Run, Karla, Run!

In the first episode of “On The Run” at the NYC Half, we chat with World Champion, Olympic medalist and American record-holder Bernard Lagat, who’s about to make his half-marathon debut at the NYC Half on Sunday, March 17.

We also hear from local Staten Island runner Michele Gonzalez, who raised nearly $11,000 for Hurricane Sandy relief. Runner’s World editor-in-chief David Willey stops by the studio to talk about the professional men’s race, and Dr. Jordan Metzl talks about marathon runners who helped out in Staten Island on what would have been marathon Sunday. Read the rest of this entry →

Photo: Michael Dorausch/Fickr

The LA Marathon is getting a makeover as ASICS swoops in to become the title sponsor. The race, which takes runners from Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles to the beach in Santa Monica, will now be known as the ASICS LA Marathon through 2015. Read the rest of this entry →

Runners pose in front of Cinderella Caste. (Photo: runDisney)

Disney lovers, it’s not too late the run the 20^th Anniversary Walt Disney World Marathon presented by Cigna on Jan. 13. The Marathon, Half Marathon and Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge may be sold-out, but there are still a few ways to get in on the runDisney action.

A record 58,000 runners have registered for the event, with 27,000 toeing the line in the half marathon and 25,000 in the Disney marathon. A whopping 10,000 participants will tackle both races as part of Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge, which dares runners to complete the half-marathon on Saturday and the marathon on Sunday during the Walt Disney Marathon Weekend. 

If you’d like to be one of them, you still can by registering through a group, charity, or the Runner’s World Challenge, which give runners access to training advice from Runner’s World editors along with other VIP amenities. Read the rest of this entry →

By now anyone who follows running and/or political news knows that Republican Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan lied about his marathon time. But did you know that you too can run as “fast” as Paul Ryan? The Paul Ryan Time Calculator and its creator Erik Westlund are here to help. Read the rest of this entry →

The Philadelphia Marathon is on Nov. 18, 2012 (Photo: Philadelphia Marathon)

It’s that time of year again…dun dun dun! Marathon training starts! This year, I’m running the 2012 Philadelphia Marathon on Nov. 18. In just under 18 weeks, I’ll be at the starting line in the City of Brotherly Love, hopefully prepared to tackle my fifth tango with 26.2. Read the rest of this entry →

Runners charge past Cinderella Castle at the Walt Disney World Marathon. (Photo: runDisney)

It’s a marathon match made in running heaven. Runner’s World magazine and runDisney announced Monday that the 20th Anniversary Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend will become part of the Runner’s World Challenge series.

The event will run from Jan. 12-13, 2013 and includes the Walt Disney World Marathon, Walt Disney World Half Marathon and Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge, where participants run both the half marathon on Saturday and the full marathon on Sunday. Read the rest of this entry →

My K-Swiss Kwicky-Blade Light shoes with Laura's name.

Two weeks ago, I announced that I’d be racing in K-Swiss/Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) gear at the Long Island Gold Coast Triathlon and the Philadelphia Marathon on behalf of my cousin Laura who was fighting clear cell sarcoma, a rare form of cancer.

My K-Swiss/SU2C gear finally arrived today—the day after cancer took Laura’s life.

The poignancy is not lost on me. I promptly grabbed my black permanent marker and began etching Laura’s name onto the tongues of my new shoes. This way she’ll be with me every step that I take. I stand up to cancer. I stand up for Laura.

Laura fought for her life, for her husband and for her kids, with everything she had. We raised money to help her. But it wasn’t enough.

We all have to stand up to cancer together. Laura was just one of the 11,100 Americans who will die of cancer this week, one of the 577,190 who will die this year, according to the American Cancer Society. That means one person every minute of every day will succumb to this disease in the U.S. alone. Globally, the World Heath Organization says cancer kills nearly 8 million people per year—and those numbers only continue to rise. 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 40 days 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 →

From “A is for Against traffic” to “Z is for Zzzz,” Mark Remy captures the agony and ecstasy of being a runner. C is for Chafing is a whimsical children’s book for grownups complete with the “This Book Belongs to: _________________” page in the front.

Following in the footsteps of bestsellers like Adam Mansbach’s Go the F— to Sleep, C is for Chafing uses a similar tongue-in-cheek tone—minus the expletives—aimed at your inner runner. The accompanying illustrations by Eric Cash are spot on. A blend of ‘50s kitsch and dark wit, the illustrations finish the joke for many of the entries, like “O is for ‘Oh, no…’ This means you ran too hard,” where the art depicts a marathoner losing his, uh, lunch.

At a mere 66 pages, most of which feature just one sentence or fragment, C is for Chafing is a quick read to say the least. But it’s full of humor and wisdom: Read the rest of this entry →

Karla runs Central Park on New Year’s Day. Photo by Anne Hospod.

40 days, 40 runs, 100 miles. Snow, slush, sub-freezing temps. Treadmills, trails, roads, sidewalks. I’ve run them all as part of the Runner’s World Holiday Running Streak.

On Thanksgiving, I set out to run at least a mile a day every single day through New Year’s Day. It wasn’t always easy; squeezing in even a mile on some days was surprisingly difficult. But somehow I stuck with it, and I’m happy to throw my arms up in victory and say: I did it! I finished my last day in style: 7.75 miles in New York City’s resplendent Central Park.

At the start, I told Runner’s World’s “Training Daily” blog my reasons for attempting the streak: “My winter training is usually erratic, unfocused, and lackluster. And that’s putting it nicely. For once, I’d love to start spring training with a healthy base. I also like to eat—a lot. But when I run better, I eat better. So here’s hoping the streak will help keep my holiday sweet tooth in check.” Read the rest of this entry →

Photo by Phil Hospod

With 34 days down, my Runner’s World Holiday Running Streak officially rocked around the Christmas tree. Forget laughing all the way, I’m running all the way, logging at least a mile a day from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day. I’ve made it through two of the big three holidays I celebrate: Thanksgiving and Christmas (with a little Hanukkah thrown in for my Jewish family and friends). There’s just one more holiday and five days to go. Read the rest of this entry →

Karla runs on a trail in the snow. Photo by Phil Hospod.

When I accepted the challenge of the Runner’s World holiday running streak—running at least a mile a day from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day—I sincerely thought I’d have a slim chance of making it very far. But after three weeks, my streak is still alive. Not only that, it’s alive and well, and has started to change how I think about running. Read the rest of this entry →

Karla and Cinderella run in the snow. Photo by Phil Hospod.

It was a cold and snowy Thanksgiving morning in rural Quebec, where I spent my holiday. The night before, a snowstorm blanketed the farmland around me, and a haze of flurries continued to drift down. It was white as far as the eye could see from the hilltop where I was perched. But I had to do it. I had to go for a run.

I’d pledged to run at least a mile a day from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day as part of the Runner’s World Holiday Running Streak. A little Canadian snow wasn’t going to stop me. Now two weeks in, my streak is still going strong.

I can’t believe I’ve made it this far. This streak represents the most days I’ve ever run consecutively, my previous record being a measly—and more normal—six days in a row. It’s been a smooth ride for the most part, but there have been a few close calls. Like the night I ran home from dinner—at 10 p.m. and in street clothes with steak and creamed spinach jiggling in my stomach—because I had completely forgotten to run earlier in the day. Whoops! But I was determined to keep the streak alive, so I did what must be done. Read the rest of this entry →

Photo by Graham Horn

Oh winter. It’s my least favorite time of year. I know, the holidays are magical with the twinkle lights and the parties and the food. Mmm, the food. But the holidays can be challenging for a runner, especially if you live in the northern half of the country, or the world, for that matter. Temperatures drop, snow accumulates, days darken, parties are plentiful, and the reasons not to head out for a run become pretty easy to come by.

So the folks over at Runner’s World have cooked up a cure. Meghan G. Loftus, who writes the RW Training Daily blog, is leading the charge with a Holiday Running Streak. She’s pledging to run at least a mile a day, every day from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day. And she’s looking for runners to join her. Read the rest of this entry →