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Quote of the Day:
"There is no ambiguity about this. This is not 30 years ago when a 14-year-old child behind the Iron Curtain was given something for breakfast and told it would help them win. I do not accept there are any circumstances where athletes like Dwain Chambers are sucked into something without being absolutely complicit.”
-(Lord) Seb Coe, former double Olympic champion, commenting on the Dwain Chambers case. In our minds, the tide has finally 100% turned in the drug war. Meet promoters and governing bodies are finally starting to stop looking the other way at illegal drug use (well to be fair, they still do it in the NFL in America).

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Ryan Shay
1979-2007

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Site co founder and cross country coach at Cornell Robert Johnson.

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Book Review: Running Within
Want to improve your mental outlook on running? Then Running Within is the book for you. Read our review of this excellent book.
Recommended Reads
Looking for a good running book ? Read our mini-reviews and suggestions

We interview one of our own:
LetsRun.com's Rojo talks about coaching at Cornell

LetsRun.com The Week That Was Being the kind souls that we are, we recap the last week in the track and field world. World records galore, the world's richest half marathon, human rights, drugs, Alan Webb, Jeremy Wariner, NCAA action, and the incredible Wesley Korir. We have it all. We give big thumbs up to Webb who hasn't even raced this year and big thumbs down to reigning Olympic champ Yuriy Borzakovskiy who has been setting the world on fire.

Tyson Invitational Is Friday In Arkansas
*Wallace Spearman Going For American Record/Possible World Record in 200m In His Only Indoor Race Of The Season - He enjoys running in front of the home crowd and says "just practicing every day gets boring after a while" and admits if things go "perfect" he'd like to take down the world record of 19.92

*Meet Promoters Hoping To Break Attendance Record
Tickets are still on sale. The meet will be broadcast on ESPN on Sunday.

More On BOA's Attempt To Silence Athletes
Michael Johnson Speaks On Britain Olympic Association's Attempt To Make Athletes Signing Contracts Stating They Won't Criticize The Chinese
We didn't realize it but apparently the BOA backed off the plan after a public outroar. Good for them. Johnson does a nice job of ripping the BOA's idea but also pointing out that Olympics aren't supposed to be too political. *James Lawton: BOA's attempt to muzzle athletes ignores fact that they rarely shout about politics

South African Steeeplechaser Ruben Ramolefi Get Olympic A Qualifier By Running 8:24.57

This Weekend: Ryan Hall Ready for US Cross Showdown With Ritzenhein Hall will skip World Cross to run London.
*Free Asics Distance Summit With Joe Vigil, Steve Scott and Terrence Mahon at US Cross
link fixed

World XC News: Free Seminar With John Treacy, Ian Stewart, Liz McColgan Friday Before World Cross (You Must Reserve Now If You Want to Go)

Ryan Hall Mania in Australia: Ryan Hall's Dad Honed His Running Coaching Skills in Australia He lived there for 5 years and Ryan's older brother was born there.

Dwain Chambers Update: Olympic Javelin Gold Medallist Tessa Sanderson Says Chambers Should be Allowed to Compete
*Former British National Coach Frank Dick Says Dwain Chambers Should be Allowed to Compete at Worlds

*Steve Cram: Kids Need Heroes Besides Dwain Chambers

Japanese 10k Record Holder Toshinari Takaoka Runs 47:40 for 10 Miles in Japan

World Records Galore: Yelena Soboleva 3:58.05 A day after she ran 1:56.49. Plus the women's 4*800 record fell.
*Susanna Kallur Breaks 60m Hurdles World Record to Highlight Karlsruhe Meet IAAF

And all of Britain is Horrified: Dwain Chambers Storms to 6.55 Victory at British Trials
*British Champs Recap and Results
*Jason Gardener, The Fastest All Time Clean 100m Runner in Britain, Says Drug Free Athletes Can Succeed
*Dwain Chambers Win Leaves British Selectors With a Quandary
*Dwain Chambers in No Win Situation
Times of London

More Indoor News: Kenenisa Bekele Defeats His Brother in 3k in 7:36 in Valencia IAAF

Olympic News: British Athletes Being Told to Sign a Clause Saying They Won't Criticize Chinese Human Rights Record The Brits also made their athletes give the Nazi salute back in 1938. When in Rome...

New Zealand Athletes May Have to Pay Out of Their Own Pocket to Go to 2012 Olympics

Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon
*Photos Finishes Galore
Patrick Makau
won a 2 way photo finish on the men's side as Salina Kosgei won a 3 way photo finish on the women's side. Each got $25,000 for their efforts. This is the richest half marathon in the world.
*
2008 RAK International Half Marathon Results
4 guys went under the 1 hour barrier, Million Wolde clearly needs to lose a lot more weight as he ran 1:12 (after going out at only 33 minutes for 10k)

Move Over Liu Xiang: Dayron Robles Runs 7.33 in Dusseldorf, #2 Time Ever, Borzakovskiy Dominates Xiang now officially has his hands full. Robles is younger and keeps getting faster and faster. IAAF
*
Video Highlights of Dusseldorf Meet
(Robles race, women's hurdles, and last part of Borza's 800)

Saturday XC Action: Prisons and Police Recap in Kenya: Gideon Ngatunyi 4th at Last Year's World XC Wins Prisons Title

It's Official: Ryan Hall Running US Cross Country

As We Predicted: Another Marathon Major: Tokyo Talks About Adding Women's Field, Big Prize Money

LetsRun.com: The Mythical Steve Sherer
Who is the unknown, unsponsored American who ran a startling 3:56.00 full mile on Saturday in his first time under 4? Learn all about the man who openly admits that he's "kind of a princess with my training" and that "coaches hate me." His self-designed training philopsopy is revealed and bound to create lots of discussion on the message boards. An Olympic hammer thrower advises him, he does NO long runs, he has no traning partners, but he had enough belief in himself to move across the country and do it his way. And with a drug reference from Rojo, Wejo feels proud.
*Audio Interview here

LetsRun.com! The Week That Was Jan. 29 - Feb 3, 2008 Millrose, Stuttgart, Mo Greene, Jeremy Wariner stabbing Clyde Hart in the back, and more. We've got it all covered letsrun.com thumbs up, thumbs down style.
Audio Weekly Review: Runnerville Podcast #3 Wejo chimes in for the first time thanking Mo Greene, plus Millrose, and running as a cash cow.

A Legend Calls it a Career: Mo Greene Retires 2 Olympic Golds, 5 World Champ Golds. A 100m World Record. And a lot of personality.
The Australian Age: "That's "greatest of all time," in case you missed it, and if Greene may have fallen just short of that status, it wasn't for want of self-belief. It also wasn't by much."
*Message Board Thread on Mo Greene

RYAN HALL 2:09:02 Ryan Hall put on one of the most impressive performances ever in American marathoning history, as he destroyed the field and coasted to victory in an incredible 2:09:04 (after a 1:06:17 1st half, yes that's a 1:02:47 2nd half on the hills of Central Park) on the very difficult NYC course. Dathan Ritzenhein ran a very impressive 2:11:07 to get 2nd while Brian Sell got the 3rd Olympic spot in 2:11:40. Former World Record holder Khalid Khannouchi ran a very gutsy race to finish 4th.
Ryan Hall is the real deal in case you didn't know. Here are his 5k splits on the very difficult NY course to prove how incredible he is at the marathon: 16:44, 15:41, 15:27, 15:12, 15:05, 14:48, 14:28. Yes that's right a 14:28 from 30 to 35k. Hall pumped his fist, pointed to the heavens, and waved to the crowd the final mile savoring the incredible run and still ran a 15 minute 5k pace for the final 7.2k (14.56 from 35 to 40k)
*Results
Race Recap From RunnersWorld's Amby Burfoot Amby did an excellent job covering the lead up to the Trials so it is fitting we link to his race article.
*NBCOlympics Recap of 2008 Olympic Marathon Trials: Triumph and Tragedy
*Quotes
*Video: Watch the on Demand (For Free, Skip to Any Crucial Point Instantaneously. Thank you NBC)
*Post Race Press Conference Videos Top 3, Meb, Culpepper, Khannouchi, Lehmkuhle
*Dathan Ritz Quotes
*Brian Sell Quotes

*Khalid Khannouchi 4th at Trials A great great run for Special K. He got 4th hobbling around the park.
*Photos
Excellent ones from letsrun.com message boarders skylon

2007 ING NYC Marathon: Paula Radcliffe and Martin Lel Win With Big Finishing Kicks For the second straight day, there was thrilling action in New York's Central Park. Paula Radcliffe led for nearly 26 miles before Gete Wami took her first lead with less than a half mile to go. That move sparked an amazing finishing kick by Radcliffe who got her second NY title in her first marathon in two years. Wami gota nice consolation prize - the $500,000 world marathon majors title. In the men's race, Martin Lel outsprinted Abderrahim Goumri just as he did in London.
Video:
Highlight Video from NBC Sports (3:47) NBC did a great job on its coverage this weekend. You can watch for free the entire men's trials here on demand (skipping to any point you want). If you paid $3.99 using code RUN2007 you can watch the full NYC marathon on demand.

World Champion Luke Kibet Survives Blow To Head/3 Week Hospital Stay and Is Looking Forward To His London Debut The 24 year old is now training again and amazingly wants to run world cross next month and London as well. He is ashamed Kenya has turned to tribal warfare and amazingly holds no ill-will towards his attackers. If it wasn't for the great anti-drug quote from Coe, the following quote from Kibet would certainly be our quote of the day. Kibet: “I hold no ill feelings against the perpetrators of the act that nearly changed my life. I have forgiven them and put that behind me. I will still hold high the Kenyan flag that unifies all Kenyans irrespective of their ethnic affiliation. We must redefine the essence of patriotism.”

Finally The Tide Has Turned In The Drug War
Dwain Chambers Reluctantly Selected To British World Indoor Team But Totally Snubbed At Same Time
UK Athletics realized they had no legal right to keep him off the world indoor team so they put him on it, but they also then didn't invite him to one of the biggest indoor meets of the year - the Norwich Union Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham this weekend.

*Seb Coe: Drug Cheats Are No Long Innocent
*Tom Knight: Chambers Change of Heart Has Come Too Late

Beata Naigambo Runs 2:38:43 To Win South African Marathon Champs and Qualify For Olympics The runner up, Mamarolla Tjoka, ran 2:29:23 to qualify for the Games for Namibia.

Executive Director of Boston Athletic Association Guy Morse Injured In Fall He's battling cancer as well.

Mo Greene Finally Gets Some Tributes From the Mainstream Press:
LA Times:
Mo Greene: "I hope you all enjoyed the show I put on. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed putting it on"
Sports Illustrated: John Smith on Mo: "Most guys would have quit. People look for a reason not to fight on, you know. "
Washington Times "Most of all, he was a champion and a humanitarian who made watching the sport fun."

Delilah DiCrescenzo Looks Like a "Pop Star" On Red Carpet at Grammys
*Photo of Delilah DiCrescenzo at Grammy's

Scientists May Finally Have an Explanation for Why Muscles Get Tired: Calcium Lactic acid apparently was tossed out as a reason a long time ago. Shows what we know.

40 Years after Tommie Smith and John Carlos:
*Chinese Are Hoping Athletes Follow Olympic Charter and Don't Protest at Games

XC Weekend Action: Ethiopia:Gelete Burka, Abebe Dinkessa Win Ethiopian XC Champs
Japan:
Kenyans Dominate Chiba XC IAAF

NCAA/Open Indoor Action From USA:
*Two Sub 4 Miles At TTech Invitational - Messageboard thread here
Valentines Meet in Boston - Women's Result and Men's Entries Here
*New Zealand's Kim Smith Runs 4:24 Full Mile!! Very impressive. An Olympic medal certainly isn't out of the question for the former Providence star who absolutely destroyed the New Zealand record. Race Video Here - Message Board Thread Here

New Balance Collegiate Meet At Armory -
Updated Results
*Bobby
Curtis Goes 7:50 (sick) as Manzano gives Texas wins in DMR and Mile
*Illinois' Gakologelwang Masheto Runs New Collegiate Record In Men's 500m - 60.82
*Race Video Here
*Leo Manzano Profile in NY Times

Meyo Invitational At Notre Dame -Day 1 Results
*Michigan Women Run National Leading 11:01 in DMR Wisco's Matt Withrow won the men's 5k in 14:11.

Footlocker XC
Girls:
2007 Footlocker Girl Recap: Ashley Brasovan Wins
Brasovan the LetsRun.com darkhorse pick for the meet came out on top as she stayed off of the suicidal opening pace set by Jordan Hasay and rallied for the win over the final mile. Next year, the past 3 champs will all be back to race one another for supremacy.

*Results
*
Foot Locker 2007 Webcast Archive
*2007 Foot Locker Girls Race Photos

*Photos of All 40 Footlocker Girls

*More Post Race Coverage: Dyestat, Milesplit

Ryan Shay Run in Bermuda a Huge Success
Organizers Ashley Couper Estwanik and Chris Estwanik were expecting a handful of people, but instead hundreds showed up.

NCAA Women:
LetsRun.com Women's Recap: Stanford Three peats, Kipyego Dominates Sally Kipyego showed she is still head and shoulders ahead of the competition and Stanford showed there was a reason they were #1 in the country all year. Plus we take a look at next year's NCAAs. The Pac10 is so tough Stanford could go from three peating at nationals to 4th in their conference.
*
Results:
*
Women's Team Results
*
Women's Individual Results
*LetsRun.com 2007 NCAA Cross Country Women's Photo Gallery
More: Sally Kipyego Cruises to Another NCAA XC Crown www.tribstar.com
*
The Oregon Women Hadn't Made NCAAs Since 2000 and They Leave the NCAA Runnerups www.oregonlive.com

Olympic Champ Noguchi Wins Tokyo Marathon in 2:21:37 She booked her ticket to Bejing with the win.

Robert Cheruiyot and Gete Wami Honored With Inaugural World Marathon Majors Titles and Their $500,000 Checks in NYC Both athletes were very humble as they accepted their prizes and were already focused on the future instead of spending their paydays. Cheruiyot is the greatest rags to riches story in sport. Text, photos and video.
*NY Times Article on World Marathon Majors Awarding $500,000 to Cheruiyot and Wami
*London Director Dave Bedford Expects World Marathon Majors to Raise Purse

LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon Women
Unbelievable
Adriana Pirtea Blows It

Just watch the video above. Shorter video here if you're impatient

*
Chicago Tribune Recap of Ivuti's Narrow Win
Adriana Pirtrea, a runner basically no one has heard of (including ourselves) (she did finish 2nd at an NCAA indoors once), was on her way to winning the Chicago Marathon. She had been clear of Berhane Adere for miles. Pirtrea, as she took the final turn, was high fiving the crowd. She had a 15 second lead with 58 seconds of runing left. Little did she know that Adere had overcome whatever problems she had had and was quickly making up ground. Pirtrea never looked back and was strolling into the finish thinking about her career changing win. Meanwhile, Adere was in an all out sprint on the other side of the road. She flew by Pirtrea and Pirtrea had no chance to respond. A truly incredible turn of events as Adere made up a 15 second deficent in 47 seconds. Watch it to believe it.
*Former Yalie Kate O'Neill 3rd in Her Debut

*Wheelchair Race Decided by 1 Second All the races in Chicago were close.

AL OERTER 1936-2007 The death of this legend basically is being ignored in the US but thankfully the NYTimes gave him the homage he was due in this tremendous article by Frank Litsky on Oerter. And we like Oerter's anti drug stance and honesty (admitting to trying roids in 1976). When he quit competitive throwing he said, "The drug culture had taken over."
*Daily Telegraph in Britain Remembers Al Oerter

*Kansas City Star Remembers Al Oerter

*More Oerter: *
Message Board Thread
*
More on Oerter from Florida Paper
*Article on Oerter and His Painting: "I know this won't sound right but painting is the same dadgum thing I found in training for the Games"

LetsRun.com 2007 World's Coverage:
*Sunday Homepage
Ndereba marathon
*Saturday Homepage
*Friday Homepage Tyson Gay
*Thursday Homepage Lagat
*
Wednesday's Homepage Lagat
*
Tuesday's Homepage Bekele 10k
*
Monday's Homepage Tyson Gay
*
Sunday's Homepage Dibaba/Goucher 10k
*Saturday's Homepage
Kibet Marathon

LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon Men
Unvelievable:
Invuti Wins Unbelievable Finish in Chicago
Words don't do it justice just watch the video above.
*Chicago Tribune Recap of Ivuti's Narrow Win

It's hard for words to describe the greatest finish in (Chicago) marathon history. It came down to two time world champ
Jaouad Gharib and former track/xc star Patrick Ivuti, fresh off his 59:27 half marathon. Gharib surged ahead going up a slight incline down the finishing straight. Ivuti then battled back and took the lead on the downhill. Gharib dug back and retoook the lead as they barreled towards the finish and the two guys still standing there with the finish tape which is only about 5 feet wide. Ivuti surged back right at the finish and it was too close to tell but Ivuti got the win. Hot weather took its toll on everyone.
*Video: Patrick Ivuti Talks About His Narrow Win In Chicago

Millrose
*Results
LetsRun.com! 2008 Millrose Games Recap: Lagat Gets #6, Nelson Entertains, and Goucher Gets It Done Track and field's biggest indoor event saw Bernard Lagat capture his 6th Wanamaker mile, Kara Goucher get an exciting woen's mile win, and our hero Adam Nelson throws some bombs and entertains the crowd. Plus, upsets in the women's pole vault, women's hurdles and more.
*NY Times: Lagat Outduels Mottram
*LetsRun.com! Recap of 2008 Millrose Games High School Miles The boys mile is always the loudest event at Millrose.
*On the boards: Congrats to LetsRun.com Poster Crazystreaker on Winning the Boys' High School Mile
*Distance Photos