Run, Karla, Run!

Disney's Princess Half Marathon was a fairy tale race.

If you keep on believing, the dreams that you wish will come true. Cinderella sang those words and I took them to heart. At Disney’s Princess Half Marathon in Walt Disney World in Florida, I channeled my inner Cinderella and believed that I could break my half-marathon personal record (PR). Disney races aren’t for PR’s many people say. Just have fun, they tell you. But on Sunday, Feb. 26, I learned that it’s possible to PR and have fun too.

Running in Costume: Cinderella and Prince Charming

For starters, I feel compelled to confess: I ran in costume. Not just that, I cajoled my fiancé, Phil, to run in costume with me—as Cinderella and Prince Charming. Cinderella has long been my favorite princess, ever since I saw clips of the film on my Fisher Price Movie Viewer Theater back in the early 1980s. I even named my dog Cinderella. What better character to summon for a half-marathon than a gal who knows how to put her head down and work hard?

I found that once you put on a costume and give in to the Disney spirit, it’s inevitable that you’re going to have a good time, no matter how painful the running itself may be. Read the rest of this entry →

Letting kids race teaches them that fitness is fun. (Photo: runDisney)

When Disney puts on a race, they don’t just plan one running event. As the world’s largest media empire—Disney sits at No. 1 on the Fortune 500 list of entertainment companies—they orchestrate an entire weekend of festivities that everyone in the family can enjoy, from first-time runners to marathon masters, kids to adults, and even spectators. That’s one of the best parts of Disney race weekends: there is something for everyone.

At Disney’s Princess Half Marathon Weekend from Feb. 24-26, my family is putting runDisney to the test. At least one family member will be participating in every race distance offered during the weekend, including the Princess Half Marathon, Tangled Royal Family 5K and Disney Royal Family Kids’ Races. We’ll also hit the Pasta in the Park Party at Epcot and Disney’s Fit for a Princess Expo. This is my third Disney race weekend, but the first with my nephew and niece. It makes me happy to pass along my love of running to another generation. But more than that, I think it’s important to include kids in fitness events from an early age. Read the rest of this entry →

Wanjiru breaking the half-marathon world record at The Hague in 2007. Photo by FaceMePLS.

Like everyone else, I was shocked to hear that Sammy Wanjiru of Kenya, the reigning Olympic marathon and World Marathon Majors champion, died Sunday in a fall from a second-floor balcony in his home in Nyahururu, Kenya.

To call it sad is an understatement. He was the bright, shining young star of the sport. That his personal life often fell short of the dazzling man he was on the pavement, and of the hero-worship he inspired, is also sad. Reports of his death have involved more talk of his personal woes than of his running. That his life ended tragically, under questionable and preventable circumstances, and in a manner that only highlighted his humanity is, quite simply, heartbreaking.

But for those of us that did not know him, except as that brazen young kid who not only talked the talk, but walked the walk of a champion, I’d like to remember his legacy as a runner. Read the rest of this entry →

Sammy Wanjiru runs to gold at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Photo by 正在休渔期.

The reigning Olympic marathon and World Marathon Majors champion, Sammy Wanjiru, died Sunday in a fall from a second-floor balcony in his home in Nyahururu, Kenya in the Rift Valley.

Varying reports have circulated calling his death a suicide and an accident. All accounts center on a dispute between Wanjiru, his wife and another woman.

“The fact of the matter is that Wanjiru committed suicide,” national police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said to The Associated Press.

But local police chief Jasper Ombati gave the AP a different interpretation of the events. Read the rest of this entry →

Photo by Christy Hourihan

The 2010 ING New York City Marathon is now another notch on my hydration belt. After months of agonizing, planning, plotting, scheming and dreaming, I ran the best race I could.

I sang. I ran. I conquered.

Sunday, Nov. 7 was that rare day of days when, Murphy’s law be darned, everything went right. Not only was it my fastest marathon to date, but it was also the most fun. I wasn’t just running; I was singing at the start of the wheelchair and professional women’s races. 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 →

Sammy Wanjiru of Kenya and Liliya Shobukhova of Russia each won their second consecutive Bank of America Chicago Marathon today in the race’s toughest field in history.

In temperatures close to the ’80s, Wanjiru fought off a last mile surge from Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia to win the men’s race in 2:06:24. Kebede, 23, placed second in the sprint finish that saw the two men repeatedly trading the lead over the last mile. Twenty-year-old Fayisa Lilesa of Ethiopia finished third.

With today’s win, Wanjiru has also clinched victory in the 2009-2010 World Marathon Majors, a two-year competition with a $1 million prize purse. Read the rest of this entry →

The Bank of America Chicago Marathon on Oct. 10 is billing Sunday’s race as their strongest field in history. They’re not kidding. The race will decide who wins the 2009-2010 World Marathon Majors, a two-year competition with a $1 million prize purse. The three leading men and top two ranked women will face off in Grant Park.

Read the rest of this entry →

Running a tune-up race is a great way to prep for a marathon. Photo by Sergis blog.

Seven weeks down, nine to go.

Training for a marathon is long process. Much like my training for the 2010 ING New York City Marathon on Nov. 7, most runners spend at least 16 weeks, or the better part of four months, agonizing over every detail—longs runs, speed workouts, tempo runs, strength training, cross training, stretching, nutrition, sleep, avoiding injuries, avoiding illness, you name it, all for a few hours of agonizing glory. As the old U.S. Marine Corps adage goes—which my boyfriend and fellow marathoner-in-crime loves to quote—“Pain is weakness leaving the body.”

While all that weakness is busy leaving our bodies, we’re hoping that what we’re doing actually works. That come race day, we’ll be in our best shape to conquer 26.2 miles. All that pain better mean some gain.

But how do you know if your training is serving you well? There’s nothing like a big tune-up race to check in with your training. Running a race before your big marathon gives you an intermediary goal to work toward, and will let you know if your training is working, what marathon goals you should be targeting and what potential race-day problems might pop up. 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 →