Run, Karla, Run!

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 →

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 →

It’s a New Year. And that can only mean one thing: time to make some New Year’s resolutions.

I’m a goal-oriented person. So along with my general resolutions—which usually include things like “run a marathon”—I’m making a list of running resolutions. Here goes.

1. Get faster

2. Fast enough to race a sub 2-hour half-marathon

3. Even faster to race a sub 4-hour marathon

Sounds simple enough, right? Well… Read the rest of this entry →