Catching Up with Flo Karp

Flo Karp
The Basics: 49 year old voiceover actress, t-shirt designer and web princess from Philadelphia, PA.

When/How did you start running?
Started running in 2007. A few months before, my mother committed suicide and I needed something in which to immerse myself. I never expected it to become this much of a passion.

Why do you run?
Because I friggin’ love it! I love doing it, I love being in my park and saying “Hi” to tons of familiar faces every day, I love the people I’ve met through races and forums, the fascination I have with the sport is insanely entertaining, I love experimenting with training, reading about the psychological aspects, I love writing about my running experiences, the fact that I’m about to turn 50 and instead of crying in my Wheaties, I’m excited because I get to be a baby in a new AG (race age group)… So many things, I could go on for a long time.

When do you prefer to run?
Whenever it’s most comfortable temperature-wise. Since I’m self-employed and don’t have family obligations, I can follow the weather: Summer around 6am, Winter around 2pm.

When/Where was your best run ever?
I imagine I’ll keep racking them up, but my last Best Run (at least, worthy of a blog post with that title) was June 5th, a 17-miler that felt like butter with a low heart rate and let me know that I’m really seeing improvements (this, after a 1.5 year plateau!)

What is your proudest moment in running?
I don’t really know. I’ve won some things and doing the Boston Marathon was great, but I can’t think of one exact moment. That said, I plan on having some proud moments in the near future.

What is your biggest running disaster?
I’ve had a couple of bad collapses in races, one during a hot 5k that actually required an overnight hospital stay. And I was about 1/4 mile from winning the damn thing! Oh well.

What are your running goals?
Right now, my main goal is for a sub 1:30 Half, which I think will come next Spring. In the last few months I’ve been running pretty high mileage (90mpw) and it’s making a real impact on my running, can’t wait to see where it leads.

What is a typical dinner for you?
I have several typicals, but I love a burger and sweet potato fries, or chicken quesadilla, or a big salad with lots of stuff in it.

What do you bring to every race?
My apartment keys

What is your favorite guilty pleasure?
It’s a toss-up between Reese’s Pieces and BravoTV’s The Real Housewives of________ (anywhere but Jersey).

What advice would you give to a beginning runner?
Hmmm, there’s too much to say – but a few things would be:

• Don’t worry much about pace, spend more time trying to lengthen your runs.Mileage is king, the more you do, the easier it gets.
• Oh, and look for things that make running fun for you whether it’s online social interaction or racing or finding a group or club. I remember when I tried to run a few times for weight-control – it was always a grind, I hated it. But finding fun within the “sport” of it makes it something else entirely, more like a game.

What do you listen to when you run?
I like alternative music, so I’ve got a wide mix on my Shuffle.

What is something most people don’t know about you?
Nothing, I tell it all on my blog. ;)

Go with the Flo every day at girlinmotion.com.