to move up and down
Ben Johnson ran his first competitive race in close to two decades on Tuesday, competing at a Toronto meet in a celebrity relay. His team won.
“Exhausted,” he said, sitting inside the University of Toronto’s stadium. “I’m in good shape, but my cardio is really bad. My breathing, you know? It’s bad. But my running style is OK.” (Photo: Darren Calabrese/National Post)
‘He took off like a shot’: Hamilton gym manager recalls day she sprinted after teenage vandal — and caught him
It is not easy running in black dress shoes.
Especially when it is January and the sidewalks are a slushy mess, and especially when you are 36-years-old and wearing dress pants in addition to dress shoes, and not merely out for a casual jog but sprinting, flat-out, like Florence Griffith Joyner, circa 1988, in hot pursuit of a teenager with the physique of a high school football player who had just kicked in a glass door at the fitness club where you work as the manager.
And being a responsible manager, as Lindsay Geddes at the Lime Ridge Mall GoodLife fitness club in Hamilton most definitely is, there simply wasn’t time to fret about footwear choices. There was only time to either stay put or take action on that January day in 2012. Ms. Geddes, a once-upon-a-time high school soccer star, with shoulder length blond hair and a Dad who was a cop, isn’t your sit tight and call 911 type.
“He was a bigger boy, a lot taller than I am,” Ms. Geddes tells me. “I came out of the gym and said, ‘Hey, you kicked our door in.’ And he started to walk away. Then he bolted.”
He took off like a shot.
“I thought, you know what, that’s just not right — you need to take responsibility for what you did — and so I followed him,” Ms. Geddes says. “I was on a mission. I could have run all day.” (Glenn Lowson for the National Post)
The race was in London, but the thoughts of many were with another city.
Thousands of runners who took part in the London Marathon on Sunday paid tribute to those killed and injured in the Boston Marathon six days earlier. Participants paused for a moment of silence in the beginning, many wore black ribbons on their chests as a sign of solidarity, and two runners finished carrying a banner that read “For Boston.”
The mood was festive, defiant — and the surging crowds who turned out on the glorious spring day to line the route roared enthusiastically.
“It means that runners are stronger than bombers,” said Valerie Bloomfield, a 40-year-old participant from France. (Photos: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images, Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images, Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
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Forget staying or going: Should you walk or run for exercise? Which yields the most benefits?While it isn’t a clear-cut question (variables such as distance and intensity do matter), a new study shows that the health benefits of walking can equal those of running, if you plan your regimen right.[Photo credit: John Kenney/Postmedia News files]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/82ad754ed89a58bbd02ce8ace45a1ab7/tumblr_mld8s9zO8w1s0oiwfo1_1280.jpg)
Forget staying or going: Should you walk or run for exercise? Which yields the most benefits?
While it isn’t a clear-cut question (variables such as distance and intensity do matter), a new study shows that the health benefits of walking can equal those of running, if you plan your regimen right.
[Photo credit: John Kenney/Postmedia News files]
At least two dead, 64 injured as two bombs hit Boston Marathon finish line, more explosive devices found
Two bombs exploded near the finish of the Boston Marathon on Monday, killing at least two people, injuring at least 23 others and sending authorities rushing to aid wounded spectators, race organizers and police said.
Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis said the two explosions occurred about 50 to 100 metres apart “simultaneously” on Boylston Street and there was multiple casualties at each location.
One runner, a Rhode Island state trooper, said he saw at least two dozen people with very serious injuries, including missing limbs.
A third explosion occurred at the JFK Library at about 4:00 p.m. but no injuries were reported, Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis said at a press conference Monday afternoon. Davis said numerous bags were left at the scene by runners and each is being treated as a possible threat.
This will go over well: Oscar Pistorius wants to start training again while on bail
While a representative for the Olympian says he has no immediate plans to return to the track while he is in “mourning,” it is something South Africa officials need to be aware of to track his movements while he waits for a trial in June.Pistorius shot and killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentine’s Day. Despite being charged with murderm the athlete claims it was an accident, saying he thought she was an intruder.
Steenkamp’s parents want him to come clean.
“It’s only Oscar, Reeva that know the true story,” Barry Steenkamp said on Sunday. “And all I want, whether it will help me or it won’t, he must just come out with the honest truth.”
(Photos: Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images; Stephane de Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images; Handout)
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Our Massive Map of marathons, half marathons, charity runs, 5Ks and other ways to get moving in 2013Ben Kaplan, the Post’s resident marathon man and running expert, has compiled a list of 56 races across Canada, conveniently already in fridge-map format for easy viewing. Enjoy![Graphic designed by Richard Johnson/National Post]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/80f28f03d39c33dd04223443f44fc1f2/tumblr_mgucwyNMhQ1s0oiwfo1_1280.jpg)
Our Massive Map of marathons, half marathons, charity runs, 5Ks and other ways to get moving in 2013
Ben Kaplan, the Post’s resident marathon man and running expert, has compiled a list of 56 races across Canada, conveniently already in fridge-map format for easy viewing. Enjoy!
[Graphic designed by Richard Johnson/National Post]
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The National Post’s resident strong man (and official Marathon Man, with new columns on running and fitness every Monday) has written his first ebook, a compilation of knowledge and wisdom gleaned from years in the sport, designed to help you get a headstart on your goals this winter. It’s available on all the popular platforms, from Kindle to Kobo to iTunes, so check it out before you slap on those tights for another brisk run!!
[Photo by Peter J. Thompson/National Post]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/4444bc576d29fb8e05fee1403441cf2c/tumblr_mg2cwb2Egj1s0oiwfo1_500.jpg)
The National Post’s resident strong man (and official Marathon Man, with new columns on running and fitness every Monday) has written his first ebook, a compilation of knowledge and wisdom gleaned from years in the sport, designed to help you get a headstart on your goals this winter. It’s available on all the popular platforms, from Kindle to Kobo to iTunes, so check it out before you slap on those tights for another brisk run!!
[Photo by Peter J. Thompson/National Post]
A double life: Three-time Olympian Suzy Favor Hamilton worked as a motivational speaker, a brand rep and a $600-an-hour escort
A former U.S. Olympian whose running career led to motivational speaking engagements and gigs representing such top companies as Disney has ended it all by outing herself as a high-paid Las Vegas call girl.
Suzy Favor Hamilton spilled the beans on her Belle de Jour-like experience by confessing her identity to some of the men who paid for her favours, The Smoking Gun reports.
She was apparently amazed when one of them talked.
“I take full responsibility for my mistakes. I’m not the victim and I’m not going to go that route,” she told a TSG reporter who approached her in the lobby of a Las Vegas hotel.
“I’m owning up to what I did. I would not blame anybody except myself.”
Running Resolutions: How to get out there, stay injury-free and keep going in 2013
She’s an avid runner and trains consistently with goals in mind, but Jane Cullis’s main goal in 2013 is just to stay healthy and not push herself too hard.
Inspiring or inappropriate? New Yorkers and runners from around the world debated whether a marathon should be run with disaster for a backdrop.
The New York City Marathon is on Sunday, with many logistical questions to be answered.
“To us the marathon really epitomizes the spirit of New York City, the vitality, the tenacity, the determination of New Yorkers,” New York Road Runners President Mary Wittenberg said on Wednesday, shortly before Mayor Michael Bloomberg confirmed the race was on. “Now our every effort is to once again tell the world that New York City, as the mayor would say, is open for business, and we welcome the support of the world at this trying time.”
Fall marathon season: 42.2 ways to get ready for your big race
It takes a lot of different factors coming together for a race of any distance to go perfectly, but by adopting a few of the following suggestions, you can probably make your outing wearing a bib running through city streets a bit more comfortable, and maybe even improve your time, too.
Islamist extremists have targeted two Tunisian Olympic medalists for behaviour and dress seen as un-Islamic, as debate grows over the role of religion and women in the country that unleashed the Arab Spring uprisings.
Radicals on social media networks called on the government to strip Habiba Ghribi, the first Tunisian woman to win an Olympic medal, of her nationality because her running gear was too revealing. She won the silver in the 3,000-metre steeplechase.
99 reasons to start running, right now
The dog days of summer are upon us, but that’s no reason to give up on your exercise routine — quite the contrary, in fact, as Ben Kaplan details below (in 99 concise points).
