Run, Karla, Run!

There are lots of runDisney races out there—the Walt Disney World Marathon, the Tinker Bell Half Marathon, Disney’s Princess Half Marathon, the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon and many more—and thousands of people who run them. If all those Disney runners are anything like me, I’m guessing they’ve got a few Disney tunes on their iPods to help get them in the mood. What are your favorite Disney songs to run to?

In the spirit of sharing, here are mine. These are the Disney songs that have gotten me into the runDisney spirit, and made me feel like a kid again as I’ve trained for the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon. Read the rest of this entry →

The 2010 Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon. Photo courtesy of runDisney.

Disney and nighttime just go together: Cinderella at the ball running to escape to her pumpkin carriage before the stroke of midnight; Lady and the Tramp sharing a plate of spaghetti under a starry night; Peter Pan flying to the second star to the right.

It’s Week 6 of my half-marathon training schedule for the 2011 Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon, and I’m jumping out of my skin. The half marathon is still five weeks away, but I’m already as excited as I’ve ever been for a race. I’ve been channeling that energy into my half marathon training with pretty good results, focusing on one of the race’s key features: the 10 p.m. start. Read the rest of this entry →

Runners feast at the 2010 Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon. Photo courtesy of runDisney.

Ask Miles of Runner’s World recently posed an age old question: Is it better to run a lot but eat poorly, or eat healthy and not exercise at all? Dr. Bill Roberts, RW’s “Ask the Sports Doc” blogger, answered: “I would think that heavy exercise will compensate better for a poor diet than a perfect diet will compensate for no exercise.” Phew!

I run because I love to eat. Sure there are other nobler reasons why I run—because I can, because it keeps me fit, blah blah blah—but I’m not going to lie: eating is probably top three. And eating healthy while training for a race is important. But what if the race has “Wine & Dine” in the title? While training for the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon on Oct. 1, I’m finding that eating healthy is easier said than done. Read the rest of this entry →

Karla (center), her mother and sister ride Dumbo, circa 1980.

I’m a Disney girl; always have been. I wore my Cinderella and Snow White books ragged as a little girl. The first words I remember being able to recognize when reading were “fairy godmother,” and my rubber seven dwarf dolls were among my favorite toys. I saw the movies in the theater as a child (I came of age before the dawning of the VCR, DVD and on-demand), and I eagerly anticipated our annual family vacation to Walt Disney World in Florida.

So I was delighted when runDisney invited me to be their guest for the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon at Disney World. On Saturday, October 1, I’ll be lining up in the dark for the 10 p.m. start of my first Disney race. I couldn’t be more excited. Read the rest of this entry →

The author before her first triathlon.

Firsts are special because you only get one of them: your first kiss, first car, first job, and of course, your first triathlon.

The Peterborough Sprint Triathlon in the Subaru Triathlon Series was my first triathlon, and after completing the race on Sunday, July 10, I’m guessing it won’t be my last. My training for the 750-meter swim, 20K bike and 5K run was less than ideal. So I didn’t wear a watch. I just wanted to go out there and have some fun, with one main goal in mind: just finish. Sure, I wanted to finish under two hours, or better yet, under 1:45. But with my namby-pamby training, I knew that might be a tall order. Read the rest of this entry →

The author prepares for her training swim. Photo by Phil Hospod.

When my good friend Tania, who helped cheer and pace me to a personal best in the 2009 Chicago Marathon, suggested we do a triathlon together, I figured now was as good a time as any. I could swim, bike and run, right?

The Peterborough Sprint Triathlon, part of the Subaru Triathlon Series in Ontario, Canada, was the appointed race: 750-meter swim, 20K bike and 5K run. I put myself to the test on Sunday, not entirely sure what to expect. I’d set out with the best of intentions, but my training had been less than stellar largely because training for a triathlon takes a lot of time—a lot of time. Read the rest of this entry →

Photo courtesy of New York Road Runners

National Running Day is tomorrow, June 1! Get out there and celebrate as runners do—with a run. Here are just a few free National Running Day events in New York City:

Manhattan

What: Team In Training and NYCRUNS 5K Fun Run

NYCRUNS, JackRabbit Sports and Team In Training will run as one for National Running Day. Join them for a fun run in Central Park, followed by post run refreshments (including beer) and more at JackRabbit Sports.

When: Wednesday, June 1 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Where: Meet at JackRabbit Sports Upper West Side, 140 West 72nd Street in Manhattan before the run in Central Park, Manhattan Read the rest of this entry →

“Wake up!” My lungs huffed with a familiar pinch twisting in my side.

“Wake up!” My calves tightened as I trudged up the hill.

“Wake up!” I pushed just a little harder to pick up the pace.

This was my self-imposed rude awakening. With just one week to go until my first race of the year, it was time to remind my body what real running feels like—and why I love it. Read the rest of this entry →

I listen to a lot of music from the ‘80s—a lot—especially when I run.  Since I’m in an ‘80s cover band, The FADES, I’m often learning “new” tunes. Running gives me extra time to drill them into my head.  But more than that, I love the ‘80s as a musical genre (otherwise I wouldn’t be in an ‘80s cover band), and there are many, many, many songs from the ‘80s that are great for running. I even listen to ‘80s tunes that The FADES don’t cover.

So in honor of Running Rocks: NYCRUNS Presents Lady Southpaw and The FADES, an awesome running party this Sunday, March 20 that my band is playing, I thought I’d share my favorite ‘80s running mix. Enjoy! Read the rest of this entry →

Photo by Anatoly Tiplyashin/PhotoXpress

Good ‘ole 2010 was a heck of a year for me. I sang the national anthem at the Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile and sang at the start of the ING New York City Marathon before running both races to a pair of personal bests.

But after the marathon on Nov. 7, I languished in physical therapy, dealing with a newly diagnosed arthritic knee and feeling really uninspired by my workouts on the bike, elliptical and what felt like an endless kick line of leg lifts. Sure, giving into the post-marathon blues seemed natural for a little while, but I honestly hate to wallow. My knee now feels great, thanks to all that physical therapy and an injection that will lubricate the joint for about six months.

So it’s time to get back on the horse. To motivate me after two months of minimal running, I’m looking back at my 2010 goals to help target some new ones for 2011. Read the rest of this entry →

It’s what Nike+ users have been waiting for—a Nike+ watch with GPS. Powered by TomTom, the new Nike+ SportWatch GPS is sure to give Garmin and the other wrist bots an, ahem, run for their money.

Nike is rolling out the red carpet for their newest Nike+ product. The watch uses both the familiar Nike+ shoe sensor and TomTom’s GPS technology to track runs. Users can then upload their runs to Nikeplus.com via a built-in USB connector in the watch’s strap. New features on Nikeplus.com will map and track runs, including time, pace, distance, calories burned, heart rate and elevation.

The watch will even serve as your Jiminy Cricket if you need one; automatic reminders magically appear when you haven’t logged a run for five days. Read the rest of this entry →

I’m not usually one to plug products or programs unless I’ve tried them myself, but my good friend and coach, Kevin Horty, is running a spring marathon and half-marathon training program with Terrier Tri in New York City. And while I can’t endorse Terrier Tri, I heartily endorse Coach Kevin. He’s the man with the plan who has seen me through over two dozen PR’s, including three consecutive marathon PR’s. As coach of the New York Harriers, he’s helped hundreds of other runners get faster too. And his marathon best of 2:41 ain’t too shabby.

The 14-week program begins on January 10, and includes three weekly group coached sessions in Central Park on Tuesday/Friday at 6 a.m. and Sunday at 8:30 a.m. Sessions include speed work, fartlek runs, hill workouts, tempo runs and fast finish long runs. The program also includes a weekly training schedule with five days per week of running and strength and core workouts, as well as online email support from Coach Horty and Coach Spencer Casey, head coach of the New York Athletic Club elite running team. Between them, these guys have 45 years of competitive running and coaching experience. The cost is $350 for Terrier Tri members and $395 for non-members. Check out the website for more information on the Bostonplus program.

And to everyone training for a spring marathon or half-marathon, start your engines!

Photo by Chris Chidsey

I asked and you answered—power songs.  You know them instantly—those songs that always pump you up on a run, the songs you never skip when they pop up on your iPod, the songs that somehow get you to push just a little harder, even if for only three and a half minutes.

“I don’t pick the songs,” Tony Garcia of Fullerton, Calif., wrote about his power songs. “The songs pick me and my body responds.”

So if you need some extra inspiration for your winter runs, look up these songs as you cash in those iTunes gift cards that will inevitably find their way into your Christmas stockings and Hanukkah loot. These are the power songs that you the readers picked, or rather, picked you. Read the rest of this entry →

Karla Bruning will sing "American the Beautiful" at the start of the 2010 ING New York City Marathon. Photos by Phil Hospod.

After four months of training, five races, four physical therapy appointments, one x-ray and one MRI, it’s finally here: the ING New York City Marathon. Tomorrow I’ll toe the starting line on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge with 45,000 other runners.

But I’m not only running; I’m singing too. New York Road Runners has asked me to kick off the wheelchair and professional women’s races with “America the Beautiful.”

It’s an honor for a singer to be asked to perform at any major sporting event like the New York City Marathon, but as a singer who also happens to be a marathon runner, it’s like having your cake and eating it too. Singing for athletes who are able to accomplish what most of us only dream is humbling and a privilege. I’m already anticipating getting shivers, and not from the cold. Read the rest of this entry →

Runners tend to be goal-oriented people. Whatever the goal may be, we plot, we plan and we train to make it happen—running right, eating right, sleeping right, doing everything “right.” But what happens when something goes wrong?

I found out the hard way in the last two weeks of my training for the 2010 ING New York City Marathon on Nov. 7. Reassessing goals and shifting expectations are among the hardest things a runner can do, especially when the goal is in sight.

Take Ryan Hall. After a hot streak in 2007 and 2008—he broke the North American half-marathon record, won the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials and at the London Marathon logged the fastest time ever by an American-born runner—Hall was officially dubbed the next great American marathoner. In 2009, he placed third in the Boston Marathon and won the Philadelphia Distance Run.

Then he made a goal: to break the U.S. marathon record at the 2010 Chicago Marathon on Oct. 10. Read the rest of this entry →