PREMIER ISSUE

It’s refreshing to read a publication that deals with running and fitness without trying to sell you a lot of products. I enjoyed Joe Oakes’s article, “Walking the Walk,” which discussed taking walking breaks during training and racing. Intuitively, many people know walking is important, but our egos get in the way of our listening to what our bodies are trying to tell us. I have run races in which I was exhausted, but I vowed to keep running, “no matter what.” The article gave me several new training ideas.

Dr. Johnson’s article on analgesics was also great. I’m a nurse, and I thought I knew a lot about anti-inflammatory agents, but this article was full of information I wasn’t aware of. I hope people read this article and take it to heart. Running is about health, fitness, and enjoyment. Too many sports involve drug use. Running shouldn’t be one of them.

Mario Molinari
Santa Rosa, Calif.

I found Marathon & Beyond to be not only comprehensive reading for the serious distance runner but also a refreshing approach to a subject that has long been sparsely covered. This publication adds a new seriousness to endurance running. The first issue hit home with me, but I look forward to your next issue when you’ll deal with the Boston Marathon, one of my favorite subjects!

Jack Anderson
Eugene, Ore.

Congratulations on a very successful and enjoyable first issue! It was refreshing to read a publication that didn’t have a mind-numbing article about which “Bay Watch” star jogs on the beach. Here’s hoping M&B grows to be a literary force within the running community.

I was greatly impressed by John Keston’s recounting of his Valencia Marathon. His accuracy in describing the inner turmoil that precedes a race struck a familiar cord. I could easily relate to the conflicting feelings of hunger to race and fear of disappointment. Goals that seemed so realistic during training suddenly seem somewhat intimidating. Keston’s account captures the intense pleasures of racing the marathon.

Although I found “Analgesics: Cure or Curse?” very informative, I believe that Dr. Johnson only briefly touched on the real issue. We all want something, anything that will suddenly end the pain and get us back training as soon as possible. We live in a quick-fix society where if there’s a pill that might fix our problems, then we better swallow two or three of them. The real issue behind overuse injuries is not what pill will cure the ill, but what message our body is trying to tell us. Taking away the inflammation or pain leaves the cause of the injury unresolved. It distracts us from the message that the body is trying to convey: “Don’t increase your mileage that fast” or “Run on a softer surface” or “Buy orthotics” or “Strengthen and stretch your weak links.” Overuse injuries don’t happen without cause. As Dr. Johnson briefly mentions, the cure to an injury is not found in the medicine cabinet, but rather in locating and repairing the cause.

Bruce Decon
Victoria, British Columbia

I very much enjoyed the letter from Pheidippides as well as the rest of the first issue of Marathon & Beyond. I am looking forward to using the run/walk method in the Houston Marathon. I walked briskly in the latter miles of my last marathon, when I started to slow down to running 12-minute miles. I walked for a minute and ran the rest of the mile, and my pace became 10 minutes per mile. This strategy enabled me to record my fastest marathon of the year.

In the front of M&B, the mission statement says that it is not the publication’s intention to give locations, dates, and so on of marathons and ultramarathons. This is fine regarding marathons since Runner’s World does a fine job of providing this information, but I don’t know where to go to find information on ultramarathons. Can you help?

Tom Detore
Wilber, Neb.

Ultramarathoning results, feature articles, and schedules for upcoming races can be found in the 15-year-old and still running Ultrarunning magazine, P.O. Box 2120, Amherst, MA 01004-2120. A year’s U.S. subscription is $25.— Ed.