Running News Daily

54-year-old James Kalani from Los Gatos California ran and logged the most miles for Run The World Challenge 6 which started July 3 and finished September 10

Run The World Challenge 6 just ended Tuesday September 10.  The ten week challenge attracted many runners and miles were logged in 14 countries. 

The idea of the challenge, which was started by lifetime runner Bob Anderson, is to run or walk and then log all your miles on the My Best Runs website. Many participants also posted a photo and comments every day like James Kalani and several others in the Run The World Feed. A total of 11,660 miles were logged during the ten weeks by the team.  That is 166 miles daily.  

James Kalani finished first with 1329 miles run and logged over the periiod which started July 3, 2019.  35-year-old Eliud Esinyen from Kenya was second with 1181 miles.  74-year-old Frank Bozanich finished 4th with 773 miles and Rosaline Nyawira from Kenya was first woman with 744 miles. 

James started running at birth.  "My mother says. I have always run. But due to  chronic bronchitis and asthma, as well as numerous allergies, I was limited to how long I could run as a juvenile," James says. 

In high school, he would run a sub five minute mile every few days, but couldn't be on the track team because he could not practice daily.

"I started jogging as an adult. When I went back to college as an adult for 15 years, running was a stress relief and a necessity. I would ramp up running from 10 to 20 miles in just a couple of months and would be marathon ready in a few months," James continued.

He ran sub-3 hour marathons at one point.

He has always taken breaks from serious running.

"I do what time, attitude, and my mind and body dictate. I tend to be hard on my body while running.  I think I have overcome a lot of those pitfalls however.  I know I can't compete and be happy all the time."

"Running makes me happy and to compete takes some joy out of it.  I guess that makes me a bit of a soul runner. I just love to run and it's cheaper than therapy."

He set a goal to average 20 miles per day for this challenge.  He did not make 20 but was not far from it.  So how did he average over 130 miles per week?

"Since I work early morning, I am home in the early afternoons. I regulated my diet (that is a huge part).  I literally snack a lot. Making sure I am over 5000 calories per day. I started yoga and meditation as a run ritual before and after as well as foam rolling and icing.

"Then I rest for awhile and then I do a shot of Irish whiskey daily to get my blood sugar back up so I could continue to move after a run.

"I used this challenge to push myself to find my threshold in running, something that competitive running can't do for me.

"I now love variations of runs - hills, mountains, trails, and streets. Believe it or not, streets gives me a great chance to not become mesmerized during your run. It makes you keep your head on a swivel...

"Since I have never strayed from athletic activities or running, getting to my peak only takes months. It's all about how much you want something and learning how to listen to your body.

So how did your body hold up?  "Mid-challenge, I started to have knee issues related to my IT Band... foam rolling, icing, rest, and changing running style got me through it. I am a firm believer in holistic medicine and this time I tried various things...

"CBD oil GREATLY helped with post-run swelling," he says.

You were running on an average of three hours everyday for 70 days.  How did you handle your diet?

"I never stopped snacking. I eat one piece of fruit daily at work, a lot of grains, pasta (pasta 4-5 days per week), spinach... high carbs, relatively low proteins. Not a lot of meat and beans take the place of extra protein. I have found that eating colorful food (not much processed) makes a big difference too. 

"Lots of nuts like sunflower, cashews, and almonds. Cheese is also my endurance choice."

So what do you think about this challenge?

"I love this challenge. This challege over the past year filled a hole or "need" in my life. The older I get, the more I like to test what I am capable of. Posting keeps my mind active on the goal. It's fun to turn on the run gps app, start running, snap a few pictures, and remember the run in detail.. doing that helps me recap runs and select the ones I loved to do again with small changes.

"I changed routes so many times living back in Los Gatos because I had been away from here for 23 years.  I was like a kid in a candy store.. I was fueled by memories and locations of my youth. I ran 54 miles from San Francisco (Oyster Point) back to Los Gatos.. It is fun to look back on that... my first 50-miler...as well as my first 40 to Gilroy."

So what are your plans?

"I am getting back to races.  I am taking on running for charity again, but with a twist. I have been trying to run with an altitude trainer mask so I can breathe through a mask. The better shape I get in I can also regulate my body temperature under a lycra body suit. Yes, a costume. I am using volunteer running to earn funds for childrens and veterans charities. I am also going to go back to training other runners."

On that note, what advice do you have for others?

"Run with a purpose.. run for fun, and run for the sheer joy of it. Regulate your diet.. take in lots of it.. but stay away from big meals. Stay hydrated. Work on breathing. Elevation variations are VERY important for strength and endurance. Mind the cross training (I run with a 20 pound vest a couple days a week). Calisthenics are your friend. Just keep moving, but know when to stretch, ice, and rest. Yoga and meditation helped me immensely.. make it a serious part of your daily routine (maintain flexibility). Never run on the same side of the road...it can lead to knee problems," says James.

James Kalani is one amazing runner.

"Our next ten week RTW challenge starts September 11 and we hope to better the miles we just covered," says Bob Anderson.  There is no entry fee and there is no cost to have a My Best Runs account where the miles (k's) are logged.

(09/10/2019) Views: 2,219 ⚡AMP
by Bob Anderson

The Run The World Global 52-week Challenge has finished. The team logged 122,123 miles or 335.5 daily. Michael Wardian was first American and Kenyan's Eliud Esinyen ran the most miles averaging 15.7 miles daily logging 5,738

Run The World Global Challenge is a world-wide celebration of running.  The program was started by Bob Anderson one year ago, July 4, 2018.  Since that time 281 runners around the world ran or walked and then logged 122,123 miles.  This equals 335.5 miles daily or 2,348 miles weekly for 52 weeks which equals 4.9 times around the world. 

"One of the key reasons we started this program," says creator Bob Anderson, My Best Runs and Runner's World magazine founder, "was to motivate people, bring together runners from all over and to run miles all over the world." 

That all happen. Runners from 20 countries participated, miles were run in 75 countries and it certainly motivated many runners to run more miles than they were running before. 

53-year-old James Kalani had not run much over the last few years and then he entered the RTW Challenge.  After getting in good shape over several months, he started pushing it for Challenge #5 which started March 31. Over the last 94 days he ran and logged 1536 miles.  That's 114 miles weekly.  It was not just covering miles, many were quality. On June 16 he ran 30.6 miles at an average pace of 6:41 per mile.

Before the RTW Challenge creator Bob Anderson was running on average 20 miles weekly.  "I got so motivated by this challenge," says Bob.  "I looked forward to running not just one time daily but often I would run two or three times.  I took a photo everyday and posted it in our Runner's Feed.  I also read every post and commented on each for the whole year.  I have been running since 1962 and have run nearly 1,000 races.  I am an addicted runner but I needed something new and this was it."

In the end Bob averaged 5 miles daily or 35 miles weekly for a total of 1830 miles for the year.  With the added miles he also improved his racing performance.  He ran 7:54 pace for 10k and placed third 70 plus at the London 10,000 in May.  A race with nearly 20,000 runners.

The RTW Challenge team did some amazing things during the year.  69-year-old Brent Weigner lives in Cheyenne Wyoming but many of his 2036 miles were run outside of the United States.  In fact Brent ran miles in 30 different countries. 

The most miles were run and logged in the United States.  The top five countries were: United States (64,899 miles), Kenya (24,066 miles), Palau (8,242 miles), India (7,423 miles) and South Africa (6,765).  The amazing story here is that the little country of Palau has less that 22,000 inhabitants and placed third.  Their team leader Aaron Salvador logged 1,584 miles himself and encouraged his team to run and log. 

The team leader for South Africa, Liz Dumon, is the key reason why her country placed fourth.  She herself ran and logged 1000 miles.  Liz encouraged people to sign up.  In fact our youngest members were twins she recruited along with mom and grandma. The 7-year-old twins Jonathan (logged 118 miles) and his sister Michelle (logged 100 miles) had loads of fun and posted regularly in the Runners Feed.  Their dogs joined in on the fun too. (Third photo of twins with Grandma)

Their 56-year-old grandma (Johanna Fourie) logged 672 miles and placed 10th for females.  Right behind her was mom (Erika Fourie) with 625 miles. 

Who said age is just a number? The top three overall females were 65 plus.  Placing first was 68-year-old Kat Powell (USA).  She logged 1271 miles.  Not far back was 69-year-old Linda Robinson (USA) with 1145 miles followed by 65-year-old Carmella DiPippa (PW) with 1040 miles.  Sixth female was 71-year-old Karen Galati (USA) who logged 835 miles.

On the men's side there were so many stars.  35-year-old Kenyan Eliud Esinyen averaged 15.7 miles daily or 110 miles weekly (second photo).  Many times he ran three times daily.  On April 21 he ran a marathon on a tough course at high altitude clocking 2:22:46 which is 5:27/mile pace.  On January 27 he ran a 10k clocking 31:05.  Eliud ran and logged the most with 5,738 miles. 

Kenya's team leader Willie Korir (27) placed second overall with 5195 miles.  He also posted images regularly in the Runners Feed along with comments.  He also wrote several stories for My Best Runs Running News Daily column including finding inside information about the king of the marathon, Eluid Kipchoge.

The first American and third overall was 45-year-old Michael Wardian with 3618 miles (frist photo). This ultra star pulled off many amazing feats during the year.  Most recently on June 29 he ran 89.9 miles around Washington DC.  On May 4th he ran 62.14 miles at 7:14/mile average pace in Sacramento.  He ran the Big Sur Marathon in 2:35:18 making the podium.  He had run the Boston Marathon earlier a little faster clocking 2:33:23.

In March he travelled to Israel and posted the fastest known time on the 631-mile Natoinal Israel Trail.  He covered this distance in 10 days, 16 hours and 36 minutes.  Earlier he not only ran seven marathons on seven continents in seven days (winning them all) he tacked on three more marathons when he got home.  That's ten marathons in ten days.  He is the complete runner with a wide range.  On Feb 10th he ran a 5k in 17:01. 

"Michael is one amazing versatile runner and we were happy when he decided to join our team," says Bob Anderson.

Second American and fifth overall was 75-year-old Frank Bozanich who logged 3523 miles. Frank has run many ultra races over the years and have won many.  Lots of these miles were not real fast compared to what he has done before.  But on July 30th last year he ran 20 miles in Reno in two hours and 43 minutes.  That is an 8:09/mile pace. 

Finishing in seventh place was 72-year-old Paul Shimon who logged 2835.  Like so many of our team, Paul had to deal with a lot of bad weather in Kansas during the winter.  But he layered up and got in the miles.

Michael T Anderson (61)  placed eighth overall logging 2,798 with lots of fast times along the way.   He has run over 130,000 miles in his lifetime so far.  On June 8th he ran 19:13 for 5k in Atlanta where he lives.  On April 28 he clocked 39:25 for 10k.

"The fastest runner on our team was Joel Maina Mwangi," says Bob Anderson.  This 34-year-old Kenyan placed 13th overall with 1,953 miles logged.  On March 10 he ran a 30:14 10k in Torino Italy.   He ran six half marathons under 1:05.  His fastest was run in Aosta, Italy where he clocked 1:02:50 on September 30. 

"There are as many amazing stories," says Bob Anderson. "I am glad our event is helping motivate runners all over the world.  I am looking forward for year two." 

What's next?  Run The World Global Challenge #6 will be a 10-week program.  There is no entry fee.  You just need to have a free My Best Runs (the sponsor of this program) account and sign up for Run The World. 

(07/03/2019) Views: 3,209 ⚡AMP

Top two American’s in the Run The World Challenge which just finished are both over 70

The third Run The World Challenge sponsored by My Best Runs (MBR) has finished.  The team of 105 active runners, who ran and logged miles in 23 different countries, finished last night (January 5) in 68 days 17 hours and 18 minutes.  

The event created by MBR Founder Bob Anderson is all about running and then logging in those miles, posting photos and comments in our runner’s feed to help motivate the team and inspire others.  The team has to run/walk and then log in 24,901 miles (40,074k) to complete the challenge.  

“This is the distance around the world,” says 71-year-old Bob Anderson who himself ran and logged 297 miles. 

“Our team from around the world and ranging in ages from six to 74 did an amazing job,” says Bob.  The team logged an average of 362 miles per day and the team had to stay focused for over two months. “With our busy lives that is not easy,” says Lisa Wall a team member. 

34-year-old Eliud Lokol Esinyen from Kenya and running most of his miles in Eldoret logged the most miles with 1,298.59.  He averaged 18.9 miles daily, many days he worked out three times.  Finishing in second was 27-year-old Boaz Kipyego also from Kenya.  However he spent about five weeks in Minnesota USA running and racing.  He ran and logged in 1,129.41 miles.

First American was 74-year-old Frank Bozanich from Reno Nevada.  The previous five time national champion at 50 miles and 100k ran and logged in 1,036.19, good enough for third place.  “This is his third time around the world with us,” says Bob.  “Many people say that age is only a number and certainly age is not stopping Frank.  He told me he is running a lot slower these days because he has put a lot of miles on his body, however.  Well done Frank, on an age-graded basis this has to be the best performance,” says Bob.

There were five male runners 70 plus in the top 31 places.  In fact 72-year-old Paul Shimon placed sixth overall running most of his 893.06 miles in Winfield Kansas.  Like many of the team he had to deal with a lot of issues including the cold, snow and darkness.  

Super star Michael Wardian (photo top left) placed 8th overall and ran some of the best times including clocking 2:34:54 at the New York City Marathon.  He also ran a tough 50-miler in Israel.  He posted 651 miles  for his third trip around the world with us.  In a few weeks he is going after his world record he set in 2017 at the World Marathon Challenge.  That’s running seven marathons in seven days on seven continents.  

On the women side, ultra super star 48-year-old Gloria Nasr ran and logged 422.54 miles to place first female.  Gloria lives in Paris, France.  Some of her miles were also ran in Peru when she travelled there to run an Ultra (photo upper right). She has also run the six stage race through the desert of Morocco in the past.

In second place was Kenya’s Rosaline Nyawira who currently is living, training and racing in South Africa.  She ran and logged 394.01 miles.  

Third and first America woman was 71-year-old Karen Galati who logged in 223.88 miles.  She ran most of her miles in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.  As she wrote on her profile “Better late than never to this addicting sport.”

Miles run and logged in the top five countries were USA, Kenya, Palau, South Africa and India.  The small country of Palau was in second place the first few weeks.  The Run The World Challenge group there lead by Aaron Salvador have so much spirit.  Most weekends they get together and run ten to fifteen miles.  “You can always count on us to post photos and comments too,” says Aaron. 

Our group from South Africa lead by Lize Dumon has just as much spirit.  During the challenge Lize completed her first marathon and just got over 200 for the team.  The Fourie family in South Africa has to get the top spirit award.  The two kids (Michelle age 6 and Jonathan age 7), the mom (Erika) and grandma (Johanna) posted nearly every day and collectively logged in 455 miles.  Even the dad joined in many days.  

“This was not our best RTW performance but this one has to be our toughest with many challenges,” says Bob.  “Many of our team had to deal with early cold and snow in the United States and Canada.  Our runners in Palau had to deal with heavy rain and wind. In South Africa it was over 100 degrees many days.  In California our runners had to deal with unhealthy air quality for two weeks because of the smoke from the wild fires.  A majority of our team had to deal with shorter days and run in the dark. And on top of everything there were three major holidays during Challenge3.

”I am very proud of our whole team. It is hard to stay focused on something like this for over two months but we did it.  We made it around the world.  For many of us for the third time.  There are so many more stories I want to share’” says Bob.  “Well done team.  Let’s do it again.” 

Details for the next Run The World Challenge will be announced soon. 

(01/06/2019) Views: 1,859 ⚡AMP
by Bob Anderson Team Caption

The RTW team logged 24,901 miles and 52.4 of these miles were run inside an NFL stadium

Did you Know? Run The World Challenge 2 team members Becca Pizzi and Michael Wardian both ran the marathon (first woman and first man) that was run inside the Gillette Stadium in Boston September 29. 

This 114 lap race was the first-ever marathon held entirely inside and on the field of an NFL football stadium. 

Dave McGillivray (also a RTWC 2 team member) was the race director. "Dave's marathons are my absolute favorite and his DMSE support team is second to none," says Becca. 

A ton of funds were raised for the New England Patriots Foundation helping the homeless...Both Becca and Michael have signed up for the RTW Challenge 3 team.  

Run The World is an event created by lifetime runner 70-year-old Bob Anderson.  He ran 260 miles for challenge 2 and even through he did not complete anything close to what Becca and Michael did, he still doubled his normal weekly mileage.  Many team members were also motivated to run more hitting milestones of 50, 100, 200 or more miles before we finished. 

"The finish line of the RTW Challenge is when our team have logged 24,901 miles," says Bob Anderson.  It took 44 days 18 hours and 29 minutes to complete the task this time.  

Runners age 11-74 ran miles in 24 different countries. In the little country of Palau 1,187 miles were logged. 74-year-old Frank Bozanich ran and logged 801 miles in the 44 days. There are so many amazing stories. 

What has become really popular and a good motivator is the Run The World Feed.  Many team members post notes and photos daily for other members to leave comments. 

"I read every post and look at every photo and comment on each one," says Bob. "I started this with Challenge 1 and found this was a good motivator." 

Lize Dumon in South Africa wrote, "The RTW community is very precious to me. It is like an extended running family, a safe place to share everything running." 

RTW Challenge 3 starts October 29. The Challenge will help get you in better shape so you can reach your goals. This can be a tough time of the year to get out the door.  We will help each other.  Sign up today and join our team.     

(10/15/2018) Views: 2,505 ⚡AMP

The Run The World Challenge 2 team has finished and here are the awards

"We have finished," says Lize Dumon (photo) a RTW Challenge 2 team member from South Africa, "Great achievement! But this morning, going out for my run just felt that little bit harder. I haven't realized how precious this RTW community has become to me. It is like an extended running family, a safe place to share everything running without rolling eyes and sighs from non-runners. It has become a place where I learn so much about running from reading everybody's posts and a place of immense encouragement! I don't want to leave this place... bring it on Challenge 3!" 

Run The World Global Run Challenge is a global event celebrating running, motivating the team, inspiring others and completing the goal.  The 131 member RTW Challenge 2 team ran and logged miles in 24 countries reaching a total of 24,901 miles in 44 days 18 hours 29 minutes.  

"This event is a real motivator. Many of our members (including me) ran many more miles than usual," says Run The World Challenge Team Caption, Bob Anderson. 34-year-old team member Carmen Gair from South Africa posted, "Thank you...for this amazing challenge...thank you...for motivating me to run more than double my usual mileage in this amount of time."

She ran and logged 151 miles in 44 days.  Team members added this challenge to their existing goals and used the Challenge to further motivate them.  

"Here are the special awards for our RTW Challenge 2 team," says Bob Anderson who reached 260.66 miles himself.

For Outstanding achievement: Frank Bozanich age 74 logged 801 miles...

Most Inspiring: Lize Dumon set her goal to reach 200 miles and she did that. She also motivated other team members in South Africa that she recruited to reach their goal as well...

Most Motivating: Aaron L. Salvador from the little country of Palau logged 377.99 miles, recruited others and posted a note and photo everyday...For

Best Performance: Willie Korir (second photo) from Kenya logged the most miles (993.88) which is an average of 22.5 miles per day. This is being shared with Joel Maina Mwangi also from Kenya who not only logged in 610.44 miles but he raced four half marathons during the Challenge period clocking 1:02:52, 1:03:19, 1:02:50 and 1:02:54...

Five Most Inspiring stories: based on their story posted on My Best Runs: (this award goes to the five who received the most views on My Best Runs) Joyce Lee (1178 views), Michael Wardian (851 views), Gloria Nasr (616 views), Joel Maina Mqangi (492 views), Pete Magill (400 views)...

Best Youngest performance: Zander Brister age 11 logged 16.32 miles. He ran one mile in Hollister clocking 6:19 and he also averaged 7:42/mile pace at the Pacific Grove Double Road Race 15k...

Best Oldest performance: Frank Bozanich age 74 logged 801 miles. Shared with 71-year-old Paul Shimon who logged 655.37 miles...

Top Fifteen Spirit awards: (Based on posts on the RTW Feed) Aaron L Salvador, Michael Anderson, Brent Weigner, Danilo Purlia, Larry Allen, Asya Cabral, Lize Dumon, Roger Wright, Geoffrey Smith, Carmen Gair, Annie Conneau, Joseph Brazil, Vince Martignetti, Marnie Margolis, Willie Korir... 

Best Single Run: Michael Wardian when he ran 184.5 miles in 36 hours 48 minutes 14 seconds on the C&O Canal Trail...

Notable Mentions: Boaz Kipyego logged 788.61 miles and came to the United States and placed fourth at the Twin City Marathon. Rosaline Nyawira was first female logging 454.37 miles. Brent Weigner (69) has been running races every weekend including running a marathon in another country Sri Lanka. He logged 258 miles. James Kalani has gotten back into running (this challenge motivating him) and has already run 4 miles at 5:33 pace. He logged 252 miles.

Ultra marathon star Gloria Nasr from France logged 237 miles. Rosaura Tennant ran both the Berlin and Chicago marathon during this Challenge. Becca Pizzi was first woman in the marathon run inside a NFL stadium in Boston...

"Everyone is a winner on our team," says Bob Anderson.  "I can't wait to do this again."  RTW Challenge 3 start Oct 29. 

(10/13/2018) Views: 2,082 ⚡AMP

Run The World Global Run Challenge 1 July 4 Start Special Awards Announced

The Run The World Global Run Challenge 1 presented by My Best Runs started July 4, 2018.  The goal was to run and log 24,901 Miles in the shortest posible time.  "The mission was to celebrate running, motivate our team, inspire others and complete the challenge," says team caption Bob Anderson. 

The team of 175 active runners finished in 36 Days 23 Hours and 13 Minutes on Thursday night August 9th at 11:13pm (PDT).  "It was an amazing event and I can not wait until the next one starting August 29," says Geoff Smith (team member and two time Boston Marathon winner). 

"Everyone on our team was a winner and deserve an award," says Bob Anderson.  "Here are our special awards just announced today.  Congrats to these winners and our entire team." 

Outstanding achievement - Frank Bozanich age 74 logged 475 miles. 

Most Inspiring - Aaron L. Salvador from the little country of Palau logged 296.4 miles and posted a comment and photo everyday. Shared with Geoff Smith who also posted a comment and photo everyday logged 240.5 miles (which is almost double what he was doing prior to the Challenge)  

Most Motivating - Grace Padilla (US) logged 327.11 miles posted a comment and creative photo everyday. Grace who is 47 placed 11th overall and was first female.  

Best Performance - Willie Korir from Kenya not only did he log the most miles (797.37) he also ran one of his workouts at 4:37/mile pace for 9.13 miles.  

Five Most Inspiring stories - based on their story posted on My Best Runs: (this award goes to the five who received the most views on My Best Runs) Michael Wardian (1,677 views), Benn Griffin (1,461 views), Swetha Amit (1,431 views), Roy Pirrung (1,241 views) and Kiranpal Singh Dhody (1,088 views)  

Most Inspiring Photo - Grace Padilla´s July 5th photo training on the track in Mammoth Lakes, California (featured photo).  

Best Youngest performance - Owen Wall age 11 who logged 34.2 miles including running 8.1 miles in one day at 9:59 pace during his longest ever run. Shared with Elliot Daniels age 14 who ran and logged 184.45 miles and ran 5:47/mile pace for six miles in the Wharf to Wharf race in Santa Cruz, California.  

Best Oldest performance - Libby James age 82 who logged 81.81 miles (rounds up to 82). Shared with 74-year-old Frank Bozanich who ran and logged in 475 miles. 

Top Fifteen Spirit awards (based on coment and photo posted regularly that appeared on the Run The World Feed): Aaron L Salvador, Grace Padilla, Shawn Whalen, Michael Anderson, Brent Weigner, Danilo Purlia, Larry Allen, Rosaura Tennant, Asya Cabral, Kati Toivanen, Lize Dumon, Roger Wright, Abbey Cannon, Geoffrey Smith, and Pulkit Singh.  

Best Single Run - Michael Wardian when we ran 100.5 miles in 30 hours 23 minutes to place 11th on July 21 at Hardrock 100.  

Notable Mentions - Dave Mcgillivray logged 164.52 miles (Boston Marathon Director), Becca Pizzi logged 226.17 miles (Holds the record for running seven Marathons. Seven days on seven Continents), Liz Dumon had never run 150 Miles in 30 days before this challenge, Boaz Kipqego from Kenya logged 588.52 miles and placed second, JR Mintz (age 52) logged the most miles by an American with 480.86 miles, Paul Shimon (age 71) logged 390.71 miles placed 6th overall and was third American, Harpal Singh Gill was first runner from India logging 331.66 miles placing 10th overall, Sam Tada was first runner from Japan logging 237.30 miles placing 29th overall. Malin Andersson co-owner of World´s Marathons logged in 77.67 miles and Will Adams who logged 51.58 miles mostly all plogging (picking up trash while running).  

Our next Run The World Global Run Challenge starts August 29.  There is a $25 entry fee to help cover expenses unless you can not afford it and then it will be waived.  

(08/16/2018) Views: 2,550 ⚡AMP

Our goal was to log enough miles to circle the globe in 30 days, that's 24,901 miles

Day 27 of of Run The World Global Run Challenge is coming to an end soon.  Our Mission is to celebrate running, motivate our team, inspire others and reach our goal.  As of right now our team has logged in 17,432 miles.  Our team ranging in age from 11 to 82 have run miles in 29 different countries.  26-year-old Willie Korir from Kenya has logged in the most miles with 553.18. The top American is 74-year-old Frank Bozanich who has logged 407 miles.  Jen Bayliss (US) is the top female with 265.24 miles.  Grace Padilla (also 47) is close behind with 238.99 miles.  74 of our team has hit the magic number, which is to log in 100 or more miles in 30 days and we have ten more who can reach that goal too.  The 5 mile a day average (which is 150 miles in 30 days) already has 34 in that group and another ten can achieve that mark as well.  There are a lot of stats to look at and we will share more later.  I am so proud of what our team has achieved.  There are so many wonderful inspiring stories to tell.  Our Run The World feed and our My Best Runs profile tell just some of the stories.  Many more to tell.  The big question is, are we going to make our goal?  We still could, but 30 days is up at the end of day Thursday.  In any case, we are going to reach our goal.  It could take us 40 days but we are going to do it.  Once we hit our goal we will record the days, hours and minutes (based on PDT) that it took us.  This will be the standard that we will go after on our next Run The World Challenge starting August 29.  In fact it would be fun to have two teams to challenge each other.  In any case, we are going to run a celebration lap (about 400m) this Sunday at our Golden Gate Double 8K and Ujena 5k/3k event.  It will be right before our awards.  We still need 7,477 miles to reach our goal.  Sounds like a big number by end of day Thursday or even by Sunday but I am hopeful.  Thanks for your support.  Bob Anderson, Run The World Challenge Team Leader.  (07/30/2018) Views: 2,215 ⚡AMP
by Bob Anderson

The first ever Run The World Challenge Team has already logged in 4,092 Miles since July 4

The Run the World Global Run Challenge started July 4th.  Our goal is to login 24,901 miles (40,072k) within 30 days.  We wanted this to be a Global event and it is. Our team of 200 has already run and logged in miles in 17 different countries.  Our mission is to reach our goal but we also want to motivate, inspire others and celebrate running.  A sport we love.  Our team range in age from 11 to 81.  Team member Abbey Cannon sums up our mission,  "I think the Global Run Challenge is great because it shows that even though we are all at different levels and may run for different reasons, we in the running community from all over the globe can all come together to work for the same goal." Our team is amazing.  Willie Korir from Kenya has already logged in 173 miles. 51-year-old JR Mintz has logged in 112 and 74-year-old Frank Bozanich has logged 112 miles as well.  Grace Padillia has logged in the most miles for females with 72 miles.  Becca Pizzi who ran a marathon on each continent in seven days earlier in the year has logged 60 miles.  There are many amazing performances.  You can follow all the action on our Run The World feed.  We still have a long ways to go but we have almost already covered the distance between San Francisco and Iceland in eight days.  This is more than just logging training and racing miles.  It is a celebration of running.  To help remember what we are doing we have an official shirt and a medal when we finish.  Just click on the link and we will get out the shirt to you right away.  If you didn't join us this time, we will be doing this same Global Challenge again starting August 29.   (07/11/2018) Views: 1,825 ⚡AMP
by Bob Anderson

Global Run Challenge Profile: Good hard training is more important than diet says Ultra legend Frank Bozanich

RUN THE WORLD: "I discovered running as a very young child as play and way to get places. I ran track in HS and College," says 74-year-old Frank Bozanich who currently lives in Reno, Nevada.  His last overall ultra marathon win was when he was 69.  In 1976 he won the AAU National 50 Mile Championship clocking 5 hours 36 minutes.  In all he won three National 50 mile titles, two at 100k.  In 1979 he set the American 100K record clocking six hours 51 minutes.  I asked him about injuries.  "I have been injury free all these years other than a couple hamstring situations when I was sprinting.," Frank says.  "I attribute this to having a strong physical body.  When I was a young lad I was working on crab fishing and salmon fishing boats.  I helped my dad pull in crab pots (traps) by hand. I continue with physical work in wrestling and has a Marine. I have always maintained a strong overall body."  I knew we had found another good Run The World team member.  "I love the idea of the Run The World Challenge. It is fantastic way to join the world together in a different way. It is something we can all do..." Frank enjoys running as much as he did when he was young.  "I understand that age takes a toll on speed and endurance. but I still love running.  I have enjoyed working with and helping new runners and think we should impart what knowledge we have to help others improve and enjoy the sport so they can have a better quality of life in their elder years." How about diet?  "I love eating good fresh Dungeness Crab when I can get it and also fresh wild caught salmon (no farm raised). I also eat whatever I want, no special diet. I eat good and well balanced foods, my wife of 51 years is a great cook."  What is your secret for success?  "The good hard training is more important than the diet," he says.           (06/27/2018) Views: 2,061 ⚡AMP
by Bob Anderson

This group that became 80 runners accepted my 500 mile June 6 Challenge

Yesterday, June 6, was Global Running Day.  A day celebrating running.  It is exciting to have our own day, celebrating what many of us do daily or at least regularly. 

Among other things the day is about inspiring people.  At noon the day before I had just finished doing my daily run-to-lunch few miles. 

I was enjoying an avocado toast and the best ice tea in town before heading back to the office.  Knowing that Global Running Day was the next day, I was thinking that My Best Runs needed to do something.  

I knew there were already a lot of well thought out programs taking place June 6.  I decided, on the spot, that we would do something just for the fun of running.  We would run our challenge like a road race back in the 1970's.  

Since we needed to get the word out quickly, we would use my Facebook account to reach people.  I would record everything by hand.  Making things more interesting,  I was flying down to our MBR/Ujena office in Mexico in the middle of the day Wednesday.  (I would be out of touch for nearly five hours.) 

There would be no entry fee and no prizes.  There would be no official results.  It was all about running.  We would not be raising money for a cause.  Each of us would run on June 6 and log in miles on my FB account. 

Just to see if we could do it, my goal was for our group to run at least 500 miles June 6 and hopefully have 100 participants   Everyone had to post their miles by midnight. 

In the end, 80 people posted 560.12 miles for our My Best Runs Global Running Day 500 Mile Challenge.  We did it.  We showed the world that a group of people can come together (with no notice) from all over the world and run the equivalent distance from San Francisco to San Diego. 

All types of runners from slow to fast joined our challenge.  I am very proud of each and every participant but I would like to mention some of our gang here. 

We had two time Boston Marathon winner (Geoff Smith) post 10.5 miles, Co-owner of Worlds Marathons Malin Andersson from Sweden posted 6.2 miles, Bertrand Newson who heads up a popular bay area running group (2L2Q) posted 8.45 miles and Willie Korir from Kenya posted the most miles with 22.5.  Verity Breen posted the most miles for a female hitting 19 miles and Boston Marathon historian Tom Derderian ran 5 miles.  The youngest female to win Bay To Breakers (age 11) who ran her first marathon at age 5 Mary Etta Britano now 55  posted 10 miles.

Julie who we met at the front desk of our hotel in Paris ran 5 miles, Ram VenKatraman who heads up a major running group in Mumbai, India ran 4.69 miles and super ultra-marathon star Michael Wardian ran 12.5 miles.  Phil Camp who among other things won the 4th annual Marine marathon (1979) posted 8.3 miles.

Roger Wright used to weigh 278 pounds a few years back before he started running marathons logged 13.5 miles and ultra runner since the early 1970's superstar Frank Bozanich ran 9 miles. Joshua Holmes Ultra runner and Run It Fast founder posted 2 miles.

Brent Weigner who has run more marathons in more countries than anyone posted 1.5 miles, and the list goes on and on. 

One common thing about our group of 80 runners is that everyone loves running.  Until our next challenge! Run on...  I ran 6.6 miles which I thought was only fitting.  This was our first Run The World Challenge. 

(06/07/2018) Views: 2,729 ⚡AMP
by Bob Anderson