Terror and The Boston Marathon

The terrorist attack upon Boston, using the institution of the Boston Marathon as the opportunity to hurt and kill and instill fear, is utterly reprehensible. The world community, the sane world community, will condemn this in words, and the individuals or group of individuals, whether they execute another plan like this or not, will have likely achieved some of their goals. Making people think twice about attending large open sporting events, events that aren’t constantly policed at every entrance and exit, instilling that kernel of fear into a million brains at once, that’s one of their goals.

And its worth repeating, since we’ve gotten so used to the word “terrorist” that we often forget to look at the root, terror, which is defined at “intense, sharp, overmastering fear.” Fear of what? Fear of boarding an airplane? Fear of getting on a subway platform? Fear of running a marathon? Fear of living your life? The answer is: all of the above. The terrorist is looking to take away that which you hold dear, for whatever perceived slight or abuse they have had to suffer.

And that revenge includes killing 8 year olds.

The running community has long been a hearty lot, and we react, irrationally, compulsively, to many things, but the overriding aspect is that we keep on going. We run in warzones, we run in inhospitable weather, we run through tragedies. And our community, if you pressed us, to a person, would most likely be to say that we love the freedom we have when we run. Any type of freedom of course, freedom from the job, from the kids, from the cell phone, freedom to run hard, to float, to pass as many others before the finish line. The freedom to enjoy whatever freedom we like. Running the marathon, a bucket list right of passage for so many, with the goal of qualifying for Boston, has been there for, literally, millions of runners the world over. But an event like this wants to cow us, and take that freedom away from us.

But we are stronger than that. We deplore the senseless killings of innocents for a goal, any goal, and we will show that we are stronger than you. That our love of that freedom, that our love of something as silly as putting one foot in front of the other is so important to us that it is likely buried in our DNA, that we will not be stopped. That the marathon will not end, that we will not change our lives in fear of terror.

These terrorists, whoever they are, will have gained nothing. Right now, there are dead to bury, and bodies to sew up and heal, and both mourning and a steeling of our spines to not give in to fear. The terrorists have showed us, like many other ways we are tested in this century, how strong we will have to be. The Boston has continued for over 100 years, from before the motor car into the atomic age and, now, into the age of domestic war. And we will continue to run, for as many reasons out there as steps taken, but mostly, likely, for those freedoms. We will run to be free.

Charles Yoakum, Marin Running Company

Guest Post: Yoga For Runners - Elle Griffen

Now that the Marin breeze has started turning toasty, I've started to ready my running shoes. I'm signed up for my favorite event of the year: Lululemon's SeaWheeze half-marathon (wooohoo!) and I'm determined to run with the 10-minute pacers this year! I know the pitfalls though, running IS a physical stressor and that means we need to be extra careful with our bodies, especially when we are in training. As a yoga teacher I've seen far too many runners turn up to class with shot knees and hurting hips, and those guys are hard to replace! If you haven't hit pain yet, prevention is key and that means taking a little time re-calibrate in between those epic jogs you've been logging! So let's do some yoga! I'm so excited to be pairing up with Marin Running Company  in San Anselmo so that you can take a much-needed off day in your running routine this season. March 13th at 6:30pm I will be teaching a special one-hour yoga class at the store specifically so all you runners can get a nice gooood stretchout!

If you can't make it to the sesh, I've also designed this pretty little podcast so you can show yourself some love wherever you are at. I recommend hitting your mat on an off day or right after a run, but avoid it right before, we don't want to send those loose hips out in the world quite yet!

Back and Side Bends for Abdominal Stretching

With your feet hip-width apart stand with your hands in prayer. Lifting your hands to the sky on an inhale, exhale to the right side stretching that side body. Your abs do quite a lot of work when you run so it's nice to start with some gentle stretching of the abdominal region. Lift back up on an inhale and then sink to the left side. Give yourself some time on both sides to really dip into the stretch, then inhale back to center lifting your chest and heart toward the sky and then lean back for a lower back stretch (yes, back's are important when it comes to running!)

Chair Pose for Knee Strength

Inhale back to standing and (with your arms still raised) sink your hips into chair pose. Your feet should still be flat to the ground and your lower back should be slightly arching as your arms run alongside your head with hands outstretched to the sky. Reach your chest forward and then sink a little lower. Stay in this pose as long as possible and let those thighs burn! Chair pose helps reinforce all those lovely little muscles surrounding your precious knees and we need that strength to support those joints as we run! Shape em up!

Downward Dog to Warm Up those Calves and Stretch out your Back

So now let's get ourselves into a nice downward facing dog. Amazing how this pose somehow does everything doesn't it? Just a great standard. Once you are in the pose, bicicle your knees a little bit so your joints get some movement. Come up onto your tippy toes and lift your hips to the sky as if pulled up via a string attached to your lower back. Then sink your heels as low to the earth as you can. Push forward with your hands so your head falls between your shoulders. This pose lenthens your spine, stretches your calves and shoulders, and finds some stretch in your achilles, just an all around beautiful pose to counter balance those runs you've been doing!

Frog Pose for a Hip Stretching Intensive

Most importantly of ALL running specific poses is a really amazingly powerful hip stretch. Not only do we store emotions in our hips, but we store tension and physical stress there. After a run, your hips do this little tightening number, that unless stretched out, will accumulate and cause major issues down the line. Hip replacement anyone?? Ok, so we don't want that so I'm going to let you in on my favorite hip stretcher- Frog pose! This beaute is killer! To start, make sure you have some padding to support your knees and calves. If you are already experiencing knee trouble on this one, you probably want to opt out and go for your hip stretch of choice. With your legs parallel each other wider than hip width, point your toes outward (like a frog). Extend your torso and fold forward coming to rest on your forearms. Then you need to find the magic spot! Try sinking your hips lower or walking your head forward or backward until you find that perfect balance! See if you can find some relaxation in this pose. Relish it!

Reclining Bound Angle Pose for Back and Hip Support

Finally, make your way out of the pose and lay on your back with the palms of your feet touching and your knees relaxing to the mat. Put one hand to your heart and the other to your belly and let your body fall open. This gets a tiny little arch back into your lower back and is also a gently hip opener all in a nice relaxing package. Enjoy your rest, you've been doing so much and running on top of that has been adding extra stress to your body. Thank yourself for spending time with your body and with your breathe!

Namaste.

Hi! I'm Elle! I am a wellness coach and yoga instructor in gorgeous Marin County, California. My life's work is to inspire happier, healthier lives through my three-month wellness revolution, yoga where you want it, and my blog HappyYogis.com. There's more to good health than what you eat and how you sweat. Find out what YOU need to lose weight, ditch depression, fight fatigue, and balance your hormones!
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Should We Change The Olympic Trials? A Response

Track and Field's Superfan has a new post up about whether changing the Olympic Trials is in the best interests of the sport, and, if you do change them, how to change them. That's actually a whole lotta thinking going on there. And one thing presupposes the other. To change is not enough is it? Can you improve the Trials?

First off, I'll agree, the Oly Trials is the best track meet on the planet for the sheer drama that happens. Top 3 go, if they have the qualifier, the rest go home. The best races i've ever seen, and I've been to the Olympics and watched Seb Coe win his second 1500 gold, have all been at the Trials. So I don't want to see any changes unless we're sure that they're not going to muck things up.

Before i get to his proposed changes, lets pick on the one things that he brings up that I can't let go:

The USA is about the only nation in the world in which no human element is involved in selecting its Olympic track and field team. But the USA is also alone in its tremendous depth across nearly every event. Even if we could make sure that politics and influence had no part in selections, I don’t think the human approach is the right one for us.

And i have two words to say about this: John Chaplin. We DO have a human element corrupting the process, and it has had a bad hand in any number of events since the well publicized incident with Shannon Butler in 1996. Chaplin has been there, behind the scenes, making our trails system less than fair to any number of athletes who have the potential to run the race of their lives and make the team. Yes, the human approach has screwed up plenty of lives, just not as up-front as the visible selection committees of other nations.

Superfan does make the supposition that shortening the trails would deprive USATF of valuable time on TV and in the papers to support the sport, and while that may be true, I would love to see the elimination of one of the rest days so make the meet go quicker. I understand as a distance fan why the 10K and 5K have a weeks separation, but i'm annoyed as an adult human with a job and wife and kids because i can't afford to take 8 days off to take in the whole meet. I have to choose one or the other when it comes to buying tickets.

What i don't like is the potential for certain high profile sprinters to be able to skip early rounds to get to the finals. Its fairly simple, the young upstart who just might have the race of his life and get into the Trial's final will have run 5 100m, where a Tyson Gay or Justin Gatlin will only have had to run 4? You've just taken the fastest guys and given them extra rest.

What if you compressed the meet to make it not allow doubles other than the sprints? 100/200 or rarely, 200/400? Ok, you can come back quickly for that, but make it impossible for a 5K/10K double? Or an 800/1500 double? That might force some runners to really make a choice. Put the meet into 5 days and see how it plays out. Now that would be some intense track action, wouldn't it?

New York City Marathon 2012: The Case Against

I never thought that i would argue against one of my favorite races, and, indeed, made a good case (I hope) the other day in favor of Mary Wittenberg and her guardianship of the race. It has truly gotten back to being a great, world class race that many thousands of runners have been able to enjoy being obsessed over.

But here is the issue: while I, as a former New Yorker, appreciate the "never say die" spirit of the city, and the esprit de corps that exists within the running community, Hurricane Sandy was simply too devastating to the infrastructure. The logistics of moving that many people around the city, feeding them, getting them warm and dry and out of the medical tents, getting the port-a-potties out, is a logistical nightmare, and the fact that the city has done it for decades is a flat out miracle. That they've improved upon it over the years shows how finely tuned everything is.

So now you have only half of your subways running, tons of areas in the five boroughs without power, does it make any sense at all the divert resources away from clean up to try and handle what is, under the best conditions, something that can take miracles to do well? No, it doesn't. I understand Mayor Bloomberg's desire to create revenue to the businesses in the areas, god knows that they could use the money, but you're not going to get those tourists out the Ditmas or Coney if they don't have a working Q, or power for their shops.

In the best scenario, it would make the most sense to delay the race a week, get the power back on and the subways unflooded, and then bring everyone in. One week in the world of marathon prep makes little difference. Just start the hotels moving things over. Now you've got "never-say-die" spirit, and revenue and lots of folks ready to come back to the biggest city that just wouldn't stay down. I doubt that they'll do it, but it would be the best way to go.

Good luck New York, either way, this former Brooklynite will be watching and rooting for you.

A Sole Infatuation: A Shoe Manifesto

It certainly never fails, new interesting shoe appears in the Running Times shoe survey, and the next week we get two or three people asking about "that shoe that makes you run on your middle toe, you know, the one with the blue stripes and the snap closure?". It certainly makes you appreciate art direction, when you can design a shoe so tantilizing that people will actually go out and search your product out without ever having heard of your name before, much less knowing whether the shoe fits, runs well or even makes sense for your running gait.

But the current running shoe purchaser has more choices than ever before, no question, and typically a greater knowledge of the differing shoe designs than ever before. Which is good. And they know, I think, deep down, that there is no magic shoe that will suddenly take 5 minutes off of their 10k time, but there is always that hope that the new shoe can magically make the years and the pounds fall away and make you feel like you were 20 years old again and gravity didn't pull down on you so much.

We're in the middle of a huge influx of shoe innovation right now. There are a fascinating number of new models from new companies promising all sorts of bio-mechanical miracles, and it can't help but whet the appetite of the shoe enthusiast to see all the new possibilities. Besides, we don't have a ton of gear in this sport, so we have to have something to talk about.

At Marin Running Company, I've been looking at every new shoe that i can find, and i enjoy finding great new shoes wherever and whenever i can. I'm looking forward to new shoes from Altra, Skora, Newton and La Sportiva down the road. I will simply find every great new shoe that i can, shoes you'll never find at the mall sporting goods stores. When i get them i'll be not just posting a short paragraph review, but posting You Tube videos so that you can get your new shoe kick via 2012 technology.

The shoes business is not easy. We were one of the first to bring in Somnio two years, because they had one great shoe. And it was great, no exaggeration. But your business, and Somnio's business, needs more than that, and after two or three shipments of great shoes they went out of business. We will champion small, new innovative companies in every way that we can, just as you keep us here by patronizing small, local business here in Marin.

Mary Wittenberg: Friend or Foe?

Thinking globally or locally? Normally not a tricky question, but when the subject at hand is Mary Wittenberg and her direction for the NYRR and the NYC Marathon, the question becomes a bit more difficult to answer.

The NY Times devoted a great deal of space to Mary, and the changes that she has made to both the marathon and the NYRR over the weekend. And it brings up some interesting points that are of interest to us all; interest in terms of whether we want running to be a truly global phenomenon, where out dollars go when the fee of our favorite race jumps from $75 to the north side of $200 in a decade, what the best interests are for a “local” club that has become a powerhouse, and who owns a marathon anyway.

All this is touched off by the alarming fact that the marathon was going to ban carting runner’s bag on this year’s race, a stunning mistake that, on any marathon day with weather other than perfect, could have stunning implications on the athletes health and well being. (I say this, having run both the coldest NYC marathon ever (1995) as well as others in high heat and humidity. Had I not had the right clothing to take out to Staten Island in the morning, nor had stuff the change into, I would easily have been in the medical tent with plenty of others on those days.) Why would this change have such far reaching implications?

Lets answer the question on both a micro and a macro level. On the micro its fairly easy: if you’re going to keep raising the price of registration, DON’T take away amenities. Period. That part should be simple. On the macro level we get to the heart of the Time’s article. That the position of the NYRR has changed from being a small organization of runners to a well paid fiefdom that has taken on making the Marathon a world class event. And that require dollars, lots of dollars, and a change in focus from being that local community club to a much larger, less nimble, less responsive business machine. And that is part of what gets into people’s fillings and makes them itch.

When Fred Lebow started he did all sorts of crazy stunts to get publicity to keep the marathon growing by keeping it in the press. That worked for a long time, but after Fred died, there was a void in showmanship, and if there is anything that New York misses when its gone, it’s a flair for the show. As a world class marathon, after the 1980s, which included some epic clashes over the five borough course, the 90’s became a time of losing out to Chicago, since the windy city offered a faster, easier course. And there was no one in New York to sell the runners on the going over the bridges and the heavily patched concrete. Mary has, in every shape and form, made the NYC marathon a huge success on the global market. First by bringing the world class marathoners and getting them to race head to head, and then by being part of the Marathon Majors, and unprecedented level of cooperation by five different organizations and multiple sponsors.

Those that say they don’t care about the Marathon as a world class even are fooling themselves. And hurting the sport if they believe that its not necessary to have the NYC Marathon playing that part. New York has a cache that is known the world over, and it makes a statement to have a world class race in the heart of an international media capital.

Funding that requires a lot of dollars, and not just from sponsors, and its being built upon the backs of the tri-state area with increased fees on all the races. Frankly, it loved running Central Park seven days a week, and it was properly annoying to have pay money to go race the same course on Sunday that I had just run a tempo run on Thursday. But you pay to go to the Bronx, or start on the boardwalk and run the Brooklyn Half Marathon, because you love this sport and you love going out to the races. If there is anything that it is worth accusing Mary of, it’s taking her eye a bit off of the local scene by not understanding how damn expensive it all comes out to. With the altruistic aims she has of establishing the NYRR as an ambassador of running around the world, I’m sure its very easy to lose sight of keeping all those damn local runs as a value to the runner from Manhattan or the Bronx. Running was a fairly cheap sport, and there are tons of working poor in the city of New York, runners that can afford a pair of shoes, but now really can’t afford to find the race to take those shoes to. The Olympic Trials Marathon in November of 2007 was, with no exceptions, the single best running sporting event I’ve ever been to, and I’ve seen some damn good Olympic Trials. (It was with profound regret that I saw the short-sighted sycophants of USATF award the 2012 Trials race to someone else.)

See, here’s the thing. While I agree that it comes with a price, and if you live in New York and want to run, that price is coming out of your wallet, this sport needs help to continue to grow on a global level, and it takes some vision and some hubris as well. And lets be honest, hubris doesn’t always work out that well. But in general, Mary has raised the profile level of the sport in ways that will continue to pay off for quite some time to come. And its going to keep working as long as they keep their eye on the prize of making sure that the home base is taken care. (Again, TAKING AWAY amenities from the $200+ race is a pretty stupid idea. Especially given the volubility of the NYC weather.)

Which may need some tweaking, given the misstep of Baggate 2012, but it’s also the sort of thing that isn’t unsolvable either. Case in point, its been almost 20 years since the NYC Marathon was shown live here in the states. C’mon, POKER is shown on TV more than running. This sport has a palpable lack of vision. From the IOC trying to rule all athletes with such an iron fist that they believe athletes to be their own private chattel to the corrupt-to-their-DNA organizers at USATF crushing athletes under their own spikes heels, there is very little positive going on in this sport. We need more media coverage, especially of the non-WADA variety, we need smarter people in the sport, and we need it to be taken care of on both the micro and the macro level. Much of this was missing the decade of the ‘90’s, but there is some here and now, and our sport is operating at a much higher level. We have the chance to make this bigger and create a foundation for runners for the next generation. And while not perfect, Mary has certainly taken strides to try for more.

USATF: Terminally Addicted to Mediocrity

As any addict knows, the first step to realizing that you have a problem is admitting that you have a problem. In NASCAR’s case, it took the better part of declining revenue over the last decade to convene a $5 million dollar study to figure out why. What it turned up is not rocket science, but had they not done the study, it would have been guesswork, and it is likely that powers that be who are running NASCAR would have been far less motivated to change had the answers not been reported right there, in black and white.

Why does USATF have such a problem recognizing that it has a problem? Well, if we look at the NASCAR example, it was the case of declining revenue. Perhaps USATF is too stupid to realize that, for a global sport, it has no revenue. Because all I see are the same people getting the same free trips playing the same power games and rearranging the deck chairs on a sinking ship. And unlike the Titanic, when it goes down, it will go down in relative silence.

There are numerous reasons for this, and they’ve been hashed out over and over again, but it is depressing to see the same battles being fought over and over again. Those of us in the ‘80’s thought, “well, they got past the Cascade Run Off, and finally admitted that they money could go to the athletes so we’re finally professional.” Except that it hasn’t been that easy. The current logo wars get to the heart of a couple things, the athletes desire to govern themselves and the paper pushers at a national governing body seeing their power slipping away when the money gets into the hands of the athletes.

Lets understand that there is no way for anyone at the national office who gives a damn about the athletes to interpret the Nike contract the way that they did regarding extra sponsorship. Even the former CEO of USATF disagrees with that interpretation.

The only reason to not let athletes get as many sponsorships as they want is to keep power in the hands of the few. Athletes with money are notoriously difficult to push around. Like most boards, they will continue to elect their buddies, so that their buddies can continue to rub their backs when the time comes. Its an incestuous system that helps no one but them.

So how do you get more revenue? More sponsorships? You need to get eyeballs. And to do that you need media. Lots of media, continued media coverage, exciting well produced media coverage. None of which USATF has whatsoever. I recently rewatched the Olympic Marathon Trials, the Arkansas Meet and Indoor Nationals just to get a quick feel for the three most recent telecasts before doing this blog post. So what came across from watching the three in rapid succession?

No one is interested in watching the sport. The sheer number of empty seats in the stands at the meets, and this on grandstands that appear to be only 6 rows deep, tells you a ton, and the stretches of cold, ugly concrete with no fans on them on the Houston course finishes off the story. No one cares. USATF’s decision to move the trials marathon to lonely Houston when they had the national media by the nose in Boston and New York is a case of one step forward, three or four steps backward. And, if we are to believe it, it was the difference in about $500,000. In case anyone cares to correct me, I believe that the difference in the Boston/NYC bids was in the $700K range as opposed to $1.2M in Houston.

So its not a hard formula: make the races exciting and visually compelling for televised media, and keep it in front of people's faces.

How to make the races exciting? Well, personalities would help. And not putting the athletes in identical uniforms is huge. (Anyone recall the marathon majors about 7 years ago agreeing to us different uniforms on the leading athletes? They were then introduced via the onscreen graphics to us with that racing vest and shorts. You could also stop using condensed fonts on bib numbers so that it is utterly impossible to read on television.) I'm not sure there was a worse moment than when Nike outfit all the women of the elite 1500 at the Pre a few years ago ALL WITH THE SAME BRA TOP AND SHORTS. Honestly, these people continue to make the same mistakes year after year. 2011 was no better than 2000 which was really no better than 1992.

The television producers need to watch old tapes to understand that the camera angles and focus points need to change. The way that a meet is televised is much like football: its a better sport on the big screen when its done right. But rarely is it shot right. As a minor sport in the grand scheme of things, I'm sure that figuring out how to televise a track meet by revisiting older track meets and seeing what does/doesn't work isn't too high up on their priorities list, but they're professionals and it should be. And, again, USATF should be working with television to grow the sport and make it more media friendly, and it certainly doesn't appear that that is the case.

more later...