Warrior Dash, Tough Mudder, and Other Cross-Obstacle Races

Over the weekend, one of my Facebook friends recently put up a status asking why the sudden proliferation of events like the Warrior Dash, Tough Mudder, Muddy Buddy, and urban adventure races. It seemed that the comments on this status fell onto one of two sides. The first side declared that such races are a show of false bravado for weekend warriors, a money making scheme that lacks the seriousness of a "real" competition, and an injury risk for "real" athletes. The other side stated that such races are a ton of fun, a great way to get people moving, and an excuse to push one's limits. A similar discussion was posted on LetsRun last week, with similar arguments on both sides (though LetsRun being LetsRun, I'm sure you can guess which side most posters took).

Gear Review: Running for the Hansons

 

You don't graduate from Bucknell University without being at least somewhat of a Hansons fan. My first exposure to the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project was in 2003, my freshman year, when I somehow managed to make the travel squad to a cross-country meet in Detroit (I have no idea how that happened...I sucked freshman year!). My coach, Kevin Donner, had previously coached Brian Sell at St. Francis University and took the opportunity to introduce him to our team. Additionally, one of my teammates, a fellow freshman, had run for Sterling Heights High School in Michigan, and had been coached by Kevin Hanson, one of the two founders and coaches of the Hansons team. Then, a few years later, my best friend and college running partner Molly Pritz was accepted to their program (to be fair, she's gotten a lot faster since college, and training with her post-collegiately often involved me getting dropped). At this point, anyone who ran for the Bison kind of becomes a Hansons fan be default. So when I heard that Hansons runner Sage Canaday was putting out a book about his experiences with the team, I ordered myself some reading material.

Why Do You Run?

Running is a somewhat odd activity. It's a selfish endeavor, and many of us leave our families for hours every day, plunging ourselves into an activity that benefits no one but ourselves. Sometimes we're helping a team or a running partner, but for the most part, it is something we do to satisfy our own desires. It's a financially draining sport. Sure, I win a little bit of money on the roads now and then, but that money doesn't even cover my shoes, let alone the rest of my gear, my race fees, or my running related medical bills. Even many professional runners aren't making enough to live, and they have to have another part-time job on the side. It's a punishing activity, bringing with it the physical pain of effort and injuries, and the mental anguish of heartbreak. Yet for whatever reason, we all continue to do it. So while you read this post, I'd like you to start thinking about the answer to the question: Why do you run?

Gear Review: Running Books (Training)

In a past post, I mentioned the value of having a coach guiding your training. Unfortunately, that is not a possibility for everyone, for various reasons. Luckily, there are several books on the market today that can help provide guidelines for structuring a training program. These books are even useful for those runners who have a coach, since it never hurts to understand why you're doing certain things, and depending on your coach, the knowledge will give you an opportunity to ask questions and make suggestions concerning your training. Different books, of course, are for different purposes and different audiences. The person who would be best served by No Need for Speed: A Beginner's Guide to the Joy of Running would be completely overwhelmed by Lore of Running, while someone who eats up the latter would be bored to tears by the former. In this post, I will lay out some of the more popular running books in order to help you decide which books might be most appropriate for you.

Artwork

New artwork tab added to the top. Check it out. DO IT DO IT DO IT.

In case you need some encouragement, this one's my favorite:

Gear Review: Daniels' Running Formula

Say the name "Jack Daniels" to any serious runner, and they'll assume you're talking about the world-renowned coach and exercise physiologist, not the whiskey. While Daniels himself is only able to coach a limited number of athletes, he has written a book to make his training philosophy available to world. I've read a lot of running books, yet one of my absolute favorites is Daniels' Running Formula.

Molly Pritz is the 2011 USATF 25K National Champion!

Molly Pritz, of the Hansons Brooks Distance Project, won the Fifth Third River Bank Run in 1:25:38 to become the 2011 USATF 25K National Champion! And just in case this isn't impressive enough, she just did it at 23 years old. Expect big things from this girl in the future. Check out the interview on Runnerspace.

Sorry for the long deadspace between updates. End of the semester = exam week and other craziness. I have a good one in the works, just have to proofread it.