Today's interviewee is a mentor of mine on two levels. First, she's my virtual running coach: after running countless races (including several marathons) she contributes to Runner's World and the Well section of the New York Times amongst other fitness publications, so I sometimes hit her up for running advice. In addition to that, she's one of my "big kid" writer friends who has given me lots of input on the pitching process and writing for a living (one of my favorite pieces of advice that I saved from her is "do a find for all 'ly' words and try to take them out. Adverbs: bad!".) This week, these worlds of writing and running come together on a whole new level with her recently-released book Running: A Love Story, which I have been enjoying very much. You don't need to be a runner or a writer to get into the book (but it doesn't hurt!) You can learn a whole lot more about Jen here.

What are you like to run with?
Chatty. Most of the time I run alone, but when I do a group run, I like talking to people when. You can get really deep, really fast in running conversations with people who were complete strangers five minutes ago. I've also had dozens of conversations with strangers in races too. It's fun.

What is the biggest running rule you break?
Running with the flow of traffic. I don't think that's a bad one to break because it depends on the conditions: sidewalks, blind curves, traffic. I crossed sides of one road three times this morning for all three reasons.

Running is arguably the easiest, cheapest sport to get into--why do people feel so strongly against it? Not only in the tone of "I dislike running"--there are very few other sports aside from, say, football where I see people saying it's bad for you.
One reason: Running's gotten really popular in the last eight years, so there's that knee jerk "I hate it because it's popular" thing - kind of like the anti-Hamilton bent that's popped up in the last month or so. Another reason: running looks simple, but there's a big learning curve from starting to being comfortable with hurling yourself forward over and over again. Someone who starts and can't get over the curve, or someone doesn't think that it's something they could do can either wish you luck or become vehemently opposed to it. I have a lot of stupid shit said to me by smokers - a smoker once flicked her cigarette butt at me. Same thing. There are also jerks in running - like any other large group. Someone who encounters one of them can be turned off the sport forever, unfortunately.

I read that you interviewed your old boyfriends for the book: how was revisiting those old times? Are you a "closure" person?
It wasn't easy. At times while writing and editing, I would go to my mom's house, yell "I don't want to do this anymore!" and then flop onto the couch like I was a Victorian woman who found a fainting chair. I briefly went back into therapy when I finished the book. Now, 10 months after I finished the manuscript, I can say that it was a positive experience, but things were a little touch and go there for a bit.

What's your ideal race distance?
I really like the 10 mile race. It's not a common distance, but it's long enough to be a challenge but short enough that training for one doesn't take over your life.

Should I be looking into compression tights/shorts or nah?
I like tight shorts instead of baggy shorts because they prevent chaffing. I've gone back and forth on compression socks. I sometimes get thick toenails from them, but I wore them on Sunday after a bit of a break from them and really liked that hug on my lower legs. I also wear them when it's cold because they're thicker than my usual socks and keep my toes toasty. I also tend to wear (regular from Nordstrom) tights after races or long runs. I can't say it really helps, though they make me feel better.

I have written down some of the most useful writing advice you've given me--what writing advice have you listened to lately?
Oh well thank you. Lately, it's been enjoy it. There's so much that goes into writing a book, and then into the publicity campaign leading up to the publication of the book, that at times I forgot:"Holy shit--I wrote another book." At the time of this interview, I just hit a big deadline, and instead of going back to the next assignment, I stopped, lay down for a bit, and started to think about the good stuff that's happened so far.

What's the most difficult freelance assignment you've taken on lately and what made it so hard? How'd you get through it?
I don't know if it was hard, but complex with difficult circumstances: this piece I wrote for espnW about how women have changed running. There were a lot of parts to it, from my mom's story of not being allowed to run in high school (which involved not only going back to get her yearbook but copying pages from it for the ESPN fact checkers) to arranging interviews with pros about to run in the Olympic marathon trials, to the sheer statistics of it. I was going to finish it right before leaving for a two week vacation, but then a storm came up and I had to leave early, which meant I finished the story from a Holiday Inn Express in Daytona Beach. It was also my first time writing for them, which added another layer of pressure to get it right. In the end, everything was fine. The editors loved the story and I'm working on my second piece for them. But it was a bit difficult because of everything else that went along with it.

In another interview you said that you still feel you have a long way to go as a writer. Where do you feel like you most need improvement?
Imagery and humor. My writing idols are Nora Ephron and Bill Bryson. I re-read their books often, despair, and then try harder.

What's the best vintage purchase you've made of late?
Clothing: a 1980s back and yellow British Adidas track jacket from Etsy. Housewares: cast iron skillet and a 1960s daisy pattern serving dish from West End Garage in Cape May, N.J.

How does it feel to be the 415th person interviewed for Zulkey.com?
Delightful! Not only because you're awesome, but also because you produced James, who to me looks like a fat little dictator baby.