e-XTRA
e-newsletterNovember 2012
In This Issue
M&B News
Between the Lines
Word on the Street
Talk on the Trail
Subscriber of the Month
Marathon & Beyond
 
Nov/Dec Cover
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NYC Marathon volunteers Running Stores Weather
the Storm and Keep Running


In the wake of superstorm Sandy, we'd like to thank some of our long-time supporters of M&B for sticking with us for the "long run" and let you know that we're thinking about you. 

  • Fleet Feet Sports Baltimore - Baltimore, MD
  • The Running Place - Newton Square, PA
  • Runner's Retreat - Winchester, VA
  • Kelley's Pace - Mystic, CT
  • Sound Runner - Branford, CT

We'd also like to recognize all the NYC Marathon runners who helped get supplies to the hard-hit areas. For our subscribers who have been affected by Sandy, we have learned that there are delays in delivering your Nov/Dec issue. If you haven't received your current issue, hang in there. They should be arriving soon. 

Duncan Larkin Between the Lines:
Duncan Larkin: Run Simple


In the back of every issue of M&B, we have a section "About the Authors" in which we offer a one-paragraph profile of each contributor. Of course, there's so much more behind their stories. Duncan Larkin wrote a different kind of article for our Nov/Dec issue. It's a poignant short story in which running is a backdrop for serious and emotional challenges in the life of the main character, Kerch Clyde. Its title, "The Charlatan," sets the tone for the senselessness and sadness of being an imposter.

 

Duncan writes about running for ESPN, Running Times, Competitor magazine, Marathon & Beyond, and other periodicals. He is a 2:32 marathoner and won the 2007 Himalayan 100-Mile Stage Race. But he's much more than a runner or writer. As a teenager, he was a Ham Radio operator, Rotary Club foreign exchange student, Taekwondo white belt, linoleum-surface break dancer, often-pinned wrestler, and occasional school politician. As an adult, he's a West Point and U.S. Army Ranger School graduate, World War I painter, top-300 U.S. marathoner in 2006, and a father of four. He's almost been sucked out of a plane and was kicked out of his host family's house in Switzerland. (I told you there was more to his story.)   

 

Run Simple Cover His first training book, Run Simple: A Minimalist Approach to Fitness and Well-Being, was published in June and is a "back-to-basics" philosophy on running. In a recent interview with Duncan, he talked about some of the basic tenets of his "Run Simple" philosophy.

 

M&B: Massive numbers of runners run with ipods, GPS watches, HR monitors. You advocate, "Turn it off and tune it out." What's wrong with using running gadgets?

 

DL: I believe most gadgets lead runners into focusing on things other than themselves. For example, a GPS watch that measures pace and distance creates a dependency for the runner, and I am afraid it creates a "crutch" for them. In my opinion, runners are perfectly capable of learning how to gauge pace and distance by themselves by listening to their bodies and memorizing pace/distance. Admittedly, it might not be decimal-level precision, but I believe run-by-feel is good enough for most of us. Try it!  

 

M&B: In Chapter 6 of your book, "A Penny Saved is a Personal Record Earned," you quote Thoreau: "Be wary of any enterprise that requires new clothes." According to your "Run Simple" philosophy, what DO runners need for most of their runs?

 

DL: Just a pair of running shoes, some comfortable and cheap clothes (appropriate to the climate), and a positive attitude. They certainly don't need to go shopping and shopping and shopping, heaping up gadgets and special clothing before departing.

M&B: You talk about "Head games" that runners play with themselves when all they really need is the right attitude. Tell us more about that.

 

DL: Running is almost entirely a mental affair. You have to learn to believe in yourself and in your goals. You have to make peace with the fact that you won't always "fire on all cylinders" every day, and that a bad run here or there isn't going to prevent you from ultimately realizing success. Sometimes you can't follow an exact plan because life gets in the way. Don't quit! Just put one foot in front of the other and don't take all your life's worries out on the roads with you. If you do, leave them there when you return. Running should be fun! It' shouldn't be one more thing to stress and fret about. "Head games" can sometimes be good; however, I use head games to convince myself to finish a tough workout. For example, I tell myself that if I complete the workout to standard, I will treat myself to something afterwards. Or I will convince myself to just focus on "one lap at a time" during a difficult set of track repeats. The key is to take all your mental effort and make it positive. Don't waste any mental energy on doubt, frustration, and despair. Running isn't always easy, but it should always be enjoyable and rewarding.

If you'd like to read more by Duncan Larkin or order his book, click here to visit his blog.

Flying Pig Word on the Street
Flying Pig Marathon
May 3-5, 2013
Cincinnati, Ohio

The 15th running of the Flying Pig Marathon powered by P&G will take place May 3-5, 2013, in Cincinnati. The "Pig," as the race is affectionately called, offers a distance for participants of all abilities. Saturday's races feature the 10K, 5K, Kid's Races, and the Piglet, while the full marathon, half marathon, and 4-person relay are held on Sunday. On Friday, the P&G Health and Fitness Expo opens at noon at the Duke Energy Convention Center in downtown Cincinnati and continues on Saturday opening at 10 a.m.

 

The Flying Pig Marathon, the 17th largest U.S. running festival, is well-known for its on-course support with 100 live entertainment zones, fluid stations at each mile, and spontaneous fun along the way with the more than 150,000 spectators or "street squealers" cheering participants on.

 

Registration is now open for the 2013 Flying Pig Marathon at www.flyingpigmarathon.com.

Trail Rail Trestle Talk on the Trail    

Inaugural Trail Rail Run

June 22, 2013
Mullan, Idaho to St. Regis, Montana 

 

The Northern Pacific and Old Milwaukee railroads both wound their way up through the Rocky Mountains and over the pass on their way to the Pacific. These rails are gone, and the beds are now open to recreational use. The inaugural Trail Rail Run on June 22, 2013, follows this path for 50 miles.  

 

The Trail Rail Run begins in the Coeur d'Alene River Ranger District in Idaho in the mining town of Mullan. It picks up the Northern Pacific railroad grade at the beginning to wind 8 miles up to the summit of Lookout Pass, proceeding down the other side to the old mining and logging town of St. Regis, Montana, in the Superior Ranger District. The railroad grades are never steeper than 2%, so whether up or down, the climbs and descents are gentle. The forgiving surface is dirt and gravel, and the road is wide enough to allow runners to proceed side-by-side, making running with buddies especially fun.

Runners will pass through tunnels and over trestles, including the new Dominion Trestle, recently restored by the US Forest Service. This is an awe-inspiring structure, which both the 50-mile and 50K runners have the joy of crossing.

 

The Trail Rail Run is a great ultra for beginners as there is nothing technical about the course. Please join us on June 22, 2013! (Please note the date change - it was originally set for June 29.) For more information go to  www.trailrailrun.com.

Tom Sisulak Chicago 35 Subscriber of the Month
Tom Sisulak 
 

Our Marathon & Beyond family spans the globe. We have subscribers in every US state and, at last count, in 20 different countries around the world. Most of our correspondence with our readers is through email, but we get to know many of our subscribers when we travel to marathons around the country. We met Tom Sisulak, in person, at the Chicago Marathon this past October.

 

Marathon & Beyond subscriber Tom Sisulak is a man of many talents. National running champion. Track and cross-country coach. Gymnastics coach. Hardcore cyclist. Community leader. Conservationist.

 

At 65 years old, Tom has completed 65 marathons and hundreds of 5K, 10K and 20K races. This includes 30 American Birkebeiner cross-country ski ultramarathons of 34 miles each held each February in Hayward, Wisconsin. Tom has earned three USA National Championships and national records in the 1,500 and 5,000 meters. He continues to train for state and national competitions in the marathon, half-marathon, 10K and 5K races, and track events. Most recently, he earned 2nd place in the 65-69 age group at the 2012 Chicago Marathon. 

 

Tom is an experienced track coach of 44 years who is currently sharing his knowledge with the Cougar athletes at Concordia University Chicago in multiple events. A native of Riverside, Illinois, Tom attended Riverside-Brookfield High School and Carthage College before beginning his coaching career at West Aurora High School in 1969. In 1971, Tom took a teaching and coaching position at LaFollette High School in Madison, Wisconsin. Over the next 31 years, his track, cross-country, and gymnastics teams earned a combined five state championships and 25 conference championships. Tom coached over 200 individual conference champions, 40 individual state champions, 19 individual national competitors and one individual world competitor.

 

Bike Trio 1966 But Tom's running and coaching accomplishments are just a part of his vast array of talents that began many years ago. In 1966, when Tom was 19 years old, he, along with his brother and a friend, rode their bikes from their Riverside homes in rural north central Indiana to visit his relatives in Rochester, Logansport, and Lake Cicott, Indiana - and back. Sleeping in cornfields along the way and pedaling through downpours, the boys completed Bike Trio 2006 their adventure. Twenty years later in 1986, the "boys" got together for a reunion tour.  And, six years ago in 2006, the three boys (men in their 50s at that time) celebrated their 40th anniversary of that adventure with a re-enactment of that same road trip to Indiana. The "Bicycle Ultra Tours" totaled 355 miles over nine days during the summers of 1966, 1986, and 2006. (The first photo is the boys in 1966; the second photo is the "boys" in 2006. Photos courtesy of Tom Sisulak.) 

 

When he's not running, coaching, or biking, Tom is planting seeds. Tom is the the originator of the 1,000 Tree Planting Project, an all-volunteer effort to plant 1,000 trees on one day every fall in the village of Riverside. When the project began, Tom gathered 3,000 seeds and sorted them to determine which 1,000 seeds would be the healthiest for planting. Once the seeds were ready, he enlisted the help of the Riverside United Methodist Church and the Boy Scouts to help plant them. The project began in 2007 and is now in its sixth year. "Each year we have a seminar prior to the planting date in November, which gives us a chance to share the details of how to plant successfully, how to identify specific trees, and to educate people to the environmental impact of the effort and the legacy that it leaves in a community," says Tom.

 

The 2012 Riverside 1,000 Tree Planting Project will be held on Saturday, November 17. Seeds and tools are provided, and planting techniques will be explained. Click here for more information.

Upcoming Marathon & Beyond Events
California International Marathon Expo: November 30 - December 1, 2012
Contact Us - We'd love to hear from you!
Marathon & Beyond
206 N. Randolph St., Suite 400
Champaign, IL  61820
877-972-4230 (toll-free)

 

Hanteens

All hand-held water bottles are not created equal. M&B has added a new product to our selection of running gear - Hanteens by Rainbow Racing Systems. These water bottles have a unique, ergonomic design that lets you carry aid without changing your normal hand/finger position. Our staff, along with some of our loyal subscribers, have tested these out and given them "two hands up." 

 

Subscribe to Marathon & Beyond and get 2 *FREE Hanteens. Call our office at (217) 359-9345 and use the code word e-XTRA Hanteen. Or, order online and put the code word e-XTRA Hanteen in the comment box. 

Offer Expires: December 15, 2012