Happened to see the latests issue at a bookstore yesterday and I didn't recognize the guy on the cover,so I picked it up to see who he was, and I discovered he run 20 miles a week and has done a half-marathon, a 10K and a mud run.
So I ask, how the heck does one 'qualify' for the cover of Runner's World?
Have abs that you can grate cheese on. Thats the main criteria. Yes, they've had Ryan Hall, Kara Goucher, and other pros on the cover, but judging by the vast majority of their cover models, they're just that. Models.
Give up competitive running and lift weights to bulk up upper body
Stay under 25mpw
Do lots of crossfit
Get your teeth capped shiny white
Heel strike
Get tanned
Smile a lot
I'm embarassed to buy it. With some shirtless man on the cover people might think I'm gay for reading RW. Running Times is better anyway.
The cover models should put some clothes on.
Runners world like most mags photoshop the crap out of people, theres no washboard abs on those guys until the pic hits the computer.
Runnign times is better also.
Running Times is owned by Runner's world.
You guys were all excited when Brie Felnagle was on the cover of RW a month or two ago.
kirkaz yo wrote:
Give up competitive running and lift weights to bulk up upper body
Stay under 25mpw
Do lots of crossfit
Get your teeth capped shiny white
Heel strike
Get tanned
Smile a lot
this will also get you ass
lots of it
Any Asians ever been on the cover?
1) Have amazing abs.
2) Be as generically appealing as possible in a photograph.
3) Be the next great white hype in American distance running.
These are the only ways.
It's all in the abs.
Lately it's become simply a worthless wagon for ads of non-alcoholic beer and ill-fitting shoes.
BTW, I tried non-alcoholic beer for the first time after the Berlin Marathon last year. I can't remember what brand it was, but a beer company was a part-sponsor of the race, and had dozens of tables set up in the finishing area at Berlin. Most of you know how you feel like after a marathon so a BEER would have been great after the rainy cold conditions. I took one sip and scream OH GOD THIS SUCKS!!! ....and pour the rest out on the ground right in front of them.
Laughing so hard right now. Couldn't have said it any better!
justsaying wrote:
Happened to see the latests issue at a bookstore yesterday and I didn't recognize the guy on the cover,so I picked it up to see who he was, and I discovered he run 20 miles a week and has done a half-marathon, a 10K and a mud run.
So I ask, how the heck does one 'qualify' for the cover of Runner's World?
yeah i read that and laughed. REALLY?? 20 whole miles?
Yes, Miki Gorman was on the cover in the mid 1970s, when Runner's World was aimed at serious, competitive runners. More on Miki:
http://marathon.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/03/a-womens-running-pioneer-enjoys-life-in-the-slow-lane/
Sorry that was in response to the question about Asians appearing on the cover. Gorman was born in what's now mainland China to Japanese parents.
They've had Shalane, Meb, Ryan Hall, Kara Goucher, Carrie Tollefson, and other reasonably photogenic professional runners on the cover in recent years, but it's mostly fitness models. So I would say-
1) Get really good at middle distance to marathon (marathon being optimal) and be reasonably good looking, or
2) Be a fitness model who runs at least a token amount.
I do think people need to accept RW for what it is - a broad general interest running magazine targeted mostly at beginners. Like others have said, Running Times is also owned by Rodale, and that's their mag that is targeted at serious runners.