Quote Of The Day

"To me, he's lost any credibility he might have had in regard to his sincerity. It appears he's trying to have his cake and eat it too ..."

"You take Bambi and Godzilla with the same skill level, who's going to hit the ball better?"

- Penn State professor emeritus and steroids expert Charles Yesalis commenting on Mark McGwire's admission to taking steroids and saying that their effects are basically "an illusion." Our friends at The Science of Sport released a good read today on McGwire, steroids and doping by cyclists.

LetsRun.com - World's 2nd-Biggest Running Website In 2009
Alexa rankings are b.s. (but ok for order of magnitude) but we thank our readers for making us the biggest independent running website in the world. Our goal has never been to be the biggest but the best.

Read About Usain Bolt's New TV Commercials For Jamaica
What do you think? We think the third idea sounds good. The first two ... we'll have to wait and see.

Larry Rawson Will No Longer Be On Track Meet Broadcasts
Most LetsRun message board posters are seeing this as a change in the right direction.

Domestic Race News

NYC Half Becomes Richest American Half Marathon For Prize Purse
And it's not just a fraction of what the big oil boys are paying. NYC's total prize purse of $200,000 is one tenth that of the recent Zayed Half Marathon's $2,000,000.

Grandma's Marathon Registration Starts Thursday

NCAA HJ Record Holder Destinee Hooker Signs Pro Volleyball Contract
On the boards: What does a pro volleyball contract pay?

Brief Chat With Sanya Richards
For all the attention Usain Bolt gets, Richards probably deserves her due as the soon-to-be 25-y/o was the dominant track and field athlete of 2009.

Top Headlines

Need A Coach? Gags Running One Of Few East Coast Pro Groups
Long Profile Of Coach Frank Gagliano - Looking For A Couple More Athletes

Back To The West Coast
Brief Chat With USA 800m Olympian Alice Schmidt

Edinburgh XC - Bekele's First XC Loss In 2 Years

Recommended Read The Story Of Edinburgh Winner Joseph Ebuya

Bekele (4th) Smashed By 30+ Seconds In Snowy Scotland

Through his various pre-race interviews, it was clear that Kenenisa Bekele took a long time off from training in '09 and wasn't too motivated yet in 2010. Remember 2009 where he dropped out of a mile race in Stockholm and looked vulnerable at 5,000m at some early Golden League races before crushing it at Worlds?

American And European Road And XC Racing - Cold And Snowy

Disney World Marathon/Half
Brazilian Runner Beats Cold For 7th Disney Marathon Victory In Snowy Conditions

Disney Results Hansons Brooks guys Chad Johnson and Sage Canaday go 1-2 in half marathon. Mike Wardian 5th in men's marathon.

European XC/Marathon Results
UK's Times Says Ebuya's Performance Shows Why It's Tough To Win International Distance Races
One day you might beat Bekele but lose to 2 Kenyans.

World Champ Gebre Gebremariam Loses For 1st Time In XC This Year In Muddy Sprint

Netherlands' Egmond Marathon Cancelled Due To Snow

Inside Where It's Warm

Jessica Ennis - Perhaps On Her Way To Future Heptathlon World Record
Multi event world champion set three personal bests in her first indoor meet.

Manny Pacquiao To Fight Clottey In New Dallas Stadium
Pacquiao vs. Mayweather is unfortunately officially off, but Jerry Jones got a dream come true - the world's most interesting boxer will fight in his new, hyper expensive Dallas Stadium.

Usain Bolt Yet To Decide On October's Commonwealth Games
The Bolt man is focusing on winning the 7 Diamond League competitions he is scheduled to run in 2010.

More From Edinburgh Intl. XC

Tirunesh Dibaba Pulls Away With Ease To Defeat World Champ Viv Cheruiyot
This was an easy one to predict. Despite running on snow, recent 15km world record setter Tiru Dibaba simply bided her time and crushed very good runners over the final km to win going away by 75m.

Newly-Minted Scottish National Steph Twell Impresses Home Fans With 5th-Place
In a good show for the freezing fans, Twell and Great Britain's European Cross Champion Hayley Yelling actually controlled the pace in the first half of the race.

Who Beat Bekele?
1st Joseph Ebuya Profile Has run 12:51 ('07); beaten by Ritzenhein, Tegenkamp and Solinsky in 2009 at 5,000m.
2nd Titus Mbishei Profile World Junior XC runner-up, World Junior 10,000 runner-up (only 19 ... this guy might be a major medalist soon).
3rd Veteran Eliud Kipchoge.
Verdict: Normally Bekele would hammer these guys, but he's not in great shape (also he said the cold weather messed him up).

Recommended Read: The Unbelievable Story Of Athlete, Coach Red Simmons
Embrace the opportunities you're given.
*Simmons Celebrated In Ann Arbor

LRC Insanity In Abu Dhabi As Keitany And Regassa Pounce On $300,000 1st-Place Prizes In Oil Money Half Marathon
A lot happened Thursday in Abu Dhabi. We hardly even knew this race was happening, but it turned out to be extremely interesting. We recap it with a bunch of the angles we heard from people today.

"If they would have started just a couple of hour later, both world records could have been broken." - Italian Manager Gianni Demadonna in an IAAF recap of Zayed Half Marathon.

*
Boy Tilahun Regassa Becomes A Man With Historic $300k Half Marathon Win Over Kitwara

Caster Semenya Coach Says She Will Start Competing Again
Despite no announcement of a decision from the IAAF and the lawyers of controversial runner Caster Semenya, her coach announced to the media today that she will start competing again in South African meets.
*Earlier Shock: Semenya's Lawyers Set To Sue IAAF For $120,000,000!
*Caster Semenya Lawyers Says IAAF Negotiations Are Not Complete And She May Not Compete
*Athletics South Africa Concerned With Lack Of Sponsorship Money Karma kicks in.

Science And Sport

Are Steroids An Illusion? Rational People Say "No!"
Good read from our friends at Science of Sport.

Research On Platelet Therapy Questions Effectiveness In Treating Achilles Injury
Blood platelet therapy is going to be a hot button issue in sports for the next decade.

NY Times - New Science On Winter Sports And Exercise Induced Asthma
Another reason to hate the winter.

Exciting Events This Weekend

Phoenix: Ryan Hall and Deena Kastor Running PF Chang's Half 2010 is a pivotal year for Deena Kastor after a subpar 2009.

Houston:

Olympics Day 7 - Athletics
Chevron Houston Marathon And Aramco Houston Half Marathon Elites Announced

4 Top Houston Stories
1. Shalane Flanagan debuts at Half Marathon
2. Josh Rohatinsky and Tim Nelson return to racing at Half Marathon
3. 2:24 course record holder Teyba Erkesso in women's Marathon
4. Brett Gotcher debuts at Marathon

February 6th Boston Indoor Games Announce Galen Rupp, Nick Willis, Anna Pierce (Willard), Tirunesh Dibaba
Olympics Day 9 - Athletics
Many LetsRun readers will be excited to see Galen Rupp (5,000) and Nick Willis (mile) back in action. In 2009, Willis ran 3:53 at Boston and Rupp ran 13:18 (AR) for 5,000.

2 Pieces Of Sad News

Odds And Ends

Track Mega-Star News

LRC Linet Masai - Why Did Athletics Kenya Prohibit Their Star From Running Million Dollar Race?
We use past experience, if not hard facts, to answer the question. Linet Masai, the Kenyan Sportswoman of the Year for 2009, was prohibited at the last minute from running Thursday's Zayed Half Marathon and winning at least $100,000 prize money.

LRC
Ricky Simms Tells LetsRun.com ESPN's Reports Of Usain Bolt Challenge Race Are Completely False
NFL record-setting RB Chris Johnson has been challenging Usain Bolt to a sprint foot race through the media. ESPN's Adam Schefter reported earlier this week that sources told him negotiations were on between the Johnson and Bolt camp. The problem is, Bolt and his management have no idea what Schefter's sources are talking about.

Wise Bolt: Reminds Justin Gatlin That Game Has Changed In The Past Couple Of Years
*Earlier: Justin Gatlin Ban Coming To An End - Big Words Fly As He Says He Can Beat Bolt And Gay Gatlin has been banned for 4 years.

Recommended Read: Times London Runs Long Piece On Kenenisa Bekele
Bekele talks in this piece about his place in the sport and the respect he gets (or doesn't get). He has 24 Olympic and World Championships and has never been defeated at 10,000m.
*Edinburgh Intl XC Preview Dibaba vs. Cheruiyot on women's side (plus Britain's Steph Twell and Hayley Yelling).

World Marathon News

Kenyan Runs First Half Of Tiberias Marathon In 61:42 (Israeli HM All-Comers Record) Before Fading To 2:18!
This recap of the Tiberias Marathon, run in almost 80° weather, will shock you.

Track, Distance Running And $$$

The Biz Runner Looks At Google Searches Related To Running In 2009
Kara Goucher raised her profile big-time in 2009 with her moves up to the marathon and half marathon.

Ricky Simms - Agent To Top Track Stars - Looks To Expand Earning Opportunities For Clients

Two Great Causes

Fundraiser For Former NCAA DIII Champ Johanna Olson As She Battles A Brain Tumor Olson is tough. She won an NCAA XC title after her first bout with cancer.

Fundraiser For Jenny Crain February 4th In Wisconsin
There are some great running items up for bid in a silent auction.  2.5 years after her accident, Jenny, a former Olympic hopeful hit by a car on her morning run, needs your help.