The findingDulcinea Blog

The Boston Marathon Is the Heart of US Distance Running

Photo: Bizuayehu Tesfaye/AP

CEO Mark Moran is live tweeting as he runs the Boston Marathon. Follow him @markemoran.

As I write this, more than 26,000 people, who all qualified with previous marathon times, are running or have just completed the Boston Marathon, which weaves downhill and then gradually up Heartbreak Hill through several outlying towns and into Boston. Already, the top professional runners have finished, with Salina Kosgei of Kenya placing first for the women and Deriba Merga of Ethiopia finishing first for the men. The Americans Kara Goucher and Ryan Hall each finished in third place. For a play-by-play recap of the pro races, read the USA Today blog Game On. You can find complete, searchable results of all the athletes running the race at the Boston Athletic Association Web site.

Boston is in many senses the heart of U.S. distance running, even if the most talented running professionals now spend their time in verdant and high-altitude places like Mammoth Lakes, Calif. and Portland, Ore. to help them improve their fitness levels and compete with the Africans. The U.S. running boom, which started in the 1970s and called Boston its home, saw Americans like Bill Rodgers (who is running again this year after a 10-year hiatus), Amby Burfoot, Alberto Salazar, Frank Shorter and Grete Waitz burst on the scene, engaging in friendly rivalries and, in Rodgers' case, getting four Boston wins under his belt (for her part, Waitz won the New York City Marathon nine times between 1978 and 1988). They themselves were spurred by the efforts of athletes like Steve Prefontaine, who died prematurely and remains a god in runners' eyes.

Running Boston is no easy feat. It requires training for several months through the winter, which alone is enough to ward off a lot of runners. But our very own CEO Mark Moran is doing it, making this his fifth marathon in a handful of years and possibly his fastest, his previous record coming in Philadelphia last fall. Constantly adapting his training, Mark has shown that with a little Internet savvy, some creativity (he's added boxing to his cross-training routine), and a lot of patience, marathons can actually get easier, not to mention more enjoyable. (So much so that he was having trouble waiting for today to come).

Naturally, being an office of several distance runners—we're running the New York Ragnar Relays in May—we've compiled a series of inspirational and motivational articles, training resources and multimedia to help convert more peple to the Boston cause.

Liz Colville
Senior Writer
Audience Development

If you need another marathon to help you qualify for Boston, want to start running, or have other running-related queries, our Web Guide to Running can help with that.

It's February 2. Do You Know Where Your New Year’s Fitness Resolutions Are?

As the dead of winter sets in and your gym membership starts to feel like a mountain you can’t summit, remember you can turn to online training tools, fellow exercisers and fun goals for inspiration.

Several of us at findingDulcinea are competing in a Ragnar Relay in New York State in May. Ragnar Relays happen all over the country, and it’s an exciting chance to test your endurance without having to go it alone.

Active is a great resource for finding other races around the country. The site lists triathlons, half-marathons and marathons, as well as shorter road races. You can also use the site to track your progress in a log and read helpful articles about training and racing.

Gimme20, mentioned in our article “7 Sites for Getting in Shape—and Staying in Shape,” lets you trawl through hundreds of workout plans and use the wisdom of other fitness fanatics to get stronger and in better shape, whether you’re interested in weight training, Pilates or abs.

Gyminee is a relatively new but popular site that tracks your fitness progress and, importantly, your nutrition. Connect with others through the site, set specific goals and watch yourself meet them.

The elegantly designed Web site of the magazine Yoga Journal explains and illustrates more than 100 poses, and offers blogs, resources for those new to yoga, resources for yoga teachers and more.

Fitting exercise into your day can be tough, especially if you work long hours. But this lengthy headline from the UK’s Daily Mail should inspire you: “People who exercise on work days are happier, suffer less stress and are more productive.”

Liz Colville
Senior Writer
Audience Development

You may not always get a natural high from exercise, but there are many healthy processes that happen to you every time you do it. To learn more, read “Exercise and the Brain.”

Beat Winter Fatigue

As the cold, dark, damp nature of winter sets in, reclaim your positive spirit online by managing your energy levels during the season.

Elemenja will mentally prepare you to keep up with a winter exercise regimen. Don’t let yourself join the 30 percent of the population who lets their exercise routine hibernate during the winter months. Find encouragement for getting exercise indoors, or embrace the cold air by participating in one of many great outdoor activities, including Nordic walking, trail running, snowshoeing and skiing.

Stimulate yourself intellectually and emotionally by creating or revamping a list of things you want to do in life that you haven’t done thus far. My 50 helps you to discover your wishes, interests and goals, and connects you to others who have the same interests.

Food cravings change seasonally, and The Skinny Chef will help you prepare winter-specific meals to boost your energy levels. The site offers hearty and healthy recipes, loaded with the vitamins, nutrients and antioxidants needed for the cold months.

Healthy Discovery explains how to create your own spa experience at home. Reward yourself with rest and rejuvenation without breaking the bank, or even leaving the comfort of your own home.

Jen O’Neill
Writer

Cold and dark getting you down? Read “Tips for Beating the Winter Blues.”

“6 Sites for Conquering Holiday Stress” can help before and during those tense moments at Christmas or Hanukkah.

Boxing: The Key to a Marathon PR?

I’ve been running off and on since high school. But for a 10-year stretch, there was more “off” than “on” going on. Law school at night, 80-hour weeks at a law firm, launching a dot-com, and three kids left me little time to run. Around 2000, I rejuvenated my routine. As I previously wrote, between 2004 to 2007 I ran three marathons. I struggled to finish the first two in just over 5 hours and was pleased. On my third try, I finished in 4:54 and suddenly realized that I was capable of much better.

This year, I trained harder and smarter, lost 31 pounds in four months and went to the start far fitter than before. My final time was 4:18, a 36-minute PR. Part of my success can be attributed to eating better and training more consistently. But a major boost came from an unexpected source: boxing class. Yes, two to three mornings per week since July, I have risen at 5 a.m. and participated in a boot camp-style boxing exercise workout, the apex of which is a three-minute sparring session with the instructor.

The short-duration, high-intensity style of boxing works your heart, lungs, and arms and legs in a much different way than a series of long runs. At the first class I attended, the instructor tried to talk me out of it. In the final class, my heart and lungs were stronger than they had been since high school, and the instructor extended our sparring session by 30 seconds because I had so much energy left.

Adding a different element to your fitness routine lets you work new muscles and extend the duration of your workouts without overtaxing the muscles you rely on to run. The Cardioblog explains how to add boxing to your own routine.

Mark Moran
Founder & CEO

Earlier this year we published an article on findingDulcinea on the benefits of cross-training: "Cross-training: Variety is the Spice of Sport."