Women's marathon

The one Olympic event where I don't go all U!S!A! insane is distance running. I guess this is because I follow it in between Olympics so I'm familiar with all the major athletes -- I have something on which to base my fandom other than NBC's shlocky human interest stories.

This women's marathon is one of the great track and field events of this year at least. This race by Deena Kastor for the bronze? Moving up from 18th to 3rd? Where'd she come from? Paula Radcliffe dropping out? Who saw that one coming? I may be the only person who is glad that NBC aired this race in its entirety, but man, what an inspiring race.

I guess that's what it is about the Olympics. Most people are never going to do anything as well or as competitively as these athletes do, but the fact that they do it -- they elevate themselves beyond what should be possible -- is just inspiring.