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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…
Photo by Dirk Ingo Franke/Wikimedia Is the dominance of east African runners bad for distance running? That is the implication of a blog post written Monday by eminent running commentator Toni Reavis and titled Distance Racing has Hit the Wall. “Politically incorrect or not,”…
At a certain point in 2008 I lost interest in professional swimming because every major race yielded a new record and the records began to feel cheap. The swimmers, of course, were wearing swimsuits that made them faster, so in some sense the records really were cheap.
Salomon-sponsored Jennifer Pharr Davis broke the Appalachian Trail speed record on July 31, 2011 when she hiked and ran the 2181-mile trail in 46 days, 11 hours and 20 minutes—26 hours and 11 minutes faster than the previous record holder, Andrew…
Photo of Aspen Vista trail by taylorandayumi/Flickr The other weekend I ran a trail race for the first time since moving to New Mexico earlier this year. It didn't go well. I'm not in good shape, which I blame on adopting a puppy who likes to chew…
And if the South African track sensation makes it to the start line for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, we may never look at disabilities—or competitive sports—the same way again.
Photo by Stewart Dawson/Flickr On Wednesday, author Chris McDougall posted a critique of Lance Armstrong's running form on his blog. McDougall is famous for writing Born to Run, the 2009 bestseller about Mexico's Tarahumara Indians and barefoot running. It's hard to…
How does ultrarunner Ray Zahab—who became famous for expeditions traversing the harshest terrain on earth—up the ante? By taking high school kids on his next series of trips.
Image by fergie_lancealot/Flickr Last month, the International Association of Athletics Federations decided that women who run alongside men in road races cannot set world records. The IAAF now believes that male pacers give women an undue advantage, and have made the incredible decision…
Photo by informatique/Flickr Does the way you run determine how fast you are, or whether you get injured? Since 2009, and the publication of Chris McDougall’s book Born to Run, that’s been one of the most popular questions in distance running. Form is paramount in most…
Or, Why is running compelling? I followed last week's world track and field championships obsessively, something I have done since I was 14, and rarely to my benefit—there's always something more valuable I should be paying attention to, like work, or homework. Over the weekend I came across an essay…
Barefoot running is all the rage. Enter the counterpoint. Hoka One One says that fat, squishy soles are the true path to success. We've tested an ultramarathon of running shoes, and we've gotta admit that Hoka One One has some cushy merits. Though the marshmellow-soled shoes look…
Photo by Victah Sailer/PhotoRun.net Before Thursday, I doubt that many people would have picked Jenny Barringer Simpson to end the title drought in American distance running that has persisted, stubbornly, since the mid 1980s. When Barringer Simpson went wide into lane three in…
We've heard of sport specific footwear, but this shoe takes the cake. As you can see in the video below, the testing sessions for the Five Ten Atlas Pamplona resulted in more than just blisters. The company sent 150 runners out with red kicks at this year's…
Photo of Usain Bolt by thor_matt83/Flickr The World Track and Field Championships kicked off Friday evening in Daegu, South Korea. (You can pony up $15 to watch it live on universalsports.com, or not.) The meet is held only in odd years,…
A running doctor tells how to prevent, and treat, side stitches.
Last Thursday, the IAAF, track and field's international governing body, announced a plan to drug test every single athlete at the world championships in Daegu, South Korea later this month. It will be the first comprehensive testing ever performed at a world or Olympic final in track…
https://youtube.com/watch?v=6smGf875jck Double-amputee Oscar Pistorius will realize his dream to compete against the fastest athletes in the world in next month's World Championsips. Recently, South Africa picked the 24-year-old sprinter for their team after he shaved a half second off his 400-meter time last month at a…
Gina Kolata stirred up a minor controversy when she suggested in Monday's New York Times that running on soft surfaces will not lower runners' risk of injury, and could even raise it: “Is there a good reason why many runners think a soft…
Brett Hochmuth, Eagle Eye Photography In late 2008, Marshall Ulrich ran across the United States in 52 days. Ulrich would later say that the run was the most challenging event of his career, which includes…
The Badwater Ultramarathon started yesterday, July 11th, at Badwater, Death Valley, the lowest place in the Western Hemisphere at 280 feet below sea level. And after 135 miles and two days of what I…
Cooling Agents: Our favorite ultralight gear for sweltering summer runs, including Saucony's Vortex sleeveless top.
Cooling Agents: Our favorite ultralight gear for sweltering summer runs, including the North Face Better Than Naked jacket.
Cooling Agents: Our favorite ultralight gear for sweltering summer runs, including the Wrightsock SLC socks.
Cooling Agents: Our favorite ultralight gear for sweltering summer runs, including New Balance's NBx five-inch shorts.
Cooling Agents: Our favorite ultralight gear for sweltering summer runs, including the Brooks Sunshield visor.
When things are going well, organizational dysfunction often stays hidden. But sometimes it is obvious. Dysfunctional organizations, for example, make arbitrary decisions, contradictory decisions, or no decisions when they are needed. Incidentally, according to the Associated Press, the…
In 2003 and early 2004, in the months leading up to the Athens Olympic games, Kenya's Paul Tergat was obsessed with winning an Olympic marathon title. Tergat was one of the best runners in history and held the world marathon record, but his two Olympic medals were silver, and a…
Advocates of barefoot running argue it’s the way evolution wants us to run—and they’re right. However, this ignores the fact that we spend the majority of our lives locked into regular shoes. Rarely do we go barefoot anywhere. Before you start running, let your feet adjust to your new barefoot…
Photographer Alexx Henry shot this cover of the future, starring triathlete Chris Lieto, with a Red One and Canon 5D.
Photographer Alexx Henry turns our October feature on Chris Lieto into a video.
Can humans hunt the world’s fastest animals by running them down? Elite marathoners investigate in the New Mexican desert.
MOVNAT‘s Erwan LeCorre demonstrates the natural way to run barefoot. Read Nick Heil’s story the Workout that Time Forgot.
Kyle Simonett Runners at the Teva Mountain Games could participate in any (or all) of three events last weekend: the Vail Pass Half Marathon, the 10K Spring Runoff and the Mud Run. The Mud Run, which sold out at 400…
Chemistry Lab: Gummy Bear Experiment from GOi2P on Vimeo. On day five of Expedition Bolivia, the i2P team ran another 38km and continued taking time to demonstrate some basic science in recognition of the UN's International…
Expedition Bolivia Day 3 – 37km from GOi2P on Vimeo. The Expedition Bolivia i2P team pushed through altitude sickness and 12,000-foot-plus elevations Monday to tackle a 41km run. Yesterday they were right back it, logging another 37km. The team dealt with high…
i2P Expedition Bolivia – Day 1: 30 KM from GOi2P on Vimeo. Ultrarunner Ray Zahab is in South America this week, running nearly 200 miles through Bolivia for the fourth stage of the impossible2Possible (i2P) World Expedition Series.
Olympic marathon champion Samuel Wanjiru, 24, died early this morning after falling from a balcony at his home in Nyahururu, Kenya. According to Reuters, Wanjiru's wife, Triza Njeri, had caught him in bed with another woman. “His death is a tragedy, but I’m 100 per cent sure…
Fifty-seven years ago today, Roger Bannister ran the first-ever sub-four-minute mile. Traveling 15.037 miles per hour, Bannister recorded a time of 3:59.4 on the track at Oxford University. “In Oxford, I had been told, a man without a sport is like a ship without a sail,” Bannister wrote in his…
Recent studies are shattering the myth that life span is predetermined by genetics. The latest bombshell: your morning run could be the fountain of youth.
—Stephanie Pearson writes the Gear Girl column for Outsideonline.com Dimity McDowell is an Olympic-caliber athlete, “Runner’s World” contributing editor, ESPN columnist, mother of two, and the co-author of “Run Like A Mother,” a book published last spring…