As you can imagine, the responses have ranged from labeling this the death of playtime to the answer to childhood obesity. My problem with kid’s treadmills is their sub-par features. Just take a look at some of the things that are missing:

• There’s no safety key/kill switch.
• There’s no incline/decline feature.
• No memory to save workouts or allow multiple users to track their history.
• No pre-programmed workouts (i.e. intervals, weight loss, fat burner).
• No motor! It’s self-propelled. (Note: This might be why there is no safety key/kill switch.)
• No cup holder. Are we trying to teach our children that you don’t need to hydrate?

On a more serious note, although admittedly not much more seriously, I think we need to realize that these treadmills for kids are toys. Kids like to play grown-up. No one was up in arms when Hasbro released the Easy-Bake Oven because no one suspected that parents were going to force their kids to cook their meals for them. No one reminded me of the child labor laws when I got my son a Playskool workbench. Kids like to pretend that they’re grown-ups and imitate what their parents do. My 5-year-old often grabs his plastic briefcase and pretends to leave for work, sometimes even he cries and curses under his breath just like his dear old Dad.

As far as I’m concerned, parents can continue to buy their children these kiddy treadmills because when it’s all said and done, they’re just toys and kids will use them as toys. If my kids are representative of the norm, and I like to think they are despite evidence to the contrary, then kids will run on the treadmill toy for 4 or 5 minutes, leave it somewhere that you can trip over it and then move on to the next toy. Using a treadmill for 5 minutes only when it strikes your fancy will not result in any kind of improved fitness. If it did, I’d be one of the fastest runners known to man.

Parents hoping for some kind of health benefit from the kid’s treadmill are going to be sorely disappointed. It’s not fun to run on a treadmill for any significant length of time, especially if you have the attention span of a child. (I do and this qualifies me to speak on this matter.) The only way that I can picture kids being interested in running on a treadmill is if they routinely watch one of their parents run on a treadmill, in which case you’ve already won half the battle—you’ve probably already set a healthy example for your kids and created an interest in running and exercise. Frankly, it’s time to stop worrying about what kind of example other people are setting for our children and start showing them a good example and teaching them to discern for themselves who are good role models and who are not. Buying a treadmill for your kids to encourage them to exercise is probably pretty pointless unless you plan on using a training plan and mandating that they run for a set amount of time or a set amount of miles, in which case buying a kid’s treadmill is the least of your worries because you’ve failed at parenting.

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I would like to preface this letter by stating that I have absolutely no experience as a race director. However, I’ve run enough races to think that I have an expert understanding of how they work in much the same way that any airline passenger knows how a plane works and is qualified to advise the pilot. Following the lead of in-laws everywhere, I’d like to offer some unsolicited advice to any budding race directors formatted as a list of dos and don’ts.

Do provide paper cups. Look, if you’re not going to let me prepare my own water bottles in advance to be handed to me as I would have been permitted to do at an Olympic marathon, then please provide my beverage in a paper cup. I can squeeze the top of a paper cup together and drink it fairly easily. Styrofoam and plastic cups crack when I squeeze them and I end up wearing the Gatorade.

Do provide chip timing. If chip timing is within your budget, it is something that many runners appreciate. So as to not re-open a certain can of worms again let me just say that you should disclose whether you’re going to place timing mats at the start and finish, or at the finish only. That way, runners won’t be surprised.

Do have age group awards. Even if you can only afford to provide the age group winners with a certificate, it’s still a good idea to give out age group awards. The vast majority of runners know that taking first overall is out of the question, but many of them know they can strive for placing in their age group. The smaller the age category the better; in fact, you might even want to consider having a category for 33 year-old males named Ian who write for CRN. Just a thought.

Do make course maps available prior to the race. I ran a 5K this past weekend and for the life of me, I could not find a course map online. I’m one of those runners who is a little OCD in race preparation and I get pedantic about running the tangents, so it is imperative that I get to look at the course before the race. Not seeing a course map may have cost me a couple of hundredths of a second. If you don’t think hundredths of a second are important, then you should go talk to Dara Torres or Milorad Cavic.

Do provide good food afterwards. Sure, a banana, a dry bagel and some raisins are good for healthy post-race recovery but we’re runners, we just spent the past several months training for this race and eating the right things. What we want now is to be rewarded with the wrong things. Bring on the BBQ brisket. Bring on the fatty carbs!

Don’t serve O’Doul’s at the end of the race and think that it counts as providing a post-race beer. Non-alcoholic beer is like decaf coffee and Paris Hilton; it’s totally useless. I don’t drink beer and coffee because they taste good. I drink them for the stimulus they provide and if I could find a way to mainline that stuff, I’d stop drinking them altogether.

Don’t allow weather to be a problem. The perfect conditions for a race are 50 – 55 degrees Fahrenheit and overcast with a slight tailwind, unless Sammy Wanjiru is running, in which case it apparently doesn’t matter. If you allow the weather to get too far from these ideal conditions, then it just screams of un-professionalism and incompetency.

Don’t just take my word for it. Like my friends are always telling me, seek professional help. Join a group like the Association of Running Event Directors, or at the very least be sure to check out their blog for great ideas. The whole website is very well-written and their advice is usually pretty solid. I’m not even a race director and I enjoy reading it.

Don’t take this article too seriously. At the end of the day, you’re putting on a race and we’re all truly thankful for it.

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Sure, it starts out being cheap, but it doesn’t take long before you’re wondering if owning a stable of racehorses might not have been a cheaper hobby. If you’re like me, you probably started your running career with a pair of shoes that you already owned, thinking that this running thing is downright free. I mean, what else could you possibly need to run?

So you’re enjoying running and all the extra money that is swimming around in your pockets, but before you know it something doesn’t feel right. Your knee hurts or your foot just doesn’t feel right when you run, and someone helpfully suggests that you really should get fitted for running shoes at a proper running shoe store. No problem. You go to the local running store, go through the gauntlet of tests and walk away with a $100 pair of shoes that you’re convinced were custom made at the factory with you in mind. They were hardly cheap but they’re just shoes, what else could there be? As you leave the store they tell you that you shouldn’t wear them for anything but running and that they should be replaced after 400-500 miles.

The shoes turn out to be worth the money because they allow you to run without any pain, but pretty soon you’re wondering why you are the only runner on the trail wearing a cotton t-shirt. Just to see what all the fuss is about you purchase a dry fit, wicking shirt that the industry refers to as a ‘tech shirt’ because you can charge more for things that have the word ‘tech’ in the name. The tech shirt is much nicer to run in and even the most ungrateful nipples will thank you profusely, but you’ll soon tire of washing it after each use and you’ll buy more shirts. A lot more.

As the winter months get closer and the daylight hours grow shorter you’ll realize that you need to purchase some reflective running attire so that you can be seen at dawn or dusk. The temperatures will drop and you’ll need to procure gloves, hats, sweatshirts and leggings made from some expensive wicking material. Even with all this great cold gear there will be days when it’s too cold or too icy to run outside, and that’s why you’ll need a gym membership. Getting to the gym to run on their indoor track or treadmills can be such a hassle though, perhaps it would behoove you to just invest in your own treadmill. Go ahead and throw in the warranty that will expire two months too soon while you’re at it.

Running is getting pretty expensive, but the truth is that it’s only just getting started. Every year there will be more and more races that you have to enter which equates to more money spent on race fees and travel expenses for those out of town races. You’ll need a better sports watch than the one you currently own, perhaps even a Garmin. You’ve got your subscription to Runner’s World magazine and if you’re smart like me a backup subscription in case one gets lost in the mail. You’ll have membership dues to your local running club because it’s more fun to run with friends, even if you are theoretically paying them to be your running friends. You’ll eventually need special laundry detergent to get the body odor out of your beloved tech shirts and it’s going to put a dent in your grocery budget when you add in the Gatorade and PowerBars. You probably already own an MP3 player but you’ll constantly need to update your playlist with motivational songs and you’ll have to buy them because you’re an upstanding citizen, not one of those shady characters who illegally downloads free music. Before long you’ll get hit with your first running injury, hopefully nothing too critical and your doctor will tell you (after a $20 co-pay) that you need to take a couple of weeks off running. A couple of weeks off? Is he serious? You can’t possibly! But the doctor knows best and now you need a new bike to crosstrain on during your time off from running because that clunky old bike in your garage obviously won’t crosstrain you as well as a shiny new road bike would.

You know what else you’re going to need? A second job to pay for this new running addiction that someone told you was cheap, but if you take on a second job then when will you have the time to run? You’d consider selling plasma or bone marrow if they’d let you do it more than twice a week. Perhaps you’d be better off financially if you just quit running altogether, but that’s not really an option. You’re committed to running for life which is appropriate given that you just dropped two month’s salary on your last outing to the running store.

Image courtesy of Tracy Olson

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In the world of professionally taken pictures, race pictures fall under the category of “proof” pictures and not because the photography company often plasters that across the image. Race pictures serve as proof that you ran the race, much the same way that a mug shot serves as proof that you’ve been in the pokey and a driver’s license picture proves that you are moderately capable at operating motorized vehicles. As you can tell from the other members of the “proof pictures” genre these are not the types of pictures that you’ll be sending to the modeling agency as your next headshot.

However, knowing that our race pictures will most likely be unflattering doesn’t stop us from trying to pose for the camera when we see it. Listed below are the seven most common poses that we strike along with some sweeping generalizations about what each pose says about you as a person.

The Ebert & Roeper. These runners see the camera and they immediately give two thumbs up. They’re feeling good and the race is going well. The paper Gatorade cup is always half full for these runners who probably have smiling, bubbly personalities even when they’ve just woken up. They’re really annoying to grumpy runners like me.

The Hi Mom. A simple wave at the camera is enough for these runners, if they were professional athletes playing a team sport they’d be the ones mouthing “Hi Mom” to the camera. You guys know we can’t hear you right?

The Ignore. This is the most common race picture pose because it doesn’t even require you to notice the camera. Whenever these runners do spot the camera they simply ignore it as the name would imply. These runners are too focused on the pace of their race and the heat of the chase to be concerned with the contortions of their face. Or they’re just simply too tired to exert any extra effort.

The Vanity Ignore. Whenever possible, this is my particular pose of choice. These runners want you to think that they didn’t see the camera. They’re trying to pull off The Ignore, but it’s painfully obvious from the picture that they did in fact see the camera, and then puffed up their chest, lengthened their stride, relaxed their facial expression and tried to appear fast. They look like they’re trying too hard and everyone around them is wondering why this guy is suddenly sprinting at mile 8 of a half-marathon.

The Mardi Gras. These runners pulled a shirt or jacket on over their bib and then realized that they wouldn’t find their race pictures without their bib number being visible. They flash the camera like an inebriated coed on Spring Break. These runners are poor planners and like to think of themselves as “spontaneous.” Maybe next time they’ll pin their bib to their shorts, but it’s doubtful.

The Tsunami. These runners aren’t content to just give a small wave like the Hi Mom runners, no, these runners are big wavers. They are the most likely of any runners to be found wearing a costume and are probably fond of saying things like “go big or go home.” These runners are often spotted running in groups and having way too much fun. Don’t they realize they’re running?

The Muscle Beach. These runners flex at the camera when they see it. This pose is usually performed by the jocks, and frequently it’s the ones who aren’t wearing a shirt that perform it. If these pictures had a soundtrack it would be a grunt. Truth be told, we all practice this pose in front of the bathroom mirror, but these runners are bold enough to put it into action in public.

I think we covered most of the different poses here, but let us know in the comments if we missed one. I’ll leave you with a deep thought to ponder; if we all fit into one of these categories of poses, does that make us all Pose runners?

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Checkout the original photo and comments over at Fuzzy Gerdes’ Flicker site.

Got an interesting running photo, leave a comment with the details.

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Thanks Jeanne, aka WebSphinx for letting us feature your photo from the Arlington 9-11 Memorial 5k. You can see more photos on her Flickr Site or better yet, check out Jeanne’s blog.

Got a photo you would like featured, leave us a comment.

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Despite its growing popularity, the half-marathon struggles to overcome a significant identity crisis. It doesn’t have the aura of the marathon, the popularity of the 10K, or the excitement of the 5K.

The marathon enjoys widespread fame and prestige. Major races like New York and Boston receive network TV coverage, and almost every regional marathon enjoys several days of newspaper coverage before and after the event. The 5K, 10K, and 1500 meters are the premier distance running events at every Olympics—where the heroic efforts of Billy Mills and Steve Prefontaine became the stuff of legend and repeat winners like Haile Gebrselassie forged their reputations as the greatest runners of all time.

Here’s a quiz: who won the half-marathon at the last Olympic Games? Can you name any Americans who made the Olympic half-marathon team? If you can’t think of anyone, don’t worry. It’s a trick question. The half-marathon isn’t an Olympic event. In other words, in the vast pantheon of athletics, the half-marathon ranks below badminton, fencing, and team handball.

The half-marathon is the only race that is identified by comparison to another event. Nobody ever calls the 5K a “Half-10K”, or the 1500 meters a “One-third 5K”. Yet, the half-marathon goes through life as a diminutive variation of its longer, better-known relative. And if that wasn’t bad enough, in some parts of the country, 13.1-mile races are called “mini marathons”. No wonder the race has an inferiority complex.

My local half-marathon (the Big Sur Half-Marathon on Monterey Bay) is like one of those nerdy kids in school named Reginald Archibald von Finkelstein. Saddled with an unwieldy name, it’s doomed to chronic snickering. It’s also identified by the bigger race (Big Sur Marathon) it’s associated with, but has to include the location to remind everyone that it isn’t actually in Big Sur.

Monterey’s half-marathon gets its own day, but many in other cities don’t. They’re forced to share a day as the undercard of a full marathon held on the same morning. Most of the race shirts from these events say “marathon” in huge letters at the top and “half-marathon” in much smaller font below the logo. At the expo, half-marathoners feel like outcasts when picking up their bib numbers, often lowering their voices in embarrassment when the volunteer asks them which race they’re entering.

The sad part is that the half-marathon is a wonderful race. It’s long enough to be a true test of aerobic endurance, but doesn’t require the 4-hour training runs that are necessary prerequisites for the marathon. It’s short enough to allow a strong finish over the final miles, but only if you use a smart race strategy to position yourself well in the final 5K. It’s attainable enough to welcome a variety of runners and challenging enough to seriously test the most elite runners.

Clearly, the half-marathon needs a more distinctive, more distinguished name. After much consideration, I can humbly propose a suggestion. From now on, I’m referring to the half-marathon as the “triskadecathon”.

That’s right— the triskadecathon. You heard it here first. When you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. The root is Latin for the number 13. It is just long enough, Latin enough, and obscure enough to sound serious to anyone who doesn’t know what you’re talking about. If you tell your sedentary friends or family members that you’re training for a triskadecathon, they’ll think you’re planning something pretty impressive. It’s an independent identity for an independent race. It has a cool, slightly intimidating sound to it, which runners can say with pride when they pick up their race packets.

The 13.1-mile race clearly deserves its own designation to set it apart from the other road races, and that’s what “triskadecathon” provides. It’s a word that accurately reflects the race’s positive attributes. Besides, it’s kind of fun to say, isn’t it? Go ahead and try it at your next race. Who knows? Maybe the name will actually catch on.

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Brooks’ Run World Run campaign was a hit in 2004, featuring this video (music by Chris Ballew from The Presidents of the United States of America).

Slightly older but equally expressive of running’s appeal was Adidas’ “Runners, Yeah We’re Different” campaign from 1999 and 2000. Mizuno followed that up with a similar but smaller print campaign.

What other running advertisements do you find interesting or inspirational?

Good luck, Mark!

(Click here to see why today’s video makes sense. You have to scroll to the bottom of the page, hit the ‘earlier posts’ link and then scroll to the bottom of that page. It’s well worth the trouble, trust me. )