Analyzing Running Form

We all have unique running form. Every "how-to" running article gives advice on improving your form to become more efficient, faster and prevent injury. Change can be difficult though and not all of us can look like this when we run;

Meb Keflezighi

Kara Goucher

Feet off the ground, long natural looking stride, high back kick, kind of floating in the air while moving along at 4:30-5:20 per mile.

Some of us look like this (me):

Yes, this is me at the 2015 Charlie McMullen mile race. At least my leading foot is off the ground and my rear foot is not completely flat. My arm position looks pretty good and body posture is okay, but not near Kara's or Meb's,obviously. And at the end of the mile I was a bit spent. I seem to be trying to suck all the oxygen out of the sky!

Here's another comparison, Jan at the same race;

Flopping hair makes her look fast anyhow. Both feet off the ground, that's impressive. Left arm crosses a bit too much maybe? Very intense expression, but that could also be that by her race a severe thunder and lightning storm was moving in with flashes near the track during the last 2 laps.

Meb Keflezighi - Boston Winner

Excellent video from Runner's World with Meb, a few hours after he won the 2014 Boston marathon. I've been a fan of his for years. Meb seems like a really nice person in addition to being a world class athlete. Last year Meb was injured and couldn't compete in the marathon. He watched the race for hours cheering on runners and taking photographs, just like any fan of the sport.
Meb has nice things to say about average runners who participated in the race around the six minute mark of the video, so be sure to listen.

Meb Keflezighi interview

USA Olympic Marathon Trials

Well, I didn't win the $250,000 from LetsRun.com for correctly predicting the top ten male and female finishers in the trials marathon. I did have two of the three top men and women, but in the wrong order (Hall & Meb, Goucher & Davila).

The top four men with their times were; Meb Keflezighi (a pr) 2:09:08 to win over Ryan Hall (2:09:30) with Abdi Abdirahman (2:09:47) barely hanging on for an 8 second win over Dathan Ritzenhein, (2:09:55). The top six men went through 13.1 miles in 1:03:25 before "slowing".  Meb's 2:09 averages out to 4:55 per mile.

The top four women were; Shalane Flanagan (2:25:38) beat Desiree Davila (2:25:55) with a strong surge over the last mile and Kara Goucher was third in 2:26:06. Amy Hastings broke the old Trials record at 2:27:17 but didn't make the team. Deena Kastor (age 38) was 6th in 2:30:40. Unlike the fast start of the men's race, the women began at a modest 6:15 or so pace before gradually picking it up. Flanagan's 2:25 comes to an average of 5:34 per mile. Shalane won a Bronze medal in the 2008 Olympics in the 10,000 meters, so she definitely has the speed. Melissa White (Naples, NY, SUNY Geneseo) finished 13th in 2:34:33.

The Houston course seemed interesting and great for spectators. The weather was perfect for marathoning, beginning with a temperature of 43 and ending up around 50. With NBC and the USATF agreeing to not allow any live coverage via television or the web, viewers were left with a two hour highlight show in the afternoon. Actually it wasn't the full two hours since a hockey game went over and NBC cut out over ten minutes of coverage.

The announcers were knowledgeable, but the lack of telling us what mile the runners were at on the course was maddening. NBC kept showing the elapsed time, which really doesn't mean much in a race where top three is the only real important factor. Viewers were left with figuring out the miles ran based on the pace they kept telling us the runners were going at. Once in a while you could pick out a mile marker on the road and know where they were. Also, as usual, they never mentioned anyone past sixth place in either the men's or women's race. Especially with a tape delay the station could have at least had something scrolling across the screen. Even NASCAR and golf gets that.

Keep treating the sport like minor league and it will fulfill that prophecy.