Why I Run

We all have our reasons for running. We want fitness and speed and PRs and time alone and lots of other things. Some of us are super serious and competitive and some of us are just starting out and haven’t really committed to reasons yet and some of us are just working to [...]

Beat the Doldrums

In the closing scene of “Finding Nemo,” the “tank gang” from P. Sherman’s dental office finally pull off the escape they’ve dreamt about for years. After Dr. Sherman places them in plastic bags to change the tank water, they roll their bags across the counter to an open window, freefall into the bushes below, [...]

Taking 100 Kids to Bloomsday

Now that I have your attention, I will explain….ok, where do I start?
Well I guess I will begin with “What is Bloomsday?”
Bloomsday is a 12 km race that first began on May 1, 1977, and runs through downtown Spokane, Washington. Over 1,000 runners participated in the inaugural Bloomsday Run, which was billed “Run [...]

Adventure Racing, Collegiate Style

This week we bring you something different—Adventure Racing!
Adventure Racing has it all—Trail Running, Mountain Biking and Kayaking in this Collegiate Championship.
No matter what your discipline, life is an adventure—go race!

Video of the Week: Steve Prefontaine

In 1972 Steve Prefontaine set the American record in the 1972 5k (13:22.8) and was set to compete in the 1972 Olympic Games. The race shown in this video is the epitome of drive and determination. You can practically feel the lactic acid building up in your legs and your lungs as you watch [...]

How To Recognize a Marathoner

From the Official User Gallery of the 2007 Flora London Marathon. Enjoy!

(Thanks to Pamalamadingdong for the tip!)

Photo of the Week: Boston 2007

Congratulations to these two Running Blog Family 111th Boston Marathon champs, the incomparable Running Chick With the Orange Hat, and her trusty companion, the unstoppable amazing hip.

(jeff, and Dianna, mile 7-ish; photo courtesy Renée Dekona.)

According to a story in the April 17 edition of The New York Times,
This was the most dismal day to run [...]

The Race Registration Conundrum

This upcoming Sunday I’m joining 5,000 other runners in the La Jolla Half Marathon, a scenic and challenging seaside course that everyone must finish in under three hours. Some will likely be running with someone else’s number because they didn’t register for their own before the popular race sold out.
How do I know? For the [...]

Ethical Running

It’s not often that ethical dilemmas occur during road races (at least those that don’t involve Rosie Ruiz), but two recent incidents got me thinking about how much responsibility each of us has to watch out for our fellow runners.
In a 10K race recently, one of my teammates was up front the entire race, trading [...]

Opinion: Guts & Glory

There’s a perception among recreational runners that one of the main things that separates us from the elites is the ability of those at the top of our sport to tough it out, to endure more pain than we can. The thinking goes that folks like Paula Radcliffe, Meb Keflezighi, Martin Lel and Deena Kastor [...]

Planning a Trail Race: Part Five

(Read parts one, two, three and four of this series.)
Summary and Lessons Learned
We covered many aspects of planning a trail race in the first four parts of this series. It is almost certain that some things were missed. The lesson there is that something will most certainly get missed along the way while you [...]

Planning a Trail Race: Part Four

(Read parts one, two and three of this series.)

Race Logistics
Lots of different things make up the logistics on race day.

Course markings.
Make sure people won’t get lost on your course becuase if they do you may be responsible. Mark your course clearly the day before the race. Typical trail markings [...]

Planning a Trail Race: Part Three

(Read parts one and two of this five-part series.)

Advertising & Sponsors
Before I begin part 3 I do need to remind you of the time committment in planning a race. As you can tell by the sporadic updates to this 5 part series, I have been busy. Planning a trail races takes A LOT [...]

Planning a Trail Race: Part Two

(Read parts one and three of this series.)

In part one of this series we looked at the basics to getting started as a new race
director. By now you should have your race date, distance, location, size and name. Those
things alone aren’t going to get you very far. Very early on you should begin the process [...]

Video: Toronto Waterfront Marathon

On Sunday, September 24th, we posted two articles related to the Toronto Waterfront Marathon:

Man Runs Sub-Three Hour Marathon While Juggling
75 Year-Old Ed Whitlock Runs Marathon in an Amazing 3 Hours 8 Minutes

Turns out one of CRNs very own writers ran the half marathon in Toronto that same day. Adeel finished in one hour twenty six [...]

Less is More

Choose your battles wisely.
It’s timeless advice that applies to nearly every aspect of life. Whether it’s within the context of a romantic relationship, a dysfunctional work environment, or a childrearing strategy, the idea of emphasizing certain objectives and letting lesser concerns slide tends to optimize your long-term satisfaction in any situation.
This philosophy applies to running [...]

Essential Race Day Jargon for the Beginning Runner

We are all newbies at one time. For those of you who prefer to be more discreet about your newbie status at your first race, it may be helpful to learn a few phrases/terms that you might overhear:

“I placed second in my age-group!” Age group (AG): In addition to placing first, second and third within [...]

It’s Not Supposed to Be Easy

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got came from Olympian Steve Scott. He was talking to a group of us warming up before a long run and asked about our time goals for an upcoming marathon.
“How many of you just want to finish?” he asked.
About 50 hands shot up.
Then he oh-so-diplomatically [...]

Planning a Trail Race: Part One

(Read parts one, two and three of this series.)
You’ve been bit by the “race director bug” but the problem is you don’t know where to begin. We’ll take a look at the process from the eyes of this first time race director (me), and we’re going to start, of course, from the beginning.
Putting together [...]