Goucher Kara - Kara Gouchers running for women : from first steps to marathons

Touchstone
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Copyright 2011 by Kara Goucher

This publication contains the opinions and ideas of its author. It is intended to provide helpful and informative material on the subjects addressed in the publication. It is sold with the understanding that the author and publisher are not engaged in rendering medical, health, or any other kind of personal professional services in the book. The reader should consult his or her medical, health or other competent professional before adopting any of the suggestions in this book or drawing inferences from it.

The author and publisher specifically disclaim all responsibility for any liability, loss or risk, personal or otherwise, which is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this book.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Touchstone Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Touchstone trade paperback edition April 2011

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Designed by Ruth Lee-Mui

Manufactured in the United States of America
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Goucher, Kara.
Kara Gouchers running for women: from first steps to marathons / by Kara
Goucher with Adam Bean.
p. cm.
A Touchstone Book.
Includes index.
1. Running for women. 2. Marathon runningTraining. I. Bean,
Adam. II. Title.
GV1061.18.W66G68 2010
796.42082dc22 2010050144

ISBN 978-1-4391-9612-0
ISBN 978-1-4391-9613-7 (ebook)

This book is dedicated to everyone who has played a part in my journey through running. From former teammates and assistant coaches to fellow road racers and competitors. A special dedication to my husband Adam, my mother Patty Wheeler, my grandparents Cal and Ola Jean Haworth, my sisters Kelly Wheeler and Kendall Schoolmeester, and to all of my coaches, who have cultivated my love for the sport: Coach Dick Skogg, Mark Wetmore, and Alberto Salazar .

We would like to thank the following runners and experts for their gracious, invaluable help with this book:

Robin Barrett, MD

Madeleine Bean

Sophie Bean

Dan Bernadot, PhD

Ruth Carey, RD

Kristine Clark, PhD

Nancy Clark, MS, RD

Jim Denison, PhD

Editors of Runners World magazine

Editors of Runners WorldUK magazine

Matt Fitzgerald

Susan Kleiner, PhD

Al Kupczak

Allison Lind, DPT

Megan McMorris

Joe Mills, PhD

Stephen Pribut, DPM

Alberto Salazar

Tony Salazar

Darren Treasure, PhD

Justin Whittaker, DC

Mark Will-Weber

W hat I hope to do in this book is the same thing my early running mentors did for me: help you gain a lifelong passion for running. I am not a coach. I have no fancy scientific training methodologies to offer. But I do think Im a good role model for other women runners and potential women runners. In what way? I have mastered the art of being in love with running. Always have been. Always will be.

In these pages I hope to mentor you in this art by way of personal stories and advice. At the beginning of each chapter, I briefly describe a particular aspect of my life in running. I talk about what has worked for me and what hasnt, my setbacks (Ive had lots) and my accomplishments. I share experiences Ive had with training, racing, building a support network, and dealing with difficult episodes of emotional eating. Finally, I share my hopes for the future, which go way beyond my current status as a professional distance runner. I hope you find these life dispatches inspiring and informative.

Each chapter then segues into what this book is really all about, which is running advice aimed directly at you, to help you become a better, happier , healthier, more fulfilled runner. I know how busy you are. If youre like me, you rarely have much time for actual reading anymore, which is why I wanted to make it easy for you to get something substantive from this book every time you pick it upeven if its just for a minute or two. Thus the reliance on short, quickly digested tips, strategies, and pearls of running wisdom. Hundreds of them, in fact. Each one is another potential reason to fall in love with running as I have done.

Best of luck. I hope Ill see you on the roads.

KARA GOUCHERS
RUNNING
FOR WOMEN

I love to run. I am crazy, madly, head-over-heels in love with running.

My love affair started when I was a little girl growing up in Minnesota in a house full of women, always competing for bathroom time with my older sister, Kelly, born two years before me; my younger sister, Kendall, who came along four years after me; and our strong, compassionate, competitive mom. We moved to Duluth from New York City when I was four, not long after my father was killed on the road by a drunk driver. My moms parents lived there and she wanted their help in raising my sisters and me, which they were glad to offer.

Papa, as we called our moms dad, was a runner. When I was six, he took me to a local 1-mile fun run. I remember standing at the starting line with Papa and hearing the starting horn sound. I guess I was too slow to react because I was immediately run over from behind. I got up with a bloody knee. Papa expected me to freak out.

Lets go get that cleaned up, he said.

I did freak out, but not for the reason Papa thought I would.

Were getting left behind! I shouted, pointing at the other runners scampering away from us. Lets go! Lets go!

So we ran. Only after we finished did I get a Band-Aid for my knee. Papa was proud of me. He wanted his granddaughters to become strong women like his wife and daughter. He didnt see any reason why resilience shouldnt be encouraged in girls as it was in boys.

For a long time after that first race, running was just one of many activities I enjoyed. Mom believed in giving my sisters and me a variety of experiences, and I went with the flow. I took lessons in dancing, French horn, painting, sculpture, and more, and I played soccer, baseball, tennis, and softball, among other sports. I practically lived in the family minivan going from one activity to another.

In the fourth grade I ran another 1-mile kids run that was connected to a big Mothers Day 5K race in Duluth, which still exists. I was the first girl to finish, and only four boys beat me. The next year I ran it again and lost to another girl. That really irritated me. I brooded for days.

It was pretty obvious that I had inherited my mothers competitiveness. She has a steely will to win that is usually hidden behind a big, soft heart that she wears on her sleeve. Because Mom isnt an athlete or a high-powered business executive, it comes out in funny ways. When Mom and my sisters and I made Christmas cookies together, she took pride in making the best-decorated cookies, and she insisted that they be placed at the bottom of the Tupperware container, to be eaten last.