Guest Post, UNL Commencement Address, Delivered by Rebecca Richards-Kortum
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We are so lucky to have Rebecca Richards Kortum of Houston, TX as a part of our community! Not only is she a Salty Running patron and a dedicated runner, she is also an accomplished bioengineer and a professor with Rice University. As an alumna of The University of Nebraska, Lincoln, she gave the following address to graduating UNL students at their commencement on May 4th, 2019. If you prefer a video, you can watch the speech here on UNL’s website. Great job, Rebecca!

The Next Start Line

Greetings to Chancellor Green. Greeting to UNL regents, faculty, staff, and guests. And to each of the 3,540 graduates in the University of Nebraska class of 2019: Congratulations! You look amazing!

I’m so excited to be here today to celebrate this moment in your lives as you cross an important finish line! As an amateur marathon runner, I think a lot about starting lines and especially finish lines.

Thirty-four years ago, I was on the other side of this podium along with my fiancé, about to receive my BS degree. Despite the fancy stage and shiny medals and diplomas, we all know it’s a little bit terrifying to come to the finish line. Just when you figure out one course, you have to find your way to the next. How do you find the next start line that is right for you? How do you find the things you care so deeply about that you want to invest your whole self?

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Reader’s Roundtable: 2020 Boston Qualifying Standards
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So the Boston Marathon has changed its qualifying standards once again. A few years ago, the open women’s time (ages 35 and under) went from 3:40 to 3:35. Now, as of the 2020 Boston Marathon, that standard is moving down to 3:30. And it’s not just young women: The B.A.A. tightened qualifying standards across the board, all ages and genders. We want to know what you think: Read more >>

Make Running Great Again™!
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MRGA hatOriginally posted in 2016.

Introducing our new slogan: Make Running Great Again™!

Why might we change our slogan from the perfectly adequate “Get Chicked™”? Well, these are dark times in running, between the USATF infringing on athletes’ rights, to the doping epidemic and EPO flooding our borders, to the biased media indoctrinating us with the idea that we have any business spending hours training for marathons. And we long for the good old days, when people whistled while they worked, people knew where to sit on the bus, and we women had fewer choices to confuse us.

Yes, America! We must go back when women were thrown out of the Boston Marathon, and when we could never dream beyond running 800 meters in an Olympic Games, but only manly chicks did that anyway, so we didn’t bother with that dream.

It’s time, America! We’re going to turn back the clock and Make Running Great Again™! It’s gonna be a YUGE success! Read more >>

Getting Back to Sub-3 After Having Kids
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Today we’re addressing a question from reader CW that she left as a comment on a post about how to run a sub-3 marathon. CW asks a very common question: how to get back to her pre-baby race times.

Can it be done? Absolutely. Two of our resident fast-as-F moms, Hops and Parsley, have been there and done that. Below, they share their top 3 tips for CW and anyone else in her situation. While the question is sub-3-specific, the advice can apply to any woman at any level looking to train seriously again after having babies.

CW writes:

I am 32 years old now with two kids (seven months old and a three year old) and I really want to get back to racing. My last marathon was Boston Marathon 2013 and I ran it in 2:51. I ran that by running pretty much every day — maybe one day off every two weeks. I consistently did one long run a week of 18-22 miles with some at goal marathon pace and did at least one tempo run a week. I raced a 10k and half marathon in the training period to gauge fitness. I PR’d in the 10k with a 37:37 and half marathon with a 1:23. After having my first baby, I started running three days per week 6-ish miles at a slow pace for me. Then I got pregnant with my second kid (now 7 months old). Currently I am running three days a week about six miles per run. I really want to start training for another marathon but have no idea where to begin. Any ideas or training plans? I’d love to be fast again.

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5 Running and Pregnancy Tips … for Men!
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babyfri5

Originally posted by Salty in 2015

“WE’RE pregnant!”

Uh, come again? We’re pregnant? There are very few circumstances when this statement is cool.

Two pregnant women standing next to each other berating someone for calling them fat? Totally cool, especially if followed with “you __hole.”
A not-pregnant person standing with his or her pregnant surrogate or adoption birth-mom-to-be? Way cool.

“Hey guys, Maureen and I got married 2 years ago and just celebrated our 32nd birthdays and guess what … you’ll never guess what we’re going to tell you … OMG! You’re going to be so shocked! …

WE’RE pregnant!”

Oh come on. I mean, seriously! I love when men are excited about having babies and I love when men want to be involved fathers. Men should do those things! But, sorry guys, you don’t get the right to claim you’re pregnant. If we can’t say, “we’re peeing standing up!” when our men use the toilet, men can’t get in on the whole pregnancy thing.

But maybe you’re just a guy who really wants to know what it’s like to be pregnant. If you’re one of those guys, I have some ideas for how you might experience the ‘joys’ of running during pregnancy.

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Lactation, Breastfeeding, and Competitive Running
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Originally posted by Catnip in 2015

Do lactation and breastfeeding slow us down?

To be clear, the benefits of breastfeeding for my son and me outweighed any short-term negative impact on my speed. Fortunately my livelihood does not depend upon running so I was free to make that choice.

Running is a key component of my lifestyle, however, and I have lofty personal goals! I sat on a plateau of essentially identical 5k and 10k times from 4-14 months postpartum and began to doubt my more ambitious goals. I’m pretty confident in saying that lactation is not performance-enhancing, but how much, if at all, does it hold us back? Read more >>

To Boldly Run Like You’ve Never Run Before
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Celebrating Des Linden’s historic win at the 122nd Boston Marathon yesterday, we’re revisiting earlier posts about Des and her journey. This post about Des’ 4th-place finish at Boston in 2017 was originally published by Salty in April 2017.

Desiree Linden after the 2016 Olympic Trials“I’m disappointed,” Desiree Linden said after finishing fourth at the 2017 Boston Marathon.

How could she not be. The race of her dreams, the one where she broke the tape on Boylston Street, has been ten years in the making. It’s been ten years since she first crossed that finish line in 19th place, and Monday she was there to be first. She would settle for nothing less.

She did not break the tape. She did not come in first. She was fourth. And it wasn’t the head-to-head battle of the wills that she fought so hard and lost in 2011. Instead, she was broken with many miles left to go, many miles left to mourn.

I cannot speak for Desiree Linden. I’ve only spent a few hours talking with her, and once sat in the back of a gator for 70 minutes as I watched her race in front of me. I do not know her particularly well, but I know enough to know she’s human. As a fellow human, I understand the pain of disappointment, of putting so much stock into one race and how much it stings when your best isn’t good enough. When Des’s voice broke in her post-race interviews, with Ryan concernedly looking on, I understood. Read more >>

That Desiree Linden, She’s Second To None
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Celebrating Des Linden’s historic win at the 122nd Boston Marathon yesterday, we’re revisiting our conversations with Des in Detroit in Spring of 2016. This interview was originally posted by Salty in April, 2017

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Des cheers for runners at her local 5kIt’s one of those Midwest spring days, the ones 30 degrees cooler than the day before, with pouring rain that chilled more than snow as it drummed down on rows of sleepy mid-century cottages and split-levels. It’s the kind of day where nobody wants to stand around outside, particularly not on a Saturday morning after a hard 0-dark-thirty workout that didn’t go exactly as planned. But there is Desiree Linden, a two-time Olympic marathoner, bundled up with coffee in hand, sleepily shouting “Good job!” to participants in the Bill Roney 5k.

It doesn’t take much for Des’s husband, Ryan to get her to smile and gin up a little enthusiasm despite the conditions and her lingering angst about the workout, which had gone ever-so-slightly awry.

What brings Des to this rainy street corner in suburban Detroit, three weeks before she hopes to win the Boston Marathon? Read more >>

5 Last-minute Tips For The Boston Marathon
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Originally posted by Poppy in 2016.

The Boston Marathon is on Monday. I repeat: the Boston Marathon is on Monday. Now is not the time to cram in last-minute training or change all your plans. However, maybe you’re waiting to hop on a plane to Boston and killing a few minutes at work because you can’t concentrate on anything other than the big race. In that case, now is a good time for a quick refresher, along with a few last minute tidbits, to help you make the most of your big Boston adventure.

Between my husband and me, we have raced Boston nine times and lived there for over 10 years. Boston is a great city with a huge running community. The city is really behind the marathon and it feels like everything in the city stops for the race. There is much to enjoy over marathon weekend. I know the Boston Marathon course and the city very well, so I figured I’d offer my two cents on both the race and enjoying the city of Boston after the race! Read more >>

A Completely True Boston Marathon Story
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Originally posted by Cinnamon in 2017.

I was one of those women in the photos from the 2017 Boston Marathon. This is my story.*

rescued at the Boston Marathon

My cheek pressed to the pavement. “Damn,” I said to myself. “I have no excuse. I know better and should have been more prepared.”

I was at mile 11 of the Boston Marathon and a raging disaster of a leg cramp had sent me stumbling across an entire traffic lane of Central Street just past the Natick city limits, tripping on another runner’s shoe in the process and culminating in an epic face plant. I thought I could see the 20k up ahead. If I got up and ate a salt tab there would be a water station nearby and I’d be fine to finish.

Then, as if out of nowhere, large hands were hoisting me up. “Thanks, I think I got it. I just need …”

“It’s okay, I’ve got you from here miss!” a burly man shouted into my face as he held me to his side with one arm. Read more >>

Making the Most of the Boston Marathon Expo
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Originally published by Pepper in 2013.

After 7 Boston marathons I have my preferred way to attack Boston and the whole Boston marathon weekend. Boston marathon weekend, more than most, can take a huge toll on the pocket book. Add in the expo and your credit cards may be weeping in a week’s time. Clove has previously offered up some great advice for saving money at any marathon expo. I’m here today to share my Boston expo shopping experiences, the best way to get in and out of the Boston marathon expo while achieving all your expo goals, what purchases I’d make again, which ones I’d avoid! Read more >>

The Magic of Boston
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Originally posted by Dill in April 2016.

dill and amie boston

These past few days the running world has been focused on one thing: the Boston Marathon, Marathon Monday, the best running day of the year. For three years I was a part of it. The first year was amazing. On my way to the expo, I cried when I saw the finish line, when I picked up my bib and as I marveled that I finally earned the right to be there. The second year was hot and tough and I don’t remember most of the race except for feeling grateful to have finished.

This time, I wasn’t certain I would go. My mom was dying, it was Easter weekend, and how many years in a row could I justify spending that much money and time for a race? But for the first time ever, my best running buddy and I were both qualified at the same time. After almost 14 years and thousands of miles together, how could we not run Boston together? Read more >>

Don’t Be a Speedist. We Are All Runners.
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Originally posted by Pimento on April 6, 2016 – 2 years ago today!

image
So you put runners in boxes?

Faster people snubbing slower people is rude. This we know. But how often has a slower person said of a faster person:

I can’t talk to her because:

… she’s too fast.

… she’s kind of addicted.

… have you seen her PR?

… she’s totally obsessed.

… she wears those buns-things.

… she’s too ______.

How often have you been at the starting line at a race, and gazed at the svelte gazelles at the front and assumed they would never give you the time of day let alone be a potential friend? Do you assume a fellow runner who starts talking about her higher mileage (than yours) and (much faster than your) PR is bragging?

Why do so many people seem to assume that faster runners look down on slower runners? In fact, that assumption itself is rude: just because someone’s fast doesn’t mean she’s a jerk.

Years after we first wrote about it, speedism still exists.
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Running Gave Me Acne. Here’s What Helped.
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volcano

Originally posted by Olive on April 5th, 2017 – one year ago today!

Running gave me a strong heart and lungs, but crappy skin.

To be fair, I can’t blame running completely for my newfound skin issues. I was lucky to have good skin in high school, so I suppose some of it might be karma. I’m sure my mid-thirties hormones shoulder some of the responsibility too.

Either way, my once-smooth face is suddenly covered with lumps, bumps, and whiteheads. I’ve tried my fair share of, and spent a small fortune on, acne-fighting products. I’m happy to share my wealth of knowledge with all of you here at Salty Nation, to hopefully spare you a little aggravation with running zits.

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Heat Adaptation for Spring Races
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Originally posted by Chicory on April 4th, 2017 – one year ago today!

heat adaptationSpring weather is as erratic as Poppy’s two-year-old’s mood, yet that doesn’t stop us from signing up for races during months that aren’t sure if they’re happy (45° and cloudy), sad (35° and rainy), or having a meltdown (75° and sunny).

When you race in the late spring, you’re not heat-adapted like you might be for a fall race — unless you’ve been running on your treadmill in a sauna, that is.

So without going to that much of an extreme, how can you prepare for a spring race that might be warm, or even downright hot? I decided to talk to our resident racing in the heat expert, Poppy, to share her best tips for preparing for Mother Nature potentially throwing you a hot race day after a long season of cool or cold weather training!

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