Books by Jason Karp

Dr. Jason Karp is one of America's foremost running experts and owner of Run-Fit. He is the 2011 IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year, 2014 recipient of the President's Council on Fitness, Sports, & Nutrition Community Leadership Award, and creator of the Run-Fit Specialist certification. Jason has given dozens of international lectures and is a featured speaker at the world's top fitness and coaching conferences. He has taught USA Track & Field's highest level coaching certification and has led coaching camps at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. He has written six books and more than 200 articles in international coaching, running, and fitness magazines. He is the senior editor for Active Network.

A competitive runner since sixth grade, he is a nationally-certified running coach through USA Track & Field, has coached high school and college track and cross country, and was a member of the silver-medal winning U.S. masters team at the 2013 World Maccabiah Games in Israel.

Jason received his PhD in exercise physiology with a physiology minor from Indiana University in 2007, his master's degree in kinesiology from the University of Calgary in 1997, and his bachelor's degree in exercise and sport science with an English minor from Penn State University in 1995. His research has been published in a number of scientific journals.

Carolyn Smith, MD, is a family practice and sports medicine physician who serves as director of the student health service at Marquette University and head medical team physician for the department of intercollegiate athletics. She also maintains her teaching interests in her role as medical director for the athletic training education program.

After a postcollegiate career running shorter distances, Smith embraced ultrarunning in 2002 and has enjoyed success in distances ranging from the 50-mile run to the 24-hour run. She is a former 24-hour and 100K national champion. She has had the privilege of representing the United States on two 24-hour national teams (2005, 2007) and is a six-time 100K national team member (2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011).

As a runner, she is a national age-group record holder and a member of the 100-kilometer national ultramarathon team. In 2009, she held the fastest time in the world for the 50-mile ultramarathon and was ranked No. 1 in that event in the United States. She represented the United States for the sixth time in the 100-Kilometer World Cup, which was held in the Netherlands in 2011. In 2011 she set a national age-group record for the 12-hour run, finishing first among all participants in the FANS 12-hour ultramarathon in Minnesota, running 83 miles in 12 hours - more than 12 miles ahead of the second place finisher.

In addition to a medical degree from the University of Illinois, Smith holds a master's degree from Northern Illinois University and a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin, both in exercise physiology. Following a faculty position with the St. Michael Hospital Residency Program in Milwaukee, and the Medical College of Wisconsin, Smith joined the Marquette University student health service in 2002.