I was reading Bingham's blogs, and came across this

I was there at the beginning. In May of 1998 – which is about 100 years ago in internet years – Elite Racing produced the first Rock ‘n’ Roll event in San Diego. The “Suzuki Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon” was the first running event in history where there was no incentive to finish as fast as you could. There were bands at every mile. There were cheer stations. It was truly an event as much as a race. And with the firing of that start gun on that day the world of running changed forever.

(A friend of mine said that it wasn't the first "event"; she wrote, "if anything the first 'event' to do that was the Bay to Breakers which has for most of its lifetime been a 12km long party.")

Tim Murphy, then president of Elite Racing, was the mad scientist that concocted this brew of racing, running, partying, and celebrating. It was, at the time, an absurd idea. Although is seems obvious to us now, very few in the “real” running industry were enthusiastic about a 26.2 mile street party. The criticism was exactly what you’d expect, that it would ruin the sport of running, that it would encourage non-runners to participate, and that eventually marathon running would become popular.

My reaction to this is:

I have an incentive to finish as fast as I can: pride in knowing that I did the best that I could do. It's a race, not an "event", so far as I'm concerned. The expo is an event, and the concert afterwards is an event, but those 26.2 (or 13.1) miles constitute a race, where the objective is to get from start to finish as fast as you can without cheating. Period. And it doesn't matter that I'm slow and will always be among the last to finish; I do it as fast as I'm capable of doing at that given day and time. Even though I always list "finish" as my primary goal, it is not really my primary goal. My primary goal is to finish in the shortest time that I'm capable of doing, without walking if possible.

Sorry about the rant, but I needed to get that out of my system.

Anyone in the DC area who wants to join me for a sunrise run on Friday followed by breakfast, comment here and I'll message you.

i believe i have piriformis or something similar to it in my left buttock/leg/back. i haven't been diagnosed by a dr. with it, but i'm pretty sure that's what it is. i've had it for 2 weeks now. at first, i didn't do anything about it, kept up with the little bit of running i do.

last week, i drove back to Florida and didn't make any effort to run, figured i was on vacation and would try to let my back/buttock relax. to no avail. in the last 3 or 4 days, i've tried to be much more focused on stretching, but still haven't run and have a good bit of pain, regardless of the stretching.

i went for a long walk last week and this past Monday and after a little bit of moving around, it didn't hurt any more. when i first started to have pain and i was still running before my trip, the pain was there at the start and then gone after running a little bit and very reduced after the running, if it was there at all.

this leads me to think that running is helping to loosen the muscle. sitting around is not helping. thing is, it's snowy/slushy/icy where i live now and don't have access to a gym at the moment, so getting runs in now is difficult.

if i have a question, i guess it is: could running be helping and not worsening my piriformis? i admit i'm usually pretty tight/tense, especially in my back and legs, so maybe i'm causing myself stress that is aggravating the condition. like i said, not really a serious question as just thinking out loud kind of, maybe seeing if anyone has had a similar experience?

So I seem to have picked up a slappy feet issue in the last year or so of my running that I can't figure out (and I'm fairly sure I wasn't doing before). Something to do with how I run now, but I can't figure out how/what I would've changed, so I thought you lovely runners here might be able to help with ideas, or things I could look for as I'm running.

When I run, I sound like I'm barreling down the side of a mountain. It's noisy, does not sound even remotely graceful.

I believe I strike mid-foot... (my chief indicator of this is that any "impact" soreness from long distances on my feet is in the ball, not the heel, and I've not had any of the heel-strike complications I've read about). ...but I could be on crack of course...

It's entirely possible it's my shoes too, but I would think it a little odd, unless of course my shoes are too big (which they're definitely not).

I don't see that it's causing me any issues...it just seems like it shouldn't be like this. Any ideas? Any other noisy runners?

(the only issue I do have right now is that I went on a 12 mile run 2 weeks ago with my sock badly bunched up under the pad of my foot between toes 3 and 4, and it's been achy every since!)

Good morning afternoon runners! Here's the daily training thread!

The dailies are being brought to you today from Milan (MICHIGAN, not Italy) which is a big part of why they are so late today. My day off was yesterday because after work I drove the 8 or so hours northwest from Baltimore to Michigan to surprise hbfs a day earlier than she was expecting me (it worked, it worked REALLY well). The only downside was that I had been operating under a SERIOUS sleep debt from the previous few nights. I put a big dent in that last night. As far as running today, there will be some sort of tempo run I hear (details below). There may also be an indoor water park in the works and general showing-around-the-hometown-ness.

So what is everyone else up to today, training and otherwise?

Question! December (and this year... and this decade) is drawing to a close. What were your goals for this month (year, decade)? How'd you do? Brag, gripe, vent, etc. Also -- what are your goals for next month (year, decade)?



Discuss... and HAPPY RUNNING!

I just had to gush here...got Yaktrax Pro for Christmas and got a nice 1-2" of snow overnight on our already partially icy streets/paths.  Went out for a nice 2 miler today in my YakTrax and hereby pronounce that they rock!  Loved it.  Didn't slip or misstep once and I was booking it for me (9:00 miles).  Felt nice and safe.  

:) 

Love winter running - with the right gear!

I'm in the market for a waterproof jacket for running in snow. I had been looking for something to keep me dry and warm, but it occurred to me that I might instead want something lightweight that I could also wear during non-winter months in rain. The coldest temperature I've run in is 5°F, and I was comfortable with layers of tech shirts and fleece, so it seems I'd be good with a very lightweight, windproof, waterproof jacket on top. I do live in Iowa though, and last winter it got down to -20° for a week or so; if it happens again, I might just have to stay inside.

What do you all do? Do you have more than one waterproof jacket for different seasons? Any particular jacket recommendations?


ETA: Oh, sidenote. I went to buy running shoes last week. (Fourth attempt. Different store, different state.) Apparently I need a wide shoe? And apparently it is normal to buy running shoes a half to a whole size up from your regular shoe size? Solved my weird foot problem.

I ran my third 5K on December 4 in Lakewood, OH. I'm a bit late in posting, so here we go!

( Details... )

Next up for me: Run with Your Heart 8K on Valentine's Day in Willoughby Hills, OH. It will be my first trail race, but I've run parts of the course before, so I'm not as intimidated by it, though I know it will be different from my usual road races.

x-posted to my journal.

 I'm really desperate for a run. I never thought I'd become one of those people, but I totally have. It's really icy and lethal outside where I live and my gym is closed this week for the holidays and I'm going crazy with pent up energy. Any suggestions folks? 

I'm training for a half marathon in March so I'm running pretty much every other day. (And I am not really a runner, I'm more of a triathlete.) I have a psychology degree and work for a fitness club so I am very aware of the mental stress running longer distances puts on the body. I'm curious if anyone else gets emotional after they run. Like almost every time after I run farther than 3 miles I cry a short time after. Has anyone else experienced this? What did you do to help you along with it?

So, good news is that the podiatrist I saw yesterday thinks that my ankle injury (posterior tibial tendonitis) is relatively minor, and I could be running again within 7-10 days.

[he also emphasized that I did the right thing by switching to cross-training immediately, and icing as soon as I noted the injury]

In the meantime, however, I'm determined to maintain my fitness as best I can. The arc-trainer works well for simulating easy runs, but I find it very difficult to get to tempo/interval intensity on it. Thus, I'm considering doing my first ever spin class tomorrow morning (I did a trial 20 minutes on a bike last night to confirm that it didn't aggravate my ankle).

I've never taken a spin class before. So, some basic questions:
-will a pair of old running shoes work for this?
-can I wear regular running shorts? Or do I need to wear my compression shorts?
-anything else I should know?

I'm fully prepared for this class to be a bit frustrating, given that I will have a huge discrepancy between my general aerobic fitness (high) and my cycling-specific fitness (low). Oh, and I hate bikes (just not as much as I am growing to hate the arc-trainer).

Good morning runners! Here's the daily training thread!

Today is going to be a day off. Yesterday's run was pretty stellar and I've got some good running to look forward to for the rest of this week. I WILL mess around with some pull-ups/push-ups/squats at some point. And a nap would be nice.

So what is everyone else up to today, training and otherwise?

Question! What was the best Christmas (or just holiday) present/surprise you've ever received? And what was the greatest surprise you've ever managed to pull off? Deets!



Discuss... and HAPPY RUNNING!

It's been about two months since my injury took me out of running. I can walk a bit and I've been pool running --and more recently biking and using the elliptical.  But, I'm starting to have doubts about doing the NYC marathon in 2010. I don't want to run it just to "finish" and I had planned a 2-year build up... now it will be more like a 10 month build up. I know it's possible... but still ... I hope some of my running from the past year (I was up to about 35-40 miles a week before the accident.) will carry over. But, I think I've lost a lot. It has been two months. My body has changed a bit-- I feel pretty soft.

So, I'm just thinking about how I might need to postpone it for a year-- and how I'll make that choice in a few months and not feel bad about it. I hope that I will be able to run it-- but really has anyone taken two months off and only done cross training (I do work with intensity and I get in about 5-6 hours a week.) and come back to running? What was it like?  Do I need to prepare mentally to be a beginner again? I can start over. I have no issue with that. Whatever it is I'll do it. It could take weeks or a years, I'll get there either way.

It's just taking a longtime for my foot to heal. And the new year is coming and I'm still on crutches mostly. It's taking longer than I thought it would.

I read that "A general rule of thumb is that it takes about two weeks of training to come back from every week of no exercise." Am I looking at 4 months to get back to where I was before? That's a long time.

First: I recently went out to Utah for vacation with my family. Now, I'm from Iowa, so it took me quite a while to get used to the huge elevation change. And it took me a while to get used to how nice the weather was. Even though it was "really, really cold" by their standards, it was pretty average Iowa temperatures... without the wind! It was so nice.

However, where I was, there was a huge inversion and everything was hazy and smoggy. It was really gross. My dad and I ran 10 miles down a canyon and I could tell when we got back down into the inversion. It was harder to breathe. :/ The air quality was horrible. I feel bad for anyone who lives in a place with stagnant, icky air. :(


Second: MY LEFT KNEE HATES ME! A LOT! Tomorrow, I am finally calling a local doctor to have it looked at, since it has been bothering me since the end of October. Basically, after I run about 4-5.5 miles, my knee starts to get achy/sore like it's swollen below my knee cap. Then it starts to hurt below and above my knee, but will hurt across my kneecap every few minutes. It's really horrible. On my 10 miler on Sunday, I wanted to cry for the last 2.5 miles. It doesn't hurt my pace a lot, but I get stuck in a slower rut than I start out at.

Anyone have any ideas on what could be wrong with it? I am hoping that a doctor can at least tell me what to do to make it feel better, if not what's wrong with it. After the first of the year, my marathon training really picks up. 35-45 miles a week... and I'm struggling with 30-35 right now, but only because of my knee. :(

I'm hoping some of the wonkheads can help me with figuring out what I should be doing to improve my running times; I'm aware of where the discrepancy lies but I don't know what would help me the most.

( For those who care )

I'm a Judo girl and before any competition I have to be a certain weight..but I also run. Running makes me sooooooo hungry, and my crazy Japanese coach has suggested that I eat a tea spoon of honey after all of my runs to suppress hunger. Has anyone tried this with success?

renaissance2010
Turning to photography as a creative outlet during a valiant fight with breast cancer at age 34, renaissance10 survived and set up a photo contest to help raise funds for the Lavender Trust, a nonprofit that provides information and support to younger women with breast cancer. In the first two years, the competition brought in over £65,000 (that's $107,260.73 U.S.!), with entries from 130 countries last year. Renaissance10 recently joined LiveJournal to meet other passionate photographers and find supportive friends.

curiouscupcakes
Holy buttercream frosting! If you have a sweet tooth for sugary goodness or a wandering eye for whimsical confection, this is pure ecstasy iced in deliciousness. Hailing the beloved cupcake as the artisinal canvas of choice, you'll enjoy recipes, photos, and bountiful tips to bake up a batch, whether your taste leans toward French classics or funky and flavorful.

mission101
With New Years in the offing, it's an ideal time to reflect on past accomplishments, make peace with disappointments, and refocus the lens on future goals. This community welcomes you to create a bucket list of 101 things you plan to accomplish in the next 1,001 days. Offering support, guidance, and inspiration, this is a great way to jumpstart those pesky resolutions.

How normal is the "burning lungs" feeling when you run? How intense should it get before it becomes something harmful, rather than annoying? I'm not really a distance runner by any means yet -- I'm only running about a 5k distance 3-4x a week, but my long-term goal is to master distance running upwards of 40 mi/week. Right now, I'm afraid to increase my mileage because the burning sensation when I breathe has gotten pretty bad. I cough and occasionally I feel as though my throat closes EVER so slightly/I can't suck in enough air (this feeling only persists for maybe 30 seconds at a time, but it does happen).

What are your best breathing-while-running techniques? What *should* I be doing? I run on a 1.0 incline on the 'mill, at 10min/mile ("graduated" c25k not long ago), I'm not overweight, and I've never smoked at all. Should I accept burning lungs as a fact of running, and just suck it up and go farther?

( And another Christmas-related question )

I probably should just ask when I'm going to stop asking questions...