Run It Fast®

Oscar winning actor Matthew McConaughey, heart throb to millions and Lance Armstrong’s former running buddy, has signed on to star in the film adaptation of Christopher McDougall’s #1 best selling book Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes, And The Greatest Race The World Has Never Seen according to Deadline: Hollywood.

The adapted script is being written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, and the film is being produced by Mickey Liddell, Deb Newmyer, and Lorenzo di Bonaventura.

No word yet on which character McConaughey would be playing. The popular bet would likely be Caballo Blanco or Scott Jurek.

UPDATE: McConaughey to Play Caballo Blanco in ‘Born To Run’ Movie

Actor Shia Labeouf, known of late for his erratic off-screen behavior, ran what he dubbed a ‘#Metamarathon‘ over the weekend in Amsterdam (while wearing “day-glo spandex” or “violet and green lyca” depending upon the source).

The ‘Metamarathon’ consisted of Labeouf running 144 times around the Stedelijk museum in Amsterdam. No word yet on how far it actually is around the museum.

Museum curator Hendrik Folkerts tried to explain what the heck LaBeouf was doing running 144 circles around the outside of the museum to The Independent:

Hendrik Folkerts, the Stedelijk museum’s public curator, explained toAFP that he was hosting a conference about how the world would be perceived by children of the Eighties if they were similarly absorbed by social media and the cult of the celebrity.

“As we are having a ‘marathon’ conference inside the Stedelijk, we also wanted a reflection of that outside,” he said. “Nobody can do it better than Shia and the other artists at this performance.”

Shia posted on Twitter his Nike+ GPS data for his ‘Metamarathon’ which clearly shows that 26.87 miles were covered:

We just ran 26.87 mi with Nike+. http://t.co/JorQ4bXav1 #METAMARATHON pic.twitter.com/XlwIGBIWEi

— Shia LaBeouf (@thecampaignbook) September 25, 2014

However, not so fast my friends! Although Shia’s Nike+ travelled 26.8 miles, it appears according to the museum’s Twitter feed that spectators could watch Shia run, run with him, or run FOR him, hmmmm!

In the line up to run with Shia LaBeouf! Around 130 lapse to go. Run with him for him or make him run! #metamarathon pic.twitter.com/X90rlok4BP

— Stedelijk Museum (@Stedelijk) September 25, 2014

A look at Shia’s Twitter feed in recent days shows the hard training he put into getting ready for his one-man race:

But perhaps he was leaving subtle clues days before the ‘race’ via Twitter to his rules for his marathon:

RUN: - to move swiftly on foot - to PROCESS or execute a PROGRAM or instruction - an unbroken series of PERFORMANCES pic.twitter.com/bXdTe4NguJ

— Shia LaBeouf (@thecampaignbook) September 21, 2014

PERFORMANCES!

Congrats to Shia’s Nike+ on completing the one-man ‘Metamarathon.’

Watch Shia running his ‘Metamarathon’ with a Fellow Runner Below:

In all seriousness, Shia got many people out there to be physically active in running a lap with him or for him. And that’s a great thing to espouse to help inspire others to take up a healthier lifestyle.

PS: Remember to tell the next person that asks about your jogging that you are a performer not a jogger.

As we mourn the death of comedian Robin Williams we are reminded that he was a track and cross country runner in high school with a personal record of 1:58 for the 800 meters according to Scott Fishman.

Williams donated much of his time and money to the Challenged Athletes Foundation as well and was an avid cyclist.

[@scottfishman]

New England Patriots head football coach Bill Belichick ran and completed the St. Jude Country Music Half Marathon on Saturday, April 26, 2014, in Nashville, Tennessee.

He ran the race with his fiance Linda Holliday. Belichick was born in Nashville and Holliday graduated from Vanderbilt University within the city.

Belichick finished the 13.1 mile race in 2:36:46. To everyone’s disappointment, no hoodie was worn by Belichick during the race.

Congrats to Bill and Linda on their half marathon finishes.

Former Baywatch star, Pamela Anderson, ran and finished the ING New York City Marathon on Sunday.

Anderson, previously best known in running circles for her iconic and sexy runs across the beach as lifeguard ‘C.J. Parker’, ran a bit longer and further Sunday in New York.

She ran the marathon, with her brother Gerry, to raise money and awareness for the J/P Haitian Relief Organization. She was able to raise over $76,000.00 according to the NY Daily News.

Pamela, like most of us after our first marathon, felt pretty beat up afterwards. She tweeted the below photo from her hotel bed where her face is covered with her race bib and parts of her body with ice bags. It’s a great photo and very different from the images of the beauty that have appeared in Playboy for over two decades. [Bonus points for using marathon swag bags for ice bags.]

The 46-year old Anderson completed the NYC Marathon with a time of 5:41:03.

Her splits are below as follows:

Pamela posted solid 5k – half marathon splits during the race. She was running a 11:01 pace at the half marathon split. She faded pretty hard the second half with a large positive split (longer second half), but that’s the norm for almost all of us in our first marathon and for many to come after.  If she were to do another one, she’d like do it a lot faster, especially if she didn’t have a large crowds to deal with from the back of the pack.

Impressive feat at ING NYC for Pamela and she should be applauded. Whether hard core marathon vets like it or not, celebs like Pamela bring a lot of attention to the sport and inspire John or Jane Doe to get off the couch and try to do the same. “If Pam Anderson can do it then so can I!”

She posted her finisher’s medal like the rest of us marathoners and half marathons do on Facebook and Twitter for all her friends (and thousands of fans) to see:

You can follow Pamela on Twitter @PamelaDAnderson.

2013 ING New York City Marathon Results

Congrats to Pamela and all of the finishers of the 2013 ING NYC Marathon.

Tom Cruise is known for a few things over the last thirty years in the public eye. Some of those things we can even openly discuss without getting sued by his legal team. One of those being the Larry Macon-like number of running scenes Cruise has had in his films.

The creator of the Tom Cruise running compilation above claims that Cruise has had a running scene in 75% of his films.

It shows all of Tom’s running from his movies over the course of his career up until 2011 (when the video was created).

Tom appears to be a hard-nosed sprinter with too much arm action and and a cocked back neck which could cause such too far back (like someone else I know during a marathon).

He runs almost as if he’s running from a bomb, crooked lawyers, or terrorists.

Best way to describe Cruise’s form: Usain Bolt in a 5’7″ white man’s body at 1/3rd the speed!

Cruise might have the most memorable brief case run that took place in The Firm.

Rocky Balboa, American hero, rose to fame for his boxing prowess with his World Champion wins in the ring against James ‘Clubber’ Lang and Apollo Creed along with numerous bouts in between.

He showed us that an average American, with heart, could become a world champion!

While we knew no other boxer trained harder than Rocky, we didn’t know that during Rocky II that Rocky ran just over 30 miles during a single training run (watch above). It was a well hidden secret just how far Rocky went on that run across Philadelphia until this week.

We now know, thanks to Dan McQuade of Philly Mag, just how far Rocky went on that run. McQuade, upon recently viewing the movie, had this to say:

What’s always amused me about this scene is how absolutely little sense Rocky’s route makes: South Philly becomes North Philly becomes the Italian Market becomes North Philly again, and so on. Obviously, the montage isn’t meant to be taken seriously as an actual workout; it’s just a few scenes strung together so “Gonna Fly Now” can play and Rocky can finish at the top of the Art Museum steps.

But, I wondered, what if this roadwork were treated as one actual run? How far would Rocky go? Well, I decided to find out. I pieced together the routes Rocky could have traveled from scene to scene in this training montage and calculated distance.

So McQuade used a USA Track and Field online mapping/measuring tool to figure out just how far Rocky went during his Rocky II training run:

View the Actual Rocky II Training Route

Rocky covered 30.61 miles with little to no hydration, without Gu, without an ounce of tech-clothing, in high-tops.

Read the entire segment by segment breakdown of Rocky’s run across Philly, by McQuade HERE (fun read).

Rocky was ultramarathon cool before marathons or ultramarathons swept the country. I mean even by today’s standards, who goes out on a 30-mile training run?

I didn’t see Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather out running more than a handful of miles at a time during any of his recent training runs for fights.

And let’s not even talk about ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson. His cardio used to come exclusively from juggling pageant contestants and actresses in and out of his limo.

The only boxer that might have come close to the ‘Rocky the Ultramarathoner’ was Little Mac from Mike Tyson’s Punchout.

Mac used to get in several miles of training on the shoreline of New York City after defeating the likes of Glass Joe, Bald Bull and King Hippo.  His trainer, Doc Louis, would always lead the way on his 10-speed.

Rocky was hard-nosed like an ultramarathoner. He didn’t always win. Heck, his career record was 54-27-1, but he always bounced back, ready to battle to an inch of his life when the rest of us thought he was dead or better off dead.

Do long 30-mile training runs through Philly pay off? Well it wasn’t without merit as Rocky defeated Apollo Creed for some serious bling at the conclusion of Rocky II –  the WBC World Heavyweight Championship belt.

Long live, Rocky!

He did have a few pacers along the way!

Read Dan McQuade’s Article: How Far Did Rocky Go in His Training Run In ‘Rocky II’?

Kobe Bryant, known as one of the hardest working basketball players in NBA history, tore his achilles back in the Spring during the last week of the NBA season.

He had surgery immediately and has been posting updates on his recovery via his Twitter and Instagram.

Now comes this video (above) of Kobe (via Instagram) training on an Anti-Gravity treadmill at the Lakers’ practice facility.

Runner’s World identifies the Anti-Gravity Treadmill in this way:

AlterG treadmills allow users to run at a specified percentage of full weight bearing. Originally designed for astronauts, the treadmills have become popular among professional athletes in many sports as a way to speed recovery from injury. Alberto Salazar has broadened use of it to healthy runners; his Nike Oregon Project athletes do some of their running on AlterGs as a way to accumulate more mileage with reduced impact forces.

So it’s like the pull-up machine at your gym where you can pick which weight/% of your weight you want to actually be pulling up. Perhaps Kobe Bean was just floating inside the AlterG! It looks impressive none the less.

Kobe still has a long way to go to be ready for the NBA season, but Kobe appears ahead of schedule to make a return to the NBA sooner rather than later.

Kobe has his knees magically repaired in Germany a year or two ago. No word on how much deer-antler spray has been used on the achilles! (Joke…maybe!)

Follow us on Instagram @runitfast and tag your running pics on IG with #runitfast for potential feature.

Author Malcolm Gladwell has written several best sellers including Blink, Outliers, and The Tipping Point. He was a good 1500m runner in middle/high school beating future Canadian Olympian Dave Reid three times (photo above/video below). He recently got serious about running again after several years of light running and pursuing other sports.

He recently sat down with Jerry Sticker of Runner’s World for a very interesting and detailed interview about his love affair with running.

Here are some excerpts from the interview with Malcolm:

How Other Countries Celebrate Running: There’s another interesting element that I’ve observed in Jamaica. (My mom is Jamaican, so we go there all the time.) I remember a couple of years ago going for a run on these little side roads and all these people shouting out to me, tons of them, just cheering me on, encouraging me. They have no idea who I am or what I’m doing there. The idea of someone out there running is so central right now in Jamaican culture that they’re like, “Good for you!” Cars would slow down and people would wave and honk their horns. And it’s not that I was the only person running, it’s just that running was something you celebrated. It was kind of fantastic, actually.

On the Flaws of Age-Class Racing: Age-class running, as you know, is completely unreliable. It’s based on this artificial thing, which is that people who are the same age have the same level of physical maturity. Which just isn’t true. And I always suspected, when I was an age-class runner, that I was just maturing faster than my peers. At 13 I would go to the line at a race and I would be the tallest guy in the race. Now, I’m not a tall person. I realized I was just maturing faster. And if you’re improving in those years, you’re improving your 1500 time by seven or eight seconds a year. If you have six months of maturity on someone, that’s four seconds! These races, these results, mean nothing at that age. All they tell you is that someone has a reasonable degree of promise. But I knew that I was just maturing faster than Dave Reid and that he would catch up with me and surpass me [laughs]. And that I should really quit while I was ahead.

Why Running is the Smart Choice as a Sport for Life: No, none of that is to say America can’t do a better job of finding running talent. It’s just a matter of the sport making a better competitive case for itself. Saying to kids who are doing something else that running is more rational. I mean, I’m biased, but I think of all the physical activities you can do as a kid. What you want to do is something that establishes a pattern of physical activity that is sustainable over a big chunk of your adult life. To me, that’s the main reason why you should do something. That’s why I think tennis is a really rational choice as a sport. Running is a rational choice. Football’s not. Totally irrational choice. Not a sustainable activity over the course of your life. It’s something that will actually get in the way of you being physically active later in life. In that sense I think we can do a better job in making the case for our sport at an earlier age.

Lindsay Lohan is quietly discussing with her close friends about running the Los Angeles Marathon next year in 2014.

It’s not uncommon for celebrities to run marathons. It happens every year mostly in big city marathons, especially New York and Los Angeles.

Lohan has recently been inspired and coached by Olympian Shannon Rowbury after meeting her a few weeks ago according to Naughty But Nice Rob.

Shannon was shopping at the Nike store in her hometown of San Francisco and Lindsay and a pal were also there shopping. Lindsay is a regular at the Niketown Beverly Hills store and actually does some running near her Hollywood Hills home.

Shannon, who’s been dubbed “The Natalie Portman of Track and Field” because of her classic good looks and cinema studies (Shannon earned her Master’s Degree is Film History from Duke University and is planning a remake of the cult running movie from the 1970′s “Goldengirl.“) Lindsay is a fan of Shannon’s, who is ranked amongst the Top Female distance runners in the World. Shannon previously competed at two Olympic Games (2008 and 2012) and won a Bronze medal at the 2009 World Games as well.

I think this is great for Lindsay. As many of us know, running or working out can become as much if not more of an addiction than alcohol or drugs are for some. If Lohan can replace her old, damaging habits with something productive like running she could really do a 180 not only with her life but for her endangered acting career.

Lindsay naturally has a lean body with long legs and she could, with proper coaching and hard work, become a really good runner and/or marathoner.

Best of luck, Lindsay!

[source: NBNR]