Topic: marathon training

Marathon (Wo)Man: It Does (And Doesn’t) Get Better

I sometimes wish they made “It Gets Better” videos for people other than gay teens. It’s not that LGBT youth don’t deserve or need them–typically, they do more than other sorts (please don’t get angry in the comments)—but I think that other groups of people could also use such reinforcement, too. From personal experience, I think young 20-something girls crying in the bathroom at work could use a reminder that “it gets better”… or at least you eventually learn to save your cries for shameful cathartic late night viewings of Grey’s Anatomy reruns. Also, I think runners, especially people just getting into or back into running, could use the occasional witty YouTube video imparting the wisdom that the miles will get better, easier, faster. More »

Marathon (Wo)Man: 8 Obvious Things I’ve (Re)Learned About Marathon Training

The other day I ran into an old college friend I hadn’t seen in a year or so. We exchanged pleasantries and “what-have-you-been-up-to’s.” He’s been up to law school. I’ve been up to training for the marathon, which he did last year. “Any words of advice?” I asked. More »

Marathon (Wo)Man: In Defense Of Marathon Training (Sometimes)

“Yeah! That treadmill is my bitch!” I said this aloud a few days back as I strode up the Crunch cardio-farm floor. It was Tuesday, just after 7 pm–a prime workout day and hour. Yet, there she was, shimmering in front of me. The second treadmill from the left. She had a working television. She had never faltered and skidded to a halt mid-run. She didn’t make the sad sounds of a slowly dying treadmill. All this made her a truly rare being at Crunch—and she was, empty, waiting for me. More »

Marathon (Wo)Man: The Sports Bra Quest

The search for the right sports bra can reach mythic proportions—requiring Oprah specials, credit card debt, and advice from long lost friends… or so the world would have you believe. I’ve typically favored some cheap numbers from Target, on the rare occasion when Target has any left in size medium that aren’t neon green. But, as I’ve said in previous posts, my increasingly long long runs have been finding fault with Target’s offerings… and by fault, I mean more than a wee bit of chafing. Let’s just say I’d be embarrassed for someone to see the aftermath lest they imagine I’m frequenting leather bars on a nightly basis and/or engaging in a line of employment far my profitable than my current one. More »

How To Stay Injury-Free While Training For A Marathon

Now is the time to ramp up your mileage for Fall marathons, but even if you’re not slated to run 26.2 miles, staying injury-free is essential to stick with your running routine. Check out Well+Good NYC’s great tips for marathon training, minus the injuries More »

Marathon (Wo)Man: Sometimes The Sole Needs A Holiday

“That’s what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older, they stay the same age,” Matthew McConaughey’s character, David Wooderson, says in an oft-quoted moment from Dazed and Confused.

I thought of this quote as I was circling my local park for the fourth time the other day; while my runs keep getting longer, the distance around said park stays the same, and that I don’t love. More »

Marathon (Wo)Man: The Time Suck Of Training

Marathon training…it takes time. A lot of time. No really, it does. This, of course, should be fairly obvious. Running 20- or 30-some miles a week will cut into the time you might have previously used to see friends, watch Twin Peaks on Netflix, get a manicure, or call your mother. It somehow requires quite a different amount of time than putting in 15 or 20 miles a week. And, it’s not just the running that’s a time suck. More »

Confession of An Injured Runner: I Was Stupid, Therefore I Rest

I have a major frenemy in my life. And right now, we are definitely leaning more towards enemies than friends. To be perfectly honest, we’re in the midst of all-out war. My so-called “friend” has betrayed me. Let me down. Turned against me, yet again. Why I continue to trust her, I don’t know. Somehow, I keep thinking next time will be different.

Instead, it’s like clockwork. Every time I get ready to do something big, she retaliates. It’s like she gets jealous that she is not getting enough attention anymore. Like the inevitable battle between teens and parents, she want to be in control and have the final say on everything I do. Quite frankly, she behaves like a spoiled brat.

I am speaking, of course, about my Achilles. More »

Marathon (Wo)Man: The Couple That Runs Together… Isn’t Us.

You see them occasionally running around the park. Invariably, she has a ponytail, and he a floppy mane that seems to lift up and down to the same beat that her ponytail bobs back and forth. One or perhaps both of them is showing belly button, as they have the sort of bellybuttons – entire upper torsos, really – that deserve to be shown.

They are a running couple. More »

What We're Reading:

Athlete to Addict: When Exercise Becomes Obsessive

Ever since I started running marathons, I’ve annoyed a lot of people. “Can you meet for breakfast?” Nope, gotta train. “Wanna go out for drinks tonight?” Can’t, I have to get up early to run in the morning. “Want to … More »

Marathon (Wo)Man: 30 Years Down, 18 Weeks To Go

On the first day of junior high phys ed class, the teacher — Mr. B., a tall, toe-headed, rangy fellow — glanced down at the roster, then looked up excitedly. “Eber, where’s Eber?!” he said.

I raised my hand. Our eyes met. “Oh,” he said, flatly, as best I can recall. My brother had passed through his class two years earlier. He is, and was then, tall and dark and lean; gifted with natural athletic ability and an easy way that makes me wonder if I somehow got an uneven helping of the neurotic gene, while he got none. More »

Marathon (Wo)Man: I’m Just Not That Into My Insoles

If Blisstree editors would allow it, every Marathon (Wo)Man column would probably have a picture of feet… or shoes… or both. My feet in their fancy running socks (see two weeks back). My feet next to a bottle of rosé (see alternative photo to last week’s post). A gruesome close-up of a blister and some calluses (you probably don’t really want to see it). They’d conjure a cliché girl-with-shoes-and-a-camera moment plucked from any number of rom—com movies together…except with more blood and fewer toenails. More »

Marathon (Wo)Man: The Running Shoes And The Rosé

Marathon (Wo)Man: The Running Shoes And The RosÃ©

Oh running shoes, they take up so much space, you’re already bringing 4 pairs of shoes for less than that number of days, besides, it’s just a long weekend, the last thing you’ll want to do is run… I mean it’s a romantic getaway, c’mon now.

I went away for a few days. My running shoes stayed home. Between “packing” for said getaway and then “recovering from jet lag” and then “family in town,” I didn’t run for a solid week. Well, as long as we’re being honest, a solid week plus a couple of days. More »

Marathon (Wo)Man: Training Runs, 10ks, And What I Wore

I have developed a strange inability to leave a sporting goods store without a new pair of running socks. Two years ago, I thought it perfectly acceptable, desirable even, to run in a standard pair of cotton athletic socks. Then, my life was flipped upside down by a single $10 pair of socks. Synthetic material to wick away the moisture from my little tootsies. Dual layers of said material to prevent blistering and chafing. That perfect percentage of elastic to snugly hug foot and ankle. It was a revelation. More »

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