Master's Running

I run. I hit the road in the fall of 1975 at the age of 19, I havent stopped since. Not quite as bad as Forest Gump but I havent missed many days in the last 30 years. I am not alone out there. The 40 to 55 year age group has more runners than any other. They call us Masters Runners, which is a nice way of saying old runners. Masters running is not a term saved for the elite older runner. Fast or slow, you are a still a masters runner.

Like golf, distance running is a sport where age is not much of a factor in performance before the age of 40. In fact, at the marathon distance, experience can be quite an advantage. I can remember watching Portugals Carlos Lopes win marathon Olympic gold in the 1984 LA games running 2:09:21 at the age of 37. At the time I thought Lopes was ancient but I also remember thinking I had another 10 years to train hard and improve my times. It was quite a motivating revelation. Another inspiring statistic for the aging, serious runner is that the majority of runners that make the US Olympic marathon team are over 30.

Running Boom!

Running, as a sport is Booming, Womens running is exploding.

You run like a girlGood for you. A fit woman is a powerful woman. Women run the world. These are just a few of the words adorning womens running shoe boxes these days. These slogans are an attempt to grab a share of the growth in womens running taking place today.

As a running shoe retailer, I can attest to the boom in womens running. When we opened Running Fit in 1984, the sale of womens shoes and apparel accounted for about 30% of our business. In 2000 womens sales were around 50% and we expect that to close in on the 55% mark this year. Women currently make up 75% of our beginning running and marathon training classes.

Running has been doing well in general. Growth of the sport was about 1% per year since 1985 1995 and has been in the neighborhood of 3% per year since. The numbers on the mens side are up but the growth has been slower, around 1% each year. Compared to many flat sports such as tennis, or declining sports such as In-line skating, running is alive and well.

March 19, 2008 - I love and hate my Garmin 205!

Yo run gang,

I love and hate my Garmin 205, just like any good coach I suppose. I sure miss logging my miles using a fudge factor to tally them. Lets see, a 40 minute run, 5 miles sounds about right today, it felt like 8 minute pace; thats how it used to be. Now, on a windy day with some bad footing I look down at 40 minutes figuring an 8 minute pace effort only to see its hardly a 9 minute pace and I have at least 5 minutes to go before the 5 mile mark. Who ever guessed it would take technology to make me an honest man? I sure miss the days when running for a longer time meant logging more miles!

Get out and run!
Randy Step

For more Run Reading, click here: Running Boom!

March12, 2008 - Run with the Kenyans

Yo run gang,

With the stock market retirement money flying out the window and with gas soon to hit four bucks a gallon, lacing up my shoes and heading off for a simple head clearing run has never been a better value!

Meet the Kenyans! Join us for a fun, get to know each other, Kenyan meet and greet at the downtown Running Fit store, 7:30 PM Tuesday, March 25th. Kenyans Philip Lagat and Richard Kessio will share stories of life in Kenya, running, and how they got to Michigan. For those who can make it, join Philip, Richard and this obsessed runner for an easy run at 5:30 PM preceding the talk. (Easy? You will at least get to run with me!) A $5 donation to the Kenya Athletic Relief Fund is suggested for those who attend.

Run with the Kenyans or should I say, run in their footprints! The Martian 10K, Half Marathon and Marathon are fast approaching. The Meteor 10K is at 9 am on Saturday April 5th and the 10K prize money assures the elite gang will be towing the line, including our Kenyan visitors. One very cool thing about a road race is that us schlock runners get to line up and go head to head with these folks, how cool, you cant do that with the NBA, NHL, NFL or other such sports! Cooler still, if you get to the 3 mile mark in 24 minutes, you will get to see the leaders fly by at Mile 5 in this out and back section! Enter at www.martianmarathon.com.

The first sign of spring, new running shoes! For you Brooks Adrenaline or Asics 2120, 2130 fans, may I suggest a shoe to add to your mix that you might just fall in love with? The new Nike Structure Triax 11 surprised me, with a great fit and great feel on the road, Nike is back strong with this shoe. Nike as a company is financially on top of the world and Im guessing we runners benefit as they have the cash for research, development and all it takes to make great product and I believe they did it with this shoe. (No, they didnt even pay me for this plug Darn.)

Spring? Bring it on,
Randy Step, an admitted obsessed runner

For more Run Reading, click here: Run Faster

Run Faster

Feel the need for speed?

Runners are creatures of habit. We run the same routes at the same time at the same pace. We dont get faster daaah? To get faster we have to jump the track. To get faster we need to increase our mileage, change our course and change our pace. Are you ready to run fast and take chances? Im already headed out the door!

To get faster, increasing your total weekly mileage is a good place to start. I suggest a minimum base of 25 miles per week before adding specific speed workouts, 30 miles per week would be better. Weekly mileage really depends on the distance you plan to race. If you are out to run a fast 5K, 25-30 miles per week is fine but for the marathon I suggest no less than 40 miles per week before working on speed.

Remember the distance rule? Never increase your total mileage

more than 10% in one week and never work on speed when you are increasing your mileage. Increasing speed, or the quality of your runs, is just as stressful on the body as increasing distance is. If you attempt both you will be at a higher risk of injury.

Burned out? No way!

Burned Out? NO WAY! How can anyone burn out on running? Time to shake things up!

• Plan tomorrow's run for 10 PM ... if you normally run in the morning.
• Run in the woods, if you normally run on the road. How about Maybury State Park at 8 Mile and Beck? The trail is awesome! Especially in the dark with a headlamp!
• Start and finish your run at a lake and dive in ... preferably naked! Yikes!
• Try some GU, new shoes, new route, new run partner or run with a group. Click here for group runs at Running Fit stores.
• Go to a high school track at night and put some beer along the track. Do a few easy, or hard, miles. Finish with a cool down walk with beer in hand. Seeing the beer on each lap is may inspire you.
• Run a race. Don't even make plans; just find one on line (runmichigan.com) and go!
• Get someone to drop you off a long way from home with no way to get back but to run!
• Drive to a spot some evening then run home. In the morning, run back and get your car!

Run Wild,
Randy Step

March 5, 2008 - Running Fit supplies Kenyans with running gear.

Yo run gang,

Dances With Dirt sells out again! This proves that Well it proves something, perhaps it has to do with runners needing to get their butts kicked, bodies scratched, bitten and bruised All in good fun! What am I talking about? Check out www.danceswithdirt.com, the dark side of running.

We are just 2 weeks away from the kick off of the spring racing season, although Mother Nature has been draggin her feet. The Saint Pats day runs are the early test to see who has kept in shape through this messy winter. Not that these races are taken too seriously and usually involve a post race trip to the bar, but its fun to kick off the dust and get started. A great choice is the Shamrocks & Shenanigans 5K, 2 mile and kids dash in Ann Arbor, March 16th. Shamrocks has a fun and exciting course that loops and loops and loops Conner ONeills Pub, the event sponsor. All proceeds go to Save a Heart Foundation at C.S. Mott Childrens Hospital. We have 2 weeks to get ready, no sweat! For more information visit our website www.runshamrocks.com.

Tribal conflicts in Kenya these past few months have been brutal and the death toll has included some notable Kenyan runners. A friend of mine, Joseph Codgington, has been helping get athletes out of Kenya and to the United States, a risky and bureaucratic task. Joseph is putting them up in his home in Ann Arbor and Running Fit has stepped up to help by supplying footwear and running gear. The athletes arrive here with not much more than the clothes on their back. 2 of the 4 athletes he is bringing in arrived Saturday and came by Running Fit on Tuesday to get fitted up. Check out the story at http://codgie.com/running-fit-sponsors-kenyan-runners.htm, these two guys look like a couple of kids on Christmas morning with all their new toys. Welcome to the snow Richard and Philip! (They really liked the hats!) In next weeks midweek email, we will announce dates that the Kenyans will be at our stores, joining us for runs and telling their amazing stories of how running got them out of Kenya and here to Michigan.

Get out and run,
Randy Step

For more Run Reading, click here: Burned Out? No Way!

February 28, 2008 - All it takes is sunshine, good footing, no wind...

Yo run gang,

All it takes is sunshine, good footing, no wind and temps above 25 to make Michigan a great place to run the other 300 or so days of the year are to make us tough, arghhh!

Join me this Saturday, March 1st, at high noon in Hell, Michigan for a very stupid, very fun run. (No fee!) A traditional 4 mile slog, jog through the woods with a few hundred runners and no wimps in sight! Actually the run will start at 12:45 after the legendary Dances With Dirt Team Relay sign up. You dont have to sign up for DWD to join this run, BUT WHY NOT TRY! Seriously, for those of you who have not ran on a DWD team, I can guarantee it to be one of the most fun and memorable events of your running life. The actual event is September 6th but it will sell out this Saturday. Go to www.danceswithdirt.com, click on Hell, then scratch your head in wonder!

Last week I yanked my Achilles pretty good while running an ice covered trail. I limped around all day thinking, this might be trouble. I rubbed on some topical Ibuprofen cream several times over the next couple days and have been running pain free ever since. Anyway, Im the biggest skeptic when it comes to snake oil but I think this stuff actually might work. I didnt even mean to make this a shameless plug but if you want more info on this product check out this weeks Product of the Week.

Speaking of sell outs, Traverse City, Bayshore Half Marathon on Memorial Day weekend has hit its entry limit and there are few spots remaining in the Full Marathon. Running is alive and well in Michigan and I believe its a positive sign that our economy can recover, heck, runners are smart, dynamic people that can turn it around and make it happen! Lets get to work!

Run, work, eat, sleep, repeat,
Randy Step

For more Run Reading, click here: Is Running Healthy?

Is Running Healthy?

Running takes a bad rap as a sport for long term health so I'm quick to read things that dispel such stuff. I'm just a 51 year old kid who has run just about every day for 30 years and I'm kicking butt! So there.

I was sent an article from the February 2001 issue of Discovery Magazine reporting on a study by physicist and biomechanist Benno Nigg. The study shows the impact and motions from life long running are not nearly as damaging as once thought. From the following information taken from the article (taken out of context), I was ready to write an article about what a bad wrap running has taken in the press.

"He and others doing similar studies found no relation between the magnitude of impact forces and the injury rate in runners. Fast runners for example, land with two to three times the force of slower runners, yet in Niggs studies they were injured no more frequently.

Running Fast: Form, The Last Frontier

In the quest for speed and distance every hill has been repeated, every conceivable combination of speed and rest intervals has been run and as far as weekly mileage every possible number has been tried. Sure the combinations are endless but by the process of elimination, weve seen all the real magic we are going to see without changing the way we run.

Watching Paula Radcliff shatter the womans marathon record turned on a light. Watching Paula run is not pretty but neither was seeing someone break the high jump record by flopping over the bar.

Look at the maze of bones, tendons and muscles in the feet, the lack of muscle in the calf and the weak link in the middle, the knee. Our present way of training to the breaking point is like building a house of cards. Its time to find some bricks!

With Paulas head bob and nose tape, you might just miss the real beauty of her run. Am I mistaken, or is she really running from the strength of her abs? Hmmm