Kathy Runs

My RunTalkRadio co-host, Caleb, has recently put out the challenge to runners everywhere to make a list that is tailored to our individual needs. Forget the generalized lists that are published for the masses, instead, he says, make one for yourself and use it to help you train for the 2010 season. Since Caleb is no only my co-host but also my coach, I feel like he put this out there as an easy homework assignment. So here goes:

Original post on RunTalkRadio

List your major body components and how you will keep them tuned.

• Quads (remember the 5 minute wallsit?). I’ll keep them tuned by running hills, and doing strength work. Beyond this, I want to keep them agile, so I plan to vary my speed work in order to keep these muscles guessing.
• Core I want to incorporate some non traditional core workouts this year. More planks, more swimming.
• Feet In 2009 I struggled with my feet. I’m not talking blisters either, although those were a problem, and I’m anticipating them to stick around for 2010. Ending 2008, I had tendinitis which didn’t go away for a few months into 2009. The year kicked off to a slow start, but I’ve learned and am determined to have strong feet throughout 2010.

List your biggest sources of motivation and how you will keep them in mind throughout the year.

• Caleb, my coach! I usually do all of my training plans myself, and lean on an intense internal motivation to keep me on track. This year, I’m adding some spice to my training, and Caleb is helping me reach some pretty challenging goals.
• Dailymile Dailymile kept me going through 2009, and I have high expectations for it in 2010!
• Friends and family I started running because I wanted to remember some very important people in my life, my good friend, Monica, and my amazing Grandma. They both passed away my freshman year of college and I’ll run to remember them for the rest of my life.

List the people you know that should be running or exercising more, then think about how to encourage them.

• I’m not going to name names here, and most of these people know exactly who they are. My job isn’t to push, but to motivate and encourage. Running isn’t about doing something you hate and I would never want any of my friends or family to experience it in a negative light. In 2009, I motivated people to run through my running, I hope I can do the same in 2010

List at least one thing that is outside of your comfort zone of last year to attempt this year.

• PR at the Portland Marathon A PR would be great, but I’m looking for something more, an experience that challenges me, a training plan that I love to hate, and a PR that I will never forget. I’m superstitious, so I’ll need some serious pushing to admit to what time I would like to finish the Portland Marathon in (Caleb knows). I want to go fast and I want these next 10 months to show me new parts of running and training that I wasn’t able to experience in 2009

List at least one thing that you can make better by running.

• This year I joined up with The Steps Foundation to help improve the world around us by harnessing the passion that lives inside all runners and unleashing it on several initiatives that I believe in: clean water, safe environments for kids, and mentoring the youth around us. Whether it’s just staying healthy in order to be there for The Steps Foundation, or raising funds through running, I’ll be there!

Decided to run on one of my long forgotten trails yesterday, The Dish at Stanford. It was so great to be back in my old stomping grounds. The weather was a perfect 60 degrees, and the hills were just calling my name the entire time!

Testing out the legs today on Christmas Eve. A few weeks ago I was involved in a competition that set the record straight about the 5 minute wall sit. Today, I decided to talk about how I do it. Essentials: People magazine, good tunes (although I didn’t have that today), a stop watch, barefoot or shoes (no socks… they slip and make your legs burn more).

Friday, December 11th, nine runners took off for the first Annual Dailymile Hot Toddy 10k. We met at the Sports Basement, some of us did some last minute shopping (how can you pass up Sports Basement?), and then we took off into the night with an objective of trying to soak in the twinkling lights of the Marina, and Pacific Heights. The course took us through Crissy Field past all of the beautifully decorated Christmas trees. The marina sailboats had their masts lit up as we cruised by. The group hung right and we climbed some of the harder hills in Pacific Heights – can’t ever run in San Francisco without going up a hill!

And this is where things got dicey. Our objective was quickly lost in Pac Heights after summiting a climb when we ended up in the middle of a power outage. San Francisco was black and silent (as silent as a city can be) for a few minutes, allowing us to catch our breath, and take in the city skyline.

After our brief encounter with danger, we found ourselves back in the Marina and on our way to the Palace of Fine Arts. Puddle jumping awaited us at the palace where we were transformed into little kids, running through the grass and hopping over temporary street streams.

The night ended back at The Tipsy Pig for some warming up with hot toddies, Hawaiian BBQ pork sliders, sweet potato french fries, and giant pretzels. In the spirit of the holidays, we each got a prize for “finishing” the 10k. Check out the pictures from the evening!

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working with two running partners of mine to set up and record a virtual conference which has turned into the fun loving, Run Talk Radio.

Caleb, Daniel and I met through Dailymile.com and became fast friends through the tubes of the internet. Through Run Talk Radio we’ve gotten to know quite a bit about each other, and hoping our friendship will be strengthened through running, and… well – talking!



We have 3.5 episodes available on the website, and will soon be ready to download via the iTunes store. Check out our latest episode: Jokesters.

Here’s some more about the team:
Most running partners are old friends, or they meet at the first day of running club, or they’ve passed each other on the sidewalk so often that they decided to join forces. Our story is a bit different than that, we met in the cozy world of the Internet.

We became quick friends on a popular running (cycling, and swimming) social network. At first we were competitors looking for that spot on the leader board, but as we got to know each other, we realized that we had a lot more in common than a crazy passion for running – we geek out hard when it comes to training, shoes, gear, nutrition, motivation and inspiration.

Instead of simply annoying our loved ones with stories of homemade gel pouches, lost toenails, or boasts about outrageous appetites, we deiced to take things to the next level with Run Talk Radio.

Get to know us as we explore the runner’s world of nutrition, gear, training, and anything that may pop up during friendly conversation about a sport we all love.

Patagonia.com

Leave it to Patagonia to keep us all inspired and excited about ski season. After a pretty rocky running season, I must say that I’m looking forward to this year’s mountain time with primed legs and feet that are itching to snuggle into my telemark boots. I have one more race (the The California International Marathon on Sunday, December 6th) and then it’s a mad sprint to the white room for the next few months.

Luckily my runner friends are also my skier friends, this helps keep my excitement factor at all time highs while going into winter 2010. After posting the above photo on Dailymile I went on to gush about it with my dear friend and heterosexual life partner, Haley.

I started running three years ago. In fact, running the Nike Women’s Marathon this year marked my three year anniversary with running marathons. I’ve improved a bit since I started, I stopped hating it so much and learned to love sore muscles, blood blisters, missing toenails, random aches and pains, obsessing over diet and training methods, and having my friends in a constant state of never understanding this one passion of mine. Coupled with this, I’ve come to value the good tenfold: my running buddies, the way my body feels after a twenty mile run around town, eating all the time, being motivated and motivating others, and making so many new friends that do understand this crazy passion.



The past three years have been tough, I assume it has to do with aging into my late 20s, but I’m very thankful I’ve had the constant drum of the marathon to keep me steady as I grow into my ever changing life. After my first marathon, a good friend of mine snapped this photo. In it I’m walking towards him eating some yogurt. Someone had tapped a telephone to the pole and written on it, “It’s 4 u.” I understand that I can take symbolism to new dimensions, but this one is pretty obvious. Reflecting on the past three years, I have definitely learned that I became hooked that day I ran the Nike Women’s Marathon in 2006.

I’ve had time to reflect on the marathon and what it means to me in the past few months. Recently I’ve been toying with the idea of running the 26.2 a lot faster than I am right now. (Is it even possible?) I normally don’t let on what my plans are, but I figure this one is larger than me, and I’ll need some help, so why not let folks in on the secret – at least I’ll be held accountable, eh? Over the next few years I’d like to feel what it’s like to take the marathon seriously, not just in a respectful and humbling way (which I believe will stay with me from race to race) but in a challenging and motivating way. I don’t know where this will take me yet, but I’ve come to terms with the fact that as Caleb would say, my marathon game needs steppage. I have a few more races to finish out the year, and after that, keep your eyes peeled for the super sexy marathon training plan of 2010, and be sure to wish me luck! Many thanks to all those who have helped and will help inspire me to run far, run fast, and run often!

Ever since I fell in love with Dailymile a year ago, I’ve used it for logging my training, sharing advice with other runners, meeting new friends, and learning to love running more. Well, my roommate and friend,
Elizabeth C. has taken Dailymile’s motivating and easy to use interface out onto the cross country course.



Let’s face it, budget cuts have rippled throughout California’s foundation and schools have been feeling the sting for quite some time now. I have almost daily conversations with Elizabeth about how to be creative with the small budget she does have. She has a lot of goals for her kids on the XC team, but the most challenging one is to keep them having fun and engaged. When the team went to their first meet, Elizabeth sat down and decided to leverage some free tools online. I showed her Dailymile, and it was love at first sign-in. She created a group for the Balboa Cross Country team, had her kids sign up, and they’ve been using the site to motivate each other, post results from meets, share stories about running, and have a good time.

So who’s the lucky one here? These days I’m finding myself in conversations with other DMers (as we call ourselves) that go a bit like this:

Caleb:Don’t you guys love Dailymile?

Kathy:You know what’s great about it? It’s an online community of real people! You know there’s someone sweating their butt off on the other end.

Caleb:I love Dailymile. I really don’t think I would have run my sub-3 without some of the folks I’ve met there.

Daniel:Can I have some of that sub-3 love?

So there you have it. I’m not sure if Dailymile got lucky with all of us, or if all of us got lucky with Dailymile. I do know that we’re all marching towards better health and fitness together… and we’re doing it with the kick ass Balboa High School Cross Country Running Team. By the way, they had their last meet of the season yesterday and from what I hear, they kicked some butt. Give them some props if you have time! Balboa XC Group on DM.

First of all, I must apologize for my neglect of kathyruns.com. So I haven’t posted for a while… which means I’ve been doing other things, right?

In an effort to make myself feel better for leaving everyone hanging, I’ve put together a “Where has she been” list. Here goes…

• Ran the Nike Women’s Marathon
• Launched RunTalkRadio
• Whimsically traveled to New York City for Halloween and some big marathon that gets a lot of hype
• Did laundry
• Bought new running shoes
• Signed up for a super secret project with a runner who you may or may not know who’s name rhymes with Fall
• Began training for the California International Marathon on December 6th
• Threw a party for all the Daily Milers in SF
• Perfected the banana muffin
• Found a new favorite band
• Finally got over her crush on Edward Cullen
• Ran to the top of Bernal Hill more times than she can count on two hands and two feet
• Contemplated getting a tattoo… where? Not telling

So that’s the update. I’m hoping this allows me to feel sufficiently less guilty about not blogging for a month so that we can all move on. Shall we?

NYC Marathon! from Kathy Simpson on Vimeo.

As someone who loves to run marathons, I never get to experience the race from the side lines. This year, I came out to watch the NYC Marathon and not run it. It was fantastic, I thought that as a runner I wouldn’t be able not feel drawn to the course and anxious to run it myself. Standing with the other spectators, cheering on the runners as they went by felt fantastic. There’s something about showing support that makes me feel even more like a runner. The best part, though, was that I got to watch the elites wiz by me.

The wheel chair division came first and filled the crowds with inspiration. Watching a 70 year old women complete a marathon in a wheel chair…. Well, who wouldn’t feel empowered to get up off the couch and run a marathon?

Next came the women’s elite division lead by Paula Radcliffe (of course). The fans went wild for Paula, but the real fanfare was as the men rounded the corner chasing after the NYRR organizer, and just about 20 police officers.

Following the elite runners, were the 40,000 + runners on their journey through NYC. Congratulations everyone who ran the NYC 2009 – You inspire me! And if you missed it, here’s a bit of footage from the leaders of the pack.