not a tendency to be too boring in the track and running communities these days. Why do all of the big-name marathons have to be 26.2 miles? South Africa gets away with having its ultra-long Comrades race, but that's the exception. In the United States, have a race go a foot farther than 26.2 miles and all sponsorships dry up, along with the crowds and the big name runners. You're left with "ultramarathoners," a hardy and insane breed that we all should admire though few of us can understand.

Why run standardized distances in cross country? Most high schools run 5 kilometers, not a step farther. The colleges are running 8K and 10K for men, 5K and 6K for women. BORING. Athletes run on courses that are designed for exact distances, not on the natural lay of the land. Would it kill the sport if we couldn't compare times from one race to the next? Absolutely not. Cross country is not supposed to be about standardization. That's what track is for.

A little creativity wouldn't hurt. Recently I suggested to a friend who is a swim coach that we should have some sort of cross country equivalent for high school swimmers. For dual meets, the kids would have to race across, or along, the local body of water. If it happened to be a rushing river, well, call it a tough course. Pity the Niagara high school team. "I'd love it," he said, though he did agree there could be life-threatening hazards.

Despite the risks, sometimes it pays to fly by your wits.

Marathon season is here
At Twin Cities, Dan Browne won the U.S. championship with his debut 2 hours, 11 minutes, 35 seconds. Irina Bogacheva of Kirghiztan won the women's race in 2:29:39, and Jill Gaitenby won the U.S. women's championship in 2:36:10.

In Berlin, Naoko Takahashi returned to the scene of her world record to win again, this time in an "out-of-shape" (her words) 2:21:49. The men's race went to Raymond Kipkoech in 2:06:47. He says he started running two years earlier because all of his friends were winning marathons. What the heck.

In England, the Great North Run (a half-marathon) gathered some of the best runners on the circuit. Sonia O'Sullivan, prepping for the New York Marathon, blasted to the win in 1:07:56 over Joyce Chepchumba of Kenya. As for her next challenge, she says, "It will be fairly relaxed in New York. I will go with the pace and relax. I hope to go through the first half in 71 minutes -- that should be fairly comfortable."

Paul Kosgei won the men's Great North in 59:58, a record for the course. John Yuda of Tanzania finished only four seconds back.

In Cologne, Ernest Kipyego won in 2:10:52, and German Claudia Dreher ran 2:31:30.

In Detroit, John Kariuki ran 2:19:14, won $3,000 and announced that after four years of running in the United States he would return to the farming life in Kenya.

And in the marathon name sweepstakes, New York claimed Mark Carroll, and Chicago announced Joan Samuelson, Abdelkhader El Mouaziz and Yoko Shibui.

Cross Country is rolling
Stanford dominated the Notre Dame Invitational, winning both men's and women's team titles. The men won with 33 points to the 80 of runner-up Michigan, while the Cardinal women scored a mere 21 points. Ryan Hall won in 24:10 (8K) over Don Sage's 24:20. On the women's side, Sara Bei (16:48) led a 1-2-3 Stanford sweep (Lauren Fleshman and Alicia Craig each ran 16:49).

At the Rocky Mountain Shootout, Jorge Torres of host Colorado showed his offseason training went quite well, as he ran 24:07 on the challenging 8K course, besting an Adam Goucher course record that coach Mark Wetmore thought was unbreakable. The Buffalos defeated Division II champ Western Colorado by a point. On the women's side, Molly Austin covered 6K in 20:23, with co-leader Sara Gorton fading to 51st place.

Arkansas captured Oklahoma's Cowboy Jamboree with 31 points to the 38 of Abilene Christian. Alistair Cragg won in 23:53.

At Indiana State, Arkansas's women won over Michigan, 45 to 74. Andreina Byrd ran 20:51 for the victory. Colorado State topped Indiana in the men's standings as Butler's Martin Fedmowski won in 24:26.

The Texas women looked great in winning the Southwest Texas Classic, scoring an impressive 17 points (15 is perfect). Talus Apud-Martinez led with a 16:49 over three miles.

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