Training for the Big Sur Marathon is officially underway, and as such, I’ve decided to incorporate a little hill torture into my workout plan. Apparently this is just what you do when you’re preparing to run Big Sur. You terrify yourself with BSIM race reports outlining the ecstasy and...

Runners aren’t known to be a strong-armed people. I’ve long since accepted that I have the upper-body strength of those windsock men used to advertise car sales, and most of the time I’m OK with this noodle-armed fate.  But every once in awhile, the universe issues me an...

More than a week has passed since I returned from Disney Marathon weekend, and reintegration into non-magical life has been bewildering to say the least. There is a distinct lack of whimsy pervading my immediate environment. Cheerful music no longer follows wherever I go. And I can no longer...

I’ll admit it—before this past weekend I never thought of myself as much of a Disney person. More accurately, it never even occurred to me that “Disney” or “non-Disney” were designations you could use to divide society into two distinct, opposing forces. I know, I know—it’s...

Last month I somehow got railroaded into doing the Goofy Challenge at the Disney World Marathon. The worst part about working at Runner’s World is that it’s easy to convince yourself something like “Goofy”—chasing a half-marathon with a full marathon—is a good idea when...

To be fair, critics have yet to assail RWPunStreak (nor wassail it, though it is the holiday season). But after reading my colleague Meghan Loftus’ spirited “In Defense of RWRunStreak,” I figured now is the time to mount my own preemptive case for the month-long festival of terrible...

So how do you recapture the gut-wrenching excitement of your first marathon once you have four under your belt? Turns out, the answer is “run a bigger race than your previous four efforts combined.” When I signed up for the Philly Marathon three months ago, I had no idea what I was in for....

It’s been a crazy week. Everyone at Runner’s World has been planning the first RW Half & Festival since long before I claimed a cubicle, and as the event weekend finally approached, excitement—and preparatory workload—reached an Olympic-level frenzy. I resisted pressure to sign up...

It’s been a while since I posted. But unlike my last major blogging hiatus, this time I didn’t break any bones, nor did I spend the entire summer crutching around Portland and playing up my “wounded bird” status to gain sympathy, romance and customized crutch coozies. This time my...

Despite what Crunch Time so boldly professed, I didn’t end up running the St. Louis Marathon this year. The timing just wasn’t right, and once I realized another marathon was happening the following weekend in Olathe, Kan., where my parents live, the choice was easy. I actually could have...