Run, Karla, Run!

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 →

I stared down the track in front of me. I’d already run a 1600, two 800s and four 400s at an all-out pace. Now just one more 800 stood between me and the end of the workout.

“Group 4, you’re up!” my coach yelled.

“Why do we have to run another 800?” someone moaned.

“Because it mentally prepares you to run fast,” he said. “You speed up over the course of the intervals and then you try to hold that pace for one last 800.”

“It’s mental torture,” I said.

He laughed. “All right, this is all-out,” he said. “This should hurt. Group 4, go!”

I had a cramp in my left foot, a stitch in my right side, and I still hadn’t caught my breath from the last interval. To make matters worse, the parks department hadn’t turned on the water fountains and I forgot my water bottle. Everything in me wanted to say, “Meh, I’ve done enough.”

But I took one look at the rest of the runners in my group, and I thought, “I can do this.”

There are so many reasons to train with a friend or a team. Camaraderie, accountability and encouragement are some of them. But my favorite reason to show up to team speed workouts is that I like to run with the fast crowd. It’s inspirational, motivational and encourages me to push myself harder than I ever would on my own. Read the rest of this entry →

Karla running the cliff walk toward Sydney's Bondi Beach. Photo by Phil Hospod.

My feet splashed unfettered as my breath heaved in rhythm to the sound of the rolling surf. Children played cricket using boogie boards in place of wickets buried in the sand. A dog trailed its owner, tail wagging. A few swimmers splashed and screamed.

And I ran. No iPod, no shoes, no watch. Just me and the beach. The seemingly endless Australian beach.

Whether I’m on vacation, a business trip, attending a wedding or any of the other occasions I’ve had to travel, I always look forward to going for a run. Out-of-town runs promise new vistas and a break from your regular routine. Instead of sightseeing, it’s sightrunning, and it’s one of the best ways to take in a new locale. Read the rest of this entry →

It’s a New Year. And that can only mean one thing: time to make some New Year’s resolutions.

I’m a goal-oriented person. So along with my general resolutions—which usually include things like “run a marathon”—I’m making a list of running resolutions. Here goes.

1. Get faster

2. Fast enough to race a sub 2-hour half-marathon

3. Even faster to race a sub 4-hour marathon

Sounds simple enough, right? Well… Read the rest of this entry →

It was bracingly cold as the temperature dipped below freezing, but the giggles of two hundred grade school girls filled the courtyard outside of Asphalt Green in Manhattan on Saturday morning. Some of the girls were getting their hair spray-painted at a “Happy Hair” stand, others were sipping hot chocolate and many more were socializing with friends and family. But nearly all of them were excited to run—and no short distance at that—3.1 miles.

Back in grade school, I loved to run. Mostly because it was the best way to get from point A to point B. But also because it was part of so many games I liked to play—Freeze Tag, Flashlight Tag, Ghost in the Graveyard and all the other neighborhood romps. But also because I was on swim team and “dry land” practices often involved loops around the indoor track at my local YMCA; jogging the track gave my teammates and me a chance to socialize that we didn’t get with our faces in the water.

But I never had a chance to be part of a formal running program back in elementary school. So when I heard about Girls on the Run, I was excited to help out. Read the rest of this entry →

Meb Keflezighi chases down Kenya’s Robert Cheruiyot at the ING New York City Marathon on Nov. 1. Photo by Randy Lemoine.

It only took 27 years. For the first time since Alberto Salazar ran away with the title in 1982, an American won the ING New York City Marathon. On Sunday, Nov. 1, Meb Keflezighi cruised to victory in 2:09:15 wearing a “U.S.A.” singlet. Does his win signal the return of the great American marathoner?

Back in the 1970s and early 1980s, marathon legends Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers, Joan Benoit Samuelson and Salazar enjoyed an era when Americans actually won races, and inspired a generation of runners to hit the pavement in the process—running boom, anyone? Indeed, Rodgers has the most major marathon wins—8 of them—of any runner in history according to the World Marathon Majors, a two-year race series with a $1 million prize. (New York, Boston, Chicago, London and Berlin comprise the Majors, along with the Olympics and World Championships as qualifying races.) But African runners have largely dominated the sport since. Sure, an American star like Deena Kastor—who won Chicago in 2005 and London in 2006—has challenged the status quo every now and then. But on the world’s streets at large, the U.S. hasn’t been a factor. Certainly not like Kenya or Ethiopia. But this year on the mean streets of New York, a total of six American men finished in the top 10—the most since 1979—with Keflezighi taking the crown. All signs point to a potential renaissance. Read the rest of this entry →

Chicago at dawn on marathon morning. Photo by Phil Hospod.

It was dark. It was brisk. It was electric. I shivered in the 29-degree air, my teeth chattering as the sun rose over Chicago’s Grant Park. This was it. My stomach rolled over, nervous and uncertain. I stood in the starting corral, packed in with nearly 35,000 other runners huddling like penguins bracing for winter. We moved forward en masse, and then, there we were facing the starting line of the 2009 Bank of America Chicago Marathon.

It was the 6th anniversary of my father’s death, and I was about to literally run down memory lane. The day before at the marathon expo, I watched a video of the course neighborhood by neighborhood—The Loop, Lincoln Park, Old Town, Greektown and on and on. My emotions swelled and I swallowed hard. I had come back to Chicago a prodigal daughter of sorts. This was my homecoming, my triumphant return to the city of my youth. Read the rest of this entry →

The Merchandise Mart in Chicago. Photo by Phil Hospod.

Chicago, I’m coming home. On October 11th, I’m running the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. It’s my third marathon, but it might be my most significant. October 11th will mark the 6th anniversary of my father’s death.

I was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs. My family lives in the city proper now, and I visit a few times a year. But when I left for college in Massachusetts 13 years ago, it was the last time I ever called Chicago home. After graduation I moved to New York, where I still live. Now when I line up for the start in Grant Park, it’ll be a homecoming of a different kind. Read the rest of this entry →