Three major charities — The World Wildlife Fund, the Lance Armstrong Foundation and ninemillion.org– benefited from the Nike + Human Race 10K on Sunday, an event billed as the World’s Biggest Race that involved 25 races in 25 cities around the globe.

Thousands of runners turned out for the 10K in the North American host cities of New York City, Los Angeles, Portland, Chicago and Austin, as well as around the world in other major cities such as Paris, Rome, Madrid, Vancouver, Lima, Instanbul, Singapore, Melbourne, Warsaw, and Seoul. Collectively, the runners logged more than 3 million miles, according to Nike, with each mile producing more money toward the three charities.

Among the athletes and celebrities who showed their support by running in Austin were seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong; Olympic Gold Medalist swimmers, Aaron Peirsol and Brendan Hansen (just back from Bejiing); Hollywood actor and organic enthusiast, Matthew McConaughey, and Emmy award winner musician Ben Harper.

Nike serves as an active member of the World Wildlife Fund’s Climate Saver program, and has partnered with the WWF as it tries to become more environmentally sensitive and efficient with the resources it uses. The corporate giant recently completed measuring the greenhouse gas emissions from its contracted manufacturer and shipping operations, and as a next step, Nike will focus on reducing the carbon footprint of these contracted operations.

The money raised from the race has yet to be tallied, but will support Armstrong’s LiveStrong program, which aims to fight cancer through healthier lifestyles; the WWF’s conservation and habitat preservation efforts and ninemillion.org’s goals to give nine million children better access to education, sport and technology by 2010. Ninemillion.org partners with Nike and Microsoft.

For more on how the charity dollars will be used, and particularly how the money may be used to fight global warming, see the Nike + Human Race website. Runners can also see their results on this Nike web page.

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Lance Armstrong may have to take his own advice and “dare to change” his life after being outed as the city’s biggest water guzzler, using a whopping 222,900 gallons of water in June, according to an AP report that appeared in the Austin American-Statesman late last week.

In July, consumption jumped to 330,000 gallons, putting him way out in front of the competition at about 38 times what the average household uses, according to the New York Times, which jumped onto the story.

The seven-time Tour de France winner was unaware of the ghastly volumes of water his lushly landscaped Austin compound was consuming, despite water bills that would cause most mortals to swoon. We’re talking $1,630 for the month of June and $2,460 for July, according to the AP and the NYT. He didn’t know because a management company handles his accounts.

Apparently Lance and company haven’t heard of native plantings, a common way that other Hill Country residents tamp down on irrigation needs for home landscaping. Native plants are big with environmentalists, not to mention more frugal homeowners, because they can thrive on the typical waterfall for their area, be it in Pennsylvania, California or often-parched Central Texas. (Did Lance and onetime singer girlfriend Sheryl Crow, whose enviro credentials run as deep, never discuss such things?)

Ironically one of the “Dares” you can take on Armstrong’s healthy living LiveStrong website is to drink more water: “Drink more water to flush out toxins from the body, make your skin healthier and keep hunger pangs at bay. Your body needs water to replenish muscles and maintain balance, so aim for at least eight to 12 cups daily.”

Sounds like good advice. If there’s some left.

OK, chuckles aside, the champion cyclist conceded that he could do better in the conservation category. “I need to fix this,” Armstrong told the AP. “To use that much more water (than most residents) is unacceptable. I have no interest in being the top water user in Austin, Texas.”

Perhaps he could install a gray water system to recycle household water by using it on the landscape.

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media