There are plenty of good reasons to run a marathon: the sense of personal achievement, raising money for a cause, offending a bear on a 26.1-mile-long chain. There’s also at least one bad reason to run one: to lose weight. As counterintuitive as it may seem, signing on to run a four-hour-long road race isContinue reading “Marathon Weight Gain”
Category Archives: Training
Life After 26.2
You know that feeling when you’ve been writing a blog about running for almost a year in anticipation of your inaugural marathon and then after running that marathon can no longer think of anything interesting to write about and consider just posting photos of your brother’s goldendoodle on the internet instead? No, you don’t knowContinue reading “Life After 26.2”
Accidental Recovery
After four months of painstakingly disciplined marathon training, I had big plans to throw caution to the wind this week and disregard everything I’d ever read about post-marathon recovery. A tad hubristic, sure, but after 16 weeks of scheduled workouts and calculated nutrition and near-religious adherence to a calendar, I wanted nothing more when IContinue reading “Accidental Recovery”
Practice Makes Perfect
I’ve received a lot of well-meaning advice as my inaugural marathon approaches (“Walk through the water stations!” “Don’t weave during the first half!” “Have a friend join you at mile 22!”) as well as some less-than-constructive suggestions (“Don’t run an f-ing marathon!”) but the tip that’s been most often recited to me by marathoners andContinue reading “Practice Makes Perfect”
You’re as Cold as Ice
Most everything that begins with the word ‘ice’ is A-OK in my book. Ice cream? Yes, please. An ice cold beer? Hook me up. 90s hip hop classic ‘Ice Ice Baby?’ Two times the fun. The newest addition to the list: post-run ice baths. Ice baths get mixed reviews from the distance running community, withContinue reading “You’re as Cold as Ice”
Partner in Crime
I may be a single woman, but with the population of my adopted city approaching 8.3 million, I am rarely – if ever – alone. Pop into Fairway for a gallon of milk and I’m confronted with thousands of my gourmand neighbors. Lay in bed at night and I’m serenaded by the homeless guy onContinue reading “Partner in Crime”
The Third Stage of Marathon Training: Bargaining
When my alarm went off at an unforgiving hour this morning after a particularly late work event last night, I started doing something with which I imagine every runner is intimately familiar: I started negotiating. I had eight miles on the schedule, but the litigator in me arrived at court/dawn prepared to plea-bargain it downContinue reading “The Third Stage of Marathon Training: Bargaining”
Is Marathon Training Bad for You?
“You’re training for a marathon? Isn’t that bad for you?” It’s a question I’ve heard dozens of times, and it usually comes from the same lips that just smoked a pack of cigarettes or threw back three tequila shots or ate an entire KFC family meal, alone. Go on, pinnacle of health – I thinkContinue reading “Is Marathon Training Bad for You?”
I’ll Take the Long Road
If every evil villain subplot in the history of Hollywood has taught me anything, it’s that there’s always an easy way and a hard way, and the hard way makes for significantly better entertainment. (Spoiler alerts ahead, although, honestly, you really should have seen all these movies by now.) Why destroy Gotham in one fellContinue reading “I’ll Take the Long Road”
First Things First
As Curiosity touched down on Mars’ surface last week—marking the fourth NASA unmanned surface rover to explore the red planet since 1996—I was struck by how few firsts my generation has experienced. Sure, Generation Y has lived through some momentous and empowering firsts, from the United States’ first black president to the country’s first legalizedContinue reading “First Things First”
Riled Up Runner 