Run, Karla, Run!

Irina Mashkantceva wins the 2012 Philadelphia Marathon. (Philadelphia Marathon)

It’s official. I’m running the GORE-TEX Philadelphia Marathon 2014 on Sunday, November 23! I’d been debating which marathon, if any, to run this fall and I’ve finally committed to running Philly as a guest of sponsor GORE-TEX.

While I considered—and was invited to—a few other marathons in the U.S. and Canada, I decided on Philly for a few reasons.

Pausing for a photo just before a PR finish at the 2012 Philadelphia Marathon. (RunKarlaRun.com)

1) PR Course: I ran my current marathon personal best of 4:28:06 at the Philadelphia Marathon in 2012. I failed to best it at the 2013 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, despite perfect weather and a pancake flat course, thanks to a cold that settled in two weeks before race day and decided to linger.

2) Redemption: I feel like I have unfinished business in Philadelphia. Back in 2012, I’d been zipping along on target for a 4:14 finish when a quad cramp struck after the 20-mile mark and decided to linger. I lost 14 minutes in the last 10K, as I stopped to stretch the cramp a few times, jogging slowly in between. While I was ecstatic about my finish time, a new personal best, I knew I had even more in me. I want to return to Philly and run the time I should have two years ago: 4:15. Read the rest of this entry →

Cheering on the men with my teammates. (Courtesy of NYRR)

Smells like team spirit? You bet.

The NYRR Team Championships is a 5-mile race in Central Park for all the running clubs in New York City. It’s one of the most fun races of the year and one of the best deals in the Big Apple at $10-$20 depending on how far in advance you sign-up.

(NYRR instagram)

To register, you must belong to an NYRR-recognized team (there are more than 90 of them) and run at least one NYRR race for that team in the previous year, though you don’t have to be an NYRR member. (In am an NYRR member and host On The Run, their web and TV show.)

However, most of NYRR’s 55+ races and events are open to everyone, members and non-members, team runners and non-team runners, tourists and New Yorkers alike, including dozens of 4-mile, 5-mile and 10K races in Central Park. If you want to run and race in New York City the next time you visit, you can find the whole schedule at nyrr.org. Team Championships is one of the few events that’s just for club runners.

Men and women race separately, which makes for a great morning. The men cheer on the women while they race and then the women root for the guys.

The course is a 5-mile loop, which makes it easy to catch your friends at the half or 1-mile marker, then cut across the center of the park to see them again at the 4 or 4.5-mile mark. Team runners line the entire first and last miles, with a few dotting the other miles in between.

With some teammates before the start. (Courtesy of NYRR)

As a result, NYRR Team Championships has the most people watching and cheering of any of the smaller “local” events in Central Park. Of course, teams cheer loudest for their own teammates as they race by, but we all clap and cheer for everyone. This team spirit is what makes it one of my favorite events. Read the rest of this entry →

A PR! Yay! (RunKarlaRun.com)

Running the Firecracker 8K in Southampton, New York on Sunday, July 6 was an impromptu decision. Sometimes those last-minute races I throw in the calendar are the best. Without time to worry and hand-wring, I just shrug my shoulders with a, “Here goes something.”

What was that something? A pair of personal bests for both me and my husband, Phil. After a tough Runner’s World Heartbreak Hill Half in June, it felt great.

We are champions! (RunKarlaRun.com)

Phil and I were vacationing at a friend’s house in Southampton on Long Island’s southern oceanfront beach territory for the holiday weekend. We logged a run on the beach in deep sand two days before and did calisthenics by the pool the day before.

Beach run! (RunKarlaRun.com)

But like we do just about everywhere we go, we checked RunningInTheUSA.com to see if there were any races nearby. Wouldn’t you know it? The start was less than a mile from the house.

So we plunked down $25 each and biked over on race morning with little expectations. Read the rest of this entry →