Run, Karla, Run!

New York, New York. Photo by Fergal Carr.

Cue the theme from Rocky: “Gonna fly now…. Getting strong now…” Yee-haw. Marathon season is here. This week marks the start of training for the 2010 ING New York City Marathon. Come Nov. 7, I’ll be strong and ready to fly.

Or will I?

This past weekend, I took a sailing class out in New York Harbor. We sailed from lower Manhattan past the Statue of Liberty to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, the iconic start of the race. It was a view of the bridge I’ve never seen before. As the boat cruised underneath, I looked up at the mass of steel and bolts looming above me. My blood rushed. In just 16 weeks I would be crossing that bridge at the start of the New York City Marathon.

I looked back up the bay toward Manhattan. The island was tiny in the distance, seemingly a word away. I gulped. Read the rest of this entry →

Caster Semenya won her first race today in a triumphant return to international competition after an 11-month gender controversy. She won the 800 meters at the Lappeenranta Games in Finland with a time of 2:04.22.

The International Association of Athletics Federations last week cleared the 19-year old South African track star to compete as a women after undergoing further gender testing.  Semenya sparked controversy last fall after she won gold in the 800 meters at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, as I chronicled in The Decade’s Worst Moments in Running. Read the rest of this entry →

It seems like everyone wants to run the marathon. And not just any marathon—the ING New York City Marathon. Haile Gebrselassie, the marathon world record holder and undisputed King of the Road, has already announced that he’s running NYC for the first time this fall. Defending NYC champion and American superstar Meb Keflezighi is also returning to defend his title. And now, Shalane Flanagan, America’s track darling, has announced she’ll be making her marathon debut in New York on November 7.

“It’s the ultimate challenge for the distance runner,’’ Flanagan told The Boston Globe. “I would love to win another Olympic medal, but more than anything, I would love to win a major marathon.’’ Read the rest of this entry →

Photo by Mike Baird

On Saturday in New York City, Great Britain’s Paula Radcliffe and the U.S.’s Kara Goucher will both run the NYRR New York Mini 10K, the world’s oldest women’s race. Radcliffe is the marathon world record holder and Goucher is an Olympian and up-and-coming marathoner who has placed third in the NYC and Boston marathons.

They’re running the Mini—but not racing it. Both five months pregnant and due on the same day in September, the superstars and friends have decided to treat the historic event as a fun run.

“It’s an excuse for us to get together; a chance to hang together before we get too pregnant to travel,” Goucher told The New York Times. “We are really just running it for fun. Not racing.”

Running a race for fun without “racing” it, is one of the many joys of running. It allows you to soak up all the energy of the community while getting in good run, and it’s way better than slogging out a tempo or other training run by yourself. It’s a great way to run with friends, and it’s also an excellent exercise in restraint. Forcing yourself to hold back—which can be hard amongst the excitement—is good training for your next big race. Read the rest of this entry →

Happy National Running Day! Runners don’t usually need any excuses to lace up our joggers and hit the road, track or trail. But if we do, National Running Day is about as good as any.

Running groups across the country have planned events in cities far and wide from San Francisco to El Paso and Little Rock to Washington, D.C., to celebrate putting one foot in front of another. There are 87 official events for runners and walkers alike.

Most of the events—which include group runs galore—will take place after work hours today starting around 6 pm. To find an event near you visit Runningday.org. Their handy participation calendar lets you search by city, state, zip code or event name.

And if there isn’t an event where you live, it’s still easy to participate: all you have to do is go for a run or walk. Read the rest of this entry →

You’ve got questions. I’ll find the answers. “Ask the Running Nerd” is back.

Question:

My husband and I are scheduled to run our first half-marathon in July.  I have been running on my own without any training plan for a few months now and today I went for a 10-mile run.  We’re 10 weeks away from the race and I’m not sure what my training should look like for the next several weeks.  I don’t want to lose the endurance I’ve worked for thus far, but I also don’t want to injure myself before the race. Any ideas?

—Kerry Read the rest of this entry →

Photo by Michal Zacharzewski

Bad runs, like bad things, happen to good people. More specifically, they happen to good runners; and, they happen to all of us. Bad runs can be insidious; they can infect your mind and your training, especially if you’re unable to shake them off.

After a particularly bad run, I learned that you must—to borrow a lyric from Dorothy Fields—pick yourself up, dust yourself off, start all over again.

Last Saturday, I had an especially bad run. It was the first 85-degree day, with clear skies and about 50 percent humidity. When I set out for a 10K, I knew it would be tough. The hotter it is, the slower we’re able to run—as much as 5 percent slower for every 10 degrees above 55, according to coach extraordinaire Jeff Galloway. Experts like the folks over at Endurance Science even have empirical data to prove it.

So I expected to take it easy and run a bit slower. But I didn’t expect it to be demoralizing. Read the rest of this entry →

Photo by Anna Hunter.

Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals are ready to duke it out. Tomorrow morning, Washington D.C.’s politicos are taking it to the streets. But they’re not running for election. They’re running a three-mile road race.

The ACLI Capital Challenge is an annual battle between members of the Legislative, Executive and Judicial branches of government, as well as the D.C. media. The race will take place in Washington, D.C.’s East Potomac Park at 8 a.m.

“Our goal is to promote a reduction in oxygen debt,” said Race Director Jeff Darman, who began the event in 1981. “We are one of the last examples of true bi-partisanship in Washington, as teams from both parties compete while displaying good humor and support for an aggressive stimulus.” Read the rest of this entry →

There’s a new Robert Cheruiyot in town. Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot, a 21 year-old upstart from Kenya, won the 114^th Boston Marathon, shattering the course record by 82 seconds in the process. The previous course record holder? None other than Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot, an unrelated Kenyan who won the Boston Marathon four times in 2003 and 2006-2008.

“I tried to show my talent,” Cheruiyot said immediately after the race. And he certainly did.

The new course record of 2:05:52 is also a personal best for Cheruiyot, whose age and performance was reminiscent of another young marathoner who burst onto the scene in 2008 with a gold medal win at the Beijing Olympics: Sammy Wanjiru, who was also just 21 at the time. In an event like the marathon where runners are often in their late 20’s to late 30’s, these two Kenyans may start a new trend of younger runners giving the distance a shot. Read the rest of this entry →

For the first time in years, the U.S. has two runners who could conceivably win Monday’s 114^th running of the Boston Marathon: Meb Keflezighi and Ryan Hall. An American hasn’t won the race since Lisa Larsen Rainsberger in 1985 on the women’s side and Greg Meyer in 1983 on the men’s side.

The Boston Marathon is the oldest and most storied marathon in the world, and for good reason—it’s also the most exclusive. Runners must qualify for the race, a feat that only 10.4 percent of marathon finishers accomplish. On the professional side, it’s just as exclusive; a victory in Boston means a laurel wreath, a World Marathon Majors win and a place in history. Read the rest of this entry →