Topic: marathon running

Marathon (Wo)Man: 20 Miles Down, 26.2 To Go

Marathon (Wo)Man: 20 Miles Down, 26.2 To Go

If only they knew. I’m running down Williamsburg’s Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn around 11am on a Sunday. The hipsters, the cool dads, the too-chic toddlers, all of them are just beginning to shake their fluffy heads to amble along the streets in search of brunch. The line at the fair-trade, single-origin coffee shop stretches out the door.

Surely, I look crazed to them. This tired, sweaty thing clutching an empty water bottle, running not very fast down the main drag, my tank occasionally flapping in some way so as to reveal an unflattering glimpse of bare belly. They don’t know the truth. They don’t know that I’m not just another weekend runner trying to jog off the excesses of the night before. They don’t know I had a lame Saturday night and went to bed at a decent hour because of this. They don’t know that my Garmin reads 17 miles. They don’t know that today I am completing my first 20 mile run. More »

Fitspiration: Losing A Limb Hasn’t Stopped Colin Edwards From Running Across Britain

Fitspiration: Losing A Limb Hasn't Stopped Colin Edwards From Running Across Britain

Excuses, excuses, we all use them when we don’t prioritize fitness into our daily schedule. I’m too tired, my feet hurt, I have no energy, I don’t like jumping… We know these aren’t valid excuses for not breaking a sweat, but we hinge on them anyway. Sounds like we all need a collective kick in our butts. The next time you begin to whine and don’t feel like hitting the pavement, I invite you to take a page out of Colin Edwards‘ book. He is running 630 miles across Britain for charity. Oh, and did I mention that this Ironman only has one leg? Our excuses just don’t seem to stack up in comparison. Hang your head in shame! More »

Running Together, Remotely: Virtual Races Are a Questionable Trend

Running Together, Remotely: Virtual Races Are a Questionable Trend

I’m not always on top of my weekly running (as in: I haven’t consistently trained in months), but I still like to sign up for races. I can always get through five kilometers in exchange for a t-shirt and post-race brunch, especially if it involves a reasonable start time. But a recent race caught my eye that seemed both genius and a little disturbing: The New York Road Runner’s Japan Day Run for Hope sounded like a good excuse to run beyond my proclivity for Manhattan brunch: The short, four-mile run is being held to raise funds for Red Cross efforts in Japan (and you even get credit towards qualifying for the New York Marathon, if you’re crazy enough to care about that). But upon close inspection for race dates and rules, I realized that this was a “virtual run” — you sign up, send the money, and do the run whenever and wherever you want, then send your “results” using Map My Run to see how you would have placed among live participants. This could be the next big running trend, but I have mixed feelings: Aren’t we leaving out something important by running together only in theory? More »

Healthy or Stupid? 400-Pound Man to Run Tomorrow’s Los Angeles Marathon For World Record

Healthy or Stupid? 400-Pound Man to Run Tomorrow's Los Angeles Marathon For World Record

Running a marathon takes serious training, not the perfect runner’s body, but a 405-pound man is pushing the limit in tomorrow’s Los Angeles Marathon. Kelly Gneiting, a professional sumo wrestler from Albuquerque, New Mexico, is aiming to break the Guinness World Record for the heaviest person to finish a marathon – a distinction that leaves us more concerned for his health than impressed by his gumption. More »

Aerobic Exercise May Increase Brain Size

Aerobic Exercise May Increase Brain Size

Marathoners may have slightly scrawny builds, but it may turn out that their brains are bigger than ever; a new report from the University of Pittsburgh and other institutions claims that aerobic exercise may actually increase the size of your brain.

The mass gains come in the hippocampus, the slice of your grey matter that controls memory and spatial navigation. Normally, the hippocampus shrinks over time. With effort — in the case of this study, walking for 40 minutes three times per week — resulted in a mass brain gain of roughly 2%. The control group that just stretched and lifted weights? They experienced a decrease in the hippocampus of nearly 1.5%. More »

Running and Body Image: What Is a “Runner’s Body” Anyway?

Running and Body Image: What Is a "Runner's Body" Anyway?

“You never can tell,” a co-worker said to me the other day.

We were standing at the water cooler engaging in the perfunctory “what did you do last weekend” chatter. I mentioned that I’d run a race of some sort, a 5k or 10k.

“You run?” he asked, a little too incredulously.

“Yeah, I’ve been doing a lot of short races all year to get auto entry into next year’s marathon,” I replied.

“Hmmn…You’re a runner,” he continued, voicing one of those slimy sentences that is neither absolute question nor statement. “It just shows, you never can tell.”

I looked down at my empty water bottle, thinking that the possibility of dying of thirst might be preferable to this tedium.

Now, I’ll be the first to acknowledge that I do not have a physique similar to Kenyan marathon runners, or most American marathon runners, for that matter. Even after training for and running a half marathon, there are not one but two digits in my dress size. But yes, I run. More »

Fitness Gallery: 10 Cold-Weather Running Essentials

Fitness Gallery: 10 Cold-Weather Running Essentials

For most of us, very soon it’s going to get cold. And dark. And while it’d be easier to abandon our outdoor running expeditions in favor of spending an extra hour under our down comforter every winter morning, we’re not going to let the frigid weather bully us into letting our workouts slide. So we found ten cold-weather running essentials that don’t stand a chance against old man winter. Now you just have to get out of bed. More »

Marathon Footwear: How Minimalist Is Too Much?

Marathon Footwear: How Minimalist Is Too Much?

Here’s a post we thought you’d like by Liz Neporent of That’s Fit:

Is it safe to wear minimalist shoes to run a marathon? Bianca – Newton, Mass.

You may recall that a while back I wrote a column in praise of minimalist footwear. For those of you who’ve never heard the term, this is a newish category of running shoe that’s lightweight and meant to mimic the aspects of running barefoot – the same way our ancestors did before Nikes and New Balances were readily available.

The big advantage to wearing minimal footwear is that it forces the foot and ankle to work harder to support the body during movement, just as nature intended. After years of lazing around in stiffly structured shoes with tons of support and cushioning, these joints must finally start pulling their own weight. As a result, much of their natural strength and flexibility is restored. More »