Run, Karla, Run!

Photo by Phil Hospod

On June 3, 1972, 78 women entered the world’s first ladies-only road race. On June 9, 2007, I ran the race as my very first 10K, along with 3,521 other women. Only four years later, the race has reached capacity around 5,000 runners—all of them pavement-pounding women. Tomorrow is the 40th running of the NYRR New York Mini 10K. I’ll be there to sing the national anthem, run the race and celebrate how far women—myself included—have come in our sport.

The Mini

The original Mini, named after the mini-skirt, was staged at a time when women were just starting to break gender barriers in running and sports at large. 1972 was a landmark year for women’s running. Read the rest of this entry →

With near perfect running conditions, the 2011 Boston Marathon on April 18 was one for the record books with a pair of spectacular finishes in the men’s and women’s races.

For the third year in a row, American Ryan Hall played rabbit for the elite men’s field, leading from the gun. While he ran a personal best time of 2:04:58–the fastest time ever run by an American–three men were faster. Read the rest of this entry →

Runners get ready! Registration for the 115th Boston Marathon opens Monday, Oct. 18 at 9 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Officials expect the race to fill up quickly and are encouraging qualified runners to register early. So mark your calendars–Monday is six months to the day before the big race on April 18, 2011.

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 →