1. Handy post on GPS watch accuracy
2. This post and the comments were entertaining, and insightful
3. Why traditional ab work won’t prevent injury or make you faster
4. Repetition (a basic training week structure) is important
5. Having a rough day? Watch this and smile. I did (her first ever roller coaster ride)
I was looking for something in a storage box today at lunch and happened to find a baseball that I had feared was long gone.
This ball was a could ball from a Birmingham barons game in 1982. We were on the third base side kinda low, when a pop fly landed two seats away from my dad and into an open seat. I’ve never seen my dad move with any sort of cat-like quickness, but he did that night. Of course, our dream was to catch a foul ball at all the games we had attended that summer and summers past. (I’ve written about Barons baseball and my dad here.) Here was our chance. The ball landed, dad leapt to action, and he beat several people to the ball. And there we were with an authentic piece of Barons Baseball. This was 1982, remember, the gift shop didn’t sell “authentic” items from the team. You couldn’t get an “on the field” type of hat or jersey, and you for sure couldn’t get an “authentic” baseball used by the Southern League. This ball was like gold. And that I found it after all these years makes me smile with the happy thoughts of summers of Barons baseball with my dad.
1. You’ve heard of “Air Jordans.” How about a “Run Jordan?”
2. Regular exercise reverses the affect of aging on your skin
3. Pete Larson finds an old but fascinating article on running–from 1885!
4. Suspicious bags at the Boston finish line
5. Boston commemorates one year since the bombing
1. It has been one year
2. Why runners sweat more
3. The “naked jogger of Lancaster”
4. Track is killing itself
1. Stop negative talk (or thoughts) and you will run faster
2. I don’t know that I’d consider this a “letdown”
3. Musings of an ultra marathon spectator
4. Ian Sharman’s Lake Sonoma race recap. ( I LOVE his last pic)
5. Lake Sonoma 50 miler results. Zach Miller won for the men. Emily Harrison for the women.
1. What’s in your race suitcase?
2. Top five tips for road race etiquette
3. 70,000 runners enter the Chicago Marathon lottery
4. In 2013 more than 2 million runners finished a 13.1 as women finisher rates continue to grow
5. In 2013, 1,100 marathons in the US generated 541,000 finishers
If you don’t follow ultra and trail running, you likely haven’t heard of Jared Campbell or the Barkley Marathons. If you do, then you know what sort of feat it is to just finish this race, much less finish twice. Without a doubt it is one of, if not the, toughest 100-mile races in the world. You get twice the normal amount of 100-mile race time–60 hours, You climb and descend more than 50,000 feet. And the notion of “trail” is quite loosely defined. The 100 mile race consists of five 20 mile loops, while the “fun run” is three 20 mile loops for a total of 60 miles.
So tough is this race that it has been finished only 16 times by 14 runners since 1995. There are a couple of two-time finishers. Campbell is on of these people.
As the story goes, it was founded in 1986 by Gary Cantrell after he read about James earl Rays scape front he nearby prison in 1977, but was recaptured after 55 hours and having traveled only 8 miles. Cantrell figured he could do at least 100 miles in that time.
Here is a great story on the race. Here is Campbell’s race report form this year.
There is no race like Barkley. Mysterious. Crazy tough. IncrediblySeemingly impossible.
Jared Campbell lives in Salt Lake City and agreed to answer five questions. Many thanks to him. Hope you enjoy.
1. Couple wear crazy costumes in marathons to fund overseas adoption of child
2. Stop blowing off strides
3. The fastest runners aren’t always the fastest racers
4. How Wilson Kipsang set the marathon world record
5. Are you programmed to enjoy exercise?
1. Dane doesn’t hold back here
2. Altra has given Hoka a first real competitor in this type of shoe. Here’s a comparison
3. This puts the “functional” in functional strength and stability: the 100-up
4. Blake Mycoskie (Toms founder) lives an active lifestyle
5. Why you should embrace running slow
47. I’m 47 today. Doesn’t bother me much, except when I think about the number. Just seems kind of high, doesn’t it? I had more trouble processing 30 than I have other ages. Thirty was “grown-up” time. It signified to me that youth was at an end, and adulthood and responsibility and hair loss was eminent.
I thought it might be fun to work up an intermediate bucket list of things I’d like to run someday.
In no particular order, these are the races/distances I want to do in the near future:
1. Run a 100-mile race
Yes, I swore to myself after crewing at Burning River that I would never ever, ever, do a10-mile race. the smell alone was enough to scare me straight. But the ore I get into ultra and learn about the transformative experience that a 100 becomes to a person, the more I’m willing to commit to the effort. Obviously, Pinhoti in my back yard or Lake Martin nearby, are on the sub-list.
2. Run 50-mile and 100K races
Kind of a no-brainer if I plan to do a 100. But I want to mark them off the list and experience this initial step toward 100.
3. BQ
Yah. I still want to qualify for Boston, but unlike 2010-2011, I no longer see every marathon as a do-or-die BQ event. I put a great deal of pressure on myself in that 56 week period where I races 5 marathons. I ended that phase mentally toasted and physically tired. I’ve lost a little edge since then, but I needed to step back, relax, smile, and let BQ come when BQ comes.
4. Run one or more of the great city marathons: NY, Chicago, London, Rome
I’ve done San Francisco, which I argue must be considered alongside the other big city races. It doesn’t get its due. Great city great race. But I also want the experience of running through some of the other big cities and soaking in the culture by foot.
5. One of the great multi-day events
I’ve become fascinated with stage races, multi-day endurance challenges that test you beyond a finite distance or time on one day. Something like the Transalpine Race or the Trans-Rockies. I’ll do some of the local stage races: Birmingham Stage Race and Chattanooga Mountains Stage Race.
6. Run across a state.
These types of formal-informal events are becoming more common. I heard an Ultra Runner Podcast interview with a guy who ran across Tennessee. The stories he told were funny and inspiring. Running across Alabama maybe? Perhaps one should start with a thin state then move up to a fat state?
7. Run a half or full with my one or both of my sons
Goes without saying, I suppose. I’ve run with them for shorter races. Those remain my most cherished running moments. When your child wants to do something you are passionate about, well, the feeling is indescribable.
1. Not exactly running related, but this is the best treatment on iPhone battery drain I’ve seen
2. We need to talk about getting more women into ultra
3. Excellent response to the “running will kill you” junk that’s been floating of late
4. The Science of long distance running
5. She raises money for animal rescue and wants to run marathons on all 7 continents
This Running Life 