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 →

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 →

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 →

Photo courtesy of New York Road Runners.

The ING New York City Marathon on Sunday, Nov. 6 gave us two truly exciting races in both the men’s and women’s competitions. Three runners shattered—and I mean shattered—the course record in the men’s competition. And one runner gave a guts-on-the-floor performance that likely cost her the race in the women’s competition. Scroll down for athlete interviews, stats and more as I was ringside in the Timex Media Center at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Columbus Circle, giving a behind the scenes play-by-play of what it’s like in the press room as a New York Road Runners Social Media Reporter. Here’s how it went:

8:30 am: Good morning! I’m here in the Timex Media Center at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York City. We are one minute away from the wheelchair start of the 2011 ING New York City Marathon! Read the rest of this entry →

The start of the ING New York City Marathon. Photo by Fergal Carr.

For the first time since 2007, I’m not running a marathon. It feels a little odd, especially as the ING New York City Marathon approaches on Sunday, Nov. 6. I’ve run the race three times—each to a personal best. When I ran Chicago instead in 2009, I was out on the course cheering for my friends who were running the Big Apple.

Not one to idly let the marathon pass me by, I’ll still be participating in another way this year. New York Road Runners recruited me to be one of their Social Media Reporters. I’m teaming up with NYRR TV’s The Daily Cool Down hosted by Olympian Carrie Tollefson—a daily recap show of all the hustle and bustle surrounding marathon week—on Friday night and Saturday, tweeting as they run around the city capturing the excitement of marathon weekend. Then on race day, I’ll be blogging live from the marathon media center, sharing what’s really going on behind the scenes of the world’s biggest marathon. 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 →

Wednesday is the third annual National Running Day. Join America’s 43 million runners, lace up your kicks, hit the road, trail or track, and celebrate life as a runner.

Looking for something to do? Check out runningday.org, where you can find or set up a group run, support a charity through running, get tips for beginners and other ways to celebrate. You can also make an “I RUN…” badge with your favorite reason for running, shared on Facebook and Twitter.

According to Running USA, most people run to stay in shape, stay healthy, relieve stress and have fun. Me? I run because I can. For nearly a decade of my life, I lived with a bone tumor that inhibited the movement of my knee. Running was far too painful and something I never dreamed of doing. Now that I can, I run. And I love it. Read the rest of this entry →

Runners braved cold rain at the NYRR 4 Mile race. Photo by Charles Smith/smith_cl9/Flickr

As a runner, it’s perfectly normal for your athletic self-esteem to fluctuate. My compass bounces between, “I’m a pathetic, sorry excuse for a runner” (insert wah-wah sound) and “I am runner. Hear me roar!”

Most often, I hover near the realm of “Eh, not bad for a 30-something with arthritis in one knee and remnants of a bone tumor in the other.”

But let’s be honest here. There’s nothing like capturing that “I am runner. Hear me roar!” feeling, even if just for a few fleeting moments.

As much as it pains me to say this, one guaranteed way to make me to feel hard-core is a brutal run in the rain. Read the rest of this entry →

Photo by Billy Alexander/SXC

You’ve got questions. The Running Nerd will find the answers.

Question:

I have a few friends who are not sure about whether or not they want to get involved in the races, but were wondering if they could just come out for some of the walk/runs and do it with the crowd without registering? Is that a possibility to potentially get them interested in signing up for the next one?

~Anonymous

Answer:

Well, running a race without registering for it is called running as a “bandit,” and the Running Nerd, along with race directors all over America, strongly discourages it. Why? 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 →

It’s Social Media week all across the world, but here in New York I’m moderating a panel called The Social Runner featuring Sean Haubert, Social Media Manager for New York Road Runners, Steve Lastoe, Founder of NYCRUNS and Kai MacMahon, the man behind Idiotrunner.com. They’ll be in the hotseat answering questions about all things social media and running.

If you’ve ever Tweeted a PR, shared race photos on Facebook or checked into Central Park on Foursquare, this is the panel for you.

Come on down and join us.

When: Thursday, Feb. 10 at 4 pm

Where: Jack Rabbit Sports

42 West 14th Street, New York, NY

(212) 727-2980

How: Register here

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 →

Edison Peña, center, ran every day while trapped in the mine. Photo by Hugo Infante/Government of Chile.

Edison Peña, the rescued Chilean miner known as “The Runner,” will run the ING New York City Marathon on Nov. 7, Universal Sports reports.

New York Road Runners, which organizes the race, invited Peña to New York as their special guest after president and CEO Mary Wittenberg heard about his extraordinary efforts to stay fit and sane while trapped with 32 other men in a gold and copper mine near Copiapo, Chile. Read the rest of this entry →

Bernard Lagat celebrates his second place finish at the Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile on Sept. 26, 2010. Photo by Phil Hospod.

How many times have you set a goal, only to come this close? How many times have you asked yourself “What if?”

Yup, that was me on Sunday at the Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile. It’s easily my favorite race of the year. Running down Fifth Avenue in New York City as fast as you possibly can is a unique thrill. It’s about 20 city blocks straight down one of the most storied stretches of one of the most famous streets in the world. And then after running yourself, you get to watch some of the world’s fastest milers—Olympians and World Champions among them—duke it out.

One of those milers is Bernard Lagat. I’ve seen him race at the Fifth Avenue Mile a few times now, and I also witnessed his historic eighth win in the mile at the Millrose Games. He’s a four-time World Champion and he owns Olympic silver and bronze. He also taught me a very valuable lesson at Sunday’s race. Read the rest of this entry →