Runner's World November 2013

LOCATION Arrow Canyon, Nevada RUNNER Stacey Pearson THE EXPERIENCE This 2.5-mile path, located about an hour’s drive from Las Vegas, threads through the vertical canyon walls of the Mojave Desert’s Arrow Range before releasing into a valley of mesquite thickets and catclaw acacia. “I feel detached from civilization here,” Pearson says. “The serene spot lets me feel present in the moment. It’s truly a getaway.” FOR DIRECTIONS, RESOURCE INFORMATION, AND DOWNLOADABLE WALLPAPER IMAGES, VISIT RUNNERSWORLD.COM/RAVERUN.…

The Biggest Apple THE NEW YORK CITY MARATHON’S very existence is an outlandish dream. It runs through all five boroughs, and, as every cabbie knows, brings the city to a near-standstill. If it didn’t already exist, it would be all but impossible to create. But as most New Yorkers will tell you, marathon day is the best day of the year. The one day—and I say this after living there for 13 years—that the city comes together for a single purpose: to cheer for the lunatics who run 26.2 miles from Staten Island to Central Park. Just not last year. The 2012 New York City Marathon was a disaster, for lots of people and lots of reasons. Superstorm Sandy hit six days before race day. More than 100 people died.…

THOUGHT LEADER In his delightful interview with Jerry Sticker (“Running Conversation,” September), Malcolm Gladwell makes a distinction between athletes who dope to gain an advantage and those who dope to speed recovery from injury. While the former offends our sense of fair play more than the latter, it’s impossible to draw a clear line between the two: The same steroids that heal torn muscles also make healthy muscles bigger and stronger. Gladwell’s right that we should continue to debate the right balance between permitting recovery and restricting enhancement, but we shouldn’t imagine that there’s a “perfect” solution waiting to be discovered. In the end, we just have to agree on and follow a set of rules—after all, the magic of the marathon comes not from some intrinsic property of 26.2…

In our September issue, we asked you to step into our photo editors’ shoes and Instagram your personal Rave Run shots. These locales gave us runner envy. To see the rest of the submissions or add your own, search the hashtag #myraverun. It’s tough living in #tahoe, but someone’s gotta do it. #myraverun #tahoelife @lclindley Summer rain makes me feel fine...#centralpark #nyc #myraverun @jerzeyjesus #RACEFACE This month, in honor of fall racing season, we want to see your laughout-loud-worthy race photos. From the good, the bad, and the ugly, show of your mug on Instagram and tag it #raceface to add it to the photo stream. We’ll print our favorite shots in an upcoming issue.…

New York Strong HURRICANE SANDY took her home. It nearly took her husband’s life. And for a while it took away an everyday comfort: her running. But Jen Correa has made a pledge to herself. Come November 3—the day the New York City Marathon returns to the streets of the five boroughs—she is doing a 26.2-mile recovery run that will put the tragic events of last year well in the past. And what a year it was—for Correa, 38, a resident of Sandy-ravaged Staten Island, and for many others in this year’s marathon. Last November, the city and New York Road Runners officials canceled the marathon less than 48 hours before its start, one more victim of the storm that clobbered the New York City area. The 2013 marathon will…

SUPERSTORM SANDY pummeled the New York City area on October 29, six days before the marathon. While the storm left almost 100,000 homes damaged or destroyed and 2.2 million residents without power, it did not prompt an immediate cancelation of the race. The scathing criticism started immediately: Runners and the public accused the New York Road Runners, which organizes the race, of being tone-deaf to the suffering throughout the city, and especially on Staten Island, where the marathon starts. Less than 40 hours before the start, Mayor Michael Bloomberg canceled the event. Runners were furious (an estimated 40,000 were already in the city or the tri-state area). The NYRR then made no meaningful public statements in the more than six weeks between cancelation and its announcement regarding options for 2012…