This town on the eastern edge of the Rockies is a runner’s dream.

For all of its lofty acclaim, Magnolia Road is rather dusty and desolate.

But for the thousands of top-tier runners who have trod on the 10-mile stretch of rolling dirt road in the mountains west of Boulder, Colo., that’s the way it should be. That this hilly, high-altitude road has been a world-class training ground for numerous world champions, Olympic medalists and world record-holders — and perhaps more importantly, countless aspiring age-group runners — belies its rather unremarkable appearance.

In fact, if Magnolia Road, situated near 8,500 feet above sea level, were anywhere else in the U.S., it might just be another rugged, rolling road. Instead, an ambitious local running population counts it as one of several dozen great places to run in and around Boulder, a place often referred to as America’s running mecca.

“Boulder is definitely a great place to run,” says Patrick Rizzo, a 29-year-old Chicago transplant who placed 13th in last year’s U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon. “It’s got everything you’d ever need or want, and it’s sunny and mild year-round.”

Boulder isn’t the only so-called running mecca in the country. Eugene, Ore., Flagstaff, Ariz., and Bend, Ore., are also great places to live and run, but Boulder has always carried extra cache and marquee value because of the high-profile athletes who call it home.

Olympic marathon champion Frank Shorter started it, moving to town in 1970 to train before becoming a household name with his gold medal at the 1972 Games. Since then, the city has been part-time or full-time home to hundreds of world-class runners, including Steve Jones, Mark Plaatjes, Arturo Barrios, Lorraine Moller, Rob de Castella, Uta Pippig, Colleen De Reuck, Kara Goucher, Benita Willis and Constantita Dita, among others. Lately, 1500m world champion Jenny Simpson, Olympic steeplechaser Emma Coburn and ultrarunning stars Dave Mackey, Scott Jurek, Tony Krupicka and Darcy Africa are among the top runners who call Boulder home.

RELATED: Ultramarathoner Anton Krupicka Interview

But even more than Boulder’s elite-level residents, it’s the fitness-savvy mentality of the average citizen that gives the city of 100,000 its uber-athletic demeanor. There is an inordinately high number of age-group marathoners, ultrarunners, masters track runners and Ironman finishers, meaning there’s always someone to join you — and push the pace — on a long run, track workout or trail adventure.

Combined with the city’s proactive policies for open space preservation — not to mention its vast network of dirt trails and the iconic Flatiron mountains — Boulder is a place that inspires you to spend as much time being active outdoors as possible.

“I think what makes Boulder special is that everybody has a passion for running,” says Shorter, who is credited as being one of the progenitors of the original running boom in the U.S. “In the 1970s, Boulder earned a reputation as a great place to run, but really it was only a handful of fast guys. Now everybody is running.”

Where To Run

Boulder has more than 200 miles of off-road running routes within close proximity to the center of town, ranging from flat concrete bike paths, smooth, rolling dirt paths and very rocky mountain trails. Among the most popular places to run are Boulder Creek Path (5.5 miles), Boulder Valley Ranch (10 miles), Walker Ranch Loop (8 miles) and Mesa Trail (7 miles), but numerous connections between open space trails allow for variable length runs with just about any type of terrain and elevation gain desired.

The Indian Peaks Wilderness Area about 25 miles west of town is a popular summer training ground with numerous long, high-altitude routes up and over the Continental Divide. The best resources for trails can be found at bouldercolorado.gov, boulderrunning.com and bouldertrails.org.

RELATED: Destination: Moab, Utah

Where To Race

Held every Memorial Day, The Bolder Boulder 10K (May 27; bolderboulder.com) is one of the world’s largest races with more than 50,000 entrants in recent years, but the winding neighborhood course (and energetic spectators lining the streets the entire way) helps it retain the small-town feel it had when it was founded in 1979. Other local races include the Dash ’n’ Dine 5K Series (Tuesday nights in the spring; withoutlimits.co), Pearl Street Mile (July 10; boulderdowntown.com), LaSportiva Eldora Trail 10K (July 27; digdeepsports.com), the Heart & Sole Half-Marathon and 10K (Aug. 25; heartandsolehalf.com) and the Boulder Marathon (Sept. 22; bouldermarathon.com).

Where To Shop

Boulder is blessed with many great running stores, including Boulder Running Company (2775 Pearl St.; boulderrunningcompany.com), Fleet Feet Boulder (2624 Broadway; fleetfeetboulder.com), Newton Running Lab (1300 Walnut St.; newtonrunning.com),
In-Step (629 S. Broadway; instepbldr.com) and Sports Authority Elite (1750 29th St.; sportsauthority.com). There are also several outdoor shops that sell trail running gear, including REI (1789 28th St.; rei.com) and Outdoor Divas (2317 30th St.; outdoordivas.com).

Where To Eat And Drink

Boulder has become a real foodie town in recent years, with numerous top-rated restaurants scattered around the popular Pearl Street pedestrian mall. At the top of the list is OAK at Fourteenth (1400 Pearl St.), which happens to be co-owned by two-time U.S. 50K trail running champ Bryan Dayton. OAK is known for its new American cuisine (for example, the coffee-cured tender belly pork tenderloin) and innovative cocktails. Frasca Food and Wine (1738 Pearl St.), Jax Fish House (928 Pearl St.) and The Kitchen (1039 Pearl St.) are other top picks, but if you just want to gorge on a juicy burger post-run be sure to visit Larkburger (2525 Arapahoe Ave.) or Rueben’s Burger Bistro (1800 Broadway).

Weather

Boulder is typically sunny and mild most of the year, with the exception of a three-week spell in late July to mid-August where temps can spike above the mid-90s. Otherwise, highs are usually in the mid-70s to mid-80s from May through September with evening lows in the low 50s. There’s very little humidity and only occasional and very brief afternoon thunderstorms in Boulder, but the weather can change quickly and drastically in the higher mountains west of town.

Etc.

The Boulder Road Runners (boulderroadrunners.org) host a series of six community track meets every summer on the first and third Tuesday evenings in June, July and August.

This piece first appeared in the May 2013 issue of Competitor magazine.

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She’ll definitely run the Boston Marathon again, but her heart will forever be with the bombing victims.

A month ago, Kara Goucher capped a comeback from a late fall injury with a very credible sixth-place, 2:28:11 effort at the Boston Marathon. But, as with everyone else who was in Boston, her race was completely overshadowed by the terrorist bombings that occurred later in the day. Goucher is planning to run her next marathon this fall — either Chicago or New York City — but in the meantime has been rebuilding her speed for the upcoming track season.

PHOTOS: Kara Goucher Career Highlights

We caught up with her at the Rock ’n’ Roll Portland Half Marathon race expo over the weekend while trying to keep son Colt, now 2-1/2, contained as husband, Adam, gave a presentation about training.

When are you racing again and what are your plans for the summer and fall?

My next race will be the 10,000m at the U.S. track championships [June 19-23 in Des Moines, Iowa]. I was thinking about running a race at the Portland Track Festival [June 7-8 at Lewis and Clark College] but I think I’m just going to go for it at USAs with one big race. I absolutely want to make the U.S. team for the world championships (in Moscow). If I make it, I’ll focus the rest of the summer on getting my speed back. If I don’t make it, then I’ll find some fun road races to run and start thinking about a fall marathon.

Do you prefer racing the 10,000 or the marathon?

They’re so different, but I love them both. I love the 10K because of the speed of the race. I love how much the bell lap means. I love kicking the final 400 meters and I miss that when I’m in the marathon because it’s a different intensity. You’re so tired at the end of a marathon you hope you can sprint. But I love the art of the marathon. I love how much planning goes into it. I love how meticulous you have to be.

What has your training been like since the Boston Marathon?

I took a down period after Boston where I didn’t run as much and now I feel really good. I took a couple days completely off and then I spent about three weeks just easy jogging, then a couple of weeks of really easy workouts. Now I’m kind of back into the swing of things. I’ve been running 30 miles a week less than I normally do — right about 90 miles a week — and I feel a lot better and a lot fresher on my legs. I’m not going to race before the U.S. championships. For me, it’s just about getting my speed back. So for now, twice a week, it’s about hitting the speed, feeling sore and slow, but eventually it’s going to click in.

Are you ever amazed about your celebrity as a runner?

It’s always odd for me, because at the core I’m just this nerdy girl from Minnesota that’s not really that athletic or cool or anything like that. It’s always weird for me to hear people say they follow me or they’re inspired by me. I don’t know that any of that will be ever be normal. But I love it and I very much appreciate all the people who follow me, but I always have to laugh because I’m really suck a dork.

It’s been a month since the Boston Marathon. What kind of reflections do you have about your race and the horrible acts that followed?

Honestly, the racing details of that day are all lost for me because of what happened. I look at my medal and think about it and all of the people who were hurt every single day. We were a block and a half from the finish line at the athlete hotel when the bombs went off, but we get to go on with our lives like nothing happened and yet there are people who lost family members, people who lost limbs … and their lives will never be the same. So for me, I don’t really remember the race. For me, 2013 will be a reminder to live my life more righteously and being more appreciative and thinking about the people who really suffered that day and will continue to suffer.

I love the Boston Marathon and I absolutely will go back and race it again. What happened does not deter me from that whatsoever. For this year, it’s a bigger-picture thing and when I look back I’m always going to remember the people were affected and not really my race at all.

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With hundreds of miles of trails, this outpost is a trail runner’s dream world.

The first several times I visited Moab, Utah, I was overwhelmed — like everyone else who happens upon this coveted desert hamlet for the first time — by the stunning red rock beauty and serene desert ambiance. But what struck me after being there for three days was the relatively few number of runners out on the amazing backcountry trails and desolate dirt roads.

This was the late 1990s, and back then, almost everyone was there to ride on wheels — either mountain bikes, Jeeps or motocross bikes. But as trail running has grown in popularity, so, too, has Moab’s allure as a refuge for logging long miles on technical routes on foot.

Throw in several relatively new (but very good) trail races that have popped up in recent years, and Moab has become the consummate escape for trail runners, both for quick weekend jaunts or extended training retreats.

“There’s no place like it the U.S., maybe the world,” says Meghan Hicks, an ultrarunner who spent most of February and March there in preparation for this month’s Marathon des Sables in Morocco. “It’s easy to lose yourself there and just focus on running because you can plan a new running adventure every single day.”

Although Moab is, by some standards, a bit commercialized, it’s considerably less developed than similarly trendy Western outposts of Santa Fe, N.M., or Sedona, Ariz. The local population hovers around 5,000, but it’s actually smaller now than the heyday as a uranium mining center in the 1970s.

And even thought it’s not uncommon for 10,000 people to visit Moab on a normal weekend in the spring or fall, it still gives off a small-town vibe — especially during the week when weekend warriors from Denver and Salt Lake City have dispersed. The reality is, with several hundred miles of trails available within a 15-minute drive, most routes are sparsely populated during peak months.

RELATED: Dos And Don’ts Of Destination Running

Running in the desert has a way of taxing your lungs and legs, but calming your mind, soothing your soul and rejuvenating your spirit. It’s with that charm that Moab draws you in and compels you to run long or, at the very least, run twice a day on routes you might never consider running back home, says Chris Martinez, an accomplished ultrarunner who puts on several races and organizes commercial running tours through 360˚ Moab Adventures.

“The desert makes you feel alive,” says Martinez, who has been running and guiding on Moab’s trails for more than 15 years. “Once you’re out there, it gets in your blood and becomes a part of you.”

Moab is known for numerous named mountain bike trails that, not surprisingly, also make great running trails. (And there are plenty of detailed maps available.) The 9.5-mile Hurrah Pass loop off Kane Creek Road gives a little taste of everything Moab’s backcountry has to offer: steep climbs and descents, technical terrain, tight switchbacks and great views of the surrounding red rock buttes. Other great runs can found on the Gemini Bridges Trail (up to 16 miles as an out-and-back-route), Porcupine Rim (16 miles) and the gnarly Poison Spider Mesa (up to 13 miles) that hangs high over the Colorado River valley. For the ultimate trail workout, try running the entire loop of the famous Slickrock Trail. The 13-mile circuit rolls up and down over a landscape of petrified sand dunes (a.k.a. sandstone).

Where To Race

Moab has great spring and fall road half-marathons, including The Other Half (Oct. 20; www.moabhalfmarathon.com), but it’s the trail races that are really special. The Amasa trail runs (April 13; www.grassrootsevents.net) have courses of 6.5, 9.5 and 14.5 miles. The Moab Trail Marathon (Nov. 2, www.moabtrailmarathon.com) also includes an adventure 5K and the U.S. trail half-marathon championship this fall. If you’re looking for an ultra, there are several good options: the Desert R.A.T.S. (stands for Race Across the Sand), a 148-mile six-day race that begins in Grand Junction, Colo., and the M.A.S. 50 (Sept. 13, www.grassrootsevents.net). If you visit late next fall or winter, consider the Winter Sun 10K road race (Nov. 30; www.moabhalfmarathon.com) and the Moab Red Hot 55K and 33K trail races (Feb. 15; www.grassrootsevents.net).

RELATED: U.S. Trail Marathon Championships In Moab

Where To Shop

There isn’t a running specialty shop in Moab, but Poison Spider Bicycles (497 Main St., www.poisonspiderbicycles.com), Rim Cyclery (94 West 100 North; www.rimcyclery.com) and Gearheads (471 S. Main St.; www.moabgear.com) all have sports nutrition, hydration products, lightweight jackets and trail maps. WabiSabi Thriftique (411 Locust Lane; www.wabisabimoab.org) is a unique second-hand store that caters to outdoor adventure enthusiasts, making the claim that “it has what you forgot to pack.” Moab is also known for galleries and Tom Till Gallery (61 N. Main St.; www.tomtillphotography.com) is renown for its Moab photography, while Lema’s Kokopelli Gallery (70 N. Main St.; www.kokopellioutlet.com) has a wide variety of Southwest art, jewelry and pottery. Moonflower Market (39 E. 100 North) is a popular natural foods store that offers healthy trail snacks and more.

Where To Eat And Drink

If you’re in need of a quick, decadent fill-up after a run, visit Milt’s Stop & Eat (356 Millcreek Drive; www.miltsstopandeat.com) for the best burgers, fries and shakes in town. (It’s owned by renowned adventure athlete Danelle Ballengee.) The beer cheese soup and jalapeno cornbread at Moab Brewery (686 S. Main St.; www.www.themoabbrewery.com) and the carnitas tacos at Eddie McStiff’s (57 N. Main St., www.eddiemcstiffs.com) help trail-weary patrons replace lost calories, while the tasty locally brewed beers help with rehydration. The Desert Bistro (36 S. 100 West; www.desertbistro.com) is a bit pricier, but, if you’re a carnivore, the bacon-wrapped elk tenderloin and quail quesadillas are out of this world. Buck’s Grillhouse (1393 N. Highway 191; www.bucksgrillhouse.com) is a classic American steakhouse with loads of Southwest flavor—the “cowboy-style” double-cut pork chop comes rubbed with spices and is slathered in BBQ sauce. For a pre-run breakfast and coffee or post-run brunch or lunch, consider the one of these: Love Muffin Café (139 N. Main St.), Sweet Cravings Bakery + Bistro (550 N. Main St.), Eklecticafé (352 N. Main St.), Jailhouse Café (101 N. Main St.) or the Moab Diner (189 S. Main St.).

Weather

The best times to visit Moab are March through May and again from September to November, when afternoon high temperatures are more moderate (low 60s to mid-80s) than the summer months (regularly in the upper 90s). It doesn’t rain much in Moab (April and October are the rainiest months), but the cool to cold morning air is more of a variable if you’re planning early morning runs. No matter when you visit, plan on dressing in layers.

Other Details

If you’re not sure about going out on technical backcountry trails alone, consider booking a trail running trip with 360˚ Moab Adventures (www.360moabadventures.com), which offers a variety of guided tours ranging from half-day to three-day trips (plus an option that includes stand up paddling).

This piece first appeared in the April 2013 issue of Competitor magazine.

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Writes Swidey: “But if the next Marathon will be a reaction and a corrective, what will the race look like in five years? Ten years? And by the time we get there, how will we be telling the story of what happened in 2013?”

In his story, he recalls other historical marathon stories laced with tragedy and sadness, though certainly not all to the same degree, including tales of Kathrine Switzer, Frank Shorter and Jacqueline Gareau.

So how will the Boston Marathon change?

“If you had to predict now what the Marathon will look like in five years, the safest bet would be more camera surveillance and stiffer security with a “contained” start and finish,” he begins to conclude. He suggests it could even involve moving the finish line again.

“But locking down the beginning and end of the race may just be the only option we can imagine right now, other than making no changes or moving the event into a 26-mile steel tube.”

For more: The Boston Globe

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The petition at change.org had more than 20,000 signatures on Thursday afternoon.

About 5,700 people were stopped on the course because of the explosions that killed three people and wounded hundreds more on Boylston Street on April 15. Ryan Polly, of Vermont, who was approaching the 35K checkpoint when the bombs went off, started the petition asking for runners like him to be allowed to register in the 2014 race.

RELATED: An Approach To Projecting Non-Finishers’ Finishing Times

Boston Athletic Association officials say they’ve heard from thousands of runners since this year’s race – on Facebook, by email and over the phone – including many who were stopped on the course. B.A.A. executive director Tom Grilk said “the common thread is one of persistence.”

“We have listened and read every e-mail and voicemail, and we have been touched,” he said. “Planning a marathon takes a lot of teamwork, and planning a marathon in the wake of the events of April 15 takes even more teamwork, communication, and planning. … As we work on our plan, and options for that group of runners which did have the opportunity to cross the finish line of the race, we ask those runners for continued patience.”

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As of this week, “Born to Run” was at No. 21 on the New York Times paperback best seller list.

Christopher McDougall’s “Born to Run” hit bookstore shelves four years ago this week. Its impact on the running world has been considerable.

1. McDougall’s 304-page autobiographical account of running almost-barefoot with the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico has sold more than a half million copies worldwide and has remained on the New York Times bestseller list for more than 200 consecutive weeks. (As of this week, it is No. 21 on the non-fiction paperback list.) Although it contains some hyperbole, the book has earned its keep (and rave reviews) because McDougall’s vivid story-telling and in-depth reporting appeal to everyone from new runners and veteran ultrarunners to non-runners and couch potatoes alike.

2. Micah True became a cult figure known as “Caballo Blanco,” a simple man who years ago without any fanfare befriended the impoverished Tarahumara (a.k.a. Raramuri) people of Mexico and for 10 years organized a race to help support them. Sadly, the 58-year-old reluctant celebrity died during a trail run in New Mexico in the spring of 2012 after leaving his winter home in the Copper Canyon region of Mexico for his summer home in the foothills of Boulder, Colo. But his free-spirited legacy, his race and the worldwide attention on the Tarahumara endure.

3. The book was one of the primary catalysts for the minimalist running shoe revolution that helped spur brands to develop lighter, lower-to-the-ground shoes using less material. While some would argue that “barely there” shoes led many runners to run with insufficient cushioning and protection under their feet, there’s no question the paradigm shift helped runners rethink about how much (and how little) they really need in a shoe. It also spurred running shoe manufacturers to build lighter models across all categories.

RELATED: 5 Questions With Chris McDougall

4. McDougall’s indictment of the running shoe industry also helped further the natural running form movement, which has led to runners realizing that it’s not only shoes that help them run better but good mechanics and dynamic strength, too. Four years later, though, there’s no clear-cut answer about what kind of gait is best or if runners should even try to change their form. The end result is that more runners are running more efficiently in lighter shoes than a decade ago, if only because shoes are lighter and built with less material.

5. Numerous books have been written about running form, minimalist shoes, barefoot running or the spiritual essence of running since “Born to Run” hit bookstores, including “Anatomy for Runners” (Jay Dicharry), “Tread Lightly” (Bill Katovsky and Dr. Peter Larson), “Chi Marathon” by Danny Dreyer, “Eat & Run” (Scott Jurek), and “Natural Running” (Danny Abshire). The latest good one worth a read is “The Cool Impossible,” by trainer/coach Eric Orton, who was instrumental in teaching McDougall how to run better and become more fit.

6. Originally, reports said actor/director Peter Sarsgaard would be directing the movie adaptation of “Born to Run” and Jake Gylenhaal, his brother-in-law, was expected to play a lead role. An IMDB report said the movie would be produced by the husband-wife team of Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy, who have individually and jointly been tied to many blockbuster productions from Steven Spielberg and Lucasfilm. However, McDougall said recently a major shake-up has occurred in the last couple of months. A new script was just completed, and a new director should be unveiled soon. The goal is still to have it hit movie theaters by 2014. Here’s hoping it ranks up there with “Chariots of Fire,” “Without Limits” and “Fire on the Track” as one of the best running movies ever produced.

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Christopher McDougall’s “Born to Run” hit bookstore shelves four years ago this week, and, quite frankly, the impact on the running world has been considerable. McDougall’s 304-page autobiographical account of running almost-barefoot with the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico has sold more than a half million copies worldwide and has remained on the New York Times best seller list for more than 200 consecutive weeks. (As of May 9, it was No. 21 on the non-fiction paperback list.) We caught up with him recently to talk about the forthcoming “Born to Run” movie and his next book, both of which are due out in 2014.

“Born to Run” has been on the best-seller list since it came out. Are you still amazed at its success?

I always envisioned it as running’s answer to “White Men Can’t Jump” or “The Perfect Storm” … I never anticipated it would be what it is. I kind of found myself in the middle of this really great adventure story, strictly by accident, while on this trail with Scott Jurek and Barefoot Ted and these two guys from Virginia Beach, and it sort of turned into something. You know it’s a great adventure when you’re sort of half-wishing you weren’t there. And that’s exactly what it was like. I felt like I was in over my head. I don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s either going to be really great or really awful. And that’s what I wanted to convey in the book.

Did you anticipate it having as much impact on the running world — especially running shoe sales and trends — as it has?

As far as the other aspects, it wasn’t until I got home and started to research some other topics that I really understand the serious challenges to running shoe science — or lack of science — but I didn’t know that when I went down there. And I didn’t really understand the depths of the anthropological research that were going on. Or how a lot of these different strands — from Joe Vigil to Emil Zatopek to Percy Cerutty — how all these people and concepts intertwined. I didn’t even see it until the later stages as having that kind of universal impact. I just saw it as having a very cool, fun adventure story.

For different people, it’s a different book. Some people think it’s an anthropology book with annoying runner stories mixed in. Other people think it’s a great adventure story with the annoying science mixed in.

What’s your current take on the running shoe revolution?

I think there are a lot of people examining what kind of footwear they run in, but I’m not convinced there are a lot of people examining the way they run. And that is one thing I’m kind of concerned about — that, as usual, the retail conversation has dwarfed the education conversation. I hear a ton about footwear and very, very little about the concrete ways to change your form, and it should be the other way around.

I that piece about “100-Up” because I had experienced it first hand. I went to a barefoot running festival on Governor’s Island in New York City. There were hundreds of barefoot runners. These are the people who were self-identified as barefoot runners, and it was really alarming to see how many of them hadn’t changed a thing in their transition to barefoot running. They just bought the shoes. And so I asked the question, “If they can’t do, what’s going wrong?” And I think a big part of the problem was that it’s very difficult to translate movement into language.

So after all of the stories, books, videos and running shop discussions about improving your running form, why aren’t more people becoming better runners?

It’s easier to buy the shoes, it’s more fun to buy the shoes. And you also have conflicting motivations. Honestly, people can do one of two things: you can qualify for Boston or you can spend the same three months mastering your form. But to try to do both, you’re going to lose at both. I think people don’t want to hear that. There’s an achievement-oriented mentality that says “I’m not going to back off from my mileage, I’m not going to slow down. I’m just going to keep hammering away. If I can do a couple of drills and toe some toe crunches, that’s about as far as I’m going to go.”

We’re sort of rah-rah, performance-oriented in this country. It’s not really doing it for yourselves, it’s doing it to show off. Maybe I’m being too critical, but honestly I don’t see much support out there. It’s all about “Run Your Fastest 5K” and “Qualify for Boston” in the magazines; it’s achieve, achieve, achieve, instead of throttling back and learning really good form, and take satisfaction from the skill and not necessarily from the outcome.

The other thing is that have been a lot of self-made experts out there, so it’s difficult for runners to understand what they need to do. I can’t believe people are giving advice that doesn’t mean anything. It’s just not right. A lot of people have zoomed in and become instant experts about how to transition and how to learn, and they’re not giving good advice. And that’s discouraging. I think it’s an interesting question and a difficult question. 

What’s happening with the movie adaptation? Is Peter Sarsgaard still involved?

Well, we’ve done a major shaking out of the sheets and a new production company has taken over. It’s very high-powered and ambitious. Peter’s no longer involved. That was one of the obstacles. He had a much different concept of what it should be, and it just wasn’t flying. We have a new draft of the screenplay. It’s about getting back to the roots of what the book is all about and what the story is all about. In the next couple of weeks, we should have some new developments there. We’re hoping to have this thing in progress in the next few months. It would be nice to have it out by next summer. That’s kind of the plan as of now.

What’s your next book about?

I’m working on a new book and hoping to finish it in the next couple of months and also hoping to have it out in 2014. I’m looking at World War II resistance fighters and trying to understand how, physically, they were able to carry out these superhuman feats. These guys were not trained super-commandos. These were just average people, who, at the snap of a finger, were suddenly launched behind enemy lines, where they pretty much lived on a starvation diet and had to fight the most lethal war machine in human history with rocks. And they were astonishingly successful. If you were to drop an Olympic athlete behind enemy lines, they would die. They would not be able to get the calories, the nutrition, the shelter to survive. Yet these common people were able to tap into something and learn something very fast that they were able to turn into their advantage.

For more about Christopher McDougall, go to his website.

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Do these nine drills consistently to help improve your running form. 

If you want to improve as a runner, you’ve got to do more than just run. You’ve got to make time to do the extra stuff, too. Taking 20 minutes to do a handful of drills, such as those demonstrated here by 2012 Australian Olympic marathoner Benita Willis, can dramatically improve your running form and economy (or the ability to run fast efficiently) and increase your stride cadence and racing speed.

Each of the drills highlights one or more aspects of good running form and accentuates them through repetitive motion, which trains the body to become comfortable with that movement so it can be inserted into your typical running mechanics. These drills can serve as a dynamic warmup routine after a 10-minute easy jog before your regularly scheduled run or workout, or they can be completed after a run to reinstate the notion of running with good form while fatigued.

Try to do these drills three to four times per week on an ongoing basis, focusing on the precise movements outlined below. There are numerous other drills you can incorporate into your routine, including acceleration strides, but the most important factor is doing them consistently.

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Sandi Nypaver en route to victory in the Desert R.A.T.S. Double Marathon on April 20 in Fruita, Colo. Photo: Glen Delman

Dietary changes and a move to Nederland, Colo., have Sandi Nypaver back on track.

A lifelong athlete and former basketball player at Lake Erie College in Ohio, it wasn’t until Sandi Nypaver went on the 2009 Impossible2Possible Baffin Island Expedition, a multi-day trek across the rugged Akshayuk Pass in Canada, with legendary Canadian ultrarunner Ray Zahab as one of her guides, that Nypaver thought about running. Inspired to see where her feet could take her, Nypaver ran the 2010 Mohican 100-miler, in Loudonville, Ohio, and won. Nypaver, then 21, continued to run strong in 2010 with first place women’s finishes at both the Iron Mountain 50-miler in Damascus, Va., and the Grindstone 100-miler in Swoope, Va.

Although she still had a few top finishes in 2011, it was mostly was filled with exhaustion and other health issues, leaving Nypaver unable to train as hard as she wanted. Recent podium finishes at the Run Through Time Marathon in Salida, Colo., where she was second in 4:04, and the Desert R.A.T.S. Double Marathon, last month, in Fruita, Colo., where she was the top female and eighth overall in 8:34, are a good indicator Nypaver, 24, is working her way back to top form.

You started having health issues last year … what was wrong?

About a year and a half ago, I realized I was tired all the time. But I was also running a lot and figured maybe I should be tired. When I finally went to the doctor, they tested my iron and discovered it was really low. I also went on an elimination diet and discovered I was allergic to gluten, which certainly explained why my stomach would bother me, especially on afternoon runs when I had eaten gluten during the day.

So dietary changes and listening to your body have helped you train better?

I’m definitely feeling a lot better now than I did at this time last year. Being gluten-free is critical for me, plus I’m also a vegetarian. To get plenty of nutrients and protein, I eat nuts, beans, veggies, fruit, quinoa, brown rice and brown rice pastas. I’ve been trying to take vitamins that runners normally get deficient in — for example, iron, vitamin B12, vitamin D and magnesium — and have been doing a lot of research about genetically modified organisms [aka, GMOs] and other food hormones. It has definitely motivated me to buy organic when I can. For more protein, I drink Recoverite and Vegan Protein, both from Hammer Nutrition — one of my sponsors. Everything in my diet is a slow progression to determine what works.

Now that you’re increasing your mileage, how are you maintaining your health and fitness balance?

I’m really trying to realize when to take it easy, and knew I had to rest after the Desert R.A.T.S Double Marathon, so I took a bunch of days off running. Other big changes are that I just quit my job at the Boys & Girls Club of Buena Vista, in Buena Vista, Colo., to move to  Nederland, Colo., a few miles up the road from Boulder. I really want to focus on running, writing and art, and probably find a part-time job. Two important factors for me are incorporating speed work and changing my mental mindset.

Otherwise, I did shorter races over the winter, like 10K snowshoe runs and a 5-miler, and they’ve been helpful for working through some weaknesses. They certainly aren’t my best distance, but I like pushing myself at a high intensity. Although, you definitely have to brace yourself for the burst of burn.

I had some great experiences last year, but was also disappointed with my results. Now I’m working on giving myself the tools — good health and solid training — to be successful. This is time to focus on the fun and my enjoyment of running, not regrets or what-ifs. Running lets me spend time with good people and be outside. I’m enjoying life and following my heart.

What do you have scheduled for 2013?

While I have a special place in my heart for the 100-mile distance, I won’t be running 100 miles until, hopefully, the fall in order to continue to focus on some shorter distances. I want to make sure my iron levels and body are a 100 percent before I race that far. Races like the Speedgoat 50K [July 27 in Snowbird, Utah] and the new 38-mile Telluride Mountain Run [Aug. 10 in Telluride, Colo.] are great excuses for me to have tons of fun playing, exploring, and training in the mountains. [Nypaver scored a race entry by winning the race’s “Ultra Art du Mont Sneffels” contest.]

For racing, I’m not doing anything till the Cayuga Trails 50-miler [June 8 in Ithaca, N.Y.] I’m really looking forward to it because it’s allowing for a short visit home and Sage [Nypaver’s boyfriend is ultrarunner Sage Canaday] and my twin sister, Rachel Nypaver [who placed first at the Vigil Crest 100-miler in Cortland, N.Y., last September and second at the Big Foot 50K in Cambridge, Ohio, in December] will both be running it as well.

Your sister started running before you. Do you talk about your training or have similar strengths?

I remember Rachel making me get out of bed at 6 a.m. in sixth grade to run a loop before school to train for basketball. We both played college basketball together, and after our first season we ran a half marathon together. Literally together — we finished side by side. Rachel actually ran some races after that but it wasn’t until the start of our junior year in college that we both decided to really focus on running. When I decided I wanted to run 100 miles, she was the only person who believed in me and didn’t think I was nuts, plus she paced me for 30 miles at Mohican.

I think Rachel and I both have similar strengths in terms of mindset and enjoying hills. Neither of us feels as though we were born with any great athletic ability, but we are both over-determined, which really helps in ultras. We both love to read and learn new things, so naturally we talk about training and things that might help. However, we rarely share actual training plans, and instead just do our own things.

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Chris Benyo pushed his wife Denise DiMarzo across the finish line of the New Jersey Marathon on Sunday. Photo: Rob Spahr / NJ.com

When runners were crossing the finish line of the 2013 New Jersey Marathon on Sunday, most of their faces showed signs of exhaustion and pain.

Denise DiMarzo was smiling ear to ear.

DiMarzo, a Jersey Shore native, was diagnosed with ALS – also called Lou Gehrig’s Disease – in 2010, just six months after marrying Chris Benyo.

Before their marriage, DiMarzo asked Benyo, a veteran of more than 30 marathons, if he would run one with her.

Last year, Benyo kept his promise by pushing his wife the length of the New Jersey Marathon in an adult jogging stroller in just under five hours.

Benyo was planning to take his wife to another marathon this year, in order to get closer to his personal goal of running a marathon in all 50 states. But after Hurricane Sandy ravaged the shore towns where DiMarzo lived for much of her life – including Sea Bright, Asbury Park, and Long Branch – they decided that the New Jersey Marathon was the only choice.

So the couple made the trip again this year, from their home in Illinois back to the Jersey Shore, to push themselves and each other through the 26.2-mile race.

And in 5 hours, 27 minutes – surrounded by friends who made the trip from Illinois and the run with them – Benyo and DiMarzo crossed the finish line again.

A few seconds later, Benyo stopped running, went to the front of the stroller and hugged his wife.

“I love you so much,” he told her in between kisses.

For more: NJ.com

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Saturday's SNL host Zach Galifianakis in a fake New Balance commercial. Photo: NBC

Does everyone who buys running shoes intend on actually running and being fit? That’s an age-old question that’s been around since the mid-1980s, when running shoes became the casual shoe of choice for mainstream America. It’s a topic Saturday Night Live tackled with a parody video this past Saturday night. In a spoof New Balance commercial, the show takes a crack at mainstream middle-aged and slightly to severely overweight men who never actually run or get fit, despite wearing the shoes and clothes of so many people who are training for half-marathons and marathons. You know that guy, right?

In the parody, host Zach Galifianakis leads a trio of hefty guys, who talk about how much they love their New Balance shoes despite the fact that they never use them for their intended purpose. Along the way, they get tired walking up stairs, carry around extra shirts for when they get too sweaty and have dispiriting visits to the doctor’s office.

Although the joke could easily have been “Haha! Fat people!”, the scene never directly makes fun of anyone’s weight. Instead, it goes after the very concept of marketing running shoes, since not everyone who buys them will actually use them to run. On top of that, the cast’s overly chipper attitude about the whole thing is just hilarious.

For more: ScreenCrush.com

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When traveling, let the local environment dictate what kind of running you do. Photo: Brian Metzler/Competitor

Maintaining your training can be difficult if you’re away from your typical training environment and schedule.

While it’s not quite summer yet, school vacation, road trips and weekend getaways will be here to interrupt your training before you know it. Heck, due to a hectic work schedule, many of you reading this article don’t need summer to have your training interrupted by travel. It’s a part of your everyday training challenge.

Perhaps one of the most logistically challenging aspects of training is trying to fit in runs and workouts around travel, regardless of whether it’s for pleasure or work. Unfamiliar routes, busy schedules and weariness from the road can make it nearly impossible to stick to the optimal training plan.

So, how do you handle training while traveling?

Rather than providing you with yet another article on travel tips like finding a treadmill, mapping your routes and planning ahead — and because there are plenty of resources from runners with far more travel experience than myself — this article will target the more holistic aspect of training while traveling. That is, how to take a long-term view of your workouts and learn to adapt your entire plan and outlook on training to handle the stress and unpredictability of travel.

One workout doesn’t make or break a training segment

Thanks to the OCD nature that probably pre-disposes us to be runners, missing a key workout can be extremely difficult to handle. Even the most experienced runners fret about lost fitness or missed potential gains when they miss a workout. However, if you’re training consistently, there is no magic or secret workout that must be done in order to have success at any race distance.

A former coach of mine, Scott Simmons, was fond of the saying that a missed workout was a “small drop of water in your big bucket of fitness”. Meaning, if you think of every workout, easy day and long run you do as a drop of water that collects in a large bucket, you can see that once your bucket is filled up with water, the absence of a single drop isn’t noticeable in the slightest. It has a minuscule impact on your overall fitness.

This analogy helped me understand that training isn’t about individual workouts. When you step back and look at your training from a holistic point of view, you can see that missing one workout has little impact on your fitness.

So, what does this have to do with training and travel?

Many runners I work with have trouble bouncing back after a missed workout. It ruins the rest of their week as they never get back on track. Some runners try to cram workouts in to makeup for their missed run, which is always the wrong answer. And, some runners lose complete confidence in their fitness and carry that feeling with them into race day.

Don’t let missing one workout due to a long flight or a busy work meeting ruin your entire week of training or cause you to lose confidence in your fitness. Remember, it’s a small drop of water in your big bucket of fitness.

Doing something is better than doing nothing

We all want everything to go perfectly in training. Unfortunately, when traveling sometimes you have to adapt and do the best with what you’re given. Perhaps you don’t have time to get in that tempo run you planned or find yourself in a location less than ideal for 400 meter repeats. Rather than not doing anything, get creative.

Turn your track session into a fartlek and sprint telephone pole to telephone poll. Can’t get outside? Focus instead on injury prevention and do some hip strengthening or core work. Heck, you don’t even need to get that creative. An easy run is still better than not running if you have the time. However, even if you’re short on time, simply taking three minutes to do the five most beneficial hip strengthening exercises could go a long way towards keeping you healthy long-tem.

Regardless of what you’re able to fit in, you can still find some small way to make yourself a better runner each and every day.

Overtraining is also caused by lack of sleep and recovery

With that said, remember that overtraining and fatigue are caused by more than just running workouts.

Lack of sleep, travel anxiety, and trying to cram in workouts can all lead to a greater stress on your body than you realize. Training does not occur in a vacuum and the stress and lack of sleep from a busy travel schedule can be just as hard on the body as a week of difficult workouts.

Schedule yourself some needed rest and recovery time. Most experienced runners will admit that the cause of their poor performances was a result of trying to do too much or getting injured rather than not working hard enough. Remember, no single workout makes or breaks a training segment. Sometimes, the best way for you to stay healthy and train to your best is to take some extra rest.

As you get set to travel for work this week or as your summer travel plans materialize, remember to keep a holistic view of your training in mind. Be adaptable, focus on the small wins you can find in training, and don’t fret if training gets off track.

****

About The Author:

Jeff Gaudette has been running for 14 years, at all levels of the sport. He was a two time Division-I All-American in cross country while at Brown University and competed professionally for four years after college for the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project. Jeff’s writing has been featured in Running Times magazine, Endurance Magazine, as well as numerous local magazine fitness columns.

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Listen to the complete interview here.

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More than 100 kids will be running for charity in the Toyota of Pittsburgh Kids Marathon on Saturday. Photo: Courtesy of Dick's Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon

Several children are among the top fundraisers among charity runners tied to this weekend’s Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon.

Adults often underestimate a child’s depth of understanding for the world around them. Eight-year-old John Clay Humphreys demonstrates this on the baseball diamond volunteering for the Miracle League of the South Hills in Pittsburgh. A program that gives children with disabilities the chance to play baseball with the help of a young buddy, John Clay partakes with his 7-year-old brother, James, who has spina bifida. With no feeling from his ankles down, James wears braces on his legs to help him walk.

So when the chance to run the 1.2-mile Toyota of Pittsburgh Kids Marathon presented itself, John Clay figured he had to do it. “He came up with the idea that if James couldn’t run the race, he’d run it for him,” says Maura Rodgers, executive director of the Miracle League of the South Hills. In the process, John Clay joined the Miracle League’s fundraising team and raised over $2,000, topping the organization’s best adult charity runners.

“It’s pretty meaningful to see kids running for kids,” Rodgers says. “They give up their time and allowance because they want to make a difference.”

While charity running has grown exponentially in recent years, there have been few programs that included the youngest runners. The organizers behind the Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon hope they can serve as a pilot program for other races. To be sure, at this year’s race there will be about 100 kids running for charity.

Among those runners is also five-year-old Claire Conti, whose charity of choice is the American Rescue League. Since joining the ARL’s team, she has become one of their top fundraisers, bringing in over $2,500.

With two cats and a dog at home from the ARL, it didn’t surprise Claire’s mom that her daughter wanted to raise money to help animals. “This girl is taking the fundraising completely seriously,” Cassie Conti says. “She’s a big thinker and when she gets an idea, she runs with it.”

Even donating her tooth fairy money, she has a grasp for giving beyond her years.

Everyone involved say that not only are the kids contributing to the greater good, they are learning important life lessons through fundraising and running.

“They learn that the training is about something larger,” Rodgers says. “It’s about building a community and making this mile about somebody else.”

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Despite sleeping through four alarms, Landon Sanford turned in a good race at the St. Jude Country Music Marathon.

Landon Sanford showed up more than 90 minutes late and still finished 34th in his age group.

In every race, there is always one person, someone, who is the last person to cross the start line. At last weekend’s St. Jude Country Music Marathon in Nashville, Tenn., this person happened to be someone who slept through not one, but four alarm clocks.

He’s 19-year-old Landon Sanford, and this is his story.

On that rainy Saturday morning, Sanford, a Charleston, S.C., native and freshman at Vanderbilt University, was fast asleep in bed. The night before, he had left a note on the door for his two college roommates that told them to please be quiet as he was running a marathon the next day and needed all the rest he could get.

A thorough person, Sanford set his four alarms, but, for some reason didn’t hear any of them. And to make matters worse, a friend who was running the half-marathon and was to meet Sanford before the race came down with a fever the night before and decided to skip the event without telling him.

And so at 8 a.m. on Saturday, a full hour after the marathon had already started, one of Sanford’s roommates who had read his marathon sign slowly shook him awake.

“I remember looking at the clock and then putting my head back down,” Sanford recalls. “At that moment, I nearly decided to not run the marathon since I was so late.”

But the marathon was a really big deal for Sanford. A cross country runner since seventh grade, the Country Music Marathon was his first venture at 26.2 miles and he had been training 8 to 10 miles a day on average for the past year.

He wasn’t going to miss the show for the world.

“I just hopped out of bed at that point,” Sanford says. “I didn’t even lace up my shoes. I didn’t go to the bathroom. I didn’t even drink water or eat any of the breakfast food I had laid out the night before.”

By the time he got the starting line, it was 8:30 and race organizers had begun rolling up the timing chip mats and taking apart the metal barriers. A race official saw Sanford’s bib and asked him if he was going to run the race.

He nodded and began to do some warm-up stretches.

A local news crew spotted him and started digging into his missed-alarm-clock story and before Sanford could finish his pre-race routine, he was on camera heading down the desolate course.

“The first 5 miles were really lonely,” he now recalls. “There was nobody on the course and people were telling me to not even run on the street, but to stay on the sidewalks. Everyone was really confused when they saw me. And so I ran really fast in those miles—like 7:10 pace.”

Eventually, Sanford began to reel in the walkers. He weaved past them and then he met the joggers. By the time he had caught up to the faster marathoner runners,” Sanford’s legs began to really hurt. “At mile 19 I collapsed,” Sanford remembers. “But it was just my legs tightening up and so I got back up and kept going.”

Sanford’s friends were waiting there for him when he crossed the finish line. In light of his adventures, he clocked a chip time of 3:40:04—good for 334th overall, and 34th in his division out of 137 runners.

“Looking back on it now, I was a very different experience than I what I expected,” Sanford says. “It was a remarkable experience. I’ll never forget running down Broadway in the pouring rain. I learned not to quit; I learned about myself that day.”

RELATED: Photos From The St. Jude Country Music Marathon

This kind of fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants marathon could turn away many runners from the sport, but not Sanford. He says he’s definitely going to tackle the 26.2-mile event again some day and is even considering competing in his first Ironman triathlon. “Yeah, I know,” Sanford says, chuckling. “For that one I’ll have to set five alarms in order to show up on time.”

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Charlie Engle is an accomplished ultrarunner and adventure racer.

Ultrarunner Charlie Engle was released from federal prison in June.

For 16 months stretching from late 2010 to last June, Charlie Engle, 50, was incarcerated at a federal prison in Beckley, W.V., having been found guilty by a jury on 12 counts of bank, mail and wire fraud in connection with a real estate scam. The judge’s 21-month sentence was less than half of what the prosecutor had sought, a leniency extended thanks to more than 120 letters of support from Engle’s friends and family and the fact that Engle had a clean record and 18 years of sobriety and charitable work.

Leslie Jamison’s article about Engle published this month in the Oxford American, details the author’s visitation with Engle in a West Virginia prison. The essay is an incredibly eloquent exploration of America’s relationship with imprisonment, retribution and remorse.

At sentencing, the federal judge denied Engle’s request for probation only, stating that Engle had to be punished for what he had done and concluding “I believe he knew what he was doing was wrong.” At trial, Engle had contended that he was deceived by mortgage brokers and real estate agents who had forged his signature and inflated his income figures to increase his loan amounts. But the prosecutor introduced evidence, including undercover agents’ tape recordings, that were incriminating enough to convince a jury of Engle’s guilt in inflating his income in order to qualify for loans that, in turn, he used to leverage for mortgages in excess of $1 million.  Engle was able to withdraw equity on the leveraged properties, which were eventually foreclosed.  In addition to the 21-month jail term, Engle’s sentence included 100 hours of community service, five years of probation and the repayment of $265,500 to lenders.

RELATED: Where Will Ultra Confinement Lead Ultramarathoner Charlie Engle?

Engle, a father of two teenage sons, of Greensboro, N.C., is widely known for his run across the Sahara Desert, documented in “Running the Sahara,” narrated by Matt Damon. He’s also recognized for his attempt to run across America, made into “Running America,” an 86-minute documentary, as well as his motivational speaking. He was released from prison last June to a halfway house in Greensboro, N.C, and left the halfway house in August.

For more: Oxford American

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A celebration of the Boston Marathon through a collection of T-shirts made before and after the 2013 race.

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Vanderbilt freshman Landon Sandford overslept for his first marathon and started 90 minutes late.

Even though he slept through four alarms, he still showed up to run his first marathon in the rain.

The first rule of running a marathon is get to the starting line on time.

For 30,000 runners, starting time for the Country Music Marathon in Nashville, Tenn., on Saturday, it was 7 a.m.

One Vanderbilt student slept through the four alarms he set that morning.

Instead of missing out on the race he still showed up nearly an hour and a half late, ready to run.

At 8 a.m. corral number 32, the last group of runners, heard the starting horn and hit the Nashville pavement.

Moments later the clean-up crew began tearing down the start/finish line. The race wasn’t over, South Carolina native Landon Sandford, arrived at the starting line.

RELATED: Photos From The St. Jude Country Music Marathon

The Vanderbilt freshman had a sad look on his face as he stretched all alone amidst the roar of street cleaners

The Country Music Marathon was Sandford’s first marathon.

“I was very sad and upset at myself” said Sandford, “I’ve been training all year and I really wanted to run this.”

Why was Sandford almost 90 minutes late for the start of a 26-mile race?

Sandford replied, “I set four alarms, I told my friend to come wake me up incase they didn’t go off. My roommate woke me up at 8 o’clock and I was like is the race now? What happened?”

With no one there to cheer him on, Andy Cordan decided to give Landon Sandford a proper start in his first Country Music Marathon.

Video: WATE TV 6

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Jenny Simpson won the 1500m at the 2011 world championships in Daegu, South Korea. Photo: PhotoRun.net

Simpson won the competitive 1500m race on Friday night at the Drake Relays.

Two-time U.S. Olympian Jenny Simpson, back training in Boulder under former college coach Mark Wetmore, won her 2013 racing debut Friday night at the Drake Relays in Iowa.

Simpson won several NCAA titles, set numerous collegiate records, as well as the American record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, and made the 2008 U.S. Olympic team while running for the University of Colorado from 2005-2009, but when she suddenly found herself without a coach after she signed a lucrative pro contract with New Balance in January 2010.

Simpson eventually moved to Monument, Colo., south of Denver and trained at the U.S. Air Force Academy and U.S. Olympic Training Center under the guidance of Air Force coach Juli Benson, a 1996 U.S.. Olympian in the 1500m. Under Benson’s guidance, Simpson won the 1500m at the 2011 world championships and also made the 2012 U.S. Olympic team in the event.

But she failed to make the Olympic finals last summer and also hasn’t improved her PRs in the 1500m or 5,000m since leaving school.

In a move that astonished many in the Colorado running community, Simpson announced in December that she was moving back to Boulder and would reunite with Wetmore. Although she skipped the indoor season, she’s been training at CU and helping coach the Buffaloes’ track team as a volunteer assistant. In Boulder, she’ll be able to mentor CU steeplechasers Emma Coburn and Shalaya Kipp, who each made the Olympic team last summer in the steeplechase.

Despite what was known to be a rough parting at the time, Simpson and Wetmore, and CU assistant coach Heather Burroughs, have apparently fended fences.

“I thought back to the years I spent at CU. It was just a really special chemistry — coach and athlete — between Mark and Heather (Burroughs) and myself,” Simpson told The Denver Post. “You can’t expect that everywhere, and sometimes it just can’t be replicated. Sometimes there’s just this peace you can’t define, and a method to training, that I think I definitely have at CU.”

Simpson beat a deep women’s 1500m field that also included Morgan Uceny, the No. 1 ranked runner in the world in 2011, Shannon Rowbury, the 2009 world championship bronze medallist in the event, and Mary Cain, the national high school record-holder.

For more: The Denver Post

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The 14th annual St. Jude Country Music Marathon & Half Marathon gets underway Saturday morning in Nashville. Photo: AP/Donn

Runners will receive RunNow wristbands to honor the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings.

The recent bombings at the Boston Marathon shook the nation to its core. On Saturday, more than 30,000 runners from all over the world will participate in the 14th annual St. Jude Country Music Marathon & Half Marathon in Nashville, Tenn. Along every mile of the 26.2-mile route, there is something happening in this citywide festival.

Along the route, notable local hot spots will roll out the red carpet for runners and spectators, live bands will be stationed and playing all genres of music, themed water stations will nourish the runners, cheerleaders will push the runners on, volunteers will be scurrying about and spectators will be watching and participating in a variety of ways.

For more: Fox Sports Tennessee

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