Running News Daily

Olympic 5,000-Meter Champion Murray Halberg Dies at 89

Murray Halberg, gold medalist in one of the most dramatic distance races in Olympic history and a four-time world-record holder, died in Auckland, New Zealand, on November 30. He was 89 years old. 

Halberg achieved victory in the 1960 Olympic 5,000 meters with a decisive surprise attack at three laps to go. The feat is remembered as one of the great tactical triumphs in the history of world-class distance racing. He also showed the sheer speed necessary to run world records at 2 miles (twice), 3 miles, and in the 4 x 1-mile relay for the New Zealand team. He was the first New Zealander to break 4:00 for the mile. 

Sir Murray Halberg became a runner after a rugby injury at age 17 left him with a disabled left arm, and he linked with coach Arthur Lydiard after disappointment in the 1956 Olympic 1500 meters. He was the first runner to attain world stardom under Lydiard’s guidance. 

His first major success was winning the 3-mile title in the 1958 Commonwealth Games. His Olympic win at Rome in 1960 came less than an hour after another Lydiard athlete, Peter Snell, won the 800 meters. The manner of both victories made Lydiard famous, and put New Zealand on the map of world distance running. Both showed the world the combination of pace and endurance attained through Lydiard’s structured high-mileage training. Halberg also finished fifth in the 10,000 meters at the Rome Olympics.

He made successful tours of the American indoors circuit, breaking the world indoor record for 2 miles (8:34.4) in 1961. He claimed wryly that his withered left arm was an advantage on the tight bends of indoors racing. 

Halberg went on to repeat as Commonwealth 3-mile champion in 1962, defeating one of the strongest fields ever, with Ron Clarke, Bruce Kidd, Bruce Tulloh, Albie Thomas, Derek Ibbotson, and Kip Keino behind him. By that time he held the world record for 2 miles (8:30.0) and 3 miles (13:10.0). Athletes as great as 1960 Olympic 1500-meter champion Herb Elliott, Kidd, and Tulloh regarded Halberg as their most feared, competitive, and resilient opponent. He was world top-ranked at 3 miles/5,000 meters every year from 1960 to 1963, but at the 1964 Olympics he was affected by Tokyo’s polluted air, and finished seventh in the 10,000 won by Billy Mills.

Halberg gave his post-competition life to charitable work, creating the Murray Halberg Trust for Crippled Children in 1963, which became the Halberg Foundation, and hosted the annual New Zealand Sports Awards, known as the Halberg Awards. He received a knighthood for services to sport and child welfare, the first New Zealand athlete to receive the honor. 

Halberg is the subject of A Clean Pair of Heels: The Murray Halberg Story by Murray Halberg and Garth Gilmour, and has in-depth profiles in The Lonely Breed, by Ron Clarke and Norman Harris and When Running Made History, by Roger Robinson.

Kenyan Edna Kiplagat eyes second title in Boston

Former champion Edna Kiplagat is the only elite Kenyan female athlete invited for the Boston Marathon due for April 17, next year.

Kiplagat returns to the Boston Marathon course for the sixth time, having won in 2017 in two hours, 21 minutes and 52 second besides finishing second twice in 2019 in 2:24:13 and 2021 in 2:25:09.

However, the organisers of the Boston Marathon have now scaled Kiplagat to winner’s position this year after the initial winner Diana Kipyokei failed a doping test in October this year.

Kiplagat, 43, settled ninth in 2018 (2:47:14) behind winner, home athlete Desiree Linden and fourth in 2:21:52 this year where Olympic marathon champion, Peres Jepchirchir, reigned supreme 2:21:02.

Kiplagat, the 2011 and 2013 world champion, will face the reigning world marathon champion Gotytom Gebreslase from Ethiopia, Linden, who is eying to recapture the crown, and 2016 champion Atsede Baysa of Ethiopia.

Injured Jepchirchir will be missing in action.

Kiplagat set a new Masters Division record on her way to finishing fourth at the 2022 Boston Marathon in 2:21:40, and shows no signs of stopping.

While this will be Gotytom Gebreslase’s first Boston Marathon, it is far from her first time racing in Boston.

The Ethiopian world champion has finished runner-up at the Boston Half Marathon twice and has placed in the top-five three times at the Boston 5km.

Beyond winning a world title in 2022, Gebreslase placed third at both the Berlin Marathon and New York City Marathons this year.

“I am very happy to compete in the Boston Marathon 2023, as Boston is one of the most famous races in the world,” Gebreslase told the Boston Marathon website.

Gebreslasem said it has long been her dream to win the race.

" I raced many times in Boston in indoor races and then on the roads. So, I am happy to bring my career full circle as the World Champion with a chance to add the Boston Marathon title,” said Gebreslase.

Things to consider when running as a senior

Running as a senior can always be a great way to keep in shape and stay healthy, but there are a few things you should keep in mind before you start pounding the pavement. Your age could affect how efficiently your body works, so you may need to adjust your running technique and intensity level accordingly. It is also truly quite important to take into account any existing medical conditions that could limit your ability to exercise. Here are a few tips to try and help you make the most of your running experience:

1. Make Sure You Have the Right Gear

A good pair of sneakers is essential, as is proper clothing for the weather conditions. Dress in layers so you can always adjust as needed, and make sure to bring along some water and snacks if you’ll be out for a while. That could often make the difference between a super successful run and a painful one. Of course, you should also check with your doctor to fully make sure you don’t have any underlying medical conditions that could be exacerbated by running. Your doctor can give you the all-clear if everything is okay.

2. Start Slowly

If you’re not used to running, it’s important to start slowly and build up your endurance gradually. Otherwise, you might end up with injuries or fatigue that will hamper your progress. Start by walking for a few minutes, then progress to a slow jog. From there, you can eventually work your way up to longer distances and faster speeds. Whilst you are starting, it can be useful to set small goals so that your progress is steady and manageable.

3. Find a Running Buddy

Having someone to run with can make the experience more fun and help keep you motivated. If you don’t know anyone who runs, check online forums or social media groups to find like-minded runners in your area. A buddy can also be a great source of encouragement to keep you on track. These days, some runners even keep virtual running buddies to connect with online. Your running buddy can help you set goals, track progress, and stay motivated.

4. Get Yourself Fit

Running can be an excellent way to keep fit and stay healthy, but you should also focus on overall fitness. There are Fitness and Wellness Programs now that you can join to help you get the most out of your running experience. These programs focus on both cardiovascular and resistance training so that your body will be able to cope with the demands of running. Your overall fitness level can also help you stay motivated, as you will be able to analyze your progress more easily.

5. Mix It Up

Don’t just stick to one type of run – try mixing up your routine with intervals, hills, and other types of workouts to keep things interesting. This will also help prevent boredom and plateaus in your progress. You should also switch up your routine to avoid aches and pains. Whenever you start to feel pain or discomfort, take a break and adjust your running form so that you are not over-stressing any particular muscle group. Of course, if the pain persists, be sure to check with your doctor.

Pro runner's short film navigates huge success and crushing failure

“I have failed many, many times,” pro runner Noah Droddy shared in a social media post about his documentary We Are All Droddy, released Tuesday. “But there have been blindingly special moments between those failures where I got it right,” the runner adds. “The kind of highs that make the dark days a little harder to remember.”

Droddy’s story, encapsulated in a short film made with the athlete’s sponsor Salomon, is one we can all connect with. Whether you’re a professional athlete or training for your first 5K, you’ve undoubtedly experienced the highs and lows life can bring. Droddy’s appeal lies in his relatability, which shines through the film–he’s a regular guy, just trying his best. His self-deprecating sense of humour and attitude of acceptance make him seem like someone you could share a few miles or a cup of coffee with.

“When I graduated to the marathon, the decision was where can I go to run fast and legitimize myself as a marathoner. I went to Chicago, failed. I went to Rotterdam, failed,” Droddy says in the film. “When you’re on the track running shorter distances, next week you can try again. In the marathon you really have to live in that place of success or failure for a long time.”

Droddy, who ran to second place and a PB at The Marathon Project in 2020 (an elite-only marathon held in Chandler, Ariz., created when many world majors were cancelled due to COVID-19) also found himself without a professional contract almost immediately afterward. “A super high point, followed by a super low point,” he says.

Droddy explains how he has bounced from success to failure, success to failure, and that his running career is about learning how to respond to both. “Nobody has this linear path to success,” he says.

Even if you weren’t familiar with him before watching the film, by the final moments of We Are All Droddy, you’ll know who you’re cheering for at this weekend’s California International Marathon.

California man runs an ultramarathon in roundabout

An ultrarunner out of Healdsburg, Calif. wanted a bit more of a challenge after he completed the Pacific Crest Trail earlier this summer. On Nov. 30, he went out on a six-hour, 58-kilometre run around the local roundabout, not switching directions once.“I was intending to keep count of the number of laps, but I lost track immediately,” laughs Tate Dobson. “Looking back, it was torturous mentally and physically on my legs.”Upon further investigation and measurement of the roundabout using OpenStreetMap, the loop was 140 metres, and Dobson ran 415 laps. “Luckily, the roundabout was slightly big enough for me not to get dizzy,” he said.

Dobson decided to run clockwise, so he could see oncoming traffic. He started the challenge on Wednesday at 11 a.m. and stopped when it got dark, at 5 p.m.

About halfway through the run, he considered changing directions, but both his legs were equally sore. “They say running the same direction on an athletics track is bad, since you are constantly favouring one side… this had to be worse,” says Dobson.Telling your body to constantly turn right over six hours is mentally exhausting, but listening to music and podcasts helped Dobson get into a rhythm.Dobson has previously dabbled in a few ultras, but only been on trails. He was most impressed by the fact that he didn’t have to “make a pit stop” during his entire run. “All I ate before and during was the animal-shaped Mott’s-branded fruit gummies,” he laughs.

European Champion Richard Ringer will run his next marathon in Hamburg

Richard Ringer will run next marathon in Hamburg.

Organizers announced during a press conference with the runner, who became Germany’s first male marathon gold medal winner in the long history of the continental championships.

The Haspa Marathon Hamburg is Germany’s major spring marathon. Online entry for the event is possible at: www.haspa-marathon-hamburg.de

“To have Germany’s first ever male European Marathon Champion on the start line next spring is something really special and makes us feel proud. We hope Richard’s commitment to our event will give the Haspa Marathon Hamburg another boost after the fantastic race we had this year,“ said chief organiser Frank Thaleiser. In April this year both course records were smashed in Hamburg. Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yehualaw clocked 2:17:23 which at that time was an unofficial world debut record while Kenya’s Cybrian Kotut won with 2:04:47.

“I made up my mind quickly after the European Championships and decided to go for a spring marathon in 2023. Hamburg and its organiser MHV are a perfect fit for me,” said Richard Ringer, who travelled from the very southwest of Germany to the north to attend the press conference in Hamburg on Wednesday.

It was just two years ago when Richard Ringer ran his marathon debut in Valencia. Since then he has established himself as a strong championship runner. In the Olympic marathon in Sapporo in 2021 he achieved a fine 26th place and this summer he stormed to the European gold medal in sensational style in Munich. However when he will come back to Hamburg in April Richard Ringer will have a different goal. This one will be about a fast time on a flat course. The 33-year-old currently has a personal best of 2:08:49. He should be able to run considerably faster than that if weather conditions are favourable.

Additionally Richard Ringer plans further ahead: “I am already looking towards the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024. So it is important to me to run a good marathon time next spring.” With a fast time in Hamburg he could make an early and decisive step towards Olympic selection for Paris.

Jack Fleming has been named President and Chief Executive Officer of the Boston Athletic Association

The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) announced today that Jack Fleming has been named President and Chief Executive Officer of the organization, effective immediately. Fleming brings more than three decades of experience at the B.A.A. to his new leadership role. His appointment follows a five-month-long national search.

“After a thorough process featuring a group of diverse candidates from across the country with various backgrounds, our Board decided that Jack was the best person for our organization based on his in-depth knowledge of the industry, the B.A.A. in particular, our athletes, and the communities we serve,” said Dr. Michael P. O’Leary, Chairman of the B.A.A. Board. “We are confident in Jack’s ability to take on this next challenge and thrive, moving our mission forward.”

“It is an honor to guide the Boston Athletic Association as we embark together on our next chapter, building upon our 135-year history,” said Fleming, who had been serving as acting Chief Executive Officer since May 1, 2022. “The B.A.A. has long been a leader in the sport of running and within Greater Boston. I have witnessed the unifying power that running can have in our community and look forward to a renewed and reenergized focus on our events, community initiatives, and programming. The entire B.A.A. team is committed to finding new and innovative ways we can lead and grow the sport as one.”

Prior to serving as acting Chief Executive Officer, Fleming was Chief Operating Officer of the B.A.A. from 2017 through 2022. Since 1992 Fleming has held a variety of roles within the organization, most notably within the communications, marketing, and sponsorship departments. As COO Fleming was responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the B.A.A. and built a strategy that centered around the organization’s vision statement: Committed to a world where all people can access and benefit from running and an active lifestyle.

O’Leary added, “Jack’s contributions to the organization have been unprecedented, and we fully appreciate and understand his dedication and commitment to the B.A.A. as a whole. We have witnessed Jack’s continued growth since 1992, and his vision, enthusiasm, and knowledge make him perfect for this role.”

Prior to Fleming, Tom Grilk served as CEO/Executive Director from 2011 through 2022 as well as President from 2020-2022, while Guy Morse was Executive Director from 2000 through 2010.

ABOUT THE BOSTON ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION

Established in 1887, the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) is a non-profit organization with a mission to promote a healthy lifestyle through sports, especially running. The B.A.A. is committed to a world where all people can access and benefit from running and an active lifestyle. The B.A.A. advances its mission and vision in a variety of ways, such as organizing mass-participatory running events like the Boston Marathon (the world’s oldest annual marathon), creating and supporting community fitness events, and sponsoring a running club that serves the greater Boston area. 

The B.A.A. believes that everyone—no matter their race, gender, or background—should be able to advance their well-being safely and without fear or discrimination of any kind. The organization is committed to fostering a workplace and community that is diverse, equitable, inclusive and promotes a sense of belonging for all.

Ethiopians And Kenyans Lead Elite Field at Historic 50th Honolulu Marathon

Athletes from Ethiopia and Kenya lead the elite field for the historic 50th edition of the Honolulu Marathon, scheduled for Sunday, December 11. Founded in 1973, and historically one of the five largest marathons in the United States based on finishers, this year's race will have its first full elite athletes program since 2019, paying prize money three-deep for both men and women: $25,000-10,000-5,000. The race will be run on its traditional course starting at Ala Moana Beach Park, making a loop through Downtown, wrapping around Diamond Head, going out along the Kalanianaole Highway to Hawaii Kai, then returning to Waikiki to finish in Kapiolani Park just after sunrise.

The race was held virtually in 2020 because of the pandemic, and had only a limited elite athlete program in 2021. Organizers are excited to have athletes this year who are strong enough to challenge the course records which were both set by Kenyans: 2:08:00 (2:07:59.02) by Titus Ekiru in 2019 and 2:22:15 by now world record holder Brigid Kosgei in 2017.

"We are excited to welcome top professional athletes to attack our incredible course records for the 50th anniversary race," said Honolulu Marathon Association President Dr. Jim Barahal. "At its core the Honolulu Marathon is an athletic competition, whether against others or against oneself, and we are excited to see what transpires on December 11."

Shifera Tamru is the leading entrant from Ethiopia. The 24 year-old has a personal best of 2:05:18 (Dubai, 2019) and has three marathon wins and five podium finishes in eight starts. He won the 2022 Daegu Marathon in Korea last April in 2:06:31, and was most recently fifth at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon in October in 2:07:53. He'll be running the Honolulu Marathon for the first time.

His top rival is likely to be the Kenyan veteran Stanley Biwott, the 2015 TCS New York City Marathon champion who has a personal best of 2:03:51 (London 2016). Biwott, 36, has not completed a marathon since 2018 when he was fourth at the Abu Dhabi Marathon. He returned to racing after a long layoff earlier this year, clocking a 1:01:57 half-marathon in Padova, Italy. He has completed a total of 13 career marathons with four wins and eight podium finishes. Like Tamru, this will be his first run in Honolulu.

The other top contenders on the men's side are Asefa Mengstu of Ethiopia (2:04:06 personal best, Dubai, 2018) and Barnabas Kiptum of Kenya (2:04:17, Milano, 2021). Both men are veterans. Mengstu has completed 13 career marathons with 4 wins and 7 podium finishes. Kiptum has completed 18 marathons in 20 starts with 3 wins and 13 podium finishes. Neither man has ever run the Honolulu Marathon.

Two strong Ethiopian athletes lead the women's field. Abebech Afework (2:23:33 personal best, Dubai, 2015) and Bere Ayalew (2:22:52, Eindhoven, 2022) will both be making their Honolulu Marathon debuts. Afework, 31, is the more experienced athlete. She has completed 20 marathons in 21 starts, and has racked up three wins and seven podium finishes. She is coming back from a DNF at the Lisbon Marathon in October. Ayalew, 23, has only run four marathons. However, she's made the podium at all four including a second place finish at the Eindhoven Marathon in October of this year where she ran her personal best. Both athletes will be making their Honolulu Marathon debuts.

Reigning Honolulu Marathon champion, Lanni Marchant of Canada, is also in the field. The 38 year-old, who ran both the 10,000m and the marathon at the 2016 Rio Olympics, won last year's race in 2:41:25 on very limited training after finishing 11th at the TCS New York City Marathon a month before In her long marathon career, which began in 2011, Marchant has completed 15 marathons and made the podium three times. A criminal appeal lawyer based in Denver, she is the former Canadian record holder with a 2:28:00 personal best.

"It was a struggle out there," Marchant said after last year's race. "I dehydrated quick. Those last few miles I really had to find my purpose for running. I just got myself across the finish line."

Rounding out the elite field is Mai Ito of Japan. The 38 year-old --who competed in the 2016 Olympic Marathon and both the 2011 and 2015 World Championships Marathons-- has completed all 15 marathons she has started. Her personal best of 2:24:42 was set in Nagoya in 2015. This will be her first run ever at the Honolulu Marathon.

Kenyan Jhon Korir sets target ahead of next year's Houston Half Marathon

Houston Half Marathon runners-up John Korir is determined to lower his personal best in the Armaco Houston Half Marathon scheduled for January 15 next year.

Korir clocked 1:00:27 at this year's race, behind winner Milkesa Tolosa of Ethiopia, who timed 1:00:24.

“My target is to run sub-1 hour as I also chase the top spot,” said Korir.

Korir said the weather in Houston was a major setback towards his quest for the title and is hopeful of better conditions this time around.

"I'm hopeful of a good performance now that I know what to expect in Houston in terms of the weather," he said.  

Korir, who trains in Eldoret, said he has achieved his targets during his sessions and all that is left is to translate this onto a competitive situation.

“I have been working on my fitness as well as speed training. I feel I have made some progress compared to when I started my training,” Korir said, adding that the weather conditions at his training base have favoured him.

“I do not like training during hot seasons since I am allergic to dust and may likely contract an infection,” added the two-time Los Angeles Marathon winner.

He won the American race in 2021 and 2022, clocking respective  times of 2:12:49 and 2:09:08.

In his Chicago Marathon debut this year, Korir timed 2:05:01 for third, behind winner Benson Kipruto (2:04:24) and Ethiopia's Seifa Tura (2:04:49).

Korir, who looks up to his elder brother — former Boston Marathon champion Wesley Korir — revealed he developed his interest in running when he was in Class Three.

Wesley, an Olympian and former Cherangany Constituency Member of Parliament, won the 2012 Boston Marathon in a time of 2:12:40.

In conclusion, Korir said his target is to break into the top-three in world marathon running in the next five years.

Imagine running a one hour seven minute half marathon inside an airport

When most of us get to the airport, we tend to spend the extra hours looking at the duty free or just consuming expensive coffee, but why not use that time to get a bit of training done?

Well, YouTubers Josh Pieters and Archie Thomas Manners went one step further and organised a half marathon race in Terminal 5 at Heathrow airport. 

The logistics of pulling it all off involved recruiting some pro runners, buying plane tickets to Belfast (because it was the cheapest flight they could find) and measuring a 2.1-km loop around the departure lounge, for runners to complete 10 times – all while dodging security. The result? A half marathon like no other. 

Runners needed to successfully complete the distance between clearing security for their flight and arriving at their gate, which closed 4o minutes before departure. 

Pro athletes taking part included Team GB athletes Josh Griffiths, who has run a 2:11:24 Marathon, and Steeplechaser Dan Jarvis.

Jarvis took the win in 67:30, just in time to receive his medal and arrive at his gate – and with a whole 10 minutes to spare. 

Bandit races are not a new thing and modes of transport have often been the source of inspiration – remember this Race To The Tube video from a few years ago? 

Why? We're not sure. But they certainly make for good viewing.

This marathoner just completed his 237th barefoot marathon

In the days of performance-enhancing footwear, 65-year-old runner Wu Jiase refuses to make the jump to wearing shoes, completing his 237th barefoot marathon at Sunday’s Xiamen Marathon in Xiamen, China.

Jiase, known by his nickname “the barefoot fairy” because of his unique running style, completed the marathon in five hours and 16 minutes wearing his signature pink T-shirt, blue singlet and rolled-up sweatpants. He has a barefoot best of 3:06 from the Beijing International Marathon in 2007, when he was 50. 

His first barefoot marathon was 20 years ago, in Xiamen, and he has since completed 236 marathons all over the country. Jiase doesn’t only race barefoot, he reportedly trains 70 to 100 kilometers a week in his hometown of Quanzhou. The reasoning behind his barefoot running is that a marathon will hurt the soles of your feet no matter what, so running barefoot is a test of his strength and perseverance. 

Jiase is a celebrity within the Chinese running community—the organizers of the Xiamen Marathon have created a statue of him. He also ran a leg of the Olympic torch relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. 

His goal is to continue to run barefoot until age 85. His health has also allowed him to give back; he says he’s been able to donate over 390 liters of blood since he’s started running marathons.

Kipchoge, Gebreslase and Chebet confirmed for Boston Marathon

World record-holder and double Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge and world champion Gotytom Gebreslase will make their Boston Marathon debuts on 17 April 2023, joining six former winners of the World Athletics Elite Platinum Label road race.

Defending champion Evans Chebet, 2021 winner Benson Kipruto, and two-time victor Lelisa Desisa will be part of a historically deep men’s elite race. Among the returning champions in the women’s field are Edna Kiplagat, Atsede Baysa and Desiree Linden.

As the fastest marathon runner in history, Kipchoge will take on the challenging Boston Marathon course with hopes of earning his 11th win in an Abbott World Marathon Majors event. Kipchoge’s last marathon resulted in a world record of 2:01:09 at the Berlin Marathon.

“I am happy to announce in April I will compete in the Boston Marathon, a new chapter in my Abbott World Marathon Majors journey,” said Kipchoge. “Good luck to all the runners running Boston in 2023.”

Chebet stormed to a 2:06:51 win at the Boston Marathon earlier this year then ran to victory at the New York City Marathon in November. In 2022, Chebet became just the sixth man in history to win the Boston and New York City Marathons in the same year.

“To be a champion in Boston is something very special and for me it has even more meaning because it took me quite some time during my career to be competitive enough to finally win the oldest marathon in the world,” said Chebet. “I can’t wait to be back and to enjoy the great atmosphere of such a unique and historical race!”

Kipruto, a training partner of Chebet, also returns. Almost exactly one year after winning the 2021 Boston Marathon, he won the Chicago Marathon in a PB of 2:04:24.

Desisa enters Boston with vital experience, having placed in the top two four times at the Boston Marathon (wins in 2013 and 2015 and second-place finishes in 2016 and 2019). April marks the 10-year anniversary of his first victory, one in which he donated his champion’s medal back to the City of Boston in recognition of the tragedy of 15 April 2013.

While this will be Gebreslase’s first Boston Marathon, it is far from her first time racing in Boston. The Ethiopian world champion has finished runner-up at the Boston Half Marathon twice and has placed in the top five three times at the Boston 5K. Along with winning the world title, Gebreslase placed third at both the Berlin Marathon and New York City Marathons this year.

“I am very happy to compete in the Boston Marathon 2023, as Boston is one of the most famous races in the world,” said Gebreslase. “It has long been a dream of mine to win the race. When I was a young track athlete, I raced many times in Boston in indoor races and then on the roads, so I am very excited and happy to bring my career full circle and come back to Boston now as the world champion.”

Kiplagat, a two-time world champion, is still highly competitive at the age of 43. She finished fourth at this year’s Boston Marathon in 2:21:40 – 12 seconds faster than her winning time in Boston in 2017.

Baysa, the 2016 Boston Marathon winner, also returns. Also a past winner in Chicago and Paris, Baysa finished eighth at the 2021 Boston Marathon. Linden, the winner in 2018, will be racing in her 10th Boston Marathon.

The complete elite field – including additional Boston Marathon champions, Abbott World Marathon Majors winners and global medallists – will be announced in the coming months.

Eliud Kipchoge to make Boston Marathon debut

World record holder Eliud Kipchoge will race the Boston Marathon for the first time on April 17.

Kipchoge, who at September’s Berlin Marathon lowered his world record by 30 seconds to 2:01:09, has won four of the six annual major marathons — Berlin, Tokyo, London and Chicago.

The 38-year-old Kenyan has never raced Boston, the world’s oldest annual marathon dating to 1897, nor New York City but has repeated in recent years a desire to enter both of them.

Typically, he has run the London Marathon in the spring and the Berlin Marathon in the fall.

Kipchoge’s last race in the U.S. was the 2014 Chicago Marathon, his second of 10 consecutive marathon victories from 2014 through 2019.

He can become the first reigning men’s marathon world record holder to finish the Boston Marathon since South Korean Suh Yun-Bok set a world record of 2:25:39 in Boston in 1947, according to the Boston Athletic Association.

In 2024 in Paris, Kipchoge is expected to race the Olympic marathon and bid to become the first person to win three gold medals in the marathon. 

Tokyo to host the 2025 World Athletics Championships

The 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo will be held on Sept. 13 to 21, the athletics world governing body said Wednesday.

World Athletics initially wanted the meet at the National Stadium to be held in late August, but organizers in Japan said mid-September would be better given the intense summer heat.

The Sept. 13 start date will be the second closest to the end of a year in the history of the championships, behind 2019’s meet in Doha that began on Sept. 27.

All of the championships events will be in Tokyo, including marathon and race walk, which were relocated to Sapporo at last year’s Tokyo Olympics amid heat concerns.

“We will try to gain the understanding and support from Tokyo residents and Japanese citizens as we prepare to stage the meet,” said Mitsugi Ogata, president of the Japan Association of Athletics Federations.

Western States 100 aims for inclusivity in updated policies for transgender, non-binary, and pregnant athletes

One of the oldest and most respected ultratrail races in the world has taken a further step at making their race more inclusive. On Wednesday morning, the board of Western States Endurance Run (WSER) released policy updates around transgender and non-binary entrants, as well as an updated pregnancy deferral policy.

WSER says that these new rules align with their “goal of ensuring fair and inclusive practices that respect the personal rights and dignity of transgender and nonbinary entrants while preserving the integrity of competition for awards and records.”

In October, Riley Brady became the first ever non-binary athlete to secure a golden ticket to WSER, finishing second at Javelina Jundred 100-mile race. While Ultrasigup allows runners to choose from three gender categories, it was the first time that Javelina Jundred organizers had included a non-binary division. An already urgent and important conversation about the need to expand inclusivity in ultrarunning–and inclusivity in general in the sport–became heightened after Brady’s remarkable performance.

In an article Brady coauthored with coach David Roche in trailrunnermag, Brady explains: “Leading up to Javelina, I had emailed the race directors to inform them that I was seeking a Golden Ticket, which the race organization asks you to do. On my Ultrasignup page, I have indicated my gender as ‘nonbinary’ and my division as  ‘female.’

As this was the first year Javelina had a non-binary division, the live results updates defaulted to the gender category. “As I understand it now, that misunderstanding may have contributed to some confusion online after the race, even as I emailed them in advance and followed the rules at every step,” shared Brady.

While WSER already had policies in place for transgender athletes, they have now clarified and updated those regulations, as well as added clear rules for non-binary entrants and an updated and more inclusive pregnancy deferral policy.

Updates for transgender athletes

Transgender women can register to compete in the female category, provided they have been undergoing continuous, medically supervised hormone treatment for gender transition for at least one year prior to the race, or in the male category with no restrictions.

Transgender men can register to compete in the male or female category, unless they are undergoing hormone treatment related to gender transition that includes testosterone or any other banned substance in which case they must register in the male category.

Policy for non-binary athletes

During registration all entrants will have the opportunity to select their gender category–male, female, or non-binary. Entrants who select nonbinary will also need to choose a  category (male or female) for results and awards.

Non-binary entrants who are male-assigned at birth must select male as their category for results and awards, unless they meet the requirements for transgender women to compete in the female category under this policy.

Non-binary entrants who are female-assigned at birth can choose the female or male category for results and awards, unless they are undergoing hormone treatment related to gender transition that includes testosterone or any other banned substance, in which case they must select the male category.

Pregnancy deferral policy update

In order to defer a race entry due to pregnancy, entrants must submit a pregnancy entry deferral request in writing to the race director no later than one pm on the Friday before the race, as well as provide written confirmation of the pregnancy signed by a physician or medical professional.

The pregnancy deferral policy applies to anyone with a race entry who is pregnant at the time they enter the lottery and gets selected, becomes pregnant after the lottery and prior to race day regardless of how they obtained their race entry (lottery, sponsor etc.), or is an automatic entrant (top ten, golden ticket, etc.) and becomes pregnant or gives birth after obtaining their race entry and prior to race day.

Ethiopian Tamirat Tola set to run the Valencia Marathon Trinidad Alfonso

Tamirat Tola (Ethiopia, 1991) will be one of the big names on the elite list for the Valencia Marathon Trinidad Alfonso who will take to the starting line on December 4, with the clear goal of lowering the current best time over the Valencian course, set at 2h03:00 in 2020. This will allow the race to continue climbing up the international marathon rankings, in which it currently holds the fifth best record in history.

The Ethiopian runner, who was recently proclaimed World Marathon champion at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon (USA), will enter the race with this international recognition, but also following a sensational personal best over the distance of 2h03:39, achieved less than a year ago in Amsterdam. Tola is a very robust and versatile athlete, with a short but impressive list of achievements in cross country and on the track. At the World Championships and Olympic Games, he has a silver medal and a bronze medal, respectively, in addition to the latest World Cup gold a few weeks ago.

Tamirat Tola is optimistic regarding the challenge of beating his personal best in Valencia and also about lowering the record for the Valencia course. “It is with great pleasure that I accepted the invitation to run the Valencia Marathon after I gave up running the London Marathon. After the victory at the world championships I had to recover 15 days and this meant that with only 60 days of preparation it was not correct to show up in London. I believe that the Valencia course is one of the fastest in the world and I hope to be able to run my personal best and the race record if all conditions are favorable. See you on December 4th in Valencia”, explains the international athlete.

Tola will be the focus of much of the attention in the city of running, although he will not be the only big international elite name that the Valencia Marathon organizers have lined up to run on December 4, with other favorites to be revealed in the coming weeks. 

Double Ethiopian attraction with the debut of Gidey

In addition, this 42nd Valencia Marathon Trinidad Alfonso will be the stage chosen by his Ethiopian compatriot, the athlete Letesenbet Gidey, to make her debut over the distance of 42,195 meters. The Ethiopian athlete has a special love for Valencia, as two of her four world records have been achieved in the city of running. In fact, both of her performances in Valencia have resulted in a world record.

No ban for Kenya, says World Athletics president sebastian Coe

World Athletics president confirms east African nation will not receive a global suspension from the sport despite an alarming spate of drugs positives.

Speculation that Athletics Kenya will be barred from international competition was proved unfounded on Wednesday (Nov 30) when World Athletics president Seb Coe said the country has escaped a ban but will continue to sit on an anti-doping ‘watch list’.

Speaking at a World Athletics council press conference in Rome, Coe said the large number of top Kenyan athletes to test positive for drugs was “concerning” but the nation will not receive a Russian-style suspension due to, among other things, a pledge by the Kenyan government to plough $5 million per year into anti-doping efforts over the next five years.

“World Athletics has been concerned,” said Coe. “Kenya has been on the watch list for a few years already. 

“In one year 40% of all the positive tests in global athletics have been in Kenya and this is not a situation that World Athletics was prepared to sit and watch develop.”

Coe added that there has been “a lot of recent reportage, some of which has been correct and some not. But we have made real progress.”

As well as the Kenyan government funding, Coe said the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) will continue to work closely with Kenya to implement the plan. 

He added: “All stakeholders internationally and domestically are now aligned to resolve this situation and I am pleased we have a united response. But my instinct tells me it will be a long journey.

“This has to be collectively driven through all the stakeholders, internationally and domestically, who have a role and responsibility to solve this as quickly as possible.”

Coe said money would be spent on anti-doping education and “a deeper dive into the entourage of some of the people who surround the athletes”. 

This, he said, “allows us more horsepower to challenge some of these issues”.

Kenya aside, an update on the ongoing Russian ban was tackled by Coe and Rune Andersen, head of the World Athletics taskforce on restoring Russia to global competition.

Coe emphasised that two separate sanctions exist – the anti-doping related ban and the sanction relating to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

With regards anti-doping, good progress and cultural change has been made and Russia’s possible reinstatement into competition will be discussed again in March 2023.

Related to this, the Ukrainian Athletic Association was awarded the ‘president’s award’ as part of the World Athletics awards with Coe presenting Ukrainian AA president Yevhen Pronin with the honor during the press conference.

“I couldn’t think of anyone worthier than this for this year’s award,” said Coe. “What the Ukrainian Athletics Federation president, the coaches, and the athletes have done is just worthy of everyone’s respect and recognition.”

Elsewhere, Coe spoke about 2022 being “an immensely strong year for athletics” with four World Athletics Series events involving more than 4000 competitors from 180 countries with 554 national records and a television audience of more than one billion people.

The World Indoor Championships in Belgrade had an economic impact of $43m with the World Championships in Oregon having an impact of $273m.

The Continental Tour, meanwhile, saw 162 events with 12,000 athletes across 159 nations with 118 national records and 2400 PBs. Diamond League figures, Coe added, were not yet available for 2022.

Further council decisions included awarding the World Relays to Bahamas in 2024 as a qualifying event for the Paris Olympics. The road mile will become an official world record event from January. And the World Road Running Championships will switch from a biennial event to annual from 2025.

Yoga for feet, toes and ankles: give your neglected lower limbs some help

You probably don’t pay enough attention to your feet. We’re all guilty of it–even those of us that fit mobility and strength work into our training routine tend to focus on quads and hamstrings, the larger leg muscles. As a runner, your feet probably take a fair bit of abuse, and the smaller muscles there deserve some care and attention.

Not only will your feet feel amazing after these stretches, they’ll also be better equipped to handle the uneven terrain you run over in winter or on trails, providing stability to the rest of your body. Keeping your feet mobile and flexible can be a game changer–healthy, strong feet lead to more efficient, pain-free running.

Easy ways to target feet and ankles

Try these simple stretches when you’re watching TV, or while sitting at your desk. Get started by rolling your ankles in gentle circles. From a seated position, try lacing your fingers through your toes to clasp your foot, and gently guiding it in circles.

Scrunch your toes up tightly and release, repeating a few times. Finally, place your feet flat on the ground and (without using your hands) stretch your toes out as widely as possible, gripping the ground with them (think of a lizard). Hold for a few seconds, release, and repeat.

Toe squat

Sitting in a toe squat can be challenging, and you’ll notice immediately if your feet are tight. While you can stay in this pose for several minutes to really give your feet and toes a release, it’s OK to start small at first and release when you need to.

Kneel on the floor with your toes tucked under and heels up. Aim to be on the balls of the feet, not the tippy toes. Reach down and tuck the little toes under if they’re escaping.

Slowly shift your hips back so your butt rests on your heels and you feel a deep stretch. Hold for 30 seconds to two minutes. Focusing on keeping a nice, steady breath can be helpful to make the time pass and lessen the intensity.

To release, shift forward, place your hands on the ground and untuck your toes. If it feels good, tap your feet on the ground as a release.

Modifications

If the feeling in your feet becomes too much, shift forward onto your knees to take the weight off your feet at any point, coming back to the pose when you’re ready. Intensity is fine here (and expected) but if the posture is actually painful, come out.  If having your knees on the ground is uncomfortable, place a folded blanket under them to add more cushioning.

To deepen the stretch, shift your hips further back.

Ankle stretch (also targets the feet)

This pose follows the deep foot stretch perfectly, and you can move right into it, or take a break and come back.

Return to a kneeling position with feet flat on the ground, toes untucked. Bring fingertips to the floor next to your hips or place them on blocks (stacks of books work just fine).

Sit back onto your heels and shift your weight back as you lift your knees off the floor. You’ll start to feel a stretch around your ankles and the tops of your feet.

Modifications

If your feet feel uncomfortable on your mat or the ground, try adding a folded blanket there for cushioning.

To take the stretch deeper, place your hands on your knees and gently pull them toward you.

Tennis ball massage for feet

Try this short, guided tennis ball massage for your feet to help release every inch.

Understanding the basics of speedwork to improve your racing pace

Speedwork is one of those words runners toss about while meaning different things. It encompasses a variety of workouts and has a range of physiological and mental benefits, and there’s an entry point for every runner. Here’s what you need to know about speedwork, and why it should be a regular part of your running repertoire.

Whether you are training for a 5K or a marathon (or even an ultra), speedwork should be a component of your weekly mileage. The benefits of speedwork are well-researched and multifaceted.

What is speedwork?

Speed training (when done in interval sessions) involves running multiple bouts of certain distances at high intensities with recovery in between. Intervals (or repeats) can range from 15 seconds to 20 minutes (or even longer), depending on what distance you’re training for. Tempo runs, fartlek workouts and accelerations can all serve as different forms of speedwork.

While the majority of your running should be easy, at least one workout a week should include something more challenging. Legendary coach and author Jack Daniels writes in Daniels’ Running Formula that it’s always important to know the purpose or intention of each workout. Regardless of what it’s called, if the purpose is to improve speed, you’re doing speedwork.

The overload principle

The overload principle is the idea that regular exposure to a specific exercise will enhance certain physiological functions, and in doing so, elicit a training response: your fitness improves. If you run at faster speeds, even for very brief periods, your body will learn and adapt, and you will become stronger and faster. This is the basis of speedwork or any training effect you may be working toward while you run.

What happens during speedwork

During speed sessions, our body is forced to recruit more muscle fibres to provide aerobic energy. The result–running economy, or how efficiently your body is able to use oxygen at a certain pace, improves.

Your body will also increase the production of myoglobin during fast workouts. Myoglobin helps transport oxygen to the muscles and then to the mitochondria. With increased myoglobin, the higher demand for oxygen is met. Speed training can also improve your anaerobic threshold: the highest exercise intensity that you can sustain for a prolonged period without lactate substantially building up in your blood.

During speed sessions, glycogen is providing upwards of 90 per cent of your energy. When you begin doing speedwork, you’ll burn through that glycogen quickly, but over time your muscles will adapt and store more glycogen for future workouts.

Mentally, speedwork teaches your brain to handle more pressure (easy runs should be low-pressure days) and harder work. As you challenge yourself in workouts, you’ll be better prepared to handle the effort on race day.

Get started today

If you’re thinking about adding some faster running into your program and you’re not sure where to start, simply pick one day per week and do four to eight short, 15-20 second repetitions, either on a flat road or a moderate hill. Better yet, alternate each week between hills and flat ground to give your body an extra challenge. Allow for 40-45 seconds of recovery between harder efforts for recovery, and enjoy the feeling of pushing your body a little harder.

U.S. Olympian Hassan Mead accepts three-year doping ban

Former U.S. Olympian and 2018 NACAC 10,000m champion Hassan Mead has accepted a three-year suspension for an anti-doping rule violation.

On Nov. 29, USADA announced that Mead, 33, tested positive for two anabolic agents—ostarine (enobosarm) and ligandrol (metabolite di-hydroxy-LGD-4033) as the result of an out-of-competition urine sample collected on Oct. 17. Mead has not competed since the 2022 Prefontaine Classic on May 27. 

Athletes will use ostarine to increase muscular strength and power without causing excessive weight gain or water retention. Ligandrol can make fat loss more efficient and has muscle-gaining effects.

Although Mead has not raced in six months or announced his retirement, he will not be eligible to compete until 2025. Since 2012, Mead trained with Nike’s Oregon Track Club (OTC) under coach Mark Rowland. Rowland is currently the Athletics Canada West Hub Coach (Endurance) in Victoria, a position he took earlier this summer.

Mead’s agent Chris Layne gave a comment to CitiusMag regarding the ban:

“Mead stopped running and let us know he would be retiring immediately at the end of May 2022. At this point, he stopped training and started to take an over-the-counter pre-workout drink for lifting in the gym. Mead made a regrettable decision to not file the retirement paperwork, which kept him in the USADA testing pool until November. Mead has never failed a drug test while competing and this is a sad situation of not filing paperwork on time.”

The Portland, Ore. runner is the second OTC athlete to receive anti-doping sanctions this year. His teammate and 2012 Olympic silver medallist in the 800m, Nijel Amos, was provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for the use of GW1516—a drug that modifies how the body metabolizes fat and that boosts endurance.

Mead has represented Team USA six times internationally, with his top finish coming at the 2016 Olympic Games, where he was 11th in the men’s 5,000m final. He made a run at qualifying in the 5,000m for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, but he wound up 11th at U.S. Olympic Trials.

Mercedes-Benz Marathon announces final race in Birmingham

Mercedes-Benz Marathon Weekend of Events, presented by Birmingham Marathon, Inc. and Mercedes-Benz U.S. International (MBUSI), announces its final race weekend to take place in Birmingham Feb. 10-12, 2023. The 21-year partnership with Mercedes-Benz U.S. International has attracted more than 200,000 runners, has helped local charities raise in excess of $5 million dollars and provided more than $60 million in direct economic impact for the Greater Birmingham region. Comprised of a Full Marathon, Half Marathon, Marathon Relay, The Bell Center Children’s Run, Regions Superhero 5K and Kids Marathon presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, each race will still start and finish at Birmingham’s Linn Park, where more than 10,000 runners are expected to participate. Founded in 2001, the Mercedes-Benz Marathon Weekend of Events benefits The Bell Center for Early Intervention Programs along with other local charities.

Participants and spectators are invited to celebrate the grand finale of the race in February. Although the Mercedes-Benz Marathon Weekend of Events remains Alabama’s premier running event and boasts the country’s largest Kids Marathon, increases in event production costs and a decline in financial and other resource support have led Birmingham Marathon, Inc. to consider new events and avenues to support local beneficiaries.

“With this being the finale of the prestigious Mercedes-Benz Marathon Weekend of Events, we want to say how tremendously thankful we are of all the support we have received from Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, the community and countless sponsors throughout our more than two decades in existence,” said Valerie McLean Cuddy, Mercedes-Benz Marathon Weekend of Events Founder. “We hope this year will be the biggest and best race weekend we’ve ever put on and we can’t wait to give participants an incredible experience. We hope the future holds plans for other events to come that will benefit The Bell Center.”

A Boston Marathon qualifying race and previous host for U.S. Olympic Men’s Marathon Trials, the Mercedes-Benz Marathon Weekend of Events has offered regional, national and international runners a unique running experience full of Southern hospitality and charm.

“It has been an honor to put our name and faith behind what has become one of the biggest, most talked about races in the southeast,” said Mercedes-Benz US International CEO Michael Göbel. “MBUSI understands how important it is to support our local community. We believe our success is linked with the growth and vitality of those around us. By lending our time and a helping hand to worthy causes like the Mercedes-Benz Marathon Weekend of Events benefiting The Bell Center, their successes will in turn make our community an even better place.”

As the official benefactor of the race, The Bell Center provides crucial early intervention therapy services to help children maximize their unique potential. Each year, The Bell Center’s 16 therapists and dozens of volunteers serve hundreds of families from the Birmingham metro and surrounding areas. The Mercedes-Benz Marathon Weekend is The Bell Center’s largest fundraiser every year and brought in $175,000 in 2022, with more than $3 million raised specifically for the organization in the race’s history. Many times, The Bell Center, which was founded in 1984, is the first call parents make after they have learned their child has a diagnosis of Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, autism, brain injuries, blindness or more than 100 other genetic diagnoses or delays.

“At The Bell Center, not only do we care deeply for the children we serve, but we embrace our responsibility in building community for people with special needs starting with our children,” said Jeannie Colquett, executive director of The Bell Center. “The Mercedes-Benz Marathon Weekend gives us an enormous opportunity for everyone to see our children as children first. We’re sad that this is the final Mercedes Marathon Weekend, but The Bell Center will continue well beyond this weekend serving our children and their families and helping them to continue to play an important part in the fabric of our community.”

The Mercedes-Benz Marathon Weekend of Events includes The Bell Center Children’s Run on Saturday, Feb. 11, where the children from The Bell Center will showcase their individual potential as they cross the official marathon finish line.

“The crowd really looks forward to this part of our event - there isn’t a dry eye among the thousands of spectators when this takes place,” says Cuddy. “Seeing the children walk, run, cycle or be pushed in strollers to that finish line is one of the most rewarding moments for us all. It shows the determination and perseverance of the children and their families.”

The race’s BellRunner program is designed to motivate and support participants who agree to raise $100 per mile for The Bell Center when they run/walk the Marathon, Half Marathon, Relay Marathon or Superhero 5K. The program pairs a participant with a child who is receiving life-changing early intervention therapies at The Bell Center, and the runner/walker will train and raise funds in the name of that child. Many runners say it is an awesome, life-changing experience to dedicate hours of training and focus for a child at risk for developmental delay and then share the race day adventure by wearing a photo of The Bell Center child.

Additionally, other local organizations and individuals can also create teams to run for their own cause. Mercedes-Benz Marathon Weekend provides an excellent opportunity for charities and organizations to raise funds for a cause without the hassle and expense of hosting their own event. Team members are encouraged to participate in and fundraise at any weekend events that meet their personal abilities, allowing charities to benefit from all events of the weekend.

What is the weirdest prize you've won at a race? Winners receive farm animals at this Swiss race

Most race winners receive medals, trophies or cash prizes. But at the Bulloise Bullfight race in Bulle, Switzerland, winners are given farm animals. This year, the Swiss 5,000m and 10,000m national record holder, Dominic Lobalu, won the 8.1-kilometre race in a course record time of 22:17 and was given an actual bull for his efforts.

According to the race website, the winner of the men’s elite race receives a bull, which stands as an emblem for the city of Bulle. The first female finisher gets a cow.

In the women’s elite race, Kasanesh Ayanew of Ethiopia covered the 6.2-kilometre course in 19:10 to come within five seconds of the course record of 19:05 and win the cow.

The Bulloise Bullfight event brings together around 4,000 runners annually and captivates a large and enthusiastic local audience. Although there is some uncertainty about the history of Bulle, historians say the town was named after its agricultural industry in the 10th century.

Although the race was founded in 1976, the custom of giving a bull as a prize began in 1985. A few years later, a cow was awarded to the fastest female runner.

If you are thinking what I’m thinking, “how will the two athletes get their massive prize home?” They won’t. The cow and the bull will return to the farm they came from, but will be named after and owned by the two champions.

Kenyan Sheila Chepkirui under no pressure ahead of marathon debut at Valencia

Commonwealth Games 10,000m silver medallist Sheila Chepkirui insists she is under no pressure ahead of making her full marathon debut at the 42nd edition of the Valencia Marathon this Sunday. 

Chepkirui said she is aware of the tough competition that awaits her but insists that she is not worried.

The women’s field has attracted some of the best athletes who will be targeting to break the course record which currently stands at 2:03:00.

“I am not afraid of the competition. I am making my debut and I don’t want to put pressure on myself. My main goal is to cross the finish line,” Chepkirui said. She will be in the company of compatriots Monicah Ngige and Fancy Chemutai.

The Kenyan trio is bound to face tough competition from Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey, who is the world-record holder in 5000m, 10,000m and the half marathon.  

She is one of the women in the spotlight as she will also be making her debut over the distance after successfully ruling the track and half marathon.

Other Ethiopians in the race are— Sutume Kebede (2:18:12) and Etagegne Woldu (2:20:16). 

Chepkirui said her training is going on well and she is ready for the race.

She added that Chemutai, who is also her training mate, has played a key role in motivating her ahead of D-day. “We train together and she always encourages me,” Chepkirui said.

In the men’s field, the Ethiopian trio of Getaneh Molla (2:03:34), Tamirat Tola (2:03:39) and Dawit Wolde (2:04:27) head the field.

Kenya’s Jonathan Korir lines up as the fourth fastest with a lifetime best of 2:04:32 and will have the company of Geoffrey Kirui, Ronald Korir, Simon Kipkosgei and debutants Alexander Mutiso, Philemon Kiplimo and Kelvin Kiptum.

Smash your marathon goals with these speed sessions

Maybe you have a destination marathon in the books, or you’ve signed up for a post-Christmas race to keep motivation high. Even if you don’t have a race planned, these three speed sessions are ideal to add to any distance training plan. If you’re new to speedwork, tackle the 400m repeat session first and get familiar with it before moving on to the others. All three of these workouts can be done at around 5K race pace.

These workouts will enhance your running economy, boost your VO2 max, and provide mental benefits as you train your brain to handle harder work. Coach and author Luke Humphrey explains in his book Hansons Marathon Method that each of these speed workouts is like money in the bank on marathon day, as they become “resources on which you can draw during the most difficult moments of the marathon.”

400 meter repeats

Warm up with 15 minutes easy running

12 x 400m with 400m easy running for recovery between each one

Cool down with 10 to 15 minutes easy running

The 1K repeat workout

Warm up with 15 minutes easy running

6 x 1K with 400m easy running for recovery in between

Cool down with 10 to 15 minutes easy running

1,600 meter repeats

Warm up with 15 minutes easy running

3 x 1,600m  with 600m easy recovery in between

Cool down with 10 to 15 minutes easy running

As always after a hard session, make sure you hydrate well and follow your speedwork day with an easy running or recovery day. If you’ve incorporated strength training into your weekly routine, try to double up (do both your strength routine and your speedwork) on hard workout days, so that your easy or recovery days truly are just that–easy.

Recover like Kipchoge: three simple ways you can be like the GOAT

The world’s fastest marathoner knows how to take care of himself. Eliud Kipchoge, 38, lives and trains at the NN Running camp in Kaptagat, Kenya. While the athlete is constantly in demand to share his wise words and insight with the world, he knows how to say no (he calls it Vitamin N) in order to keep his focus where it is most needed.

Here are three simple ways Kipchoge makes sure he takes care of his body and mind during his downtime. Most of us wouldn’t be able to keep up with Kipchoge on a training day, but we can certainly follow his recovery plan.

Sleep is essential

Aim for a minimum of 8 hours of sleep a night. Research increasingly shows how essential sleep is to all aspects of our lives, and how detrimental spending months or years sleep-deprived can be. Kipchoge gets close to 10 hours of sleep daily.

Kipchoge follows a strict sleep schedule, heading to bed by 9 pm at night and rising at 5:45 am. He also fits in a daily nap. Sports writer and commentator Cathal Dennehy spent three days in 2021 at Kipchoge’s training camp, and writes: “Despite the many demands on his time, he’s very, very good at doing nothing.”

Hydrate well, and eat nutritious food

The exact amount of water we need to drink is oft-debated, but you’re probably not drinking enough. Kipchoge hydrates well and his diet consists largely of simple, whole foods. The GOAT has worked with a nutritionist to tweak his diet for optimal performance, including adding more protein. Many runners tend to eat less on recovery days, thinking their bodies don’t need as many calories–but we actually need to dial in nutrition on recovery days to help our bodies repair tissue damage and become stronger. Protein is essential.

Dennehy observed that Kipchoge eats simple, mainly local food: “homemade bread, local fruits and vegetables, lots of Kenyan tea, some meat, and a generous daily helping of his favourite–ugali, a dense maize-flour porridge.”

Massage and physiotherapy are fantastic (but so is listening to your body)

Kipchoge sees his long-time physiotherapist, Peter Nduhiu, twice a week for a massage. The athlete hasn’t reported any major injuries, and Nduhiu says there’s a reason for that. “He hasn’t had injuries, but he makes it easy for me, because he follows what the coach says,” he explains. “If you’re managing an issue and tell him to slow down, he does exactly that.”

Massage and physiotherapy are fabulous tools if they are accessible to you. If they aren’t, self-massage and mobility work can help. Most importantly, listen to your body: if Kipchoge slows down to help his body recover well, so can you.

Breathe your way into your best running performance

Your breath has the power to shift your approach to an intense event and can be key to how you perform, sports psychologist and author Jeff Afremow writes in his book The Champion’s Mind: How Great Athletes Think, Train and Thrive. “To perform at a champion’s level, breathe deeply and rhythmically to maintain peak energy levels,” Afremow says. Here’s how to harness your breath and use it to run strong.

Tricks to proper breathing

Proper breathing helps you stay in the moment, promotes a relaxation response, and releases tension. Expand your belly as you inhale, and relax your belly during exhalation, letting your shoulders drop and jaw relax as you exhale. Try right now, as you read this. If it seems challenging, lie flat on the floor or a couch and place one hand on your belly to feel it rise and fall.

“Your breathing can become shallow when you feel angry or anxious,” Afremow says. This causes diminished oxygen intake, and increased muscle tension. Taking some deep breaths in tough situations helps calm your nervous system.

Three steps to taking a deep, grounding breath

1. Breathe in through the nose for a slow count to five.

2. Hold for two counts.

3. Breathe out through the mouth for a slow count to eight.

Mentally count to five on the in-breath, count to two as you hold the breath, and count to eight for the out-breath, suggests Afremow. Repeat the steps for four cycles (creating a one-minute breathing workout) or as many times as you need. “Breathing in this manner will help you to slow your heart rate, calm your thoughts, and find inner stillness in the moment,” adds Afremow.

Practice throughout the day, not just pre-race

To make deep breathing a habit and to add it to your pre-race toolbox, check in with your breathing throughout the day, noticing whether you are breathing from the belly or the chest. Is the breath deep or shallow? Afremow suggests working on sitting quietly, simply following your breath. “Your mind becomes more powerful as it becomes quieter and clearer,” he says.

Being able to stay in the present moment, or using your breath practice to find your way back to the present, allows you to move forward through any fear or anxiety you’re facing and tackle the task at hand. Not only will a breathing practice benefit your running game, but you’ll find it useful in general life situations as well.

Kenyan marathoner starts all-girls training camp

Kenyan distance runner Mary Ngugi, 33, shared that she often felt on high alert as she trained as a young athlete in Nyahururu, a town in the Southern Rift Valley in Kenya. Ngugi, who was third at Boston Marathon in 2022 and 2021, has created the Nala Track Club, the first all-girls training camp in Kenya. Young athletes at Nala Track Club will be guided and mentored by female coaches.

“We needed to give them a safe place where they can be themselves, where they can train without feeling they are in the shadow of men all the time,” she said in an interview with Olympics.com. Ngugi explains that while she has some fond memories of camp, she knew other girls and women didn’t share her experience.

“I was lucky. I joined a camp that was really strict. I know about girls who got pregnant while we were in camp, but it’s the girls who were sent home,” she said. “The boys continued chasing their dreams.”

Young women athletes are also manipulated by agents and administrators, Ngugi shared, and explained that the athletes feel pressure to comply or be sent away. “Most of the athletes in Kenya, like me, we come from humble backgrounds, and you don’t want to go back there.”

In October 2021, Agnes Tirop, a talented 25-year-old distance runner who represented Kenya at the Tokyo Olympics, was murdered in her home. The ensuing shock and horror prompted athletes like Ngugi to use their voices to stand up for any athletes who are victims of gender-based violence.

Ngugi initially formed the Women’s Athletics Alliance, “to help the next generation avoid the suffering that so many female athletes have gone through.” She realized that more was needed to support young women athletes: “Women’s Athletics Alliance was more about empowering women, mentorship. And then we thought, it’s not just about mentorship, it’s not just about talking to these girls,” she added. We need to do something, give them a safe place.”

The Nala Track Club was born, and currently has five athletes ages 16 to 22 with the plan to expand to 12 runners. As well as supporting them in training, Ngugi’s camp pays for the athletes’ education and encourages them to attend school, noting that many young women who train at camps have to stop school, either because their camp doesn’t support their education or their parents cannot afford school fees.

“We also want to empower them to have a voice in society, not just in matters of athletics. When they are out there, they can communicate and speak out.” Ngugi is also working to encourage women coaches and mentors; collaborating with her former coach Francis Kamau, Athletics Kenya, and the UK-based Female Coaching Network to train female coaches in her home region.

While Ngugi’s short-term goal is to have female coaches work with the girls at the Nala Track club, she also wants to inspire her fellow athletes to consider coaching once retired from the sport.

“I want to be in an Olympic team with a few female coaches, not just male coaches. I don’t want the women to be in the teams as chaperones,” says Ngugi.

Make a strong, healthy comeback to running with these tips

"Hurry slowly," says ultrarunner Emelie Forsberg.

Whether you’re returning from injury or took some time off of running because of low motivation or life stress, we have some tips from pro ski mountaineer and ultrarunner Emelie Forsberg, author of Sky Runner, on making your comeback. Norway-based Forsberg (who is ultrarunning GOAT Kilian Jornet‘s partner) has returned to racing after having two children, navigated knee surgery, and maintained her delight in training the entire time. Follow her lead and make a smooth return to tackling your running goals.

Find your motivation

Forsberg suggests taking a deep mental dive into what you love about running. She notes that your motivation and goals may have changed since you first began, and that’s OK. “Listen to your body and adjust your training according to the new circumstances,” she says.

When I went through a stressful period, I had trouble focusing on anything other than the negative: I was fitting in less mileage and running more slowly than I had ever before. Reminding myself that running and moving my body in general (walking was good, too) helped me stay healthy mentally was a great way to adjust my focus, and I was able to move through that period without being too hard on myself.

Build endurance through adventure

Forsberg says she loves taking a day to run solo between huts in the mountains. While that might be a bit ambitious for most, you can adapt similar practices to incorporate fun adventures into training and keep it fresh. Heading to a new-to-you location to fit in a longer run, or exploring with friends, and pausing for a fun lunch can be great ways to keep your journey back to peak form gentle and enjoyable.

Forsberg also suggests building endurance through double sessions–but rather than doing double runs, she will ski for part of the day, then switch to running. “The body is already tired, but you end up using different muscles,” she explains. “The training is gentle as your body is tired, but not from running, so your running muscles are still fresh.

Alternate your training

Not feeling like getting out for your usual run? Forsberg says to skip it. “Do something else instead: yoga, aerobics, dance, ice skating, cycling, boxing–the list is endless.” Removing some of the pressure you put on yourself to follow your plan and moving your body in other ways will keep you feeling fresh and motivated.

Returning to running after some time off can be challenging, and navigating the challenges with a mindset focused on seeking joy, and accepting and having fun in the process will make the time fly by and bring healthy nuance to the way you view your training.

2022 - the year when international road racing got back to normal

There have been big city races with mass participation, high-profile clashes between the world’s elite distance runners, and numerous records broken across a range of distances.

Road running is back in a big way.

While some World Athletics Label road races in 2022 still had to be postponed or adapted in the face of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, road running as a whole is almost back to normal.

Nine Elite Platinum Label marathons have been held already this year, with the 10th and final one due to take place in Valencia on 4 December.

World Athletics Elite Platinum marathons in 2022

Tokyo – 6 March

Winners: Brigid Kosgei (KEN) 2:16:02 CR, Eliud Kipchoge (KEN) 2:02:40 CRWorld record-holders Brigid Kosgei and Eliud Kipchoge got their years off to a great start, winning in the Japanese capital with course records.Finishers: 18,272

Nagoya – 13 March

Winner: Ruth Chepngetich (KEN) 2:17:18 CRAfter an enthralling tussle with Israel’s Lonah Chemtai Salpeter, Ruth Chepngetich prevailed in 2:17:18, breaking the course record in the world’s largest women-only marathons.Finishers: 8698

Seoul – 17 April

Winners: Joan Chelimo Melly (KEN) 2:18:04 CR, Mosinet Geremew (ETH) 2:04:43 CREventual winners Joan Chelimo Melly and Mosinet Geremew were pushed all the way to course records in the Korean capital in two close races. Geremew won by six seconds, while Melly finished eight seconds ahead of her nearest rival.

Boston – 18 April

Winners: Peres Jepchirchir (KEN) 2:21:01, Evans Chebet (KEN) 2:06:51Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir maintained her winning streak to win in one of the world’s most prestigious races, finishing just four seconds ahead of Ethiopia’s Ababel Yeshaneh. Evans Chebet enjoyed a more comfortable victory in the men’s race.Finishers: 24,607

Berlin – 25 September

Winners: Tigist Assefa (ETH) 2:15:37 CR, Eliud Kipchoge (KEN) 2:01:09 WROlympic champion Eliud Kipchoge returned to the site of his last world record-breaking performance and improved on the mark by 30 seconds, setting a world record of 2:01:09. Meanwhile, Tigist Assefa smashed the women’s course record – and Ethiopian record – with her 2:15:37 victory.Finishers: 34,879

London – 2 October

Winners: Yalemzerf Yehualaw (ETH) 2:17:26, Amos Kipruto (KEN) 2:04:39Yalemzerf Yehualaw got the better of defending champion Joyciline Jepkosgei in an enthralling duel, while Amos Kipruto made a similar late-race break to take the men’s title.Finishers: 40,578

Chicago – 9 October

Winners: Ruth Chepngetich (KEN) 2:14:18 WL, Benson Kipruto (KEN) 2:04:24Ruth Chepngetich came within seconds of the world record to win in 2:14:18, the second-fastest time in history. Benson Kipruto, winner in Boston last year, added another US big city marathon win to his collection.Finishers: 39,420

Amsterdam – 16 October

Winners: Almaz Ayana (ETH) 2:17:20 CR, Tsegaye Getachew (ETH) 2:04:49Ethiopia’s 2016 Olympic 10,000m champion Almaz Ayana ran the fastest marathon debut in history to win in the Dutch capital, holding off former track rival and compatriot Genzebe Dibaba. Tsegaye Getachew made it an Ethiopian double, winning by just five seconds from Titus Kipruto.Finishers: 12,669

New York City – 6 November

Winners: Sharon Lokedi (KEN) 2:23:23, Evans Chebet (KEN) 2:08:41Kenya’s Sharon Lokedi pulled off one of the biggest road-running surprises of 2022, winning the New York City Marathon on her debut at the distance and beating many established stars of the sport. Evans Chebet added to his Boston win from earlier in the year.Finishers: 47,839

Valencia – 4 December

Elite field: includes Letesenbet Gidey, Sutume Kebede, Tiki Gelana, Tigist Girma, Etagegne Woldu, Amane Shankule and Tadelech Bekele in the women’s race, and Getaneh Molla, Tamirat Tola, Dawit Wolde, Jonathan Korir, Hiskel Tewelde, Chalu Deso and Gabriel Geay in the men’s race.Places: 30,000

For the masses

It’s not just elite runners who have been able to enjoy top-quality road racing. Events in most corners of the world have been able to stage mass races of some sort in 2022.

That looks set to continue in 2023 too, not just with Label road races but also at World Athletics Series events.

You’re Tracking Miles. This Brand Is Tracking Sustainability Goals.

The sneaker industry has a role to play in climate change. New Balance is trying to reduce its climate impact with a holistic program.

Avid runners and hikers know how to put their shoes to work. It’s common for high-mileage dynamos to retire multiple pairs of sneakers each year. Exercise science experts recommend replacing running shoes every 300 to 500 miles to ensure your muscles and joints are properly supported while you run. While that new-shoe feeling is first class, it comes at a cost—more waste generated and more energy needed to make new materials and new products. Sneaker giant New Balance isn’t willing to accept this waste as just a necessary reality of the industry. Instead, the company has set some admirable sustainability goals to address the ways its products contribute to the problem.

Sustainability isn’t a new priority for New Balance; the company has long prioritized efforts to be more environmentally responsible. But the New Balance team is keenly aware of the current climate change reality. “We have an extremely small window of time to take action,” says John Stokes, the company’s director of sustainability. “It depends on what we do in the next seven to eight years. The time is now, and we literally can’t act fast enough.”

Stokes heads up an internal department that focuses on understanding how the business’s decisions affect much more than just the bottom line. From this understanding, the team develops strategies for more sustainable business practices and frequently reassesses what efforts will have the most impact.

Environmental conservation and advocacy is a key part of the sustainability mission at New Balance. The company extends its reach by working with 1% for the Planet, a global network of businesses pledging to give 1 percent of gross sales to environmentally focused entities.

For New Balance, that means 1 percent of MSRP from every sale of the Fresh Foam X Hierro series (the Hierro v7, Hierro Mid, and Hierro v7 GTX) in the United States is donated to organizations focused on climate advocacy and protecting public lands, including Protect Our Winters and the Trust for Public Land.

The Hierro sneakers were a natural fit for this relationship as they are a beloved trail shoe for many outdoor enthusiasts. Stokes and his team hope to add more shoes and apparel to this program in the coming years.

Carbon emissions are a key metric when it comes to evaluating sustainability. Most of New Balance’s carbon footprint can be attributed to three things: materials used to make products, energy consumption in factories, and transportation of products from factory to market. “There’s really no singular aspect that makes a product more sustainable,” Stokes says. “It’s pretty holistic, and we’re trying to address all of those major impact areas.” New Balance had previously committed to cutting its carbon emissions by 30 percent by 2030, but in 2021, the company signed on to the Business Ambition for 1.5C, and it recently submitted an even more aggressive target that is 1.5C-aligned. The company also has some specific goals it plans to reach by 2025, all of which contribute to its overall climate goals:

The whole company is in on this sustainability mission. “There’s more energy and interest right now than ever before,” Stokes says.

New Balance demonstrates the value of taking a sustainability idea and running with it. In addition to developing more sustainable design and production practices, New Balance is pushing the limits of how long a running shoe can truly last. The company is currently testing cleaning and repair services in the UK and Japan. The hope is that if these services are scalable, they can help to extend the life of New Balance shoes worldwide. Until then, New Balance is adding more at-home care instructions to its website to help you maintain your shoes. Yes, you’ll still need to replace your running shoes when the old ones wear out, but taking good care of your shoes can extend their life. The most sustainable shoe is one that already exists. Stokes also suggests we rethink the paradigm that shoes only last a certain number of miles. That number will vary for everyone—If your shoes are still working for you, keep using them. 

While there’s currently no way to recycle New Balance sneakers, the possibility is certainly on Stokes’s radar. Design and Innovation teams are looking at ways to make the construction and materials of New Balance shoes more recycling-friendly in the future. 

Independent since 1906, New Balance empowers people through sport and craftsmanship to create positive change in communities around the world.

Who Wore Which Shoes at the New York City Marathon?

The running shoe hype train was high in New York City with a few fast yet-to-be-released shoes in the men’s and women’s elite fields.

For a few miles early in the New York City Marathon, Desi Linden surged into the lead of the women’s elite field. The two-time Olympian and 2018 Boston Marathon champion didn’t think she’d run away and win the race that way, but she was just trying to keep the pace honest.

However, hiding in plain sight on her feet as she was off the front of the pack was a yet-to-be-released pair of orange, white and black Brooks prototype racing shoes. A day later, no one is willing to give up any details of the shoe, except that, like all of the other top-tier racing shoes in both the men’s and women’s elite fields, it features a carbon plate embedded in a hyper-responsive foam midsole. And although it’s all in accordance with World Athletics regulations, it won’t be released in Spring 2024 … so we’ll all have to wait a bit to see what that shoe is all about.

Linden’s shoes weren’t the only speedy outliers among the top 25 men’s and women’s finishers. While Nike, Adidas and ASICS shoes were the most prevalent brands among elite runners, there were several shoes that aren’t yet available to the public.

For example, the first runner to cross the finish line of this year’s New York City Marathon, women’s winner Sharon Lokedi, was wearing a pair of Under Armour Velociti Elite shoes. That’s notable for several reasons—because it was Lokedi’s first marathon, because the shoe won’t become available until early 2023 and because it’s the first podium finish at a major international marathon for a runner wearing Under Armour shoes.

There were also three pairs of yet-to-be-released Hoka Rocket X 2 shoes on the feet of three Hoka NAZ Elite runners — two of whom set new personal best times, Aliphine Tuliamuk (7th, 2:26:18) Matthew Baxter (12th, 2:17:15). Those fluorescent yellow shoes with orange, white and blue accents and blue laces were on the feet of Hoka pros at the Boston Marathon in April and Ironman World Championships in Hawaii in October, but they won’t be released to the public until late February or early March.

Meanwhile, the winner of the men’s race, Evans Chebet, was wearing a pair of Adidas Adizero Adios Pro 3, a shoe worn by four other runners in the top 25 of the men’s race and six among the women’s top 25, making it the second most prevalent model among the elites. Oddly, that was the same shoe worn by Brazil’s Daniel do Nascimento, who went out at record-setting sub-2:03 pace on his own, only to crumple to the ground at mile 21 after succumbing to fatigue and cramping.

The most common shoe among the top finishers was the Nike ZoomX Vaporfly Next% 2, which was on the feet of 11 of the 50 runners among the women’s and men’s top 25 finishers. There were eight runners wearing either the first or second version of the ASICS MetaSpeed Sky.

Six runners wore Nike Air Zoom Alphafly Flyknit shoes, three wore Nike Air Zoom Alphalfy NEXT% 2. There were two pairs of On Cloudboom Echo 3 in the field, including those worn by Hellen Obiri who finished sixth while running a 2:25:49 in her marathon debut, while three runners wore Puma Fast R Nitro Elite.

And what about actor Ashton Kutcher? He wore a pair of purple Nike Air Zoom Alphafly NEXT% Flyknit shoes and finished in a very respectable 3:54:01.

Matt James, the former lead of the Bachelor, finished in 3:46:45 with Shalane Flanagan as his guide wearing a pair of New Balance FuelCell Comp Trainer shoes. Flanagan wore Nike Air Zoom Alphafly Next% Flyknit shoes, as did Meghan Duggan, an Olympic gold medalist hockey player who ran a solid 3:52:03. Lauren Ridloff, actress from “The Walking Dead,” ran in a pair of Brooks Glycerin 20 and finished in 4:05:48, while Chelsea Clinton, daughter of Bill and Hillary Clinton finished in 4:20:34 wearing a pair of Brooks Ghost 14 and Tommy Rivers Puzey (aka “Tommy Rivs,” a former elite runner who survived a deadly bout of cancer in 2020, wore a pair of Craft CTM Ultra Carbon Race Rebel and finished in 6:13:54.

Here’s a rundown of what was on the feet of the top 25 women’s and men’s finishers in the Big Apple.

1. Sharon Lokedi (Kenya) 2:23:23 — Under Armour Velociti Elite

2. Lonah Salpeter (Israel) 2:23:30 — Nike ZoomX Vaporfly Next% 2

3. Gotytom Gebreslase (Ethiopia) 2:23:39 – Nike ZoomX Vaporfly Next% 2

4. Edna Kiplagat (Kenya) 2:24:16 — Nike ZoomX Vaporfly Next% 2

5. Viola Cheptoo (Kenya) 2:25:34 — Adidas Adizero Adios Pro 3

6. Hellen Obiri (Kenya) 2:25:49 — On Cloudboom Echo 3

7. Aliphine Tuliamuk (USA) 2:26:18 — Hoka Rocket X 2

8. Emma Bates (USA) 2:26:53 — ASICS MetaSpeed Sky+

9. Jessica Stenson (Australia) 2:27:27 – ASICS MetaSpeed Sky

10. Nell Rojas (USA) 2:28:32 — Nike Air Zoom Alphafly Flyknit

11. Lindsay Flanagan (USA) 2:29:28 – ASICS MetaSpeed Sky

12. Gerda Steyn (South Africa) 2:30:22 — Adidas Adizero Adios Pro 3

13. Stephanie Bruce (USA) 2:30:34 — Hoka Rocket X 2

14. Caroline Rotich (Kenya) 2:30:59  — ASICS MetaSpeed Sky+

15. Keira D’Amato (USA) 2:31:31 — Nike Air Zoom Alphafly Flyknit

16. Des Linden (USA) 2:32:37 — Brooks Prototype

17. Mao Uesugi (Japan) 2:32:56 — Adidas Adizero Adios Pro 3

18. Eloise Wellings (Australia) 2:34:50 — Adidas Adizero Adios Pro 3

19. Sarah Pagano (USA) 2:35:03 — Adidas Adizero Adios Pro 3

20. Grace Kahura (Kenya) 2:35:32 — Nike ZoomX Vaporfly Next% 2

21. Annie Frisbie (USA) 2:35:35 — Puma Fast R Nitro Elite

22. Molly Grabill (USA) 2:39:45 — Nike Air Zoom Alphafly NEXT% Flyknit

23. Kayla Lampe (USA) 2:40:42 — ASICS MetaSpeed Sky+

24. Maegan Krifchin (USA) 2:40:52 — Adidas Adizero Adios Pro 3

25. Roberta Groner (USA) 2:43:06 — Nike Air Zoom Alphafly NEXT% 2

1. Evans Chebet (Kenya) 2:08:41 — Adidas Adizero Adios Pro 3

2. Shura Kitata (Ethiopia) 2:08:54 — Nike ZoomX Vaporfly Next% 2

3. Abdi Nageeye (Netherlands) 2:10:31 — Nike ZoomX Vaporfly Next% 2

4. Mohamed El Aaraby (Morocco) 2:11:00 — ASICS MetaSpeed Sky+

5. Suguru Osako (Japan) 2:11:31 — Nike ZoomX Vaporfly Next% 2

6. Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Japan) 2:12:12  — Nike ZoomX Vaporfly Next% 2

7. Albert Korir (Kenya) 2:13:27 — Adidas Adizero Adios Pro 3

8. Daniele Meucci (Italy) 2:13:29 — ASICS MetaSpeed Sky+

9. Scott Fauble (USA) 2:13:35 — Nike Air Zoom Alphafly NEXT% 2

10. Reed Fischer (USA) 2:15:23 — Adidas Adizero Adios Pro 3

11. Jared Ward (USA) 2:17:09 — Saucony Endorphin Pro 3

12. Matthew Baxter (New Zealand) 2:17:15 — Hoka Rocket X 2

13. Leonard Korir (USA) 2:17:29 — Nike ZoomX Vaporfly Next% 2

14. Matthew Llano (USA) 2:20:04 — Under Armour Velociti Elite

15. Olivier Irabaruta (Burundi)  2:20:14 — On Cloudboom Echo 3

16. Hendrik Pfeiffer (Germany) 2:22:31 — Puma Fast R Nitro Elite

17. Jonas Hampton (USA) 2:22:58 — Adidas Adizero Adios Pro 3

18. Alberto Mena (USA) 2:23:10 — Nike ZoomX Vaporfly Next% 2

19. Jacob Shiohira (USA) 2:23:33 — Nike Air Zoom Alphafly Flyknit

20. Edward Mulder (USA) 2:23:42 — Nike Air Zoom Alphafly Flyknit

21. Jordan Daniel (USA) 2:24:27 — Nike ZoomX Vaporfly Next% 2

22. Nathan Martin (USA) 2:25:27 — ASICS MetaSpeed Sky+

23. Jeff Thies (USA) 2:25:45 — Nike Air Zoom Alphafly NEXT% 2

24. Shadrack Kipchirchir (USA) 2:28:15 — Puma Fast R Nitro Elite

25. Abi Joseph (USA) 2:29:16 — Nike Air Zoom Alphafly Flyknit

Winter Running Doesn't Have to Be Cold, Dark, and Lonely

The shortest days and the longest nights are upon us. In many parts of the country, it's getting cold or it will be soon. It's hibernation season, except that we aren't bears and most of us know, somewhere deep down inside, that we need to keep running, even at this sub-optimal time of year.

But what's a runner to do when motivation is low and the chances of wiping out on a patch of ice are high? We do the best we can. And we try to look on the bright side, pun intended: After December 21, it only gets lighter from here.

Readers Chime In

And listen, we're all in this together. So we asked readers to tell us how they muddle through, what mind tricks they've come up with, what pieces of advice keep them moving, even when Old Man Winter deals the harshest conditions and the alarm goes off at the darkest hour. We solicited almost 150 responses from the Twitter mindhive to come up with this collective advice, from our beloved community of winter runners:

Let there be light

Even if you are starting an early morning run before the sun comes up, several people suggested that using a light therapy box or lamp as soon as the alarm goes off can help.

"[I] stare my eyeballs right into it while getting dressed and filling my water bottle," said Lori Dierig."I swear it works really well for me!"

They might be on to something. Research has shown that bright light exposure for 30 minutes before 8 a.m. every day can improve symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder, which is depression related to the change in seasons. If you want to give it a try, Yale School of Medicine has done all the research on which kinds of lamps and boxes have the best results.

Even just going for a 30-minute walk or run at daybreak can help offset that feeling of sluggishness or listlessness, no matter what time of year, Dr. Richard S. Schwartz, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School told Harvard Health.

Embrace the peace

Life at this time of year can be hectic. Holidays, school activities, work, travel-it all piles up. For many runners, getting outside before or after work is a moment to take a deep breath and relish a little quiet time. For Erica Sara, jewelry designer, small business owner, and mother of two, running is simply a coping strategy for life: "It's the only me-time I get lately."

For others, it's nice to exist in the outdoors when most people are inside.

"I don't mind running in the dark. Streets are empty, quiet, and peaceful," said George Woodward, adding, "I know I am privileged as a man to be able to do that."

Maggie Stewart added: "Each winter [I] treat myself to a new reflective item like hat or gloves."

Remember that to everything, there is a season

Amanda Parrish Morgan, author of the newly released Stroller: Object Lessons, winter is the season to maintain fitness and release herself from rigid training schedules. She prefers to accept the limitations of the season and just do what she can.

"Thirty minutes on the treadmill, turtle-like pace on snowy roads, ad-hoc fartlek on random clear patches of road," she said.

Don't measure success by how far or fast you run right now. Just get out there and give yourself credit for what you do. "You can still be consistent even if you only get out for a few minutes," Jana Sesow said. "It can give you some nice down time for your body to recover and reset between training cycles, too."

Be flexible

For those who are blessed with flexible work schedules, it's a good time of year to sleep in, wait for temperatures to rise a little bit, and run mid-morning, at lunchtime, or during the later afternoon.

"About this time of year, I start granting myself as much flexibility as possible," said Alex Fox. "Wake up at usual run time (5 a.m.) and check the weather. If it's reasonable, I'll go. Sometimes hit the tread. Sometimes go early evening.. Adaptive, flexible, and fun are key."

Find company for the misery

Almost everybody agrees that running is better with friends, whether it's winter or not. It's especially helpful to have people to meet when it's dark outside and it makes it less likely you'll skip a run if at least one other person is waiting for you.

"I can be more accountable to others than myself sometimes," said Dana Giordano, host of the "More Than Running" podcast.

Don't call it the dreadmill

Sometimes the only way to run safely is doing so inside. Many people enjoy the indoor season and entice themselves by streaming shows or listening to podcasts that they will only turn on while running on the treadmill.

"I don't call it the dreadmill," said ColleenRunsPA. "It's a training tool that I'm blessed to have. It helps me build endurance and speed during the cold months. I still run outside on the weekends."

Call it when you need to

When all else fails, remember to give yourself some grace when you just can't make it happen. You can always try again tomorrow.

"Care less about outcomes-embrace being sluggish and careful on icy sidewalks. Don't be precious about it," said Julie Hieggelke. "Be kind when your soul says, 'not today.' Try again."

And possibly the best advice of all came from Paul Hopkins, who simply said: "Move to Hawaii!"

We're on our way, Paul.

How to Disrupt Diet Talk this Holiday Season

Holidays themselves can bring about so many different feelings for different people. While many appreciate the traditions that come from the holiday season, others loathe the conversations that they might have to endure with family, friends, and others about weight and diet. The truth is, conversations like these can trigger stress around body image and encourage restrictive and obsessive behaviors to surface. 

The endurance sports space itself is rife with diet culture, worshiping thinness and equating it with an ability to perform better, or attaching what you eat with some kind of high moral value. You're often made to feel bad about yourself and what you eat, resulting in a push for weight loss. 

There is no one "ideal" body weight or diet for endurance runners. You have the right to shut down diet talk around the holidays if it makes you feel bad about yourself, or if it causes you to feel like you are engaging in disordered eating behaviors. However, this can be difficult to do when surrounded by family and friends that you might not want to upset. 

Emily Tessier, RDN, works with a lot of endurance athletes that struggle with disordered eating and eating disorders and states that "she sees stress levels are significantly increased around food and body image around the holidays. Reasons include frequent parties and gatherings involving societally deemed 'unhealthy' dishes and desserts, comments around fear of weight gain from friends and family, and the popular "near year, new me" diet culture mentality when it comes to food choices and exercise. Combine these with the running off-season and it's a recipe for panic". 

There is hope. We can create resiliency through boundary setting and coming up with a set of skills or responses to help in response to these stressful scenarios. 

Setting Conversation Boundaries

Boundary setting can be difficult to do, even downright scary, but Tessier reminds us "It's not your responsibility to manage other people's feelings or reactions, and that it is your right to express your boundaries and communicate how helpful this can be for you." 

It is ultimately your choice as to how you set boundaries, but they can range from informative to blunt, and there is really no one right way to handle these situations. For family members, sometimes playing on emotion versus using informative talk can be a more effective way towards change because they love you and want to support you. Remember, you may not be able to change a friend or family member's mind about diet culture in the moment, but you may spark them to think about their thoughts and comments in the future. 

Once the boundaries have been established, the hardest part may be having them stick. You will need to be adamant about reinforcing them over and over again. Tessier points out that "In the moment, it may feel time-consuming and ineffective, but repetition will emphasize how important this is for you. It can feel exhausting to set boundaries, and friends and family might push back at first. This isn't because they want to cause stress or harm you - it is likely because they've never felt they had permission to do what you're doing, or even crossed their mind as a possibility. By sticking to your boundaries, you're not only protecting your own well being, but you're also planting the seeds for others."

It can also be helpful, if you are going into certain situations you anticipate will be particularly difficult, to have a spouse, friend, or other family member help you reinforce your boundaries, if you find yourself there. It can help you feel safer to have a support system when everything else seems a bit overwhelming.

Once you have in mind that you want to set your boundaries, coming up with a set of techniques and sample responses can help you think of how to handle yourself at the moment. It can be helpful to write out these responses so that you feel prepared to have a toolkit to reference in most any situation. You never know when and how they will come in handy. 

Use the following examples if you find yourself struggling to disrupt the diet talk this holiday season: 

What Response Technique to Use: Change the subject.

Example Response: "I haven't heard about that diet. But have you all heard about the new restaurant that just opened up in town? We should try it soon!"

What Response Technique to Use: Approach with empathy.

Example Response: "I love you but I really don't enjoy talking about weight or diet culture. I've been really loving listening to my body and fueling it, so I'd really appreciate it if we could avoid this subject right now."

What Response Technique to Use: Put the focus back on them.

Example Response: "Why is eating treats a bad thing? The holidays are supposed to be enjoyable, and treats help us fuel our bodies just like any other food!"

What Response Technique to Use: Take the time to inform or explain.

Example Response: "I don't believe that labeling foods as good or bad makes sense. Plus avoiding certain foods will only make me want them more."

Take a Sneak Peek into 'Born to Run 2'

Thirteen years after the publication of Christopher McDougall's popular book, Born to Run, the author teams up with renowned running coach Eric Orton for Born to Run 2: The Ultimate Training Guide, a fully illustrated, practical guide to running for everyone from amateurs to seasoned runners, about how to eat, race, and train like the world's best. Born to Run 2 will be available on December 6, 2022, but you can read this excerpt from the book.

Chapter 8: Form - The Art of Easy

Eric promised he could teach running form in ten minutes. If I had to estimate, I'd guess he was miscalculating by a factor of at least 7,000 percent, so I subjected his proposition to lab testing and gave it a try myself:

I hit Pause and checked my watch. Then I tried it again. Each time, I found Eric's estimate to be wildly exaggerated. It wasn't even close to ten minutes. More like five.

One song. One wall. Three hundred seconds. If someone had only shared this secret with Karma Park, it could have saved her a world of misery.

Karma was such a disaster, the Navy honestly couldn't tell if she was a terrible runner or a terrific actor. How she even made it into boot camp was a mystery.

The strange thing was, running was her only weakness. Chuck her out of a boat at sea? No problem. Pull-ups, push-ups, crunches? Piece of cake. Karma was a competitive swimmer and varsity wrestler growing up, so two-hour workouts were in her blood. But ask her to run a mile and a half? In under thirteen minutes? Not a chance. Over and over she tried, and every time she ended up walking, grabbing her ribs from stitches and wincing from aches in her legs.

"I'm pretty sure the recruiter fudged the numbers on my Physical Readiness Test so she could get me in," Karma believes. "I finished the run and thought, Oh crap, I'm a minute too slow, and she's like, 'No, no, you're good.' "

When Karma got to basic training, she gritted her teeth and did her best. The Navy was her ticket to a dream life, so there was no way she was giving up. Karma was twenty-five at the time, with a wife in law school and hopes of becoming a surgeon. The surest path toward financing their future was a career in the military. Besides, she had a debt to pay back. Karma came to America from South Korea at age eleven, and while, yeah, maybe Alabama wasn't the most welcoming place for a foreign kid with budding gender issues, Karma was still deeply grateful for the life her family was able to create there.

"I really wanted to serve this country," she says. "But in boot camp I was in and out of sick bay all the time." Karma chanted the drill instructors' mottoes to herself-Pain is only skin deep! Heel to toe! Heel to toe!-but the harder she pushed, the more she broke down. "At first maybe they were checking that I wasn't dogging it," Karma recalls. "I can see how I would be suspected because I feel that other recruits faked it to get out of running, but I was in so much pain, they knew something else was going on."

Finally, Navy doctors diagnosed Karma with chronic hip displacement. She was ordered to report to the long-term sick bay, where she'd be stuck for as long as it took-a month, six months, a year-for her to either heal or quit. Those were her options: get better, get faster or get out.

Karma was crushed, but privately vindicated: ever since she was young and her mom would sign the whole family up for local 5Ks as a way of assimilating into their new home, Karma knew she couldn't run. "My dad and I would walk at the back of the pack, and I thought, This is the most ridiculous thing ever. We have cars and bikes, why are we running? I was really fit in all the other aspects of PE, but with running, I tried and tried and never got any better."

Back in civilian life, Karma struggled. She put her own education on hold and began managing a Subway so her wife could finish law school. She began putting on weight, but when she tried to exercise, her old leg injuries flared up and she finally discovered the real cause of her pain was rheumatoid arthritis. The medication made her lethargic and bloated, and her body ached so badly she needed a cane to walk.

Karma was in a bad spiral that nothing could stop. Except her wife's lover.

"My wife had an affair with a guy who was really fit," Karma says. "When I confronted her, she told me I was fat. That hit me really hard." So hard that after she and her wife separated, Karma decided to punish herself with the thing she detested most. "I decided to drown my emotional pain by subjecting myself to physical pain," she says. "When I left the Navy I swore off running-I hate it hate it hate it, never running again. This time, I decided to run myself ragged into an early grave. I hated myself and hated running, so this is what I'll do."

For once, Karma's injuries came to the rescue. Her legs seized up before her heart, and while she was searching for a new way to beat on herself, she had the enormous good luck to meet Sheridan. With that amazing woman by her side, parts of Karma that she hadn't even realized were hurting began to heal. For the first time, she had the confidence and support to face her gender identity and begin transitioning to the self that had always been buried.

She also resolved, once again, to get back into shape.

If you're keeping score at home, by now Karma has struck out three times as a runner. Over the years, I've heard a lot of stories like this from busted ex-runners-and lived one myself-but this is the first instance where I thought, okay, maybe it's time for the mercy rule to kick in and let it go for good. But against those odds, Karma stepped up again. When Sheridan gave birth to their first son, Karma set her jaw and decided their baby wasn't going to grow up with a parent hobbled with a cane or gone before their time.

"That's how I began my journey into learning how to run properly," she says.

This go-round, Karma attacked the problem from a different angle: What if her brain was the problem and not her body? Karma is a math whiz and comes from a medical family, so she was a little annoyed at herself for not realizing sooner that if your equation keeps giving you the wrong result, adding the same numbers isn't going to help. Rather than running harder, she thought, maybe there was a way she could run smarter.

Her eureka! moment occurred soon after, when she noticed that her legs hurt more on downhills than ups. That's when it hit her: What if she treated the entire planet like a hill? Get up on her forefoot, in other words, instead of heel-toe, heel-toeing it like she'd always been told.

"When I mentioned this to a friend, she immediately said, 'Haven't you read Born to Run? That's what it's all about.'"

Karma picked up a copy, and there, on page 181, she found the role model who would change her life. Not Ann Trason, the courageous science teacher who nearly outran a team of Raramuri runners in the Leadville Trail 100. Not Scott Jurek, the gracious and unbreakable hero who rose from a rough Minnesota childhood to become the greatest ultrarunner of all time. Karma didn't even see herself in Jenn Shelton, that patron saint of human fireballs, or Caballo Blanco, the lovelorn loner who used running to heal a broken heart.

Nope. When Karma looked into the mirror, grinning back at her was Barefoot Ted.

I'm not happy about this now, but when Caballo Blanco and I first met Ted McDonald, we were ready to Rock-Paper-Scissors over who was going to clunk him on the head and chuck him into the canyon. Ted likes to say "My life is a controlled explosion," which only confirmed my conviction that he has no idea what "control" means.

I was slow to see what Jenn and Billy Bonehead and Manuel Luna liked about Ted. It took a few clashes before I finally got it, including a toe-to-toe shouting match in the middle of Death Valley, where I threatened to leave Ted by the side of the road to die while he was yelling in my face, "I don't care how big you are! I'll fight you!"-at the very moment, by the way, when we were supposed to be crewing for Luis Escobar in the Badwater Ultramarathon.

But I couldn't miss the fact that lots of other people really enjoy him. Ted is a lot on a slow day, but he's also a huge-hearted friend and his own kind of genius. When I sent word to Ted that a group of my Amish ultrarunning buddies were traveling through Seattle en route to a Ragnar Relay, he immediately threw open the doors of his Luna Sandal shop and made them at home in an improvised bunkhouse. Nearly every year, Ted travels back down to the Copper Canyons and hands a wad of cash to Manuel Luna, the Raramuri artisan who taught him how to make huaraches. Not because they're partners; because they're friends.

Still, it was gratifying to see that Luis had as much steam shooting out of his ears as I did after we invited Ted to join us in Colton for our photo shoot. For forty-eight hours we couldn't get a yes or no out of the guy, which would have been fine if he'd just stayed silent as well. Instead, Luis and I kept getting cryptic little teaser texts, like digital art smiley faces that dissolved from our phones a few seconds after appearing. It felt less like waiting for a friend to show up (or not) and more like being stalked by the Zodiac Killer.

Then lo and behold, an Amtrak train pulls into San Bernardino station and out pops Barefoot Ted, a big Santa Claus backpack full of sandal-making supplies over his shoulder. He'd spent six hours getting there, and immediately began hand-crafting a gorgeous pair of custom sandals for each of our volunteer models. While his hands were busy, so was his mouth: Ted cut loose with a thirty-minute spoken-word performance that left us all slack-jawed in astonishment as he prattled on, fluently and kind of brilliantly, about everything that had been rattling around inside his skull while he was captive on the train. ("Turning everything you see into food is a superpower. Do you have it?" is the only line I remember.) Soon after finishing a dozen sandals he was gone, grabbing a lift back to Santa Barbara that same night because, unbeknown to us, he'd had a pressing commitment there all along. What a guy.

As a runner, Ted was a true revolutionary. He was so far ahead of the pack when it came to minimalism, the rest of the country took years to catch up. Not that he didn't make a compelling argument from the start. It's just that in typical Ted fashion, the story took a direction only a man who calls himself The Monkey would follow.

If you recall, Ted only began running in the first place because he dreamed of becoming America's Anachronistic Ironman. Which meant, for reasons known only to Ted, he wanted to spend his fortieth birthday completing a full triathlon (2.4-mile ocean swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run) but only using gear from the 1890s. If Ted has one quality greater than his raw athleticism it's his absolutely bulletproof self-confidence, so when he found he could handle the swimming and cycling but not the running, the problem couldn't be his body: it had to be the running.

Close: it was actually the running shoes. The first time Ted ran barefoot, his planetary axis shifted. "I was totally amazed at how enjoyable it was," Ted says. "The shoes would cause so much pain, and as soon as I took them off, it was like my feet were fish jumping back into water after being held captive."

On a barefooter's blog, he found the Three Great Truths:

Change the way you run That was the opposite of everything Ted had ever been told about running, but everything Ted had ever been told about running wasn't working. Besides, it immediately made sense. No decent basketball player just heaves the ball in the air and hopes for the best. No serious tennis player slashes their racket around like a club. Ted had spent a few years as a teacher in Japan, and he knew that sushi chefs and martial artists spend years perfecting the basic steps of their craft. In the world of movement, form and technique reign supreme.

Ted didn't know any barefoot runners in person, only online, so he set off on this quest for reinvention on his own. He found himself in the same predicament as a Czech soldier he'd heard about who, during the Second World War, spent his long nights on guard duty dreaming of Olympic glory. Rather than stand and shiver, the soldier began running in place, lifting his knees high to clear the snow and, to avoid being heard, landing as silently as possible in his heavy boots.

Back home after the war, the soldier replaced slippery snow with wet laundry: he washed his clothes by running on top of them in a bathtub full of soap and water. (Get a load of that, Mr. 100 Up: one sloppy stride in a sudsy tub and you're not starting over, you're heading to the emergency room.)

Those weird home experiments paid off spectacularly. Coached only by his own ingenuity, Emil Zatopek pulled off the most stunning track performance in Olympic history: at the 1952 Games, he won gold in all three distance events, including the first marathon he ever attempted. 

Despite how fast he ran, Emil took a ton of crap about how awful he looked. Upstairs, Zatopek was a horror. He'd get this grimace on his face, one sportswriter said, "as if he'd just been stabbed through the heart." Zatopek's head lolled around and his hands clawed his own chest like he was birthing an alien baby through his rib cage. But what sportswriters missed was that below the waist, Zatopek was a machine: rhythmic, precise, impeccable.

Ted never did get around to his Anachronistic Ironman-not yet, at least-but otherwise, he was unstoppable. Once he realized that running was a skill to be mastered and not a punishment to be endured, he became a Monkey on a mission.

Before long, he'd ripped out a marathon quick enough to qualify for Boston, and then ran Boston quick enough to qualify for the next one, and from there it was onward and literally upward, as he shifted from long roads to high-mountain ultramarathons.

But what Karma envied most wasn't Ted's remarkable twenty-five-hour finish at the Leadville Trail 100, or his out-of-left-field world record for skateboarding (242 miles in twenty-four hours). She didn't care if she ever ran as fast as Ted. She just wanted to be as healthy. She wanted to follow his footsteps from Hurt Ted to Happy Ted.

"I made a conscious decision to fully embrace forefoot running," Karma says.

Maybe embrace isn't the right word. Since May 3, 2014, Karma hasn't missed a single day of running. Every evening, no matter what kind of storm is blowing through Birmingham, Alabama, no matter if she's fighting a cold or dealing with craziness at the medical office she manages, Karma pulls on her sandals and heads out the door.

Her eight-year-and-counting streak began in true Barefoot Ted fashion: bizarrely. Less than a year after changing her form, the woman who swore she'd never run again was bringing home her first marathon medal. Gone was the cane, forgotten was the specter of crippling arthritis. By changing the way she moved, Karma discovered she could change the way she felt. She soon ramped up from a marathon to a 50K, and that's when things took off. The day after that first ultramarathon, Karma decided to test her soreness by jogging an easy two miles. She was surprised to find her legs actually felt better after that run, so she went out again the next day and the next and thus a streak was born.

To maintain her daily running streak, Karma logs at least one mile a day, but that's just her baseline. During her first year of streaking she also tackled three ultramarathons, and then began creating streaks within her streak: she ran five miles a day for a full year, seven miles a day for ten months, and three miles a day for 1,300 days. Despite all these clicks on her odometer, Karma still felt she needed to borrow one more hack from Barefoot Ted: as a reminder to remain smooth and light, she always runs in a pair of his Lunas.

Karma had never actually met Ted in person until the day he hopped off the train in San Bernardino and blew into our photo shoot like a grinning bald tornado. Ted is usually quick on his feet, but when he came eye to eye with Karma, it took him a few beats to get his bearings.

The person who'd reached out to Ted years ago had never felt at home in her body and was facing two frightening transformations. The Karma in front of Ted today had made it through to the other end. In the past, Karma had looked to Ted for hope and guidance. Now, she deserved something very different. Ted understood, and delivered.

"If you have any questions, ask Karma," Ted said, as he addressed the circle of very experienced and accomplished ultrarunners hanging on his every word about the art of minimalist running. "She knows as much as I do."

This is an excerpt from Born to Run 2: The Ultimate Training Guide by Christopher McDougall and Eric Orton, available on December 6, 2022 by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of The Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright 2022 by Christopher McDougall and Eric Orton.

Tips for Your First Ultramarathon

By definition, an ultramarathon is anything longer than 26.2 miles. Maybe you've run a marathon and you want to a new challenge. Maybe you've never run farther than 13.1. Ultramarathons are just like any other running race--any able body person can complete one. Ultras are becoming more popular every year. Whether it's 50K, 50 miles, 100K, 100 miles or more, here are 10 tips for tackling your first ultramarathon.

Don't Carry Too Much Stuff With You

It's tempting to pack everything but the kitchen sink in your hydration vest for those "just in case" moments. But there's no need to carry the extra weight if the aid stations are stocked or you have a crew. Less is best if you can get away with it. 

Know the Aid Stations

Knowing how far apart the aid stations are from each other will help you plan if you need to use a hydration vest, a handheld bottle or strictly rely on course aid. Most races also list what will be available for nutrition and hydration at each station. Decide prior to the race if you will be using your own nutrition or hitting up the fuel provided. 

Stick With Your Hydration/Nutrition Plan

During your training, practice your hydration/nutrition plan. Finding what works for you prior to race day will help eliminate any surprises. Don't be tempted to change things up when you hear some other runners talking about their nutrition plan. Stick with what works for you. Eat early, eat often and don't stop eating/drinking in the later miles because you think you are almost done. The last thing you need is to bonk a few miles from the finish line. Keep up with your nutrition plan for the duration. 

Run by Effort, Not by Pace

There are so many factors that go into your race day pace, like elevation, trail conditions, weather, and terrain that it's best to go by the effort you are putting out rather than what your GPS watch says. 

Don't Let Race Day Adrenaline Dictate Your Effort

Just like any race, it's hard not to run fast as soon as it's go time. The adrenaline is pumping, and you are feeling GOOD. That feeling will not last. Sooner or later, those faster miles will catch up with you.

Power Hike the Hills

Want to know a secret?  Almost every single person in an ultramarathon walks at some point. Even the winners might do it! Power hiking the hills is a great way to conserve energy. Plus, you most likely will cover the hills quicker by hiking than running. 

Run the Mile You Are In 

It's easy to let your mind wander to the miles that lie ahead. However, thinking of running 50 miles at one time can seem impossible. Stay present in where you are. Breaking down the race into smaller sections, like aid station to aid station, will make it seem more attainable. 

You Will Cycle Through Feeling Good and Not-So-Good Multiple Times 

The good thing about the distance in an ultra is that it's long enough to feel good again after feeling bad. Don't feel like the race is over as soon as you start to feel poorly. Assess the situation (usually it's an eating or nutrition issue), and take care of it. You'll probably feel better in a few miles.

Repeat Your Positive Mantras Throughout the Race--Even When You Are Feeling Good

The physical side of running is tough, but the mental side is what's going to get you across the finish line. Having positive mantras on repeat, even when you are feeling good, will keep you mentally in the race. When a negative thought pops up, replace it with a positive one. 

Keep Moving Forward 

A body in motion, stays in motion, right? Resist the urge to linger at aid stations too long. Grab what you need and keeping moving. The more time you spend sitting or standing still means you are losing the forward momentum to keep going.

The Cannon Core Workout For Runners

There’s a good reason why core workouts for runners have become so popular over the last few years. Actually, there are quite a few reasons.

Training your core will deliver a variety of benefits:

Improved running economy, by delaying fatigue late in a race or long run

Increased strength of the core region, including the hamstrings, hips, glute muscles, lower back, and abdominals

Prevention of running injuries, by increasing your ability to withstand the impact forces of running

Give you shredded six-pack abs!!!

Ok, that six-pack promise isn’t really true. Getting ripped abs is mostly genetic and depends more on BMI and diet than anything else…

But still, core workouts are a vital part of any runners’ training program.

That’s because all movement originates from the core. If you want to improve your mobility (the ability to move well), it’s critical to start any movement from a position of strength.

Your core is like a platform where all other movement starts from. The more postural stability you have, the better you’ll move.

And no matter what type of runner you are, you’ll benefit from core training:

Beginners need even more strength training to prevent injury

Older runners need to prevent muscle loss

Those who don’t run races still need to stay healthy

Frequent racers (even virtual races) need to mitigate the higher intensity

Clearly, practically every runner will benefit from a stronger core.

So I’m thrilled to announce the Cannon Core Workout for Runners, a dynamic, runner-specific, leveled core session that will help you build core strength, improve efficiency, and prevent running injuries.

And it’s perfect for beginners or even advanced runners.

Cannon is a different type of core workout than other routines you might find elsewhere for three important reasons.

1. Cannon Core is Runner-Specific

Many other core workouts aren’t actually designed for runners. You’ll see more metabolic or aerobic exercises (“heavy breathing” exercises), a more traditional focus on just the ab muscles, and no balance with the posterior chain.

But not Cannon. I’ve built this routine to be more comprehensive with focus on the chest, glutes, upper back, lower back, and transverse abdominals.

It also is balanced and includes exercises that strengthen the glutes and lower back. These are not typically considered “core” muscles but they do complement them and help us be more balanced athletes.

2. Cannon Core is Dynamic

Many core workouts only include exercises like planks, side planks, bridges, and reverse planks. These are great exercises – but they’re static. They don’t include any movement.

Cannon has a variety of exercises that have you move in a variety of planes of motion. You’ll rotate, cross your midline, and work on single-leg strength.

There’s just no substitute for building athleticism than dynamic movements.

3. Cannon Core is Leveled

Are you a beginner? Or a veteran with years of running and weightlifting experience? Either way, Cannon Core is for you!

That’s because Cannon is a leveled core workout for runners. It includes 2-3 levels for each exercise, allowing you to start where you’re comfortable and move up when you’re ready.

But that’s not all. Not only is each exercise leveled, you can also:

Complete 1-3 sets of the core workout depending on how much time you have and your ability

Perform each exercise for as little as 10-20 seconds or as long as a full minute

More flexibility allows you to get more out of the routine. Start at a beginner level and you’ll be completing Cannon Core a year from now at an advanced level!

The Run Streak Might Be the Key to a Fast Spring Marathon

Runner’s World+ Coach Jess Movold shares three reasons how the #RWRunStreak can benefit you in the long run.

When people ask me about my racing schedule for the upcoming year, my answer always starts with the 2022 Runner’s World Holiday Run Streak. If you ask me, the streak is the perfect runway to a training cycle and creates the most beautiful bridge between Fun-Run Season and Full-Send Season (yes, I just made that one up—but I think it will stick around). 

f you’re an avid marathoner, you probably jump between spring marathons and fall marathons, and if you’re like the marathoners I know, you do this every year. This back-to-back marathon schedule doesn’t give you a lot of time for an “off-season” (air quotes because runners don’t have off-seasons, am I right?). But the reality is, everyone needs a break from a serious training schedule—even if it’s a short one. 

It’s important to take time off and allow for some carefree, unstructured miles. That means no forced training plans, no grueling long runs, and not being tied to a training plan or weekly mileage goal. Just running to run. How refreshing! 

Eventually, this becomes less enjoyable. That’s when you know it’s time to set new goals and start working towards something that challenges you again. You might start to plan out your next big race, hire a coach, or commit to a training plan. However, going from unstructured running straight into a rigid training plan can be tough! That’s why I always ease into my training with the #RWRunStreak. 

I could go on all day talking about why I love the run streak (cheers to 1 mile!), but I’m going to give you my three favorite reasons why my training starts with the streak. 

Consistency

You don’t have to constantly follow a training plan. That can put you on the fast track to overall burnout, mental exhaustion, and physical injuries. However, it’s challenging to go from time off to a training plan. Even though structured running has a lot of advantages, it can feel too serious, too soon sometimes. 

That’s why I love the Run Streak! It gets me out the door and into a run—no matter how far—consistently. It keeps running fun while laying the groundwork for a routine. Then, when my training cycle officially begins, it won’t be a shock to run every day.

Rust bust

A ‘rust buster’ is that first hard race back from the off season. Whether you like the term or not, it’s definitely a thing! We all know the feeling when our training stays in the back seat for too long—things start to feel a little rusty. So, test your fitness by doing a race or hard workout after you get back into the groove of training. It hurts so good! 

At some point in my streak, I’ll do a one-mile time trial. Despite the usual lack of fitness, it feels fun because there’s nothing major on the line. Don’t let chasing personal bests steal all the joy from running. Test your body to see what you can do but have fun while doing it. 

Usually, you throw a rust buster race in the beginning to middle part of your training block as a chance to shake off the cobwebs and get back in the swing of things. The streak is a perfect time for this! 

Slow build 

As a coach, I often see runners aggressively jump into their training after the off-season. They increase their mileage or intensity too abruptly, which usually leads to an injury or setback in the middle of their training cycle. There is nothing worse than getting into the groove with training and then having an unexpected interruption.

That’s why I unofficially kick off my spring marathon training with the Run Streak. It allows me to safely and gradually increase my mileage when I feel up for it. If you have a spring marathon on the books, I’m looking at you! The Boston Marathon isn’t that far away. 

That’s why my training starts on Thursday. A slow build throughout the holidays and then, BOOM! I’ll be ready to pick up the pace and buckle down come 2023. 

See you in the streak! 

South Central Run Club Creates ‘Anti-Turkey Trot’ Thanksgiving Run

A Los Angeles run club is rethinking the annual turkey trot and celebrating the resiliency of South Central.

On Saturday night, the streets of South Central Los Angeles were run by participants of the second annual F*** White Supremacy 5K. The race, formed as an “anti-turkey trot” by the South Central Run Club, hosted close to 100 people. The goal? Start critical conversations while celebrating the resilience of a community that until recently, didn’t offer outlets for runners. 

On November 19, the 5K made a statement not only in name but also for those who participated, with some locals running in their own neighborhood for the first time ever. After the race, which took runners to the University of Southern California and back, participants enjoyed an afterparty that included a DJ, food vendors, and a local artists showcase.

For South Central Run Club co-captains Zaakiyah Brisker and Jazmin Garcia, the event marked another major step forward in efforts to heal their community through running. “A lot of times, you can get discouraged and believe that people don't care,” Brisker told Runner’s World. “I really am so grateful for everybody who was courageous enough to say, ‘let's do it,’ because we all deserve to feel good.”

Forming a running community where it’s needed

When Brisker started running, the South Central resident frequented groups that met on the west side of Los Angeles. Soon Brisker realized she was far from the only person who had to travel outside of her South Central neighborhood to participate in LA-area run groups. In 2018, when she started running in her South Central neighborhood more often, she received a surprising reception. She said people rooted for her as she passed by, unlike on the west side, where running is more popular as a form of exercise. At that moment, she wondered why a run club didn’t exist in South Central, where she knew it could thrive. 

As a first step, Brisker tried to create an Instagram account under the name South Central Run Club, but the title was already taken. So, she reached out and met the group founder, Garcia, who had the same idea earlier on.

Garcia's running journey began in 2018 when she started attending group runs with her sister and friends. But again, those groups always met outside of her South Central community, and she wanted to change that. Garcia, who also grew up in the area, created the account and invited her neighbors of all ages and abilities to join for weekly runs. Brisker joined too.

In 2020, the pandemic paused the group's efforts. But another chance meeting between Brisker and Garcia kicked things off once again. After the duo reunited while working for a local nonprofit, they decided to combine their visions for the run club. 

“South Central has a lot of amazing history of resistance. Sometimes you can walk by something, and you don't know the historical importance of a place,” Garcia told Runner’s World. “We really wanted to highlight those things and have a space where people feel comfortable to come together, run and stretch, and learn a little bit more about our own community.” 

Creating space for healing

In early 2021, they brought the run club back with in-person group meetings. On every run, the captains lead the group in discussions based on a different location that holds historical significance. With each gathering, they hope to expand on the mainstream narrative that's been told about South Central. As Brisker explained, most people's perception of the area is based on hip hop influences and films like Menace II Society and Boyz n the Hood, but there are many more stories to be told. “People have created this narrative about South Central that it's impoverished, there's a lot of gang violence and all this other stuff,” she said. “But there are real people from South Central thriving and existing.”

The club focuses on promoting health and wellness in the South Central community by offering initiatives that introduce the sport and make it accessible for all. They host a walk-to-run program and family days, where members are encouraged to bring family members young and old so they can learn to enjoy running and encourage each other to keep it up. 

One of the family days is held at the South Los Angeles Wetlands Park, which used to be where metro buses were repaired. Like everything they do, picking the park as a meeting spot was done with intention. “It was a place that caused pollution in our community. It's been a few years now, but they cleaned up the space and transformed it into this beautiful park,” Garcia said. “Every time we start there, we like to say that we see this as a metaphor for the work that we're doing, that the transformation for wellness comes from us.”

Rooted in social impact initiatives, the run club highlights the diversity of the neighborhood by drawing attention to local landmarks, including schools, businesses, and places where critical conversations can be had, Brisker said, “We can expose areas that need to be healed so we can come together better as a community.”

For example, the group often meets for runs in front of public schools that were attended by members of the club. Before the run starts, former students are invited to speak on their experience in the American education system, which often neglects the histories of people in underrepresented groups. “You walk out [of these institutions] feeling super alienated because you can't see yourself in history," Brisker said. “We speak to that. We say those things out loud and validate the experience for a lot of people who run with us.”

Celebrating the resilience of South Central

In the same vein, Brisker and Garcia got into an in-depth conversation ahead of Thanksgiving last year. They discussed the need for more awareness around the Indigenous experience surrounding the holiday, which is considered a day of mourning and protest for many Indigenous people. “There's a lot of pain for people who identify as Indigenous, and on top of that, if you're someone who is from an oppressed community, how can you not relate to feeling like no one is talking about your history or that everybody is celebrating around a time when your ancestors had to go through deep pain and traumatic experiences?” Brisker said.

With turkey trots being the most popular footrace in the country, Brisker and Garcia felt it was the perfect opportunity to address how white supremacy has affected their neighborhood. “Racist policies and white supremacy, like red lining, the amount of ICE presence, and the purposeful disinvestment for decades are directly affecting Black and Brown people in our communities," Garcia said. “We wanted to have that conversation, flip it with the F*** White Supremacy 5K, center the joy of our Black and Brown community, and celebrate our resiliency.”

At the inaugural event in 2021, race organizers brought the community together with local businesses and started a fundraiser aimed to support the wellness needs of 3-6 individuals. This year, the fundraiser continued with a higher goal for grant recipients. At Saturday night’s event, the amount of registrations doubled, and participants outside of South Central were encouraged to take part in a virtual run, so they too can start critical conversations and bring healing to their communities.

Turkey trot runner takes out his competitor at finish line

Nothing says “Happy Thanksgiving” like taking out your opposition in a sprint to the finish at a fun run. When one runner at a 10K turkey trot in Troy, N.Y., noticed that the runner behind him was going to outsprint him, instead of duelling it out, he cut him off, forcing him into a roadside barrier.

In the video, the crowd and race announcer were shocked as the two runners bailed into the finish line. The perpetrator, Xavier Salvador of Washington, D.C., impeded the line of Jack Huber of Delmar, N.Y., with 50 metres to go, after noticing Huber approaching on his right. 

Salvador was given fourth place (31:46) ahead of Huber (31:47), and was not disqualified. Instead of checking if Huber was OK after the fall, Salvador made sure his GPS watch was stopped. 

There was prize money for the top three finishers, but the battle between Salvador and Huber was for fourth place. According to a post-race forum thread, Huber spoke to race officials, but since it was for fourth and fifth place and out of the prize money offerings, they chose not to disqualify Salvador.

Turkey trots are the epitome of a fun run and are a common U.S. Thanksgiving tradition many families participate in before eating turkey. 

Brighton Half Marathon is back for its 33rd year

The annual 13.1-mile race returns to Brighton seafront on February 26 2023. It’s organized by Brighton-based charity The Sussex Beacon, which provides specialist support and care for people living with HIV. The race is the charity’s main fundraising event of the year and welcomes around 8,000 runners each year. General entries and charity places for the race are still available now from The Brighton Half Marathon website. 

Runners can also support one of more than 30 partner charities, including local charities such as Rockinghorse and national charities including Alzheimer’s Society and Macmillan. The main race starts at 9:30am on Madeira Drive, next to the iconic Palace Pier, before winding its way around some of Brighton’s most iconic sites including Brighton Marina, The Royal Pavilion, The Hilton Brighton Metropole, the i360, The West Pier and the colorful Hove Beach Huts. The flat course is ideal for beginners and more seasoned runners chasing a personal best!

New to 2023, there’s a one-mile Youth Race, designed for junior runners aged 7-17 and located on Hove Prom. The event gives youngsters a unique opportunity to experience the buzz of race day. Entries are now open

Bill Puddicombe, Sussex Beacon chief executive, said: “The Brighton Half Marathon is our biggest fundraising event of the year and allows us to provide specialist year-round support and care for people living with HIV across Sussex. Nicknamed the ‘Happy Half’, the Brighton Half Marathon is a real community event, with thousands of spectators lining the route and local volunteers helping on the day to create a fantastic atmosphere. We can’t wait to welcome the runners back to our fabulous city on Sunday February 26 for another fantastic event!”

Kenya doping: World Athletics urged not to ban country despite doping cases

World Athletics has been urged not to ban Kenya from the sport for violations of doping rules by a government minister from the East African country.

The nation is reportedly at risk of a sanction following a string of cases, with 55 of its athletes serving suspensions issued by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU).

Kenya's situation will be discussed at the World athletics council meeting in Rome next week, BBC Sport Africa understands.

Ababu Namwamba, the cabinet secretary for the Ministry of Youth Affairs, Sports and the Arts, has written to World Athletics president Lord Coe to assure him that Kenya's government is taking firm measures to uphold the integrity of athletics.

"We cannot allow our nation to be banned because of the actions of some greedy unethical individuals," Namwamba said.

"We will target and deal decisively with the criminals and their syndicates. We must work together to eradicate doping and cheating from athletics and sports in general."

Kenya is among seven countries deemed a 'Category A' federation - the highest doping risk - by the AIU, meaning athletes from the countries have to undergo at least three tests in the 10 months prior to a major event to be able to compete there.

Its total of 55 athletes serving bans is the third most of any nationality behind Russia (102) and India (61).

Russia has been banned by World Athletics from competing as a nation in athletics since 2015 but untainted athletes were still able to compete under a neutral flag until the country's invasion of Ukraine in February, when all athletes, support personnel and officials from the country were banned.

Seventeen Kenyan athletes have been sanctioned by the AIU this year for a range of violations, with a further eight provisionally suspended and awaiting the outcomes of their cases.

An overarching ban by World Athletics and the AIU would be a huge blow to the reputation of the East African country, which has won 34 of its 35 Olympic gold medals in track and field events.

The National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) welcomed the government's intervention and said it would continue supporting "all efforts and actions as a partner in dismantling all systems and avenues perpetuating the vice of doping in athletics".

A statement from the body said the country had built an "illustrious history" in the sport and that "it is not ready to sacrifice this reputation due to the greed of a few actors".

"We join our voice in pleading with World Athletics and other parties to withhold any punitive measures such as a ban and consider the multifaceted efforts of the Kenyan community, led by the government, as a positive sign and contribution towards a zero-doping environment in Kenya," NOC-K president Paul Tergat added.

Two-time Olympic champion and marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge has said the increasing number of doping cases is "worrying" and "clean sport is the way to go".

The Ministry of Youth Affairs, Sports and the Arts said Kenya has a zero tolerance to doping and is "fully committed to ending the doping menace".

"We must defeat doping and its perpetrators. This is a serious concern and that is why the government is giving total undivided attention," Namwamba added.

"We are treating it as a matter of top strategic national interest."

Jamaica´s Asafa Powell, 100m world record holder before Usain Bolt, retires

Jamaican Asafa Powell, who held the men’s 100m world record before Usain Bolt, has retired from track and field.

Powell held a 40th birthday and retirement party on Wednesday. Bolt filmed a video to wish his countryman well upon retirement.

Powell last raced in May 2021, according to World Athletics, and did not compete at Jamaica’s Olympic Trials last year.

He raced at the Olympics in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016, earning 4x100m relay gold in Rio. His best individual finish was fifth in the 100m in 2004 and 2008.

Powell owns the record of 97 career sub-10-second 100m performances, the last coming on Sept. 1, 2016.

Powell lowered the 100m world record to 9.77 seconds on June 14, 2005. He held the mark until Bolt broke it on May 31, 2008, for the first of three times. He is the fastest man in history without an Olympic or world 100m title.

In 2004, Powell had the fastest semifinal time at the Athens Games, then placed fifth in the final won by Justin Gatlin.

In 2008, after injuries early in the year, Powell had the second-fastest semifinal time in Beijing. He placed fifth in the Olympic final again.

In 2012, Powell pulled up in the 100m final and was the last finisher. In 2016, he made the Jamaican Olympic team strictly for the relay.

Powell is the fourth-fastest man in history with a personal best of 9.72 seconds, trailing contemporaries Bolt (9.58), Tyson Gay (9.69) and Yohan Blake (9.69).

Bolt retired in 2017. Gay, also 40, last raced in May 2021. Blake, 32, ran 9.85 in June, his best time since 2012, when he took Olympic 100m and 200m silver behind Bolt.

Three things this pro ultrarunner is doing to save the planet

Ultrarunner, coach and activist Damian Hall is taking steps to tackle the climate emergency and has advice for runners who want to do the same. U.K.-based Hall is a record-breaking endurance athlete who holds multiple huge FKTs, including the Cape Wrath Trail, Wainwright’s Coast to Coast and the Pennine Way; he also took fifth at UTMB in 2018.

Hall uses his record attempts to raise awareness about the climate emergency, including taking public transport to races and fuelling without animal products or plastic waste. He collects litter and raises money for Greenpeace on his runs, and has recently written his second book: We Can’t Run Away From This.

Hall is also co-founder of The Green Runners, a group that strives to inform runners about their impact on the planet (when training, eating and racing) so they can make decisions about how to change their behaviour.

“Though I think individuals should only fuss about their individual CO2e [carbon dioxide equivalent] footprint so much, there are three big areas where we can reduce our impact,” says Hall. Travel, diet and gear (or kit, as Hall calls it) are what Hall calls the big three. Here’s what we can all do.

Limit travel to races

“For most runners and outdoor folk, the largest slice of their individual emissions will be caused by travel, which accounts for one-fifth of global emissions. Flying is the most carbon-intensive thing we can do, Hall recently explained to Adventure Books.

Hall suggests using public transportation as much as possible, but that can be tricky in North America. Public transportation (i.e., trains) is not nearly as accessible in Canada as in Europe, and with many runners living outside of big cities, travel can seem like a necessary evil in order to race.

While carpooling whenever possible helps, I asked Hall for more suggestions around this. “That’s tricky, and I think individuals who already care and are already making sacrifices shouldn’t punish themselves too much further. We should continue to do the things that give us joy, but maybe with a little less harm to the planet where possible,” says Hall.

Hall’s tip: “Nowadays I ask myself:  A. Do I really need to do the race? B. If so, what’s the lowest-carbon way I can practically travel there? C. Can I stay longer and/or make more out of the trip? D. Offsetting definitely isn’t the solution, but I do it anyway.”

Eat less meat

“Eating meat is terrible for the planet,” says Hall.  “Meat and dairy alone are responsible for 18 per cent of global CO2e, more than travel. Beef is by far the worst offender. This graph turned me vegan,” he adds. “A quarter of our footprint comes from food, and it can be reduced by over 70 per cent simply by cutting out animal flesh and juices.”

What about locally or sustainably-raised meat? Hall says it’s just as bad. “Eating local isn’t usually better environmentally (90 per cent of international food is shipped, which is really efficient). “Food waste is also far more significant than where the food came from and what it’s wrapped in,” he explains.

Buy less gear

Those shoes you purchased because they were touted as eco-friendly? Hall says they’re part of the problem. ‘The industry excels at “greenwash,” bandying phrases like “eco-friendly” about while pumping out an endless stream of products in what constitutes an overconsumption crisis,” he explains. The running shoe industry is responsible for approximately the same annual emissions as the entire U.K., Hall shares.

“Those shoes are almost all made from plastic (i.e., fossil fuels), almost all are non-recyclable and brands tell us we should bin our daps after 300 miles in case they injure us (which no studies prove),” says Hall. Our running attire is just as bad. “The clothing industry as a whole is responsible for many times more pollution again, possibly as much as 10 per cent of global CO2e,” adds Hall. “And then there’s the large range of environmental and ethical issues around the production process.”

Hall’s tip: “The most sustainable kit is the stuff we’re already wearing. We need to buy less and make it last longer.”

‘To me it’s fairly simple: do your best with the big three: travel, kit and diet. No one is, or can be, perfect. We’re just seeking progress,” says Hall, explaining that we don’t need to entirely give up the things we love. He has one more tip for us–advocate. “Help push for system change. Join protests, vote, email your representatives, push for changes in your local running club or race.”

Connor Mantz breaks record, Weini Kelati wins again at Manchester Road Race

Connor Mantz won the Manchester Road Race in record time.

The 25-year-old from Provo, Utah, won the race with a time of 21:04, beating the record set more than four years ago. It's a duel celebration for the runner as he is also celebrating his honeymoon.

In the women’s race, 25-year-old Weini Kelati defended her record-breaking 2021 title, handily winning her second Manchester Road Race. She was named Queen of the Hill.

Much like in 2021, Kelati began her race early and paced with some of the elite male runners. During the race, no other woman could pace with Kelani. For some pockets of the race, Kelati paced by herself, running faster than some of the elite men.

Kelati, an Eritrea-born runner, validated her world-class ambitions by winning two national championships in New Mexico. She turned professional and joined the Dark Sky Distance running club. In 2021, she met the Olympic qualifying standard for 10,000 meters. That year she came to the U.S.  

Wesley Kiptoo, 23 from Kenya, won King of the Hill, which has a $1,000 prize.

Kiptoo came in third place overall, while Morgan Beadlescomb came in second.

Over 10,000 runners were registered for this year's race. It is the final year for longtime race director Jim Balcome, who, with his team, built the race into a world-class event.

The course is a 4.748-mile loop through the town’s central streets. It starts and finishes on Main Street, in front of St. James Church.

Nine Comrades Marathon runners disqualified for cheating

Nine runners’ results have been disqualified from the 2022 Comrades Marathon following an investigation into alleged cheating during the race.

According to a statement by KwaZulu-Natal Athletics (KZNA), the provincial sport organization, the investigation found that nine athletes did not run the entire point-to-point 90 km course and allowed other athletes to run with their race bibs, while some provided incorrect qualification information.

To qualify for the Comrades Marathon, entrants must run a marathon in less than four hours and 50 minutes.

All nine runners are required to return their 2022 Comrades Marathon medal and will be reported to their provincial athletics organization club, which has the right to apply additional disciplinary measures. These runners are prohibited from entering the Comrades Marathon in years to come, according to the Comrades Marathon Association.

According to a statement, this decision is intended to send a clear message to athletes that cheating will not be tolerated: “These investigations are in line with us standing up for the rules of the sport and not condoning cheating in any form,” said KZNA president Steve Mkasi.

Comrades is the largest and oldest ultramarathon in the world, comprising a 90 km route between Pietermaritzburg and Durban, South Africa, and usually alternates directions each year. This year’s race took place on Aug. 28 and was won by a full-time security guard and part-time marathoner, Tete Dijana.

British man runs 67-minute half-marathon inside Heathrow Airport

Two prominent British YouTubers, Josh Pieters and Archie Thomas Manners, staged a one-of-a-kind race at Europe’s busiest airport, London Heathrow. The duo invited six of Team GB’s top distance runners to race a half-marathon in the waiting area before their flight to Belfast. Steeplechaser Dan Jarvis won the inaugural Heathrow Airport Half in a fast time of 67:30, given the circumstances.There are 500 marathons in the U.K. each year–none of them in an airport.

Every traveller is told to get to the gate two hours before their flight, and Josh & Archie had the idea of using those two hours to host a half-marathon inside Heathrow’s Terminal 5 departure lounge. The YouTubers booked the athletes’ flights to Belfast (because it was the cheapest destination) and wheel-measured a 2.1 km loop around the departure lounge, which the runners would complete 10 times while avoiding other airport patrons (and potentially getting arrested).

Some of the elite athletes included 2:11 marathoner Josh Griffiths, who was eighth at the 2021 London Marathon and 14th at the 2019 Toronto Waterfront Marathon; 2:14 marathoner Ross Braden; and British 100K champion Matt Dickinson.From the video, a pack of four men established an early lead through 10K, with Jarvis taking the lead in the latter stages. Jarvis, who has a half-marathon PB of 67:10 from 2021, broke the tape in front of their gate to Belfast to win the 500-pound purse.

Josh & Archie’s added prize money to attract top-level talent to the race. The concept of their videos is to take on unusual/crazy challenges in a unique public setting. Airport patrons did not seem to care that this event was taking place and gave a few distinct looks. 

The inaugural Heathrow Half champion, Jarvis, is currently training for the 2022 Valencia Marathon on Dec. 4, where half marathon world record holder Letesenbet Gidey is planning to debut.

David Rudisha mulls over transition to coaching

David Rudisha, the 2012 and 2016 Olympic 800m champion who last raced internationally five years ago, reportedly said he is considering transitioning into coaching.

“Actually I was thinking of coming back but at my age, I can’t make it in my specialty,” the 33-year-old Rudisha said, according to the Star in his native Kenya. “I have been discussing with my coach about coaching so it is an avenue I look forward to exploiting.”

Rudisha, who last raced internationally on July 4, 2017, missed time in the last Olympic cycle due to a quad muscle strain, back problems, a car crash and surgery for a broken ankle. He underwent left leg surgery last November.

In his absence, another Kenyan, Emmanuel Korir, won the 800m at the Tokyo Olympics and this past July’s world championships.

“I would have liked to shift to long-distance races, but my body is meant for short races,” Rudisha said, according to the report. “It won’t be long before I make my retirement plans public, but it’s a joy to watch the boys rule the world because that means we are still strong in the specialty.”

At the 2012 Olympics, the Maasai warrior Rudisha lowered his world record to 1:40.91, leading from the break and towing six of the seven other finalists to personal bests in arguably the single greatest highlight of those Games.

Nobody has run within .97 of a second of Rudisha’s world record since he set it.

Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey is set to make marathon debut in Valencia

The Valencia Marathon Trinidad Alfonso announces its elite international line-up for its 42nd edition on December 4.

Some of the best athletes on the international scene will take to the streets of Valencia “Ciudad del Running” with the aim of improving the course record (2:03:00) and seeking the best women’s debut in the history of the event.

Tamirat Tola (2:03:39), the reigning World Marathon champion, heads the men’s line-up alongside his Ethiopian compatriots Getaneh Molla (2:03:34) and Dawit Wolde (2:04:27) in a preliminary list with up to seven athletes with fastest times under 2:05 over the Marathon distance.

Kenya, a world power in the marathon, will be well represented not only by Jonathan Korir (2:04:32), but also by a trio of important debutants over the distance: Alexander Mutiso, Philemon Kiplimo and Kelvin Kiptum. Attention will also be focused on another athlete who will be initiated at 42,195 metres: the Ethiopian Milkesa Menghesa, the winner of the Copenhagen Half Marathon.

In the women’s category, the spotlight will be on the long-awaited debut of Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey (currently world record holder in the 5000, 10000, 15K and half marathon, two of which were achieved in Valencia), who will make an eye-catching debut in a marathon on 4 December with the realistic ambition of beating the time of 2:17:23 (world record for a debutant), but also of getting as close as possible to the women’s world record of 2:14:04 (Brigid Kosgei, Chicago).

The Kenyan Sheila Chepkirui, also a debutant, could become the other female star of the Valencia Marathon in 2022, without forgetting some of the other runners included in this line-up with excellent times: Sutume Kebede (2:18:12) and Etagegne Woldu (2:20:16), who achieved second place last year in this marathon.

Marc Roig, international elite coach for the Valencia Marathon, assesses the line-up: “We are very proud that Letesenbet Gidey has chosen Valencia to make her marathon debut. It is a clear demonstration that we are an attractive marathon and of the very strong links between Gidey and the city of Valencia. But, as ever, the Valencia Marathon is not based on a single name: fifteen of the women have run under 2h26 and fourteen of the men under 2:07. And let’s not forget the three debutants with 58 minutes and another one with 57 minutes in the half marathon”.

Emma Coburn’s Pumpkin Spice Muffins

American track superstar and Olympian Emma Coburn, author of the cookbook The Runner’s Kitchen, says that she savours these muffins in winter when pumpkin spice vibes are at their peak: “I often eat these as a snack before my afternoon run. They give me good fuel but are easy on my stomach.”

These muffins are a staple in our household–simple and quick to make, they’re also really adaptable. If you’re looking to cut sugar, using applesauce as a substitute has worked great for me, and I’ll often add a handful of nuts and grated carrot or zucchini. The recipe also works perfectly as a loaf–the smell of it cooking will have you adding it to your weekly rotation.

Emma Coburn’s Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground nutmeg

2 tsp ground ginger

2 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup sour cream

1 15 oz (425g) can pumpkin

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F). Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, salad, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger.

In a large bowl, combine the eggs, oil, sour cream and pumpkin. Stir until well combined. Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet mixture, and stir until just combined.

Evenly distribute the batter amount in the 12 muffin cups, filling each 3/4 full. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in a muffin comes out clean.

Emma’s tip: use a spring-action ice cream scoop for an easy, tidy way to fill muffin cups.

Four ideas for recycling your retired running shoes

Goodbyes are tough, especially when it comes to your running shoes. Shoes are arguably the most important part of your running wardrobe, which is why runners spend so much time and money looking for the right pair.

The memories and money associated with running shoes are what make throwing them away hard, but there are a few ways to extend their lifespan.

On average, runners should replace their shoes after about 600 to 800 kilometers. That said, how long your shoes last depends on cushioning, structure and durability. Any aches and pains may also indicate it’s time for a new pair of shoes. Usually, this occurs because soles are compressed and no longer provide the same level of cushioning and shock absorption, increasing the stress on your muscles and joints.

1) Treat them as a trophy

If your shoes helped you run your first marathon or complete your first sub-20 5K, take a Sharpie and write the total mileage run in the shoes and its significance to you. Record the race name, date and time, and any other events. Those who aren’t runners may think it is odd house decor, but other runners are bound to think it’s a neat idea. If you don’t want to keep the entire shoe, cut out the tongue and write the info on there. 

2) Relegate them to the gym 

Just because the cushioning may be shot for running, it doesn’t mean they can’t be worn while you lift weights or use the Stairmaster in the gym. Unless there are holes in the soles or a carbon plate… your old runners should be fine to walk around the gym, doing non-impact exercises. 

3) Donate to your local running store

Many independent running stores and Running Room locations across Canada have programs for recycled shoes, giving them to low-income communities or people in need. Contact your local running store and ask if they have a shoe recycling program. With this approach, at least you know they will go to someone in need.

4) Use them for  yard work

The garden is where all good running shoes go to die. Gardening is a strenuous activity, and you need a shoe that’s comfortable and that you’re not afraid to get a little dirty. There is nothing more honorable than grass stains on your old carbon racers.