M&B publisher, Jan Seeley, and her long-time friend, Carol Roberts, enjoyed the beautiful city of Richmond as they ran the Anthem Richmond Marathon on November 16. The Richmond Marathon has a scenic course that winds through the city's most historic and beautiful neighborhoods and runs over and along the James River. With live bands, DJs, spirit groups, and Party Zones, the Richmond Marathon has been dubbed "America's Friendliest Marathon." Click here for more info.  

Marathon & Beyond welcomes Chris Lotsbom to the family. Beginning with the Jan/Feb issue, Chris joins us as our new "On the Run" columnist. In our current issue, Kathrine Switzer, our "On the Run" columnist writes, "Chris, 23, brings youth to this column, but he also brings tremendous experience. He grew up watching the Boston Marathon (a powerful credential if there ever was one!) and, inspired by it, ran both in high school and for Ithaca College."

Chris is a native of Walpole, Massachusetts, and has covered road racing and track and field for six years. He is a 2013 graduate of Ithaca College, where he studied Sport Media and ran for the Bombers cross country and track teams. As assistant editor of Race Results Weekly,

an online distance running news service, Chris has traveled across the globe covering races, including the 2012 London Olympic Games, IAAF Diamond League meetings, and the Boston and New York City marathons. His work has appeared in the Boston Marathon Official Program, on ESPN.com, and on many running websites. You can reach him at lotsie@msn.com or on Twitter: @ChrisLotsbom.

We talked to Chris after this year's ING New York City Marathon, and he sent us his thoughts:

A record number 50,304 runners crossed the race's finish line in Central Park, making it the largest marathon in history and first-ever marathon with over 50,000 finishers. Donning blue ribbons for Boston and flags from 109 nations across the globe, the race symbolized a worldy unity. After all, if you totaled up the amount of miles trekked by finishers, you could traverse earth's circumference nearly 53 times.

Walking through the city a day after the marathon was like taking a stroll through a jewelry store. Everyone donned their marathon medals with pride, symbolizing just how special this year's race was. They became a badge of honor and pride: I'm a marathoner, and nothing will stop us from moving forward.

In my first "On The Run" column appearing in the January/February issue of

Marathon & Beyond, I dive into how the marathon community has made 2013 the strongest and most powerful marathon year in memory. Coming together and reacting as one, the marathon family revealed just how strong we are, setting up what will be an amazing 2014 campaign.

As Wittenberg spoke to the media on November 4, she uttered a sentence that personified the event: "I think we may have seen our best week and day ever. To date, of course," she said. Wittenberg wasn't just referencing the ING New York City Marathon. Rather, she meant the marathon world.

The six-year-old Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon offers the appeal of a college-town setting. It features a flat, fast route that tours the University of Illinois campus as well as local parks and picturesque neighborhoods, with a dramatic, 50-yard line finish in Memorial Stadium with your friends and family in the stands and your finish displayed on the 36-foot scoreboard. Thousands of friendly, fun fans and volunteers line the course and exemplify Midwest hospitality. It is a Friday-Saturday event, so you can run the 5K on Friday night and then the marathon on Saturday to earn Full I-Challenge bragging rights: two shirts and three medals.

Featured guests in 2014 are author extraordinaire Hal Higdon and women's running crusader Jacqueline Hansen. On race morning, runners, spectators, and volunteers can enjoy Einstein Bros. Bagels and coffee in the staging area. After snacking on pizza, pasta, fruit, and other items after the race, celebrate at the award-winning 27th-Mile Celebrate Victory Bash, located just outside Memorial Stadium. There's live music, stuff for the kids, and a complimentary beer with your race number as your ticket. And, if you've still got energy after that party, grab all your friends, family, kids, spectators, fellow runners, and fans of good music and good times and head over to Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at 4:00 p.m. for a chance to listen to Ryan Ideus & The Feudin' Hillbillys, the Illinois Country Music Association's six-time winner of Dance Band of the Year. The Illinois Marathon was named by Runner's World magazine in its January 2014 issue as one of the top 10 new marathons in the United States. Other distances offered are a four-person marathon relay, half-marathon, 10K, 5K, and youth run. Click here for more info. 

The Seabrook Lucky Trail Marathon will be held on Sunday March 16, 2014. This event will include a half marathon on Saturday March 15 and a half marathon and marathon on Sunday March 16. In addition, there is a two-person relay for the half marathon on Saturday and a four-person relay for the marathon on Sunday. Two special events, known as the "Pelican Challenge" and the "Trail Challenge," are available for individual athletes who finish the half marathon on Saturday and the half marathon or marathon on Sunday. The event, held every year around St. Patrick Day, starts and ends at Seabrook's Meador Park. It is known as one of the best-supported small marathons in the area and has grown in both size and reputation since its inception in March 2004. The marathon course is four loops on the scenic Seabrook nature trails. The course consists of crushed granite surface. The course is fun, flat, and friendly to first-timers. The Seabrook nature trails is surrounded by a diverse habitat of both fresh and salt marsh, the coastline of the Galveston Bay, wetlands, and wild-life and bird sanctuaries. This popular event is known for its enthusiastic volunteers, great goodie bag, and awesome post-race party. Both walkers and runners are welcome.

 

Marathon & Beyond family who gave love, life, and JOY to everyone she knew. We are honoring and celebrating Joy's life in our Jan/Feb 2014 issue. 

 

Another member of our M&B family, Michael Lebowitz, shares with us some of his thoughts and photos he took of Joy at the Dick Beardsley Marathon Running Camp.  

 

  "William Carlos Williams wrote:    

 

  

"This fragment of a poem came to me when I heard the news of Joy Johnson's passing. In the brief time that I knew her, the 'Helen' in her heart was evident for all to see. Call it a glow, a life force, indeed Joy, and a fierceness to do things rightly and to live rightly. She made me smile and took me out of myself. After spending a week in her presence at the Dick Beardsley Marathon Running Camp on numerous occasions, I would run better, laugh more, and take better pictures. Joy had a special something that every photographer looks for and rarely finds - she was beautiful, and her life force was evident in nearly every picture I took of her. When I knew her, her surprising speed of foot was deserting her, though never her smile and never her determination. I would spot Joy in a crowd, pull out the long lens, and take her picture. Often when I went back to process the images and I came across those pictures, I smiled year after year - not because they made me look good, but because I was thankful to be in a place with people like Joy and to share a common bond that was built on running and expressed in effort, discipline, and love of life's rare gifts."

Our M&B Midcap by Headsweats is perfect when the weather starts to get a little chilly. Comfy, breathable. One size fits all.

 

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