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Runners take your mark: Fueling up for a race is an important first step

You wouldn’t leave on a big trip without topping off your tank and you shouldn’t start a big race unless you have made sure to properly fuel your body. If you are running the News and Sentinel Half Marathon Saturday, you should really consider what you are eating between now and Saturday to make sure you are not running on an empty tank when you hit Market Street Saturday morning. Adding carb-rich food between now and the race will give you the energy to run your best. Foods such as fruits, veggies and grains are all good ideas. Adding a little more protein to your diet ...

COLUMN: Bucket list baseball

Recently enjoyed a retirement dinner for someone in the family. If someone can convince me otherwise, sports writers don’t retire. They just fade away. Got me thinking about my baseball bucket list. Some boxes have been checked. Others still unaccounted for. Visited Cooperstown, N.Y. for Hall of Fame Weekend for the induction of Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine. Set aside a few days to enjoy the full experience. Our first day, noticed former major leaguers seated alongside the sidewalks signing autographs. Ran into Atlanta Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone for a signed baseball. The ...

Jon VanderWal era comes to an end in Marietta

“I have not been sleeping much. I don’t ever want to experience that kind of season here ever again. We have to fix this.” This was March 5, 2025. Jon VanderWal and I were having dinner together in Toledo before heading over to the University of Toledo to watch a couple of potential Pioneer recruits later that evening. The Pioneers had just completed an unusually mediocre 11-14 season, but you’d have thought they’d not won an entire contest during the campaign by the mood. Little did I know it would be the last time we’d speak in person while he was the head men’s ...

COLUMN: How to pick a Super Bowl team if you don’t actually care

The Super Bowl is upon us again, and I’m here to tell you how to pick a team to root for if you have no particular attachment, emotional or otherwise, to the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles. Except I already did that two years ago. My five-point system to subjectively pick a side recommended backing the Eagles over the Chiefs. That did not actually result in you picking a winner, but that’s not really what fandom is about. And I can say that as a longtime Washington Apparently-Still-the-Commanders fan who has gone over 30 years without his team making it to the big ...

Column: Friendships off court fuel Warren on court

VINCENT — In the sport of volleyball, you need all six players on the court to be on the same page to have success. It’s easier said than done, but it helps when your players have good relationships off the court. When you combine a tremendous amount of talent with impeccable chemistry, ...

COLUMN: The return of high school football season is upon us

It’s hard to believe we’re already back to that time of year again — football season. Fellow scribes Jordan Holland, Kerry Patrick and Aaron Lee already have been out to make a few visits to their respective schools for the upcoming Pigskin Previews (Marietta Times, Aug. 22 and Parkersburg News and Sentinel, Aug. 29), but my first official trip will be Saturday when I make the trek to Reedsville to visit with the Eastern Eagles of third-year head coach Jason Jackson. Although the Eagles have some holes to fill after their graduation losses, coach Jackson’s program once again ...