The following book review is courtesy of Christopher Kelsall and originally published on the Flotrack website. Reproduced here with permission.

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We’ve all read John L. Parker Junior’s contribution to running culture, the quasi-fictional parable, Once a Runner – or inevitably you will. As far as running novels go, Parker set the benchmark with this story, so-much-so that the very long-awaited sequel, Again to Carthage, as good as it is, will forever exist in the shadow of the former Parker touchstone. Think in terms of Paul McCartney’s post-Beatle career, much longer and arguably more successful artistically-speaking than his career as one of the fab four, but the giant shadow looms and will forever cast its influence. Once a Runner is as significant to running culture as Sgt. Pepper is to popular music culture.

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A recent article in the New York Times outlines recent research which makes that case that flexibility should not be considered a cornerstone of health and fitness.

In fact, the latest science suggests that “extremely loose muscles and tendons are generally unnecessary (unless you aspire to join a gymnastics squad), may be undesirable and are, for the most part, unachievable, anyway.”

Do you agree or disagree? The full article can be read here.

Written by Hayley Mick and originally published in the October 29, 2009 edition of the Globe and Mail;

Competitive distance runners, unlike hockey or rugby players, are better known as boy scouts than party boys, but some say that’s just a stereotype.

Jim Finlayson, one of Canada’s elite distance runners, gathered with 75 racers on the track, feeling confident after his normal pre-race routine: a nice sleep, oatmeal for breakfast, plenty of water.

When the start gun blasted, however, he did something he never would have attempted in international competition: He chugged a bottle of Granville Island Winter Ale. Then he bolted.

They call it the Beer Mile. Four laps of the track. One beer per lap. No puking, on pain of a penalty lap. Hundreds of people around the world have posted their times, and beer of choice, on www.beermile.com.

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CBC’s Scott Russell discusses on his blog the immunity of the running industry during the recession. An excerpt has been included below, to read his post in full please visit his blog.

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Running events are myriad in this country and even in a period of recession they seem to be flourishing. The Vancouver Sun 10-kilometre race boasted 55,000 entrants in April. Early this month, 12,000 folks ran or shuffled in Sporting Life’s annual dash down one of the busiest streets in Canada’s largest city. From the Bridge City Boogie in Saskatoon, to the Blue Nose International Marathon in Halifax, people are still running, in literally thousands of races spanning the country and in record numbers.

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A great article from New York Times writer Gina Kolata:

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IF anyone ever wondered whether it was talent or sustained systematic training that makes athletes so good, they need only look at Joshua Gordon, a professional mediator in Boston.

Mr. Gordon ran cross-country in college before stopping completely to take up baseball. Six years later, in 1999, he decided, almost as a lark, to run the Boston Marathon. He joined a program to learn how to run longer distances, a process that involved gradually increasing the length of his runs and focusing only on distance, not speed.

He finished the marathon in a little over four hours, not especially fast for a man of 24, but he did meet his goal. “I was thrilled,” he said.

And so he found himself edging back into running, entering shorter races, 5 and 10 kilometers. He tried to train on his own, but he never did particularly well until he decided to start serious, rigorous marathon training with the Boston Athletic Association. He received coached track workouts once a week, four to six coached runs of 18 to 23 miles along the marathon course, and he had a group of skilled and talented athletes to run with.

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Following is an excerpt from Mark Sisson’s blog (The Daily Apple) where he argues, contrary to the recent emerging popular belief, that humans have NOT evolved to be long distance runners…

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Thanks to the several readers who have pointed out this recent article in SEED Magazine which once again dredges up the tired argument that humans evolved to be long-distance runners. Most of you know by now that I totally disagree with that theory. I say humans evolved to be excellent slow movers (walk, jog, migrate, forage, crawl, scramble, etc) burning mostly fat. We also developed into pretty decent short sprinters, but we did NOT evolve to run long distances. Sure, early humans were all-around fit enough and capable of the occasional long easy jaunt after an animal, but to think that natural selection redesigned our simian shapes to run the Boston Marathon is, in my opinion, ludicrous.

Continue reading on Mark’s blog…

From the Vancouver Sun:

VICTORIA – Brent Fougner, race manager for the inaugural Times Colonist 10K, recalls thinking how impressive it was that 1,700 runners showed up in 1990.

On April 26, a throbbing ribbon of humanity comprising more than 12,000 participants is expected to snake its way through city streets for the 20th annual Times Colonist 10K.

It is the second largest 10-kilometre race in Canada after the Vancouver Sun Run.

“It boggles my mind . . . per capita, it’s the largest running event in Canada,” said Fougner, of the event’s growth over two decades.

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Christopher Kelsall’s latest interview is will Kiwi athlete, coach and author Keith Livingstone. Keith is a Lydiard method enthusist, and has just published a book on the famous training method titled: Healthy Intelligent Training (H.I.T). This is a long interview, but if you are a fan of the Lydiard method then it is well worth the read. 

Note: this interview was originally published on the Flotrack website and is reproduced here with permission from Chris. 

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(c) Copyright – 2009 – Christopher Kelsall

Keith Livingstone, from New Zealand recently published a new book about an old training method, writing it in today’s language. He has taken the famous training method of the late and incomparable Arthur Lydiard and modernized it so everyone can understand the theory and application fully in a book he calls, Healthy Intelligent Training or H.I.T for short.

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Its Christmas Eve! There’s still time for shopping for that runner on your list! Jesse Squire of The Final Sprint website has published the second installment of his 101 top books relating to running and track. Each listed title includes a short description of the book, ideal for helping us pick the perfect volume for that runner on our Christmas list. Here are the second 10 books in the list in no particular order:

A Cold Clear Day: The Athletic Biography of Buddy Edelen
Frank Murphy
Windsprint Press, 2000
Buddy Edelen was an American runner who didn’t become world-class until he moved to England. In 1963 he set a marathon world record, the first American to do so in over 50 years (Khalid Khannouchi being the only American man since). This slim biography was Frank Murphy’s first book–he has written another two–and it’s unusually good reading for a first-timer and for a sports biography.

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Jesse Squire of The Final Sprint website has recently put together a list of 101 top books relating to running and track. Each listed title includes a short description of the book, ideal for helping us pick the perfect volume for that runner on our Christmas list. Here are the first 10 books in the list in no particular order:

Lon, by Don Potts – Tafnews Press, 1993
A former contributing editor at Track & Field News, now deceased, Potts was an expert on the sprints. This book is an athletic biography of Lon Myers, the first American superstar of track. In the 1880s he dominated short distances from 50 yards to 1 mile, once winning four different national championship races in one day. Included in the appendices is a complete record of Myers’ career races.

The Other Shulman: A novel, by Alan Zweibel – Villard, 2006
Overweight suburbanite T.O. Shulman decides to run the New York City marathon, and the story of his life is told via flashbacks during the race. Zweibel is a former Saturday Night Live writer, and the book won the 2007 Thurber Award for humor writing. While it is laugh-out-loud funny at times, the humor serves to lighten an otherwise mostly sad tale.

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Writer and sports geek Andrew Braithwaite’s work has appeared in The Walrus, Azure and Toro. He also maintains a blog called the Sportstrotter, from which this latest article on marathon running appears. For the full posting please visit Andrew’s blog .

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PARIS—In 490 BC, a Greek military leader entrusted the messenger Pheidippides with an important communiqué: the Greek army had triumphed over the Persians in the Battle of Marathon. Pheidippides travelled 38 kilometres on foot from a battlefield near the coastal village of Marathon to Athens, maintaining a brisk running pace. Upon delivering the good news, the messenger promptly dropped dead.

And now, two-and-a-half millennia later, people do this sort of thing for fun?

Sorry, sorry guys. I know that’s not how I’m supposed to start one of these sessions. Here goes: Hello, everybody. My name’s Andrew, and I’m a distance runner. I haven’t run a full marathon in 17 months, but I’m scheduled for a relapse ten days from now, in Dublin. So consider this the first in a trilogy of columns on my destructive, enthralling 42.2 kilometre mistress.

When I claim to run marathons, I do make a point of noting that, hey, it’s not like I have 30 of the grueling bastards under my belt. I’ve not yet reached that point in my addiction, not by a long shot. The 2008 Dublin Marathon will only be my second time covering the distance, after all. I ran my first last spring in Ottawa (and have the t-shirt to prove it).

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For dentist, it’s just one of four gruelling desert ordeals

Katherine Dedyna, Times Colonist
Published: Monday, October 20, 2008

It’s cold and rainy outside as Stan Lee and Jon Miller hoof it on the treadmills at the Oak Bay Rec Centre, where they’ve covered 15 kilometres a night for months. They’re really going to miss the crummy weather a pane of glass away.

That’s because it will be blazing hot when the two Greater Victoria men hit the ground running in the Sahara Desert. They leave tomorrow for the hottest of the "4 Deserts " races organized by RacingThePlanet .

At 21, Miller is the youngest of 170 competitors attempting the 250-km run through sand dunes, plateaus and oases from Oct. 26 to Nov. 1. The oldest is a 73-year-old Briton and in between is Dean Karnazes, the American famed for 50 marathons in 50 days.

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The 29th Annual Royal Victoria Marathon takes place this Sunday, October 12th; in addition to the Marathon there is a Half Marathon, 8K Road Race and Thrifty Foods Kids Run.

For details, visit www.royalvictoriamarathon.com .

Here are a few articles about the event:

Canada’s Joggling Phenom to Race Royal Victoria Marathon

Elite Runners confirmed for the Royal Victoria Marathon

Names and Games

For many runners, keeping a running log is an excellent way to keep track of their progress. In a running log you enter basic information about your runs. For example: distance, time and type of workout. You can also be more comprehensive and regularly put in your weight and pulse.

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The following is courtesy of writer Will Johnson and The Martlet , the University of Victoria’s student newspaper. This article was published in the September 11th edition and recaps the adventures of three university students who recently returned from running across Africa in support of African education …

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Running across a continent isn’t as easy as it looks.

Okay, so maybe it doesn’t look easy. But Whether the Victoria trio of Reuben Jentink, Erin Van Wiltenberg and Patrick Donker was frolicking in the ocean, hanging out with elephants, or running with local children, they always had big smiles on their faces. While running a marathon in stifling heat can’t be a breeze, judging by the “See Them Run” blog, jogging across three countries to raise awareness about African education actually seems pretty fun.

From April to August, along with a videographer, a nurse and some support staff, these three adventurers ran across Namibia, Zambia and Tanzania. The group hoped to raise $100 for every kilometre they traversed — dollars that will go towards the African education system: school supplies, new facilities and teachers. It was an epic adventure, and a once in a lifetime opportunity.

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A growing subset of runners are shedding their shoes and putting bare feet to the ground. The following article is written by STEPHEN and published September 3, 2008 on The Gear Junkie .

Arms pumping, eyes scanning the ground ahead, Dean Laiti runs east on a sidewalk in St. Louis Park, Minn., his feet swishing like sandpaper on cement below. “Right over these tracks,” he shouts, making a quick turn to leap a railroad grade.

It’s a Tuesday evening in early June, and Laiti, a 48-year-old finance worker, has volunteered to teach me to run the way nature intended. That would mean barefoot — without shoes and striding, skin and toes to nothing but asphalt as we bound east toward the skyline of downtown Minneapolis beyond.

Above: Laiti’s calloused feet are the result of thousands of miles run without shoes.

“Watch out for that gravel,” Laiti says, pointing to a bed of rocks beside the path. He runs feet gracing the ground, calloused pads contacting pavement in an almost soundless stride.

I tag behind, feet slapping, wincing as my toes tread on a medium I’ve heretofore reserved for rubber soles.

“You doing ok?” Laiti shouts, looking back.

Barefoot Heritage
Running barefoot was for many millennia the only way to get around, and the human foot — a biomechanical masterpiece of muscles, tendons and 26 bones — evolved to absorb weight and spring bodies in stride.

Historically, when shoes did come into play they were most often minimal, the likes of hide sandals and moccasins, made to insulate in the cold or protect skin from sharp objects beneath.

Then Nike came along.

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published at canada.com

BEIJING – Want to meet one of Gordon Lightfoot’s Rainy Day People?
Look no further than Gary Reed. Most runners wouldn’t exactly cherish the thought of having to run their Olympic 800-metre track semifinal in a downpour. No problem said a drenched Reed, who qualified for the 2008 Summer Games final to be held Saturday at the Bird’s Nest Stadium.

"It was just like being at home and running in the rain in Victoria," said Reed.
"I train and run in this stuff all year long."

Reed slipped through the rain drops to finish second in his race – one of three semifinals held Thursday – to qualify for the Olympic final by only 2/100ths of a second.

The top two from each of the semis, along with the runners with the two remaining fastest times, make up the eight-man final.

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Tom McMillan, Times Colonist

Race officials hope the program, which invites residents to recruit pledges for five local charities, will raise $75,000. However, others are aiming higher.

"Forget the 70, let’s go for 100," said Rob Reid, marathon organizer and owner of Frontrunners Footwear. "We’ve got to reach for the sky."

The Royal Victoria Marathon is one of the Canada’s best-known outdoor running events, with more than 9,000 runners participating in the 42.2-kilometre full-marathon, half marathon, 8K and children’s races.

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Running for beginners
By Erik Gable
GateHouse News Service

It’s summer, and just about anywhere you go, you can see runners and joggers hitting the sidewalks and trails. Thinking about joining them? If you’ve never run before, here are some tips from the pros.

Decide why you’re doing it

“First and foremost, you’ve got to have a goal,” says Eric Clarke, who owns Running With E’s in Adrian, Mich., with his wife, Kerri. “You have to really identify why you want to do this.”

You might be running to lose weight, or to compete in a race, or even to run with a school-age child who’s in sports — but having a clear goal will help you stay motivated.

Get cleared by your doctor

James Larson, head track and cross country coach at Adrian College in Michigan, says people should get a doctor’s approval before starting an aerobic exercise program. “We want you to be safe, and being cleared by a medical doctor is the first step,” he says.

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Canwest News Service

Gary Reed already has a world championship medal — now he’s ready to take a shot at Olympic glory.

Reed punched his ticket to the 2008 Beijing Olympics Sunday winning the men’s 800 metres on the final day of the Canadian track and field championships in Windsor, Ont.

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