Run, Karla, Run!

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 →

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 Chafingis 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 →

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 →

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 →