Running legend Grete Waitz dead at 57

The sporting word has lost a giant. Grete Waitz, one of the running world's most famous names, has died of cancer. She was 57.

A native of Oslo, Norway, she died there, with her husband, Jack, at her side. It was Jack who talked her into running long distances in the first place.

A world record-holder in the 3,000 meters, Waitz got an invitation to run the New York City Marathon in 1978. Her role was the "rabbit," the early pace-setter who peels off late in the race and lets the expected challengers battle it out for ultimate victory. It was her first marathon.

Waitz never really relinquished her rabbit role, fighting through her suffering to win the race in world record time, shaving a full two minutes off the existing fastest time for the distance. She took the lead at the 18-mile mark and ran a "negative split" — the second half faster than the first.

It was the first of nine wins in New York. That record still stands. It is far and away the record. The most a man has won is four. That was Bill Rodgers.

Waitz also won the London Marathon twice and the high-profile Stockholm Marathon once. From 1978 to 1988, she entered 19 other marathons around the world and won 13 of them. She broke the world record three times.

She was successful in world championships as well, taking out gold in 1983 and silver at the 1984 L.A. Olympics.

Waitz also excelled in cross country, winning five gold medals at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships (in 1978-1981 and 1983).

She was a pioneer in her sport, a super-fast runner who brought recognition and prestige to a sport that had little funding, especially for women. As a result, her native country has an annual race named after her. The New York Road Runners have an annual half marathon named after her as well.

Her fame transcends running events as well: A statue of her stands at the Norway pavilion at Walt Disney World Resort and outside the Bislett Stadium in Oslo. She has even appeared on a set of postage stamps.

An excellent multimedia show is here.

$1 Million Ring at Costco, at a Bargain Price

OK, so we need some more bottled water, a big bag of corn chips for the weekend's party, some meat for the BBQ, some more chocolate chips so we can make some cookies for the BBQ dessert, and … oh, yes, Happy Anniversary!

Don't look now, but I've just bought you a $1 million ring … at Costco.

Yes, I'm the one person to have bought this Excellent cut diamond solitaire ring. Hope you like it — we'll be paying it off until 2167, unless we win the lottery, which reminds me … we need to stop at the convenience store on the way home because Costco doesn't sell lottery tickets.

I think I remember that your ring size is 7. If that isn't it, then we'll have to wait a couple of days until the good folks at Costco get the ring resized.

What's that? You want to know if it was a bargain? What kind of question is that? It was on sale, naturally, marked down from $1.6 million. So really, like everything else at Costco, it's a bargain. We just didn't get 24.

O Big Yellow Bear, Where Art Thou?

What's big and yellow and worth $9 million? Not some unnamed celebrity, but I like the way you think.

No, this is a giant bear with a lamp on its head, a piece of art from a Swiss artist Urs Fischer that will be displayed in midtown Manhattan for five months while the people of New York City decide how to get rid of it.

The bear, which is 23 feet high and weighs in at 35,000 pounds, is a bright shade of yellow with a black lamp affixed to its head.

Yes, it's art. No, you can't afford it.


This large furry friend with black button eyes is being auctioned off, of course, as are many great works of art, be they teddy bears or not, by Christie's, the venerable auctioneer that knows a thing or two about soup cans, comic books, and sculpture gardens.

The piece, which goes by the name Untitled Lamp/Bear, is expected to sell for $9 million, as reported by Christie's after officials there ran some sort of random fee-generation software subroutine to discover how much someone or some group of people would actually pay for such a thing.

You might want to pay attention to who buys it because the lamp has a light in it that — you guessed it — lights up, basking all beneath it in a rosy glow of, well, light.