Karla Bruning

Karla Bruning is an award-winning journalist and writer. Her work—including print, photography and multimedia—has appeared in Newsweek, American Athlete Magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer, San Francisco Chronicle, The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, The Gazette in Montreal, Orlando Sentinel, RunnersWorld.com, Active.com and nearly two dozen other print and online publications. She and her work have received mentions by The New York Times, Fox Sports, The Baltimore Sun, Runner’s World, PBS, New York Road Runners and Brooks Running. In February 2010 she traveled to Vancouver to cover the 2010 Winter Olympics for The Washington Times.

Karla is currently the sports editor for The Washington Times Communities and author of Run, Karla, Run!, a blog about all things running. She is also the editor for RunningTrax, a soon-to-launch web portal for runners. Her work has appeared on RunnersWorld.com, Active.com, and has been mentioned in The New York Times online, Fox Sports online, Runner’s World online and The Baltimore Sun online. Karla has appeared on America’s Morning Radio on the Talk Radio Network, Good Morning San Diego on KUSI TV, Running on the YES Network and The Marathon Show on BlogTalkRadio, which named her one of The Most Interesting People of 2010. Karla is a fixture in the New York running scene. In 2011, she moderated a Social Media Week panel called, “The Social Runner,” and a JackRabbit NYC Running Show panel appropriately called “NYC Running Scene.” She’s also a panelist on The New York Running Show.

As a former reporter and researcher for Newsweek, Karla contributed to cover stories for the International Edition and reported for every section of the magazine. She frequently sat in as head of research and as editor of the Periscope section as well. She won a Fulbright scholarship to Germany for young American journalists and also served as a fellow for News21. Her work has taken her from the shores of the Puget Sound in Washington state to the banks of the Ganges in India. She has received reporting grants from the Carnegie and Knight Foundations to cover religion in America and the Scripps Howard Foundation to report on religion in India.

Karla earned a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. While there, the Religion Newswriters Association named her one of 10 national finalists for Student Writer of the Year. Karla graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Amherst College. As a Religion major, she earned the honor of High Distinction and won a college prize for her thesis about contemporary American mysticism. Her fascination with religion continues, but she has covered a myriad of subjects including travel, trends, pop culture, style, science, sports, technology and other topics.

When not pounding the pavement as a reporter, Karla is often pounding the pavement as a runner. She trains with the New York Harriers and is an active member of New York Road Runners. She ran the New York City Marathon in 2007, 2008 and 2010, and the Chicago Marathon in 2009. She has also summited Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak.

Before becoming a journalist, Karla worked as an actor, model and singer in New York City. She continues to moonlight as lead singer of The Fades, an ’80s cover band, and performs with The Dexter Lake Club Band, an event band named by New York Magazine as one of “The Top Ten Reasons to Get Married in New York.” She was also tapped by New York Road Runners to sing the national anthem at the 2009 and 2010 Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile and the 2010 ING New York City Marathon, merging her love of singing and running.