Matt Tegenkamp has run 12:58, been an oh-so-close 4th at Worlds, and won a grip of US national titles… so naturally it’s time to take on the new challenge presented by the marathon. Between now and his debut at the distance — Chicago, October 13th — he’ll be sharing insight into that journey. This entry looks at the line of thinking that brought him to the foot of the 26.2 mile mountain…

Acquired Desire: The marathon, for me, has been an “acquired” desire. The process of training and racing for soooo many miles scared me — rightfully so, with my history of nagging injuries.

However, there has always been this deep down question of, If I did a marathon what could I run? That question has been stirring since 2007, after watching my first Chicago Marathon live. And I’ve continued to predict my finish time after every 26.2 I watch. The internal debate finally came to a head this spring when my coach Jerry Schumacher and I had a long sit down Read the full article

Matt Tegenkamp has run 12:58, been an oh-so-close 4th at Worlds, and won a grip of US national titles… so naturally it’s time to take on the new challenge presented by the marathon. Between now and his debut at the distance — Chicago, October 13th — he’ll be sharing insight into that journey. This entry looks at his first major tune-up race: a defense of his US 20k title in New Haven, Connecticut.

Perfect Chicago Prep: It has a been almost 2 weeks since the New Haven USARC 20k, but I can’t stop thinking about the race because of all the positive motivators I was able to pull from the competition. The field was super competitive — no surprise — and I knew I was going to have to bring my A+ game to defend my title. What was a surprise was the weather: humidity… 100%. Dew point… 75! Sooooo happy the sun was hiding behind the clouds! So, here are my takeaways from the 20k… Read the full article

KIMbia poet laureate Van Townsend shares his thoughts in the wake of yesterday’s attack in Boston…

I was next door to the local running shop when a friend said, ” Hey did you hear about the explosions at Boston?” Read the full article

Trying to run the Worlds “A” standard of 13:15? Indoors? Sounds so crazy it just might work… especially when you have six world-class teammates committed to that goal and willing to work together. (Doesn’t hurt to have an 8:13 steepler pacing, either.) Tonight, Matt Tegenkamp, Lopez Lomong, Evan Jager, Andrew Bumbalough and Elliott Heath (plus teammate Chris Derrick) will hit the track at the Armory in New York City for the Columbia Last Chance meet. A meet designed for college runners to achieve NCAA standards, Jerry’s Jets have their sights set on the World-level standard, instead. The opportunity was made possible with help from the New York Road Runners, and some of the KIMbia athletes racing shared their thoughts on what to expect… Read the full article

I remember it well, my last day as a non-fan of running. My teammate Ryan was on his way toward becoming regional champion in the 1600 and 3200 and brought an intentionality to most things he kept in his life. He had already been challenging me to think about movies in a way I thought one could only think about literature, when he suddenly asked me one day if I had heard about the cross country performance of a high school girl somewhere else in the country. I hadn’t.

She ran 17:23, he said.

Is that good for a girl? I blinked.

He directed me to Dyestat.com to read up on it. How can you do a sport that you don’t even know much about, he scolded, much more than queried. Read the full article