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Athletic Challenges and Achievements by Ordinary People

Archive for category running

Manteo Mitchell Finishes His Race With A Broken Leg

Aug 9

Posted by ira in LIFE LESSONS, running, sports | No Comments

Manteo Mitchell looks good in this picture—8/9/2012

Another story of superhuman effort at the Olympics. It’s hard for me to imagine people tuning out the pain to this degree. Look back to the August 6th post to learn about Kerri Strug’s victorious vault. Humans can really be amazing. So I guess it’s easy enough for me to play tennis through a bit of a cramp. And I love the last line of this post. What planet is this guy living on?

LONDON – Move over, Kerri Strug. America has a new Olympian performing heroically on a broken leg.

Runner Manteo Mitchell said he “felt” and “heard” his fibula breaking midway through his lead-off leg of the 4×400-meter relay in qualifying heats. He kept running, going another 200 meters and handing off the baton to Joshua Mance. The U.S. went on to finish second in the heat, advancing to the final Friday night.

America would not have kept its medal hopes alive in the event without the effort of Mitchell. His injury was diagnosed after the race by team doctor Bob Adams: broken left fibula.

Mitchell (rt) finished his race with a broken leg—8/9/2012

“I knew if I finished strong we could still get it [the baton] around,” Mitchell said. “I got out pretty slow, but I picked it up and when I got to the 100-meter mark it felt weird,” Mitchell told USA Track and Field. “I was thinking I just didn’t feel right. As soon as I took the first step past the 200-meter mark, I felt it break. I heard it. I even put out a little war cry, but the crowd was so loud you couldn’t hear it. I wanted to just lie down. It felt like somebody literally just snapped my leg in half. I saw Josh Mance motioning me in for me to hand it off to him, which lifted me. I didn’t want to let those three guys down, or the team down, so I just ran on it. It hurt so bad. I’m pretty amazed that I still split 45 seconds on a broken leg.”

Mitchell believes he initially injured the leg a few days ago in the Olympic Village when he slipped on a stairway. Mitchell says “I figured it’s what almost any person would’ve done in that situation.”

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From Couch Potato To Ironman Entrant In Six Months

Jun 24

Posted by ira in cycling, exercise, running, swimming | No Comments

Guy Adami at work

Pretty impressive story about Guy Adami, a Wall Streeter and Fast Money panelist whose historic exercise routine “consisted mostly of walking from his parking space to the front door of the CNBC studios in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.” But friends challenged him to do the impossible, a trainer gives him advice, and there is a charity involved as well.

Guy completes his first triathalon in New Jersey—5/2012

In May he was able to run a triathalon that had legs one fifth or one tenth of an Ironman—a half mile swim instead of 2.4 miles, a 13 mile bike ride instead of a 112-mile ride, and a 3.2 mile run rather than a marathon of 26.2 miles. And he still has not reached any of these Ironman distances in training.

It’s all a work in progress. But his dedication is intense, he is approaching his goals each day. and the results will be determined on August 11th, when he joins 3000 others in New York’s first-ever Ironman. He has already lost 38 pounds (from 235) and six inches around his waist. You sure have to admire his effort…Can you believe that 140,000 people a year compete in an Ironman? Interesting that 20% of those who sign up miss race day due to an injury or fear the night before the race.

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Inspirational Workout Montage From Great Training Movies

Jun 4

Posted by ira in bodybuilding, exercise, gym stuff, photos of celebrities, push ups, running, training programs | No Comments

This is a workout training montage Chris Ivey sent me of all the great movies that have inspired people to do any kind of working out. It includes some of the greats from the Rocky movies, to Kickboxer, to Pumping Iron.

I love that Arnold says you have to do the last 3-4 lifts to feel the pain and build the muscle. Otherwise you can never be a champion. Unfortunately, I always hesitate to overdo it and hurt myself.

Just listening to Burgess Meredith tell Rocky how he has to stay with it and get up is an inspiration in itself. And then…when Rocky races to the top of the steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art—that is positively splendiferous!!!

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Aimee Mullins Has Opportunities Not Disabilities

Jun 3

Posted by ira in OTHER PEOPLE'S STORIES, running | No Comments

Aimee is the new face of Loreal—nothing has held her back

My fellow blogger Paolo and his friends have a web site ( betarista.com ) that deals with challenges of all kinds, so here is his story involving another handicapped athlete, Aimee Mullins, who is a double amputee and has overcome her physical limitations. She is not only a competitive athlete, but also an actress, fashion model and motivational speaker. In her recent TED speech below, however, she stated that she wasn’t disabled. “From an identity standpoint, what does it mean to have a disability? Pamela Anderson has more prosthetic in her body than I do. Nobody calls her disabled.”

You can read more about Aimee on her web site , and here are some excerpts from her biography:

Aimee first received worldwide media attention as an athlete. Born without fibulae in both legs, Aimee was told she would never walk, and would likely spend the rest of her life using a wheelchair. In an attempt for an outside chance at increased mobility, doctors amputated both her legs below the knee on her first birthday. The decision paid off. By age two, she had learned to walk on prosthetic legs, and spent her childhood doing the usual athletic activities of her peers: swimming, biking, softball, soccer, and skiing, always alongside “able-bodies” kids.

After graduating from high school and working at the Department of Defense, she rediscovered her love of competitive sports. While a dean’s list student at the prestigious School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, she set her sights on making the US Team for the 1996 Atlanta Games. She trained with track coach, Frank Gagliano, and became the first amputee in history, male or female, to compete in the NCAA, doing so on Georgetown’s nationally-ranked Division I track team. She was the first person to be outfitted with woven carbon-fiber prostheses that were modeled after the hind legs of a cheetah. Then she went on to set World Records in the 100 meter, the 200 meter, and the long jump, sparking a frenzy over the radical design of her prototype sprinting legs. The essential design of those legs are now the world standard in sports prosthetics.

These are Aimee's cheetah-inspired running legs

After a profile in Life magazine showcased her in the starting blocks at Atlanta, Aimee soon landed a 10-page feature in the inaugural issue of Sports Illustrated for Women, which led to her accepting numerous invitations to speak at international design conferences. This introduction to a discourse relating to aesthetic principles fueled her interest in issues relating to body image, and how fashion advertising impacted societal notions of femininity and beauty.

In 1999, Aimee made her runway debut in London at the invitation of celebrated fashion designer, Alexander McQueen. This changed her view of her legs into body sculpture, because she wore dark brown wooden legs with carvings of grapes and magnolias. Of course the audience thought she was wearing boots.

Aimee now has at least 12 different prosthetic legs, some simulating “normal” caucasian legs and others made of clear polyurethane used for bowling balls that she calls her glass legs. One is like jellyfish tentacles, another like dirt, a third like a cheetah’s, with spots and paws. These different legs can result in five different heights, from 5’8″ to 6’1,” which led to one friend saying that it was unfair she could grow tall so easily and look so elegant. No wonder Aimee declares that she is not disabled and has capitalized on her differences. Amazing, inspiring, revolutionary…

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Inspirational Runner And A Magic Moment

Jun 1

Posted by ira in LIFE LESSONS, OTHER PEOPLE'S STORIES, running | No Comments

Here is an 11-year-old with cerebral palsy whose achievements—to keep running and to push though his physical pain—inspire his friends to cheer him on during a class field day. And now he inspires us to cheer and work harder ourselves…because if he can do it… Excerpts below by Barbara Rodrguez:

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)—When John Blaine realized 11-year-old Matt Woodrum was struggling through his 400-meter race at school in central Ohio, the physical education teacher felt compelled to walk over and check on the boy. “Matt, you’re not going to stop, are you?” he encouragingly asked Woodrum, who has cerebral palsy. “No way,” said the panting, yet determined, fifth-grader.

Almost spontaneously, dozens of Woodrum’s classmates converged alongside him, running and cheering on Woodrum as he completed his second and final lap under the hot sun. The race on May 16, captured on video by Woodrum’s mother, Anne Curran, is now capturing the attention of strangers on the Internet, many who call the boy and his classmates an inspiration to be more compassionate toward each other.

Woodrum said he had a few moments where he struggled. “I knew I would finish it,” he said, “but there were a couple of parts of the race where I really felt like giving up.”

It was his fourth race of the day, and one he didn’t have to run. Only a handful of students opted to give it a try, and Curran said her son doesn’t exclude himself from anything, playing football and baseball with friends and his two brothers. “He pushes through everything. He pushes through the pain, and he pushes through however long it may take to complete a task,” she said. “He wants to go big or go home.”

“The kids will tell you that Matt never gives up on anything that he sets out to do,” Read the rest of this entry »

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Tough Mudder Obstacle Course Claims It’s The Toughest

Apr 20

Posted by ira in obstacle courses/racing, running | 1 Comment

Kate St. Hilaire told me her father is a toughmudder. I wasn’t impressed until I found out what that means. Tough Mudder events are hardcore 10-12 mile obstacle courses designed by British Special Forces to test your all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie. With the most innovative courses, 500,000 inspiring participants (25% women), and more than $2.5 million dollars raised for the Wounded Warrior Project, Tough Mudder says it’s the premier adventure challenge series in the world.

Those who comple one of these courses are convinced they can do almost anything else. It’s an ultimate physical achievement. In 2012 there will be Tough Mudder courses held in 28 different locations, mostly in the US, but a few overseas. Some have as many as 32 military designed obstacles, including running through fire and hanging electric wires, jumping into pools of water and ice cubes, swimming through mud, climbing walls/ropes/rope ladders, running up large hills (sometimes carrying heavy logs), walking balance beams and ropes over freezing water (one video I saw was held in 38 degrees), going through long and narrow pipe tunnels, walking up a mountain bent over under a net, crawling many yards under 18 inches of barbed wire…you get the idea.

Now check out this video above and decide if you have what it takes to accept this challenge! It was shot by Ryan Tworek who completed the course wearing a head cam, so you can see every obstacle in the October 2011 Virginia event.

I love Ryan’s hot tip about the electric shock obstacle: “Yes, they had 10,000 volts or 3 car batteries hooked up to it and you didn’t know which one’s are live as it’s alternating current! I got hit 3x and you definitely know when you touch one of the live wires! It’s yellow rope with a metal wire in the middle of it.”

Wikipedia’s description of Tough Mudder includes a list of upcoming events, which the New York Times wrote are “more convivial than marathons and triathlons.” Contestants are not timed, and organizers encourage ‘mudders’ to demonstrate teamwork by helping fellow participants over difficult obstacles to complete the course. The prize for completing a Tough Mudder challenge is an official orange sweatband and a free beer. It is estimated that 15-20% of participants do not finish.

You might also want to compare this obstacle course with two others I have written about: the Tough Guy and Spartan Racing. There are also many painful long-distance running events you can explore under the “running” category on the Home Page

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TJ Faces Two Big Challenges

Apr 18

Posted by ira in health, LIFE LESSONS, OTHER PEOPLE'S STORIES, running | No Comments

TJ (left) with friends—3/24/2012

Back on March 17th, I wrote about how I hurt my knee and was scared that I might no longer be able to play tennis…and then was ashamed that with all the sickness and sadness in the world, I had no right to feel sorry for myself. Here is a poignant and powerful comment from a reader named TJ. She has really set a high athletic challenge for herself: to run a marathon (26 miles) although the most she has ever run non-stop in her life is “just” eight miles! She also has another challenge involving her health and appearance, and has an unbelievably positive and adaptive attitude. She reminds me how in the past, as my hair thinned out, my bald spot became larger, and I watched a relative lose all her hair during cancer treatments, I would rationalize that “it’s better to be bald than dead.”

This post resonated with me, so I felt the need to comment. These are just some thoughts, so forgive me if the sentiment’s a little scattered.

This past December I entered the lottery for the New York City marathon for the fourth time in my life, and was admitted. FINALLY I’m getting the chance to live out one of my lifelong dreams of running 26.2 miles in the city in which I’ve learned some of my most important life lessons. To have the opportunity to meet this challenge head on, means the whole world to me, and every day that I go running, I just picture all of my Rocky Balboa-esque workouts culminating in that final moment when my mind has conquered matter, and I’m dashing across the finish line.

Another challenge presented itself this past December too—I discovered I have an auto-immune disorder called alopecia areta that causes my hair to fall out in patches sporadically. While otherwise perfectly healthy, I have absolutely no control over what my hair will look like the next day, and eventually, if my body doesn’t respond to treatment (cortisone injections in my scalp once a month), I could end up totally bald.

You can imagine that for a woman, not having any control over how I’m going to look is incredibly frustrating, and it’s made me consider how drastically others’ perceptions of me could shift in the next year or so. But surprisingly (even to me), I’m not that upset. I’ve had a lot of time since December to reflect on what my condition really is in the grand scheme of things. I’m not dying. Being bald wouldn’t change who I am fundamentally. There are so many worse things that can happen to a person. I have friends who are battling cancer, mourning the losses of their parents, and learning how to live their life again with only one leg. So whenever I start to feel sorry for myself for a little hair falling out, I remember that for now, I can still go for a run. Who knows? Maybe if I end up totally bald, the lack of extra wind resistance will shave a couple minutes off my marathon time? : )

she is losing patches of hair

It’s tough not being able to do something you’ve been able to your whole life. It’s tough not having control while your body changes. I know playing tennis and putting your hair up are in two totally different ballparks, but I think I can empathize with the sentiment. We’re all constantly on a journey to achieve and to perfect ourselves despite the wear and tear that comes with living. But maybe if you stay off of your knee for a while, you’ll have the opportunity to pull something else out of yourself you didn’t know was there. Maybe you’re a world class chess player? Maybe you’ll spend more time rowing and find that it’s something you love?

We are each a project that’s always evolving and re-growing. I could lose all of my hair. I could sprain my ankle and not even make it to the marathon (knock on wood). But until that happens, I’m relishing in shampooing my hair every morning and beaming with every step I take in the evening because you’re right—as long as we’re alive, it’s not enough to just watch the ocean from the beach. You don’t get a dress rehearsal, so you have to enjoy what you’ve got while you’ve got it and push for everything you want in this life. If you love tennis, play tennis until you can’t play tennis anymore, and then when you can’t, you’ll find a new passion within yourself and be a stronger person for it.

When I’m running, I spend a lot of time thinking about the people and ideas that have made me strong enough to conquer a marathon, and I want to put them all on the t-shirt I wear that day in some way to remind myself of who I really am. You can be sure that I’ll have a shout out to irasabs.com somewhere on that shirt. Thank you for always being an inspiration.

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Kathy Martin Keeps Breaking Running Records

Apr 4

Posted by ira in aging, OTHER PEOPLE'S STORIES, running | No Comments

Here is a story about Kathy Martin, a 60-year-old Long island, NY real estate broker who began running when she was 30 and then, “sometime in her late 40s…discovered…she was one of the most remarkable female distance runners in the world…

Last November, in the Philadelphia half-marathon, she finished in 1:28:28, 44th out of 5,888 women. She easily won the 60-to-64 age bracket; only three of her peers were in the top 2,000. Her time was so fast she would have finished sixth among women 30 to 34…

Distance running is more popular than ever. Running USA, a nonprofit organization that promotes the sport, counted 13 million finishers in road races in 2010, up from 5.2 million in 1991 and 500,000 in 1976. Much of the rise comes from aging baby boomers, building their stamina like a retirement nest egg. In 2010, 45 percent of all finishers were 40 or older; in 1991, the percentage was 35 percent, in 1976 only 28 percent.

Recent medical research shows that many of the ravages of aging are not so much inevitable as voluntary. Muscles do not have to shrivel, joints do not have to stiffen. Earlier expectations of physical deterioration were based on studies of sedentary people. But there is a marked difference in durability between the fat and the fit, the layers and the players. People who continue to exercise intensively have a much slower rate of decline…

Martin usually works out seven days a week, not four or five. She runs and does plyometric exercises that emphasize strength and speed. She eats sensibly though not fanatically….

Her face looks young for 60, and her legs have the muscle tone of an athlete half her age…“I hope I do this until the day I die,” she said. “I want to be all used up, just a wisp of dust left.”

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Micah True Is Gone

Apr 1

Posted by ira in running | 1 Comment

Too bad it’s over for Micah. 58 doesn’t seem so old to me…

Searchers on Saturday found the body of renowned long-distance runner Micah True, who vanished four days earlier after heading out from a lodge for a morning run in the rugged wilderness near New Mexico’s Gila National Forest.

The cause of death was still unknown, but there were no obvious signs of trauma. The 58-year-old True, whose extreme-distance running prowess is detailed in the book “Born to Run,” set out on what — for him — would have been a routine 12-mile run Tuesday from The Wilderness Lodge and Hot Springs, where he was staying. He left his dog at the lodge and never returned. A search began the next day.

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Ultrarunning Pioneer Micah True Has Disappeared

Mar 30

Posted by ira in running | No Comments

Micah True is known as Caballo Blanco (White Horse)

As I wrote earlier, I recently read the book Born to Run, and one of the main characters in author Christopher McDougall’s tale is Caballo Blanco, whose real name is Micah True. Two months after I first read about him, he is missing. I feel sad that this new “acquaintance” may not be running ever again.

Search teams intensified efforts Saturday to find renowned long-distance runner Micah True, who mysteriously vanished four days ago after heading out from a lodge for a morning run in the rugged wilderness near New Mexico’s Gila National Forest.

The 58-year-old True, whose extreme-distance running prowess is detailed in the book “Born to Run,” set out on what — for him — would have been a routine 12-mile run Tuesday from The Wilderness Lodge and Hot Springs, where he was staying. True, who left his dog behind at the lodge, never returned. A search began the next day.

Micah True often runs barefoot, like some Mexican Indians—notice his modest shoes

Lodge co-owner Dean Bruemmer, who helped with the search Saturday, said he last saw his friend at breakfast. He said True gave no indication of a specific route.

“That’s been part of the big problem with this. He didn’t really say where he was going from here. There are a lot of trailheads up the road. We don’t know which one he took,” said Bruemmer, whose lodge is situated about four miles from the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument.

Though daytime temperatures in southwest New Mexico have been mild of late, temperatures have dipped into the mid-20s on recent nights. True was last seen wearing only shorts and a T-shirt and carrying a water bottle.

Fourteen search teams that were scouring the area Friday were supplemented with additional volunteer teams from across the state Saturday morning, state police spokesman Lt. Robert McDonald said. Teams were on horseback, using dogs and a helicopter and search plane were being used.

Still, as the days pass, the chances of a successful rescue diminish.

“We’re going to do everything possible to cover as much ground as possible, but it’s already been four days,” McDonald said. “By no means are we going to give up, but time is of the essence as always in a search and rescue effort.”

True, who has been friends with Bruemmer and his wife, Jane, for 10 years, would often visit their lodge while traveling between Mexico and his Boulder, Colo. home. As a result, Bruemmer said, True certainly knew the trail system well — which makes his disappearance all the more mystifying to everyone.

“I find it hard to believe that he’s lost. I think that something happened, some kind of medical thing or an injury or who knows. Micah is a very strong, competent guy. I can’t believe … if he got turned around, by now he would have come out,” Bruemmer said.

Michael Sandrock, a columnist who writes about running for The Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, has known True for at least 20 years and has run with him. He called True a pioneer of the sport of ultrarunning, which involves running extreme distances, often on grueling terrain and many miles longer than a traditional 26-mile marathon.

True, he said, has a rebellious spirit but never sought to draw attention to himself even as he became legendary for his talents, which included “just going up and running for hours and hours at a time.”

“He’s just authentic and genuine … Micah is a guy who follows his bliss,” Sandrock said.

True is the race director of The Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon, a 50-plus mile extreme race that took place in Urique, Mexico on March 4. He has been featured in articles in running magazines and was a central character — known by his nickname, “Caballo Blanco” — in Christopher McDougall’s nonfiction best-seller “Born to Run.”

“He’s such an integral part of the fabric of the ultra community,” Sandrock said. “He’s one of the stars …. the Caballo Blanco, he’s a legend.”

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Anne Zimmerman’s Unbelievably Inspiring Cycling, Training, Mothering And Her Family’s Fundraising

Feb 14

Posted by ira in cycling, exercise, hiking, OTHER PEOPLE'S STORIES, push ups, running | 2 Comments

Anne Zimmerman (ctr) pedals magnificently in the last hour of her all-day spinning marathon—2/12/12



To my left at Sunday’s Cycle for Survival was a woman who had been spinning for almost eight hours and inspired me to pedal faster than I wanted to and keep rising out of the saddle, rather than be seated like a wuss. Anne Zimmerman was the only woman in the group of just four EXTREMELY extreme cyclists this year who rode for both morning and afternoon sessions. And there were just 32 others who rode for four hours out of 10,000 people participating in this year’s event. She was magnificent.

I asked about her training to get ready and if she wanted to write about it. Little did I imagine that she spins 10 times a week, does 100 push ups, and road bikes 350 miles a week in the summer. I was also awed to learn that her team raised more money for the event than any of the other 2000 teams. Here is her amazing and powerful story.

Sunday I sat on a medium comfortable, ok, not so comfortable, spin bike for 8 hours sweating and panting but having the time of my life. Cycle for Survival raised almost 8 million dollars this year and our team, Team Perry, just crossed the $300,000 mark the other day. All of us riding for Team Perry draw our inspiration from one brave little girl, my daughter Perry Zimmerman.

But I think this story is supposed to be about me, not as easy a subject as my family and friends or the food that I write about on my blog, nutrimommy.com . Ok, me as an exerciser. I admit to being a fanatic, and I go to about 10 spin classes during a typical week here in New York City. I add to that one long treadmill run anywhere from 7 to 13 miles always before my Monday morning Darryl Gaines spin class, which is a rockin’ good time, plus one or two short runs, and a Thursday insane short run with Robert Pennino that often involves killer sprints up extremely steep inclines. I occasionally dabble in a duathlon, half iron length and am always prepared for that, so have never officially trained. Other than that, I do 100 push-ups of questionable form twice a week and occasionally pull-ups as I see fit. I do not seem to have achieved Ira’s abs quite yet.

The excessive spin classes are just a warm up for long summer and vacation bike rides. Last summer I had myself going about 350 miles a week with at least one 80 to 100 mile ride in there. Our marriage counselor, Gregg Cook,(hah, he is really a spin instructor) thinks I need to rest. Yet I assure you I do this all purely for fun. I know some people have questioned my wasting my precious babysitter (free) time this way, but I cannot think of a better way to explore my community and broaden my world beyond the gates some of my friends rarely pass through. By riding to farmers markets and grocery stores, I save myself from sitting in a car, something we city women cannot get our head around.

Outside our Maryland summer community, I have found amazing Chesapeake views, crazy hills, a swath of fishermen communities and farmers as income diverse as you can imagine. I’ve met people through my own flat tires, through my blabbering on about unhealthy sports drinks with artificial colors and through my poking around little farm stands like the one that always gives me a glass of water or the one where the woman cannot believe I am over 40:) I love that woman!

In Florida, I have discovered every health food store from Ft. Pierce to well north of Melbourne, and inland have found organic farms and bootlegged raw milk and illegal organic groceries. I even was carded buying Kombucha at Jungle in Melbourne…boy is Florida odd.

Every year in August, in spite of some whining and complaining by my husband, we take a hiking trip in eastern Canada. Last year, I let him talk me out of it, and we headed to Florida where we discovered an enormous lump in my daughter’s leg. Since she had had retinoblastoma as a baby, and a huge brain tumor as a two year old, I immediately suspected cancer, had it confirmed and came home to Sloan Kettering.

Since then, I gave up most of my career-related activity, I do not advise on nutrition, nor take law school classes toward that LLM in environmental law. I no longer research and write about unreasonably ridiculous FDA laws, nor do I visit the NYC public schools to check on the vegetarian lunch program. I rarely get the chance to take my younger three kids to an after-school activity, but I do still exercise.

I think the sacrifices are small, and the time at the hospital with my recovering daughter who has three more months of chemotherapy is worth every sacrifice. But the exercise keeps my mind and body strong for her.

And believe me there has been heavy lifting involved. After her 15-hour surgery I squatted for a half hour holding her leg up…OMG that hurt. Hauling a few backpacks of her school work and her IV fluids a block to hail a cab, or pushing a wheelchair sometimes for more than an hour or two, is not physically easy either.

If I look back on this cancer experience since August, the incredible support of friends and family, my husband and my other three nutty kids, the crazy rockin’ fun heavy exercise of Darryl’s spins, and the seriously tough exercise of Avery Washington and Robert get me through my long, sedentary, often stressful hospital days. So, I am already looking forward to next year’s 8 hours, when I am again a regular mom with four healthy kids.

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Part 3—Running Barefoot And The Possible Fraudulence Of The Athletic Shoe Industry

Jan 30

Posted by ira in LIFE LESSONS, running | No Comments

Below is an article by Richard A. Lovett that appeared in National Geographic News on January 27, 2010. It talks about the benefits of running barefoot, especially fewer injuries and smoother motions. Both as a result of less stress on the feet and a different balance for the whole body.

In Christopher McDougall’s book, Born To Run, there is a whole section about barefoot running and also about the companies who sell running shoes. Out to make money, these companies sell shoes that are actually BAD for your feet! As the shoes support the foot’s bones and muscles and ligaments, the same foot does not develop as well and actually becomes flabby, which results in more injuries than those of barefoot runners! It’s a huge fraud on the public. “In fact,” McDougall writes, “there’s no evidence that running shoes are any help at all in injury prevention…a 20 billion dollar industry seems to be based on nothing but empty promises and wishful thinking…”

Naturally I can’t comment on the legitimacy of this view. But I love the idea that it’s so radical. Of course I have thought for years that it is important to have proper support or your feet, protect them from the pavement, rocks, glass, twists and sprains. Here is a knowledgeable and experienced runner and author challenging everything I have taken for granted my whole life. And that is the main point of this post…that we get into thought patterns that are often inaccurate or even harmful.

Now here is Lovett’s article:

Going barefoot isn’t just for strolling on the beach: Running barefoot reduces stresses on your feet and may prevent injuries known to afflict traditionally shod runners, a new study says.

In his bestselling book Born to Run, Christopher McDougall revealed that the best long-distance runners on the planet may be Mexico’s Tarahumara Indians, who race barefoot or in thin sandals through the remote Copper Canyons of Chihuahua state.

The new study used high-speed video and a bathroom scale-like device called a force plate to digitally dissect the moment-by-moment stresses on the feet of 63 runners as they ran barefoot.

The research revealed that running barefoot changes the way a person’s feet hit the ground.

Runners in shoes tend to land on their heels, so sports shoe makers have spent years designing footwear with gels, foams, or air pockets in the heels to reduce the shock of impact.

But barefoot runners more often land on the forefoot, near the base of the toes. This causes a smaller part of the foot to come to a sudden stop when the foot first lands, allowing the natural spring-like motion of the foot and leg to absorb any further shock.

“This form of landing causes almost no collision force,” lead author Daniel Lieberman, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard University, said in an email.

Not that the benefits of barefoot running should be a surprise, he added: “Humans were able to run for millions of years without shoes or in just sandals. Read the rest of this entry »

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Part 2—The Tarahumara Super Athlete’s Diet

Jan 29

Posted by ira in diet, exercise, running | 5 Comments

Here is another post about these amazingly healthy Indian athletes who live in a remote Mexican canyon.

Tony Ramirez, a horticulturist in the US, who’s been obsessed with Tarahumara foods for decades says that “Anything the Tarahumara eat, you can obtain easily…It’s mostly beans, squash, chilli peppers, wild greens, ground corn and chia.” (Chia is a seed that can absorb more than 12 times its weight in water, and is available online at www.amazon.com)

The Tarahumara’s favorite drink, apart from home-brewed corn beer, is a little concoction whipped up by dissolving chia seeds in water and adding a little sugar and a squirt of lime. As tiny as those seeds are, they’re packed with omega-3s, protein, fibres and antioxidants. And there’s no arguing with its pedigree: On a diet like that, a 55-year-old Tarahumara runner won a 160km race through the Colorado Rockies.

Is it all true? Change your diet, and you can start running ultra-marathons your whole life? There are other benefits according to references in the book about this tribe, Born To Run.

An MIT professor of cancer research says that one in seven cancer deaths is caused by excess body fat. “Change your life style, and you can reduce your risk of cancer by 60-70%,” says Dr. Robert Weinberg. After eating less, we are told to give up all red meat and animal protein (cheese, eggs, milk, etc). Remove cancer tumors, and they are 300% more likely to grow back with a “traditional Western diet” than they are if the patient eats lots of fruit and vegetables. Because stray cells are stimulated by animal protein.

Reminds me of a fellow in the army who never ate vegetables. He pointed to his sharp teeth designed for ripping meat and refused to eat “grass” like a cow. But here is a link to a Weinberg lecture (one hour long) that you can explore. Unfortunately he admits that avoiding meat will help you avoid cancer, but once you have cancer, there is thin evidence that avoiding animal protein will help you get rid of it. Weinberg also points out that since the connection between eating meat and getting cancer has been demonstrated, the Burger Kings of the world have seen no major decline in customers. So most people aren’t changing their eating habits, and the fat in meat definitely adds to the flavor in my opinion.

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Humans Are Born To Run, Even If Many Don’t Anymore

Jan 28

Posted by ira in running | 5 Comments

Tarahumara runner Arnulfo Quimare and ultra-runner Scott Jurek run in Mexico's Copper Canyons

I recently finished reading Born To Run, a book by Christopher McDougall about ultra-marathoners who race off road for 50, 100, 200-plus miles at a time. There are even references to runners like Mensen Ernst who ran from Paris to Moscow on a bet, averaging 130 miles a day for 14 days. And Constantinople to Calcutta, “trotting 90 miles a day for two straight months.”

McDougall focuses on the Tarahumara tribe of Mexican indians who live in remote canyons and through diet and life style have become super human athletes. The author documents his search to contact the tribe, round up some long distance runners in the U.S. and then have them race the top tribe runners up mountains and on trails of dirt and rocks.

(Here is McDougall talking (6 minutes) with Jon Stewart on the Daily show. A limited intro to his story.)

Scattered throughout the book are pages on diets that are more likely to prevent cancer and give you astonishing energy and endurance. There is a whole discussion on the worthlessness of modern running shoes and a case for running barefoot…after building up all those foot muscles and ligaments that get flabby, when your shoes do the supporting. Another section attempts to prove that man has survived so well precisely because we are—actually were—able to run for long periods and great distances. Even outrun animals (like deer, racehorses and cheetahs) that are faster than humans for short bursts, but not for long chases.

There is also a major investigation about athlete injuries, and the conclusion that they are neither inevitable nor acceptable. Examples are given of people running quite comfortably in later years, sometimes after professional athletic careers. Wilt Chamberlain ran 50-mile ultras when he was 60 after decades of basketball.

Here is McDougall talking (15 minutes) at a TED Conference about running, the 2011 NY Marathon and the Tarahumara Indians—a much more complete description.

Very few outsiders had ever seen the Tarahumara in action, but amazing stories of their superhuman toughness and tranquillity have drifted out of the canyons for centuries. One explorer spent 10 hours crossing a mountain by mule; a Tarahumara runner made the same trip in 90 minutes.

“How come they’re not crippled?” you might be wondering. The Tarahumara drink like frat boys, subsist on corn mush and barbecued mice, live in perpetual peace and tranquillity, and run multiple marathons into their 60s. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Toughest Footrace In The World

Jan 14

Posted by ira in running | No Comments

the Marathon des Sables is a 151 mile run in Southern Morocco

Heading off tomorrow to ski in Idaho’s cold and snow (-9 F degrees at night this week), so I want to warm up by focusing on the MdS, an ultramarathon in the Sahara Desert. What kinds of people do these things?

Running a marathon is a nice achievement and all, but if you really want to challenge yourself, you should run six of them over six consecutive days in the Marathon des Sables. The MdS is in southern Morocco in April, when the temperature tends to be around 50C (122 F). Forget about paved roads; it’s rocks and sand dunes. You have to run while carrying on your back your sleeping bag, all your food for the race and other supplies. Runners must prepare their own meals. Water and tents are provided by the organizers.

The Marathon of the Sands, or Sahara Marathon is 243 km (151 miles), and the longest single stage (2009) is 91 km (57 mi) long. It is held every year and considered the toughest footrace on Earth. The first event of the Marathon started in 1986.

There are between 700-800 intrepid, insane people in each race. The record completion time is 19.5 hours. There is prize money, but most contestants are just interested in finishing the race. Because, you know, running across a desert for six straight days is good, leisurely fun.

Some humans are amazing, aren’t they?

Here is a blog link from adventurer Alastair Humphreys, who ran the MdS in 2008. I love two of his astonishing sentences: “I broke my foot on Day 5, which added to the challenge for the last couple of days…The next day we only had to run a marathon. That I say ‘only’ is a great indication of how the MdS allows people to expand their parameters and their perception of their own boundaries.”

This reminds me of a book I was given for Christmas called Born To Run, which is about a remote North American Indian tribe that for centuries has practiced techniques allowing them to run hundreds of miles without rest and chase down anything from a deer to an Olympic marathoner.

Canadian runner Robert Kent described the potential dangers of the MdS as follows: “Things that are pretty evident like, scorpions, snakes, camel spiders, unbelievable heat, total exhaustion, crappy food, crappy sleep, filth, crippling blisters and other injuries, and those nasty stomach issues.”

The official site is hysterical. Here are some excerpts:

Most people do this lunatic event just to finish it…be crazy once in your life. I can assure you that you will suffer like hell…You will often think of giving up but sheer determination will keep you going…you will be considered crazy before you go. BUT you will be the envy of all those people when you get home…you won’t [be able to stay clean]. You will probably wear the same clothes throughout the race, there are no showers and the loos are not worth using – you will find a dune or a palm tree to hide behind. Women should rearrange their cycle…

Many people go into a kind of depression after the race. Not because they didn’t win but when they get home, everything seems dull and boring by comparison with what they have just spent a week doing. They miss the friends they made, the evening chats in the tents, the awesome desert, the stars at night, the elation of crossing the finishing line and the sheer excitement of watching and taking part in “The Toughest Footrace on Earth”. You may be difficult to live with for a few days and it is hard to share the experience with someone who has not been there. Just ask some of those who have done it.

Let us know when you are ready to try it.

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World’s Oldest (100 Years) Marathoner Tells How To Stay Fit

Oct 20

Posted by ira in OTHER PEOPLE'S STORIES, running | No Comments

Joe Marshall sent me this story about a 100-year-old runner who completes marathons…ten so far. He is a Sikh named Singh nicknamed the Turbaned Tornado, and he has a great sense of humor: he wears a T-shirt that says Sikhs in the City (you’ve heard of Sex in the City, right?). The two videos I located show Singh running and offering wisdom about how to live so long and so healthily. To keep fit, Singh runs 10 miles a day and eats sparingly. He also says that the largest reward and blessing is given to those who make other people happy.

10/17/2011
Living to 100 is a goal, a privilege, and, let’s face it, a nearly impossible task. It’s a destination few can reach or even imagine.

But for one of us, it’s the starting line.

Fauja Singh, born in 1911, ran an entire marathon in Toronto over the weekend. That’s amazing enough. He did it in 8 hours, 25 minutes, and 17 seconds. That’s even more remarkable. But consider that Singh started running competitively only after losing his wife and son 11 years ago, at age 89.

When an old man loses a spouse or a child, many around him worry that he will soon give up on life. After all, what is the day worth without the companion to whom you have devoted every day since you can remember? What’s there to look forward to?

Singh found something, and he put his whole heart into it. He didn’t want to simply make it to 100. He didn’t settle for a piece of cake and a nap. He wanted to break a record. And he did. Singh wasn’t just the first centenarian ever to run 26.2 miles. He beat five other runners. He’s now in the Guiness Book of World Records.

And he did it with a sense of humor, wearing a T-shirt that read “Sikhs in the City.”

This isn’t his first marathon, either. He’s completed 10, running a 6:41 at age 89, a 5:40 at 92, and a stunning sub-five-hours at 94. Only days before his historic feat, he accomplished something just as incredible: He set eight world age group records in one day — running the 100 meters in 23.14, the 200 meters in 52.23, the 400 metres in 2:13.48, the 800 meters in 5:32.18, the 1500 meters in 11:27.81, the mile in 11:53.45, the 3000 meters in 24:52.47 and the 5000 meters in 49:57.39.

Singh’s story, which started on a farm in the Punjab, has captivated many around the globe, who refer to him as “The Turbaned Tornado.” Now he wants to participate in the torch relay for the London Olympics next year.

“His will cannot be captured,” biographer Khushwant Singh told the TV show Amazing Indians. “It cannot be trapped.”

Singh has said, “I won’t stop running until I die.”

Words to live by.

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The Tough Guy Obstacle Course Challenge

Jun 21

Posted by ira in obstacle courses/racing, running | 1 Comment

tough-guy-challenge

I found an amusing article for those who want more challenging physical experiences. It’s aimed at exercise junkies who really want to make it hard for themselves. Impossibly hard. Painful and life threatening, in fact. Which is what makes it so interesting. It summarizes 10 events that I will describe over a number of days. I have to leave in the article’s opening sell copy.

Is your daily routine at the gym boring you? Is your jogging route not giving you the same satisfaction it once did? And are you tired of athletic events that only last a couple of measly hours? Then it sounds like you need more pain and suffering in your life! Luckily, there are numerous sporting challenges that have been designed for the sole purpose of torturing their participants with insane demands. Taking part in any one of the following events should be enough to ensure that you never want to exercise again!

10. The Tough Guy

The founder claims that it is the safest most dangerous event in the world.

The Tough Guy is a 12km foot race, but don’t let the short distance fool you. The creator of the course, believing that nature can’t provide a racetrack that’s hardcore enough for him, has built a series of obstacles that combine aspects of American Gladiators with the Vietnam War. Competitors climb up log walls, shimmy up poles to slide across high ropes, run through fire pits, navigate through sewer pipes, wade across chest deep water and crawl under barbed wire while smoke bombs go off over their heads. Oh, and it takes place in the middle of January. Sounds fun, right?

The event, which is held on some crazy British guy’s private land, can attract up to 6000 people each year. Injuries are common, and two people have even been killed, which is why you have to sign a “death warrant” before taking part. All in all, it sounds like an amazing competition to sign your friend up for while you heckle him from the sidelines.

Here is ESPN’s segment on the 2007 race.

Here are more details. Tough Guy claims to be the world’s most demanding one-day survival ordeal.

First staged in 1986, the Tough Guy Challenge is held on a 600-acre (2.42 square km) farm in Perton, Staffordshire, near Wolverhampton, England, and is organised by Billy Wilson (using the pseudonym “Mr Mouse”). It has been widely described as “the toughest race in the world”, with up to one-third of the starters failing to finish in a typical year.

After 24 stagings of the winter event, Wilson still claimed nobody had ever finished all the course according to his extremely demanding rules. The race, and its summer equivalent, has suffered two fatalities during its history.

Taking place at the end of January, often in freezing winter conditions, the Tough Guy race is staged over a course of between seven and eight miles (about 12 kilometres). It consists of a cross-country run followed by an assault course. The organizers claim that running the course involves risking barbed wire, cuts, scrapes, burns, dehydration, hypothermia, acrophobia, claustrophobia, electric shocks, sprains, twists, joint dislocation and broken bones.

Although the course is adjusted each year, its features have included a 40-foot (12.2 meters) crawl through flooded underground tunnels, balancing planks across a fire pit, and a half-mile wade through chest-deep muddy water. Marshals dressed as commandos fire machine-gun blanks and let off thunder flashes and smoke bombs over the heads of competitors as they crawl under a 70-meter section of barbed wire. Until 2000, some runners took part in the event carrying heavy wooden crucifixes.

Entry fees range from £80 to £1,000, depending on the sign-up date. Entrants have to be 16 years old or older. The event regularly attracts fields of up to 6,000 competitors, many from the United States and more than 20 countries around the world.

Before taking part, entrants must sign a “death warrant”, which acknowledges the risks and dangers, and which the organizers claim absolves them of any legally liability in the case of injury. First aid is provided by St. John Ambulance.

In case you want to see more, here is a video that is a bit hard to understand, but the visuals and interviews of the participants are terrific.

Tough Guyâ„¢ Intro from Mr Mouse on Vimeo.

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Stefaan Engels Runs 365 Marathons In 365 Days!

Jun 3

Posted by ira in exercise, running | No Comments

Marathon Man Stefaan Engels completes his last run in Barcelona—2/5/11

After writing yesterday about my inability to exercise consistently, here is an article by Eva Dou about a man who ran a marathon every day for a year to motivate people to exercise. Let’s hope this works for me…

BRUSSELS (Reuters Life!) February 10, 2011— People who run marathons often say one race a year is enough, both for body and mind. But that was never going to satisfy Belgium’s Stefaan Engels, who has just completed 365 marathons in 365 days.

Actually, even that wasn’t enough for Engels, who ended up completing 401 marathons in as many days: 18 on a hand bike and the rest on foot, including 365 in a row.

The 49-year-old from Ghent, northwest Belgium, is now the proud holder of the record for the most consecutive marathons, complementing his Guinness world record for the most triathlons completed in a year (20).

“It was a personal challenge,” he told Reuters by phone from his home this week, two days after completing his marathon odyssey. “I wanted to know if it was possible.”

He made it sound simple, but it was far from a straightforward “start running, stop after a year” challenge.

On January 1, 2010, Engels set out from Ghent to launch his campaign and ran the requisite 42.195 km (about 26.2 miles) on the first day. He kept up that pace for the next 17 days, but then a foot injury struck and he had to stop.

Quitting was out of the question, however. Engels bought a hand bike the same day and used his arms to propel himself through his daily marathons until his foot recovered.

On day 36—in a move that friends say is typical of the stubborn, asthmatic runner who was once told by doctors to avoid exercise completely—Engels announced he would reset the counter to zero and start the whole challenge again.

“People were saying, ‘You’re crazy, you’re throwing away 36 marathons,’” his friend Michael van Damme said. “But he was committed to running on foot all 365 marathons.”

Twenty-five pairs of running shoes later, Engels crossed the final finish line in Barcelona on February 5, completing a journey that has been compared to film character Forrest Gump’s epic run across the United States. As with Gump, local residents flocked to run alongside him wherever he went. Read the rest of this entry »

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Marathon Champion Wanted To Be The Best

May 16

Posted by ira in running | No Comments

Sammy Wanjiru wins Olympic marathon—2008

Sammy Wanjiru was the reigning Olympic champion. Hard as it was to believe in a country of great distance runners, Wanjiru was the only man from Kenya ever to have won a gold medal in the marathon. At the 2008 Beijing Games, Wanjiru set an Olympic record in winning the marathon in 2:06:32 on a blistering day that reached 86 degrees. Given the brutal conditions, many considered it the greatest marathon ever run, even though it was not a world record. By winning in Chicago last fall at age 23, Wanjiru became the youngest man ever to win four major marathons – the Olympics, Chicago in 2009 and 2010 and London in 2009.

Unfortunately he died yesterday by falling—or jumping—off a balcony. What struck me in the article I read were the words by his agent, Federico Rosa: “He had the special gift of the champion. “Besides a big talent, champions have what I could call an arrogance. They know they are stronger than the others. He was so focused on winning, not to be famous or get a lot of money, but just to show that he was the best. He wanted to show the world who is Sammy Wanjiru,” Rosa said.

I have often struggled with caring about winning at sports. It just doesn’t matter to me much of the time. I think of tennis or even hunting as a game, an exciting supplement to my life. But if I miss a shot, whether a ball or a bird, there is no serious consequence. I watch Nadal “dig deep” and try to emulate his determination. But I can’t do it. I know I should practice archery for hours, so that when I finally have that rare chance to hit the turkey, I will succeed. But I don’t, because something in me is lacking. My genetic capabilities aside, I don’t have what it takes to be a champion…or even a very high-level player.

Fortunately that deficiency is not lacking in other parts of my life, where I am motivated to succeed. I work hard at good relationships, career achievements, societal contributions, balancing my life’s activities, healthy diet and adequate exercise. But I am not driven to win in sport. I have friends who are. I see their killer instinct, their fierceness to dominate. That is what it takes. Do you have it? Do you want to be a champion?

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Tower Running Causes The Most Pain

Feb 3

Posted by ira in running, tower running | 4 Comments

Collapsed runners. Rudolf Reitberger (white shirt) has just beaten Thomas Dold—2005 Empire State Rue-Up

Here is a great London Guardian article by Benjie Goodhart about this little-known sport that you can practice almost anywhere, any time. I just excerpted the first few paragraphs.

Tower running—racing up the stairs of skyscrapers—is a fast-growing new sport. It is also incredibly painful. Why is it so popular?

The agonies people are prepared to inflict upon themselves in the name of fitness and fun are often baffling, but “tower running” takes endurance to a whole new dimension. It is a sport of few rules: you run up a skyscraper’s stairwell, you collapse and the fastest time wins. Despite the fact that it sounds about as enjoyable as gargling with magma, it is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world. In America, there are countless competitions, with the three majors being the US Bank Tower in LA, the Sears Tower in Chicago and the Empire State Building in New York. There are races, too, all over Europe, Asia and South America, though none yet of any significance in Britain.

The elite athletes who pioneer this new craze are, unsurprisingly, a rum bunch. There’s 55-year-old Kurt Hess, who holds the world record for altitude climbed in 24 hours (30,000m) and who trains for 12 hours a day at weekends. There’s Ed McCall, a successful broker, who liked running up stairs so much he introduced his teenage sons to it: the three now combine school and work with traveling to races all over the world. And there’s Tim Van Orden, who feels compelled to break records in a host of athletic endeavours, and to show the world (via his website runningraw.com) that all of this can be done on a raw vegan diet.

Their motives for taking up the sport may differ, but tower runners all talk of one universally shared experience – the pain. “It’s not all that pleasant,” says Ed McCall. His son, Colin, adds: “After my first race, I puked in a garbage can. Everyone high-fived me.” “Think about the most painful thing you’ve ever done, then multiply by 10,” says his elder brother Colin.

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Running Up Stairs Is A Highly Competitive International Sport

Feb 2

Posted by ira in running, tower running | No Comments

2007 Empire State Run-Up—Defending Champion Thomas Dold is in yellow

Forget the running of the bulls. Today was the 34th Empire State Building Run-Up, a vertical quarter-mile. The race, among the first on stairs, began as a lark in 1978. By 2010, there were more than 160 staircase races in the world—on 5 continents and in 34 states. In this year’s Empire State Building race, about 450 runners will depart in seven waves.

Strategy is highly individualized, too. Most use the railings as a hoist. And the best racers take the steps two at a time.

The longest is in Radebeul, Germany, a 39,700-step, 100-lap slog designed to approximate an ascent of Mount Everest from sea level to the summit.

2010 Empire State Bldg Run-Up

The longest single-staircase race is the Niesen Treppenlauf, in Switzerland, a scenic thigh-screamer comprising 11,674 steps adjacent to a funicular with spectacular Alpine views.

Chicago hosts the three longest nonstop run-up races in the United States, and Terry Purcell, 40, has won them all multiple times.

“Tell people you ran a marathon and they say, ‘Oh, O.K.,’ ” said Purcell, an eight-time champion of Chicago’s Hustle Up the Hancock. “If I say I ran up the Hancock, people are gobsmacked.”

I love that word. Of course as we saw a few days ago, you could always run in Antarctica to impress your running buddies.

What this article doesn’t tell you is how congested it gets at the start. Though runners are sent in waves, you can watch people get trampled in this silent video during the slow motion replay after about a minute. Dangerous…

By the way, the winner today was again Thomas Dold: it took him 10:10 to become the one and only 6-time winner in the 34 year old history of this classic New York event. He also holds currently five world records in backwards running between 400 meters and a mile. I will have to learn more about that later…

If this challenge appeals to you, here is a link to many other links: http://www.towerrunning.com/links.php

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Marathon In Antarctica

Jan 31

Posted by ira in running | No Comments

Ready, Set, Go...across 26 miles of Antarctica

Humans like to run, and they do it in the craziest of places. There is a group of 17 people who went to McMurdo Station, Antarctica, for the 13th annual marathon. Others race the course on cross country skis. You can read about it in this article . Their ages range from at least 27 to 69.

“This is one of the few places in the world the average person can’t come to,” said one runner. “You take whatever job you can reasonably do just to get here.”

penguins cheer the runners

Running the McMurdo Marathon to say you did it may be its primary draw. It is a decidedly noncompetitive race, and some of the spectators are penguins, of course. One runner has whale sounds he listens to on his iPod—maybe the whales nearby are rooting for him. Another marathoner, Grace Sorbello, listens to the soundtrack for Dances With Wolves. Very outdoorsy. Grace was the first woman to unicycle across America.

not too crowded in this race

Certainly a committed group. Makes that little run through New York seem positively tame, because getting to this race is a bigger hurdle than the running…

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Helene Neville’s Amazing 2500-Mile Run Across America

Dec 16

Posted by ira in LIFE LESSONS, OTHER PEOPLE'S STORIES, running | No Comments

From 1921 to 2008, there have been 4,102 ascents to the summit of Mt. Everest by about 2,700 individuals. Since 1928, only 212 people have crossed the country on foot! (running or walking) Only one person has ever run the transcontinental southern route, during the hot, humid conditions of summer.

Helene Neville, her journey entitled “One on the Run,” set foot on a 2,520-mile run on May 1st, 2010 and completed her run on August 1, 2010—93 days! Helene is now the first person to run the southern route in the summer and the first woman ever to complete this course.

Helene Neville—incredible athlete and inspiration

Helene plans to run from Canada to Mexico in March 2011, north to south, all within the same calendar year.

If you go to her web site , you will find this amazing excerpt from her bio there: Helene has been a nurse and a fitness coach for the past 28 years. She was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease in 1993, conquering the disease in 2001 after overcoming three brain surgeries, which she suffered between 1991 and 1997.

In July 1998, Helene’s doctors told her she would never recover. It was Helene’s persistent attitude that drove her to set goals in her life. She decided then to accomplish one more goal in her life, and she began training to run a 26.2-mile marathon.

Helene entered and completed her first marathon and has completed 25 more since. Among them was the London Marathon, where her finish qualified her to compete in the world famous Boston Marathon. Qualifying for Boston was a proud step for Helene in overcoming her extreme health obstacles.

Helene finishes her 2010 Run Across America—8/1/10

Helene’s most notable marathon challenge was the Fox Cities Marathon held in Fox Cities, Wisconsin. Helene’s close friend, Don Owens, who lost his sight twenty years earlier, asked Helene if she would help him train to run a marathon. After sixteen weeks of training, Helene and Don completed the marathon together, tethered to each other with a bungee cord.

Helene wrote me that “I was always an athlete. In high school and college I ran sprints and middle distances. In 1998 I took up marathons after the doctors gave up on me. I also competed in two bodybuilding competitions and climbed Mt. Whitney.

“I decided to run across the country to mark my 50th birthday, to promote the book Nurses In Shape that I authored and to get nurses healthy, so they can be more credible as they instruct patients to incorporate fitness and proper nutrition in their lives.

It was a run in part to deliver the message on foot to make a bigger impact. I stopped and spoke with hundreds of nurses at 30 hospitals along the way. My mission is: To change the health of our nation, we must first change those who care for the ill. Health care practitioners should be leading by example. I intend to change the face of nursing, so my profession can be that much more credible while we educate our patients on diet and exercise. Nurses are millions in numbers, so we can have a huge voice in changing the health and wellness of our society. If we don’t, in the end, we are literally bearing the extra load!

I will continue to run in every state to get this message to nurses, so they can become better ambassadors and teachers of health. Additionally, if we can get the school nurses to set examples, we might begin to see a decline in the epic climb of childhood obesity.

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Ultrarunner Pam Reed Loves The Heat (133 Degrees) And Ignores The Pain To Win 135-Mile Races In Death Valley

Oct 18

Posted by ira in OTHER PEOPLE'S STORIES, running | No Comments

Pam Reed has been Runner of the Year

An ultramarathon is any sporting event involving running longer than the traditional marathon length of 26.2 miles. Ultrarunner Pam Reed, 49, has achieved amazing records. In 2002 she was the first woman to become the overall winner of the 135-mile Badwater Ultramarathon. She subsequently repeated as overall winner of the race in 2003.

Also in 2003 Reed hit the streets of the Boston Marathon four hours before the official start, running the course in reverse in 3:36. Then she drank some water, and ran with the masses, finishing in 3:30.

In 2005, she became the first person to complete a 300-mile run without sleep, finishing in slightly less than eighty hours.

The Badwater Ultramarathon describes itself as “the world’s toughest foot race.” It is a 135-mile course starting at 282 feet below sea level in the Badwater Basin, in California’s Death Valley, and ending at an elevation of 8360 feet at Whitney Portal, the trail head to Mount Whitney. It takes place annually in mid-July, when the weather conditions are most extreme and temperatures over 130, even in the shade, are not uncommon. Consequently, very few people—even among ultramarathoners—are capable of finishing this grueling race.

Pam Reed

Listen to this excerpt from a 2003 article in Running Times magazine:

“In reality,’It was the hottest I’ve ever seen it out there,’ said Giles, who spent five hours bicycling next to Reed. ‘It was so hot that I couldn’t hang on to my handlebars. Even with gloves on I was burning my fingertips. It was murderous! The recorded high was 133 degrees. That’s just the ‘recorded’ high, not the real temperature out on the street.’

“Surface temperatures on the black asphalt probably topped 200 degrees. Most Badwater participants experience painful blisters that cover their entire feet. Reed was no exception. Last year she developed blisters around mile 70 and stopped momentarily to drain them. This year, at mile 40, she felt heat and sharp pain from blisters on her forefoot, but she just kept running. Soon, the sharp pain subsided and a cool feeling covered her feet, signaling that the blisters had popped under the pressure of her footfalls. Still, she kept running.”

For laughs, check out David Letterman’s interview of Pam after she won her second Badwater and told Dave that she loves heat and her prize was a belt buckle…skip to 2:25 to get right to the interview.

Reed’s small frame and lithe figure belie her strength. At 5 feet 3 inches and 100 pounds, she doesn’t appear to be your typical high mileage runner, but nothing about Reed’s training, racing or life is typical.

“My personal goal,” says Reed, is to motivate people of all speeds and ages to do something for themselves and set a fitness goal that will encourage a healthier lifestyle.”

When she’s not winning the world’s toughest races, Reed is the race director of the Tucson Marathon and more-than-full-time mother—two things she is quite proud of. Keeping up with three boys hardly gives her time to put in long training runs. Instead, she sneaks in 45-minute to one-hour workouts a few times a day in between dropping the kids off at school or shuttling them to soccer practice. The thought of speed work on the track turns her stomach, as do really long training runs. Reed refuses to keep a training log, tally her weekly miles, or follow the advice of coaches. “I just love to run. Period. I don’t do things that could interfere with my love of running,” she said. “It’s such a huge part of who I am.”

When it comes to racing, though, she’s no slouch. Reed has completed more marathons, 50-milers and 100s than she can count. She regularly participates in the Western States 100, Leadville 100, Wasatch 100 and other prestigious events that most runners hope to finish just once.

In 2008 she wrote the following on the website of the Tucson Marathon:

“…I was honored by Competitor Magazine as “Runner of the Year” and have had many opportunities to share my story with many runners in the U.S. and overseas. The reason I’m telling my story is to show that you don’t have to give into your age, you can continue to improve the same as races such as our marathon has the last 12 years.

My success hasn’t come easy. I’ve raised a family, having three boys and a dog, which has included supporting the boys in their sports, school activities, working and trying to fit in my training to accomplish these goals. If you’re interested in how I’ve been able to bring all this together, you can read my book, The Extra Mile.”

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Increasing The Difficulty Of Marathons (Or Any Challenge) Makes Finishing More Satisfying

Oct 17

Posted by ira in running | No Comments

Although this site is mostly about ordinary people who overcome personal fitness and athletic challenges, I like to mention some extra-ordinary athletes who can serve as great inspirations for all of us.

Running is a simple sport—even children can go through the motions—but doing it many hours or quickly is what tests our skill, physical endurance and mental discipline. I never ran more than seven miles in a local road race, so marathoners who cover 26 miles earn my admiration easily.

Here is an article about marathoners who want to increase the difficulty of their runs, so they cover 26 miles or more going up hills or mountains, sometimes on dirt trails, rather than asphalt roads. “Along the way (of the Mount Lemmon Marathon in Tucson, AZ) were not just mile markers but altitude signs showing runners that they were climbing, from about 3,000 feet above sea level at the start to more than 8,000 feet at the finish line.

“Whether it is the toughest race is open to debate. The Pikes Peak Marathon climbs over 7,700 feet to the top of the 14,115-foot mountain in Colorado, and it passes not over pavement but dirt tracks, rocks and other obstacles. The Everest Marathon is certainly no slouch. And there is the Antarctic Ice Marathon, in which participants crunch atop snow and ice.

“…One of those finishing near the top of the pack was Jordan Camastro, 27, who lives near the mountain. He is running a 100-mile race this coming weekend and used the uphill marathon as training.

“Once you conquer a regular marathon, you’re left with a longing for more,” he said. “You reach a limit and then you push further. You reach that and then you do even more.”

Another runner, Pam Reed, 49, said ““Why are people going further and harder and stronger?” she asked. “It makes other things in life seem much more doable. We have so many challenges in our lives with the economy and people losing their jobs and their homes. This is a way of defeating them and breaking the monotony of life.”

“I don’t love pain, but I do like challenges,” Ms. Reed said. “And unless something is difficult, it doesn’t seem that satisfying.”

This is a real good message. If it’s too easy to accomplish, then I don’t get no…satisfaction either. More on Pam Reed in another post. She is a sensation!

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