Quote of the Day

"Tell him good luck. I'm more than happy to have been a winner. I don't need to be the last American, for damn sure."

- Greg Meyer, the last American to win the Boston marathon, speaking to Dick Patrick about Ryan Hall, America's big hope for a Beantown victory, in a front page sports feature in USA Today.

113th Boston Is Coming Monday!

*LRC Preview Of The Men's Field - Can Hall Win It? The short answer is yes but it won't be a walk in the park.
*LRC: Meet Neil Cusack: The 1974 Boston Marathon Winner & Ireland's Only Boston Champion PJ Browne gives you insight into the only Irish champ in Boston. His article clearly reveals that Boston in 1974 was a totally different era. Famed television anchor Walter Cronkite interviewed the winner and the headline in the NY Daily News the day after the race was, "Irishman wins Boston, trains on beer." Cusack never reached his full athletic potential as he had to work several jobs.
*Ryan Hall Gets Front-Page Sports Feature in USA Today What a pleasant surprise to see Hall featured in the paper yesterday morning.
*Kara Goucher Gets Some Love From USA Today Salazar says Goucher's much better prepared than for New York as she's had 9 100 mile weeks. Brian Sell also gets some love.
*Can A Tall Blonde Surfer-Guy Runner Win the Boston Marathon?
*David Monti/Universal Sports Preview Boston They have a picture of the bibs some of the top runners will wear.
*Ryan Hall Q&A In Hometown Big Bear Grizzly
*Man To Run Boston Marathon 4 Times Consecutively Raising money for wounded soldiers.
*adidas Extends Boston Marathon Sponsorship Conspiracy theorists thinking Nike is buying Kara Goucher's victory should think again.
*LRC Preview Of The Boston Women's Field We tell you what we think of Kara's chances and introduce you to an elite field comprised of neophytes and veterans, with our take on just how strong the field really is. See below for a ton of good articles on Boston

Great Dire Tune Article - She's The Reigning Boston Champion And Will Be In The Running In 2009 *Another Must-Read Dire Tune Article Universal Sports This article uncovers a tense drama that took place between Ethiopian teammates before Beijing. Bezunesh Bekele's husband pulled a gun on Deriba Merga, Tune's training partner at the time, all because there was sentiment that Tune didn't deserve her national team spot. Interestingly, Tune, Bekele and Merga will each be competing in Boston on Monday.
*Video Interview With Kara Goucher The best part is you get to watch her run on the Alter-G Treadmill ... it looks really strange.
*Science Of Sport Previews The Men's Field In Boston A great analysis of Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot's winning strategy last year and predictions for this year.
*Robert Cheruiyot The Betting Favorite In Boston, Ryan Hall The 3rd Choice
*Asics To Offer Special Ryan "Hall-elujah" Shirt
*Wow, Curb Your Enthusiasm - Great Article On Deriba Merga From his tough upbringing to his wont for pushing the pace in big races only to fade at the end, this article opened up the world of Merga to us. More introductions: This Article Introduces You To The 3 Male Cheruiyots In Boston
*Supercool Brooks Running Superfans Website

Bolt News

*British Column: Bolt's Apology Unnecessary "The 'news' that Usain Bolt recently admitted to knowing as a child how to roll a joint belongs in the same category as the fact that bears defecate in woods."
*Usain Bolt Answers Readers Questions On Video In Britain He's #1 rule to being a champion, "Listen to my coach." He also takes a question at the end from a guy who claims to have walked him down in HS.
*Brit Marlon Devonish To Face Bolt In Next Month's Street Race He ran a 10.11 last week. All we can say is that will look like an 11.00 next to Bolt.
*Bolt, Isinbayeva And Dibaba Finalists For 2009 Laureus World Sports Award

The Best Of The Rest From Boston Coverage:

LRC's Week That Was Read about the death of a miling legend, the running world's version of Bernie Madoff, the longest article ever on Lance Armstrong, and of course our early take on Ryan Hall's predictions with only days remaining before Patriot's Day and the Hancock Boston Marathon.

NCAA News
*ACC Meet Is This Weekend In Miami, FSU Favored On Both Sides All we can say is the ACC should be embarrassed that the conference meet is before Penn and Drake.
*Rupp & Wheating To Debut At UCLA vs. Oregon Dual Meet This Weekend UCLA coach Art Venegas guaranteed a victory after last years meet.
*USA Today Article About Drake Relays Inspiring Phil Knight And Many Others

Sprint News
*Usain Bolt Apologizes For "Rolling Joint" Comment *In other Cannabis-Based News: Entire Japanese Track And Field Team Suspended Indefinitely After Pole Vaulter Allegedly Smokes Pot
*Justin Gatlin Settles Out Of Court With USADA, USOC No word on what the settlement means. We hope it means he didn't get a penny. *Gatlin Message Board Thread

News From Britain
*Deena Kastor Enters BUPA Great Edinburgh Run - Will Face Jelena Prokopcuka
*Former FSU Star Tom Lancashire Hopes For Symbiotic Rivalry With Fellow British Miler Andy Baddeley
*Brit Marlon Devonish Opens With 10.11 Clocking

One Of The Best Streaks We Know Of In Running
Scroll Down And Meet Scott Weeks - The Upstate New Yorker Has Run Sub-2:00 In The 800 And Never Over 2:00 Every Year Since 1988

Alan Webb Hoping Next Week's Drake Relays Mile Will Kickstart A Successful 2009 Season Drake was very kind to Webb in 2007 as he ran 3:51 to shatter Steve Scott's record and that race catapulted him to an unreal year. Last year, he says he tried to be "Superman" and it backfired. "I tried to push the envelope in training and every aspect and I sort of ended up getting nothing out of it." *Drake Relays Release On Webb

David Rudisha To Return To Action In Kenya In Stellar 800m Matchup With Asbel Kiprop Last year, we told you Rudisha was going to be a star but an injury and Boaz Lalang derailed his Olympic hopes. He'll be back in action soon in Kenya against the Olympic 1,500 silver medallist.

Be Inspired Will Tarantino - Man With Incurable Brain Cancer Runs 2:29:30 and 2:26:09 He's an LRC fan and will be running London next week.

Interested In Making Sure We Learn From Ryan Shay and Travis Landreth's Deaths?
Important Conference On Athlete’s Heart, Sudden Death and Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy June 26-27, 2009

Mt. Sac Has Started *Results Here  *Entries *Live Video Friday Night
*IAAF Preview: Olympic Medallists Allyson Felix, Sheena Tosta, Tasha Danvers (GBR), Kerron Clement And Shawn Crawford To Compete

ACC Has Started *Live Results

Proof That Almost Anyone Might Be A Cheat
*44-Year-Old Italian Roberto Barbi (A former 2:10 Guy) Banned For Life
*South Africa's 2:06:33 Gert Thys Eligible For Competition After Serving 2 Year Ban

*IAAF World Athletics Tour  Going To Dakar This Weekend The only meet of the year in Africa.

Coaches Ask Athletics Kenya To Crack Down On Athletes Who Run Prelims At Local Meets But Not Final
*Kenyans Depart For Amref Salzburg Marathon

European Athletics Congress 2009 Is Underway In Lausanne
*Seb Coe To Address The Congress

Interviews And Stories

College Action Coming Up - Mt. SAC & Drake!

Jan Zelezny, Retired Javelin World Record Holder, Can Still Chuck It With The Best *Video Of Zelezny's Ridiiiiculous World Record Throw Zelezny retired but heaved a throw last weekend that would have put him 11th on the world javelin list in 2008.

Liu Xiang Mobbed By Fans At Surprise Public Appearance *Coach: Liu Xiang Doubtful For Worlds A Sept. or Oct. return is more likely.

Other News

Crescent City 10km Oldest Elite Runner In Field, Mark Kiptoo, Defeats Youngest, Ethiopia's Feyisa Lelisa Having met Kiptoo in Kenya, all we can say is the Kenyan XC captain is a class act.

Great Science Of Sport Analysis of Two Oceans Marathon: Paying The Price For Poor Pacing

Universal Sports Previews Previews Top Middle Distance Runners For 2009
Universal Sports Previews Top Sprinters For 2009
Universal Sports Previews Top Marathoners For 2009

Paula Radcliffe Refuses To Set Date On Comeback She wisely wants to make sure she's recovered from surgery before committing to a comeback.

Jelena Prokopcuka To Battle Sally Barsosio (and Now Deena) At Bupa Great Edinburgh Run On May 3rd

Boston Poll