On a downhill portion about 9 miles into my 12-mile run on Sunday, a runner with gray facial scruff and a ponytail who looked liked he had been around the block more than a few times in his life, came up on my shoulder and passed me from behind. At first, I just let him […]
Author Archives: Jason Karp
St. Patricks Day Run
On a downhill portion about 9 miles into my 12-mile run on Sunday, a runner with gray facial scruff and a ponytail who looked liked he had been around the block more than a few times in his life, came up on my shoulder and passed me from behind. At first, I just let him […]
Valentine’s Day and Your Heart
As I discussed in a recent blog post, and is worth reiterating here, runners literally have large hearts–specifically, the size of the left ventricle, a condition called left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). If you’ve ever had an EKG, you can see whether you have LVH: See the two biggest points on the EKG–one pointing up […]
Regrets and the Winter Olympics
Most people who know me know how passionate I am about running. As passionate as I am about running, I am even more passionate about the Olympics. I admit, I always cry during the Opening Ceremonies. I love the ceremony of it all, the symbolism of the Olympic Rings, the convergence of the very best […]
Secret to a Big Heart for National Heart Month
February is National Heart Month. Heart disease is the number one cause of death among men and women. Everyone knows someone who has had heart disease. My father died of a heart attack when he was 51 years old. My twin brother and I were only eight years old. This is one of my favorite […]
5:17 Mile — You Got to Know When to Hold ‘Em and Know When to Run
Ran in my second track meet this winter in San Diego. It feels weird to run in an outdoor track meet in 80 degrees in the middle of January, but hey, it’s Southern California! People think I’m spoiled, but I remember all those winters I’ve run in very cold conditions. I’ve run in double digits […]
Quest for a Sub 5-Minute Mile at Age 40 and No Crying in Baseball
Today was my first track meet of the season, an all-comers meet in Temecula, California. Because there’s no indoor track season in sunny Southern California like I had going to high school in New Jersey, there’s a lot of track meets that schools put on here in the winter to give high school runners a […]
New Year’s Message
I’ve been talking to a talented runner where I live in San Diego for over a year about working with me as her coach. She waffles back and forth about going through with it. Part of all her waffling is financial; she can’t afford it. But even when I have offered to coach her pro […]
Picking the Right Running Shoe
You take approximately 1,000 steps with each foot with every mile you run, so you want every one of those steps to be as comfortable as possible. With all the different types of running shoes on the market and all their bells and whistles, how do you know what you need? The choice is actually […]
Chin-Ups, Push-Ups, and Hills
Today I ran a hill circuit I created in Balboa Park in San Diego — a variety of bounding and sprinting drills to the top, turn left and jog to recover across the flat portion at the top, sprint down, turn left and sprint and across the flat portion at the bottom, and start the […]