Ezra Dunkle-Polier, a Durham native and a senior at Tufts University in Medford, Mass., was one of the runners of the Boston Marathon. He sent us thoughts on the day.

USA Baseball's inaugural Women's Development Camp takes place this weekend at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary.

Details for that camp and camps in other sports, plus team tryouts, league registration, instruction and tournaments can be found in the Play! Recreational Sports Calendar below, an expanded version of the calendar that appears each Tuesday in the print edition Sports section. 

The Southern Zone Age Group Swimming Championships, which start today at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary, are just one of the many recreational sports events you'll find listed below in the expanded version of the Play! recreational sports calendar.

New episodes of "Mad Men" won't return until early 2012, so if you've never watched AMC's critically acclaimed drama -- or if you just want to relive the glory -- here's a great opportunity to watch all four seasons and be ready when Season 5 finally arrives.

AMC will begin repeating all of the "Mad Men" episodes on July 31 at 6 a.m., starting with the Season 1 pilot.  Each Sunday morning, they will air 3 consecutive episodes.

6 a.m. is too early for us, especially on a Sunday, so we recommend you clear out the DVR (you should have caught up on all your "Breaking Bad" marathon eps by then) and enjoy the episodes at a reasonable hour -- and with a glass of scotch, the way Don Draper intended.

Here's another chance to catch up on every episode of the best drama on television before the new season starts on AMC.

Of course, I'm talking about the Emmy-winning 'Breaking Bad.'    

AMC will begin a marathon of all 'Breaking Bad' episodes (in order) starting with the show's pilot on Wednesday, July 6. They will show three episodes every night starting at 2 a.m. until Season 4 begins on July 17th. The seasons are typically 13 episodes long, so this is doable.

'Breaking Bad' follows high school chemistry teacher Walter White (Bryan Cranston) as he discovers he has lung cancer and decides the only way to leave his family financially secure is to cook and sell crystal meth.

Trust me, it's incredible.

So clear out the DVR and get ready for some incredible drama!

The weather is turning colder, but around the Triangle fall - and even winter - will provide great days for running in road races and cross country events.

Two of the Triangle’s bigger events on a very full fall schedule (a list is below) take place over the next two weeks, with the City of Oaks Marathon and Rex Healthcare Half Marathon on Nov. 7 and the Old Reliable Run on Nov. 14.

Nov. 7 also is World Run Day.

Give Marc Jeuland a full marathon, and he can outrun other North Carolinians, too.

The Carrboro distance runner who won the Bank of America Raleigh Rocks
Half Marathon on March 27, doubled the distance and was the top North
Carolina finisher in Monday's Boston Marathon.

Jeuland, 31, covered the 26 miles and 385 yards in 2 hours, 23 minutes and 33 seconds.

AMC is showing the entire second season of "Mad Men" beginning Monday morning at 7am. The thirteen episodes will run through till 8pm, so clean out that DVR and make some room! You'll need to get caught up before the premiere of season 3, next Sunday night at 10pm.

"Mad Men" has become more than just a critically acclaimed television show, it's become a pop culture phenomenon. Half the people you know probably made "Mad Men" avatars to use on Facebook, and there's a strong retro movement celebrating the styles and fashion of the time. Whether you want to deck out your pad or deck out yourself . . .

I'm not sure if this is as true in running circles, but in cycling women sometimes aren't so crazy about riding with guys. "Too much testosterone," they say, meaning a ride intended as a nice tempo ride can blow up in seconds with a flash of unbridled manliness. Thus, a growing number of female-only cycling events.

Female runners sharing such an outlook with their cycling sisters will be interested, then, in the More/Fitness Marathon + Half-Marathon scheduled for April 26 in New York City. It's the sixth running of the race, which is expected to attract 10,000 runners — all women. In fact, this race goes one further. For older female distance runners who aren't crazy about running with younger runners, the full marathon — all 26.2 miles — is further restricted to women 40 and older (a category that likely will include the fastest marathoners).

Online registration has opened and will run through April 21. The race is a benefit for CARE. For more info and to register, go here.