Run, Karla, Run!

Runners feast at the 2010 Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon. Photo courtesy of runDisney.

Ask Miles of Runner’s World recently posed an age old question: Is it better to run a lot but eat poorly, or eat healthy and not exercise at all? Dr. Bill Roberts, RW’s “Ask the Sports Doc” blogger, answered: “I would think that heavy exercise will compensate better for a poor diet than a perfect diet will compensate for no exercise.” Phew!

I run because I love to eat. Sure there are other nobler reasons why I run—because I can, because it keeps me fit, blah blah blah—but I’m not going to lie: eating is probably top three. And eating healthy while training for a race is important. But what if the race has “Wine & Dine” in the title? While training for the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon on Oct. 1, I’m finding that eating healthy is easier said than done. Read the rest of this entry →

Karla at the NYRR New York Mini (left) and at the NYRR Team Championships (right). Photos by Phil Hospod and Anne Hospod.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was…well, you get the idea. Such was my own tale of two races.

We all have ups and downs when it comes to running. One minute we are trudging up the hill, both literally and metaphorically, the next we are sailing down it. But the difference between the best of times and worst of times is often a matter of execution.

Knowing better is one thing. Doing better is another. This summer, I learned that the hard way. With the NYRR Team Championships on August 6, I tried to heed my tale of two races and come out with a personal best. Read the rest of this entry →

“Wake up!” My lungs huffed with a familiar pinch twisting in my side.

“Wake up!” My calves tightened as I trudged up the hill.

“Wake up!” I pushed just a little harder to pick up the pace.

This was my self-imposed rude awakening. With just one week to go until my first race of the year, it was time to remind my body what real running feels like—and why I love it. Read the rest of this entry →

Photo by Anatoly Tiplyashin/PhotoXpress

Good ‘ole 2010 was a heck of a year for me. I sang the national anthem at the Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile and sang at the start of the ING New York City Marathon before running both races to a pair of personal bests.

But after the marathon on Nov. 7, I languished in physical therapy, dealing with a newly diagnosed arthritic knee and feeling really uninspired by my workouts on the bike, elliptical and what felt like an endless kick line of leg lifts. Sure, giving into the post-marathon blues seemed natural for a little while, but I honestly hate to wallow. My knee now feels great, thanks to all that physical therapy and an injection that will lubricate the joint for about six months.

So it’s time to get back on the horse. To motivate me after two months of minimal running, I’m looking back at my 2010 goals to help target some new ones for 2011. 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 →

Photo by fotologic/Flikr

10 weeks down, six to go.

Believe. It’s a loaded word. One that is used and abused in popular culture, in religion, in politics, in all the areas of life where what we want to be true may not always be, and what is true is not always pretty. As humans, we have a unique ability to delude ourselves. And yet, we continue to believe any number of things for any number of reasons, some of which are worth believing.

Running isn’t any different. Every runner has a different set of beliefs: that stretching is good or bad, that running with headphones is helpful or a hindrance, that tackling an ultramarathon is sane or insane, that we’ll actually be able to achieve our running goals.

I began to question my beliefs during my last week of training for the ING New York City Marathon on Nov. 7. 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 →

Photo by Marzanna Syncerz © PhotoXpress.com

BRISTOL, R.I. — Six weeks down, 10 to go.

Today’s column is brought to you by the letter ‘P’ and the letter ‘R.’

I earned a pair of them on Sunday. It was a fantastic week of training for the 2010 ING New York City Marathon on Nov. 7; a week that reminded me what it feels like to be a kid on summer vacation, and made me grateful for all the running I’ve enjoyed.

Anyone who knows me knows that I love vacation. Who doesn’t? I love to travel and explore—as I child I used to pretend I was like Bert and Ernie searching the vast African jungle for Dr. Livingstone.

But my vacation this week felt a bit more like summer vacations of yore—running around the neighborhood, buying ice cream, hitting the pool, watching movies at night, and generally killing time in the most pleasing ways imaginable; basically, by doing a whole lot of nothing.

But remember what the end of summer felt like as a kid? A new school year is quickly approaching, and you know you have to make every single day count. You’ve got to run and play and swim hard. Because before you know it, you’ll be sitting in a stiflingly hot classroom staring out the window at a sunny patch of grass, remembering better times. And I was a kid who actually liked school. But I still liked unfettered summertime better.

Running a race in Rhode Island reminded me of those old summertime days. It was in fact a sunny day that swept all the clouds away. The air was sweet, the sky was an unbroken streak of blue, and not even a temperature of 80 degrees could slow me down. Read the rest of this entry →

The ING New York City Marathon better watch its back. I'm training with renewed vim and vigor. Photo by Christy Hourihan.

Three weeks down, 13 to go…

In the 12th paragraph of this post, I’m going to confess something that very few runners ever admit. Something that has reinvigorated my running. Something that served as the wake-up call I needed if I’m really going to race, not just run, the 2010 ING New York City Marathon on Nov. 7.

Runners are generally a stoic bunch of achievers who will run to exhaustion or almost pass out from heat stroke. I’m often one of those runners, pushing myself to my limit for the greater glory of a personal record. And because I’m still on the cardiovascular upswing, I PR every time I race. And I mean every time. Of the 25 odd races I’ve run in earnest in the past three years (I’ve run another five at a jog for fun), I’ve set a PR in all of them.

Until last Saturday. Read the rest of this entry →