6967tyg by keesexpansion

NUTRITION SPECIAL

NEW! MORE FOOD MORE GEAR MORE FUN!

BEGINNERS

SIMPLE WAYS TO LOVE RUNNING RIGHT NOW

BEST THINGS TO

STRIDE RIGHT

EAT & DRINK

4 STRENGTH EXERCISES

PLUS THE PERFECT

PRE-RUN ROUTINE

FALL TRAINING & RACING TIPS

BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER YOUR RUN*

>KILLER ENERGY BARS >A BETTER BREAKFAST >POWER SMOOTHIES

NAIL YOUR LONG RUN< FINE-TUNE YOUR TAPER< SET THE RIGHT GOAL<

p77 p58

p52

*A PINCH VEGAN, A DASH GLUTEN–FREE, ALL DELICIOUS!

BEST NEW TRAIL SHOES THE MASTERS PLAN STAY SUPER-FIT AS YOU AGE

WITH INSPIRATION FROM DEENA KASTOR, 41

THE UNCENSORED HISTORY OF THE (BURP) BEER MILE

STREET STYLE Micah Risk, a 3:18 marathoner, mom, and nutritionist in Boston. p23

OCTOBER 2014 RUNNERSWORLD.COM

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There is no better food.

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WARMUP

WorldMags.net OCTOBER

CONTENTS

2014

THE LOOP

RAVE RUN

EDITOR’S LETTER

A GOOD LONG RUN

At 41, Olympic medalist Deena Kastor may be (slightly) less speedy, but she’s still gunning for the masters world record in the half-marathon. Just for fun. BY MICHELLE HAMILTON PLUS: Tips for running better as you age, excerpted from Older, Faster, Stronger, by Margaret Webb PAGE 74

ON THE COVER Energy Bars ................ 77 Breakfast Fixes ............ 58 Super Smoothies ......... 52 Masters Plan ................ 74 Deena Kastor ............... 68 Beer Mile ...................... 96 Beginners .................... 46 Stride Exercises .......... 62 Pre-Run Routine ........... 60 Long Run ..................... 42 Taper Tactics ............... 44 Goal Setting ................. 48 Trail Shoes .................... 91

PHOTOGRAPH BY HOLLY ANDRES

77 NUTRITION SPECIAL

84 RUN THIS CITY

91 TRAIL SHOE GUIDE

DIY ENERGY BARS

SWEAT HOME, CHICAGO!

ROUGH RIDERS

THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE BEER MILE

Before, during, or after your run, quell your hunger and refuel with a delicious energy bar handcrafted in your own kitchen.

A runner-centric tour of the Windy City’s hot spots, featuring one of the coolest urban running trails in America.

Whether you like to feel the earth beneath you or float over it on foam, there’s an offroad shoe for you.

With more than 60,000 participants and an upcoming world championship, this sudsy race is officially a thing.

BY NEVIN MARTELL

BY CINDY KUZMA

BY JEFF DENGATE & MARTYN SHORTEN, PH.D.

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BY RACHEL SWABY

OCTOBER 2014 RUNNER’S WORLD 5

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CONTENTS

WE’RE ALWAYS RUNNING AT RUNNERSWORLD.COM

TRAINING VIDEO

HUMAN RACE 23

PERSONAL BEST TRAINING

Street Style One real runner, from head to toe.

What Do You Know? You learn a lot running in combat boots.

Ask Miles He knows all.

I Ran It Off! 160 pounds—gone!

The Newbie Chronicles One illuminating discovery

Runner by the Numbers

Go You! Inspiring runners

The Intersection Where running and culture collide

Running Legends The Groundpounders

Road Scholar A runner tries soccer. Results: mixed.

Social Movement The Shack Track & Field Club

Miles was introduced as the apostrophe in the RW logo in 1987 (above). He stayed there until 2004, when he moved inside to the Ask Miles column. He got a makeover for this issue. After creating several sketches (below), artist Andy Rementer settled on the Miles you’ll find on page 24.

For the Long Haul What to do before, during, and after the biggest run of your week

Race Prep How—and when—to taper for peak performance

The Starting Line Fall in love with the perfect season for runners.

The Fast Lane Reset your goals when your training cycle goes off the rails.

Ask the Experts

Fall Mixers Six scrumptious smoothies that pack flavor and nutrients.

Fridge Wisdom Research reveals the foods and drinks that help (and hurt) your running.

The Runner’s Pantry Savory sun-dried tomatoes

Quick Bites Jump-start your day with these fast breakfast fixes.

FUEL

BY PETER SAGAL

RACES+PLACES

MIND+BODY 103

Mohawk Hudson River Marathon & Half This New York race is among the nation’s fastest. Plus: Three BQ-friendly 26.2s

104

Ask Coach Jenny

105

Trending Creepy costume runs

I’M A RUNNER 122

Theo Rossi, actor on Sons of Anarchy

6 RUNNER’S WORLD OCTOBER 2014

“Theo was so down to earth,” says RW’s junior video producer Derek Call. “When construction made it too loud to film at the photo shoot, he took us to High Rock Park, his go-to spot to run on Staten Island. He even helped carry our gear!”

Get Ready to Roll Add foam rolling to your prerun routine to release tension and block fatigue.

The Body Shop Strength-train your way to better mechanics— and faster times.

GEAR 64

Arms Race The competition for real estate on runners’ wrists is hot. Very hot.

Sweat Charity Nine goods that contribute to worthy causes

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ASK ME ANYTHING Deena Kastor (page 68) and Theo Rossi (page 122) will each host “Ask Me Anything” chats in our forums during the month of September. Cue up those Q’s, and stay tuned for details at runnersworld .com/askmeanything.

NEW DATA COLUMN Want to know just how much your weekly mileage affects your marathon finish time? Or what time of day people in other countries run? For those answers and more, go to runnersworld.com/ runthenumbers, where we work with RunKeeper to crunch data for a series of online, graphical posts that reveal fascinating facts about our sport.

P H OTO G R A P H S B Y J OYC E L E E ( S M O OT H I E S ); H A N N A H W H I TA K E R ( W R I S T BA N D S ); H O L LY A N D R E S ( K A S TO R )

BY MARC PARENT

The foam roller—that hurts-so-good torture tool—isn’t just for massaging achy parts after a run. Use it to warm up your muscles before you head out. Get the full story on page 60, then watch a prerun rolling routine at runnersworld .com/foamroller.

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INTRODUCING

THE FULL CIRCUIT Whatever your destination, it takes you there. And back. Think big trips, light hikes, city rambles, and traveling the globe. Built with exclusive technologies such as InsoFit ™ Pro insole, MidLite™ Pro midsole, and SportGrip ™ Pro outsole that deliver maximum comfort with minimum weight. Eddie Bauer Full Circuit. The Ultimate 24-Hour Adventure Traveler.

EddieBauer.com/Footwear

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THE LOOP WorldMags.net RUNNERS &

COMPRESSION During your next run or race take note of how many fellow runners you see wearing compression socks or running in tights. Why the sudden rise in compression apparel among runners? Long ago, medical research established that compression garments improve blood circulation throughout the body and lymphatic system. By applying the same medical principles, compression apparel designed for athletic use, provides improved performance before, during, and after activity.

HOW IT HELPS RUNNERS: Improved blood circulation before, during, and after runs. Faster warm-ups and better muscle awareness. Less muscle damage and fatigue during runs. Helps prevent common injuries: shin splints, cramps and strains. Faster recovery after runs with reduced muscle soreness.

WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU: If you’re looking to aid your performance, whether during your run or after, consider introducing compression apparel into your training. Not only will it help you go faster, harder, and longer, you’ll also be able to enhance your recovery time and resume regular training more quickly.

Three that Kastor can’t live without? Balsamic vinegar, goat cheese, and arugula.

EAT LIKE DEENA You really want Deena Kastor to make you dinner. She doesn’t skimp on the good stuff—organic, seasonal, aslocal-as-she-can-get-it grub always graces the Olympian’s table. She loves nothing better than combining great ingredients to nourish friends and family. “As a pro athlete and mom, I feed myself well so I can operate optimally—I want to feed those I love just as well so they can thrive, too.” Here, a few more of her favorite things. FRENCH PRESSES Kastor owns 20. “I choose which one depending on my mood— today was a workout day, so I went with a bold red ceramic French press.” HAPPY COWS “We get beef shipped from a grass-fed cattle ranch in Missouri. I’ve had many

phone calls with the rancher about where the cattle are grazing on a given day.” PLAYING FOOD TOURIST “Whenever we travel to races, our treat isn’t sightseeing. You can get the pulse of a city on a run. What we really love to do is sit down and dine.”

To learn more about 2XU’s entire range of run and compression apparel, please visit www.2XU.com/RWC.

Micah Risk, 29, is a former soccer player who didn’t consider herself much of a runner until she hooked up with November Project, a Boston-based fitness group. “Now I run because I love

being active, I love the community, and I appreciate the health benefits,” she says. Risk is also a nutritionist for Lighter (a company in Beantown that offers “food coaching”), helping people establish a healthy diet. “We encourage them to fill their plates with fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains,” she says. “These nutrient-dense foods also make fantastic fuel for runners.” You can learn more about Risk—and her running wardrobe—on page 23, where she helps us kick off our new Street Style column. Photograph by Henry Hung.

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Kastor with daughter Piper and husband Andrew at their XL custommade dining-room table. “Growing up, our house was always open to friends and family, and we always seemed to gather around the table.”

At her marathon debut in April, Risk ran a 3:18, good enough for seventh female, and first in her age group. Oh, and it qualified her for Boston.

“I wanted to capture Micah moving, running, jumping—maybe doing a back flip? Well, she didn’t go for that. But everything she did showed her personal style.”

P H OTO G R A P H S B Y H O L LY A N D R E S ( K A S TO R ) ( 2 ) ; H E N R Y H U N G ( R I S K )

ON THE COVER

MIXING THINGS UP “I like to eat different things all the time. Prerun, sometimes it’s pancakes with fruit and walnuts, or oatmeal with coconut and chocolate chips. Postrun, maybe toast with homemade nut butter or Cake Batter Muscle Milk over ice.”

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THE LOOP

THE GALLERY

THE INBOX

THE LATEST

MIXED MESSAGES I really enjoy your magazine, but in August, I found a contradiction. “Do I Really Have To?” (The Starting Line) states that strength training is not necessary for improving distance running, yet the “Small Changes, Big Rewards” article recommends strength training. So, which is it? CAROLINE POT TER, VIA E-MAIL EDITOR’S NOTE: Our apologies for the

confusion. If you’re a beginner running the way Jeff Galloway recommends in his August column—that is, taking 15- to 60-second walk breaks every 30 to 60 seconds—the breaks alone will help prevent injuries. If you’re not taking walk breaks and/or you’re running for speed, most experts agree that strength training can make you more powerful and resistant to injury.

We hear you, and so we reached out to readers. More than 700 weighed in with their thrifty recommendations (below).

Congrats are in order for Jeff Bauman, a Boston Marathon bombing survivor who lost both legs in the attack. He and fiancée, Erin Hurley (“One Year Stronger,” May), welcomed a baby girl, Nora, the same week Lionsgate announced plans to produce a film based on his memoir, Stronger.

#RUNMYCITY We asked runners to show off their stomping grounds. Here are three submissions that made us envious.

@kellyaharris, West Vancouver, British Columbia

SUPPORT AID Most bra reviews don’t talk about anything beyond a basic bra, but in her article “Raising the Bra” (Gear, August), Kelly Bastone covered DD+! Thanks for looking out for us bouncier runners! TASHA M C L ACHL AN, VIA E-MAIL

JESSICA L. PE TRY, HAMMONTON, NE W JERSE Y CORRECTION: On page 32 in the

September issue, we reported that Brenda Martinez won the 2014 Carlsbad 5000. In fact, she placed fourth behind winner Julia Bleasdale, but was the top American finisher at the race. RUNNER’S WORLD reserves the right to edit readers’

submissions. All readers’ submissions become the sole property of RUNNER’S WORLD and may be published in any medium and for any use worldwide.

10 RUNNER’S WORLD OCTOBER 2014

Rebecca Patterson: “Danskin Extreme Support from Walmart. Costs about $15.” Lyndall Mae: “No joke, the new sports bras at Old Navy are my new running bras. I got 2 for $15 during a sale, and they’re comfortable and supportive.”

Glenn Hartrick, one of the featured runners on our December 2012 “Body Issue” cover, was hit by a car while riding his bike on June 12. After weeks in the hospital, Hartrick is now recovering, but it’s unclear if he’ll walk again. To raise funds for his medical expenses, friends and members of his triathlon club, MAPSO, have rallied together to organize the 2N’s—Anything Is Possible 5-K on August 31. Among other items on a motivational bulletin board in his hospital room, Hartrick pinned the Runner’s World cover he shares with Lucia Santiago, a car-accident victim herself who has since reconnected with Hartrick to offer support.

@ajaarvik, Reykjavik, Iceland

@digtherun, Atlanta

Next month, post a photo of your running group on Instagram and tag it #RWGroupRun. The crazier, the better!

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P H OTO G R A P H S B Y M I TC H M A N D E L ( B R A ); J O S E ´ M A N D O JA N A ( H A R T R I C K )

“Raising the Bra” was informative, but there were no bras for less than $37, and the most expensive was $98. Really? I know, “You get what you pay for,” but many of us run on a budget. Every girl wants to feel her best, but I don’t think a bigger price tag accomplishes that.

@free2bimperfect: “I love my C9 brand bra by @Target. Cheap, comfortable, and doesn’t collect sweat.” More than 200 readers recommended this brand.

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P H OTO G R A P H S B Y DAV I D B R A N D O N G E E T I N G ( BA R ) ; M I TC H M A N D E L ( LO F T U S )

THE QUESTION

Reporting on energy bars got food writer Nevin Martell thinking about what he’d whip up to serve his tender stomach after a hard effort. “It would have peanut butter, roasted peanuts, dark chocolate, candied kumquat, apricot, pineapple, toasted quinoa for extra crunch— oh, and roasted coconut. A tropical peanut-butter bar.”

THE STAT

38%

of our readers eat energy bars before or after a run. Learn how to make your own—and make them better—on page 77.

“I ate a square of chocolate during a race once,” says writer Rachel Swaby. She also drank a few Budweisers while writing about the beer mile. “I was trying to describe what it was like to drink it warm—it was not enjoyable. I didn’t time myself; the fastest I could probably drink a beer is eight minutes. I don’t think I could finish a beer mile.”

WHAT’S THE CRAZIEST THING YOU’VE EVER INGESTED ON THE RUN? @edpike: “Freshly grilled bacon with doughnuts at about mile 16 of the @runcolfax.”

@jevans453: “Accidentally swallowed a flock of gnats. Made me cough.”

Cassidy Fulton Valladolid: “Oyster shooter at an aid station in Newport, Oregon.”

Gillian Madeley: “Vaseline. On my first ever race, they were giving it out. I thought it must be some kind of energy gel. Disgusting.”

@CestLaRuby: “On a trail run a friend handed me a water bottle of vodka by accident (it was meant for a bonfire later). Sick for hours!”

@Laustin_AForest: “Rusty cemetery water with @Aaron_915. #YUCK”

@JoshuaGatewood: “Icicles off a mailbox.”

THE DEEP THOUGHT

“WELL, WE CAN ADD FALAFEL TO THE DONOT-EATTHE-NIGHTBEFORE-ALONG-RUN LIST.” RW Senior Editor @Meghgrace

Also crazy? Beer. See Rachel Swaby’s story on page 96.

The most preferred nut in America 7 powerful grams of plant-based protein

Over 30 essential vitamins and nutrients

FOR THE SWIM, BIKE & RUN. E V E N T H E A F T E R P A R T Y.

Nothing beats a handful a day for heart health For gourmet peanuts, shop aboutpeanuts.com

Scientiﬁc evidence suggests but does not prove that eating

WorldMags.net 1.5 ounces per day of most nuts, including peanuts, as part of a diet low in saturated fat & cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease.

WorldMags.net Editor-in-Chief DAVID WILLEY

What’s your favorite postrace indulgence? • “Root-beer float.”

• “Give me a medium-rare steak and a bottle of Cab— only after properly rehydrating, of course—and I’m one happy runner.”

• “Chipotle burrito— complex carbs, but it’s an easy decision.”

• “A giant iced coffee and a bagel smeared with avocado!”

• “For marathons, without a doubt, it’s an entire pizza. Half-marathons, I usually do three-quarters of a pizza.”

• “Bacon cheeseburger— but only after a marathon.”

• “Salty mountain of mashed potatoes and a frosty pint of IPA.”

• “Milk and cookies.”

• “Veggie burger and sweet potato fries!”

Editor JOHN ATWOOD Executive Editor TISH HAMILTON Editors at Large AMBY BURFOOT, MARK REMY Managing Editor SUZANNE PERREAULT Articles Editors CHRISTINE FENNESSY, KATRIN MCDONALD NEITZ Senior Editors JEFF DENGATE, JOANNA SAYAGO GOLUB, MEGHAN G. LOFTUS, NICK WELDON Assistant Managing Editor LINDSAY BENDER Editorial Projects Coordinator LORI ADAMS Reporter MEGAN HETZEL Executive Assistant KIRA WRIGHT Intern MCKENZIE MAXSON

ART + PHOTOGRAPHY Design Director BENJAMEN PURVIS Photo Director MICHELE ERVIN Art Director TAYLOR LE Associate Photo Editor RENEE KEITH Assistant Art Director TARA MAIDA Assistant Photo Editor ANNA SCHULTE

DIGITAL Deputy Editor CHRIS KRAFT User Experience Architect KEVIN KNABE Executive Producer ROBERT JAMES REESE Editor/Women ELIZABETH COMEAU Associate Multimedia Editor HANNAH MCGOLDRICK Web Producer CAITLIN GIDDINGS Designer DANIEL FUEHRER Senior Multimedia Producer DAVID E. GRAF Junior Video Producer DEREK CALL Senior Content Editor SCOTT DOUGLAS Intern AUSTIN SCHEMPP Tablet Production Supervisor JENNIFER GIANDOMENICO

BRAND DEVELOPMENT Brand Editor WARREN GREENE Special Projects Editor JENNIFER VAN ALLEN Intern MACKENZIE DUNSMOOR WRITERS AT LARGE JOHN BRANT, CHARLES BUTLER, BENJAMIN H. CHEEVER, SARA CORBETT, STEVE FRIEDMAN, CYNTHIA GORNEY, MICHAEL HEALD, KENNY MOORE, MARC PARENT, STEPHEN RODRICK, PETER SAGAL, ROBERT SULLIVAN

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS LIZ APPLEGATE, KRISTIN ARMSTRONG, CHRISTIE ASCHWANDEN, TODD BALF, ADAM BUCKLEY COHEN, BOB COOPER, CALEB DANILOFF, LAUREN FLESHMAN, JEFF GALLOWAY, PETER GAMBACCINI, MICHELLE HAMILTON, JOHN HANC, HAL HIGDON, ALEX HUTCHINSON, LISA JHUNG, CINDY KUZMA, YISHANE LEE, DIMITY MCDOWELL, JANICE MCLEOD (Research), SARAH BOWEN SHEA, MARTYN SHORTEN (Shoe Lab), CHRISTOPHER SOLOMON, BARBARA WEBB (Copy)

ADVISORY BOARD PAM ANDERSON; NATE APPLEMAN; PAMELA NISEVICH BEDE, R.D.; MARK BITTMAN; WALTER M. BORTZ, M.D.; RICHARD T. BRAVER, D.P.M.; JEFFREY L. BROWN, PSY.D.; BUDD COATES; DAVID COSTILL, PH.D.; JACK DANIELS, PH.D.; LAURA DUNNE, M.D.; MICHAEL FREDERICSON, M.D.; JANET HAMILTON, R.C.E.P.; CINDRA KAMPHOFF, PH.D.; NIKKI KIMBALL, M.S.P.T.; JORDAN METZL, M.D.; DANIEL J. PERELES, M.D.; GESINE BULLOCK PRADO; STEPHEN M. PRIBUT, D.P.M.; SAGE ROUNTREE, PH.D.; JOAN BENOIT SAMUELSON; FRANK SHORTER; CRAIG SOUDERS, M.P.T.; PAUL D. THOMPSON, M.D.; CLINT VERRAN, P.T.; PATRICIA WELLS

RODALE INTERNATIONAL Executive Director of Business Development & Global Licensing KEVIN LABONGE Editorial Director JOHN VILLE Director of Business Development & Global Licensing ANGELA KIM Deputy Editorial Director VERONIKA RUFF TAYLOR Senior Content Manager KARL ROZEMEYER Assistant Editor SAMANTHA QUISGARD Production Assistant SHALENE CHAVEZ RUNNER’S WORLD IS A PROUD MEMBER OF

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CUSTOMER SERVICE: At RUNNER’S WORLD, your satisfaction is important to us. For questions regarding your subscription, call 800-666-2828, e-mail rwdcustserv@rodale.com, or visit runnersworld.com/customer-service. Reader Preference Service: Sometimes we make our list of customer names and addresses available to carefully screened companies outside Rodale whose products and activities might prove interesting to you. If you do not wish to receive such mailings, please call 800-666-2828 or go to rodaleinc.com/your-privacy-rights. Manuscripts and art: The publisher assumes no responsibility for return of unsolicited manuscripts, art, photos, or negatives. Contributors should enclose return postage. For licensing and reprints: Contact Nick Iademarco at Wright’s Media, 877-652-5295 ext. 102, niademarco@wrightsmedia.com.

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RAVE RUN

VENICE BEACH, CALIFORNIA RUNNER Chanel Walker THE EXPERIENCE At the corner of Ocean Front Walk and Park Avenue—close enough to hear the Pacific’s crashing waves—you’ll find this mural, one of approximately 2,500 in Los Angeles County. To evade tourist crowds on the nearby boardwalk, Walker runs at dawn. “That way I can enjoy the area’s artsy energy in a more authentic way.” FAST FACTS L.A. was once deemed the “Mural Capital of the World” (a title now held by Philadelphia). This painting by Emily Winters, entitled “Endangered Species,” was completed in 1990 and restored in 2008 after enduring vandalism and exposure to salty sea air. WHILE IN TOWN Head to The Starting Line, a shop about two miles from this spot, for group runs on Wednesdays and weekends. RACES NEARBY Manhattan Beach 10-K October 4 Long Beach Marathon October 12 Rock ’n’ Roll Los Angeles Half-Marathon October 26 PHOTOGRAPH BY Matthew Turley

FOR DIRECTIONS, RESOURCE INFORMATION, AND DOWNLOADABLE WALLPAPER IMAGES, VISIT RUNNERSWORLD.COM/ RAVERUN.

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OCTOBER 2014 RUNNER’S WORLD 15

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energy boost esm Boost your run @ adidas.com/boost

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energy boost esm The more energy you give, the more you get. Race through the city streets you call home with the ultra responsive energy return of BOOSTâ&#x201E;˘. Boost your run @ adidas.com/boost WorldMags.net

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EDITOR’S LETTER

WHY YES, WE DO LOOK DIFFERENT

“A goal is just an awesome way to force growth on yourself.” —DEENA KASTOR

WHEN I READ that quote in this issue’s proﬁle of Kastor (page 68), I circled it with my trademark red pen and copied it into my journal. It put some things in perspective during a challenging time. Deena has always been one of my favorite people in the sport, and not only as an athlete, although her résumé is stunning. She’s set American records in nine distances and competed in three Olympics. After she won bronze in 100-degree heat at the Athens Games in the marathon, we named her one of our inaugural Heroes of Running in 2004 (and shot her portrait with her beloved chocolate Lab, Aspen). Two years later, she ran a 2:19:36 marathon in London and remains the only American woman to break 2:20. Then, challenging times. She broke her foot during the 2008

20 RUNNER’S WORLD OCTOBER 2014

Olympic Marathon and dropped out. A year after giving birth to her daughter, Piper, she failed to make the 2012 Olympic team. But since turning 40, Deena has overhauled her running and her life. She’s cut her weekly mileage in half and now puts her family and health ahead of running and work. But none of this has stopped her from setting and chasing ambitious goals. This month in Philadelphia, she will try to break the world masters record in the half-marathon. What Deena does best is embrace change, and that’s what Michelle Hamilton’s profile of her is really about. You’ve no doubt noticed that we’ve undergone some changes of our own. Several months ago, we set a goal of redesigning this magazine to be, among other things, more visual, more fun, and more reflective of what’s happening in the sport and in the running community. We decided it was time to change because everything around us in running and in media was changing. As I said, it’s been a challenge, but we think we’ve taken big steps forward. The magazine will still deliver the best possible advice on the topics we know you care about the most: training, racing, nutrition, injury-prevention, and gear reviews (especially of running shoes). We are still focused on first-rate feature-writing, and columnists like Marc Parent, Peter Sagal, and Lauren Fleshman are still writing for us, even if their columns live in new spots. Rave Run is still in the front and I’m a Runner is still on the back page. Rest easy, loyal readers. But from our updated logo—we like to think of it as having longer, slimmer legs—to fresh typefaces

A pair of stopwatches subtly guide readers through our expanded Personal Best section.

Dept. 2 of 4

Page 1 of 3

Page 2 of 3

Page 3 of 3

“The Last Man Up,” Christopher Solomon’s story about a runner’s disappearance at the epic Mount Marathon Race in Alaska (March 2013 issue), has been anthologized in The Best American Sports Writing, out in October. It’s the 14th RW story to receive the honor.

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Our redesign touched every detail of every page, including the logo (top left). Embracing change with Design Director Benjamen Purvis (above left) and Editor John Atwood (right).

and a series of new sections, the magazine will be even more inspiring, useful, and delightful (ideally on every page). RW is a vibrant multiplatform brand, and we are also amping up our digital efforts. But we believe in the power of print magazines to do certain things better than any other medium. We have tried to double down on those things. Makeovers like this don’t happen overnight— there were long hours, epic meetings, and countless revisions. But we had a blast. Creating something new with this talented staff has been its own reward. Most important: Regardless of why or how far or how fast you run, this magazine is for you. It is for all runners—even those who don’t dare apply that label to themselves because they think they’re not… something enough. If history is any guide, there will be no shortage of opinions on how brilliant/idiotic these changes are, and I look forward to hearing them all. We, too, have come a long way but are always striving to do more. DAVID WILLEY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

@DWilleyRW

PHOTOGRAPH BY REED YOUNG

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WorldMags.net Cotta has completed 26 races in militaryissue combat boots.

ASK MILES WHAT DO YOU KNOW?

STOMP OF APPROVAL

He’s been around the block a few times—and he’s got answers.

How to preserve happy feet—even in combat boots Amy Cotta wears her boots everywhere. Grocery stores, cocktail parties— even races. The turf-crushers became her tread of choice for everything from 5-Ks to 50-Ks when her son Tyler joined the Marines in 2011. Her initial plan was to wear the boots to show solidarity during his 13 weeks of basic training, but when that ended, the boots stayed on. In September, Cotta, 45, will lace them up for the 26.2-mile ﬁnale of Ironman Chattanooga. Via the nonproﬁt Boot Campaign, the mother of six from Franklin, Tennessee, advocates for military families. Here she explains how she keeps her feet (relatively) happy. —KARA MAYER ROBINSON

WEAR GOOD SOCKS My go-to is Swiftwick’s Aspire line—they’re thin compression socks that don’t bunch, which prevents hot spots.

started singing, and my feet were good again.

LUBE UP I used to get bad, red chafe marks on my feet where stiff spots on my boots rubbed. I’d always used BodyGlide with my wetsuits during triathlons, so I tried it on my feet. The rest is history.

made from softer leather, so it only took a few weeks to feel comfortable in them. STAY TOUGH In the winter, when I’m less active, my skin softens up. The more I walk around barefoot or stay in my boots during the off-season, the more comfortable my feet are when I start racing again.

CHANGE MIDRACE Last year, I did the Bataan Memorial Death March in the New Mexico desert and my feet were feeling gross. Then I changed socks. The heavens opened up, the angels

Is it wrong to enter only races that offer a finisher’s medal? —Tawny M., Oxnard, CA Of course not. People run, and race, for all sorts of reasons— weight loss, stress relief, competition, and, yes, medals. On the racecourse, those reasons dissolve in sweat, and all that’s left is the fact that everyone’s there. This is the beauty of the sport. My friend hums ’70s love ballads when we run. Would it be rude if I asked him to stop? —Thomas K., Alexandria, MN

Does it help a 200-pound man to draft off a 120-pound woman? @FueledbyLOLZ If you’re both driving race cars. Have a question for Miles? E-mail him at askmiles@runnersworld.com and follow @askmiles on Twitter.

24 RUNNER’S WORLD OCTOBER 2014

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PHOTOGRAPH BY HANNAH WHITAKER

I L LU S T R AT I O N S B Y A N DY R E M E N T E R ; S T Y L I N G B Y S H A N E K L E I N

First, let’s acknowledge that it could be a lot worse. Your friend could be belting out tracks from Grease or humming “The Itsy Bitsy Spider.” And then there’s always jazz scat. (Nothing like a little “scoobedy-doop, beepitybop!” to get you through a tough run.) Still…if this is threatening your sanity, or your friendship, or both, then say something. Just don’t make it a huge deal. Because it’s not.

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WorldMags.net AN IR IT OFF!

October 2009 350 pounds. Starts dieting.

BIG STRIDES

March 2010 325 pounds. Starts running.

An endurance athlete emerges after shedding nearly half his body weight.

Zachary Ahlstedt was much too self-conscious to run during the day when he weighed 325, back in 2010. So he laced up at 10 p.m. Under the cover of darkness in his Frisco, Texas, neighborhood, he sprinted and slowed until he couldn’t go any farther. Though he had covered only a half mile, he felt accomplished— and determined. That workout would be the ﬁrst step in a 160-pound weight-loss journey. Ahlstedt had been out of shape since he was a kid. At 27, he sought help for stomach distress. Doctors did test after test. Finally, a gastroenterologist gave it to him straight: “You need to exercise and eat healthier.” It was as if a starting pistol had gone off. “I called my wife and said, ‘I’m done,’ ” he says. Ahlstedt stuck with night runs, worked up to a mile, and eventually joined a running club.

Now Ahlstedt’s doctor appointments are of a more upbeat nature— although he recently overdosed on potassium due to a newfound obsession with hummus. And his enthusiasm for running has infected those around him: He helped his sister run off 90 pounds. Ahlstedt, a 32-year-old father of two and a software analyst, keeps looking to bigger challenges, maybe a 100-miler. “Running has helped me tremendously,” he says. “It’s this little vacation you get to take every day.” —CAITLIN GIDDINGS

HOW HE LOST— THEN WON

May 2010 300 pounds. Runs one mile without stopping.

ZACHARY AHLSTEDT BEFORE 350 LBS (ABOVE) TODAY 190 LBS (BELOW)

June 2010 290 pounds. Joins running club. October 2010 250 pounds. Runs first 5-K in 25:21. December 2010 230 pounds. Runs Dallas White Rock HalfMarathon in 2:10.

April 2011 210 pounds. Runs first marathon, Big D Texas Marathon, in 4:53. April 2012 185 pounds. Breaks four hours at the Big D Texas Marathon, 3:58. September 2012 190 pounds. Finishes Prairie Man Half-Iron 70.3 triathlon in 6:25. March 2013 Runs Grassland 50-Mile Trail Run in 10:29. September 2013 Completes Redman Triathlon (full-ironman distance) in 14:35.

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HAVE YOU RUN OFF A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF WEIGHT? SHOW US YOUR BEFOREAND-AFTER TRANSFORMATION USING #RWIRANITOFF ON INSTAGRAM OR TWITTER.

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WorldMags.net The Newbie Chronicles BY MARC PARENT

SEEING THE LIGHT A superbright headlamp makes running in the darkness virtuous, cool, and fun.

28 RUNNER’S WORLD OCTOBER 2014

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My epiphanies are almost never of the retail variety. But while waiting for my kids to ﬁnish shopping at a sporting goods store, I wandered into an aisle with a headlamp display and experienced a rare exception. “Headlamp,” I said, my face warming to a hot glow. There was a mirror connected to the display so you could see how you looked, but every promising unit I held in my hands seemed less so when I saw it wrapped around my forehead. And none of them were bright enough for anything more than nighttime grilling. But the seed was planted and the Internet beckoned. ILLUSTRATION BY NIGEL BUCHANAN

P H OTO G R A P H B Y T H O M AS M AC D O N A L D

y first pair of running shoes had three dashes of reflective material stacked vertically on the back of each heel. They were so small, I didn’t see them until they flashed one day in the bright sun. I turned the shoes in my hands and the heels blinked, and I imagined when I was running, they might look like drunken fireflies in the beam of a headlight. The fact that they were there meant the manufacturer acknowledged that you might actually run in running shoes and that those runs may occasionally take you over dark roads where there could be cars with drivers who you’d hope would see you. I wanted to meet the person who decided three reflective dashes were adequate to do that important work. I wanted to tell him

I’d pay more for shoes with more dashes, thicker dashes, better dashes. The baseline expectation you have for any exercise is that it not involve dodging cars. It didn’t seem right to have that bottom line held in place by fireflies. A friend once gave me a vest that would make a person visible to passing drivers partly because it was so reflective and partly because it was so ugly. It wrapped around the waist and connected with crude buckles to wide straps that ran over either shoulder. Another strap connected the shoulder straps at the chest and back. The material was white with a yellow center stripe and blindingly bright under almost any light. It looked like something you might wear if you were a nightshift baggage handler at a major airport. I threw it over my head one late afternoon and adjusted

the straps and buckles and looked in the mirror, and what I saw staring back was a down-on-his-luck crossing guard. I asked my wife, Susan, if the belt was righteous. She said no, but that I should use it. “I think if I ran in this on a regular basis, you’d end up leaving me,” I said. “I think you’d wake up one day and say: ‘Who is this sweaty, overgrown school patrol who was once my husband?’ And you’d walk out the door—you’d have to.” Other halfhearted attempts to make myself more visible involved a blaze yellow hat, a shirt with white fluorescent piping, and a red blinking light that clipped to the back of my shorts and bounced annoyingly—something I wore exactly three times and then lost, honest. So I resigned myself to running only when the sun was up. The risk here is that you become a seasonal runner—that person who talks about how much he’d love to get out if the day weren’t eaten up by a job and a house full of kids, who would run before work or at the end of the day if it weren’t pitch black outside. As the days grew shorter, it wasn’t the cooler temperatures that caused my mileage to drop. On my route along a country road that’s miles from the nearest town, it was the darkness.

A lot has WorldMags.net changed

Within the week I had procured a tiny, rugged speck of pure sunlight called the Lupine Piko. A lot has changed since the days of youth when we duct-taped flashlights to our ball caps and set out for adventure. Wait, no one else ever duct-taped a flashlight to his ball cap? Okay, neither did I. But if you ever imagined such a thing, the dream just got bigger. Calling the headlamp a Piko makes it sound small, and it is small, but so are black holes, and those produce galaxies. At the size of a matchbox, on full power the Piko throws roughly the same light as car headlights—a small miracle that also happens to cost a small fortune. To those who would call that overkill, I would say when you’re running alone on a dark, curvy road in the middle of nowhere, overkill wins the day—a car will see you wearing this headlamp. My first run with the light was one I would have skipped without it. I began the day fully intending to get out, but by the time no one needed me to put out fires, it

was long past sundown. Where I would have previously spent the night complaining about missing the run while scarfing cookies, I laced up and strapped the tiny box of sunlight to my forehead. Susan was skeptical until I turned it on and filled the room with more light than our six-bulb ceiling fixture. I touched to life the five bright-red blinking taillights on the battery pack. “I’ll be fine, you see,” I said as I headed out the door. “I’m a running planetarium light show.” I flew down the road in a bubble of daylight and thought about all the times I had been caught in the darkness while trying to squeeze a long run into the day’s end, all the drivers who looked at me like I was lunatic, all the runs I had skipped, and all the chips and beer I had downed instead. I had been negotiating my runs around natural daylight, and it often didn’t go well. It was as if I had been eating a bowl of cereal every morning and complaining about getting milk all over my hands until some genius finally said, “Umm, you

since the days when we duct-taped flashlights to our ball caps. Wait, you didn’t do that?

How do you manage running in darkness? Join the conversation on Twitter using #RWLight and by following @Newbie chronicle

know there are spoons for that, right?” A headlamp for running! I rode the circle of light hovering around me like a magic carpet through the darkness. I cast a wash of light into a forest where several sets of green eyes blinked, disappeared, and blinked on again. A low bank of fog rolled through and produced a light-saber from my forehead that I slashed left and right through the mist. When the air cleared, I looked up into the slow march of lace-white branches against the black sky overhead. The only car that passed slowed on its approach, and as it crossed into my light, I saw the whites of the driver’s eyes. He grimaced under the glare and I quickly turned my head so as not to blind him. Then I watched the car roll away until all but the taillights were swallowed by darkness, hundreds of yards into the distance, a pitchblack, sightless void that was no longer my problem.

You can ﬁnd more of the Newbie’s exploits on runnersworld.com/newbie.

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THE INTERSECTION

RUNNING LEGENDS

Where running and culture collide MOMENTOUS

Critics pan premiere of 4 Minute Mile, despite a charming performance by Oscar nominee Richard Jenkins.

A Kickstarter campaign to fund a Ryan Hall documentary raises $57,000. Two years later, fans/backers are still waiting for the film.

STOP!

Pet-activity trackers, which monitor how much exercise your pooch gets, confirm suspicions: Your dog snoozes 21.5 hours a day.

Chinese officials paint 90-degree corners at every turn of a stadium track.

Chris Pratt, who plays a chubby goof on Parks & Rec, uses running to get in superhero shape for Guardians of the Galaxy.

The inaugural 2014 Flo Beer Mile World Championship is set for December 3 in Austin, Texas (see page 96).

Ex-NFL player Chad Johnson challenges Olympic sprinters Justin Gatlin and Manteo Mitchell to footraces via Twitter.

32 RUNNER’S WORLD OCTOBER 2014

Tennis star Caroline Wozniacki plans to run the NYC Marathon just two months after she competes in the U.S. Open.

Double Olympic gold medalist Mo Farah sets a world record…in a potato sack, hopping to a 39.91-second 100-meter finish.

FRIVOLOUS

THE FEW. THE PROUD. THE INDEFATIGABLE. The Marine Corps Reserve Marathon debuted in 1976 with 1,018 ﬁnishers. Four men who ran that ﬁrst year have gone on to complete every subsequent race. These streakers, known as the Groundpounders, will line up for their 39th MCM in October. Here is their story, in 39 parts. —MIKE GRUSS

A music professor composes an original score to accompany a 10,000-meter race and conducts it live at Hayward Field.

GO!

Australian steeplechaser Genevieve LaCaze crashes a Kylie Minogue performance— until security escorts her off stage.

Boston Marathon winner Meb Keflezighi and his wife dine with the Obamas (and 400 others) at a White House state dinner.

Astronaut Steve Swanson runs six legs (31.2 miles) of a 200-mile relay race aboard the International Space Station. His teammates were grounded in Colorado.

Three Boston runners beat a T train in a fourmile race. The fastest ran 24:08. The trolley: 24:49.

Prince William jokes that his 1-year-old son, Prince George, “will be running faster than me very soon.”

Reebok targets Paleo-diet devotees with its own line of Reebok Bacon.

1. At 76, Mel Williams, of Norfolk, Virginia, is the oldest of the group—and also the fastest. Williams broke three hours in the Marine Corps Marathon (MCM) 20 times. 2. Williams started running in 1951 to lose weight for high school wrestling. He kept up running when he joined the Army in 1955. 3. The night before his first MCM, Williams visited Baltimore’s bars until 2 a.m. He slept on a friend’s couch. 4. His head pounded for the first five miles.

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5. Al Richmond, 75, of Arlington, Virginia, a former Lehigh University football player, worked at the Marines office coordinating the marathon in 1976. 6. Richmond overheard an “old fart” lieutenant colonel brag about running 10 miles and wanted to outdo him. “And then I was hooked.”

7. Richmond says one big reason he’s been able to keep the streak going: He’s never suffered a running injury.

I M AG E S ( P R AT T ), CO U R T E SY G A M E FAC E M E D I A ( R U N K E E P E R ) , M I TC H M A N D E L ( B E E R ), A F P/G E T T Y I M AG E S ( P R I N C E G E O R G E ), G E T T Y I M AG E S (J O H N S O N ); P H OTO G R A P H S B Y T H O M AS M AC D O N A L D ( S H I R T ) , M A R AT H O N F OTO ( W I L L I A M S , R I C H M O N D R U N N I N G )

T H E I N T E R S E C T I O N : V I C TO R S A I L E R / P H OTO R U N ( H A L L ) , C O U R T E S Y O F N AS A ( S WA N S O N ), G E T T Y I M AG E S ( L ACA Z E ), A N TO I N E CO U V E R C E L L E / U P PA / Z U M A P R E S S ( WOZ N I AC K I ), C L I F F VO L P E / T H E N E W YO R K T I M E S / R (C O M P O S E R ) , N B C U P H OTO BA N K V I A G E T T Y

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ADVENTURE IN ANY DIRECTION WorldMags.net

8. In April 1990, Richmond was shot by a mugger three times. He needed three operations. He refers to the incident as “lead poisoning.”

10. Will Brown, 68, of Raleigh,

tico Marine Corps base, where it’s on display.

North Carolina, enlisted in the Marines in 1967 and served a year in Vietnam. He then spent 26 years in the Marine Corps Reserves, retiring in 1998. 11. Brown decided “in a moment of insanity” to run the first race just to see if he could do it. 12. Brown donated his bib number, finisher’s certificate, and a piece of his T-shirt from his very first MCM to the Marathon restaurant at Quan-

13. In addition to his 38 MCM ﬁnishes, Brown has also run 42 ultramarathons, including ﬁve 100-milers.

14. Brown’s father was a Marine in World War II and was wounded at Iwo Jima. A distant cousin is one of the men raising the ﬂag in the photograph that inspired the Marine Corps War Memorial, which is near the MCM ﬁnish line.

15. Matt Jaffe , 73, of Hatﬁeld, Pennsylvania, started running on the Bucknell University wrestling team in 1962. 16. Jaffe stopped midrace to kiss his oldest son, who watched the earliest races from a stroller.

Emeritus Scholar at Old Dominion University, pioneered research on how performanceenhancing substances impact athletes and studied the effects running has on the body. 19. Williams literally wrote the book on how to fuel for a race. A textbook he authored, Nutrition for Health, Fitness, and Sport, is now in its 10th edition.

17. Jaffe now has run the MCM with three of his four adult children.

20. Williams also taught a course on marathon running. The ﬁnal exam? Complete the Marine Corps Marathon.

18. Williams, an Eminent Professor

21. Williams was a difficult teacher to

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keep up with. His students came within about two minutes, but none ever caught him. 22. Williams won his age group at the Boston Marathon at 51, 60, and 61. He’s completed 127 lifetime marathons. Local runners call him “The Legend.” 23. What is a Groundpounder, anyway? It’s a slang term used for a Marine infantryman. Marathon organizers gave the men the affectionate nickname in 2006. 24. There were five Groundpounders in 2006.

P H OTO G R A P H S B Y A P ( S TAT U E ); M A R AT H O N F OTO (JA F F E )

9. Richmond ran the marathon just six months later in 4:40.

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Roger Burkhart was part of the original group, but he did not run in 2007. Though he returned to race in 2008, his streak was broken.

26. Their best times at the MCM: Williams: 2:34:49. Jaffe: 3:01:50. Brown: 3:14:37. Richmond: 3:16:21. 27. The men have slowed. In 2013, Richmond led the group with a 5:52. Brown and Williams each ran 6:18. Jaffe ﬁnished in 6:42. He says he’s

happy when he ﬁnishes within an hour of Williams.

28. Brown used to keep a can of beer in his race bag for after the race. Now, because security measures are tighter, he waits until he’s back in his hotel to pop a cold Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. 29. All four men have been inducted into the race’s Hall of Fame. 30. On the Groundpounders’

started in the 12th year. This year, he’ll wear number 39. The other Groundpounders will wear the next numbers: 40, 41, and 42.

25th anniversary, race organizers gave them each a watch—stainless steel with the Marine Corps logo on the face—and a special singlet.

33. Every Groundpounder has the same goal: to be the last Groundpounder running MCM.

31. Last year, Jaffe raced in his anniversary singlet. He crossed out the No. 25 and wrote in “38th.”

32. Williams usually wears the bib number that corresponds to the anniversary of the race, a tradition that

34. None wishes ill will on the others. They often see each other on the course and offer encouragement. Of course, they also joke that one year they’ll be on their hands and knees as they approach the ﬁnish, yelling at the others to drop. 35. Brown carries the gene that

causes Huntington’s disease (a degenerative brain disorder that affects muscle coordination) but has not yet shown any symptoms. He credits running for “keeping that devil at bay.” 36. Williams had surgery on his left calf earlier this year. While he can run-walk, sometimes his foot goes numb after ﬁve miles, requiring him to stop and massage it. “That may add some time,” he says. “But I still hope to ‘beat the bridge.’ ” 37. Race organizers mandate that all runners “beat

the bridge”—meaning they must make it to the 14th Street Bridge, mile marker 20, by 4:40. That requires keeping a 14-minute-permile pace. 38. The men train with that 14minute-mile goal pace in mind. “I wish I could say the marathon gets easier the more you run it, but that’s not the case,” Brown says. “Luckily, the four of us have short memories!” 39. For MCM number 39, you might think the four Groundpounders would be focused on making it to 40. Nope. They all talk about 50.

P H OTO G R A P H B Y T H O M A S M AC D O N A L D ( R AC E B I B S )

25. Since then, the four remaining streakers have been racing the clock. But also each other.

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WorldMags.net Road Scholar BY PETER SAGAL

THE POOR MAN’S MESSI He had no skills, no experience, and no real understanding of the game. On the other hand, he could run.

36 RUNNER’S WORLD OCTOBER 2014

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The game began. It didn’t have

the lightning pace or surgical passes of World Cup action, so as the ﬁrst few minutes went by, I found myself standing around and idly watching the muddled activity in the distance—again, much like Little League. But then a Pink player kicked the ball downﬁeld to Sean, who received it with distressing skill and took off down the field toward our goal. I gave chase. And I couldn’t catch him. This was alarming. I honestly thought that I would be the best runner on either team—did I mention the 12 marathons?—but ILLUSTRATION BY MARK MATCHO

P H OTO G R A P H B Y M AT T H E W R E A M E R

love soccer, but inconstantly. I am utterly oblivious to its charms 99 percent of the time, but then every four years, during the World Cup, I fall in love again for the ﬁrst time, an Eternal Sunshine of the Footie-less Mind. This last June, as I was watching the games in Brazil, I was marveling anew at the players’ grace and athleticism (I’m an oaf ), their astonishing skills (I can hardly kick a can), and their running… ¶ Wait a minute. I can run. That’s about the only thing I can do, but still…soccer has to be the most running-intensive sport there is; it’s estimated that elite midﬁelders run a full 10-K during a match. So, I asked myself, could a (late) middle-aged man with no skills, no experience, and no real under-

standing of the game—but with 12 marathon ﬁnisher’s medals—hold his own on a soccer pitch? Or to put it another way—could my ability to run a few miles without vomiting actually have some use in a real, you know, sport? I put out a tweet, which was answered by Emily White, a Chicago singer-songwriter and longtime soccer enthusiast, and a few e-mails later, I was a proud member of Team Orange in the Chicago Metropolitan Sports Association, an LGBT recreational sports league. Jonathan, the league organizer, said, “If you have never played before and have no knowledge of the game, then you will ﬁt right in on that team.” First Lesson: Soccer players can be catty. At least, these soccer players. I bought myself some shin guards for $12, but figured old

running shoes would suffice instead of cleats, especially since I had no idea how long this experiment would last. (My one prior attempt at soccer, at an intra-dorm match in college, had lasted exactly three minutes, as I stood wondering how I might get the ball away from an opponent, and he ran straight into me, knocking me cold.) On a Saturday morning by Lake Michigan, I put on my new orange team jersey, shook hands with my new teammates (including the catty Jonathan), repeatedly warned them of my ignorance, and took to the field—rather, the “pitch.” See? Learning already. I was assigned to defense, which I assumed was the soccer equivalent of right ﬁeld, where I had once spent most of my Little League career. I was joined there by a pink-shirted opponent named Sean, whom I was supposed to defend. Sean was about six inches taller than me, at least 10 years younger, and chances were good he had played this game before. But, I ﬁgured, if he was posted out here with me, he must suck, too, and how many marathons had he run, huh? I wondered if, during the action, I might actually have a chance to run circles around him.

The Goal WorldMags.net Celebration

this wasn’t loping a long distance, this was mad sprinting, 50 feet at a time, and as much as I leaned forward and dug those old shoes into the turf, I couldn’t close the gap. Another defender intercepted Sean, kicked the ball clear, and the action moved back to midﬁeld. I gave Sean another look, and realized—ﬁnally—that even if poor players were relegated to defense, as I had been, he played for the other team. He was a forward—an attacker. The prestige position, reserved for the most skilled players. And not only was he much more skilled than me, he was just as fast, or faster. This didn’t look good. Orange and Pink were evenly matched, and the action flowed back and forth. Pink had some skilled midfielders, so the ball was often at our end. The action for me was moments of repose interspersed with mad sprinting. I kicked the ball once or twice—in the right direction—and even managed a header. I eventually began to think tactically; depending on where the ball was, I could move

toward the Pink goal a fair distance, relying on my one talent to get me back in time if the action reversed. Sean’s skills completely overwhelmed me, as you’d expect; I never managed once to get the ball away from him. But, I eventually realized, I didn’t have to. If I could just keep pace with him as he ran downﬁeld, keeping myself between him and the goal, he couldn’t take a good shot—he had to either pass it (and a better defender would intercept) or try a weak shot right into our excellent keeper’s arms. I like to think that he started to get frustrated—Who is this short bald guy, who can hardly get a foot on the ball, but who just won’t get the hell out of the way? The whistle blew at 50 minutes, with a score of 0-0. I never got to show everybody the Goal Celebration I had planned, which included a backflip and some Western line-dancing. Nor did I ever really get a shot on the goal, although I once headed the ball in its general direction. But Team Pink didn’t get to celebrate either. Because,

I had planned included a backﬂip and some Western line-dancing.

Does your running make you better at other sports? Join the conversation on Twitter using #roadscholar and by following @petersagal

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if in only some small way, they couldn’t get past me. My GPS watch, which I kept running between whistles, showed an elapsed three miles run, which seemed a fair distance on a 50-meter field. Most of that running was gentle jogging up and down the pitch, either following or anticipating the action, but there was a fair bit of mad dashing, usually in pursuit of Sean. I was tired, but not winded. I felt, appropriately enough, as if I had just run a fast 5-K. To a great extent, my theory had proven true— at least in a recreational game, and at least on defense (i.e., not having to kick the ball at a target), simply being able to run was a workable substitute for soccer competence. My teammates congratulated me on a good debut effort. “I like your hustle!” shouted our keeper. I thanked him, sincerely, and added, “Hustle is all I got.”

Peter Sagal is a 3:09 marathoner and the host of NPR’s Wait, Wait...Don’t Tell Me! For more, go to runnersworld.com/scholar.

WorldMags.net PUTTING THE FAST IN FOOD

Shack Track runners jumped at the chance to be in the Human Race logo.

A trendy burger joint fuels a running club.

SOCIAL T N MOVEME about 315, and there are plans to fire up Shack Track clubs in Boston and Dubai this year. Runners at the various chapters meet for three- to five-mile runs at 7 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month. Workouts finish at the restaurants, and as a reward (and an incentive to linger), runners get a free drink of choice: beer, wine, fountain drink, or milk shake. “We have competitive runners, women who come out with girlfriends, and even some people who haven’t run before but want the

Who? SHACK TRACK & FIELD CLUB Where? New York City Philadelphia Washington, D.C. When? Second Tuesday of each month, 7 p.m. Wanna Join? facebook.com/ ShackTrackAndField

free beer,” Ng says. “It’s been a gateway group for newbies. They do one of our runs, then they start running regularly. We’re definitely not intimidating.” —NEVIN MARTELL

Runners refuel at Philadelphia’s Shake Shack (left and below) after charging up and down the art museum’s famed steps (above).

double-patty cheeseburger after workouts. “It’s about finding a balance,” he says. Hoping to inspire customers and colleagues to create a healthy equilibrium in their own lives, Ng invited a few out for a short run once a month. When 50 runners were regularly showing up for Philly jaunts, chapters were launched in New York City and Washington, D.C. Membership now totals

38 RUNNER’S WORLD OCTOBER 2014

Calories in this signature ShackBurger: 490 Calories in a Shack chocolate shake: 740 Calories burned in a five-mile run: 567* based on a 150-pound person running a 10-minute-mile pace

PHOTOGRAPHS BY RYAN COLLERD WorldMags.net

P H OTO G R A P H B Y E VA N S U N G ( B U R G E R )

A burger and fries probably isn’t your standard postrun recovery meal—unless you’re a member of Shack Track & Field, a free running club hosted in three cities by the boutique burger joint Shake Shack. The idea for this unexpected marriage of fitness and fried food came to Allan Ng while managing the chain’s Philadelphia location in 2013. Ng, an avid triathlete, enjoys refueling with a

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KILLINGTON, VT

09.20.14 S PA R TA N . C O M

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42 52 60 64 WorldMags.net TRAINING

FUEL

MIND+BODY

GEAR

PERSONAL BEST GET FIT, EAT SMART, RUN STRONG

IT’S CALF TIME!

STYLING BY SHANE KLEIN

When you run, your calf muscles (composed of the gastrocnemius and soleus) lift your heels about 1,500 times per mile. This leaves you with lower legs that are strong but also overtaxed and tight. Indeed, a survey of 14,000 injured runners revealed that calf pulls were their second most common complaint. But stretching and foam rolling can help you stay healthy. See details on pages 50 and 60.

PHOTOGRAPH BY HANNAH WHITAKER

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OCTOBER 2014 RUNNER’S WORLD 41

WorldMags.net TRAINING

FOR THE LONG HAUL

What to do before, during, and after your biggest run of the week By Adam Buckley Cohen

IF YOU THINK of your body as an engine, then a great way to

add horsepower is with a good, long run—a continuous effort ranging from 90 minutes to 3.5 hours in duration, depending on your experience and race goals. By going long, you increase aerobic capacity by building muscle enzymes, capillaries that deliver blood to muscles, and mitochondria (which help power cells). Spending more time on your feet also strengthens the musculoskeletal system. And as even nonphysiologists know, you build mental toughness by pushing your body through those times it would prefer to wave a white flag. Long runs have served as a staple in training programs for more than a half-century. And with so many benefits, coaches recommend them even for runners who don’t have a race on the calendar. For those who do, these workouts prime your body to perform optimally on race morning, so start them around the same time that your event starts. Here’s a minute-by-minute guide to successfully going long.

TWO HOURS BEFORE

Eat a meal that consists of .5 to 1 gram of carbohydrate for every pound of body weight, says Dayton, Ohio–based dietitian Pamela Nisevich Bede: “In other words, if you’re 150 pounds, aim to consume 75 to 150 grams of carbs”—300 to 600 calories. Stay light on protein, fiber, and fat, which take longer to digest and don’t fuel muscles as efficiently. Consume 17 to 20 ounces of water or sports drink—“dehydration has been clinically shown to derail performance,” she says.

30 MINUTES BEFORE

This is checklist time. BodyGlide? Energy gels? Sunscreen? “But don’t do too much,” says Flagstaff, Arizona–based coach and nutrition consultant Alicia Shay. “You have a big effort coming, so stay relaxed.” A 2008 Olympic Trials qualifier and internationally competitive runner for the Nike Trail Team, Shay uses this in-between time to attend to e-mails. Keep sipping water, but not so much that you’ll have fluid sloshing in your stomach when you depart.

A weekly long run lasting at least 90 minutes will make you stronger, physically and mentally.

42 RUNNER’S WORLD OCTOBER 2014

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PHOTOGRAPH BY BENJAMIN RASMUSSEN

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C LO C KW I S E F R O M TO P L E F T: P H OTO G R A P H S B Y M I TC H M A N D E L ; T H O M A S M AC D O N A L D (G U A N D M I L K ); V I C TO R S A I L E R / P H OTO R U N ; F R E D R C O N R A D/ N E W YO R K T I M E S ; G E T T Y I M AG E S ( H U D D L E A N D FA R A H )

(1) Apply sunscreen before you head out. (2) Fuel every 45 minutes during your run. (3) Drink chocolate milk postrun to speed muscle repair with its optimal carb-toprotein ratio.

GO TIME

“The key thing with long runs is to start slowly,” says San Diego, California–based coach Greg McMillan. No matter how eager you are to get rolling, rein in your pace during the early miles. McMillan recommends “the old talk test: You should be able to chat away with your training partner.” If you can only utter a sentence before you gasp for breath, you’re going too fast. And that will spell trouble for the second half of your run, which, says McMillan, “is where all the great benefits happen.” 45 MINUTES IN

Begin to refuel. Take in gels and fluids at least every three-quarters of an hour during your run. “By fueling early, you are less likely to deplete your stores,” says Nisevich Bede. “And if you take in bits of fuel at a time and chase with water, you’ll absorb it better and are less likely to have GI distress.”

15 MINUTES TO FINISH

Tough it out. “As you get toward the end of the run, the fatigue curve ramps up,” McMillan says. You have to increase your focus and intensity to maintain the same pace. But keeping your pace constant, or even picking it up a bit, is crucial to reaping maximal gains. McMillan recommends using mantras for those soul-searching moments. “Run tall” helps athletes clean up late-run form problems like slouching and cross-body arm swings. And “nice, light stride” reminds them to avoid shuffling. DONE!

You’ll want to collapse on the couch. Don’t. “You should immediately start taking in fluids,” says Shay. Rehydration comes in many forms: water, sports recovery drinks, smoothies, even chocolate milk. Within 30 minutes, Shay also suggests carbs for glycogen replacement and boosting the immune system,

plus protein to aid in muscle repair. How those carbs and proteins come—whether in drinks, solid food, or a mix of both—is a matter of individual preference and depends on what your stomach is able to handle. “But you want about 300 to 400 calories total,” she says, “with a carb-to-protein ratio of 3 or 4 to 1.” WITHIN ONE HOUR POSTRUN

Stay active. Find a routine that helps you avoid the onset of soreness and tightening that can follow a hard effort, whether that’s a session of active stretching or a walk around the block with your dog. Duane Button, an assistant professor of exercise science at Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada, has found that subjects who used foam rollers on their leg muscles following workouts experienced less soreness and recovered faster than those who didn’t. Although he hasn’t done studies specifically with runners, he’d “speculate that foam rolling would help runners recover from a long-distance run.” He recommends performing a full lower-body foam roll, including your calves, hamstrings, quadriceps, glutes, and IT bands. (See “Get Ready to Roll,” page 60.) Roll the bottoms of your feet on a smaller roller or a ball.

How three well-known runners recover after long efforts MO FARAH 2012 Olympic 5000and 10,000-meter gold medalist “I immediately stretch for 15 to 20 minutes while my muscles are still warm and supple. Then, I put on some dry clothes, prepare an electrolyte drink, and eat food. Shortly after, I’ll shower and sleep for about an hour.”

MOLLY HUDDLE American record holder in the 5000 meters (14:42.64) “I try to eat something within the 30-minute window for recovery. If I drive somewhere, I’ll have a PowerBar in the car. I also take an ice bath right away—once I cool off I don’t want to get in. It’s harsh, but you feel better afterward.”

MARK BITTMAN author, New York Times food columnist, and runner “If a run is longer than 12 miles, I eat as soon as I possibly can. The rule is some carb and some protein: wholewheat bread and peanut butter, or a banana and a hard-boiled egg. But the rule is often broken in favor of whatever is around.”

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Follow the Leader Advice from the world’s best runners CHRISTO LANDRY, 28, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, won the Peachtree Road Race in July (28:25)—adding the USA 10-K crown to his 10-mile (46:41) and 25-K (1:14:18) USA titles. LOOK AHEAD “I plan out weekly mileage increases months in advance. That ensures a consistent mileage curve— and I don’t get greedy by getting ahead of it even if I’m feeling good one week.” STICK TO IT “When I’m returning from an injury, I keep doing the rehab exercises I’m given even after the injury has healed to ensure that it won’t reappear.” THE WORKOUT “About once a week I do a steady run of 45 minutes if I’m training for short races, or up to 70 minutes for marathons, at about 10 seconds off my half-marathon race pace. These runs prep my body and mind for the fast, steady pace of racing.” —BOB COOPER

OCTOBER 2014 RUNNER’S WORLD 43

TRAINING

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RACE PREP

TAPER TIME How, and when, should you reduce mileage so you can perform your best? BY CINDY KUZMA

NO TAPER/SHORT TAPER

IMAGINE HOW YOU FELT the day after your longest run ever. Then pretend your goal race fell on that day. How confident would you feel about doing your best? If you answered “not very,” you grasp the point of the taper—cutting back your mileage in the period before your goal race. As you run less, your hormone

levels stabilize, your muscles replenish their stores of glycogen and oxygen, and more red blood cells flow through your veins. Mentally speaking, tapering leaves you feeling “James Brown good,” says Saint Louis University running coach Tim Bradley, M.S., C.S.C.S.: rested, fresh, and race-ready.

TRADITIONAL 2- TO 3-WEEK TAPER

Runners tackling any distance can boost their speed by an average of two to three percent with a one- to four-week taper, says Iñigo Mujika, Ph.D., researcher and author of Tapering and Peaking for Optimal Performance. Here’s how to choose the best taper for you, based on your goals and fitness.

4-PLUS-WEEK TAPER

No change in mileage, or a 10 to 20 percent reduction in mileage in the one to seven days before a race

First week: 25 percent reduction in miles; second week: 40 percent reduction in miles; race week: 60 percent reduction in miles

First week: 10 percent reduction in miles; second week: 10 to 20 percent reduction in miles; third week: 25 to 30 percent reduction in miles; race week: 50 percent reduction in miles

CONSIDER IT IF YOU’RE Not aiming for a time goal. If you’re just testing fitness before a main event, resting can steal training time. In some cases, running easy the day before will do, says Julie Sapper, a Maryland-based running coach.

CONSIDER IT IF YOU’RE New to tapering. Research shows this taper gives most people the optimal balance between recovery and maintaining the hard-earned benefits of training. Start here unless you have evidence it won’t work for you.

CONSIDER IT IF YOU’RE Coping with injury. More rest may help you reach the starting line healthy, says Lisa Reichmann, who coaches with Sapper at Run Farther & Faster in Montgomery County, Maryland. But adjust your time goal.

…OR YOU’RE An experienced runner who

…OR YOU’RE Aiming for a personal best.

recovers quickly. Recall how you felt before previous races, says Bradley. If your legs felt springy after a shorter cutback, you might be among them.

If you’ve followed a good plan, you have little to gain from running more miles now, Sapper says. To stay sharp, do the same number and types of runs each week, just make each one shorter.

…OR YOU’RE Highly stressed. Stress can interfere with the way your body responds to training, necessitating more recovery time. “Sometimes sleep is a better prescription than more miles,” says Phoenix-based coach David Allison.

SKIP IT IF YOU’RE Tackling a new distance.

SKIP IT IF YOU’RE Tackling multiple races

SKIP IT IF YOU’RE On a streamlined plan.

You lack data to show how you’ll respond to both the training and the taper, Sapper says. It’s safer to err on the side of a longer cutback.

(say, two marathons in four to six weeks). Use this taper before the first. Then do a reverse taper, but stop at 60 percent of your previous high. Decrease by about 25 percent a week before the second.

Running three to four days per week allows time for recovery in your regular schedule, Bradley says. Cutting back how often you run for more than a week or two may cause you to lose fitness.

44 RUNNER’S WORLD OCTOBER 2014

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ILLUSTRATIONS BY TM DETWILER

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Less is More. Every Apple Pie LÄRABAR is made with only dates, almonds, apples, walnuts, raisins and cinnamon. Non-GMO • 19 DELICIOUS FLAVORS WorldMags.net

TRAINING

WorldMags.net THE STARTING LINE TIPS FOR BEGINNERS FROM AN EASYGOING COACH

BY JEFF GALLOWAY

Find a soft, tree-lined trail to give your joints a break and your eyes a treat.

You Asked Me Jeff answers your questions. My favorite park hosts races almost every weekend during the fall. Is it okay to run there while an event is taking place? Generally, yes, unless there are barriers keeping nonregistered runners off the course. Avoid the starting and finish areas. Yield to runners wearing bib numbers. And finally, consider running against traffic—that way, no one will think you’re racing without paying for it. I started running this summer. Now that it’s getting chilly, what should I wear?

FALL FOR RUNNING You’ve got to love the season of perfect conditions.

GO LONGER To spend more time enjoying the pleasant weather and changing leaves, lengthen your long runs (which you should be doing every other week). Run about three minutes per mile slower than 5-K pace and increase total distance each time by between a half-mile and a mile. Take a 20- to 30-second walk 46

break every minute from the beginning to avoid fatigue. FIND FRIENDS Because there are more motivational challenges in winter, it’s smart to sample running groups now. Find one with runners whose company you enjoy, and you’ll want to keep meeting up with them after the seasons change. But

DRESS UP October brings Halloween, and with it, costumed races. These events offer a chance to have more fun on race day—it’s hard to be nervous when dressed up. Avoid costumes that restrict your vision, take up lots of space, or cause you to overheat. TRAIL OFF Foliage fans will love a treelined trail, and the soft surfaces can be a nice change of pace for road runners. If you check out a trail, take care: Fallen leaves can hide holes, roots, rocks, and—gasp!— snakes, so approach covered sections with caution.

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JOIN OUR ONLINE TRAINING PROGRAM FOR BEGINNERS AT RUNNERSWORLD.COM/THESTARTINGLINE.

Say What? Running Jargon, Translated TECHNICAL TRAILS “Technical” means that a trail is rocky, rooty, narrow, and generally obstacle-laden. Runners who are new to trails should steer clear of technical terrain. Instead, look for rail trails, which tend to be flat, straight, and smooth.

P H OTO G R A P H S B Y J O R DA N S I E M E N S ( R U N N E R ) ; A N D R E W L E E (G A L LOWAY )

Autumn means more Goldilocks running weather—not too warm, not too cool, just right. Between the vibrant foliage and the abundance of other runners out training for fall events, there’s plenty to take in. And you’ll likely run faster than you have in a few months, since runners tend to slow by 20 to 30 seconds per mile with every five-degree increase above 60ºF. Here’s how to make the most of the season.

before trying a new group, find out if there are runners who go at your pace.

Start with a longsleeve T and running capris or pants made of sweat-wicking technical material. (Cotton clothing will absorb sweat and make you feel cold.) Wear light gloves when temperatures drop below 50 degrees.

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There’s only one race like it in the world. And it’s in our World.

Walt Disney World® Marathon Weekend January 7-11, 2015 Experience a weekend of running like nowhere else with the magic of Disney at every mile. Race through all four Theme Parks in the unforgettable Walt Disney World Marathon. Catch the fun and excitement of the Walt Disney World Half Marathon, Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge, Walt Disney World 10K, the Dopey Challenge, Disney Family Fun Run 5K or the kids races. Registration is now open, and ﬁlls quickly. Race to runDisney.com to register and learn more.

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TRAINING

WorldMags.net THE FAST LANE TRAINING ADVICE FOR PEAK PERFORMANCE

BY ALEX HUTCHINSON

missed. For every week of training you miss completely, postpone your goal race by three weeks. For every week of subpar training (with a cold, for example), postpone by one week. The trickiest situation is when you’re feeling excessively fatigued. There’s a fine line between overreaching and full-blown overtraining. If your training times have been getting worse for several weeks and you’re constantly tired, try reducing your training volume by 30 to 50 percent for up to two weeks and stick to easy running. If you start feeling better, aim to race, but later than planned. If you don’t, see below.

SALVAGE YOUR SEASON How to reset your race goals when your training goes off the rails.

ADJUST YOUR GOALS If you miss a few weeks with a minor injury or illness, and then fully recover, you can still run your planned race with a revised time goal. 48

You can afford to miss two weeks completely, or train at a reduced level for up to four weeks. Similar rules apply if you have to miss training because of work or family

FOR MORE FROM ALEX, VISIT RUNNERSWORLD.COM/SWEATSCIENCE.

POSTPONE YOUR PEAK By finding a later event, you can miss a week or two of training without scaling back your goals. Give yourself time to catch up to the training you

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ILLUSTRATION BY ZOHAR LAZAR

P H OTO G R A P H B Y A L E X I H O B B S

In April, Amy Hastings pulled out of the Boston Marathon three weeks before it started because her training hadn’t gone as she’d hoped. Her 2012 Olympic teammate Ryan Hall, in contrast, ran despite an injury-plagued buildup. He struggled to a disappointing finish in 2:17:50, almost 13 minutes slower than his best on the course. Deciding whether to pull the plug on a race is never easy, and not just for elite runners whose livelihood depends on good results. No runner likes giving up entry fees, fitness, and the chance to chase a goal. But forging ahead is not always smart. When training hasn’t gone as planned, here’s how to decide what to do based on the warning signs you encounter.

commitments. As a rough guideline, slow your goal pace by five to 10 percent for at least the first half of the race. If you feel good at that point, you can pick it up. If you’ve set a big goal and your training just isn’t going as well as you’d hoped—you’re missing your paces in workouts or having to cut long runs short, say—and you’ve ruled out possible medical issues like anemia, then it’s a good idea to race. Resist the urge to bail on competing just because you’re afraid you’ll fall short.

ABORT AND REFRESH Sometimes you just have to stop. Major injuries like stress fractures don’t allow any bargaining, but even lesssevere injuries like shin splints or plantar fasciitis can be season-ending. If an injury lingers for longer than four weeks, cancel upcoming races and shift your focus to getting healthy. Warning signs of overtraining are easier to miss. Watch for slower training times, difficulty sleeping, persistent fatigue, and irritability. If two weeks of reduced training don’t start to reverse the symptoms, try a week off. If that doesn’t help, cancel upcoming races and resume training only when you feel ready. It may be physically possible to push through overtraining, but you’ll never perform your best if you don’t get to the starting line with a healthy body, clear mind, and fresh legs.

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TRAINING

WorldMags.net ASK THE EXPERTS

What can I do about perpetually sore calves? Stretch your calves postrun, against a wall or by doing the yoga pose called Downward Dog. It helps to “roll” your calves on a foam roller or tennis ball—to loosen them up before you run and to massage them after (see “Get Ready to Roll,” page 60). Warm up well before hill repeats or speedwork by jogging 10 minutes, stretching, jogging five more minutes, then doing four 20-second pickups. Topical use of arnica cream or peppermint oil can help, as can avoiding high heels. —Cameron Burkholder is a certified running coach and personal trainer (enjoyfitnesstraining.com) in Albany, California.

I didn’t run for 10 days and my marathon is next month. Should I skip it?

Fend off postrun tightness in your calves and hamstrings with the Downward Dog yoga pose.

50 RUNNER’S WORLD OCTOBER 2014

How can I prepare for a hilly race when there are no hills near me? Get creative! First, check the race-elevation map to determine how long and steep the hills are so you can run workouts over similar terrain. Then look around (or go to a run-mapping site like mapmyrun.com) to find any incline that’s within a reasonable driving distance. There may be rolling hills in the next town or even one small hill, an overpass, or stadium stairs nearby that you can do repeats on once or twice a week. An easier solution is to set a treadmill to an incline. This method lets you most closely mimic the distance and slope of the race’s hills. —Mari Kay-Nabozny is a certified running coach and personal trainer at Ignite Fitness in Ashland, Wisconsin.

Long runs in most plans peak at around 20 miles about three weeks before the race. “That’s far enough to put you in a position to finish the race without elevating the risk of getting injured,” says Joe English, national advisory and online coach for Team in Training. The idea is that the combination of fitness (from training), rest (from a prerace taper), and race-day adrenaline will carry you to the finish. Some plans do go farther: Runner’s World columnist and marathon-training guru Jeff Galloway stands by his popular, if unorthodox, 26-or-bust program. “Our surveys show that runners tend to hit the wall on race day at about the distance of their longest run,” he says. “And injury risk is close to zero if the [26-mile training run] pace is slow enough and the run-towalk ratio is gentle enough.” Both coaches encourage walk breaks on long runs and on race day.

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PHOTOGRAPH BY HANNAH WHITAKER

STYLING BY SHANE KLEIN

The Explainer Why don’t most marathon training programs include at least one 26-mile long run?

You don’t have to forgo the race unless the break was due to an illness or injury that’s still hanging on (see “Salvage Your Season,” page 48). As long as you’ve followed a marathon buildup over the last few months, one 10-day break will have a negligible effect. Research has shown that in well-trained runners, there is little reduction in VO2 max (maximum aerobic capacity)—only six percent—after two weeks of no running. Other research has found that running-specific strength loss is also minimal during a break as short as 10 days. So, give yourself a week of gradually increased training until you’re back on schedule, and then do a final long run before you begin your taper (see “Taper Time,” page 44). —Joy Watson, who has finished 21 marathons, is an RRCA-certified running

coach based in Boca Raton, Florida (absoulute coaching.com).

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WorldMags.net FUEL

FALL MIXERS

Tasty single-serving smoothies pack seasonal ﬂavor and runner-friendly nutrients. Try one at any time of day. By Matthew Kadey, M.S., R.D. Fresh ginger helps mask the slight bitterness of kale. Chilly morning? Make a warm smoothie by leaving out the ice and heating the cider along with 1 cup water.

BREAKFAST SNACK APPLE CRISP High in protein, Greek yogurt tames your appetite, while oats provide beta-glucan, a fiber that may improve running endurance. 1 cup apple cider ½ cup 2% vanilla Greek yogurt ¼ cup old-fashioned rolled oats 2 Tbsp. pecans ¼ tsp. cinnamon 1⁄8 tsp. nutmeg 1 cup ice cubes

BLENDING BASICS For the best results, add ingredients in the order listed: liquids first, soft items (like yogurt or fresh berries) next, then firm produce, and finally frozen items. Begin at the lowest speed, and work your way up to high.

GINGERED WINTER GREENS Low in calories, winter greens like kale contain compounds called glucosinolates that have potential anticancer properties. 1 ½ 1 1

cup coconut water cup low-fat plain yogurt kiwi, peeled large kale leaf, center rib removed 1 tsp. minced fresh ginger 1 tsp. honey Pinch of salt 1 cup ice cubes

409 calories per serving 188 calories per serving

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FOR COMPLETE RECIPE NUTRITION DATA, GO TO RUNNERSWORLD.COM/FALLSMOOTHIES.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOYCE LEE

PRERUN

WorldMags.net POSTRUN

CRANBERRY BEET With fewer than 100 calories, this combo will charge up your run without weighing you down. Beets and spinach contain nitrates that boost oxygen delivery and improve muscle functioning. 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1

cup water small beet, chopped cup fresh cranberries cup spinach tsp. honey tsp. minced fresh ginger tsp. ground allspice cup ice cubes

79 calories per serving

LUNCH

MAPLE RICOTTA CREAM Ricotta adds creamy richness and a dose of whey protein, which is quickly absorbed, making it ideal for recovery. Pear and banana supply carbs to replace spent energy stores. 1 cup unsweetened almond milk 1 ripe pear ½ cup low-fat ricotta cheese 1 Tbsp. ground flaxseed 2 tsp. pure maple syrup 1⁄8 tsp. ground cardamom ½ frozen banana, chopped 387 calories per serving

SWEET POTATO PUREE No time for a sit-down lunch? Take this smoothie to go. It has all the components of a wellrounded meal—carbs, fiber, protein, healthy fats—plus immuneboosting vitamin A. Kefir is loaded with probiotics that may improve gut health in athletes. 1 cup low-fat plain kefir ½ cup peeled, cooked sweet potato, cooled ¼ cup canned navy beans, drained and rinsed 1 Tbsp. walnuts ½ tsp. vanilla extract 1⁄8 tsp. ground cloves ½ frozen banana, chopped

DESSERT

SPICED HOT CHOCOLATE Cocoa powder is full of blood pressure–lowering antioxidants, and according to a study review published last year, cinnamon may help control blood sugar in people with type-2 diabetes. 1 cup 2% milk heated with ½ cup water 1 medium banana 1 Tbsp. unsweetened natural cocoa powder 2 tsp. unsalted almond butter ½ tsp. vanilla extract ¼ tsp. cinnamon Pinch of chili powder 314 calories per serving

407 calories per serving

Steam sweet potatoes (or squash or pumpkin); mash and freeze in muffin tins. For an extra note of spice, dress up your glass with a ground-clove garnish.

A pinch of chili amps up the ﬂavor—and boosts calorie burn.

Cranberries contain potent antioxidants with heart-health beneﬁts.

Ground ﬂaxseeds are one of the richest vegetarian sources of omega-3 fats.

Blenders and accessories for every budget

Cost-Conscious

Big Spender

Travel Buddy

NINJA MASTER PREP PRO | $90

BLENDTEC DESIGNER SERIES WILDSIDE | $450

HYDRO FLASK INSULATED COFFEE, TEA, WATER BOTTLE | $24

It’s got a touch screen, blunt blades (no cuts!), and a wide pitcher, so no need to stop to push ingredients down.

Keep drinks cold for 24 hours or hot for 12. Buy it with the wide-mouth flat cap ($4) for easier smoothie drinking.

For less than $100, this machine easily crushes ice and makes great smoothies. The blades are simple to remove for thorough cleaning.

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FUEL

WorldMags.net FRIDGE WISDOM NUTRITION ADVICE FOR HEALTHY, HUNGRY RUNNERS

BY LIZ APPLEGATE, PH.D.

Beets and chocolate contain compounds that allow muscles to work more efficiently during intense exercise.

PACKING IN PROTEIN? In a study presented at the American College of Sports Medicine’s Annual Meeting, cyclists completed a 100minute ride and then drank a shake with either 85 grams or 28 grams of whey protein. The shakes also contained leucine—an amino acid that stimulates muscle protein rebuilding. The smaller dose worked as effectively as the larger at rebuilding the athletes’ muscle protein. CHEW ON THIS Eat a postrun meal with 25 to 30 grams of protein. Choose foods with leucine (milk, eggs, meat, fish).

CONSUMING NEWS The latest research reveals foods and drinks that can help (or hurt) your running.

54 RUNNER’S WORLD OCTOBER 2014

diet, but cut back on calories elsewhere since two ounces pack about 300 calories. HOLD THE BEERS Better pass on those postrace brewskis, at least initially. In a study by the University of Costa Rica, athletes drank three pints of beer or water within an hour of finishing a workout. Predictably, the beer drinkers had poor balance, slowed reaction time, and greatly increased urine production, leading to subpar fluid balance. SIP ON THIS Aim for 16 to 20 ounces of fluid (not beer) per pound you lose running.

A BITTER (BETTER) END Rinsing your mouth with a sweet, carb-containing sports drink seems to activate brain centers, stimulating you to run harder. But what about other tastes? Australian scientists gave cyclists a bitter, calorie-free quinine drink (similar to diet tonic) to swish for 10 seconds and then swallow before sprinting. The bitter flavor boosted effort by about three percent. SIP ON THIS Try a sweet or bitter rinse near the end of a training run to see if it helps you.

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Portable energy products upset my stomach. Are there natural options? It may be the carbohydrate load in these products that bothers you. Try fresh or dried fruit, such as raisins, dried pears, or apricots. Drink water after eating them to help you absorb the carbs and stay hydrated. Honey may also be easier on your stomach. Studies show it works as well as energy chews and gels in boosting endurance.

This year I’ve lost 60 pounds, quit smoking, and started training for a half. How do I balance my dieting-self with my always hungry runner-self? I applaud your efforts! To keep your weight down and your performance up, remember food is for pleasure as well as for fueling your runs. Aim for three to four meals a day that each include 20 to 25 grams of protein to curb appetite and support recovery. Include quality carbs, which will sustain your energy and health. And every other day or so include treats you enjoy to strike a balance with those dueling inner-selves.

PHOTOGRAPH BY BEN ALSOP

P H OTO G R A P H S B Y A A R O N WO JAC K ( A P P L E G AT E ); M I TC H M A N D E L ( A P R I COT S )

CHOCOLATE, PLEASE In happy news, researchers from London’s Kingston University found that dark chocolate may boost performance. Cyclists who ate two ounces daily for two weeks rode farther and tolerated more intense exercise compared with baseline tests. Researchers think epicatechins (a type of polyphenol in chocolate) may indirectly increase nitric oxide availability, which improves oxygen delivery to muscles by enhancing bloodflow. Studies show that beet juice improves performance in a similar way. CHEW ON THIS You can make dark chocolate a part of your daily

GOOD BUGS Gut bacteria are essential for overall health, and the more the better. Researchers from Ireland found that compared with healthy but unfit overweight men, professional rugby players had much greater bug diversity—and more of a strain called akkermansiaceae, which is linked to lower obesity risk and lower levels of inflammatory markers that signal disease progression. CHEW ON THIS More research needs to be done, but another reason to keep running!

You Asked Me Liz answers your questions posted on Facebook.

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ITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S TASTIER THAN MILK.

PEOPLE WITH TONGUES SAID SO.

Most people prefer the taste of Silk Vanilla Almondmilk to dairy milk. Try for yourself.

National Taste Test 2013; Silk Vanilla Almondmilk vs. dairy milk. Character is a trademark of WhiteWave Foods.

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FUEL

WorldMags.net THE RUNNER’S PANTRY

SOLAR POWERED Contributing chef and marathoner Nate Appleman shares his favorite ways to use sun-dried tomatoes.

Compared with fresh, sun-dried tomatoes contain 20 percent more lycopene per serving.

THESE INTENSELY FLAVORED, sun-kissed beauties are a concentrated source of nutrients. They provide vitamins C and K, iron, and lycopene, an antioxidant associated with lower risk of certain cancers. You’ll find them available dry or packed in oil (the latter are softer and easier to blend into recipes). “I like the umami quality that sun-dried tomatoes give any dish,” says Appleman, culinary manager of Chipotle Mexican Grill. “They add so much depth, and the taste reminds me of summer, no matter what time of year it is.” He uses them in salads, sandwiches, sauces, and dressings, or eats them with just a sprinkle of herbs. —YISHANE LEE

PASTA SAUCE

VEGGIE DIP

“This is one of my favorite pastas to make. It’s fast, easy, and tasty.”

“The combo of sesame and concentrated tomato flavor is amazing. This can double as dressing.”

1 cup sun-dried tomatoes 1⁄4 cup olive oil 1⁄2 cup almonds, toasted 2 anchovies 1 clove garlic 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil 1⁄2 tsp. chopped fresh oregano 1 tsp. salt Start cooking a pound of pasta. In a food processor, combine all ingredients listed. Process until just blended. Stir in ½ cup pasta cooking water. Toss sauce with hot pasta. Top with grated Parmesan.

1⁄2 cup sun-dried tomatoes 1⁄2 cup tahini 1 clove garlic 2 Tbsp. lemon juice In a food processor, combine all ingredients; process until blended. Season with salt. To use as dressing, add water, a little at a time, to thin to desired consistency.

FLAVORED BUTTER “Melt a pat or two of this butter on grilled steak, chicken, or salmon.” 1⁄2 cup butter, softened 3 Tbsp. finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes Handful fresh flatleaf parsley, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced Ground black pepper

To soften dry-packed varieties, soak in water, olive oil, or (for added ﬂavor) red wine.

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FOR COMPLETE RECIPE NUTRITION DATA, GO TO RUNNERSWORLD.COM/SUNDRIEDTOMATOES.

In a mixer or by hand, stir together all ingredients. To meld flavors, refrigerate for an hour before using.

PHOTOGRAPH BY BEN ALSOP

OBERTO ALL NATURAL ORIGINAL BEEF JERKY

VS.

JACK LINK’S ORIGINAL BEEF JERKY

WorldMags.net INGREDIENTS: BEEF, WATER, SUGAR,

INGREDIENTS: BEEF, SUGAR, WATER, BEEF STOCK, SALT, SPICES AND NATURAL FLAVORINGS, NATURAL SMOKE FLAVOR, VINEGAR. *Ingredient list refers to 3.25oz size of Oberto All Natural Original Beef Jerky.

LESS THAN 2% SALT, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, DRIED SOY SAUCE (SOYBEANS, SALT, WHEAT), HYDROLYZED CORN AND SOY PROTEIN, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, MALTODEXTRIN, FLAVORINGS, SODIUM ERYTHORBATE, SODIUM NITRITE. *Ingredient list refers to 3.25oz size of Jack Link’s Original Beef Jerky.

AT OBERTO, WE PUT EVERYTHING WE’VE GOT INTO OUR ALL NATURAL JERKY. (EVERYTHING BUT ARTIFICIAL INGREDIENTS.)

YOU GET OUT WHAT YOU PUT IN. Oberto All Natural Beef Jerky is high in protein, minimally processed and has NO ARTIFICIAL INGREDIENTS OR PRESERVATIVES, making it the perfect choice for anyone who wants to get the most out of their body and their life.

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oberto.com

WorldMags.net Make-ahead cereal balls provide a portable, high-ﬁber breakfast.

into cubes and toss with olive oil and turmeric, says Kirkpatrick. “The spice contains curcumin, which eases inflammation.” Cook in a skillet until beginning to brown, then slightly mash.

PUMPKIN ’CAKES

Start with a whole-grain pancake mix. Add a scoop of canned pumpkin to the batter for more fiber, betacarotene, and potassium. Cook as usual. For a healthy topping, cook fresh or frozen berries on the stove; as they break down, they become syrupy.

Top Your Tank

Do you feel sluggish or grumpy after a morning run? Next time have a prerun snack. A study published last year in the journal Appetite found that eating breakfast before exercising leads to better postworkout mood compared with exercising on an empty stomach.

About Last Night Have dinner for breakfast.

QUICK BITES POWER BAGEL

FAST BREAKFAST FIXES Jump-start your day—and your run—with these easy tweaks to your usual morning meal. By Denise Schipani

BREAKFAST BALLS

GRECIAN EGGS

Scramble eggs with Greek yogurt to make them fluffier and higher in protein: Whisk two tablespoons yogurt and two eggs. Cook in a skillet.

SPICY SCRAMBLE

For a vegan take on scrambled eggs, cut firm tofu

CHILLIN’ OATMEAL

For a no-cook take on steelcut oatmeal, try this simple overnight recipe from Rachel Meltzer Warren, M.S., R.D.N., author of The Smart Girl’s Guide to Going Vegetarian: Stir cup steelcut oats, cup low-fat plain yogurt, and cup milk. Put in fridge overnight. Eat cold topped with sliced fruit.

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FOR MORE FAST IDEAS FOR RUNNER-FRIENDLY FOOD, CHECK OUT OUR QUICK BITES VIDEO SERIES AT RUNNERSWORLD.COM/QUICKBITES.

LEFTOVER Spinach salad BREAKFAST Sautéed

spinach with diced tomato. Serve on toast with feta cheese. Adding vegetables to your breakfast provides a hit of antioxidants. LEFTOVER Meat sauce BREAKFAST English

muffin pizza. Spoon the sauce on top, followed by a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese for protein. LEFTOVER Taco fixings BREAKFAST Burrito with

brown rice, black beans, avocado, and salsa. Fiber-rich, it will keep you full till lunch. LEFTOVER Chicken with roasted potatoes and vegetables BREAKFAST Hash. Dice the potatoes and sauté with some onions. Add shredded chicken and any leftover veggies.

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOYCE LEE

P H OTO G R A P H S B Y M I TC H M A N D E L ( I N G R E D I E N T S )

Take your cereal to go with this make-ahead meal: Toss together dry cereal (pick one with less than five grams of sugar per serving) and seeds such as hemp, flax, or chia, “which are rich in fiber to promote fullness,” says Kristin Kirkpatrick, M.S., R.D., manager of wellness nutrition services at the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute. Add dried fruit and stir in peanut butter. Roll into balls (above), and freeze for 20 minutes to set.

Swap your jumbo bagel for a small 100-percent whole-grain version—or a whole-grain English muffin, which will help with portion control, says Kirkpatrick. Top with mashed avocado for healthy fat and fiber and a sliced hard-boiled egg for muscle-friendly protein.

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AVERAGE DOESN’T LOOK AT THE INGREDIENTS Delicious, Whole-Food-Based 20G Protein Blend

Energizing formula provides 1 full serving of fruits and vegetables,* plus chia, CLA, 5g fiber, over 5g aminos and is naturally sweetened with stevia

LEARN MORE AT GNC.COM/PUREDGE

*Based upon air-dried fruits and vegetables. ^Our products are tested by an independent third party lab for genetically modified material and test below a 0.9% ◆ threshold. This product has been tested by HFL Sport Science, a world-class anti-doping lab, for over 145 banned substances on the 2014 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) prohibited list via HFL skip lot testing protocol #ICP0307 and has been certified banned substance free. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Call 1.800.477.4462 or visit GNC.com for the store nearest you. ©2014 General Nutrition Corporation. May not be available outside the U.S.

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WorldMags.net MIND+BODY

Old Softie

GET READY TO ROLL

Add this tool to your prerun routine to prep your muscles to perform their best. By Cindy Kuzma CHANCES ARE, your foam roller doesn’t see any action until after your run. Although foam rollers are often used to ease postexercise tightness, research suggests that rolling out before you hit the road has perks, too. In a new study, athletes said the squats, jumps, and shuttle runs they did after 10 minutes of foam rolling felt easier than doing the identical

workout unrolled. What’s that back-and-forth doing for you? Everything a good warmup should: loosening up your muscles, elevating your breathing and heart rate, and psychologically preparing you to sweat, says study author Disa Hatfield, Ph.D., an assistant professor of kinesiology at the University of Rhode Island. But that’s not all. Self-massage may stimulate the release of neurotransmitters that boost

relaxation, or tinker with your body’s chemistry in a way that blocks feelings of fatigue, Hatfield says. Prerun rolling also may relieve excess tension wrought by your previous miles, says Chris McGrath, M.S., a strength and conditioning coach and assistant professor at Long Island University. “Sometimes muscles carry tension,” he says, “and when you break that tension, they can function better.”

A foam roller can lose its effectiveness over time, says strength and conditioning coach Chris McGrath, M.S. The life span varies by roller type—spongy white rollers wear out more quickly than denser, dark-colored models or those with a PVC center. Moreover, some products may last weeks in a busy gym but a year used only occasionally by one person. A quick visual inspection will clue you in on a roller’s condition, McGrath says. If an all-foam roller looks like an apple core after you’ve taken a few bites, or if the circumference of the center of the roller is significantly reduced, or the foam covering on a PVC-type roller has worn off, it’s probably time to invest in a new one.

TRIGGER POINT’S GRID REVOLUTION FOAM ROLLER | $40

Hard EVA foam makes this firmer than traditional rollers. tptherapy.com

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VISIT RUNNERSWORLD.COM/FOAMROLLER FOR A PRERUN ROUTINE DESIGNED TO PREP YOUR HIPS, QUADRICEPS, HAMSTRINGS, CALVES, AND BACK.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID BRANDON GEETING

WorldMags.net KINKY TOOLS Foam rollers aren’t the only way to self-massage. Travel Advisory

GAIAM RESTORE HOT/COLD FOOT MASSAGE ROLLER | $15

MUSCLE MASSAGE KIT | $15

Easily stashed in a carry-on bag, this nubbed ball and companion tension relief bar target knots on the go.

Pop this small cylinder in the freezer or warm water—your choice—before rolling out tightness or pain from foot problems like heel spurs and plantar fasciitis.

rejuvenationrehab.com

amazon.com

ROLL RECOVERY R8 | $119

ADDADAY ULTRA ROLLER PLUS SERIES C | $37 – $40

The frame—which adjusts for different leg sizes—provides the force, so you don’t have to use much arm strength to really knead muscles.

The sphere-shaped gears on this sticklike device mimic the kneading of a massage therapist’s elbow. Its small, red cog is ideal for shins and calves.

rollrecovery.com

Marathoner and flight attendant Kristen Soloway (who ran a 2:53 Boston Marathon in April) has five foam rollers, two massage sticks, and an Orb ball at her Davis, California, home—but she spends half her time traveling. “There is no room for a full-size roller on a plane,” she says. “I travel with my R8 . I’ll carry it—out of my bag—so I can use it during the flight. It fits easily under the seat in front of me. I put my feet on it for takeoff so it doesn’t go sliding.”

Don’t Do This!

STYLING BY PRISCILLA JEONG

addaday.com

HOW TO RUB RIGHT Sports massage therapists use a combination of methods—from slow strokes to targeted pressure—to loosen tight muscles and break up knots. Kyle Stull, M.S., a trainer and massage therapist, says to get the most out of a foam-rolling session, you should mix up your technique as well.

LONG STROKES Start by rolling the inside, outside, and middle of a muscle slowly all the way from joint to joint (knee to ankle, knee to hip). TARGETED PRESSURE When your

long rolls reveal a point that’s tender, linger on that spot until the tension dissipates— usually for 20 to 30 seconds. But stop sooner if you’re in real pain: Do too much, too

soon, and you’ll create the opposite effect, tensing up your muscles. BODY MOVEMENTS To work out

stubborn sore spots, keep the foam roller in a targeted position while moving your closest joint. For instance, when rolling your calves, stop and maintain pressure on a tight spot while flexing and extending your ankle.

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Many runners use rollers to help ease iliotibial-band syndrome—knee pain caused by inflammation of the IT band, the tendon that runs on the outside of your thigh. But rolling this area either before or after a run may cause further irritation, says Richard Hansen, D.C., a sports chiropractor and running coach in Boulder, Colorado. Instead, he recommends targeting your quadricips and tensor fasciae latae, a small hip abductor muscle on your outer hip that lies between your upper pelvis and IT band. When tight, this muscle can create excess tension on the IT band. For help locating—and rolling out—this muscle, see runnersworld.com/ foamroller.

OCTOBER 2014 RUNNER’S WORLD 61

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MIND+BODY

THE BODY SHOP

STRIDE RIGHT

Form Fixes

Strength-train your way to better mechanics—and faster times. OVERSTRIDING EVERY RUNNER should aim for an efficient stride. It allows you to run faster paces and longer distances

with less effort, while also reducing injury risk. Physical therapist and coach Jack Cady, M.P.T., says there are two ways to improve your stride: You can tweak your form (see “Form Fixes,” right) and you can do strength exercises (see below) that produce better mechanics. —NICOLE RADZISZEWSKI

SINGLE-LEG KNEE DRIVE Strengthens muscles that perform hip and knee flexion, and prevents overstriding. TO DO Fasten one end of a resistance band to your right ankle (the other end tied to a secure anchor). Hop forward, letting your right leg extend back. Drive your right knee forward. Slowly lower your leg back to its starting position. Don’t let your foot touch the ground. Do 3 sets of 25 reps on each leg.

SINGLE-LEG CRUNCH Improves your ability to resist rotation while running. TO DO Hold one end of an anchored band in your right hand and raise both arms overhead, keeping your elbows in line with your ears. Step forward until you feel slight resistance. Lift your right leg a few inches off the ground. Hinge at your hips to fold forward slightly, performing a mini crunch. Perform 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps on each side.

SINGLE-ARM ROW Strengthens muscles that keep your shoulder blades pulled back, preventing poor posture. TO DO Loop a band around an anchor. Hold one end in each hand. Keep your elbows at your sides. Step back until you feel resistance. Drive your right elbow back, squeezing your shoulder blade toward the middle of your back. Hold for 5 seconds. Slowly release the band forward. Do 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps on each arm.

Make it harder by holding a straight-arm plank with palms on the ball.

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FOR A VIDEO DEMONSTRATION OF THIS ROUTINE—INCLUDING A BONUS MOVE—VISIT RUNNERSWORLD.COM/STRIDEFIXERS.

strike, your heel hits too far out in front of your knee. THE FIX Shorten your stride by picking up your cadence. Aim for a level foot landing below your center of gravity at a minimum of 180 steps per minute. SLUMPED POSTURE THE PROBLEM You lean too far forward from the waist with a rounded back. THE FIX Keep your chest out, shoulders back, head looking forward (not at the ground), and relax your shoulders. EXCESSIVE ROTATION THE PROBLEM Twisting from side to side at the waist. THE FIX Check your arm swing. Your elbow should drive back actively with your hand close to your waist, followed by a relaxed forward motion with your hand close to your chest.

P H OTO G R A P H S B Y M I TC H M A N D E L

PLANK WITH KNEE DRIVE Strengthens core muscles to prevent hip and pelvic rotation. TO DO Start in a plank position with your forearms on top of a stability ball. Your elbows should be directly beneath your shoulders. Lift your left foot and draw your left knee in toward your chest. Extend your left leg back, not letting it touch the floor. Do 3 sets of 12 to 15 repetitions on each leg.

THE PROBLEM At foot-

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FIND NEW ROUTES WITHOUT LOSING Y O U R W AY

Westin offers localized running maps, so you can take your run outside. It’s just another way we help you stay fit when you’re on the road. Learn more at westin.com/movewell

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WorldMags.net GEAR

COOL STUFF ON HER

1 / ERICA SARA DESIGNS JUST RUN WRAP BRACELET This stylish band reminds you to cast aside excuses. $48, ericasaradesigns.com 2 / J.CREW HAIR BANDS Photo Director Michele Ervin’s favorite way to tie up a ponytail. 12 for $12.50, J.Crew stores 3 / FITBIT FLEX Executive Editor Tish Hamilton likes the five LEDs that show progress toward her daily steps goal. The Flex also monitors her sleep quality at night. $100; fitbit.com

1 2 3

4 / LULULEMON SWEAT CUFF A zippered pocket in this wicking cuff secures a house key or $5 bill for a midrun drink. $18, Lululemon stores nationwide

5 / BIA GPS SPORT WATCH Because its GPS “brains” are in a separate clip-on unit, this slim watch better fits a woman’s wrist. Hold the single button for three seconds to send an SOS alert and your exact location to an emergency contact. $279, bia-sport.com

COOL STUFF ON HIM 6 / MIO LINK HR BAND This optical heart-rate monitor pairs with smartphones just like a typical chest strap does. $99, mioglobal.com

7 8

9 10

ARMS RACE

There’s a lot of competition for real estate on a runner’s wrist. Here are some of the accessories currently wrapping the arms of RW editors.

7 / WITHINGS PULSE O2 An LED light measures heart rate and blood-oxygen levels. $120, withings.com 8 / GARMIN VIVOFIT Steps and sleep are synced with fitness data on Garmin Connect. $130, garmin.com 9 / SUUNTO AMBIT2 R Customize views with apps like a beers-burned calculator. $249, suunto.com

11 / BUFF UV HALF BUFF Can be worn like a headband, balaclava, wristband, and more. $13, buffusa.com

64 RUNNER’S WORLD OCTOBER 2014

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PHOTOGRAPH BY HANNAH WHITAKER

STYLING BY SHANE KLEIN

10 / ROAD ID WRIST ID SLIM Gear Editor Jeff Dengate likes having emergency contact info at hand in case something bad happens during a run. $20, roadid.com

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GEAR

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SWEAT CHARITY High-performing shoes and apparel that contribute to worthy causes

ADIDAS AKTIV PINK RIBBON M10 SHORTS A portion of the proceeds from these shorts is donated to the AKTIV Against Cancer Foundation, cofounded by NYC marathon champ Grete Waitz, and the National Breast Cancer Foundation. $40; adidas.com

ADIDAS ADIZERO BOSTON BOOST 5 This tempo run shoe has Boost midsole material for a durable ride. Adidas is donating a percentage of sales to the One Fund Boston. $120; adidas.com

FEETURES! ELITE SOCKS The anatomically designed Elite has a snug fit. A portion of sales from each pair is donated to the National Forest Foundation. $15; feeturesrunning.com

BALEGA “WORDS OF GRIT & GRACE” SOCKS Each pair features motivational sayings, and $1 goes to the Breast Cancer Fund. $12.50; balega.com

JANJI TANZANIA TIGHTS Janji works with various groups to solve global water issues. Your purchase of this pair gives three years of clean water to one person in Tanzania by funding clean water well projects. $68; runjanji.com

When running with a phone, I want easy access to the screen. What are my options? I use the Yurbuds Race Case ($30; yurbuds.com) to run with my phone in hand. The strap along its back can be used on your right or left hand. Plus, it’s made of a silicone that won’t stick in a purse or pants pocket if it doubles as your phone’s everyday protection. An alternative is HB Tune’s Hand Band ($25; hbtune.com), which fastens with hook-and-eye straps to your choice of right or left hand.

New & Notable OUTDOOR TECH ORCAS WIRELESS EARBUDS Waterproof “fins” keep these in your ears. The Whaleman Foundation receives $1 from the sale of each pair. $100; outdoortech.com

WATERPROOF SPIBELT An internal zip-lock bag keeps your stuff dry. Sales of the limited edition “Dam That Cancer” model benefit the Flatwater Foundation. $30; spibelt.com

You Asked Me RW Gear Editor Jeff Dengate is here for you. And your stuff.

ASICS “ACCELERATE HOPE” COLLECTION Asics is donating $10 from each pair sold (below, from left). In September the Gel-Noosa Tri 9 ($140) helps Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. In October the GT-1000 3 ($100) supports Right Action for Women. In November Gel-Cumulus 16 ($115) aids Prostate Cancer Foundation. asicsamerica.com

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The Garmin Forerunner 15 ($170; garmin .com) is a mash-up of the best budget GPS watch and the wristband ﬁtness trackers that have soared in popularity over the last 18 months. Like its predecessor, the Forerunner 10, this watch shows you distance and pace, but adds heart rate and step counting.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY THOMAS MACDONALD

W NE

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FINISH STRONG WITH

SIX STAR 100% WHEY ISOLATE PROTEIN GEL

PREMIUM SUPPLEMENTS. SMART PRICE. TRAINING FOR YOUR NEXT RACE STARTS AT THE FINISH LINE Six Star® 100% Whey Isolate Protein Gel has an outstanding nutritional profile, delivering 20g of whey protein with zero carbs and zero fat in each serving, plus no artificial colors. It’s a fast-absorbing and easy-to-take whey isolate gel for an on-the-go solution that delivers the purest form of whey protein isolates (WPI) with an award-winning taste you’ll love. 100% Whey Isolate Protein Gel is powered by ultra-filtered, 100% premium WPI for fast absorption, optimum performance, in a delicious single-serving gel that is fast and easy! Trust Six Star® 100% Whey Isolate Protein Gel for the best formula, best delivery system, and best taste! facebook.com/SixStar @sixstarpro

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WorldMags.net DEENA KASTOR , record setter and Olympic medalist, knows that her fastest days are behind her. So she keeps busy with work, being a mom, andâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;oh, yeahâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;preparing to smash the masters record in the half-marathon ...

but just for fun. By Michelle Hamilton Photographs by Holly Andres

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Kastor, 41, is training in Mammoth Lakes, California, for September’s Philadelphia Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon. Her goal? “Run a 1:09:30. Or faster, of course.”

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OCTOBER 2014 RUNNER’S WORLD 69

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After graduating from the University of

Arkansas in 1996, DEENA DROSSIN grappled with a career decision: Open a bakery or pursue professional running? The chocolate-raspberry scones, she figured, could wait.

70 RUNNER’S WORLD OCTOBER 2014

“But Deena was the first person in a long time who was like, No, let’s win stuff, let’s bring home hardware. She broke the mold of how American runners were measuring success.” Kastor is once again carving her own path. At an age when many elite athletes retire—Kastor turned 41 in February—she is still competing and smashing records. Earlier this year, Kastor set three new masters records in the 10-mile, 20-K, and half-marathon. On September 21, she hopes to claim the world masters record in the half-marathon at the Philadelphia Rock ’n’ Roll Half-Marathon. (The record of 1:09:56 was set by Russia’s Irina Permitina in 2008.) Kastor, though, isn’t racing just for masters titles. With her fastest days behind her and the new demands of work and family in front of her, chasing a record is simply a way to keep pulling the best out of herself. Because, as Kastor has learned, age doesn’t dampen one’s competitive spirit—or love for the sport. Kastor sits at her dining

room table in Mammoth Lakes, California, laptop open. It’s early afternoon and her 3-year-old daughter is sleeping. Or supposed to be sleeping. The bedroom door opens and Piper pops out, singing, “Shake your booty.” She demonstrates, then slams the door. Kastor suppresses a laugh. “I have no idea where she learned that.” The day has been a typical one: Run 10 miles, pick up Piper from preschool, do crafts with daughter, work. There was no massage or ice bath after the run. There

will be no strength-training session or second run later today—those are disciplines and luxuries of another time. During her peak years, Kastor famously took one- to two-hour naps. Today, naps are just as critical, not for Kastor but for Piper, because when daughter sleeps, mom can work. On the agenda today is writing the newsletter for the Mammoth Track Club, for which she is president, and coordinating appearances with longtime sponsor Asics. Other days, she may be sitting in on calls with USATF (she’s a board member) and fulﬁlling various requests (she recently wrote a three-part series for wives of military personnel on how to start running). After winning bronze at the 2004 Olympic Games, she wrote on a drugstore receipt: “My greatest wish besides inspiring a child to dream loftily in sport is to

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P H OTO G R A P H B Y G E T T Y I M AG E S (O LY M P I C S )

She knew that the world’s top distance runners trained at altitude and on teams, so she reached out to the legendary coach of an all-male postcollegiate group in the high desert plains of Alamosa, Colorado. Joe Vigil didn’t agree to take on the 23-year-old but said she could visit and they could talk. So Drossin loaded up her Jeep and set her sights on Alamosa, with no intention of ever looking back. It’s a move some might describe as gutsy, even foolhardy. But that determination, nerve, and how-far-can-I-go? drive would propel her to the top of American distance running. Over the course of her ensuing career, Deena Drossin (now Kastor) set American records in the 5-K, 8-K, 12-K, 15-K, 10-mile, 20-K, half-marathon, 30-K, and marathon. She dazzled the world with a stunning come-frombehind performance in the 2004 Athens Olympic Marathon. The bronze medal she snagged there, along with a silver won by her Mammoth Track Club teammate Meb Keflezighi, showed that the Americans could run with the best in the world. Kastor proved it again two years later by winning the London Marathon in 2:19:36, a time that broke her own American record in the distance. By year’s end, she was ranked the number one marathoner in the world, a distinction that’s been held by only one other U.S. female runner, the pioneering Joan Benoit Samuelson. “There was a time when just making it to the Olympics was seen as this big goal, and it is,” says Kara Goucher, 36, who competed in the 2012 Olympic Marathon.

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help in the appreciation of the journey; to instill in many the desire for fitness and health because of the vitality it brings.” (She scrawled a sandwich recipe on the other side, a habit of the runner who loves food as much as fitness: “open face ciabatta, r. beet, caram. onions, roasted r. peppers, cheese melted, w/ potato fritter & zucchini.”) These days, Kastor runs about half what she used to. On paper, she is scheduled to run seven days a week. Travel, a sick child, and other commitments often reduce it to five days. On a good week, she logs 85 miles, down from a career high of 140. “I’ve really loved the freedom I’ve had,” Kastor says. She has gone hiking, run wilderness trails (previously avoided, lest she fall), and raced on a whim. Her husband, Andrew, who coaches her as well as the rest of the Mammoth Track Club, says that after a workout, his wife sometimes comes home and asks, “Should I have coffee or champagne?” It’s easy to assume that the transition to a second—slower—phase of one’s career would be difficult. But Kastor has embraced it. “Forty is that stage in aging that’s celebrated by people I’ve known, so to me, I wanted to celebrate my 40s by doing what I love, being with friends, running, and eating,” she says. Toward that end, she and Andrew dubbed the year she turned 40 (2013) as The Year of Saying Why Not. Race cross-country? Why not? Run the World Cross-Country Championships just seven days after the L.A. Marathon? Sure, why not? “Competing at the highest level is a tough life, and a lot of athletes are deliriously happy when they can take their career in a new direction and embrace other roles,” says Jim Afremow, Ph.D., a sports psychologist who works with elite competitors and Olympians. Multiple factors influence an athlete’s transition to midlife, including the success of her career and whether or not she has something else to channel her energy into, he says. Kastor has had both. But equally as important, says Afremow, her setbacks have provided crucial mental preparation. Six years ago, KasAbove left: Kastor tor was forced to drop with husband/ out of the 2008 Olymcoach, Andrew, daughter, Piper, pic Marathon when a dog, Zita. Left: bone in her foot shatKastor enjoys tered. She thought the running in the injury might end her woods. Far left: Tears of joy career. It didn’t, but one (and relief) at morning she sat sipping the finish of the coffee wondering why 2004 Olympic Marathon. she was not struggling

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more with the enforced layoff. “I realized then that I am not just passionate about running, I am a passionate person,” Kastor says. “It was a relief to understand I could love a life filled with cooking, baking, reading, and writing.” She returned to competition, but the scare prompted Kastor, then 35, to join USATF’s board, a step toward envisioning her postcompetitive life. “I wouldn’t have been willing to make the time even a few years earlier,” she says. “But it felt right to start contributing in this way.” A few years later, motherhood became another turning point. Kastor made a hard charge to regain her competitive fitness after Piper was born in 2011. She toed the line at the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials, a month shy of her 39th birthday, confident of making her fourth Olympic team. Shalane Flanagan, Desiree Davila (now Linden), and Kara Goucher earned the Olympic bibs instead. (Kastor finished in sixth place.) “I was disappointed I didn’t fulfill my running goal and also felt I wasn’t being a great mom because I was selfishly pursuing that, so I felt like I fell short on both sides,” Kastor says. “I really had thought running and motherhood would work itself out, but I realized I needed to set priorities. After that, I put health and family first, running and business second. It really helps shape decisions.” Such a value shift is common at midlife, says Yolanda Bruce Brooks, Psy.D., a clinical/sports psychologist who specializes in life-stage transitions. “We are multidimensional people,” she says. “Spouse, professional, parent. If you live in one space, athlete or not, and enter midlife, questions like Who am I? What purpose do I serve? come up. There has to be balance. So many athletes struggle because sport is all they have.” It worked in Kastor’s favor that motherhood and midlife coincided. It felt natural, she says, for her training to be less of a priority. She cut back her mileage and made commitments to the Mammoth Track Club and Asics, believing she would soon be ready to step away from competition entirely. But that moment hasn’t arrived. “Forty rolled around and I’m like, I’m going to be doing this the rest of my life!” Kastor says, laughing. She thrives on training and racing. The stage—Olympic or otherwise—no longer mattered. Nailing a repeat in practice or claiming a masters title has its own satisfaction. It’s the pursuit of a goal that feeds her. “It’s really been since turning 40 that I have truly seen the value in running, racing, and pushing my 72 RUNNER’S WORLD OCTOBER 2014

own limits,” she says. “It’s been healthy, physically and mentally.” To keep it that way, she’s setting goals to match her current time demands. Kastor is unsure if she’ll run a competitive marathon again and is focused instead on the more manageable shorter distances. “I still feel at 41 I can get into good marathon

“DEENA has nothing to prove anymore,” says her husband and coach, Andrew. “What she is doing now is pure passion for the sport.” shape, but it would take pushing other obligations aside,” she says. “So I’m in a place now where I have to weigh what’s important to me. Would racing another marathon be greater than my value of giving back in other ways? I don’t know right now.” If Kastor isn’t sure exactly where her path

will take her, it might be because there aren’t a lot of role models out in front. Many elites step away from the sport in their 40s. Pete Magill, 53, coach, age-group record holder, and Running Times columnist, says that while elites like Bill Rodgers, Joan Benoit Samuelson, and Colleen De Reuck have gone on to successful masters careers, the list of top runners who have made the transition is short, particularly for women. “Men have a longer history in the sport,” he says. “Women are still catching up.” The majority of competitors who reign in the masters division, he says, were previously talented but under-the-radar runners who never made it to the big time. The rigors of training and racing is one reason many world-class runners may choose retirement over masters. “Sustaining that elite lifestyle is difficult, particularly when there’s little ﬁnancial reward,” Magill says. Injury history also plays a role. The runners who continue racing competitively are often the ones with the thin-

nest orthopedic files. “If you tear the meniscus in your knee, it can leave your cartilage messed up,” says Vonda Wright, M.D., orthopedic surgeon and director of the Performance and Research Initiative for Masters Athletes at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. “Later in life, the joint is achy because of it, and you’re more susceptible to future injury.” In other words, it’s not so much the miles on the legs that matter, it’s the injuries you’ve accumulated. Kastor has suffered Achilles issues and a foot break, but much of her career has been remarkably injury-free. And while Kastor’s fastest race times may be behind her, research shows that rapid decline is not inevitable. Muscles deteriorate with age and aerobic capacity falls off at midlife—if you’re sedentary. “The bulk of studies on aging look at the average population,” says Wright. “When we study aging athletes, the outcomes are vastly different.” Wright and colleagues biopsied the quadriceps muscle of 40 runners, swimmers, and cyclists ages 40 to 81 who exercised four to five days a week. They found that exercise prevented the loss of muscle strength and lean muscle mass across all age groups, concluding that the decline of muscle mass in older populations is likely the result of disuse, not age (see “Better with Age,” page 74). Similarly, Wright attributes significant drops in aerobic capacity in older populations to inactivity. She examined the performance declines of runners participating in events from 100 meters to 10,000 meters at the National Senior Olympic Games. The study, along with others, shows little to no decline up to age 50, less than two percent from age 50 to 70, and a steeper decline of eight percent after age 75. Maximum heart rate does slow and there are other factors, but “the drastic drop we expect does not have to happen,” says Dr. Wright, adding that you must remain active for your entire lifetime. Experts say aging athletes need to train smarter to excel. Kastor, remember, cut her peak mileage nearly in half. “Deena’s legs are fresh, and she’s got that springiness because she’s not weighed down by mileage,” says husband and coach, Andrew. The lower volume combined with consistent-quality work—Kastor’s current speedwork is the same distance and intensity as in her peak years—has kept her remarkably fit. Twice in the last month, Kastor went under three minutes for 1-K repeats, a time Andrew estimates she hasn’t run in five years. “I am way more

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surprised with her performances over the last 18 months than when she was training full-time,” Andrew says. “We really didn’t think Deena would be this fast at 40.” “She’s still elite,” says Goucher. “We’re all still scared of her.” Kastor would delight in hearing that. At the starting line of races, just before the gun, she likes to stride out, then walk calmly back, game face on. It’s her opportunity, she says, to show competitors how fit she is and that they don’t stand a chance. If easygoing Kastor’s intensity surprises you, it shouldn’t. As Afremow points out, “Competitive athletes must be ‘psychotically’ optimistic. It’s the mark of a champion.” And it doesn’t just disappear in your 40s. At a mile repeat session at a park in Mammoth, Andrew sends the women on the team off first. Kastor is in front within five steps. Her body is fluid, powerful, but not at ease. Her narrow face carries the maturity of age, but her body remains distance-runner lean, though less chiseled now that she’s skipping the weight-room routine. A minute and 20 seconds later, the men take off. The runners descend through the towering pines, pass a playground, then loop back, charging uphill toward the stop sign. Kastor hits the first repeat in 5:02. She tosses her gloves, walks, then jogs, seeming unable to stop moving. Kastor hardly looks the elder.

There is also the reality of her records falling. In March, Flanagan claimed the 15-K title. It hurt. “It was one of my most impressive records,” Kastor says. “The marathon record is important to me because the distance is iconic, but by no means do I feel the race was perfect. But the 15-K, I was flawless that day.” Kastor says new records are good for the sport, but she jokes that she hopes she’s dead when her marathon and half-marathon records fall. She may not get her wish. Flanagan has said she’s aiming to go under 2:20 Kastor isn’t one to dwell. She looks at at the Berlin Marathon on September what’s next, not what might have been. So 28. And Goucher says her pie-in-theshe insists she has no nostalgia for faster sky goal is 2:18. And those new masters times. “I’m not comparing myself to the marks? “Honestly, Deena’s new records runner from 2006 [when she set her half kinda get my competitive juices flowing,” and marathon PRs],” she says. “I’m comsays Goucher. paring myself to last week or maybe two Of course, Kastor knows the loss of a weeks ago—Wow, I ran five seconds faster.” record doesn’t erase the fact that in that Still, Kastor can have her moments. She moment in history, she did what no other can still get teary discussing having won American woman had done before. She bronze, not gold, in Athens. “I was the fitknows that what she gained from those test girl on the course that day,” she says. years is far greater than a number, and She’s also irritated at herself for not trying that pursing sport is really chasing life. to match Paula Radcliffe’s surge at the end “A goal is just an awesome way to force of the 2002 World Cross-Country Chamgrowth on yourself,” she says. pionships. She admits to having been inAfremow says that for athletes to keep timidated by Britain’s star runner. She did, competing, there must be a single ingrehowever, return to worlds the following dient: passion. “Michael Jordan had such year and gave it her all against Ethiopia’s a love of the game, he had a clause in his Werknesh Kidane. She took silver again, contract that he could play pickup games,” but feels a difference in the two losses. he says. Kastor, he posits, is running’s Jordan. “She loves running, training, and competing. Her motivation is intrinsic.” Andrew puts it this way: “Deena has nothing to prove anymore,” he says. “What she is doing now is pure passion for the sport.” Kastor had her splits written on her arm when she ran her 2:19 marathon. She’s debating whether or not to wear her watch for her September halfmarathon record attempt, as she tries to break 1:09:56. “Looking at your wrist all the time isn’t fun,” she says. She’s also thinking about running the New York City Marathon in November. Or maybe the Paris Marathon next spring. “If I stay healthy and enjoy training and racing next year, it may set me up to participate in the 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials,” she says. Or maybe she’ll be a commentator for the L.A. Marathon instead that day. There is, at least, one certainty: “I may not be traveling the world Kastor trains with and competing,” Kasand mentors tor says, “but I’ll still be up-and-coming running repeats when Mammoth Track Club athletes. I’m 60.”

“Aim for 5:10, 5:15,” Andrew says. Kastor replaces her bottle and looks up. “I’ll do 5:05.” Short pause. “I’m asking for 5:10 to 5:15,” Andrew says. Kastor cuts the three-minute rest to 2:30. She doesn’t want the men, who are throwing down 4:40 miles and who also happen to be in their 20s, to pass her. Before the third repeat commences, she says to the men, “Catch me if you can.” Not exactly playfully.

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DEENA KASTOR IS JUST AS PASSIONATE ABOUT FOOD AS SHE IS ABOUT RUNNING. FIND A FEW OF HER FAVORITE RECIPES AT RUNNERSWORLD.COM/DEENA.

OCTOBER 2014 RUNNER’S WORLD 73

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Better With Age

Want to get fitter and healthier AS YOU GET OLDER ? A few guiding

principles for runners over 40. By Margaret Webb Masters athletes are proving that as much as 50 percent of age-

P H OTO G R A P H ILL BU Y SHTERAT ATH IO EN R PBO Y LNLO AM CE KG (W OEEBSBH ) ERE

related decline, maybe even 70 percent, is due not to aging but to deconditioning—losing physical fitness by doing very little. When scientists probe the bodies of endurance athletes, they discover 80-year-olds with muscles and cardiac capacities akin to those of 20-year-olds. And elite women masters (over 40) runners, especially, are turning in performances that force us to redefine how long our so-called athletic prime can last. Consider the world record for the 50-plus age group in the marathon, the 2:31:05 set by Ukraine’s Tatyana Pozdniakova. That time would have put her in the top half of finishers in the London 2012 Olympics. “We’re just learning what the human body is capable of,” says Greg Wells, Ph.D., author of Superbodies: Peak Performance Secrets from the World’s Best Athletes and a professor at the University of Toronto. “We have to throw out our preconceived notions about aging.” Wells argues that exercise can improve our bodies at any age, hailing it as the most powerful tool we have to forestall aging and prevent and even treat just about every chronic disease that exists today. “If we had a drug that did what exercise did, it would be the biggest revolution ever and would be promoted all over the world. And all you have to do is go out for a run.” Indeed, tests of masters athletes in their 70s have revealed that their VO2 max, muscle mass, and athletic performance can in fact be similar to those of people in their 20s. “A lot of research now shows that training—aerobic, anaerobic, and strength—has effects on the human body at any age,” Wells says. “Exercise can help keep you young.” Of course our bodies will still age eventually, that’s unavoidable. But runners who stick with the program can delay the decline. We have to work for it, but it’s worth it. Excerpted from Older Faster Stronger: What Women Runners Can Teach Us All About Living Younger, Longer, by Margaret Webb (Rodale). Available at online retailers and stores everywhere in October.

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PHOTOGRAPH BY JOSHUA SIMPSON

First, the Bad News WorldMags.net The inevitabilities (sorry) of aging

Likely injuries In a study of 2,500 older athletes by Vonda Wright, M.D., the director of the Performance and Research Initiative for Masters Athletes and author of Fitness after 40, some 89 percent had experienced at least one sportsrelated injury since turning 50. Declining cardiac output On average, the greatest amount of oxygen we can take in and pump to muscles declines at a rate of about one percent a year between ages 35 and 70. Slowing times Performances typically drop off by one percent a year between ages 30 and 50 and by two percent between 50 and 75, then dramatically by six to eight percent a year. Loss of lung capacity Maximum breathing

capacity can decline by up to 40 percent between the ages of 20 and 70. Loss of dexterity and flexibility Muscles, ligaments, and tendons all become stiffer. Flexibility can decline by six percent in every decade after age 50, even if you’re exercising regularly. Loss of bone density After age 30, the quantity of bone cells can decline at a rate of .3 to two percent per year. For women, menopause can accelerate the loss to over three percent in the two to three years before and 10 years after. Loss of lean muscle mass Between ages 50 and 70, we can lose about 15 percent of our muscle mass each decade; after 70, it’s 30 percent. Loss of estrogen This wonder steroid diminishes inﬂammation, stimulates muscle repair and regeneration, and enables women to burn fat. Post-menopausal women have about the same amount of this hormone as men.

Next, the Master Plan: Train in Three Zones How runners over 40 can maximize the benefits of exercise and minimize the risk of injury Zone 1: Easy running, 75% of weekly mileage Masters runners should spend the majority of their training time in this easy zone, says Jason Vescovi, Ph.D., an exercise physiologist researching female athletes in motion. It gently stresses the body into making myriad adaptations. Tendons and muscles strengthen; heart and lungs get stronger; the number of red blood cells increases; blood vessels sprout ever more capillaries; and mitochondria, the microscopic power-generating parts of cells that convert food into fuel, both multiply and get up to 35 percent larger so they can burn even more fat and produce even more energy.

Zone 2: Target race paces, 5% to 10% of weekly mileage This second training zone is often called the tempo zone. (Use a GPS to set and monitor your pace, or try the talk test— you won’t be able to complete full sentences.) Although this zone corresponds to race paces, Vescovi recommends spending the least amount of time running in it—as little as ﬁve to 10 percent, or perhaps one run a week. That’s because most bodily adaptations occur in that ﬁrst aerobic zone and in the third zone. “This is about training smarter,” he says. “It’s about training as elite endurance athletes do, and they spend very little time in this zone.”

I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y N A M E G O E S H E R E

Finally, More Is Better Keep moving forward, however you can As for what dose a runner needs in order to stay ﬁt into old age—to live younger, longer—Wells says that more exercise is almost always better than less. “I believe training for a marathon is good for your health,” says Wells, “because it stresses the oxygen transport pathway; it puts pressure on your lungs, your heart, your blood, your muscles, inside your muscles, your brain, your nervous system. The stress stimulates your

Zone 3: Fast running or hills, 15% to 20% weekly mileage This toughest zone is sometimes called the anaerobic or lactate threshold. Uncomfortable as it may be, this intense training delivers massive rewards, boosting VO2 max, increasing the body’s ability to convert lactic acid to fuel, and improving overall cardiovascular capacity. This training also injects the body with youthful vitality by stressing it just enough to make it release human growth hormone, which rushes in to repair, rebuild, and renew muscles. This intense work will also help restore our youthful ﬁgures, as it brings on an intense calorie burn.

body to adapt and improve. Your body adapts as long as it has time also to recover.” Scientific dogma used to say that at age 60, our bodies lost the ability to adapt to exercise. According to Wendy Kohrt, Ph.D., founder of IMAGE, Investigations in Metabolism, Aging, Gender, and Exercise, older adults figured there wasn’t any point in trying. Now research and the performances of masters athletes show “that older people can adapt with the same relative improvements as healthy young adults—in bone density, aerobic capacity, muscle strength, and cardiovascular fitness in general.”

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WorldMags.net RW

NUTRITION SPECIAL

Craving a more perfect fuel snack? Four celebrated runner/chefs explain what’s in their own tasty and nutritious bars— and how to make them yourself.

BY NEVIN MARTELL

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OCTOBER 2014 RUNNER’S WORLD 77

WorldMags.net Marronthon Bars Runner Made By athletes, for athletes THE CREATOR

Picky Bars Two-time U.S. 5-K champion Lauren Fleshman created these bars for her triathlete husband, who has trouble digesting gluten and dairy. “I wanted to make a performance product that didn’t use artificial ingredients,” she says. Her treats feature a 4:1 carb-to-protein ratio (ideal for recovery), sodium to replenish lost electrolytes, and healthy fats for sustained energy. Six flavors, including Cookie Doughpness and Lauren’s Mega Nuts. pickybars.com

DENNIS MARRON 40, PIT TSBURGH. EXECUTIVE CHEF FOR THE COMMONER AT THE HOTEL MONACO IN PIT TSBURGH. RUNNER FOR 16 YEARS.

With two marathons to his credit, Marron has tried plenty of commercial energy bars, but none met his standards for taste, texture, and sustained energy. So in 2005, he designed “the perfect all-round energy bar.” Says Marron: “You get a quick burst from the agave and chocolate, and sustained energy from the hemp seeds and goji berries, while the protein [from wheat germ, nuts, seeds, and peanut butter] is great for muscle recovery.” The bars are available by advance request at the Hotel Monaco in Pittsburgh.

Nutrition per bar: 146 calories, 19 g carbs, 2 g ﬁber, 4 g protein, 6 g fat

Omnibars It might be made with grass-fed beef, but this bar ain’t no jerky. “We add carbs, like oats and sweet potatoes, to provide long-term energy,” says co-owner Brent Ruby, an Ironman competitor and exercise researcher who teamed up on the creation with a Montana rancher. The meaty power-ups have fans in ultra-athletes and backwoods firefighters. Four flavors: roasted peanut, mango curry, chipotle barbecue, and cranberry rosemary. omnibars.com

DO IT YOURSELF

78 RUNNER’S WORLD OCTOBER 2014

gRUNola Coat the inside of a 9" square baking pan with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 300°F. Spread oats on a baking sheet. Bake 25 minutes, or until oats are toasted and fragrant, stirring and shaking sheet frequently. In a large bowl, add apricots, cherries, goji berries, coconut (if using), hemp seeds, almonds, milk powder, and wheat germ. Mix well. Add toasted oats and chocolate chips. Mix well again. In a skillet, combine agave syrup, honey, and sugar. Turn the heat to medium-high. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.

Once it boils, quickly add the peanut butter, orange extract, and orange zest. Stir until peanut butter melts and the mixture is well combined. Pour peanut butter mixture over oatmeal mixture. Stir well to combine. Quickly spread it in the prepared pan, and with wet hands, press into an even layer. Cover and chill for 4 hours, or until the next day. Cut into 1¼" x 2¼" bars. To store, wrap individually in foil. Store in the fridge for up to 4 weeks. Freeze to store longer. Makes 28 bars.

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The backbone of these bars (out in November) is teff, an Ethiopian grain rich in the stuff a runner needs: iron, protein, and amino acids. “I’d been hearing about it for years in running circles, but couldn’t find an energy bar that had it, so I filled the void,” says Karen Simmonds-Brady, a mom and 2:51 marathoner from Auburn, New York. Three flavors: mixed berry, dark chocolate peanut butter, dark chocolate coconut. grunola.com

PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID BRANDON GEETING

P R E V I O U S PAG E : P H OTO G R A P H S B Y M I TC H M A N D E L

½ cup steel-cut oats ½ cup dried apricots, finely chopped ½ cup tart or sweet dried cherries, roughly chopped ½ cup dried goji berries, roughly chopped ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut (optional) ¼ cup shelled hemp seeds ¼ cup blanched almonds, chopped ¼ cup nonfat dry milk powder ¼ cup toasted wheat germ ½ cup semisweet chocolate baking chips ¼ cup agave syrup ¼ cup honey 1⁄3 cup turbinado sugar ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons chunky peanut butter ½ teaspoon orange extract 1 teaspoon orange zest

WorldMags.net El Guapo’s Great Energy Bars Nutrition per bar: 231 calories, 26 g carbs, 3 g ﬁber, 4 g protein, 14 g fat

THE CREATOR BILL LYNCH 33, LOUISVILLE. CHEF AT THE BRISTOL BAR AND GRILL. RUNNER FOR THREE YEARS.

Batch Master DIY tips from Camilla Saulsbury, author of Power Hungry: The Ultimate Energy Bar Cookbook Compress Once the energy bar mixture is in the pan, place another pan on top of it and push down hard to ensure that the bars stick together.

A few years ago, when Bill Lynch hit 350 pounds, he knew it was time to get healthy. He enrolled in a Couch to 5-K program, having never run a day in his life. Today, he’s a coach for the program, down 40 pounds, and will run his first half-marathon in November. Running has also helped Lynch’s cooking. “It gives me time to think, so I can be more creative in the kitchen,” he says. A long run inspired him to create these vegan, gluten-free banana bars. Lynch (whose nickname among his staff is El Guapo) makes them with soy flour because it’s high in protein and gluten-free. “They’ve got a mix of fiber to make you feel full, there’s long-term energy from the oats, and bananas give you quick energy.”

Shape Just because they’re called bars doesn’t mean you can’t experiment a little. Try rolling mixtures into small balls or cutting into cubes for bite-size energy hits.

Wrap For no-mess, easy-access portability, tightly wrap individual pieces in parchment paper or plastic wrap.

Store Most bars can be refrigerated for one to two weeks or kept in the freezer in an airtight container for up to three months (allow an hour to thaw).

DO IT YOURSELF 2 very ripe bananas ¾ cup dark brown sugar ½ cup canola oil or melted coconut oil ½ teaspoon vanilla extract ½ teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon cinnamon ½ teaspoon nutmeg ¾ cup soy flour or all-purpose flour 1½ cups old-fashioned rolled oats ½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes, toasted, or an

additional ½ cup oats ¾ cup pecans, chopped ¾ cup golden raisins Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9" square baking pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Add the sugar, oil, and vanilla. Use a hand-mixer or whisk to combine until smooth. In a separate large bowl, combine the baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg,

flour, oats, and coconut (or additional ½ cup oats if omitting coconut). Add the banana mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in pecans and raisins. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan and spread evenly. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the top puffs and turns golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool completely. Cut into bars and wrap individually in plastic wrap to keep fresh. Makes 16 bars.

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OCTOBER 2014 RUNNER’S WORLD 79

WorldMags.net Four-Ingredient Cranberry Walnut Bars

THE CREATOR PAM ANDERSON 57, DARIEN, CT. COOKBOOK AUTHOR, RUNNER’S WORLD CONTRIBUTING CHEF, BLOGGER THREEMANYCOOKS.COM. RUNNER FOR 10 YEARS.

Nutrition per bar: 130 calories, 15 g carbs, 2 g ﬁber, 2 g protein, 8 g fat

When she began running a decade ago, Pam Anderson found it “so empowering and kick-ass.” But she was disappointed when she started looking for an energy bar to take on longer runs, citing the artiﬁcial ingredients added to improve color, ﬂavor, and texture, or to prolong shelf life. Plus, she found that many bars tasted like junk food. To please her palate and save her system from unpronounceable additives and excessive sugar, she created an alternative with the rule, “K.I.S.S.”—Keep It Simple, Stupid. Her no-fuss, no-bake bars include just four ingredients. “They’re all superfoods,” she says. “Dates are the binder, cranberries lend sweetness, the nuts offer crunch, and the coconut adds texture. Throw it all into a food processor, pat the mix into a pan, and have a natural treat for your next run.”

Fast Fuel: From Buffalo Meat to Cricket Protein

1700s Settlers adopt pemmican, a bar created by Native Americans and made with buffalo, berries, and fat.

80 RUNNER’S WORLD OCTOBER 2014

DO IT YOURSELF 1 1 1 1

cup walnut pieces cup pitted dates cup dried cranberries cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 325°F. Place the walnuts in a small baking pan and toast 10 minutes, or until fragrant and lightly browned. Remove from oven and set aside to cool. Line an 8" square baking pan with plastic wrap. Coat the inside with cooking spray. In a food processor, combine the dates, cranberries, walnuts, and coconut. Process until fruit and nuts are ground into fine pieces. Add one tablespoon of water. Continue to process until mixture begins to hold together when pressed with your fingers. Pour mixture into prepared pan. With your hands or the back of a spoon or measuring cup, spread the mixture out and press to compact. Refrigerate 1 hour, then cut into 16 squares and serve. You can store the bars in an airtight container in the fridge for several days. Makes 16 bars.

1960s Inspired by astronaut food, NASA and Pillsbury create Space Food Sticks, touting their balance of carbs, protein, and fat.

1986 Marathoner Brian Maxwell launches PowerBar with $55,000 and markets the carbheavy bars as midworkout fuel.

1993 Clif Bars make $1 million in sales after only a year on the market.

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1998 Balance Bar Co. goes public. Its 40% carb, 30% protein, 30% fat formulation was inspired by the inventor of the Zone Diet.

WorldMags.net PackFit Bars

THE CREATOR WILL ARTLEY 37, FALLS CHURCH, VA. EXECUTIVE CHEF AT PIZZERIA ORSO. RUNNER FOR ONE YEAR.

As Will Artley’s career took off, his health declined. He ate and drank too much, and in early 2013, he weighed 340 pounds. Looking to stop the slide, he ran his ﬁrst mile that July. He tried gels for fuel, but they left him unsatisﬁed. So he created a bar packed with honey and dates for quick energy, and dried cherries to hasten recovery. Artley named the bars after his wife’s health business. “She’s been my biggest supporter in my quest to become healthy,” he says. He’s since lost 115 pounds and run two marathons. “Food is my saving grace,” says Artley. “For a while, it was also killing me, but now I’m harnessing it to make a positive change.”

Nutrition per bar: 257 calories, 45 g carbs, 7 g ﬁber, 6 g protein, 9 g fat

DO IT YOURSELF ¼ ¼ ¼ ½ 1 ¼ ¼

26 1⁄8 ½ ¼ ¼ ¼

1999 Luna Bars arrive. The bars are designed to offer optimal nutrition for women.

cup golden flaxseeds cup brown flaxseeds cup chia seeds cup steel-cut oats cup raw chopped cashews cup unsalted shelled sunflower seeds cup dried tart cherries or roughly chopped dried apricots pitted dates or fresh figs, roughly chopped teaspoon cinnamon cup unsweetened coconut flakes (optional) cup raw vanilla protein powder cup unsweetened cocoa powder cup raw honey Pinch of salt

2000 Nestlé buys PowerBar for $375 million.

2003 Lärabars hit shelves, and cherry pie and cashew cookies are reimagined as runner fuel.

Line an 8" square baking pan with plastic wrap. Coat the inside with cooking spray. In a food processor, combine the golden and brown flaxseeds, chia seeds, oats, cashews, sunflower seeds, cherries, dates, cinnamon, coconut (if using), protein powder, cocoa powder, honey, and salt. Process ingredients

2004 Snickers debuts its Marathon Energy Bar, inspired by the candy but tailored to athletes’ needs with more protein and less fat.

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for about 1 minute, or until nuts and fruit are broken into small pieces and the mixture starts to move around the blade in one mass. Pour batter into the pan and press vigorously to compact. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Cut into 16 bars. Leave refrigerated until ready to eat. Makes 16 bars.

2011 Energy and nutrition bar sales hit $1.7 billion in the U.S., according to a Mintel report.

2012 Energy bar manufacturer Chapul introduces bars with cricket protein powder, claiming they have twice the protein of beef.

OCTOBER 2014 RUNNER’S WORLD 81

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THE FIRST-EVER LINCOLN MKC. LIVE IN YOUR MOMENT. Be able to meet challenges head-on, with the turbocharged EcoBoost速 engine and active noise control technology in the 2015 MKC. Experience the first-ever MKC at Lincoln.com/MKC.

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aniel Burnham lived 100 years before Instagram. If the famed city planner had acquired an account, he might have posted a photo of the Lake Michigan shoreline with the hashtag #foreveropen freeandclear to promote his vision of a noncommercial, open-access lakefront. Runners in Chicago have Burnham to thank for miles of continuous trail that is, without question, the best part of running in the Windy City. The path runs parallel to Lake Shore Drive on the city’s eastern edge, and boasts stellar views of the city, abundant restrooms and water fountains, and markers every half-mile for 18 miles. Chicagoans can also thank social media for forging a superstrong local running community: On Twitter, #chiLFT reveals weather conditions, closures, and incidents on the trail, and #runCHI curates everything from training recaps to notices for runner-friendly yoga classes; on Facebook, the Chicago Area Runners Association (CARA) runs promotions with partner races; apps like Fountain Finder (iOS, free) make it easy to locate water stops; and BibRave.com, launched here in 2013, allows users to review races in a Yelp-like format. Sure, the place isn’t all sweet views and good vibes: There are the endless winter months that can bring subzero temps, galeforce winds, piles of snow, and sheets of ice. And for those who crave the occasional hill, there is, according to public-radio host and Runner’s World columnist Peter Sagal, “a certain glacial flatness, which can get a little tiring.” Still, says Sagal, “On one of those frozen mornings when the insanely cold water is splashing up and there’s ice on the lakefront and you see one other guy or girl and you wave to them—that’s great. If you lived in northern California and it was nice all the time, you wouldn’t have that.” On October 12, Chicago will host the 37th annual Bank of America Chicago Marathon. Whether you’re one of the 45,000 runners who will toe the starting line or one of the 46 million tourists who swoop into town every year, here’s how, and where, to reap the runner benefits of the Windy City.

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OCTOBER 2014 RUNNER’S WORLD 85

WorldMags.net 4/ PEQUOD’S PIZZA

Intelligentsia Coffee A lovely half-mile stroll from the marathon starting line in Grant Park takes you to a fresh cup of joe that’s been roasted with love here in town. The original location, on Broadway, sits between miles eight and nine of the marathon course; from there, you can cheer on runners amid an energized crowd led by cheerleaders in drag. intelligentsiacoffee.com 53 E. Randolph St. (1a on map); 3123 N. Broadway (1b on map) (five more locations citywide)

Bar fights in Chicago erupt over two things: Cubs vs. White Sox, and who makes the best Chicago-style pizza. Two words: caramelized crust. If you’ve befriended 3RUN2 runners on Instagram, they may just invite you here for a postmarathon feast. pequodspizza.com 2207 N. Clybourn Ave. 2 / GRANT PARK Known for hosting summer music events from the Chicago Jazz Festival to Lollapalooza, this is where the marathon starts and ends. Don’t plan on getting anywhere close to the start/finish line, due to security. But stand at the official Bank of America cheer zone at Michigan Avenue and Roosevelt Road, and you might catch a glimpse of your runner among the masses. chicagoparkdis trict.com/parks/grant-park 337 E. Randolph St.

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3 /Chicago Running Tours & More Reserve your spot online and then meet at “The Bean,” the city’s iconic legume-shaped reflective sculpture in Millennium Park (aka the Cloud Gate sculpture), for a guided 5-K (ish) through Grant Park or along the Chicago River to Navy Pier. Or opt for the Loop, a 3.8-mile tour with 20 stops highlighting the city’s dark side (like “Death Alley,” said to be haunted by some of the 602 audience members who failed to escape a 1903 blaze in the supposedly fireproof Iroquois Theatre). No need for speed, say guides: “The slower we go, the more we show.” chicagorunningtours.com 201 E. Randolph St.

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P H OTO G R A P H B Y C H R I S TO P H E R B E A U C H A M P (G R A N T PA R K )

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5 /Shred415 WorldMags.net Cure bad-weather blues with classes that alternate hill, sprint, or stride intervals on the treadmill with weight-training moves like curls, squats, and overhead presses. Your fellow Shredders might range from walkers to Boston-qualified marathoners; everyone picks their own pace and weights, say co-owners Bonnie Micheli and Tracy Roemer. shred415.com 230 W. Division St. (four more locations in the Chicago area)

1 0 /3RUN2 Named for Chicago’s original area code (312), 3RUN2 is one of the city’s fastest-growing running crews. Weekly runs leave from four locations: On Twitter, check #Highpower Tuesday for morning runs, #Twosday Tuesday for evening runs, #Blvds Thursday for evening workouts (runs start and end at Dunlays on the Square, beers at the place cap off the evening), and #Longrun Saturday for…long runs. All levels are welcome. Run details also posted on facebook.com/3RUN2 Dunlays on the Square, 3137 W. Logan Blvd.

6/ RIVER

PARK TRACK

I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y N A M E G O E S H E R E

North Park University’s track is open to the public. Suffer speedwork with friends on Wednesday nights: Check out the Running in Chicago subreddit, where members of the Chicago River Runners post workouts in advance (both there and on Twitter @606RiverRunners). reddit.com/r/RunnersIn Chicago 3000 W. Argyle St. 7 / CHICAGO RECOVERY ROOM For $20, get a day’s access to state-of-the-art postrun relief: You’ll find yourself among a largely endurance-sports clientele, from first-time half-marathoners to Boston finishers, taking advantage of compression boots, ice baths, and electrical stimulation. You can also schedule a sports massage, Graston Technique, or muscle-relaxing treatments—all within hobbling distance of the Chicago Marathon and Shamrock Shuffle finish lines in Grant Park. chicagorecoveryroom .com 1509 S. Michigan Ave.

9 / UNIVERSAL SOLE USole’s racing team has a reputation for really scorching the competition, but their expert shoe-fitting services and twice-weekly fun runs—along with monthly events like Pizza in the Park, Wednesday’s Women, and Burgers & Beer—are open to all levels. universalsole.com 3052 N. Lincoln Ave. (one more location in the city)

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UPTOWN RUNNERS Need a running buddy? Chitown has your back: “Many of our local businesses and gyms host running clubs for the city’s residents and visitors,” says mayor Rahm Emanuel. Case in point: The 300-runner-strong Uptown Runners host regular track workouts at Chase Park and three- to four-mile Monday-night runs that start and end at Fat Cat, a local bar. Afterward, nosh on a $5 burger (beef or bean) and replenish fluids with a local craft brew. Find details at meetup .com/UptownRunners Fat Cat, 4840 N. Broadway St.

OCTOBER 2014 RUNNER’S WORLD 87

LAKESHORE TRAIL

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Points along the way 1) Mile marker 2.0 (southbound)/16.0 (northbound)

Montrose Harbor Turn east and take the gravel path on the other side of a golf course, and it’ll be just you and the fishermen. 2) Mile marker 4.0/14.0

Hydration Station One of four free-for-all water and Gatorade stops, open Saturday mornings during marathon-training season; sponsored by Fleet Feet Sports and staffed by kind volunteers.

3) Mile marker 6.0/12.0

Chess Pavilion Need a break? Find a willing opponent for a game of chess in the cement pavilion.

Oak Street Beach

MONTROSE POINT BIRD SANCTUARY

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High winds commonly cause waves to splash over the narrow cement path here. But make it to the beach and you’re rewarded with the perfect place for a postrun dip on a hot day.

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4) Mile marker 6.5/11.5

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88 RUNNER’S WORLD OCTOBER 2014

WASHINGTON PARK

Just northeast of Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, this popular outdoor wedding spot offers one of the most Instagram-worthy shots of the city.

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7 MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY CHICAGO

P H OTO G R A P H B Y © H E R B L I N G L /A E R I A L A R C H I V E S .C O M ( M O N T R O S E H A R B O R )

Marking the trail’s halfway point, the iconic fountain has actual drinking fountains, too.

Split off the path south of the Shedd Aquarium, and soon you’ll be nearly solo, with the exception of three figures of Daphne crafted by sculptor Dessa Kirk from discarded cars.

Can’t get enough? Go to runnersworld .com/windycity for more runner-centric Chicago hotspots. We’re also starting a new online column called Run This City that will showcase urban locales from the runner’s point of view—look for guides to San Diego, Atlanta, and Boulder, Colorado, over the coming months at runnersworld .com/runthiscity.

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LIVE IN YOUR

MOMENT It’s amazing where you’ll go when your mind is at ease. From the moment you bask in the calm of active noise control technology or delight in the excitement of a turbocharged, EcoBoost ® engine, you’ll realize there is something special about the first-ever MKC —the next step in the evolution of the Lincoln Motor Company .

EXPERIENCE SOME OF THE BEST PLACES TO LIVE IN YOUR MOMENT IN SAN FRANCISCO:

#InTheMoment The Lincoln Motor Company and the ﬁrst-ever MKC want to know how you “live in your moment.”

Tweet your moment to @LincolnMotorCo and include #InTheMoment and #Promotion for a chance to WIN A WEEKEND GETAWAY to an amazing city: San Francisco, Chicago, or New York.

NO PURCHASE OR TWEET NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. Void where prohibited. Sweepstakes runs 9/1/14-10/31/14. Must be 18 or older & legal resident of 50 US or DC (excluding residents of PR and Canada). For the Ofﬁcial Rules, go to www.runnersworld.com/inthemoment. Entries with a Tweet must include hashtags #InTheMoment and #Promotion. To enter without a Tweet, complete only the entry form at www.runnersworld.com/inthemoment. Sponsor: Rodale Inc., 400 S. 10th Street, Emmaus, PA 18098-0099.

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AN ICONIC RUNNING CITY With countless miles of oceanfront paths, the iconic Golden Gate Bridge as a backdrop, and deep forest trails that make an excellent urban escape among the sloping city streets, San Francisco is one of the world’s great running cities.

WHERE TO GO For a nice urban escape, check out Mount Davidson Park and the jungle at the top of the San Francisco Trail. This two mile trail takes you through the city’s urban forest and has an easy-access parking lot for your MKC. Start from the Juanita Way stairs, follow the trail on the east side of the hill, and trek to the top. You’ll be rewarded with a view of the concrete cross and great sights.

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TAKE A LONG, CENTERING DRIVE Escape the chaos from the city and ﬁnd your inspiration in your dream ride. The Lincoln MKC offers peaceful, sleek space that’s all your own. Switch on the ambient lighting, and enjoy the ride!

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“A treasure for marathoners of all levels.” —RYAN HALL, Two-Time U.S. Olympic Marathon Qualifier Finally, the only book you’ll ever need to run your ﬁrst—or fastest— marathon or half-marathon! Loaded with comprehensive training information and top tips from experienced racers, The Runner’s World Big Book of Marathon and Half-Marathon Training contains all the essentials for anyone to have a great day on the course:

ƀ Easy-to-follow format ƀ Training and injury-prevention plans ƀ Nutrition advice and sample meals ƀ Inspiring stories from runners of every ability Let running legends Bart Yasso and Amby Burfoot and other experts at Runner’s World get you to the starting line feeling ﬁt, fresh, and ready to run your best!

ON SALE NOW WHEREVER BOOKS ARE SOLD

WorldMags.net RodaleBooks.com Ċ RunnersWorld.com

202647901

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FROM LIGHTWEIGHT RACERS TO SUPERCUSHIONED CRUISERS, THESE NEW TRAIL SHOES CAN TAKE ON THE TOUGHEST OFF-ROAD TERRAIN. BY JEFF DENGATE & MARTYN SHORTEN, PH.D. PHOTOGRAPHS BY NICK FERRARI

H G U RO S R E RID WorldMags.net

ALL-MOUNTAIN BEST FOR RUGGED AND STEEP TERRAIN

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La Sportiva Bushido ($125) Built to handle anything you throw at it, the Bushido was a big hit with our testers, especially those in Pennsylvania, where boot-breaking rocks are the norm. The shoe has so many protective features—a burly, sticky rubber outsole, thick plastic toe cap, rigid midfoot cradle—you’d swear it would be heavy. But at speed, it proved nimble for big and small testers alike. BOTTOM LINE Supremely versatile, but it runs at least a full size short.

A spandex band pulls the upper snug against your foot.

HEEL CUSHIONING FIRM

SOFT FOREFOOT CUSHIONING

FIRM

SOFT FLEXIBILITY

LESS

Weight: 11.0 oz (M); 9.1 oz (W) Height: 30.8 mm (heel); 20.8 mm (forefoot)

BROOKS PUREGRIT 3 ($120)

Salomon S-Lab Fellcross 3 ($170)

HEEL CUSHIONING FIRM

SOFT FOREFOOT CUSHIONING

FIRM

SOFT FLEXIBILITY

LESS Weight: 9.3 oz (M); 8.1 oz (W) Height: 25.9 mm (heel); 19.6 mm (forefoot)

92 RUNNER’S WORLD OCTOBER 2014

HOW IT FITS: Testers say the new PureGrit feels fitted in the forefoot. Scans from Shoefitr, a company that makes 3-D measurements, show it’s comfortable on-foot, from heel to toe. In these images, green is good, blue indicates a looser fit, while red signals a potential hot spot. To see how all shoes in this guide fit, visit runnersworld.com/shoefinder.

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SNUG

LOOSE

P H OTO G R A P H S B Y T H O M AS M AC D O N A L D ( S H O E S T I L L S O N W H I T E )

Fell running is Britain’s version of cross-country—with steep, rugged climbs. Built for such mountain running, this pro-level racer is capable of tackling the nastiest, steepest terrain you can find. “The traction was great on loose surfaces and shined in mud,” says Erik Leeds, a wear-tester from Reading, Pennsylvania. With its low heel-to-toe drop and firm cushioning, its ride will be jarring on smooth surfaces. BOTTOM LINE Grip it and rip it.

The Grit has seen its share of transformation in three short years. We lauded the previous version for its significant outsole overhaul, awarding it Best Update. Then Brooks went and blew the whole thing up, starting from scratch. Our wear-testers say Brooks hit it out of the park. “What’s not to like?” asks Tim Becker, a 43-yearold tester who runs the trails in and around East Lansing, Michigan. “It has great traction, it’s lightweight, and the fit is perfect. I could run for hours in these shoes.” The outsole is the most noticeable update, again. Brooks really beefed up its bite, scalloping the sole and HEEL CUSHIONING FIRM SOFT adding deep, hexagon-shaped nubs that claw into most surfaces. FOREFOOT CUSHIONING A new upper with a traditional FIRM SOFT tongue—rather than the wrap-over FLEXIBILITY style—uses fewer, thinner overlays LESS MORE to improve the on-foot fit. Weight: 10.4 oz (M); 8.1 oz (W) BOTTOM LINE A low-slung racer, suitable Height: 27.6 mm (heel); 20.5 mm (forefoot) for all terrain.

HYBRID BEST FOR BOTH ROAD AND TRAIL

WorldMags.net A hidden midsole rock plate protects from trail debris.

The Wave plate has been cupped to improve heel ﬁt.

Asics Gel-FujiTrabuco 3 ($120)

Mizuno Wave Kazan ($120)

Patagonia Tsali 3.0 ($110)

“They’re a bit heavy, but are sturdy and stable,” says Pokey Brown, who ran half of his test mileage on the roads in Laingsburg, Michigan. “Plus, they’re great for beefy runners.” That’s because the shoes themselves are a bit stout. But the thick heel delivers softer-than-average cushioning, which is ideal for jaunts from town to trail and back again. Despite the shoe’s weight, our wear-testers appreciated the comfortable, smooth ride. BOTTOM LINE Legendary Asics comfort, wrapped in a rugged skin.

Mizuno killed off its hybrid shoe, the Wave Ascend, replacing it with the Wave Kazan and the Wave Hayate ($110; not shown), which has a lower profile for a performance feel. The Kazan, however, offers better protection, especially for heel-strikers and runners who spend some time on dirt roads. The outsole has enough edge to bite when you need it, while the flexible forefoot delivers a responsive toe-off on firm surfaces. BOTTOM LINE A lively ride, no matter what ground you cover.

“The ankle collar is the bomb!” says Joe Sarzynski, a Pennsylvania-based tester, noting the Tsali’s excellent heel fit that kept it comfortably in place over Reading’s punishing terrain. The shoe’s unassuming appearance belies its trail prowess. The lugs hold strong over loose and wet ground, while the midsole is soft enough to take the edge off pavement and concrete. One knock: Some testers felt the upper mesh didn’t breathe well enough on really hot days. BOTTOM LINE A sturdy shoe built for long days and ideal for bigger runners.

HEEL CUSHIONING FIRM

HEEL CUSHIONING SOFT

FIRM

FOREFOOT CUSHIONING FIRM

SOFT

Weight: 12.2 oz (M); 10.2 oz (W) Height: 36.3 mm (heel); 25.1 mm (forefoot)

FIRM

FOREFOOT CUSHIONING FIRM

FLEXIBILITY LESS

HEEL CUSHIONING SOFT

SOFT

FIRM

FLEXIBILITY MORE

LESS

SOFT FOREFOOT CUSHIONING SOFT FLEXIBILITY

Weight: 9.8 oz (M); 8.1 oz (W) Height: 35.3 mm (heel); 22.4 mm (forefoot)

LESS

Weight: 10.8 oz (M); 8.3 oz (W) Height: 34.9 mm (heel); 23.2 mm (forefoot)

GET MUDDY, BUDDY A NEW CROP OF ADVENTURE-RACING SHOES ARE GEARED FOR EXTRA-DIRTY WORK The deep, gooey mud at adventure runs makes it a one-and-done affair for most footwear. But Reebok partnered with the Spartan Race to build a line of shoes with durable mesh that drains water quickly. The All Terrain Super (at left, bottom; $120) features deep lugs underfoot and a “toe pick” for climbing walls. By contrast, Under Armour, which sponsors the Tough Mudder, has built a high-top version of the trail shoe reviewed on page 95: The tall collar on the SpeedForm XC Mid (at left, top; $130) is designed to keep mud from getting in your shoe. If you plan on doing an obstacle race, either model is a sound investment.

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OCTOBER 2014 RUNNER’S WORLD 93

CUSHIONED BEST FOR DOWNHILL COURSES AND RECOVERY RUNS

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Altra The Olympus ($130) The Olympus joins Hoka shoes at the far end of the cushioning scale. One tester compared it favorably to the Stinson, a beefier Hoka model. There’s more than an inch of foam underfoot, dampening impact. “It really absorbs gnarly terrain,” says Leonard Burton, who regularly logs eight-minute miles off-road. BOTTOM LINE Testers big and small love the roomy toebox.

Though the midsole looks sleek, it’s still the thickest of any shoe in this guide.

HEEL CUSHIONING FIRM

SOFT FOREFOOT CUSHIONING

FIRM

SOFT FLEXIBILITY

LESS

Weight: 11.3 oz (M); 9.2 oz (W) Height: 31.6 mm (heel); 28.7 mm (forefoot)

HOKA ONE ONE RAPA NUI 2/KAILUA TRAIL ($130)

New Balance Fresh Foam 980 Trail ($110) Like the road shoe by the same name, the 980 promises a plush ride. Wear-testers say it’s on the firm side, although adequate over soft ground; tests in the RW Shoe Lab indicate average cushioning and one of the stiffest flexibility scores in this guide. But the toothy outsole prevents any slippage on even the roughest terrain. BOTTOM LINE A great-fitting shoe with a stable ride best for bigger runners.

SOFT FOREFOOT CUSHIONING

FIRM

SOFT FLEXIBILITY

LESS Weight: 11.2 oz (M); 8.9 oz (W) Height: 29.9 mm (heel); 24.2 mm (forefoot)

94 RUNNER’S WORLD OCTOBER 2014

DAN TALHELM AGE: 73 years old HEIGHT: 5'8" WEIGHT: 133 ARCH TYPE: Medium MILES PER WEEK: 25 YEARS RUNNING: 35 HOME: East Lansing, MI OCCUPATION: Retired

“The Rapa Nui 2 Trail provides what I look for in a trail shoe: snug fit, comfortable ride, and firm grip on rough surfaces. It has unusually thick soles that protected my legs and body from the pounding of longer runs. While the short lugs grip surprisingly well, even on rocky surfaces, I found the lugs wearing down quickly on some parts of the soles.”

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I L LU S T R AT I O N B Y M I C H A E L H O E W E L E R

HEEL CUSHIONING FIRM

When we first fitted wear-testers for this shoe, many were skeptical about its stability on trails because it appears to position your foot so high off the ground. After logging a few miles, however, they were praising its luxuriously soft ride— ankles sprain-free. “The height was a little odd at first,” says Michele Gallen, from Reading, “but the cushioning really helped so you don’t roll an ankle.” How so? That foam cushioning is soft enough to deform around trail obstacles, rather than glance off as harder materials HEEL CUSHIONING FIRM SOFT are prone to do. The outsole features lugs shaped like Hoka’s bird-in-flight FOREFOOT CUSHIONING logo that have enough sharp edges to FIRM SOFT firmly grip nearly any surface, but its FLEXIBILITY uniform height allows a smooth ride LESS MORE on pavement. Weight: 10.9 oz (M); 8.8 oz (W) BOTTOM LINE Great for recovery runs Height: 36.7 mm (heel); 29.9 mm (forefoot) and beat-up runners.

ULTRALIGHT BEST FOR FAST-PACED TRAINING

WorldMags.net HOW WE TEST SHOES THE TIME, SWEAT, AND SCIENCE THAT GOES INTO EVERY REVIEW

Low stack heights keep feet close to the ground without sacriﬁcing cushioning.

We recruited 200 wear-testers in Reading, Pennsylvania, and East Lansing, Michigan, to run in the latest trail shoes and give us feedback. We also mechanically tested each model at the RW Shoe Lab, an independent facility in Portland, Oregon (details below). For more reviews, see runnersworld.com/shoefinder. For more trail shoe images and info, download our enhanced edition from Apple or Amazon.

Topo Athletic MT ($100)

Under Armour SpeedForm XC ($100)

This new Boston-based footwear company is headed by Tony Post, the man who steered Vibram USA during the minimalist craze. So it comes as no surprise to see Topo craft quality footwear in its infancy. This debut trail shoe gets a more traditional closedin toebox—with ample room in the forefoot area, testers found—and puts more material under your foot than any FiveFingers ever did. Even so, your foot is close to the ground, allowing you to move nimbly over tricky terrain. BOTTOM LINE Plenty of protection in a lightweight package.

Under Armour, a longtime giant in the athletic apparel industry, made a splash this past spring when it launched the SpeedForm Apollo, an award-winning road shoe whose upper was crafted in a clothing factory. Now the company has applied the same formula to this lightweight trail runner. The XC sits only one millimeter higher than its road counterpart, thanks to a shallow tread in the shape of the company’s logo. We found it a capable performer on all but the most rugged terrain. BOTTOM LINE A worthy choice for race day or fast workouts.

HEEL CUSHIONING FIRM

HEEL CUSHIONING SOFT

FIRM

FOREFOOT CUSHIONING FIRM

SOFT

FIRM

FLEXIBILITY LESS

SOFT FOREFOOT CUSHIONING

CUSHIONING A machine called an impact tester repeatedly drops a disk weighing 18.7 pounds—the average weight of the lower leg—onto the heel and forefoot of a shoe from a height of two inches. The Lab records the force of impact and how much the midsole compresses.

FLEXIBILITY To show how smoothly a shoe will move with the foot from heel-strike to toe-off, we secure the forefoot to a machine that bends it 45 degrees—about how much a foot naturally flexes while running—60 times in 20 seconds. The force required to do this indicates pliability.

SOFT FLEXIBILITY

Weight: 8.1 oz (M); 6.4 oz (W) Height: Height: 21.5 mm (heel); 17.3 mm (forefoot)

LESS

Weight: 8.3 oz (M); 6.7 oz (W) Height: 24.9 mm (heel); 16.2 mm (forefoot)

HOW IT FITS: The Shoefitr 3-D scan revealed a

mostly average fit, with the exception of a slightly snug toe and a roomy forefoot. The latter was a plus for many of our testers. “The lacing system locked your heel and midfoot down well but allowed natural forefoot spread,” says Michelle Swiatek of Reading. “That took some getting used to, but I came to really like it.”

SNUG

LOOSE

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HEIGHT AND WEIGHT Our weights are for men’s size 9 and women’s size 7 models. We also measure stack height—accounting for a shoe’s outsole rubber, midsole foam, and sockliner. For heel and forefoot thicknesses, we cut away the shoe’s upper and use a digital contact sensor (above) to determine “drop.”

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and James Nielsen assumes his starting position on the track at the College of Marin in Northern California. His wife, Mimi, is filming him with a Flip video camera. She raises her iPhone to the camera, and focuses on the phone’s timer. “On your mark, get set…” On “Go!” she starts the timer, and Nielsen springs into action. He cracks open a room-temperature Budweiser—because warm beer retains less carbonation than cold—tilts his head back 45 degrees—an angle he knows through studying fluid dynamics will best usher the brew down his gullet—and seals his lips onto the can. It takes him five seconds to drain the can, three seconds faster than if its contents had been simply poured onto the ground. Then—this is very important—Nielsen starts running and tosses the can in the trash. The two-time NCAA National Champion in the 5-K runs his first lap very fast. He’s dedicated the past year to training and can now run a mile on an empty stomach in 4:10. With a belly full of beer, he figures he can run 4:20, maybe 4:25. In the first 400 meters, he feels the triple whammy of carbonation, sloshing liquid, and a furious pace. As he reaches the wooden tray holding the remaining three cans, Mimi yells his split: 70 seconds! He grabs beer number two, jogs forward in the 10-meter drink/run transition zone, and sucks down the liquid in one big inhale. He turns the can upside down over his head to prove it’s empty, then tosses it. He completes lap two in 76 seconds. By now, his abdomen is screaming with a double-sided cramp. He downs another beer—crack, tip, chug—before lap three, which he clocks in 79 seconds, and another before his fourth. On this last lap, Nielsen is schlepping a quart and a half of liquid and a cloud of carbonation in his stomach, an “absolutely terrible” sensation that would derail most humans, but Nielsen has also dedicated the past year to stomach-expansion practice. 98 RUNNER’S WORLD OCTOBER 2014

For tips, he tapped pros like Joey Chestnut, who’s ranked first in the world in competitive eating, having eaten 69 hot dogs in 10 minutes. Nielsen has done things like drink a gallon of milk before running hard around the block and speed-eat a watermelon in one sitting. After 72 seconds, Nielsen crosses the finish line and Mimi calls out his time: 4:57! In disbelief, she holds the timer before the camera. Her husband has just become the first runner in the world to break the five-minute beer mile. (The previous record was 5:02, set by an Australian named Josh Harris in 2012.) The breathless runner crumples, hands on his thighs, breathing heavily. Does he want to say anything? Shaking his head, Nielsen says, “That is really painful.” The next day, Nielsen posts the video on YouTube, and within days it gets more than a million views and a steady stream of online comments: “This guy can chug beers like an animal.” And: “Great job, Beast!!” Nielsen ran and drank with such ease. If the effort assaulted his stomach, it wasn’t apparent while he was running. And that was the problem—if Nielsen wasn’t obviously suffering during the run he must be cheating. Turns out, the kind of person who not only watches beermile videos but also comments on them is also more likely to think he or she knows exactly how it’s done. Remember that first tossed can? Not good, according to those people. “So right off the bat he ruined the legitimacy by not presenting the can upside down over his head,” wrote one anonymous commenter on the Canadian running site Trackie.ca. “The big idiot didn’t turn the first one over,” wrote another. “He doesn’t even show a close up of the cans to ensure that they’re actually beer,” one decried. “This…is COMPLETE The YouTube video of James Nielsen’s run has gotten more than a million views.

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WorldMags.netSEVEN

CRAP!!” railed another on Facebook. Nielsen laughed at the blowback. Replacing beer with water? Right, like he’d infiltrated Budweiser and tampered with the exact cans he’d end up buying, he joked in one interview. No fellow runners? He was in front of a video camera, for Pete’s sake. “I wanted to treat this like a time trial and make sure I didn’t have distractions,” he says. “Vomiting in a beer mile is similar to yawning—once you see someone crack the seal, it can be contagious, and I couldn’t afford to have anyone impact my race against the clock.” And that most egregious of transgressions, the first tossed can? According to the rules posted on beermile.com, overturning an empty over one’s head to prove its emptiness is “strongly recommended,” but not required. Nielsen had stated his intention in the video to flip the can, but simply forgot the flourish after that first Bud. Regardless, his indiscretions continue to inflame the faithful who still dispute his record. Disciples of the Beer Mile treat its rules like sacred scrolls. Sure, rules are important, but even the guys who created the beer mile are a little taken aback by such seriousness. At its core, drinking beer and running in circles was meant to be about bragging rights, projectile vomiting, top-10 lists—you know, having fun.

beer-mile mania is real. Granted, the actual number of yearly events and participants is hard to pin down—Patrick Butler, creator of the official database, beermile .com, estimates that fewer than 10 percent of race results are posted on the site. Still, the number of times logged into the database has nearly quadrupled, from 421 in 2003 to 1,536 in 2013. Google Trends shows interest spiking in the last couple of years, coinciding with notable beer-mile achievements (like when Olympian Nick Symmonds put his attempt at the world record up on You Tube in 2012—more on that later). Major media are plenty interested, too: When Nielsen broke the five-minute barrier, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Sports Illustrated all picked up the story. But perhaps nothing quite announces legitimacy like a world championship, and this winter, the beer mile gets its ﬁrst. Beer-milers themselves are no longer on the fringes, either. They’re in running clubs and start-ups, on campuses and Olympic teams. Chances are good you

know one. In fact, the guys who invented it are now teachers, accountants, IT executives—in other words, well-adjusted folks who could be your neighbors. But back in 1989, they were just seven Canadian runners in their late teens and early 20s, looking for a laugh on a muggy August night.

with their plan during a postrun drink: Swill four beers and sprint four laps— beer, lap, beer, lap, and so on. Adding beer to the mile seemed a fine combination of the group’s primary pastimes that summer. They had become friends through high school cross-country and track; the youngest, Graham Hood—an eventual Olympian in the 1500 meters—was 17, still in high school, and still under Ontario’s legal drinking age of 19. The oldest, at 26, was Kelly Harris, who had coached a few of the guys on their city running team. Soon after conceiving their plan, they shouldered Canadian-made brews (probably Molson or Labatt Blue; it’s been 25 years) to Burlington Central High School in Burlington, Ontario. Without a gate to climb or much visibility from the street, the track seemed a decent place to start a good night. Each runner lined up four unopened cans of beers for himself at the starting line, and as the sun was setting, the timer started. Crack, tip, chug, burp, run. The first lap was over fast. At first, the discomfort paled against the excitement of putting their plan in motion, but two or three laps in, the beer and the stomachs stopped getting along. They thought it was the alcohol that would get them—ha! Burping alleviated some of the discomfort caused by swallowed carbonation, but those without that particular skill felt like a shaken-up Coke can. “The fourth lap was a blur—survival mainly,” says Harris. On the last lap, in a crisis of sweat and foam, he sprayed the contents of his stomach onto the infield without missing a stride, and finished third. (This evacuation strategy displeased the others. They claimed it provided an unfair advantage by removing the race’s most challenging obstacle—a saturated stomach. And so the first rule was born that night: If your beer reappears, you run an extra lap.) The strategy that night of winner Tom Jones, then just weeks from his 19th birthday (so not yet legal then, either), was simple: Outrun the alcohol. He clocked a 7:30. “I was fine,” Jones says, “then a couple min-

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BUDDIES, ONE CRAZY IDEA

Seven Canadian friends conceived of and ran the first beer mile on an August evening in 1989. Here’s what their deal was back then, and where they are today—all gainfully employed and respectable. ROB AULD Back then: 19 and about to start his freshman year at Queen’s University Number of beer miles: 6 (or 7) PR: 8:27 Today: Certified public accountant in Toronto DAVE CONSTABLE Back then: 19 and on summer break from the University of Toronto Number of beer miles: 1 Time: DNF Today: Shipping and receiving manager at the Toronto International Film Festival IAN FALLAS Back then: 20 and on summer break from Queen’s University Number of beer miles: 30 (maybe 40?) PR: 5:58 Today: IT project manager at an oil-technology company in Dubai KELLY HARRIS Back then: 26 and volunteering as a running coach Number of beer miles: 2 PR: 11:00 (he thinks) Today: High school teacher in Moose Factory, Ontario GRAHAM HOOD Back then: 17 and on summer break from high school Number of beer miles: 3 PR: 12:00 (best guess) Today: Strategic land-development manager for the municipal government in Kelowna, British Columbia TOM JONES Back then: 18 and about to start at Carleton University in Ottawa Number of beer miles: 3 PR: 6:52 Today: Software engineer in Ottawa MIKE WILKIE Back then: 24 and starting his Ph.D. at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario Number of beer miles: 1 Time: 8-something Today: Associate professor of biology at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario

OCTOBER 2014 RUNNER’S WORLD 99

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utes later, I couldn’t walk.” His buddies had to carry him home. They’d all had a fine time. As members of that original crew went off to college that fall of 1989, they kept the beer mile alive. At Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Ian Fallas and Rob Auld recruited more of the party faithful, and by 1992, the beer mile—dubbed the Kingston Classic—was in its fourth consecutive year (and held at dusk at the university’s Richardson Stadium to avoid campus security). Graham Hood, one of that original crew, arrived at Richardson Stadium for the August 1992 race just weeks after his ninth-place finish in the 1500 meters at the Barcelona Olympics. He may have been good enough to represent his country on a global stage, but as a beer-miler, he was a miserable failure. “My stomach wasn’t built for it,” he says. The Olympian earned himself a penalty lap. (When the group created “Top 10 Reasons to Run the Beer Mile” T-shirts a few years later, number six was: “It’s the only mile where just about anybody could beat Graham Hood.”) Cookie tossing got the better of many a beer-miler. Of that same 1992 race, Mark Arsenault (nickname: Arse) says, “I wasn’t going to run it. I thought, This is ridiculous. And I’d had a huge pasta dinner. They basically twisted my arm, and then I went and threw up.” Which netted him the number three spot on the T-shirt—“Witness Mark Arsenault’s fabled spin-a-rama.” “When I throw up, I start to spin,” he says. “I probably threw up 75 percent of the time.” It may all sound rather sloppy and misguided, but the milers weren’t totally reckless. “It was never a leave-a-bigmess, rowdy thing,” says Arsenault. “It was always, do the race, clean it up, leave.” They scheduled races so they wouldn’t interfere with the real work of being a collegiate runner. “During the season, we didn’t drink. So it was usually during the off-season that you let loose a little bit; the rest of the year most of us were pretty serious,” says Arsenault, who no longer drinks beer at all, thanks to acid reflux. The winner that year was again Tom Jones, who ran a faster mile than he’d ever run sober and set a beer-mile record. Later that night, Jones grabbed a half-full pitcher from a bar as a trophy, hid it under his shirt, and asked his fellow beer-milers to carry him out as if he were drunk (which he was). In front of the bouncer, his friends lost their grip, and 100 RUNNER’S WORLD OCTOBER 2014

MILERS STARTED WEARING SPIKES, STICKING STRAWS INTO BOTTLES FOR BETTER AIRFLOW, DISCUSSING THE MERITS OF SHOTGUNNING.

IT WAS TIME FOR A FEW RULES.

Jones, the pitcher, and the beer spilled all over the ﬂoor. Jones managed to escape with his clear plastic prize, upon which someone later scrawled in black marker his record time: 6:52.

beer-milers got serious. Guys began training for the event by eating piles of pasta and then chugging beer to expand their stomachs. Milers started wearing spikes, sticking straws into bottles for better airflow, discussing the merits of shotgunning (punching a hole in the bottom of the can to accelerate the beer’s natural exit). It was time for a few rules. At first, standards were simply verbalized, and added when deemed necessary: No straws, shotgunning, or drinking aids. No wide-mouthed cans (this was before such cans became commonplace). No light beers—brews must have at least five percent alcohol. Beers should be opened and consumed within a 10-meter transition zone. Beer, and only beer. With more rules came more records. In

Ian Fallas (in yellow), Al Pribaz (in long sleeves), and Dan Michaluk (in yellow and red) reuniting with buddies in 1998 in Calgary.

1993, Ian Fallas ran a 6:30, barely beating Dan Michaluk, a middle-distance runner at Queen’s University. “I was wearing skateboarding shoes,” says Michaluk. “I thought, This is a stupid event; I’ll just go and watch and have some beers. Then I got sucked in and ran it in those shoes and had a stress fracture for the entire fall season.” Still, the standards were known and followed only within the radius of a few Canadian universities. Through word of mouth and track-and-ﬁeld e-mail groups (this was the pre-Google era), guys like Al Pribaz, a beer-miler from Queen’s University and the event’s unofficial record-keeper, started hearing about more and more brew-infused events popping up around Canada and the U.S. Pribaz wanted to compare results, but most races just winged it on the rules— alcohol content varied widely, and some milers drank from plastic cups, which allowed for carbonation to escape. So sometime around 1993 (memories are hazy), in their dumpy living room and over beers (naturally), Pribaz and his buddies put their verbal standards in writing

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OTHER NOTABLE MOMENTS IN BEER-MILING

1992 Jennifer Robertson, a cross-country runner at McGill University in Montreal, is the beer mile’s first female finisher. She drinks three beers, per the rules at the time (sanctioned as a way to improve gender diversity), and finishes in 14:50. 1993 First finisher T-shirt unveiled. Celebrates the fifth-annual, but still very much underground, event. 1994 Cocreator Ian Fallas runs a beer two-miler and finishes somewhere around 25 minutes, beating out some still struggling to finish the mile. “After seeing the heart of darkness, I went back to the usual four beers and four laps.” That year’s finisher T-shirt features Roger Bannister’s famous finish, but shows him clutching a beer.

1995 Finisher T features “Top 10 Reasons to Run the Beer Mile.” Includes inside jokes about spewing and upsets. Reason number one: “Five words: Ice cold beer every lap!” (Though warm beer was, in fact, preferred.)

P H OTO G R A P H B Y M I TC H M A N D E L ( T-S H I R T )

1996 The Queen’s University postbeer-mile tradition of running naked around the block or to the lake goes public when Ian Fallas is stopped by a campus security officer who believes his last name, considering the circumstances, is a prank. 1997 Seanna Robinson races with four beers and clocks 6:42 in Hamilton, Ontario. Her women’s world record remains uncontested. “I was basically a child prodigy,” she says. 2009 Beermile.com reaches 30,000 race results. 2014 After James Nielsen breaks the world record, beermile.com approaches 60,000 results.

as the Official Kingston Rules. The bullet points outlined: where beer should be consumed; alcohol content; amount; receptacle; a three-beer rule for women (instituted a year earlier in desperation for diversity); a penalty lap for puking; and restrictions against tampering or drinking aids. Pribaz posted the rules on e-mail lists and online track boards, and encouraged everyone to beer-mile in sync. Results began trickling in, and Pribaz eventually created the “Kingston Beer Mile Homepage” and posted them online. A few years later, Patrick Butler, a computer science major and runner at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, spotted Pribaz’s Web site. His teammates were planning their end-of-season bash, and Butler successfully lobbied for what was going on up north—a beer mile guided by the Kingston Rules. An above-average collegiate runner, Butler found his calling and won his school’s ﬁrst-ever beer mile with a 9:12. He was hooked. By his senior year in 1998, Butler was tracking results from more than 100 beer miles in the Northeast and posting them on a small track-and-ﬁeld Web site he maintained, and generally evangelizing the standardization of the Kingston Rules (except for the three-beers-forwomen one, which he didn’t include: “That wasn’t going to fly here”). That December, he scooped up the domain beermile.com. He spent a weekend coding the database, and opened it up for results from across the U.S.

became home base for anyone curious about injecting booze into the mile. Newcomers could bone up on the rules, and veterans could enter their results and monitor the leaderboard. Runners from the U.S., Canada, and eventually all over the world logged their race results. Traffic to the site was slow but steady through the early aughts—sometimes 50 entries a day, oftentimes fewer. It picked up steam with the rise of social media and video sharing in 2004, and by spring of that year, the site boasted 8,000 results. As search engines like Google and Internet Explorer got more sophisticated, beer-milers emerged from the shadows. “In the early 2000s,” says Butler. “I started getting a lot of requests from people who said, ‘Hey, can you take my name down? Look, I’m really proud of this result, but it shows up ﬁrst in search engines, and I need to get a job.’ That was

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very common.” Dan Michaluk, of stressfracture-from-skateboard-shoes fame, and now an information privacy lawyer in Toronto, worked for years to get his first Google result to show something other than his beer-mile successes (12 results in the all-time top-100 beer-mile results). “I finally got it down to page two, but it kind of lingers there,” he says. The Web did more to promote the beer mile than bragging over a bar table ever could. If the Internet made the beer mile accessible to the masses, the elites made it aspirational. On December 20, 2005, Canadian Marathon champion Jim Finlayson ran a beer mile as part of a local fund-raising event. He chose Guinness for the taste, knowing that its four percent alcohol by volume wouldn’t meet official standards. His time, though unofficial, was an astonishing 5:13—nearly 30 seconds faster than the previous record. “I thought it would feel a lot worse than it did,” says Finlayson. “I had no issues.” After that, Finlayson boned up on the rules and, in his next two attempts, broke dearly held conventions of how to win the beer mile. His races were outdoors in the Canadian winter, so he gulped ice-cold rather than lukewarm beers and opted for a 6.5-percent-alcohol “beautiful winter ale.” Says Finlayson, “I wanted it to be an enjoyable experience, so I chose a beer that qualified, but that I liked.” And with that, he ran a 5:09 in 2007, a time that topped the beermile .com leaderboard for the next five years. Though proud of his accomplishment, Finlayson is a bit wary of the attention the sport is now getting. “I’m obviously not anti-drinking, but I also don’t want drinking to sound cool,” he says. “I appreciate that running is getting attention because of this, and I’m not contra the attention. I’m just not sure how pro I am either.” Nevertheless, Finlayson’s performance marked a turning point for the beer mile— real athletes taking such a crazy idea seriously gave it new appeal. Beermile.com started getting more than 100 hits a day. The traffic surge really isn’t all that surprising. Records tend to make the rounds, and with something this ridiculously hard and seemingly ill-advised, word tends to spread even faster. Says David Meeker, a 30-year-old real-estate developer and three-time beer-miler in Raleigh, North Carolina, “When the Australian Josh Harris ran the beer mile two years ago [setting the world record of 5:02 that Nielsen smashed], someone from our running group sent the link around. We said, ‘We have to do that.’” After Nielsen’s record run in April, Paul Woidke, a Web

(Continued on page 109)

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SEMINARS • HEALTH & FITNESS EXPO • PRE-RACE DINNER • INSPIRING SPEAKERS

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RACES+PLACES

TIPS, TRENDS, and MUST–RUN EVENTS

This upstate New York course is among the fastest in the country.

MOHAWK HUDSON RIVER MARATHON & HALF

October 12, Albany, New York, mohawkhudsonmarathon.com

From its earliest days, the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon has attracted a fast CHILL To calm prerace nerves or to toast your finish, choose from up to 12 house beers at the C.H. Evans Brewing Company, built in an old water-pumping station in Albany. evansale.com

PHOTOGRAPHS BY KEITH MORRISON

field: In 1987, the race’s fifth running, 60 of the 227 runners came in under three hours (including Runner’s World staffer Lori Adams, the only sub-three woman). Like most marathons, it isn’t as front-loaded anymore, but with 18 miles of flat bike-path running, 18 percent of last year’s finishers qualified for the Boston Marathon. (In 2013, only 26 U.S. marathons boasted faster fields, according to marathonguide.com.) But as runners who’ve done it point out on the next page, this point-to-point race—which drops about 200 feet of elevation and now includes a half—has more to offer than just good times.

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M O H AW K H U D S O N R I V E R M A R AT H O N & H A L F

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RUNNERS REVIEW

Great Scenery

Fun Water Stops

“I love the views along the rivers. The banks of the Mohawk [miles five through 12] are heavily wooded, so you can’t see much of the water; instead, you’re passing trees that are just starting to turn colors and noticing the smell of fall in the air. But when you reach the Hudson [miles 21 through 26.2], you’re able to see the river, and it’s pristine. I like watching the boats out there and the people enjoying the fall weather.”

“They have a contest every year where runners can vote on which nonprofit group has the best aid station [the winner receives a financial contribution]. It’s a riot. I love the Team in Training station at mile 23. They dress crazy and their faces are all painted up. Some of them, male and female, are wearing tutus. They have all kinds of glitter stuff going on and wigs. It’s kind of like a drag show. Everybody’s there saying, ‘Great job.’ ”

—REGINA BUTTON, 52, BRUNSWICK, NEW YORK

—DEBBY GOEDEKE, 61, DELMAR, NEW YORK

Zero Congestion “The half-marathon begins at the marathon’s midpoint, and both races start at the same time. The fastest marathoners finish alongside some of the slower half-marathoners. But the bike path that the races share is nine feet wide, so there’s plenty of room to pass.” —JON ROCCO, 47, ALBANY, NEW YORK

Relaxed Atmosphere

Savvy Timing “Runners cross railroad tracks near mile 18, and there are timing mats before and after the tracks. Why? In case a freight train goes by, so organizers can adjust the times if runners need to stop. The race support you get at some other smaller marathons is sketchy at best. This race is prepared for everything.” —BOB SOMERVILLE, 61, WYNANTSKILL, NEW YORK

“The expo in Albany was expertly organized—there were no lines to get my bib. On race morning, school buses lined up within walking distance of the downtown hotels to transport runners to the starting area in a large park in Schenectady. There, we were free to mill around until minutes before the gun. I’ve rarely felt more relaxed going into a marathon. After the race, I was able to get a massage right away, then get out of town without any trouble.” —DAVID ALM, 39, NEW YORK CITY

REFUEL Craving a celebratory meal? Jack’s Oyster House has been serving up juicy steaks for more than a century. jacksoysterhouse.com

Racing Ahead Three more fast marathons to consider for spring ALBANY MARATHON Of this year’s 670 finishers, 18.4 percent qualified for Boston on its looped, gently rolling course three hours south of Atlanta. All runners get free entry to the city’s annual Mardi Gras Festival, held a few blocks from the finish along the Flint River. Albany, Georgia March 7, 2015 (Registration open now) albanymarathon.com

104 RUNNER’S WORLD OCTOBER 2014

POCONO MARATHON This point-to-point course ends 1,440 feet lower than it starts, a drop that helped 28.7 percent of this year’s 624 finishers nab a Boston qualifier. The route is mostly quiet, but spectators abound on the final 1.2-mile stretch through Stroudsburg. Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania May 17, 2015 (Opens November 1) poconomarathon.org

MOUNTAINS2BEACH MARATHON Runners begin in the Topatopa Mountains and end along the Ventura oceanfront—a 759-foot net descent. The only significant uphill comes between miles five and 6.5. This year, 25.2 percent of the 1,622 finishers nailed a Boston qualifier. Ojai, California May 24, 2015 (Registration open now) mountains2beachmarathon.com

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Ask Coach Jenny Tips and tactics for acing race day What can I do if it’s a windy day? Trying to keep pace running into a headwind can cost a lot of energy. Instead, maintain your normal effort— monitor your breathing so you’re not pushing too hard. Tuck in behind runners ahead of you, if possible, and take turns running out front. Wearing form-fitting clothes can help, too. How can I stay controlled in the early miles of a half-marathon? You’re smart to avoid going out too fast—a speedy start burns up glycogen stores you’ll need later. Line up in the right place for your planned pace, and if you run with music, start without it. Make sure you can speak in complete sentences for the first miles. If you don’t have anyone to chat with, say the Pledge of Allegiance aloud or sing “Happy Birthday” to yourself. How can I endure a marathon with little crowd support? It’s easy to fall prey to negative thinking without outside encouragement, so focus on the run. Every mile, do a “form check” to ensure you’re staying relaxed from head to toe. Have a few positive mantras—perhaps “slow and steady” early in the race and “strong and powerful” later. When the going gets tough, try dedicating each mile to someone special—the motivation then comes from outside you, as it would if spectators were cheering. Jenny Hadﬁeld is a running coach in Chicago. Visit her blog at runnersworld.com/coachjenny.

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Zombies? They’re So Dead to Us Why should those creeps have all the fun? Here, races for those who prefer to commune with… ALIENS At these evening races, extraterrestrials man the aid stations and medals come in the shape of alien heads. The first Alien Half was held in Roswell… Georgia, that is. ALIEN HALF, Multiple dates, multiple locations, alienhalf.com

DEVILS The only runners eligible to claim cash prizes for podium finishes are those in devil costumes that include “horns, pitchfork, and a cape or tail.” A separate costume contest (with beer and wine for awards) is open to runners in devil or devil-themed (e.g., deviled eggs) getups.

GREAT GRUB

Bull City Race Fest & Food Truck Rodeo After racing through downtown Durham and the Duke University campus, feast on fare from 10 local food trucks. Among the offerings are dumplings, gyros, waffles, sandwiches, and cupcakes, priced from $2 to $12. Of-age runners can wash down their food with a free local craft beer. October 19, Durham, North Carolina, bullcityracefest.com

COOL COURSE

Brückeläufe Half-Marathon & 5-K THE HIGHLIGHT Thirteen (!) bridge crossings

Brückeläufe (German for “Bridge Race”) takes its half-marathoners over water an average of once per mile on seven bridges spanning the Cass River and its tributaries. Runners cross the largest—the 239-foot wooden Holz Brucke (above)—just after mile one and again between miles 12 and 13. October 4, Frankenmuth, Michigan, bruckelaufe.org

Three feats to cheer Great Britain's Jo Pavey, 40, became the oldest female victor in European Championships history with a 10,000-meter win 11 months after giving birth. Andrew Snope of Georgia set a world 24-hour barefoot record (136.98 miles). Gavin Orr of Scotland ran a 3:46:14 marathon for a world record in Highland dress (kilt, waistcoat, and bow tie). THE PODIUM

DEVIL’S CHASE 6.66-MILER, October 25, Salem, Massachusetts, bnseventmanagement.com

SPOTTED

P H OTO G R A P H S B Y A L A M Y ( WA F F L E S ); T H O M AS M AC D O N A L D ( H OT D O G )

VAMPIRES These untimed events (which take place, naturally, at twilight) allow entrants to run either as “vampires” or “citizens.” Citizens carry “garlic flags” that the vampires try to steal, flag-football style. Color stations along the course cover vampires and citizens alike with blood-red powder. VAMPIRE 5-K, Multiple dates, multiple locations, vampire5k.com

WITCHES Near the halfway point of this course, runners pass the Salem Witch Museum, which offers exhibits detailing the famous 1692 witchcraft trials and subsequent hangings. WITCH CITY 5-K, October 18, Salem, Massachusetts, northshoreymca.org

ILLUSTRATIONS BY MARK MATCHO

A+ AMENITIES

Hartford Marathon & Half THE HIGHLIGHT The start area’s porta-potty setup

Instead of one long row of thrones, organizers arrange them in U-shaped banks, so you always know which ones serve each line. “You might say the Hartford Marathon really knows its sh-t,” says race director Beth Shluger. Marathoners pass through downtown (above) and along the Connecticut River before a long out-and-back (miles 10 to 24), while half-marathoners run a looped course through residential West Hartford. October 11, Hartford, Connecticut, hartfordmarathon.com

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To see a gallery of unique race signs, visit runners world.com/funsigns. OCTOBER 2014 RUNNER’S WORLD 105

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ON THE RUN

MULTIPLY YOUR RUN WITH 2XU COMPRESSION PERFORMANCE RUN SOCKS

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ON THE RUN

products to keep runners moving

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• CONTINUED FROM PAGE 101 developer in Columbus, Ohio, spotted the video trending on Reddit. “We thought it would be fun to do our own,” says Woidke. So 10 runners from his track group gathered at an out-ofsession junior high to run the beer mile, a first for them all. Woidke’s 9:30 performance netted him fourth place. They’re planning their second event for September. More than anything, however, the beer mile owes its ongoing existence to the campuses of higher education. “I heard about it in college, as a joke or something a frat guy would do,” says Katie Williams, a business developer for a start-up who runs with a Bay Area–based group which, she says, takes the event “very seriously.” She ran her first beer mile in March. “The fourth lap I felt absolutely horrible, dead legs, stomach sick. I came in second to last. But five minutes after you finish, you feel awesome.” It may sound like a gas, but “it’s not all roses,” says Butler of beermile.com. Just finding a venue for a beer mile is close to impossible with open-container laws and rules forbidding drinking on school grounds, not to mention the repercussions if you’re underage or part of an athletic team; Butler knows of university runners who’ve been suspended from meets for their shenanigans. And when beer miles go viral, there are always a few critics who say publicizing such an event is inappropriate. The finger-wagging, however, typically stems from anonymous sources rather than notable figures in the running or medical communities. Comments on sites like YouTube, Reddit, and LetsRun are overwhelmingly positive. Butler, who is now 37, doesn’t completely disagree with critics. “I won’t defend a stupid decision a kid makes if they’re breaking the law or team conduct, so I’d be on the side of the naysayers—maybe that’s my old age at work,” he says. Without question, would-be milers should heed the “Have fun, be safe, and don’t do this if you’re not 21” advice of perhaps the most famous college kid turned beer-miler, Nick Symmonds. Before Symmonds became an Olympian, he was a DIII student at Willamette University in Oregon specializing in the 800 and 1500 meters. In the fall of his junior and senior years, Symmonds and his teammates celebrated the end of the season with a night-

time beer mile (they lit the track with their cars’ headlights). “It was kind of a timehonored tradition at the end of a cross-country or track season—a cool way to let off steam,” says Symmonds. “I could run it pretty well— 5:30 or 5:40.” (In 2005, he was 11th on the beermile.com leaderboard, with a 5:31.) By 2012, Symmonds was an Olympian in the 800, could run a mile in 3:56, and wondered what he could do in the beer mile. He decided to take a whack at the current record of 5:02 and post the attempt on YouTube. “I’m trying to grow the popularity of track and field by relating it to someone who doesn’t care what I run in the 800 meters,” he says. “We need to do more to draw the average fan in.” He ran a 5:19 (an American record that stood until Nielsen crushed it in April), and felt horrible. “The worst part is when you start running, you’re burping and trying to breathe at the same time. It’s like being waterboarded,” says Symmonds. “Then it’s dealing with the cramp and trying not to throw up. It’s a unique pain.” (Symmonds, by the way, did not ﬂip the beer over his head for any of his laps, either.) The YouTube video of Symmonds’s record run was posted by TMZ, discussed on ESPN—and reached 100,000 views. Beermile.com’s Patrick Butler remembers thinking at the time, It’s never going to get any bigger than that. BUT THEN came James Nielsen. Inspired by the

60th anniversary of Roger Bannister’s subfour-minute mile, Nielsen, an accomplished (but unofficial) 5:17 beer-miler in college, set his sights on shattering a similarly impossible milestone: four beers and four laps in under five minutes. He spent a year training his legs and his gut to break a barrier almost as mythical, in some circles, as the four-minute mile. Before Nielsen came along, preparation for the beer mile was what happened during track season or during what one might call “eating a big meal with a beer.” Post-Nielsen, it seems records are no longer the miraculous by-product of fast-twitch muscle fibers combined with innate chugging ability, but the result of careful study and stuffing yourself sick on occasion, all in the name of “training.” Sometime between Burlington Central High School and an April 28, 2014, YouTube video, the beer mile got…kinda legit. So maybe it’s no surprise that in the wake of Nielsen’s sub-five, the track-and-field Web site Flotrack will host the first-ever Beer Mile World Championships on December 3 in Austin, Texas. Nielsen and John Markell, a former Queen’s University beer-miler, are also organizing a world championship in San Francisco, but the pair had to push off their original target date of September of this year; the event likely won’t happen until spring 2015. Says Markell, “planning has been a significant undertaking.”

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The rise of the beer mile from novel invention to viral sensation has its creators scratching their heads. They say they never dreamed it would go from a lark with bragging rights and the opportunity to crack the top-10 T-shirt list to a competition that—if performed too well— can incite the masses. What do they think of all the discontent around Nielsen’s beer-mile behavior? Hell, they can’t even remember when they started turning cans upside down over their heads to signal an empty, or why or when, exactly, such a move was included as merely an asterisk in the rules. And they certainly don’t think Nielsen doctored his Budweiser. How did members of the original crew react to Nielsen’s record? Like the rest of us. With wonder. Its popularity, however, may just be a sign of the times. As one of the early adopters of the beer mile, Markell believes the event has simply reached a critical mass. “Even the average Joe runner wants to see if he can ﬁnish it. The beer mile seems to have transcended the ‘This looks really unhealthy’ view, and become a physical challenge, which are in vogue these days.” Indeed, there seems to be no shortage of the willing when it comes to pushing limits: Participation in marathons has jumped 40 percent in the past 10 years, according to Running USA, and entrants in obstacle races have skyrocketed from 50,000 in 2010 to 4 million in 2013. “People love competition,” says Mark Floreani, cofounder of Flotrack. “The beer mile is part dare, part competition, and entertaining to watch.” It’s part bonding experience, too. “Distance running has always been a sport of camaraderie that often extends to social lives,” says Markell. “Beer-miling is a weird but natural extension to the social aspect—why not suffer together doing something fun? I think it will continue to rise in popularity. It’s fun and hard and has finally surfaced beyond the cultish group of running circles.” And despite the considerable lack of sanctioned venues in which to drink and run, and the considerable discomfort involved in doing so, there’s no denying the attraction between runners and beer. “There’s something embedded in running culture, the tendency to cut loose with beers after a run, and to want to put them together,” says Ian Fallas. “The beer mile is probably something that was just bound to happen.”

RUNNER’S WORLD (ISSN 0897-1706) IS PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY RODALE INC. VOLUME 49 NUMBER 10, EDITORIAL OFFICES 400 SOUTH 10TH ST, EMMAUS, PA 18098 (610-967-5171). ©2014 RODALE INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO RUNNER’S WORLD, P.O. BOX 26299, LEHIGH VALLEY, PA 18022-6299. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT EMMAUS, PA, AND ADDITIONAL MAILING OFFICES. IN CANADA POSTAGE PAID AT GATEWAY MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO. CANADA POST PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NUMBER 40063752. RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADA ADDRESSES TO RUNNER’S WORLD, 2930 14TH AVE, MARKHAM, ONTARIO L3R 5Z8. GST #R122988611. SUBSCRIBERS: IF THE POSTAL AUTHORITIES ALERT US THAT PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. YOUR MAGAZINE IS UNDELIVERABLE, WE HAVE NO FURTHER OBLIGATION UNLESS WE RECEIVE A CORRECTED ADDRESS WITHIN 18 MONTHS.

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RACING AHEAD

ADVERTISING SECTION

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RRCA FLORIDA STATE CHAMPIONSHIP 10K IN SOUTH WALTON!

30A 10K & 1 Mile Fun Run NOVEMBER 27, 2014 ROSEMARY BEACH, FL Karen Meadows, Race Director P.O. Box 613651, WaterSound, FL 32461 (850) 325-0561 info@30A10K.com

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NORTH ATLANTIC

OCT 11 - Clearfield Pumpkin Run 5K Clearfield, PA Contact: Heather Bozovich, 6 S. Front St., Clearfield, PA 16830. (814) 765-6000 discoverclearfield@gmail.com

OCT 18 - The Medical Center 10K Classic, 10K Wheelchair Race, 5K Run/ Walk & 1.5M Fun Walk Bowling Green, KY Contact: Marie Noall, P.O. Box 1175, Bowling Green, KY 42102. (270) 796-2141 themedicalcenter10kclassic@yahoo.com

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OCT 17-19 - Runner’s World Half, 10K, 5K, Kids’ Races & Festival presented by Altra Bethlehem, PA Contact: Lori Adams, 400 S. 10th Street, Emmaus, PA 18098. half@runnersworld.com www.rwhalf.com

OCT 18-19 - Amerihealth NJ

BENEFITTING ADOPTION & ORPHAN CARE

AC Marathon, Half Marathon, 10K & 5K Atlantic City, NJ Contact: It’s Cooler at the Shore!, 501 N. Jerome Ave., Margate, NJ 08402. (609) 822-1167 acmarathon@jccatlantic.org www.acraceseries.com

Fast, Flat Boston Qualifier. SALT LAKE CITY, CHARLOTTE, TAMPA & CENTRAL TX

5K, 10 Mile, Half & Full Marathons FALL 2014

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SOUTH ATLANTIC

SEPT 26-27 - 2nd Annual Darlington Marathon, Relay, Half Marathon, 5K & 1.366 Fun Run Darlington, SC Contact: Jeff Taylor, Darlington Raceway, 1301 Harry Byrd Hwy., Darlington, SC 29532. (843) 395-8877 marathon@darlingtonraceway.com

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OCT 25 - Miami Beach Halloween Half Marathon & 4-Miler Miami Beach, FL Contact: Matt Lorraine, 18 N.W. 18th St., Delray Beach, FL 33444. (561) 504-2001 lorraine@exclusivesports.com http://halloweenhalfmarathon.com/events/ miami-beach

OCT 26 - Atlanta Halloween Half Marathon & 5K Cumming, GA Contact: Matt Lorraine, 18 N.W. 18th St., Delray Beach, FL 33444. (561) 504-2001 lorraine@exclusivesports.com http://halloweenhalfmarathon.com/events/ atlanta

NOV 1 - North Carolina Halloween

Save $5 - Use RWDARSEPT14 (Exp. 9/15/14)

Half Marathon, Half Marathon Relay & 5K Spring Lake, NC Contact: Matt Lorraine, 18 N.W. 18th St., Delray Beach, FL 33444. (561) 504-2001 lorraine@exclusivesports.com

OCT 4-5 - Crawlin’ Crab Half Marathon & 5K Hampton, VA Contact: J&A Racing, 3601 Shore Dr., Virginia Beach, VA 23455. (757) 412-1056 info@crawlincrabhalf.com

http://halloweenhalfmarathon.com/events/ north-carolina

Half Marathon, 10K, 5K & Kids’ Fun Run New Bern, NC Contact: Ann Williams Jones, P.O. Box 14762, New Bern, NC 28562 (252) 617-0798 ann@gameonnc.com

NOV 7-9 - TowneBank Outer Banks Marathon & Southern Fried Half, 10K, 5K, Fun Run & Southern 6 Fun Run Kitty Hawk to Manteo, NC Contact: Peggy Stovall, P.O. Box 265, Kill Devil Hills, NC 27948. (252) 255-6273 info@obxse.org

www.bridgerun.org

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OCT 18 - Neuse River Bridge Run, Contact: Barb Wright P.O. Box 1681, Key West, FL 33041 (305) 240-0727 bwpromo3@bellsouth.net

OCT 25 - Anthem Wicked 10K & One Mile Virginia Beach, VA Contact: J&A Racing, 3601 Shore Drive, Virginia Beach, VA 23455. (757) 412-1056 info@wicked10k.com

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www.crawlincrabhalf.com JANUARY 18, 2015 KEY WEST, FL

RRCA State Championship Race: 35th Annual of The Medical Center 10K Classic; The Race For Everyone!

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FOR A DVERT I S I NG RAT ES C O NTACT JAC KIE COKER AT 801.668.6038 or ja c kiecoker @sb c lglob a l.net

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NOV 15 - Anthem Richmond

Marathon, Half Marathon & 8K Richmond, VA Contact: Race Director, 100 Avenue of Champions, Richmond, VA 23230. (804) 285-9495 marathon@sportsbackers.org www.richmondmarathon.org

MAR 21-22, 2015 - Yuengling Shamrock Marathon Weekend, Marathon, Half Marathon, 8K & 1M Virginia Beach, VA Contact: J&A Racing, 3601 Shore Dr., Virginia Beach, VA 23455. (757) 412-1056 info@shamrockmarathon.com www.shamrockmarathon.com

NOV 22-23 - Harbor Lights Half Marathon Norfolk, VA Contact: J&A Racing, 3601 Shore Drive, Virginia Beach, VA 23455. (757) 412-1056 info@jandaracing.com www.harborlightshalf.com

DEC 20 - Surf-N-Santa 5 Miler & 5K Virginia Beach, VA Contact: J&A Racing, 3601 Shore Dr., Virginia Beach, VA 23455. (757) 412-1056 info@surfnsanta5miler.com www.surfnsanta5miler.com

DEC 7 - Divas® Half Marathon & 5K in St. Augustine Beach St. Augustine Beach, FL Contact: Continental Event & Sports Management, P.O. Box 56-1154, Miami, FL 33256-1154. info@runlikeadiva.com

MAR 29, 2015 - Runners Marathon of Reston, Marathon & Half Marathon Reston, VA Contact: Pat Brown, P.O. Box 2924, Reston, VA 20195. (703) 966-9378 info@runnersmarathon.com www.runnersmarathon.com

APR 12, 2015 - Divas Half Marathon® & 5K in North Myrtle Beach North Myrtle Beach, SC Contact: Continental Event & Sports Management, P.O. Box 56-1154, Miami, FL 33256-1154. info@runlikeadiva.com www.runlikeadiva.com

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SEPT 27 - Akron Marathon

DEC 14 - Jeff Galloway 13.1

Presented by Time Warner Cable, Marathon, Half Marathon, Team Relay & Kids Fun Run Akron, OH Contact: Brian Polen, 453 S. High St., Suite 301, Akron, OH 44311. (877) 375-2RUN (2786) info@akronmarathon.org

Atlanta, GA Contact: info@jeffgalloway131.com (Jeff Galloway), 4651 Roswell Rd., #I-802, Atlanta, GA 30342. (800) 200-2771 x305 info@jeffgalloway131.com www.jeffgalloway131.com

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JAN 18, 2015 - 17th Annual Key West

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SEPT 27 - Mill Race Marathon & Half Marathon & 5K Columbus, IN Contact: Joel Sauer, P.O. Box 361074, Indianapolis, IN 46236. (317) 294-9306 joel_sauer@att.net

Finisher Medals, Great Course & Shirts.

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FEB 14, 2015 - Myrtlebeach.com Myrtle Beach Marathon, Half Marathon, Team Relay, 5K & Fun Run Myrtle Beach, SC Contact: Myrtle Beach Marathon, P.O. Box 8780, Myrtle Beach, SC 29578. (843) 293-RACE (7223) mbmarathon@yahoo.com

OCT 18 - 19th Annual Indianapolis Marathon, Half Marathon, 4-Person Marathon & 5K Indianapolis, IN Contact: Joel Sauer, P.O. Box 361074, Indianapolis, IN 46236. (317) 294-9306 joel@indianapolismarathon.com

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Half Marathon & 5K Run Key West, FL Contact: Barb Wright, P.O. Box 1681, Key West, FL 33041. (305) 240-0727 bwpromo3@bellsouth.net

www.desmoinesmarathon.com

MAY 17, 2015 - Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon, Half Marathon, 10K, 5K & Kids’ Run Cleveland, OH Contact: Ralph Staph, 29525 Chagrin Blvd., #215, Pepper Pike, OH 44122. (800) 467-3826 info@clevelandmarathon.com www.clevelandmarathon.com

JUNE 13, 2015 - Summerfest Rock ‘n Sole Run, Half Marathon, Quarter Marathon & 5K Milwaukee, WI Contact: Sandra Chambers, 16851 Southpark Dr., Suite 100, Westfield, IN 46074. (317) 354-7796 sandra@visioneventmanagement.com www.rocknsolerun.com

SOUTH CENTRAL NORTH CENTRAL

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OCT 19 - IMT Des Moines Marathon, Half Marathon, Marathon Relay, 5K & Kids Run, Jeff Galloway Des Moines, IA Contact: Chris Burch, 526 39th St., Des Moines, IA 50312. (515) 288-2692 info@desmoinesmarathon.com

NOV 22 - White River Marathon For Kenya, Marathon, Half Marathon & 5K Cotter, AR Contact: Paul Gigliotti, P.O. Box 2551, Mountain Home, AR 72654. rd@whiterivermarathon.com www.whiterivermarathon.com

JAN 10, 2015 - Mississippi Blues Marathon, Half Marathon, 6.6 Mile Quarter Marathon & Relay Jackson, MS Contact: John Noblin, P.O. Box 321330, Flowood, MS 39232. info@msbluesmarathon.com www.msbluesmarathon.com

JAN 18, 2015 - The Louisiana Marathon, Half Marathon, 5K & Kids Marathon Baton Rouge, LA Contact: Craig Sweeney, 2041 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70808. (888) 786-2001 craig@thelouisianamarathon.com www.thelouisianamarathon.com

JAN 25, 2015 - 3M Half Marathon Austin, TX Contact: Conley Sports Productions, P.O. Box 684587, Austin, TX 78768. (512) 476-7223 3mhalfmarathon@conleysports.com www.3mhalfmarathon.com

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C LO S I NG DAT E FO R T H E DEC E M BER 2014 ISSUE IS SEPTEM BER 22, 2014

111

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FEB 14, 2015 - Jail Break Run,

Half Marathon & 5K Baytown, TX Contact: Mary Pinney, P.O. Box 893, Mt. Belvieu, TX 77580. (832) 767-8535 mary@project-blue.org www.jailbreakrun.org

FEB 15, 2015 - Austin Marathon & Half Marathon Austin, TX Contact: Stanley Conley, P.O. Box 684587, Austin, TX 78768. (512) 476-7223 info@youraustinmarathon.com www.youraustinmarathon.com

APR 19, 2015 - Divas Half Marathon® & 5K in Galveston Galveston, TX Contact: Continental Event & Sports Management, P.O. Box 56-1154, Miami, FL 33256-1154. info@runlikeadiva.com www.runlikeadiva.com

Save $10 - Use RWTXOCT14 (Exp. 10/31/14)

MOUNTAIN PACIFIC

MAR 21, 2015 - Valley To The Sea Marathon, Half Marathon,10K, 5K & Mile Wailuku, HI Contact: Rudy Huber, P.O. Box 1024, Wailuku, HI 96793. (808) 280-5801 huber_rudy@yahoo.com

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FEB 15, 2015 - California 10/20, 10 Miles, 20 Bands in North San Diego County, CA Del Mar, CA Contact: Turnkey Operations, 4018 Caven Rd., Austin, TX 78744. (888) 981-9190 info@cal1020.com www.cal1020.com

Great Distance, More Music, Scenic Coastal Course, Awesome Participant Perks!

MAY 31, 2015 - Divas Half Marathon® & 5K in San Francisco Bay Burlingame, CA Contact: Continental Events & Sports Management, P.O. Box 56-1154, Miami, FL 33256-1154. info@runlikeadiva.com www.runlikeadiva.com

Save $10 - Use RWSFOCT14 (Exp. 10/31/14)

INTERNATIONAL

FEB 8, 2015 - Los Cabos Half Marathon, 21K, 5K & Kids 5K Los Cabos, MEXICO Contact: Roxana Silva, Plaza Mijares, Historical Downtown, San Jose. 011 +521-624-147-7518 contacto@runcabo.com

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Enjoy Paradise.

MAR 19-24, 2015 - Rome Marathon, Full Marathon, Half possible* & 5K (Rated World’s Best City Marathon Historical Course!) Rome, Italy Contact: Run Italy Tours, Run Italy, Ltd., Boulder/Denver, CO 80246. (303) 993-8938 tourinfo@runitaly.com

NOV 8 - Select Staffing Santa Barbara Veterans Marathon, Half Marathon & Marathon Relay Santa Barbara, CA Contact: Rusty Snow (805) 563-4503 sbimarathon@cox.net www.sbimarathon.com

Save $10 w/Code: RWRUNSB

JAN 18, 2015 - Tri-City Medical Center Carlsbad Marathon & Half Marathon Carlsbad, CA Contact: In Motion, Inc., 6116 Innovation Way, Carlsbad, CA 92009. (760) 692-2900 info@inmotionevents.com www.carlsbadmarathon.com

The BEST Winter Marathon/Half Marathon Destination! Long-sleeve Technical T-shirts, Coastal Course and More! Event Sells Out Register Today. 112

JAN 18, 2015 - Maui OceanFront Marathon, Half Marathon, 15K, 10K & 5K Wailea to Lahaina, Maui, HI Contact: Les Wright, P.O. Box 20000, So. Lake Tahoe, CA 96151. (530) 559-2261 runmaui@gmail.com

RUN ITALY with our Special Guest: JEFF GALLOWAY Join Us & Enjoy, We’ll Take Care Of The Rest! *Sign Up NOW Only at: www.RunITALY.com

MAY 24, 2015 - Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon, Half Marathon, 10K, 5K, 2K & Kid’s Marathon Ottawa, ON, Canada Contact: John Halvorsen, 5450 Canotek Rd., Unit 45, Ottawa, ON K1J 9G2. (866) RUNOTTA halvorsen@runottawa.ca www.runottawa.com

Run With Over 48,000 Runners in Canada’s Capital!

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RUNNING NEVER

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RACE SPOTLIGHT

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FOR A DVE RTI S I N G RATE S CONTACT MICHAEL AUSTRY AT 214.674.8126

RACE SPOTLIGHT

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FOR A DVE RTI S I N G RATE S CONTACT MICHAEL AUSTRY AT 214.674.8126

RACE SPOTLIGHT

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Left to right: Runner's World Midwest Sales Manager Karen Crowley; Former Kellogg Company Chairman of the Board Jim Jenness; Runner's World Publisher Molly O'Keefe; Chicago Marathon Executive Director Carey Pinkowski

A HERO FOR OUR KIDS

The Bank of America Chicago Marathon recognized veteran business leader Jim Jenness as the fourth annual recipient of the Richard M. Daley and Maggie Daley Award for raising $81,000 for the Mercy Home Heroes, a local non-profit that provides children and families in need with critical programs and support. “The work this incredible organization does for children in need is wonderful, and I'm in awe of Jim’s efforts on their behalf,” says RW Publisher

Molly O’Keefe, who attended the awards ceremony on June 30 at Park Grill in Chicago. “I am proud to be running the 2014 Bank of America Chicago Marathon on behalf of the Mercy Home Heroes and am looking forward to a great day in October.” The Mercy Home Heroes charity team became a part of the official Bank of America Chicago Marathon Charity Program in 2011. Mercy Home Heroes play a critical part in supporting and advocating for children, and raising funds to provide resources and positive role models for children in need. For more information, visit mercyhome.org.

FASTINISTAS UNITE

RUNNER’S WORLD was proud to sponsor the inaugural Running & Fitness Event for Women, in Chicago at the iconic Navy Pier, June 30 to July 2. This dynamic conference and trade show was created to provide retailers with a platform to better understand female runners, including their motivation and influences, while also providing a first look at must-have products targeting today’s active woman.

Left to right: RW Director of Integrated Marketing Kathleen Jobes and RW Sales Assistant Nicole Ragucci.

RUNNER’S WORLD was on hand to lead the festivities, sponsoring a morning run. RW’s own elite staffer Kathleen Jobes, director of integrated marketing for RUNNER’S WORLD and RUNNING TIMES magazines, took more than 100 participants on a Lakefront Fun Run. Jobes met with women runners and retailers from all over the country to discuss what an exciting time it is for the industry. For more information about the Running & Fitness Event for Women, visit therunningandﬁtnessevent.com.

FOUR-TIME ADWEEK HOT LIST WINNER 14 BEST AMERICAN SPORTS WRITING SELECTIONS PEOPLE’S CHOICE WEBBY WINNER AD AGE MEDIA VANGUARD WINNER

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I’M A RUNNER

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Interview by Stephen Camelio

THEO ROSSI

SONS OF ANARCHY ACTOR, 39, STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK

BECAUSE OF WORK, I’ve had to back out of many races. So, now, if there’s a really great run I want to do, like the New York City Marathon, I’ll mimic it on my own time.

“Running gives me the stamina and discipline I need to act.”

I GOT ROBBED on vacation. My girlfriend was upset that they took the ﬁrst necklace I gave her, but all I could think about was that my Nike watch got stolen and I hadn’t uploaded my miles yet. I STARTED STATEN STRONG, my nonproﬁt, for Hurricane Sandy relief, and we also do youth empowerment. I just spoke at a school and said, “Run. Be part of your community. See where you live.” WHEN I RUN with my character’s Mohawk and tattoos, it’s like being Rocky, where people throw oranges to you. People stop me on the street. I pause my watch, let them take some pictures, and then I’m like, “Okay, gotta go.” SOMETIMES I GET LOST on a run and I’ll just keep going. I get back and I’m like, Jesus, did I just run 16, 17 miles? You’re exhausted and you’re freezing and it becomes an adventure. I RUN WITH MY DOG, Rocco. He’s a husky/wolf mix I found half-dead in Compton [L.A.]. Now he’s like the Fresh Prince. He pushes my pace and never wants to stop.

FIVE YEARS AGO, I was 211 pounds and looked like I could lift a car, but I couldn’t walk. My back hurt. I got a role as a meth addict that called for me to lose a lot of weight, and the best way to do that was running. I LOST 43 POUNDS in 12 weeks. I got

hooked on running. I quit smoking and drinking. Nothing else had ever made me feel so clear. 122

SEASON TWO of Sons was intense for me, so before jumping on my motorcycle to go to work at 5:30 a.m., I’d run at 3. It helped me deal with the day and become a better actor.

Rossi returns as Juice Ortiz in the seventh and ﬁnal season of FX’s Sons of Anarchy on September 9.

ALL OF MY WORK—the nonproﬁts, the TV, my production company— none of it would exist if I didn’t run six days a week. Something happens to me when I run.

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GO TO RUNNERSWORLD.COM/IMARUNNER FOR A VIDEO INTERVIEW, PHOTOS, AND THE FULL Q&A.

I’LL NEVER TAKE an escalator or an elevator if there are steps. It’ll be 26 ﬂoors, and people are like, “What’s wrong with you?” I always get there faster than they do. RUNNING’S KIND OF saved my life. I’ve done everything, workout-wise, but with running there’s this speciﬁc feeling that comes with it that once you do it, you do it for life.

PHOTOGRAPH BY MEREDITH JENKS

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