Running
ArchiveLisa Smith-Batchen–one of the world's premier ultra-runners–and Sister Mary Beth Lloyd have nearly completed running across 50 states in 62 days…
As we drive to the start line of the 100th Dipsea race, my dad launches into one of his inspiring father-daughter pep talks. “It’s a shame you couldn’t run faster last year,” he says to me, smirking, as he pulls into Mill…
It's spring, so there are countless reasons to get out more. My reason? Running. My morning runs before work are becoming more enjoyable, now that I no longer have to struggle through the freezing dark of winter. I've also completely changed my running form, thanks to…
We have now completed our run across the Sahara and are in Tunis for a day before we head back to North America. The final total we ran over the past eight days is 268 kilometers! We averaged just under a marathon per day and are very happy with…
The running today was pretty tough. We ran over unvarying terrain: small sand dunes with grasses interspersed, flat as a pancake, except for the dunes. It was quite hot and the footing was difficult so we didn't really talk at all for the first 25 kilometers because we were…
This expedition has been a mix of pushing our physical and mental limits, learning more about water, and learning more about each other and ourselves. It has been an incredible experience that has definitely changed the lives of all of us i2P youth ambassadors. Our sixth day began with…
This morning we awoke to a breeze traveling throughout camp. Connor, Jill, and I thought that perhaps we would need our goggles, and we were so glad we decided to bring them along (unlike Andy who was having sand-in-eye issues). We started off through the dunes for a…
Today we ran a marathon! Although this morning, we all woke up feeling exhausted, stiff, sore, and needing an ice bath. We left camp around 7:30 A.M. and made our way towards the town of Douz. As we continued forward, our legs began to loosen up and our pace…
Tonight, I trained for my planned October marathon in a complete blizzarding white out. All I could think was: Thank you, Patagonia, for your Winter Running Tights, which shed snow with each step forward. Thank you, Arc'teryx, for your Alpha SL hard shell which…
Yes, I know, the temperature outside is a balmy 70 degrees, so I should be giving you tips on what to run in this spring. But, to be honest, I've just started testing the warm-weather apparel so I thought I'd give you feedback on items that I can comfortably call…
The day started out with a 1.5-hour drive, rocking Arabic/Frenchmusic in Nardeen's car to start where we finished yesterday. After atough day yesterday, we made a collective decision to run 20 minutes,then do a fast walk for two minutes. Our goal was to make it back tocamp, about 36…
A blistering pace in the men's race led to a course record for the 114th Boston Marathon. While no Americans cracked the top three, Ryan Hall and Meb Keflezighi finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Men's Elite Top Finishes 1. Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot (KEN), 2:05:52 (CR) $150,000 + $25,000…
We're underway. As of yesterday, on a salt-pan called Chott el Jerid in southern Tunisia (home to several sets from the Star Wars movies), youth ambassadors from North America, ages 17 to 21, and several support people began the…
After a rainy weekend, Marathon Monday in Massachusetts dawned just about perfect: high 40s, sunshine, with a predicted temperature of mid-50s, and a 15 mph north/northwest wind. This means that the runners will have a tailwind for the Newton hills, including the infamous Heartbreak Hill. The wheelchair division took off…
Ernst Van Dyk got his wish: a sprint finish with more than one wheelchair coming down Boylston Street at the finish. The now nine-time Boston Marathon champion, a course record, finished in 1:26:53. He was just four seconds ahead of second place finisher, American Krige Schabort. Women's wheelchair champion Wakako…
Marathon Monday in Boston if full of dramatic comebacks, split second finishes, and lots and lots of pain. But throughout the past ten years, there's been a new phenomenon in the men's wheelchair division: consistency. One man alone has claimed victory from 2001-06 and 2008-09. …
For one day in the middle of April, Bostonians can do what they love to do best: look down their noses at everyone. No matter that the western half of the country has bigger waves, bigger mountains, and bigger open spaces. For one day, a 228-foot, gently sloping…
Ray Zahab is back on the adventure scene. After completing his record run across Lake Baikal with Kevin Vallely to draw attention to the global clean-drinking-water crisis, Zahab will return to Tunisia. The first time around, he starred…
He's back. And he has a new schtick. Jared Fogle became famous in commercials that lauded him for losing weight by eating Subway sandwiches. According to Subway, he started off at 425 pounds and made his way down to 190, with the…
Ride your bike on any major road in my hometown, Jackson, Wyoming, and there’s a chance you’ll ride past a row of stopped cars and dozens of wide-eyed, camera-toting tourists, gawking at moose, elk and bison. Animals are literally everywhere in this little northwestern corner of the state. I don’t…
Elite U.S. marathoner Ryan Hall has set his sights on the Chicago marathon this October, and says he has one goal: to break the American record of 2:05:38. Chicago is a flat and fast course, and the venue for previous American and even world record times. Hall has run 2:06:17…
The Marathon des Sables is underway in Morocco. The 151-mile race across the Sahara lasts six days – with an especially grueling 50-mile stage on day four.
Tomorrow is the day of judgement; It's the last day to register for the Nike for Women marathon, in San Francisco on October 17th. A little over a month ago, former Outside intern and New York Times writer Christina Erb and I made a pact…
The ninth annual Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon took place in March, presided over by Micah True, a.k.a. Caballo Blanco. Christopher McDougall's book Born To Run made The White Horse famous…
All 45,000 open slots for the October 10, 2010 Chicago Marathon have been filled, according to Cool Running. Race organizers closed registration this afternoon in record time. Registration was only open for 51 days this year. But those hoping to run…
Let's get this straight: I don't like to run and the idea of running 26 miles makes me want to hurl. Yet when my dear friend, former intern sidekick and now Outside's Assistant Managing editor, Alicia Carr (also known as…
I hope you've been training through the winter, because it's time to start thinking about trail running again—and racing. The dates for La Sportiva's Mountain Cup have been announced. These are 10 very cool trail running and mountain running races, scattered around…
In 2005, when Kelly Hansen's ex-boyfriend told her she couldn't run a marathon, she committed to finishing Boston's grueling route as a scab despite little training and a lot of pain. This weekend, the 25-year-old heads to Antarctica to complete a more recent…
Planning on watching the Olympic Skeleton events scheduled for today and tomorrow? When you see the US team hit the track, they're doing so with an added advantage. As they prepared for the 2010 games, the team traveled…
Bernard Lagat broke the American 5000 meter record at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games. Lagat announced his intentions before the games began, but it looked as if he wouldn’t be so lucky. All runners were well behind the record pace with 1000 meters to go,…
Seems like mother nature gives us everything we need, including the best running shoes, according to…
Courtesy of Wikimedia Haile Gebrselassie, who holds the world record for the fastest marathon time at 2:03:59, will compete in the New York City Half-Marathon on March 21,…
Athletics South Africa (ASA) says that gold medalist runner Caster Semenya will not get the green light to compete again until she is cleared by the IAAF's gender testing, Reuters reports. The IAAF ordered the…
By Mary Catherine O'Connor I'm not an uber-athlete, but I do like to run and sometimes join races–preferably on trail. The other day, a friend tried to coax me into signing up for a 50K trail run,…
Olympic marathoner Ryan Hall (photograph by Gregg Segal) The top two American male marathoners will run in the 2010 Boston Marathon. Both Meb Keflezighi and Ryan Hall will participate, according to Cool Running.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport has issued a preliminary ruling against the claim from Marion Jones's teammates on two U.S. women's relay teams that the IOC could not disqualify them from the Sydney Olympics, the…
Geoff Roes has broken the course record for the Mountain Masochist race, UltraRunning reports. It's a 50-mile run that is part of the Montrail Ultra Cup series. Roes clocked in at 6:27:55, beating out…
Caster Semenya will get to keep her gold medal in the 800-meter from this year's Track and Field World Championships in Berlin, says USA Today. The International Association of Athletics Federations ordered gender tests on the South African runner before the 800 final because…
The 24-year-old runner Tirunesh Dibaba, from Ethiopia, has set a new 15-kilometer world record of 46:28 in a road race in the Netherlands, the IAAF reports. Despite not having run a road race since 2005, she broke Kayoko Fukushi's 2006…
Meb Keflezighi, the first American winner of the New York City Marathon since 1982, was on Letterman last night. The topic: The top 10 things that go through your mind while running a marathon. Here's the clip.
Running back in the pack with 40,000 marathoners, I was probably one of the last people to learn that American Meb Keflezighi won the New York City marathon this morning, and I couldn't be more excited for him, and the sport of running in the U.S.
Meb Keflezighi became the first U.S. citizen to win the NYC marathon since Alberto Salazar crossed the finish line first in 1982. He clocked a time of 2:09:15. On the women's side, Ethiopia's Derartu Tulu won with a time of 2:28:52. Outside associate editor Justin…
Since seeing firsthand the spirit New York puts into its marathon, and hearing the marketing slogan over and over, the question has been on my mind: Is the New York City Marathon the world's greatest race? I want to hear what you think. The evidence for:*The prestige. It's…
For two decades, American men have run largely in the shadow of international elites at the United States' most prestigious marathons. The last 20 years of highlight reels at the Boston, Chicago, and New York City marathons shows a…
A few months back I spoke to Ryan Hall, and one of the questions I asked him was what he had to say to runners at the New York City marathon. If it seems a little earnest, it's because it came near the end of a long interview about his…
The torch for the 2010 Winter Olympics, to be held in Vancouver, arrived in Canada today via plane, the AP reports. The torch was lit in its ancestral site in Greece by the sun’s rays, and it…
Quick recap of pre-race news and coverage at the New York City Marathon: Interesting comment from Ryan Hall today during a press conference today: “Myindicators are like I am a minute faster then when I did mypreparations for Boston. And if I ran a minute faster, I…
Last Sunday, marathon runner Robert Kiprono Cherulyot made history at the Commerzbank Frankfort Marathon. Cherulyot didn't win the marathon, but his finish time of 2:06:23 made him the one hundredth person in history to run a sub-2:07 marathon, reports IAAF Sports. Belayneh Densimo was…
The NYC Marathon is this Sunday—the women’s elite race starts at 9:10 a.m. eastern, and the men’s elite start is at 9:40 a.m. (I’ll be starting in that first wave at 9:40.) For those of you planning to tune in…A little background: The big…
It's been 26 years since an American has won a major U.S. marathon— and 37 since we did it in the Olympics. Will this be the year American distance running gets back on track? Ryan Hall thinks so.
Tara Parker-Pope from the New York times delves into this popular question, addressing issues from humans' unique body structure to advanced cooling systems to our evolved toes and gluteus maximus. While long distance running can often induce serious injury and wear and tear to the body, Parker Pope attributes many…
With just a week to go before the marathon, there's got to be a lot of sore runners out there. I'm one of them. Two weeks ago, after a 20 mile training run, my right calf muscle slipped slightly three miles into a recovery run, and I knew the sign:…
Ok, for anyone running the New York City Marathon Nov. 1, it's time to back off the training a little. Actually, it was time to start backing off last week. It's now eight days until the race, and a lot of people have questions about how much training to do…
Barefoot running has become a trend, but whether it's better for you than running with shoes is still up for debate. “On the one hand, no one has yet published a study on whether barefootrunning is better for you–the evidence is all anecdotal,” Daniel Lieberman, a professor of human evolutionary…
Some ultrarunners are now choosing to have their toenails surgically removed, says a recent New York Times article. Supporters of the procedure point out that after running 50-100 miles, toenails often fall off anyway, or break and become extremely painful. Why not just get rid of them?…
With a quarter mile to go in the Des Moines Marathon, the lead runner Simon Sawe's progress was inhibited at a train crossing. A train stopped and remained parked on the rails for a full minute,…
Action Against Hunger has teamed up with Gatorade to create G Movement, an athletic competition aimed at fighting global hunger. Open to the public, the competition asks athletes of all levels from all over the country to use their next athletic challenge to bring attention to this world wide problem. …
Beijing Olympic Marathon gold medalist, Sammy Wanjiru of Kenya, claimed the fastest marathon ever run on U.S. soil after winning the 2009 Bank of America Chicago Marathon on Sunday, according to Cool Running, with a time of 2 hours, 5 minutes, 41 seconds. He beat Khalid…
Tellman Knudson is running across the country–barefoot–to raise money for homeless youth, says Wend. If he completes the jog from New York to Los Angeles, Knudson will be the first person ever to make the trans-continental run without shoes. He has ran 350…
One of the largest annual fund raising events in the US, the Nike Women's Marathon, will happen this coming weekend in San Francisco. With over 20,000 participants the marathon raised over $18 million dollars last year alone. Follow the course highlights on the marathon blog at…
Top members of the Athletics South Africa board are being pressured to resign by track and field affiliates of the country, reports the Associated Press. President of the ASA, Leonard Chuene, has admitted to lying about knowledge of gender tests involving 18-year-old…
This is it — one last big week of training, then let the tapering—and nerves—begin. With 26 days until the NYC marathon, the Run Mammoth coaches have me hitting 62 miles — the highest we've decided I should go given my history with injuries showing up as I go beyond…
Today in the New York Times Steven Lee Meyers shared his experience training for a marathon on a treadmill while living in Baghdad. Forced to stay inside because of safety, heat, and other factors, Meyers blogs about training for the Marine Corps…
South Africa's track team has lost sponsorship from Nedbank because of the controversy over gold-medal runner Caster Semenya's gender, the AP reports. The International Association of Athletics Federations ordered tests to determine whether Semenya is really a woman. Nedbank said it did…
Most people who lose a leg dream of walking again. For adaptive athlete Jarem Frye, the inventor of a spring-loaded prosthetic knee transforming the lives of amputees, that wasn't nearly enough. He wanted to fly.
The first Monserrat Volcano Half-Marathon will take place on this island in the East Caribbean Dec. 5, Runner's Web reports. The race will be part of the local Carnival festivities. The course will pass through Soufriere Hills, an active volcano. Check out the…
According to RunnersWeb.com, the 20th annual Canadian Marathon in Toronto was the most successful in Canadian history, raising $1.8 million for 99 neighborhood charities, and breaking the records for fastest marathon for both men and women on Canadian soil. Defending champion Kenneth Mungara…
We're just over one month away from the NYC Marathon, and the training loads are peaking. Last week was a 62 mile week, capped by a 20 mile tempo run. For me—a former 3k, 5k, 8k guy—that was the longest run I've ever done, and it felt great. Luckily, we…
This August, the 16th annual Leadville Trail 100 mountain-bike race kicks off in America’s highest city. An expected record of 1,300 competitors will climb more than 14,000 vertical feet at an average elevation of two miles. Lance Armstrong says he’s returning, and Levi Leipheimer has committed too, both hoping to…
She drinks hard, fights dirty, and runs 100 trail miles faster than any woman alive. Meet Jenn Shelton, ultramarathoning's new antihero.
Alan Horton Alan Horton Work, kids, 99-cent value meals we know how the fitness excuses can pile up. That's why we've assembled our second annual class of Outside's Fittest (Real) Athletes: five wickedly overscheduled Americans who haven't let hectic careers or a…
Need another reason to get excited about the resurgence of American distance running? After struggles with injuries, Kara Goucher, a 30-year-old former NCAA cross-country champ, finished third in the New York City Marathon last November. Her time of 2:25:53 was the fastest debut for an American woman ever. As a follow-up, she's set her sights on the sport's mos
What are the best exercises for improving my time in the 40-yard-dash?
I looking for a pair of sunglasses to wear while running. I a woman, with a smaller fre and a small face. I like glasses that are half rims and wrap around the sides—but I don't want them so huge that they cover my whole face—with a light lens that don't distort the true colors. And I'd prefer to not go bankrupt, either— I can't believe what I've seen pricewise for a pair of sunglasses. I delusional? Connie Cleveland, OH
Ryan Hall has been touted as the savior of American distance running since 2007. So when's he going to win a race?
Every year, thousands ofericans race. Very few of them win. All of them have a blast. Isn't it time you joined the party?
My left IT band tightens up every time I go for a run and sometimes I have to stop to stretch it. How can I loosen it up?
I'm moving to Mongolia for work and it's going to get pretty cold (between -20 and -35 Celsius in winter) Any advice on gear for running or cross-country skiing in those temps, or is it just too cold? There weren't be much deep snow. Dave Hong Kong