Sarah Lavender Smith

A widely reported study released last September showed that 55 percent of Americans believe in angels. I took that as another sign of our country’s slide toward anti-intellectual lunacy. Even as a churchgoer, I believe in angels as allegory, not as actual messengers of the divine.  But I’ve spent the last couple of days thinking more about angels, as might be expected in this season of Advent, and have become more open minded about the possible existence of angels, loosely defined. It was the December 20 Rodeo Beach 50K more than the holiday season that sparked these thoughts. (more…)

Len running around Lake Tahoe, wearing the LMJS team singlet.

When I’m 64 . . .

When I look ahead to turning 40 in 2009 and wonder how much my speed and strength might decline with age, I take heart in the examples set by older runners such as Len Goldman, 64, a fixture in the Oakland and Piedmont running scene. One might never guess that this genial, avuncular man who looks like he could be Bill Gates’s older brother is fiercely fast and focused once the gun goes off. A few years back, we lined up together at an Alameda 10K, and he clocked the first mile around 6:02. By keeping him in sight, I was able to break 40 minutes, and ever since then I’ve tried to pace off Len at races.

Len, retired after 31 years with AT&T, is the president of the Lake Merritt Joggers and Striders and the cross country coach at Piedmont Middle School. The Road Runners Club of America has recognized his work with running clubs and youth and in 2004 named him Male Master Runner of the Year. He and his wife, Jayme, recently became grandparents.

When I chatted with Len after the Piedmont Turkey Trot, I thought to myself: When I’m his age a quarter-century from now, I sincerely hope I can run even half as well he does. I interviewed him to find out how he defies age and injury to keep running fast and strong, and I extrapolated the following lessons from his answers. (more…)

Olympian Magdalena with another great athlete, Bev Nakashima

This past year, I was captivated and inspired by Oakland’s running hero, Magdalena Lewy Boulet, as she boldly — and unexpectedly — finished second at the Olympic Women’s Marathon Trials in Boston last April, earning a spot on the team, and then suffered a heartbreaker in Beijing. Last night, I joined a couple dozen women to hear her firsthand account of the Trials and the Women’s Olympic Marathon as she spoke at our favorite local running store, TranSports. (more…)

On Thanksgiving morning, as I prepared to race the 3-mile Piedmont Turkey Trot through our community’s hilly neighborhood streets, I asked myself, “Why do I put myself through this?” I have a love-hate feeling toward the 5K, tipping toward the negative now that I’ve become more of a long-distance trail runner. But what I dread about it — the intensity, the self-imposed pressure to meet my goal, the fact that seconds matter, the feeling that I’m going to be sick and my legs will collapse — is also what compels me to do it. In addition to the physical challenge, I bring to this little hometown race more mental baggage than any other running event. It’s for that reason as well that I race it: to work through those issues rather than be weighed down. (more…)