Run to Win

Dean Karnazes has done a lot of incredible feats over the past few years, but setting the world record for treadmill running over a 24 hour period was not one of them. He managed to run over 130 miles, an equivalent of 5 marathons, but the record stands at 153.76 miles.

This record attempt was made in an effort to raise money for “Athletes for a Cure” and to promote Accelerade. “Athletes for a Cure” is dedicated to finding a cure for prostrate cancer. People were able to watch Dean run on the treadmill, which was on a platform attached to the Reuters building in Times Square, from 3 different webcams.

While running for 130 miles is impressive in and of itself, I can not imagine running it on a treadmill. I could not understand it when the Great Lakes HSA 24-Hour Treadmill Challenge was going on, and it makes even less sense when you are the only person doing the running rather than participating in a relay.

(Official Site: Accelerade 24-Hour Endurance Run)

This week last year was pretty busy. There was a lot of running news and tips, and I continued my animated weight lifting tutorials. The site also surpassed 100 people in a single day this week last year, which was a nice milestone to reach.

• I continued my animated workout series with how to do pushups, a staple in just about any routine. I also published a tip about bicycle riding and traffic, namely that you should always ride your bike with traffic. On a bike, you are usually going to be legally obligated not to ride against traffic.
• I first learned about the Endurance 50 Challenge where Dean Karnazes decided to run 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. I wound up getting to see him run one of them and was in another one (but I didn’t see him). In other marathon news, I learned that a 2:55:00 marathon guarentees entry into New York City, and not a 2:50:00 marathon. I also started a contest on the site to win a free copy of Coast to Coast, a book written by a friend of mine about a relay from the Pacific to the Atlantic.
• On a slightly less endurance-minded note, I gave my thoughts on whether or not it was worth it to taper for a 10k.
• I reviewed the Phedippations podcast/radio show. It is recorded by Steve “Runner” Walker on a weekly basis. I haven’t been keeping up for the past few months, though.
• I continued my thoughts on the New Rules of Lifting with New Rule #14 (stretching is not a warm-up) and New Rule #15 (you don’t need to warm up to stretch).

In a collaborative effort with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we will be writing about books throughout the month of February. To start the month off, I am going to talk about running books.

Books are a great way to find some coaching without having to break your bank account wide open, and can provide the inspiration that you need to get out of the door every day. You can works of fiction, collections of quotes, how to manuals, collections of essays, and historical retrospectives on all manner of subtopics related to running. I am going to share some of my favorites in each category.
(Click here to continue reading…)

2006 has been a really busy year here at Run to Win. The website has really grown. I have written a total of about 750 articles so far, with around 900 comments and trackbacks on those articles. I have been taking a look at some of the most popular content over the past year, and some of it surprises me a little bit.

Based on total traffic throughout the year, my most popular topic that I wrote about is Dean Karnazes and his announcement to run 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. His announcement back in April and the coverage this Autumn as he ran it drove quite a bit of traffic through the site, as did Sam Thompson’s 50 marathon feat which finished up as Dean was starting.

The next most popular article was just a one off workout tip that I wrote about eating before and after working out last March. I have touched on diet quite a few times this years, giving my views and offering advice; I even hit on some zany ideas like intuitive eating. None of those articles were nearly as popular, though, or had as much time to be popular.

My series of articles on The New Rules of Lifting was also extremely popular. I hope that a few people decided to pick up a copy of the book, because I have been using workouts from it all year and have been very happy with my results. It probably did not hurt that one of the book’s authors, Alwyn Cosgrove, responded to the review. I shared my thoughts on all 20 new rules of lifting for those that wanted a preview of the first half of the book. The best part was definately the workout plans, though.

The series of articles that I wrote about Marathon Preparation this Autumn did not really have time to get enough eyeballs on it to make it to my official list, but I have no doubt it will be one of my most popular topics over the coming year. The past 2 or 3 months have shown that the tips in this 9 article series is very much in demand.

After reviewing Coast to Coast, I held a contest for a free copy of the book. I was rooting for a friend of mine to win the free copy, but I didn’t rig the system so somebody that I did not know wound up winning. By coincidence, it was somebody that is currently going to RIT. I also discovered that a current teammate of mine had also done a relay from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean about 20 years ago. That was when I discovered that transcontinental relay record.

I was a little bit surprised that my series about shoe maintenance was not more popular. I wrote all 12 articles ahead of time and had them appear on this site while I was on my honeymoon. My video about how to keep your shoes tied, however, was also very popular. It was helped in part by being a part of a group writing project over at ProBlogger, as is this article, for that matter!

I am looking forward to 2007, and have a lot of plans on ways to improve this website and provide even more valuable content for you. Until then, enjoy your holidays, and check out a few more retrospectives and looks ahead over at the ProBlogger group writing project.

This morning I wrote about how Dean Karnazes finished running his 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. He later wrote over at his website, Endurance Is, about his next goal. I was wrong; he’s not going for the seven continents in a week. Instead, he is going to run home from New York City. He lives in San Francisco.

Today is the most liberating, terrifying, exciting, and confusing day of my life. I am walking out of a hotel room in New York City, and running west. Why west? Because that is the direction of my house in San Francisco. Yes, I am running home from the New York City Marathon, the final marathon of the Endurance 50, across the country back to my house.

More power to him. Some friends of mine ran from the Pacific to the Atlantic in a Coast to Coast run, but they did it as a relay. I do not think that I could spend that much more time away from my family, but I am still envious of the endeavor.

I have seemed to come down with a cold after my marathon, so I’m too tired to write more about New York until tomorrow. Sorry.

Dean Karnazes has finished his Endurance 50 event by running his 50^th marathon in New York City. Apparently he was only about 10 minutes behind me or so, but I did not wait around to talk to him again. He ran his final marathon in just over 3 hours.

When I was reading the race coverage in the New York Times, they listed a number of celebreties and notable people who had run the race. I was surprised not to find Dean’s name on the list. You can read about his final race and you can see some statistics about his run the day after.

What I find interesting is that he began to exhibit withdrawel symptoms from not running a morning marathon within a few hours of skipping his first run. He ran the original NYC course in Central Park the night after the race; I wonder if he means he did all 5 loops or if he just ran one or two of the loops? My guess is the latter.

I am looking forward to the documentary, and finding out what sort of crazy stunt he is going to run next. Maybe he will try doing 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days. I know that that one has been done before though; there were a few mountain climbers that did that 3 or 4 years ago if memory serves me.

Dean Karnazes ran the Maine Marathon leg of his 50 marathons on October 17^th. Don Penta was there taking photographs, which you can see over at Maine Running Photos. If you look in pictures 22 and 76, you can see me in the background or off to the left side at the beginning and starts of the race.

That looked like a lot of fun. I am going a little crazy with this taper so I am looking forward to running my marathon in a week. Raking leaves the last two evenings has left me with too much energy afterwards.

Dean Karnazes is running 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. This morning, he ran a modified version of the Maine Marathon. This was his 31^st marathon, and he has 19 left to go until he finishes at the New York City Marathon.

The group was a little late getting started this morning. I had been waiting at the usual starting line for the Maine Marathon for about an hour before I realized that they were starting and ending at Payson Park instead. Dean got lost on the way to the starting line as well, and did not show up until about a quarter after eight. There were about 20 people running with him, most of whom came through the finish line in 4 huors, 12 minutes and change. The runners were greeted through the finish line by students from Whitehall elementary school, who had been busy amusing themselves by playing kick the can until the runners arrived.

It looked like everybody had a lot of fun, and I probably would have been fine had I decided to run it after all. I have not decided yet whether I am going to regret not running it. I probably will not when all is said and done, since regrets really aren’t worth much when you get right down to it. I got to see the start and finish, and listen to the post race speeches. I even got to bring a friend who recently ran his first marathon to watch the finish. He would have had no idea it was even going on until after the fact otherwise. Hopefully I will get a chance to meet up with Dean after the New York City marathon in 19 days.

Update: Official Report