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Like many fanatical sports, ultrarunning comes with its own set of vocabulary. Though it's nothing compared to baseball, here are a few words and phrases from the ultrarunner's lexicon.
During Monday’s 200m sprint in the Paralympics, South African favorite Oscar Pistorius lost. The three-time gold medal winner in Beijing and the feel-good story of the 2012 London Olympics blew out of the blocks but was passed in dramatic fashion after the turn.
When it comes to the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc, one of the world's most grueling footraces, they say you should always expect the unexpected. And, this year, that couldn't have been more true.
Meaghen Brown, on the ground in Chamonix, France, for one of the world's most grueling footraces, looks at some of this year's top contenders
Meaghen Brown is in France, reporting from one of the world's most grueling footraces
A collection of facts and figures about what is widely considered to be one of the toughest footraces in the world
https://youtube.com/watch?v=nXm3QssuJyM It's unlikely that much of runner Nick Symmonds' pre-Olympic training began at a table covered in cans of Coors, but the Games are over. Symmonds has moved on from his fifth place finish in…
I'm experiencing knee pain as I start to up my mileage. Can I put on a brace and keep running?
Here's a little inspiration for anyone pondering whether to go out for a run this weekend. Watch as South African runner Ryan Sandes sets off to complete the 52-mile trail in Fish River Canyon in five days. I picked this…
Dave Heckman (left) with Marshall Ulrich. Photo: Rick Baraff By now you've probably heard that July registered as the hottest month in the history of the lower 48 states since the U.S. government started tracking…
In early August, a 34-year-old record-breaking endurance racer died on a six-mile solo run in the 120-degree heat of Death Valley, California. Now friends in the community are left wondering how such a formidable athlete succumbed to heatstroke on
I was reading Running USA’s statistics about marathoning and saw that the number of finishers didn’t increase nearly as much from 2010 to 2011 as it did in previous years. Is that a sign that the marathon boom is coming to an end?
There's a reason you haven't heard of Dawn Harper or Kellie Wells, and it has something to do with the color of their skin
Not long after Usain Bolt won gold in the 200m, he grabbed the camera of photographer Jimmy Wextröm and started snapping pictures. The video above shows him in action, and at least one paper's photography editor has…
It seems like when the Olympic athletes aren’t racing, they’re all listening to music. Do they do it to drown out the crowd, or does listening to music make them faster?
Two-time Olympian Mike Aish has a goal in the summer of 2012: to compete in the Leadville 100, a one-hundred-mile foot race in the mountains of Colorado.
Photo: Erik van Leeuwen/Wikimedia Commons The five things you should know if you were only going to know five things about yesterday at the Olympics. 1. Artistic gymnastics is over. The U.S.—men and women, combined—leaves with six total medals and three golds. China finished with the…
Meb Keflezighi shut up his doubters in January when he came back from an injury to win the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials. Here are the songs he's using to get ready for the big race.
Photo: Us Mission Canada/Wikimedia Commons The five things you should know if you were only going to know five things about yesterday at the Olympics. 1. While last night might’ve been the most boring primetime night thus far in London, the U.S. and Canada women’s soccer…
This past Wednesday, a video went live on YouTube showing 90-year-old Dr. William Bell setting a world record in his age group in the pole vault. Bell cleared a height of 7 feet 2 inches to set the mark for 90 to 94 year…
Guor pointing to the flag of South Sudan Photo: Courtesy of Guor Marial Guor Marial has no idea how many interviews he’s done in the last two weeks, but he knows it’s a lot. He is doing them to make sure people are familiar with his…
Watch Jesse Owens on PBS. See more from…
Andy Maser and his team have released the second video in the Wild Love series, a collection of adventure shorts on love, loss, and passion for living. The video is a profile of ultrarunner Krissy Moehl. After winning the…
This short 51-second commercial is a really clean and quick take on what motivates Lesotho Olympic marathon runner Tsepo Ramonene. There's much more to his story than you see in the short. The 21-year-old lives with his unemployed parents, his twin brother, and his sister in a…
Height is a distinct advantage in the high jump: tall guys don’t have to put as much air between their feet and the ground to get their center of mass over the seven-plus-foot bar. Which is why it’s astonishing that North Carolina native Jesse Williams, 28, is the reigning world champ. At six feet, he’s at least four inches shorter than most of his competition.
Marathoner Shalane Flanagan’s masochistic plan to bring home the gold
A mockup of the Green Wheel. Photo: Nadim Inaty Okay, you won't save the earth. But you will help it along a tiny bit. Nadim Inaty, an industrial designer from Beirut, Lebanon, is developing a public treadmill that would essentially crowdsource electricity from runners. The concept,…
By Elizabeth Eilers Sullivan A few weeks ago, I had the treat of hearing ultramarathoner and author of the bestselling new book Eat & Run, Scott Jurek, speak in Wayzata, Minnesota, when he came through on his sold-out book tour. Because he happened to…
It's one of the hottest summers on record—but I still need to get outside and exercise. How can I stay cool when I run?
10 p.m., summer solstice; Villefavard, France. Photo: Katie Arnold I’m walking slowly through a bucolic farming village in the French countryside, gawking at a cluster of 100-year-old stone houses with blue shutters and window boxes spilling over with orange geraniums. It’s nearly 10:30 p.m. on the…
How Brother Colm O'Connell became the guru of Kenyan running
Columbia says that bare skin is no longer the coolest option on hot humid days. The company’s newest creation, clothes made with Omni-Freeze ZERO, is, they claim, even cooler. ZERO has circles of a sweat-absorbing polymer that swell and turn blue like tiny ice packs when…
Dusty Olson has been pacing Scott Jurek since the start of his career—through mud, 130-degree heat and more. Now, Jurek has a book on the bestseller list, and Olsen is finally getting some recognition.
The results are far from damning, but a study in this month's Mayo Clinic Proceedings presents evidence that excessive endurance exercise could do lasting damage to the heart
Tarahumara Indians, the tribe made famous in Christopher McDougall's book Born to Run, are being used more and more by traffickers to ferry drugs across the U.S. border with Mexico. Aram Roston…
Probably the most talked about moment at the Olympic trials so far has been the dead heat finish declared in the women's 100m final last Saturday. Allyson Felix…
On May 30, 1975, Steve Prefontaine cancelled his last haircut appointment at the Red Rooster Barbershop in Eugene, Oregon. He promised to come in the next day, but he died that night. The missed appointment may sound like a trivial fact that has little to do with running,…
Dead heat finish between Allyson Felix and Jenebah Tarmoh. Photo: USATF As impressive as it was, Michael Phelps's mustache shaving didn't make the cut. Neither did…
Finally, you will undoubtedly have a moment between Cal 2 and Auburn Lakes Trails when you feel like you need a Quad Transplant. I got news for you, everyone feels this way. The downhill pounding you put your legs through at Western States grinds the muscles in your quads…
The Olympian on beating Bolt and how he came back from his doping ban
Man and water. Photo: Shutterstock South African exercise scientist Dr. Tim Noakes wants to change the way endurance athletes think about hydration. He believes that, over the course of the last 30 years, people…
Outside talks to the man who kick-started the minimalist revolution
Born with scoliosis and a left foot that toes out, the running legend focused on distance, where length could forgive injury, fatigue, bad form, and illness. In an ultra, the most important thing is your mind—and your willingness to push on.
I'm looking for a way to determine how fast I should be running.
Merrell just completed a new study on barefoot and minimalist running that inspired the company to redesign its barefoot runners, making them wider so that your foot has more connection with the ground. It also inspired Merrell to introduce two new minimalist collections: done-in-a-day Mixmaster shoes (below)…
Merrell Pace Glove for Kids. Photo: Katie Arnold Minimalist shoes are the hottest—most hotly contested—development in running these days. For every convert who swears that running “barefoot” (in zero-drop shoes with flexible soles and little or no arch support) has made them faster, more efficient, and…
Our quadrennial celebration of idealized human form and physiology discomforts at least one rehabilitation physician like a tight pair of slacks. Do the Olympics end up ranking people, or their bodies?
Early morning burn at the Jemez Mountains Trail Run. Photo: Mark Schraad I was going to write this post last week, but I was too busy eating my weight in chocolate chip cookies and lentil salad to get ready for the…
Everyone loves Smartwool. The company wormed its way into our hearts straight through the soles of our feet with its merino socks. It took over both our closets and our dresser drawers with socks, underwear, long underwear, hiking apparel and even wool-insulated jackets. Now, the company is…
When you're 29 and single and live alone in a house with your dog, you surf Twitter, hoping to find someone worth talking to. Maybe even hoping to find a boyfriend or girlfriend. You know this. You do it—or your brothers and sisters do it, your friends from…
Pounding pavement can leave you cramped after a hard run. These four stretches will remedy those tight hips, calves, and IT bands to keep you going.
I know that conventional running shoes lose their bounce and cushion over time, leaving you open to injury. Should I be worried about the same sort of deterioration with my treadmill?
True in Copper Canyon. Photo: Ryan Heffernan Ultramarathoner Micah True died of heart disease according to an autopsy released today, the Associated Press reported. The 58-year-old went…
My Vibram FiveFingers and Merrell Gloves are so different from the traditional high-drop running shoe that it can be hard to figure out when to turn them in
Before our first daughter was born, I obsessed over what kind of stroller to buy. I coveted the fancy designer Bugaboo with a quilted bassinet attachment for strolling around town during naptime. (I found a used Frog on eBay.) I wanted a knobby-tired jogging stroller for getting…
Wilson Kipsang & Mary Keitany 2012 London Marathon champions, courtesy of Virgin London Marathon Athletics Kenya announced their Olympic marathon teams today, and in what may be the biggest surprises, they left off world…
In Bekoji, Ethiopia, running is more than just recreation. It's a kind of work, a way of earning money and of contributing to your family.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/SurbrF-HrZA In the days after ultrarunner Micah True’s death, remembrances of his life sprang up all over the Web. Ultrarunners offered their condolences to the friends and family of the man known as Caballo Blanco, runners inspired by the description…
12:13 Update: Wesley Korir wins the men's race with a time of 12:12:40. A Kenyan sweep on the podium. American Jason Hartmann takes fourth. 12:12 Update: Wesley Korir's brother was killed by a black mamba snake. Korir has started a foundation to raise money to build a medical…
On Tuesday March 27, ultrarunner Micah True set off on a 12-mile run in the Gila National Forest and didn't return. Days later, writer Christopher McDougall took off on a not-so-unfamiliar quest, joining a crew of ultrarunners to search for the ever-wandering man nicknamed Caballo Blanco.
1. Commit to your goal. “The secret weapon is making the race a priority,” says Sarah. “You have to commit to the goal and find the time to train. This absolutely means checking in with your spouse, and telling him [or her]: ‘This is my…
Photo of Vibram Sprint FiveFingers via stevendamron/Flickr A Florida woman has filed a lawsuit against Vibram USA alleging misleading advertising in promotional materials for the company's FiveFingers line of shoes. The plaintiff, Valerie Bezdek, accuses Vibram of inflating…
Get in the best off-road running shape of your life with this targeted training plan
When you're coming back from injury there is a moment when you are finally healthy, everything is fine, and you're badly out of shape. Nate Jenkins, whom I've written about in the past, and whose struggle to become a very good marathoner I find…
A close up of the spikes On Sunday, I (sort of) ran from Vail's Lionshead base area up 2,200 feet to Eagle's Nest. This is not how I normally travel at ski mountains. The run was the final of three events in the Ultimate Mountain Challenge and part…
Duct Tape Then Beer captures five days of backpacking in the Wind Rivers. Here’s how you can repeat the trip.
On Tuesday, Russian marathon runner Tatyana Aryasova was stripped of her 2011 Tokoyo Marathon title after she returned a positive test for a banned drug, hydroxyethyl starch, that is commonly used to mask doping in endurance athletes. The news broke on Japan Running…
Photo by eviltomthai/Flickr After finishing ninth in the 2008 Olympic marathon, Dathan Ritzenhein was fourth, and first man out, in Saturday's Olympic marathon trials in Houston. It was his seventh career marathon, all seven of which have been mild disappointments: excellent…
Shalane Flanagan, photo courtesy Erik van Leeuwen/flickr If my enthusiasm for tomorrow’s Olympic marathon trials is a bit tempered, it’s because the entertainment specialists at NBC have declined to broadcast the race live. That should strike you as scandalous:…
In a week, all of the outdoor gear companies will convene in Salt Lake City to introduce their new skis and boots, jackets and baselayers, beacons and solar powered iPhone devices, sleeping bags and packs, trekking poles and tents, and all sorts of other outdoor gear and gadgets. We’ll be…
Hurdler Lolo Jones was the feel-good story of the Beijing Olympics, until a tiny mistake cost her a medal—and made her tale even more compelling
Behind the scenes with Olympic hurdler Lolo Jones and photographer Robert Maxwell for the February cover.
From bureaucratic wrangling to the death of the sport's most exciting star, the sport of running was in flux a year before the Olympic Games
By guest blogger Meaghen Brown Montana’s Mike Wolfe won the North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Mile on December 3rd in 6:19:04, beating what some called the best ultrarunning field assembled in 2011. Both Wolfe and 21-year-old Dakota Jones broke the old course record—Wolfe by 15 minutes—after running…
Trail shoes: minimal or maximal?I’m sponsored by Pearl Izumi, so I run in their Fuel XC or the Peaks, which is their lighter trail shoe. Sometimes I run in the triathlon shoe—it’s a very lightweight with holes in the bottom. I’m…
Photo of Nick Symmonds courtesy Phil Roeder/Wikimedia For years, U. S. Track and Field has imposed strict rules on how athletes can represent corporate sponsors on their jerseys. Permitted logo size is small—a maximum total area of 40 square centimeters—and athletes can't have more than one logo.
A few months ago, the folks at Woven Society, a start-up e-retailer that aims to “simplify your life, one item at a time,” approached us about featuring some of our favorite possessions on the website they were creating. The site, which just launched in beta…