I got into running races whenever I could. In the 1990s, I traveled all over the region to race. For example, in 1992 in Maryland, I ran a marathon in Aberdeen Proving Grounds, a 10 miler in Annapolis and a Metric Marathon (26.2 Km) in Columbia. I also ran a marathon in the Philippines. Plus […]

Training to run a 26.2 mile marathon is an exact science. One increases weekly running mileage gradually to build capacity to better prepare for the arduous distance, never exceeding a 20-mile distance on any one training run. The peak mileage of about 50 miles a week comes in the last three to six weeks before […]

Reston Runners Changed My Life I was an empty nester in 1992, alone in my four-bedroom town house in Newbridge Court in Reston – following my separation and a messy divorce. After 25 years of marriage and three grown children out of the house, I needed to change my lifestyle and I wanted to do […]

I’m an ultramarathoner. That means I’ve run races longer than the regular 26.2 mile marathon. Actually I’ve only run the JFK 50-miler race – but I did it twice. After I ran it the first time when I was 66 years old – in a couple of minutes over 10 hours, I said, “Never again!” […]

I won the last race I ever ran. I raced Washington, DC’s National Half Marathon as a tune-up for the 2010 Milan Marathon that I planned to run in Italy three weeks later. Groin pain put me off my usual pace but I placed first in my age group despite it. Later an orthopedic surgeon […]

I came to Venezuela from Philippines to scout out the possibility of resigning from CARE after 20 years and settling in Valencia to work with my brother on a pig farm. I ran a race that first weekend – and won a 5th place medal. It was my first trophy ever.  I took the golden […]

I will never forget my good friend, Ahmed Hamza. He was a member of our running group in Cairo. We ran together each weekend. Many times we met at my house to drive to the runs. We often had breakfast with the group after the run – sometimes at my home.  But we developed a […]

Friends call me “A coin collector with a running problem.” I search for Street Money, coins I find on the street while jogging — and occasionally at bus stops and parking lots. For 25 years I’ve been tossing my morning haul of copper and silver coins into a glass beer mug and stashing it in […]

Memories of my youth flooded back during a long run in New York City. We were spending the week at the midtown East Side pied-a-terre apartment of  Washington, D.C. friends. We arrived in New York late afternoon and stocked the refrigerator with goodies from a grocery store around the corner. I was up early the […]

My organization, ACDI/VOCA, had a long-term project in West Bank & Gaza for eight years – aiding Palestinian cooperatives. My job was to make two or three supervisory visits each year. I enjoyed my pre-intifada runs in Jerusalem especially the one that took me 45 minutes to make a  five-mile round of the ancient walled […]