DETROIT RUNNER....: A new reality....

5 miles on the schedule today. Done! It sure was cold out there though. I hope my fellow Michigan runners are keeping up in this weather.

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So if you have not been living under a rock for the last 10 years, then you know, that pretty much everything(ok, most things) on TV are related to reality TV. It all started with the success of Survivor and Big Brother. I mean, we've got shows out there now, that I have no idea who watches or why they are watching them. I guess people just like to watch other people doing things even if they are not famous.

So my idea is a new running reality show. The basic idea is to take "middle of the pack" runners like many of us out there are and turn one of them into an elite athlete. I would define middle of the pack as a running running 8-10 minutes/mile on average. Of course, this would be done through famous coaches, visits from famous runners with their advice, trainers to help keep you going in the gym so that you can propel yourself from a middle of the pack runner to one of the best.

Now many of you believe that you must have natural ability to be able to run as fast as the elites and I would likely agree with you. I do think, however, that there are people out there, given the right direction, coaching, nutritional advice, training and of course, time, could take themselves from an average runner to one of the best runners. I'm also not saying that they are going to be competition for Ryan Hall but an elite nonetheless. There are many elites out there that we have never even heard of that are extremely fast runners.

The grand prize? A $1 million contract with a major athletic company such as Nike, Brooks, Saucony, etc. You get the idea. I think it would be great PR for the sponsors as well. Bring some reality into it. I don't necessarily pick my brand based on the athlete that wears them but if they can help turn an average running into an elite runner? That's powerful for them. Think about what Jared did for Subway?

Given the recent popularity of half marathons and marathons, I would think you would have no issues being able to find 20 people who want to try. Each show you could eliminate people based on criteria the show sets and use famous judges to help with that. Wouldn't it be cool to have Hal Higdon, Ryan Hall and Deena Kastor judge the contestants or some other combination?

Another thing that would attract people to the show is to attend the major marathons around the world where contestants can compete(well maybe not all of the marathons) - London, NYC, Chicago, etc. with the final show being at the NYC marathon!

Perhaps it's a dumb idea but I think that it would help promote the awareness of running and living a healthy lifestyle and the costs would be minimal compared to some TV shows out there. It sure beats watching episodes of Jersey Shore. Seriously, who watches this crap?