1. Yurbuds. There is nothing more annoying that earbuds that constantly need to be fiddled with or fall out while you are running. With these babies, you won’t have that problem!

2. Free Motion Wind Jacket. This is my favorite running jacket. It fits like a glove, doesn’t ride up and had thumb holes aka a total winner in my book!

3. Road ID. Keep the runner in your life safe with the Road ID. It’s a wristband that you wear on your runs which includes your emergency contact info in case something happens while you’re on the road.

4. Oiselle Runfinity Scarf. I am obsessed with snoods and infinity scarfs. This one is specially designed to keep you warm on your runs and is cute enough to go from workout to night out!

5. The stick. The stick may seem silly as first glance, but once you use the stick to soothe your sore muscles you will be sold. It feels amazing on sore quads and calves and with a bit of flexibility, can be used to massage your back and shoulders too. It’s used by Olympic athletes in various training center in the USA. If it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for me!

6. A GPS watch. The Garmin Forerunner 410 is on the top of my Christmas wishlist, but GPS watches come in tons of models with all different types of features depending on your needs. I’m pretty sure every runner would be excited to get one of these babies.

7. A Runner’s Magazine subscription. I am a total magazine junkie and love getting magazines delivered to my doorstep every months. A magazine subscription is the gift that keeps on giving!

What’s on your Christmas list this year?

The post Gift Ideas for Runners appeared first on Frolic Through Life.

The first thing that really struck me was that running is the only sport in which technique is not taught. As a former high school track runner, I can vouch for that. We were encouraged to run our hearts out, but no one ever mentioned the proper form or anything about form at all. This is the reason that runners are very prone to injury.

Golden shared four steps to better running:

1. Posture. You should run with a straight body, slightly leaning forward, with your head up, shoulders back and relaxed. You shouldn’t be bending at the waist. Golden told us that his father, who is also a running legend, would watch marathons with him when he was younger and be able to predict the winners and who would fall away from the pack when they lost their core and bent at the waist. You can make sure that you have the proper posture by raising your hands “to the moon” while you run.

2. Foot Strike. Your midfoot should make contact with the ground and not your heel. You should also land under a bent knee in order to be able to absorb the pressure that your body creates when hitting the ground. Traditional running shoes have a heel that is at least two times the thickness of the toe. Due to this difference in height your foot doesn’t hit the ground at a natural stride and not under a bent knee. Golden also went on to say that there is no such thing as a magical running shoe. A shoe will never make you a better runner, but the wrong shoe can hurt you.

3. Arm movement. Your arms should be high and relaxed. Your elbows should stay behind your waist and your arms shouldn’t cross your body. If you have trouble keeping your arms in the efficient position, it is helpful to carry a water bottle or small weight to keep your arms up.

4. Cadence. No mater what speed you are running at, you should aim for an average of 180 steps per minute. An easy way to check you cadence is to count how many times your right leg hits the ground over 20 seconds. If you’re around 30 steps in 20 seconds, you’re looking good.

After the clinic, we were all outfitted with Altra shoes see the drop zero difference for ourselves. Since my gait analysis earlier this summer showed that I overpronate, I went with the stability shoe, the Altra Provisioness.

I’ve only been able to use them twice, and I am following Golden’s advice to slowly rotate these into your running routine. So far, so good. They honestly feel like no other running shoe I’ve ever had and they completely change the way your foot hits the ground and how your foot is spaced inside the shoe. It is remarkable what a difference a shoe can make.

What kind of shoes do you run in?

FTC: Altra Drop Zero provided me with a free pair of Altra Provisioness.

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My Saturday began at 5:30 when the alarm rang. I got up and got dressed before waking up/ apologizing to my guys who were accompanying me to the race and festival. You know it’s true love when someone will wake up at 5am on a Saturday to watch to run.

We were out the door by 6 and had a 45 minute drive to get to Bethlehem from the Poconos, where we were staying. As soon as we got into Bethlehem, I saw the signs and runners making their way to the start line and I started to get really excited. I picked up my packet, pinned on my number and made my way to the start line.

I ran into some fellow Fitfluential Ambassadors at the start line, but I failed on getting a picture, as usual. It was fun to put a face to the ladies whose blogs I read on a regular basis.

After the singing of the National Anthem, we were off. The race went through the streets of Bethlehem and along the Steelstacks. The old furnaces from the Steel plants gave the race and whole event an amazing backdrop.

Mile one was tough. Almost all uphill and sadly I did take a walking break. Fail on my one goal, but I started to get what I think was a shin split, a pain that I have never felt before and had to stop to shake out my leg and attempt to stretch the pain away. By the time I got to the mile marker by pace was over 12:30. I wasn’t too happy about it, but I trekked on.

Mile two was a good deal of downhill, I took this as an opportunity to catch up and make up for the time I wasted walking. I hit the mile two marker with a time of 21 minutes. For a second, I wondered if the marker time was off because there was no way that I could have ran that mile in under 1o minutes.

Mile three was pretty good until the last hill. The pain returned  and I walked until I got to the top of the hill. I started getting really excited when I heard the music and the crowds at the finish line. Crossing the finish line was an amazing feeling. Since this was only my second race, I had never really experienced the cheer of the crowds and how big a difference it can make on you race experience.

My official time was 35:05 with an 11:18 pace per mile.

My whole race experience was great. From packet pickup that morning to getting my medal and banana after the race, everything went smoothly and I could not have hoped to have a better time.

Little did I know that my day at the Runner’s World Half and Festival was only beginning! I’ll be back tomorrow to recap the expo and everything I learned along the way!

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There are going to be three races over the course of the weekend – 5k, 10k and a half marathon. There is also an option to hat trick and do all three in 24 hours! The hat trick sounds so bad ass, and I wish I had the proper training to do it. There’s always next year, right?

I will be doing the 5k – my first real 5k. October seems to be a month of firsts for me! My only goal for the race is to run the whole thing without walking. After looking at the course map, it might be a bit difficult to achieve that goal. The first mile of the race is a pretty large elevation climb, but luckily the rest is all downhill.

Either way, I am beyond excited and pumped to be a part of this great event and cannot wait to run my heart out yet again!

You can be sure that I will be back next week with a total recap of the weekend’s festivities!

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