If you're reading this on Sunday morning, April 20: Austin's Desiree Ficker, an accomplished triathlete, is in Boston trying out for the U.S. Olympic team in the marathon. As I write this, at 8:14am, the race is at the 11-mile mark and Ficker is in contention to make the team. The top three finishers will go to Beijing. A runner from Oakland, Calif., has a huge lead, about a minute and a half ahead of the rest of the field, but Ficker is in the chasing pack of about 12 athletes, running right beside Deena Kastor, the 2004 Olympic bronze medalist. You can watch the race live online by going clicking here, and you can track Ficker's position in almost real-time by going here.

Update: Shortly after I originally posted this, Kastor made a surge that broke up the pack, and she went on to win. Ficker held on to the lead pack for about half of the 26.2 miles, but finally fell off the pace in mile 14. She finished in 79th place in a very respectable 2 hours, 48 minutes, 11 seconds. And she came away with one great bit of trivia that she can share with her friends: She finished about one minute ahead of 50-year-old Joan Samuelson, the winner of the first-ever women's Olympic marathon back in 1984.

As originally reported on Burnt Orange Report, the Capital Area Asian American Democrats commissioned a survey of the City Council races from IRV Polls. The results: 517 likely City Council voters polled on April 16. Margin of error: +/- 4.3%. Place 1
Lee Leffingwell 37.5%
Jason Meeker 13.7%
Allen Demling 3.9%
Undecided 44.9%
Place 3
Randi Shade 26.4%
Jennifer Kim 24.9%
Ken Weiss 11.3%
Undecided 37.4%
Place 4
Cid Galindo 11.9%
Laura Morrison 10.3%
Robin Cravey 10.2%
Jennifer Gale 8.0%
Ken Vasseau 4.8%
Sam Osemene 4.8%
Undecided 50.0%
To put those numbers into words: With the possible exception of Place 1, these races are wide open. And even Place 1 is less than a lock for Leffingwell, although Meeker clearly has a Herculean task before him.

The Chronicle's new video blog delivers the down low on the upcoming City Council elections, profiling the Place 3 candidates in the second of a three-part series. [video-1]

It's gonna be a busy one for the Chrontourage. Tonight (Friday) we will make an appearance out at the Scoot Inn for "Murder Ballads Night". If you've got a penchant for romance with a dark side I highly recommend it. On Saturday April 19th you will find us out at the Austin Earth Day Festival at Republic Square Park. We will have our table set-up starting at 9am so come by and visit. If you sign-up on our e-mail newsletter at the event (or are already on the newsletter list) you can spin the chron-wheel and you could win some really cool prizes. Entry to the festival is free but dontations are accepted so there really is no excuse for not showing up. On Sunday April 20th we will be at the Austin Reggae Fest (insert 4/20 jokes here). Just like Saturday we will have our table set up (starting at noon) and you can spin the wheel to win some good stuff. FYI: In case you hadn't heard, the CAT POWER show scheduled for Sunday (4/20) night at Stubb's has been postponed because of vocal chord complications. Stay tuned to www.stubbsaustin.com for information on rescheduling. All tickets for the 4/20 show will be honored for the rescheduled date. If you've got the energy for it, check out the ArtErotica Art Show on Saturday night, or Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks at La Zona Rosa on Sunday night. Everyone be safe and as Bill and Ted would say, "be excellent to each other!"

With no athletic scholarships to offer and extremely stringent academic requirements for admittance, there really isn't much room for recruiting when it comes to fielding a basketball team at egghead central, aka the California Institute of Technology. If you are the coach of the Caltech Beavers (nature's engineers), your team consists of those who show up for the first practice and dedicate themselves to the team. This is not a minor issue considering the daunting amount of classwork these student/athletes take on. Quantum Hoops: The Caltech Basketball Story follows the Caltech basketball team during the final week of their 2006 season not in an attempt to chronicle a conference championship or any other such athletic accomplishment, but to document a team that has 240 consecutive conference losses. Two hundred and forty games without a victory equals 21 years of continuously losing, usually by about 60 points or more. For most typical athletes, this losing streak would be unbearable, and while it is frustrating for the young men who make up the Caltech squad, the lessons learned on the court, in practice, and from their coaches over the years do much to inform their scientific research, which is also fraught with constant failure until … eureka, success. Do the not-so-mighty brainy Beavers finally break that losing streak? You can find out Thursday, April 24, 7:30pm at the Alamo Lake Creek theatre. Director Rick Greenwald will be in attendance, and a Q&A will take place following the feature. Click here to visit the Quantum Hoops website.

Well, tweak my tarsals! Festishes for aqua shoes and toe socks and anything Hang Ten can now be quenched in one fell toe jam. If you know me, you probably know my feet. (And you know I am a shoe whore.) Well, these new double-take eliciting Five Fingers foot coverings make my calcaneus quake. When it comes to newfangled footwear – unlike most things innovative – I am an early adopter. Plus, I am a dyke, and as such, am required by genetic predisposition to wear a lot of sportswear. (Except fleece.) So you know the minute I saw these prefabbed paws, I had to slap a pair on my dawgs and try them.

With all the hullabaloo surrounding Record Store Day on Saturday, OTR overlooked a few of the more interesting events taking place. Out of the Past Collectibles (5341 Burnet) is participating in the crawl, wherein receipts from one of the participating record stores, dated April 19, will result in discounts there. Phantom Planet and the Hush Sounds perform at Encore Records (1745 W Anderson) beginning at 1:30pm and, weather permitting, Waterloo Records hosts a sidewalk sale and doles out 3-D glasses for Björk's new "Wanderlust" video. Come early. Stay late. Be thorough.

Get thee down to Eastwoods Park this Saturday, or Obama will put you on notice!

HUNDREDS SET TO GATHER AT A "NATION 4 CHANGE RALLY" IN AUSTIN IN SUPPORT OF SENATOR OBAMA AUSTIN, Texas -- April 16, 2008 -- US Congressman Lloyd Doggett, State Representative Mark Strama, Austin Councilman Mike Martinez, and Glen Maxey are scheduled to address hundreds of Barack Obama supporters at a simultaneous nationwide "Nation 4 Change Rally", this Saturday, April 19th, 2008. Chris Wilson, a co-organizer and State Delegate from Senate District 14, will kick off this unprecedented event by introducing Congressman Doggett who is scheduled to speak at 12:30. State Representative Mark Strama , Austin City Council member Mike Martinez and Grassroots Organizer Glen Maxey will address the crowds shortly thereafter. On Saturday April 19-th, 2008 thousands of individuals from all 50 states will be gathering together in cities across the nation and abroad for the "Nation for Change" Nationwide Rally in support of Barack Obama, just before the April 22nd primary in Pennsylvania.

Franklin Morris, guitarist and vocalist for Murdocks, was surprised when he received a phone call from a booking agent offering the band an opening spot for Cake in Georgetown Thursday night. Even the agent seemed a little shocked, saying only that Cake's lead singer, John McCrea, liked the band and wanted them to play. Fresh off the release of their Roar! EP, they were excited to do it. Morris, along with drummer David T. Jones and bassist Kyle Robarge, was kind enough to let me come along for the ride. 11 of us piled into the van from their practice space in South Austin, jammed out to 105.9, and made the trek north to Southwestern University in Georgetown. Click through the gallery to see more from the day.