Seasoned veterans, newborns to the running world and intermediate runners all have one thing in common: the desire to improve. It’s the beckon call of your running shoes at the door that may do it for you, others are motivated by personal records or PRs. You may be familiar with PRs solely based on the professional running circuit, but personal records aren’t just for Olympians. In fact, setting one for yourself can be the difference between plateauing and reaching your fastest self in a training run or race.

Running is a unique sport, and it needs to be treated as…

I’ve always wanted to live there. It’s been on my list for a while now. After living in Orange county for a year, I felt the gravitational pull to migrate back after feeling like Maryland didn’t fit my future vision board. But, L.A. is too expensive, too crowded. I get asked a lot: why I would want to move there in the first place? But, I got a job in Hollywood that offered a raise big enough to afford me a studio or a pool house on a rich family’s estate and I thought, why not?

With two months before…

An autobiographical satire on the pandemic grocery raids

Of the many thoughts we survivors tend to circle back to, I think the most guilty I’ve ever felt is having thoughts about the one object I’d want to buy in bulk after seeing toilet paper fly off the shelves: peanut butter. I am guilty, but revealing this secret to you sounds insensitive and ridiculous, like I’ve overlooked every item that would help me survive in the wild- which they probably wouldn’t. I don’t really have any survival skills, and, personally, I don’t think the Swiss army knife I had in high school would help me survive any less. The…

Blank expression illuminates her presence,

her eyes are full of anger and sadness as she could barely mouth “I love you”, let alone, think it.

Her hands held the delicate dead flowers of past embraces and kisses, that now read like crinkly, wrinkled, but, delicate petals of the present that embraced her worn hands instead.

She placed her fingers on each petals, imagining the times where she felt most alive, in his hands. …

Looking out the window —

that’s me,

the ocean water colored Zumiez knit beanie

Hides bedhead and

The trip home, always different

the old woman sitting in D30 has

Wirey silver hair, like wire hooks connecting an ornament on a Christmas tree ready to hold an an arrangement that comes out once a year,

She reads romance novels and chews her gum loudly.

An Obtuse, collared shirt

Rattles and snores for three hours straight

In the seat in front of me and,

A new, wrinkly, innocent being

Sleeps on mom’s breast

Wakes up as a plea for food or needing…

Who else has heard the announcement that promises Team USA to dazzle in Ralph Lauren once again at the summer Olympic games in Tokyo? Over the years, the brand has been creating Team USA’s Olympic image since 2008, with mixed reviews, some calling Ralph Lauren’s opening ceremony merchandise, “too posh”, “too boring”, “too lake house.”

In reflection, the announcement brings up questions of taste. There were those ugly concoctions spat out from Lauren’s designs at the winter Olympics in 2014 featuring cardigans. Shawl-collard cardigans. In other years we’ve seen classic berets, striped shirts, newsboy caps and the reoccurring polo, Ralph…

Letting go of your running shoes is never easy. From walkers to runners, we all find it difficult to admit the inevitable time of departure from our favorite pair. The upper starts to fray, the rubber underneath starts to wear down, yet, you’ve molded the soul to fit your foot perfectly. It isn’t fair. What used to be the pair, turned on you and became a liability for your legs and feet. …

Running is a mental game. You can train all you want, but you still won’t win if you’re not mentally prepared on race day. Great athletes know this, from Michael Phelps to Usain Bolt. Being a great runner isn’t just about putting in the miles, and buying the right shoes, it’s also about being ready for a grueling finish and inevitable pain face that follows suite.

Of course, pain faces aren’t always reserved for the end of the race, but they often happen in moments when we push our bodies past limitless expectations. As elite runners have proved to us…