10 Years of Running: My 10 Favorite Miles

December 1 will mark 10 years since I became a runner instead of a smoker and changed my life. On the way to that 10th runnerversary, I am going to celebrate with an occasional top 10 post.

My 10 Favorite Medals | My 10 Favorite Bibs | My 10 Favorite Shoes

Officially, my favorite mile is "the one you're running." It is vital to think that way as a runner, and in life. Unofficially, I definitely have some of my own favorites just like everyone else. This is the hardest of my lists to narrow down, but here are 10 that have special meaning in my life.

10. Mile 11 of Maratona di Roma. Between the 17K and 18K markers, you follow the cobblestones right up to Piazza St. Pietro and the Vatican. As I passed the Pope's window where he gives his short speech and blessing some Sundays, crowds were forming behind barricades in anticipation. It is really hard to decide on just one mile in this race. This race is a feast of the senses.

Taper: The Downward Slope

Every marathon runner's favorite mammal

This is Week 10 of my 12-Week Training Plan provided by elite coach Andrew Kastor for the March 9 ASICS LA Marathon, and it also is the week that started our taper. I recently shared Coach Kastor's mental tips for marathon success, and with his kind permission I am pleased to relay the insightful advice he just shared today with the ASICS LA Marathon Blogger team on how to taper and finish in style. His words:

Now it is time to enjoy the marathon taper. What is "the taper," you ask? Well, it’s basically the last two to three weeks of your training program when you train less and rest more in preparation for your big race. Every great marathon-training plan has a taper phase -- of which the most common and effective length is 3 weeks. During this time you will allow your body to fully recover from the mental and physical demands of marathon prep by training less and resting more. This week's training volume should be about 20 percent less than last week's.

Things to keep in mind during your last 3 weeks of training (aka, the taper phase):

• Avoid extremely hilly courses. We've already done plenty of hill training during our Saturday morning training runs, so you should feel confident sticking to flats from here on out.
• Keep your caloric intake the same. Even though you're training less, that doesn't mean you should start eating less, too. You should actually gain weight (1 to 3 pounds) during the marathon taper. But don't freak out! This extra weight will consist of water (as you are not sweating as much), glycogen (sugar/carbs stored in your body), minerals and a little fat -- all of which will be used to get you to the finish line on race day.
• Stay off your feet as much as possible. Rest your legs at any chance you get.
• Hydrate well. Minimize your coffee and alcohol consumption, as they both can dehydrate you. By running less, you will have more energy, and if you drink a minimum amount of coffee, you will be able to sleep better at night and keep your body on a healthy cycle.
• Be positive. Hang around positive people who are encouraging and supportive of your training and upcoming marathon.

Happy Tapering!

Coach Kastor is an elite coach in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., and former 15-year competitive runner. His wife Deena Kastor is the Olympic medalist and holder of numerous U.S. women's records including marathon and half-marathon. Follow @CoachKastor and @DeenaKastor on Twitter. You can follow me @Marathoner.

How do you approach your own taper and what works best for you?

Mental Tips For Marathon Success

Being on the ASICS LA Marathon Blogger Team for next month's race has had many advantages, and one of them is being coached by Andrew Kastor, who trains Olympians and elite runners in Mammoth Lakes, Calif. It is a privilege, to say the least. I wanted to make sure running friends of mine might benefit from some of Coach Kastor's insights, so I am relaying these two mental tips:

1. Strengthen Your Mind

One of Coach Kastor's young runners, Gabe Proctor, is making his marathon debut in the LA race. They spent time looking over the course from Dodger Stadium to Santa Monica, and Coach Kastor told him to "imagine that the Pacific Ocean is a giant magnet, pulling him toward the finish line with growing strength as he nears the 26.2 mile mark.” Here is what Coach Kastor advises:

The goal is to create a feeling so powerful that the moment he thinks of the ocean, he starts to fall forward due to his subconscious mind having such a grasp on his physical being. The mind is a powerful thing, we all know this. Put it to work for you. Here are some ideas to help you through the last 3 weeks of training and ultimately the marathon.

1. Imagine the Pacific Ocean (or wherever your finish is) is calling you, pulling you towards it. Stand up, close your eyes, and visualize yourself being pulled by an incredibly strong force and allow your body to fall forward.

2. Imagine you weigh only 80%, 70%, 50% of your current body weight when going up a hill. Bound up the hill with ease! This really works. Be lighter, be faster, and be a stronger hill runner by using this technique.

3. Pretend you are a running robot, run with perfect form and calculation and turn off your emotions for the first 20 miles of the marathon, then run with your heart and soul the last 10k!

2. Choose Positivity

From Coach Kastor:

I encourage all of you to try and use a positive affirmation during your next long training session. Here are a few examples: "I choose to finish the marathon," "I'm strong and powerful," "I am a marathoner," "I'm light and fast," or "I am a Kenyan!" For you folks trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon, “I choose Boston.” For those who are challenged by hills, “I am a hill runner” or “I love hills.” Repeat them until you believe them!

Allow yourself to spontaneously come up with a positive saying that truly speaks to you, personally, during one of your workouts or races. This positive phrase should penetrate each and every cell of your body, allowing you to believe what you're telling yourself, right down to your DNA.

Remember: The more you believe the affirmation, the truer it will become.

Check out the Mammoth Track Club for some inspiration. Follow @CoachKastor and his wife and Olympic great @DeenaKastor on Twitter.

Q: What is a mental tip you have for other runners training for a marathon?

@Marathoner Gear Review: ASICS Storm Shelter Jacket

"STOP AT NEVER."

That is stitched into the neck flap of the ASICS Storm Shelter Jacket, and today I saw that as I zipped up my incredible new piece of running gear and set out for a 15-mile ASICS LA Marathon training run at frozen Central Park. Those words spoke to me and put me in the perfect frame of mind for my subsequent 3:20 run on icy pavement.

This was one of the most challenging days I have had in terms of gear selection since I started marathon running in 2007. We were just coming out of Winter Storm Hercules' wrath, with record cold temps and huge snowpiles. On this day, freezing rain was added to the equation. So I had to deal with brutal cold, icy surface, and now intermittent rain just to make it more tricky. My old jacket wasn't going to cut it.

I drove straight to Paragon Sports at Union Square and bought the plaid ASICS Storm Shelter for $130. (Women's version here.) I had regretted not buying one at the New York City Marathon Expo in November. I am lucky that ASICS now sponsors me and ships me training gear, but this was me doing what I have done for the last 7+ years -- buying ASICS stuff, because they make the best running gear, simply put.



I parked at 93rd and Madison amid piles of snow and entered Central Park at Runner's Gate, running counter-clockwise.



As I ran, it occurred to me that this is a remarkably well-named piece of apparel. It truly felt like a storm shelter. It felt not like a garment, or an object, but like a place, a safe haven, total insular protection. It felt like I was going inside while running outside. In fact, I can safely say that out of the 100+ runners I encountered on the 2+ full 6-mile loops of Central Park, I won the Best Dressed Award. If I was on an Oscars red carpet, I was the woman in Vera Wang who everyone talked about. It was that good.

Let's start with my video product review, just to cover some of the features.



The first three miles, the freezing drizzle was coming down. The running path was a slippery mess, and it had that crackled glazed look that you see on 24-hour-old Krispy Kreme donuts. You tried to run on any available black pavement. We could span out onto the whole road, because this day was off-limits to bikes. That made it feel like a privilege to run there, actually. I saw three guys on bikes later in the day and one of them wiped out, because they were idiots. It was for #beastmode runners only.

Here's what the surface looked like:



Here's what it looked like running up the vaunted and icicle-bound North Woods Hill, which I ran up twice:

Here's a panorama shot of the icicle-covered walls along the North Woods Hill ascent:



Then the precip stopped, and I was starting to heat up so I pulled off the hood that had been my fortress. I had my iPhone safely tucked inside the zipper in the left breast, with a hole for my earbud wire. I listened to Pandora the whole day. I had two Chocolate Outrage GUs in each jacket pocket, and I unzipped the long vent flaps on each side of the jacket to release my body heat. Under it I wore a base layer and a long sleeve NYRR shirt, and I could have done without the second shirt. The Storm Shelter is lined, so that serves as your second shirt, basically. It has a great sleeve liner also, and the Lycra wrist gaiters have a gap for each thumb so it can double as lightweight gloves. The hood is removable, when the weather clears. They thought of everything, and it has a fabulous reflection pattern so you are covered running in the dark.



This was the finish of Week 3 in my 12-Week Training Program administered by Coach Andrew Kastor, who is guiding about a dozen of us who were invited by ASICS to be in the ASICS LA Marathon Blogger Challenge. I had a tough time in Week 2 with a lengthy cough and sinus issue, but I think I'm back on track. This 15-miler brought my weekly mileage to 30. I am doing the Beginner/Intermediate program rather than Advanced, because I want to go back to the basics in chasing my goal of a 5:12 PR.

In fact, you can see "5:12" on the mirror of my bathroom. Coach Kastor said in a CNN article that runners should post a piece of paper on their mirror with a number that they will stare at every day, so that they can make right choices to achieve that. So mine is 5:12, which would beat my PR of 5:13 set at the 2008 New York City Marathon. I have dropped 20 to 30 minutes from that over recent marathons and want to get faster. Next to my number is "1,000,000" for King Bingley (aka Chub), representing 1 million treats. We thought he would want to go after that mostly.

In the last five miles of my 15-miler, it began to drizzle again. I put the hood back on, and used the convenient adjusters to snuggle up. It was fascinating. It was like I was a world away from bad weather. I ran past runners wearing the standard knit cap and jacket look, and they looked so exposed. I didn't want my knit cap to be soaked with frozen rain. That's bad stuff. I am so armed for future #beastmode weather. I cannot recommend the ASICS Storm Shelter enough.

Top 5 @Marathoner Running Highlights in 2013

As long as I can write this post at the end of each year and conclude that I JUST KEPT RUNNING then I consider it a very successful year!

But of course, we don't just run. We look for new challenges and exciting adventures that keep our running interesting and add meaning to our lives. So without further ado, please allow me to count down my top 5 running highlights of 2013:

5. Run For Boston. After the Boston Marathon bombings, we all bonded together in the running community and went out in the streets in support of our brothers and sisters who were impacted. I was among many who donned blue and yellow "I run for...BOSTON" running shirts and hit Central Park for the first official New York Road Runners race after that tragedy, the City Parks Run for the Parks 4-Miler. The Boston Marathon bombing was the biggest story in 2013, and naturally it hit home especially in the running community. It was good to see so many people rushing to help in any way they could, and another reminder of how running brings good to society and puts you in a position in life to help others. Also, I am constantly uplifted by the stories of so many who were injured on Boylston that day and have surged back in life with a positive attitude. And just to show how much this subject rather dominated my life in 2013, consider that I left Fenway Park in the middle of the clinching game on Oct. 30 and hiked quickly over to the bombing site so that I could interview Red Sox fans and citizens on what it meant for a World Series title to help their healing process. I then rushed over to a Copley hotel lobby to type my story and FTP the videos to our Major League Baseball Advanced Media HQ back in NYC, and my story and video from that night can be found on MLB.com right here. I really thought the City of Boston should have been TIME mag's Person of the Year, but I can live with the Pope.

4. Publix Fort Lauderdale A1A Marathon. You can't ask for much more than a pancake-flat run that starts on beautiful Las Olas Boulevard and runs all the way along the Atlantic Ocean surf up to Hillsboro Inlet and then returns back to the Fort Lauderdale strip for the finish. I unfortunately hit a couple of snags that day -- a freak cold front that iced us over at the start line, and a stiff wind out of the North that was in my face for half of the marathon. But all in all it was worth the signup last February, especially after having already run the Miami Marathon twice. We stay each January at our family's condo in Fort Lauderdale, so this worked out amazingly and my family and friends stood out front of the condo and gave me some much-needed support. Maybe the star of this show is the medal. They are very creative, and for this one the race organizer handed out seahorses. The medal was so heavy and with moving parts that there actually was a defect, causing some of the medals to break. But they kept their promise and shipped everyone with a broken medal the replacement, and I have to say I love having seahorses on my wall! Run this race!

3. Marathon Maniacs #6697. I was all excited to finally earn membership into the Maniacs after that Fort Lauderdale marathon, because it was my 10th overall. Alas, I found out that I'm just a dummy. I had actually qualified for entry way back in 2008, when I ran the Knickerbocker 60K ultra within 15 days of a previous marathon (New York City). So for five whole years I could have been a Maniac and had a nice low roll number there. Hey, what the hell, I finally was welcomed aboard. Maniacs have a ton of camaraderie, and you get a lot of inside information and help along the way in terms of race entries and training. I am still waiting to wear the yellow and red gear to show off my Maniac status, but I expect to have years and years to do that because I am a runner for life and now I am a Maniac for life. Who else is a Maniac?

2. ING New York City Marathon. I wanted to keep the "ING" in this just as a final nod and thank-you to the longtime sponsor of the greatest marathon in the world. They meant a lot to me. Now it's the TCS New York City Marathon, and shortly I will take advantage of my 9+1 qualification in 2013 -- at least nine scored New York Road Runners races and one volunteer assignment -- and enter the 2014 race. Looking back on the 2013 race, I was a little bummed that my training was substandard and I could not approach my 5:13 PR. But in the big picture, this one was for my Mom, who was diagnosed in 2013 with lymphoma and at this writing is responding beautifully to chemo. The most painful moments of that marathon journey were the times when I tried to put it in perspective and remember what my Mom is fighting. Mine was just a race. After we missed 2012 because of the cancellation caused by Superstorm Sandy, it was nice to have the NYC Marathon back, and not just back but bigger than ever -- the largest race in WORLDWIDE MARATHON HISTORY. It is still hard to accurate describe the thrill of being cheered on by 2 million spectators and enjoying 100 musical performers and diverse neighborhoods and the conga lines of children who just want you to high-five them as you go by. And the creative signs!

There were a lot of candidates for my Number One. I thought maybe I should go with the first day of 2013, when I ushered in the year by inventing my own #12RunsOfChristmas -- those late nights running in the cold by myself at Central Park just to keep my streak. Or a very typical training run, maybe in the rain, just you and the open road or trail, the kind of run that makes you know you are alive. Or possibly the Staten Island Half because I actually climbed a freakin U.S. Army rock wall at the end of it. And then I thought, Hey, the Fifth Avenue Mile because I ran a faster pace than any time in my life. And you could argue for Boston here, but honestly I would only do that if I had run it or been involved, and I am never going to be fast enough to run the Boston Marathon. Had it not been for something that happened in the last month, my discovery of a new bathroom on the West side of Central Park honestly was going to be my No. 1 in 2013, because that is just how important knowing where the relief is while you run.

So, ladies and gentlemen, a drum roll if you please...

1. #ASICS! The same premiere running company that has been so important in my running life -- from my first pair of shoes in 2006 to all that Expo apparel I have purchased through the years -- approached me and asked if I would like to run for ASICS. ME! I am not from Kenya and I do not train in Mammoth. I am in my 50s. ASICS asked if I would like to be part of the ASICS LA Marathon Blogger Challenge, for which they would provide race entry, air and hotel, 12-week training plan and followup from elite Coach Andrew Kastor (Deena's husband), and ASICS gear shipped to me during the winter. This is very cutting-edge stuff for a running company, in fact for any company. (Hello, Runners World? Story.) I give big props to ASICS for reaching out to the running community in this way, for about a dozen of us, and I look forward to extolling their virtues as I continue training for my March 9 marathon that starts at Dodger Stadium and ends with a Forrest Gump pose at Santa Monica Pier...ever so fittingly for this MLB guy. I can't wait for 2014!

Please let me know how your own Year in Running went! Happy New Year, Pleasant Running and Peace on Earth. - Mark