Run, Karla, Run!

Photo: runDisney

Forget three: 20 is the magic number. Especially when you’re talking about Disney magic.

Registration for the 20th anniversary edition of the Walt Disney World Marathon, the original Disney running event that started them all, opened last week. In honor of the race’s 20th anniversary, ‘20’ is the watchword for the weekend. The event will feature a special 20th anniversary Mickey Mouse medal, special entertainment at the 20-mile marker and a new post-race party at Downtown Disney. Race organizer runDisney expects the marathon to sell out with a field of—you guessed it—20,000 runners for their biggest race yet. Read the rest of this entry →

The NYC Half took runners on a tour of Manhattan from Central Park through Times Square. (Photo: NYRR)

The 2012 NYC Half Marathon on Sunday, March 18 featured a new course and the largest field in the race’s history with 15,336 finishers. I was among them, trying to accomplish a personal feat: tackle two half-marathons in three weeks and three half-marathons in three months without getting injured.

To accomplish this task, I turned to a new gadget to help me train: the new MOTOACTV GPS and MP3 all in one. I served as a MOTOACTV NYC Half Marathon Ambassador, training and running the race with the device.

The NYC Half Marathon gave runners a challenging, but scenic tour of Manhattan. Even as a New Yorker who knows the course well, I thoroughly enjoyed running from Central Park through Times Square and down to the historic South Street Seaport.

The first six miles comprised one full loop of Central Park with its grueling rolling hills. Runners exited the park just after the 10K mark, racing down Seventh Avenue through the heart of Times Square before turning right onto 42nd Street for the next two miles. Miles 8 through 12 carried runners along the West Side Highway into New York’s Chelsea, West Village and Tribeca neighborhoods before rounding the southern tip of Manhattan into the Seaport for the finish. Read the rest of this entry →

Running two half-marathons in three weeks must be carefully planned to avoid injury. (Photo: Karla Bruning)

Back in November, I set out on a crazy quest to run at least a mile every day from Thanksgiving to New Year’s with the Runner’s World Holiday Running Streak. Come Jan. 1, I’d accumulated 100 miles in 40days and had a solid training base.

So I decided to merge the end of the streak with the beginning of half-marathon training. I earmarked Disney’s Tinker Bell Half Marathon on Jan. 29 as a training run for a personal record attempt at Disney’s Princess Half Marathon on Feb. 26. Somehow, everything went according to plan. I crossed the finish line at the Princess Half two minutes faster than my previous PR.

Now I’m looking to capitalize on all that training and fitness by squeezing out one more race—the NYC Half on March 18. New York Road Runners and Motorola invited me to be a MOTOACTV NYC Half Marathon Ambassador for the race and give the new MOTOACTV device a test run.

But with just three weeks between Disney’s Princess Half and the NYC Half, I knew I’d be treading the thin line between capitalizing on training and courting injury. How can a runner prepare to tackle two half-marathons in three weeks? Read the rest of this entry →

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 →

As runDisney's training consutlant, Jeff Galloway designed a series of training programs for runners tackling Disney races. (Photo: runDisney)

Jeff Galloway knows running. He’s been an Olympian, a U.S. record holder, a coach and a running innovator. Galloway developed the RUN-WALK-RUN method to help runners train injury-free. He has coached more than 250,000 runners, and his books on running have sold over 1 million copies. As runDisney’s official training consultant, Galloway designed a series of training programs, videos and tips for runners tackling Disney races like the upcoming Disney Princess Half Marathon on Feb. 26. Galloway has a long history with Disney—he’s run the Walt Disney World Marathon every year since its inception in 1994.

“Run, Karla, Run!” caught up with Galloway at the Tinker Bell Half Marathon social media meet-up on Jan. 28, where he led a group of 45 runners on a two-mile morning jaunt though Disneyland and California Adventure parks. Participants were chosen through Disney’s social media channels like the Disney Parks Blog, Disney Sports’ Twitter handle and the runDisney Facebook page. Having a chance to run with Galloway is a once in a lifetime opportunity for most runners. Getting him to tackle your burning running questions? Even better. After the run, Galloway sat down with the meet-up to answer the group’s training questions. Here are the highlights from all of the runners’ questions: Read the rest of this entry →

The author and her soon-to-be-fiance after the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon. He proposed just a few moments later.

I met this guy. After chatting a while, he mentioned that he was registered to run the ING New York City Marathon. He’d never run a marathon before. Heck, he’d never been on a single run, he said. He belonged to an Ultimate Disc league, a sport that requires a lot of running. But he was no runner. His sister had talked him into it, he said. The race was nine months away and he had no idea how to train for it.

As luck would have it, I was a runner. I ran the New York City Marathon just three months before, and was registered to run it again as well. So I offered to show him the ropes of marathon training, and take him on his very first run. It was an unseasonably warm February day. We headed out to Central Park, where we’d met for a casual walk just a week before. We ran up to Belvedere Castle overlooking Turtle Pond and the Great Lawn, then jogged through the Ramble and back to the southern entrance to the park. He’d never visited those parts of Central Park before, he said. Stick with me, I said. As a runner, you see a lot of things you don’t notice otherwise.

Well, he stuck with me. Four years later, that guy is my fiancé, and running has played a large part in our courtship. Read the rest of this entry →

Kelly Lews (left) and Carrie Lundell (right) pose with Minnie Mouse in their do-it-yourself Team Sparkle costumes. (Photo: runDisney)

If you’re running Disney’s Princess Half Marathon or Bay to Breakers in San Francisco, or any other themed race, it’s awfully tempting to run in costume. Wearing a super hero cape for a Spartan race or fairy wings for a Disney run can be a fun way to get into the spirit. But for the women behind Team Sparkle, it’s more than fun. It’s a way of life.

Kelly Lewis, Carrie Lundell and Elise Wallace are spreading the power of sparkle with their line of sparkle skirts, sleeves and racing legs for runners. They encourage runners to put together do-it-yourself costumes made of running-friendly fabrics so they can spread the sparkle spirit at races nationwide.

“You can wear something fun, you can wear something technical and still run fast,” Lewis says of the Team Sparkle spirit. Read the rest of this entry →

Kellie Nickerson of Albuquerque, N.M., won the inaugural Tinker Bell Half Marathon in 1:27:52. Photo courtesy runDisney.

The half-marathon is the fastest growing distance in the U.S. It’s also runners’ favorite distance to race according to Running USA’s National Runner Survey. Who is driving this phenomenon? Women.

It’s no wonder that when runDisney decided to add another flagship race to their series, they opted for a women-focused half-marathon. The Tinker Bell Half Marathon Weekend enjoyed its inaugural run at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., on Sunday, Jan. 29. More 17,000 runners participated in three major running events over the course of the weekend: 12,000 runners tackled the Tinker Bell Half Marathon, 4,000 jogged the Never Land Family Fun Run 5K, and 1,300 tykes tried the runDisney Kid’s Races.

Women-only or women-focused races are a growing segment of the running industry, fuelled largely by an influx of women into the sport. And while races welcome men as well—920 men lined up at the start of the Tinker Bell Half along with 11,080 women—race directors are luring women with extra perks like preferred placement at the start, ladies cut race T-shirts, and expanded awards for women only. Read the rest of this entry →

Making goals for the year can help keep you motivated. Photo by Charles Thompson.

Runners tend to be goal-oriented people. Sure, there are exceptions to the rule, but so many of us have a few dreams hitched to our running shoes. It’s the nature of the sport; when there are hundreds to thousands of us in any given race, the vast majority of us aren’t in it to win it.

We call them races, but we’re really racing against ourselves more than any of the people around us. Unless, that is, you are national class runner who is fast enough to actually win, like some of my friends and teammates who’ve nabbed victories at races all over the globe like the Red Rock Canyon Marathon in Nevada, the Brooklyn Marathon in New York, and the Antarctica Marathon.

But if you’re a mid-packer like me, you’ve probably never won a road race, unless it was in high school. I know the sweet taste of victory as a swimmer and a rower, but it has eluded me as an adult runner. My best finish was 10th in a local race in Rhode Island. I felt like I’d won the Olympics. Which is why making and then chasing down goals is so important to me as a runner. If I can’t win the race, I can still win the goal. Read the rest of this entry →

Racers run through Cinderella's Castle during the Walt Disney World Half Marathon. Photo courtesy of runDisney/Todd Anderson.

I like a good challenge. The Runner’s World Holiday Running Streak? Check. Four hours on an elliptical machine? Dunzo. My first triathlon? In the bag.

So I’m making my first goal of 2012 another challenge—runDisney’s Coast to Coast Race Challenge. Runners who finish a half marathon or marathon at both Walt Disney World in Florida and Disneyland in California in the same calendar year receive a third medal to mark the occasion. I do like a nice medal. Read the rest of this entry →

Photo courtesy of runDisney.

8,268 finishers. 13.1 miles. Three theme parks. And one magical race. This self-proclaimed Disney girl—my dog’s name is Cinderella after all—finally did it. I ran my first runDisney race. Disney’s Wine & Dine Half Marathon on Oct. 1 did not disappoint. It was everything the little girl in me hoped it would be.

Leading up to the race, I’d taken my training rather seriously; running a personal best was definitely on my mind. But other runners who had done Disney races warned me otherwise. Disney races are too much fun, they said. You’ll want to stop and have your photo taken with characters, they said. You’ll be too taken-in by the music and spirit on the course, they said.

Well, they were right. 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 →

So you didn’t get into the NYC Half-Marathon through the lottery. The More Magazine/Fitness Magazine Women’s Half-Marathon and Brooklyn Half-Marathon are already full. Don’t sweat it. There are plenty of other great half-marathons in the New York metro area this spring.

And since Staten Island Chuck and Punxsutawney Phil—everyone’s favorite groundhogs—predicted an early spring, it’s just about time to get cracking.

February

Valentine’s Day Marathon and Half Marathon

Sunday, Feb. 13
10:00 a.m. start (earlier starts allowed)
Bronx, NY 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 →