Run, Karla, Run!

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 →

MOTOACTV by Motorola is a GPS watch and MP3 player all in one. (Photo: MOTOACTV)

On March 18, I’ll be running the NYC Half, a 13.1-mile tour of Manhattan from Central Park through Times Square that finishes at South Street Seaport. Not only am I running the race, but I am also one of four MOTOACTV NYC Half Marathon Ambassadors.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be training with MOTOACTV, the official entertainment partner of the NYC Half, a race organized by New York Road Runners. MOTOACTV is a new dual GPS fitness tracker and MP3 player all-in-one made by Motorola. I’ll be giving the device some test runs and running the race with it.

MOTOACTV, provided to me by Motorola, is the first GPS device I’ve ever owned. I’ve been a GPS holdout for a few years for three main reasons. Read the rest of this entry →

Mo Farah at the 2010 European Championships. Photo by Erik van Leeuwen.

Debutantes and coach Alberto Salazar ruled the road at the NYC Half-Marathon this morning. Three of Salazar’s athletes topped the podium: Mo Farah of Great Britain won the men’s race in his half-marathon debut, Galen Rupp of the U.S. finished third in his debut as well, and Kara Goucher of the U.S. took third in the women’s competition. Salazar coaches all three athletes in Portland, Oregon.

Men’s Race

Mo Farah of Great Britain, Salazar’s newest protégé, ran away with the title in his half-marathon debut. Farah has European Championship titles in the 3000, 5000 and 10,000 meters.

“It was nice to see that I’ve got speed and endurance,” Farah said about his win at the longer distance. “I’m in the best shape of my life right now.” Read the rest of this entry →

Photo by qivn/Flickr.

Ryan Hall is running. Meb Keflezighi is running. Abdi Abdirahman is running. Galen Rupp is running. Kara Goucher is running. The 2011 NYC Half is about to get underway with the deepest American field ever.

But they’ll have to fend of Kenya’s Peter Kamais, the defending champion, and Ethiopia’s Gebre Gebremariam, the reigning ING New York City Marathon champion.

In the women’s field, Kara Goucher is in her final weeks of preparation for the Boston Marathon–her first after giving birth to a son last September. Goucher is one of just three women who have defeated Paula Radcliffe in a half-marathon.

Challenging Goucher will be Edna Kiplagat, the reigning ING New York City Marathon champion, and Madai Peres, the Mexican record holder who defeated Goucher at the Phoenix Half Marathon in January.

Stay tuned and refresh this page often for more… Read the rest of this entry →

Most people who read my blog long enough know that I’m a runner and a rocker. So I’m really happy to announce that my band, The FADES, will be joining runner and rocker extraordinaire Lady Southpaw for a super special show on Sunday, March 20 at 4 pm: Running Rocks! NYCRUNS Presents Lady Southpaw and The Fades!

The FADES are largely comprised of New York Harriers, and those of you on the New York Road Runners race circuit may have seen us perform or sing a national anthem from time to time. We play ’80s covers. Why? Because the ’80s rocked, and if the popularity of the Rock ‘n’ Roll race series proves anything, it’s this: rocking and running just go together. The FADES play the sound track for a million long runs done right and as many nights out. Read the rest of this entry →

The Fresh Air Fund is just one charity with entries for the NYC Half-Marathon. Photo courtesy of The Fresh Air Fund.

Kara Goucher is running the NYC Half-Marathon. Meb Keflezighi, Ryan Hall, and Abdi Abdirahman are running too. If you want to join this stellar field of American pros on March 20, you still can. Many of the race’s charity partners still have entries available for runners.

Here’s how it works: Runners pledge to raise a predetermined amount of money—usually $1,000 to $1,500—for the charity by running the race on the charity’s behalf. In return, the runners get a guaranteed entry into the 2011 NYC Half-Marathon.

Here is one good cause that is still looking for runners for this year’s race:

The Fresh Air Fund 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 →

Sometimes races don’t go as planned. For Haile Gebrselassie, the world’s most decorated distance runner, yesterday’s NYC Half-Marathon certainly didn’t. He’d won nine of 10 career half-marathons and never lost on American soil—until yesterday.

It seemed like the perfect conditions for running a half—clear sunny skies, a crisp 53 degrees and a slight breeze. Another win for Gebrselassie—and maybe even a 27^th world record—seemed like a forgone conclusion. Indeed, he was in first place after 8 miles, when he had an asthma attack, possibly exacerbated by a cold, and eventually dropped out of the race.

“My asthma kicked in from dust in the road,” Gebrselassie said in a statement released by New York Road Runners, who conducted the race. “What are you going to do? It happens.” Read the rest of this entry →

Haile Gebrselassie is a legend in his own time. But the most decorated long-distance runner in history—with 26 world records to his name—isn’t finished by a long shot. Tomorrow, he’s returning to the NYC Half-Marathon—where he owns the course record—for another shot at the half-marathon world record.

Geb, 36, holds the marathon world record—a blistering 2:03:59. But the Ethiopian and Kenya’s young Sammy Wanjiru have been in a trading war over the half since 2005 when Wanjiru first broke the record. Geb took it from him in 2006, but Wanjiru won it back in 2007. Now, Geb wants a 27^th record. He posted as much on his Twitter account on Jan. 25th.

“I still feel I can run the WR, so I start focussing on my next race (Half Marathon) in New York in preparation for a new attempt!” Read the rest of this entry →