Run Like A Girl

The ultimate grudge match!
Men: always in competition with women.
Women: always beating men.
Suggestion: Throw your boyfriend's running shoes out the window and run on.

The "Necking" Marathon aka Boston

The 2008 Boston Marathon was a fight club race (run until your viens pump battery acid) with finishing times as close together as the runner's own feet. The men and women made big news with USA, Kenya, and Ethopia taking the top three.

Women

1. Salina Kosgei (KEN) 2:32:16 2. Dire Tune (ETH) 2:32:17 3. Kara Goucher (USA) 2:32:25

Men

1. DeribaMerga (ETH) 2:08:42 2. Daniel Rono (KEN) 2:09:32 3. Ryan Hall (USA) 2:09:40

What's more interesting about the Boston Marathon? The Wellesley Girls. For 111 years, they have cheered on Boston Marathoners with hoots, hollers, high-fives, and of course kisses. Its tradition for girls to form a Wellesley Scream Tunnel, which is so loud runners can hear it from a mile away. The girls set up kissing camp at the half way point leaving runners 13 miles to ponder their smooches! I wonder if this runner turned around for seconds?

Sex Sells in Running

Shout out to Lindsay and All the Single Ladies! In the exploration of sexual advertisements for absurd things such as toliet paper, laundry detergent, and veganism, the world of running creates its own so called sexual ads. As a lady runner, this ad is what its all about. The naked aftermath of a trail run...hot, sweaty, dirty, and naked. Take that Fabio!

Sweat it Off

There is a man named Bikram who used an element of the earth and created "Fire Yoga". I say fire because the room is hot, very hot, approximately 105 degrees Farhenheit hot. In this very hot room, masochistic people come together to practice yoga for 90 minutes doing 26 postures and breathing exercises. Bikram explains that during the session your "muscles are contracted and stretched at a cellular, biochemical level. Lipids and proteins reorganize optimally in such stretching, allowing for better circulation. Joint mobility and range of motion is increased, and strength is built by the use of gravity. Muscles and joints are balanced." These are very good things for runners.

Pre-Bikram, my knees would ache after a long run, my shoulder that was once dislocated throbs, and my posture falls apart. The goal of hot room yoga is to heal your body from the inside out. Of course as I have previously mentioned, ice baths are one solution, but hot room yoga is definatly another. My first hot room yoga class can only be described as intense. 90 minutes - an hour and a half in a 105 degree room. My hair dripped with sweat, more than any run I've ever done. My feet could barely grip the mat due to slippery sweet sweat. This is the point - to sweat. It cleanes the body and afterwards...the feeling is incredable. I am sold on hot room yoga. Every time I walk into the classroom I feel like an active masochist, but the feeling afterward overpowers everything else. Another perk, my PR mile average has decreased. Half marathon here I come: 8 minute mile produced from downward dog.

(Hot Yoga Albuquerque Downtown runs a special ($29 for 30 days) to excite sweat among beginners. Perks of doing hot room yoga habitually: tone, tone, tone and oh yeah, killer abs.

Disclaimer: This is very addicting, procede with caution.)

Hold Your Heels

High Heels vs Tennis Shoes. This is a not a debate that is usually up for grabs, however today it shall be. I attended a formal two weeks in the thought that I would "clean up" for it. Cleaning up being code for wearing shoes that make me taller than my current height of 5'2". Thanks Jessica Simpson for nearly breaking my feet. Those beautiful high heels broke my feet. Not literally, but two weeks later I'm still limping on my right foot. Man (of course this term means all humans) were mad to walk flat footed, so it is no surprise that when your foot is shoved into a tight platform for five hours the after affects are somewhat devasting. I would like to take an x-ray of a woman who only wears flats and then an x-ray of a woman who only wears heels. The heels woman will be in a wheel chair someday. So will these women....

Above: Russian women running in high heels. Next to come: Four russian women had immediate foot amputation after running in high heels and breaking feet.

I am using a heat pad on my foot (cannot and willnot get into an ice bath) and still pain lingers until I open the Motrin bottle. This is a direct result of merely walking in heels. Running? Oh, poor feet, I didn't mean to treat you so bad!

The Tour de France is not for Sale!

Lance Armstrong is out of the race this year due to a broken collar bone, but maybe his pain killers have drove him a little mad. There is speculation that this Tour de France superstar wants to own a stake in the most prestigious cycling race. Too bad the family-run French company is not selling. Lay off the pain killers Lance.

However, this ambition is said to reflect the power he holds in racing. (Note: no one man has won the NCAA or the Olypmics eight years in a row in running-in any distance.) Granted, cycling has had drug related scandals and Lance has been accused once or twice. It is interesting to me that Lance would come out of retirement to not only race, but now to own. There is not a central organization of cycling so maybe expanding would help the sport, but come on now, the French family should take action and do with the Tour what Lance wants to do-make more money! There's not much money to be made in cycling with Lance racing. I have to wonder if his injury was caused by an angry poor competitor. Perhaps all the cyclers should follow Lance and start running alongside his biking, it seems to make his biking game pretty intense. Just try to beat his runner's legs on a bike!

At Saucony, We Run.

I have the best running shoes: Saucony Women's ProGrid Guide 2. This is my second pair of Saucony running shoes and my experience with them has caused me to become a creature of habit, I cannot give up my Sauconys. In my newfound loyalty I decided to go to http://www.saucony.com/. The opening page caught my attention immediatly and increased my consumer loyalty-in three seconds. There is a picture of about six people running and underneath it says, "At Saucony, We Run."

I picked marketing as my major because I am extremely suspectable to advertisement. This advertisement, as simple as it is, hooked me.

So, I picked a region and explored. I clicked on technology and read about the shoes I so dedicately put on every day. I know that I like them because they are so soft, I feel like I'm running on a stable cloud. They have just the right amount of give. I learned that the shoes I wear, ProGrid, have a closer-to-the-foot cushioning system for added cushioning and shock absorption. Then, I went to the Community. It got even better. There were five dirty running shoes lined up and above it said, "Community: We are mothers, daughters, fathers, sons. We are athletes, survivors, weekend warriors. We are students and professionals. We are young. We are old. We are devoted, excited, exhausted. When we run, we are one."

One side link provided is Ryan Shay. He was sponsered by Saucony and in his memory the newest cross country shoe by Saucony will be named the Shay XC.

I'm definatly going to have to buy a pair of those. Cheers Saucony.

Extreme Sleep: The Officical Ironman Mattress

I can't name the brand of the mattress I sleep, but I can confirm that it is quite comfortable. However, it is apprantly similar to a slab of granite compared to the offical mattress of Ironman manufactured by Spring Air Company in agreement with T3 Athletic Recovery Products. The sole purpose of this thing: recovery.

Of course a Ironman athlete needs recovery after a 140.6 mile odyssey including: a 2.4 mile ocean swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and a 26.2 mile marathon run. The beautiful scenery of Hawaii doesn't make this feat any less difficult. But the difficulty is the precise reason this special mattress is needed. It has soy-based, eco-core Ironman Sleep Technology with Celsion 5 Zone Latex and Celliant cover meaning it supports the entire body (hey! my mattress does that) and it delivers relief on pressure points. It cools your body when it's too warm or heats it up when it's too cool (to sleep with a blanket or without?). It is designed to releive pain, heal your body quicker, boost your immune system and increase oxygen levels in the body.
(source: http://ironman.com/mediacenter/pressreleases/spring-air-will-put-its-muscle-behind-the-official-ironman-mattress-line)

It's all a bit too much for me, I think I'll go back to bed now.

Ryan Shay-because his last name is my first.

Ryan Shay chased an olympic dream, yet his dream was cut short by an early death (refer to Steve Prefonatine). Shay ran in a similar manner as Pre: without constraint. Thus, it is no surprise that Shay had high hopes of bringing back a gold medal for the marathon in the 2008 olympics. At 28 years old, Shay had recently married Alicia Craig, 10,000m star runner; his life was just getting started. Yet, his life and olypmic dream were cut short by his sudden death during the Men's Marathon Olypmic Trials in New York City. He collapsed at mile 5 and was pronouced dead at 8:46 am.
I post Shay's story, not because his last name is my first, but because few achieve greatness out of fear that we are powerful beyond measure. It is stories of runners like Shay that give me a burst of passion about running and life.
Here's a quote about Shay from Luke Watson, Ryan's former teammate and roommate at Notre Dame:
"In all of our days at Notre Dame, I don't remember Ryan ever doing a run that I would call easy. I would doubt if there was ever a run he did at ND that averaged over 6:00/mile pace. In his pro career, Ryan did learn to run easy, but I don't think he liked it. He knew one style of running: fast and hard."

Cryotherapy ("cold therapy")

Better known as an Ice Bath. Some runners swear by it, personally the cold doesn't suit me unless im strapped to on a snowy mountain. But for runners, this treatment is hard to beat for injury and soreness. Why not use simple ice packs over sitting in an ice tub for 10 to 20 minutes? Well, with ice packs the temperatures of your muscles increase instantly after taking them off, which doesn't help deep last pain that comes with injury or long runs. After an ice bath your muscles still continue to cool for some time.

What an ice bath does is constricts blood vessels and decreases metabolic activity, which reduces inflammation and tissue breakdown. Immersion up to the waist allows for even constrictions around all your muscles which closes damage that you can't feel and numbs pain you can. Another benefit of the ice bath is known as the "blood rush." To acheive this you have to overcome your mind and just get in the icey water (think Titanic). Here your body fights back the cold with rapid blood circulation that flushes damage-inflicting waste from your system allowing fresh nutrients to come in and treat your muscles.

Ideally ice baths are around 50 to 60 degrees F and last for 10 to 20 minutes. The water should come up almost to your waist. To make this experience go by a little quicker some suggest wearing a jacket and a beenie and getting a cup of hot tea, and leaning back to let your muscles relax.