Northwest Runner - Magazine

If you are a beginning runner, I strongly recommend reading the Northwest Runner magazine. It has many helpful hints to include diet and stretches. This magazine also includes all of the latest upcoming runs, race results of recently completed runs, and the Best Times List. It is kind of exciting to see your name in print in a magazine! Imagine my surprise, however, when I saw my name in the Best Times List! I am not a fast runner and was quite surprised to see my name listed after running the Houston marathon. Grant it, it was early in the year and I was quickly over taken but fun to even be on that list albeit for only one month!

What I found interesting in this months edition was the short article about how 2008 was another record growth year. It stated that in the United States there was a 3.7% increase in finishers for the same 243 marathons. As well, there was a 3% increase in the estimated overall marathon finishers. The United States also has 7 of the 15 largest marathons in the world! Listed is the quick table of gender, age and median times:

Marathon Gender
Women in 1980 = 10.5%
Women in 2008= 41%

Men in 1980 = 89.5%
Men in 2008= 59%

Masters (40 yrs+) in 1980 = 26%
Masters (40 yrs+) in 2008 = 45%

Marathon Median Age
Females in 1980 = 31.3 yrs
Females in 2008 = 35 yrs

Males in 1980 = 34 yrs
Males in 2008 = 39 yrs

Median times for U.S. Marathon Finishers
Females in 1980 = 4:03:39
Females in 2008 = 4:43:32

Males in 1980 = 3:32:17
Males in 2008 = 4:16:00

So we are seeing more women and older runners as the years pass. It is never too late and you are never too old to start running. All you need is a good pair of shoes and the courage to begin. After that, it is the determination to finish! Good luck and may the wind be at your back!

Need a Training Schedule?

We are about a month and a half away from running the Seattle Rock-n-Roll Marathon. Here is a link - http://www.rnrseattle.com/ to the homepage. They haven't yet told us which bands will be playing at each mile nor who the headliner will be, but I am sure there will be some good bands! Excited that all runners and their families can continue the celebration and party at: King County’s Marymoor Park 6046 West Lake Sammamish Parkway NE Redmond, WA.

If you aren't running this marathon and are considering running A marathon and just don't know how to train or maybe you get confused with all of the terminology. You wonder if you should do speed work, hills, etc., here is a good site to peruse. The training schedule is in this site as well. http://www.marathontraining.com/marathon.html

Happy running! Stay loose, run strong, and have fun!

Stretching

I have been reading a lot lately about the pro's and con's of stretching, the timing of the stretch, and various stretching techniques. When I was younger, I never really had the time or maybe more accurately described as lack of patience to stretch. Now, at the ripe old age of 47, I am having to take that time, unfortunately.

Over the last 2 years, I have had an IT Band issue on my right side. After several trips to the massage therapist, performing the stretches the therapist had shown me, icing, and rolling on a tube, that leg has gotten significantly better. As it always happens, the pain goes away and the stretching goes right along with it. However, the last few long runs I have done I am feeling the familiar pain in my butt, my hamstring and my knee but it's not on my right side. It is now the left side! Ugh....

I know what I need to do to fix it. I know what I needed to do to avoid it, too. Why oh why do I avoid stretching? Plain and simple, I hate it. I don't like taking 5-10 minutes, before, during or after a run (depending on whom you believe as to when you should really stretch) to bend, contort, hold and pull myself into various positions. I'd rather start and finish my run, jump into the shower, grab coffee and something to eat and be on my way. My IT band is telling me loud and clear that I better learn to like to stretch or I won't be running when I am 80!

I ran my first marathon in December of 1996. I chose the Honolulu Marathon as I had never been to Hawaii and I wanted to make it a special event. And boy was it!! I got the "marathon bug" and haven't stopped since. To date, I have completed 17 full marathons (26.2 miles)and a ton of halves. The list, in no particular order, so far includes:

• Honolulu
• Seattle Marathon (3 times)
• Portland
• Vancouver British Columbia (2 times)
• Virginia Mason Marathon (in Bellevue, WA)
• Los Angeles
• Houston
• Tucson
• Marine Corp
• New York City
• Chicago
• Boston (3 times)

While I am training for the new Seattle Rock-n-Roll marathon and am very excited to be running it, I really want to get into London and then Berlin. I didn't make this year's London lottery (the race is tomorrow, in you care to watch). The lottery opens on Monday for 2010 and I'll enter again. I am currently in the lottery, this year, to run New York City again. The last time I ran it was November 2000 and I ran it with a friend. It was a blast! This time, I'd like to run it alone and really take in the sights as you go through all 5 borough's. I'd also like to see how it has changed since 9/11.

Time to get some rest before my training run tomorrow! Gotta give these old legs a rest! Night...

Getting ready for Seattle Rock-n-Roll Marathon

I am well into my 12 week training schedule for the first Seattle Rock-n-Roll Marathon. Very excited to be running this inaugural race although I typically try to stay away from any "first time" races. It usually takes the race people a year or two to work out all of the particulars before it becomes a well run event. Tomorrow I run one of my 'shorter' long runs. I always run by time and not by miles and tomorrow, according to my schedule, I will run only 130 minutes. I hope that anyone who was planning on running this half/full marathon has already signed up as I heard from a friend this week that it is now sold-out!