alan(ator)/flickr.com

The ING New York City Marathon is less than 2 weeks away and we at Moji want to help set the mood for the thousands of NYC runners and ten thousand local volunteers who are preparing for the 41st running of this incredible event.   So, we have racked our brains and scoured the internet for the greatest NYC songs of all time.  Though there are undoubtedly more Big Apple tunes than we’ve compiled, these represent 30 of the very best.

The blend of slower beats and blood-pumping rhythms should provide you with ample tunes to carry you all the way from pre-race to the finish line.   The playlist starts below but click through to see all 30 songs and enjoy what the city that doesn’t sleep has inspired.  If after all that, you can get enough, check out more race day music on Moji’s Ultimate Marathon Playlist.

Buy on iTunes

Zach Cox running the Richmond Marathon

Anne Stein, M.S.
Sports & Fitness Journalist/Author

Running a marathon a month might seem crazy, but for a 22-year-old University of Virginia senior devoted to public service, it’s been a great way to combine charity fundraising and a love of athletics.

So far, despite enduring a couple of nasty knee injuries, Zach Cox has run two marathons, two half-marathons, and raised enough money to pay for the floor in a brand-new school in war-ravaged southern Sudan.

“I started with the idea to do a marathon a month until I reached the 1,000-mile mark, because that’s the rough estimate of total miles that the Lost Boys of Sudan walked,” explains Cox, an anthropology major.

The Lost Boys fled southern Sudan while civil war raged in the mid-1980s. The young boys, who were nicknamed by aid workers, marched upwards of 1,000 miles to reach the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. Thousands died along the way, while several thousand have since relocated to different cities in the U.S.

“I’d heard about the Lost Boys for a while and kept seeing more documentaries and reading about them, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do to help,” Cox said. He eventually found Help Sudan International, a Chicago-based group founded by local Lost Boys who are rebuilding schools back home. “I think when you have someone of the culture doing the work, it gives it a great chance of success,” says Zach, explaining why he picked the group.

A marathon a month might seem crazy…

Cox, who ran cross-country in high school and completed two marathons (including a 3:30:00 first-time effort) a few years ago, didn’t just want to donate money. “I wanted to make this kind of personal – I wanted to do something that took a fair amount of effort on my part, as far as putting in time, trying to fundraise, figuring out which races to do and how to get there.”

In November and December, he completed his first two charity marathons, Richmond and Charlotte, but with nine miles to go in his second run, he injured his knee. He pushed through the pain and completed the race but missed his January marathon, having discovered he had tendonitis and bursitis in his knee.

The injuries have been a learning process, says Zach. “I’ve learned to listen to my body and rearrange my goals and training to reach the 1000-mile mark.” But he has no intention of quitting.

“If I had been doing this without some purpose, I would have stopped because of my knee. But since I have that goal and I’m getting money to help Sudan, it pushes me.”

Zach’s marathon training tips:

• Training with a group can be a great motivator. Zach likes to run by himself without an iPod. Whatever you prefer, training should be fun.
• Having a goal like an upcoming race gets you out the door when you don’t feel like training.
• Listen to your body. It’s dangerous to stick with a rigid workout schedule where you think you can’t miss a workout, even if your body needs a break. “There were days when my body was saying you shouldn’t go this far and I still did,” Zach says, explaining his knee injury.
• Get enough mileage under your belt before your marathon. You want to be comfortable running at least 22 or 23 miles. If your long run’s only 18, you can finish the race, but it won’t be pretty.

Zach’s injury tips:

• Re-adjust your goals and training. He’s substituted half-marathons for a couple of marathons while the injury heals, and he’s slowed his race pace to protect his knee.
• Cross-train (such as biking) twice a week to get your legs off the concrete.
• Ice injured areas after workouts to reduce pain and inflammation.
• Use ice and anti-inflammatories if needed after races to reduce swelling and pain.

To learn more about the Lost Boys, Zach’s races, or to donate, go to:

• www.helpsudaninternational.org (click on Donate Now and enter Zach’s name in the Comments box)
• www.facebook.com/zach.ftw.cox
• http://twitter.com/my1000miles

shoothead/flickr.com

Technology has, for many athletes, made running more fun.  Innovation now abounds in every aspect of racing from compression socks to chip timing.  Shirts wick better, watches tick tougher, and, to our personal amazement, wool has gotten smarter.  (Who knew fabric could learn?)

Yes, technology has made running more fun.  And, as proud members of the Garmin Generation of athletes, we consider it our responsibility to keep an eye out for the coolest new technology – even if its software on a computer.

So, when we happened upon Prezi, we simply tweeted with glee.  We knew that we had found  the perfect tool to conquer the final technological frontier for racing enthusiasts – event selection.*

In a highly unscientific and marginally democratic manner, the Moji team compiled a list, excuse us, a Prezi, of the best races to hit in 2010.  There’s everything from world class marathons to romps in the mud.  In fact, there’s a race for everyone except the unenthusiast.

What is this magical Prezi?  You’ll have to click below to see. We promise you’ll love it.  More importantly, we promise you’ll find a race (or six) that you’ll love, too.

If you feel the need for instructions on how to use Prezi read the Prezi What?! section below. Otherwise, enjoy meandering through and dreaming about a year chock full of fun racing!

(Let us know your favorite race(s) in the comments below.)

Prezi What?!

Prezi is simple to use.  What’s more, we’ve designed 2010 Races so that there’s no wrong way to view it.  Poke around and enjoy!

Access. You can access the Prezi via the window above or simply click on 2010 Races.

Follow along. You can use the arrow on the bottom of the Prezi to move back and forth from one part of the presentation to another.  The races go in chronological order and give basic stats as well as cool images (photos, course maps, etc.).

Choose your own adventure. Want to cut the Moji course?  No problem.  Just click and drag anywhere on the Prezi and you can freely go and see whatever it is you want.  Think of the Prezi as one big picture.  Click it and drag it around to explore.

Zoom zoom. Zooming is just a click away.  Click on any part of the Prezi to zoom in and click on the target circle (next to the arrows) to zoom out.  For a smoother zoom hover your mouse over the right-hand side of the Prezi and click on the magnifying glasses that appear.

Go big. We personally feel that the best way to experience Prezi is in Full Screen mode.  It’s amazing!  You can find the option by clicking on More at the bottom right-hand corner.

Sit back and relax. Not in the mood to do much work?  Click on More at the bottom right-hand corner of the Prezi and then select Autoplay.  You won’t have to lift a finger.

To learn more about Prezi visit them www.prezi.com.

*It is important to note that we’re talking about selecting the race, not signing up for it.  Technology has already done an ample job of making registration for your bib (and, apparently, a hundred related emails) a breeze.

Fe Ilya/flickr.com

At Moji, we wanted to take on the task of finding some of the best apps for what we care about most – helping people stay active.  After 4 weeks and many cups of coffee, we realized the tricky truth behind the slogan “there’s an app for that.”  Having an app for that, means having an app for everything, which in turn means that sifting through 100,000 apps is a much more daunting task than we anticipated.

After an exhaustive search, we happened upon Appolicious – a site dedicated to finding apps.  (Think of amazon meets the public library.)

We found hundreds of apps that help you stay active – some better than others.  Within that pile o’ apps, we pulled out several gems that, if not perfectly practical, are particularly interesting.

This week, we present the apps for five types of Moji lovers  (marathon lovers, gym junkies, Garmin-less data divers, ladies who train, and the achey).  If you’d like to suggest your favorite app for future posts, we encourage you to leave it as a comment below.

For marathon lovers.

Can Do 26.2 – For Those Researching Marathons – $0.99

This app is fairly new and probably more fun than super useful for marathon fans.  Can Do 26.2 is like a marathon runner’s phone book.  It allows you to search for marathons by location, date or name.  For each race, it provides the registration date, fees, number of race participants, and a direct link to their website.  (For the those trying to qualify for Boston, the app also shows which races are qualifiers.)

Moji’s Take
We imagine that most of the time, this app will be pulled out to settle a race debate at a post-run bar or breakfast spot.  However, in our Moji travels, we have met people who are crazy enough and well-trained enough, to just hop in a marathon on a whim.   For those hardcore marathoners, the app would wonderfully useful.  Our only suggestion is the inclusion of participant reviews for the various races.

Cost – $0.99

iTunes Rating – 2.5 Stars (7 Reviews)

For gym junkies.

iFitness - Keep Your Gym Routines Fresh

This app has it all.  Most of us get into a routine of doing the same couple of exercises every time.  BORING!  The iFitness breaks the monotony and does a ton more on top of that.  The app allows you to pick exercises by muscle group or by an alphabetically list- and that’s the least impressive feature.  iFitness comes preloaded with pre-set routines so you can jump right into a fully vetted workout.  Or, you can create a custom routine and the app will walk you through it.  But wait! There’s more! The app tracks the reps and weights you do for each workout and creates charts for you to see your progress over time.

Moji’s Take
If there was a fully-functioning personal training robot for just $1.99,  who wouldn’t buy it?  iFitness, is almost as awesome as that.  Sure it doesn’t have a monotone voice or make that cool whirring sound when it moves, but it is extremely useful and packed full of features that can make going to the gym more fun and more productive.  Plus, the company that made the app is consistently updating the app with new features such as the BMI calculator that was added to version 9.5.  Buy it now!

Cost – $1.99

iTunes Rating – 5 Stars (over 15,000 reviews)

For Garmin-less data divers.

RunKeeper – Track Your Runs

This app is great for tracking your runs via iPhone’s GPS capabilities.  As most things on the iPhone the interface is clean and easy to use.  The app tracks your activity, shows your pace, provides a historical view and allows you to share your runs.  The Pro version has some extra bells and whistles like playlist integration and audio cues.

Moji’s Take
If you already run with your iPhone, you might as well test out the free version.  The $0.99 upgrade isn’t too steep either, if you choose to keep up with Run Keeper.  WARNING:  This app might cause serious Garmin lust should you fall in love with training data.

Cost – Free or $0.99 for the Pro Edition

iTunes Rating – 3.5 Stars (over 12,000 reviews)

For ladies who train.

NikeWomen Training Club – For All the Ladies

The NikeWomen Training Club is personalized training for women.  Once you enter your basic information, the app lays out a 2 to 4 week training schedule with detailed exercises that help you achieve your goals.  Exercises have videos to help demonstrate how to properly execute each move.  For those ladies that love competition, there is even a leader board that lets you see how you match up to the other women in the training club.

Moji’s Take
It’s free, so why not give it a try!  It’s the one club you can be a part of and not have to be at the meetings on-time.  A great way to motivate, track, and program, your workouts.

Cost – Free

iTunes Rating – 3 Stars (over 13,000 reviews)

For the achey.

Pain Free Book – Getting Old, Have Pain

We all get aches and pain – some of which simply cannot be ignored.  This app fits that need.  The Pain Free Book lets you pick your pain by location and then provides you with the exercises to provide relief by focusing on the root of the problem.  Plus, the app lets you share exercises with friends and provides contacts to clinics if you need further assistance.

Moji’s Take
We could see this app being very useful to people on the go that have chronic pain.  While it’s not the most comprehensive library, it’s a good reference for those who need immediate pain relief.

Cost – $0.99

iTunes Rating – 3 Stars (8 Reviews)

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Stayed tuned for for future post looking at other apps that help you maintain an active lifestyle.  If you have an app you are specifically looking for let us know and we can try and track it down for you.

dawnzy58/flickr.com

If you aren’t making the trek down to Florida for the Disney Marathon this Sunday, you can get a great view of the course with the warp-speed 180 second video of the entire 26.2 mile course featured below.  Sadly the 524 mph pace is not one that any human, animal, or magical Disney character can duplicate.  That doesn’t, however, mean that there won’t be plenty of Disney magic to be had this Sunday.

And while none of our favorite pals would be able clock a 3-minute marathon, that’s not to say that there wouldn’t be some strong finishers among the Disney cast.  In fact, as an exercise in marathon analysis (and as a Friday afternoon diversion) we have put together race day predictions for this notorious hodgepodge of lovable loons.

The Disney Leaderboard

Aladdin: (2:45) Next to the White Rabbit (who is too dodgy to compete) Aladdin is Disney’s best all-around athlete. He’s got the speed and agility to race through the craziest of market obstacles and, frankly, should forgo Sunday’s race and head straight for an Olympic training facility to start his decathlon training. With his lithe frame, natural endurance and Genie friend, Aladdin will probably be the first Disney finisher.

Goofy: (2:50) He might be gangly but should goofy get those long gams moving in the same direction, he has the potential to paw his way to a more-than-respectable finish.

Rafiki: (3:00) With the wisdom of any mandrill-baboon hybrid, Rafiki knows his way around a 26.2 mile course. The fact that the run starts before the sun rises doesn’t phase him, he barely uses his eyes anyway. With his propensity to help talented people and that wonderful walking stick for a prop, Rafiki will make a perfect pacer for the 3:00 group.

Belle: (3:15) Clearly Belle will have read all the books and course maps and be best prepared to run a smart marathon. Whether or not the running shoes her father cooked up in his invention studio makes her fly like the wind or fall flat on her face remains to be seen. However, if she can pull it all together, look for a yellow blur that will leave Gaston’s “five-dozen egg” chugging butt in the dust.

Mary Poppins: (3:40)  This graceful dame will undoubtedly run a flawless race; what with all the proper accoutrement she’ll have brought to prepare for race day it can hardly be avoided.  With gear on and carpet bag neatly checked, she’ll be sure to have a perfect Marathon Sunday and hit the Boston Marathon qualifying time for practically perfect 30-something runners right on the nose.

Nemo: (4:20) Without the East Australian Current, this young one has to rely on his own strength and determination. Good thing he has that in spades. A surprisingly fast finish for this underdog.

Sleeping Beauty: (4:25) Given her propensity to sleep, one might think that she might not even make it to the starting line. However, she spent the majority of her youth frolicking through the woods, which means she must have built up some endurance over the years.

Prince Charming: (4:45) He’s got the genes and, knowing him, has the conditioning, too. However, this talented gent is notorious for showing up late in the game. He’ll probably cross the finish line much later than you might expect.

Donald Duck: (4:50) Compression socks have nothing on the sheer efficiency and cooling benefits of pants-free attire. (Ever wonder how streakers seem so incredibly fast?) With no shorts to hold him back, this webbed-footed wonder will more than make up from his ample tush and stubby legs.  Anyone who has been chased by a goose will understand the speed a fowl foe can get when motivated to really move.

Pinocchio: (5:05)  Initially carved from piece of pine, Pinocchio was created in 1883. One might think that his age will act as a major inhibitor to his success in this year’s road race. However, many pines are known to surpass an age of 1,000 years, so if you do the math, Pinocchio is still approximately 10 years old. However, even at his “young” age, he will have to be careful not to trip on his own strings.  No need for a ChampionChip on this young fellow, if he cuts the course, we’ll know.

Wall-E: (5:20) Pretty new to the Disney scene of characters, Wall-E has some big shoes to fill…and he doesn’t even have the feet to do it. Wall-E’s major advantage is his ability to keep rolling in the most adverse conditions. Come rain, shine, or planet-wide environmental meltdown, he’ll roll along.

Tigger: (5:25) While you might think a tiger would have a distinct advantage in a foot race, this cat is not going to break any marathon records. While he certainly has the energy and endurance, he does not have the technique.  Even if he can manage to stay focused (an unlikely scenario) his tail-bouncing style will cost him dearly in terms of pace.

Hercules: (5:30) Zeus’ boy will probably run the race like the classic overbuilt, under-prepared jock.  Look for a sprint at the start and a grueling 15+ miles of progressively slower splits.

Mickey: (5:50) Neither age nor the constant waving is on his side in this endurance race. But worry not, the Disney icon isn’t in it for a PR. As the consummate host, Mickey just wants to make sure everyone is enjoying the race and having a good time. Look for him to walk for stretches shaking hands and smiling with fans as he trots along the 26.2 mile course through the home that mickey built.

Minnie: (6:10) This 82 year old lady is sure to make her sweetheart proud. Don’t be fooled by her sweet demeanor and cute polka-dot dress, this mouse is fit and ready to scamper her way to the Masters’ podium.  We only wonder how she will manage all 26.2 in those heels!

Dumbo: (6:25) He can fly. He can fly. He can fly. However, he’s got to cross the timing mats to keep the race official. Therefore, Dumbo will have to rely on his ordinary feet instead of his extraordinary ears. This lovable lumbering giant will probably play caboose at this year’s race…which is a good thing since those timing mats are sure to break once he passes over.