Quote Of The Day

"If you start to do this you are making a joke of the fact that there are two classifications - male and female ... They might as well open it up and have women competing with men."

- Duke law professor, Cornell grad (NCAA champion) and former Nike-sponsored 800m star Doriane Lambelet Coleman reacting to an IOC and IAAF-assembled panel that met to discuss what to do with runners with "ambiguous-seeming genders." The panel recommended allowing the athletes to compete as long as they agree to treatment for disorders that may be harmful. 

US Race News - The Emperor And The New Chairman Of The Boards

NYC Half Marathon And Mary Wittenberg Land Haile Gebrselassie
The NYC Half is now in late March and Geb is their first major announcement. He ran 59:24 on the NYC course in 2007. Geb's career marks: 9 times sub-2:07, 10 times sub-12:55, 10 times sub-7:30, 9 times sub-27:00.

Bernard Lagat To Race Galen Rupp And Good Ethiopians In Boston Indoor Games 5,000
Rupp will have to rally from his defeat by a college walk-on 400m freshman to take on the world champ.

Millrose Nabs Pole Vault Medalists Jenn Suhr (Stuczynski), Chelsea Johnson, Renaud Lavillenie IAAF
But word is Blanka Vlašić is out.

XC Winter News

This Is For Real - They're Axing Team XC In OREGON
Save Team High School XC In Oregon
Yes, that's right, the Oregon HS Sports people want to eliminate team qualifying for Oregon's state XC meet.
LRC MB:
Oregon High School Cross-Country ...

Poland's World XC Course Is Under 2 Feet Of Snow IAAF

Joseph Ebuya Profiled In The Nation www.nation.co.ke
Ebuya won the race in Edinburgh where Bekele got trounced.

Non-Running-Related But We Don't Care

US Kids Now On Computer, Cell Phones And TV For Average 7.5 Hours Per Day
Five years ago, the number was 6.5 hours and researchers thought for sure they had hit a ceiling.

NY Times On EPO - The Risks Of Moderate-High Doses vs. The Rewards well.blogs.nytimes.com
Now they've figured out doses so that you can cheat without giving yourself a fatal heart attack or stroke.

Perspective - What Fans Can Take Away From This Weekend's Half Marathons

1. New: Arizona Republic's Jeff Metcalfe Gets Mahon's Take On Hall's Defeat And Deena's Big Race In P.F. Chang Phoenix
Coach Mahon knew Ryan Hall wasn't in shape, Deena's sub-70 makes her a contender again at 36.

2. Solid Group: Team USA Minnesota Go 1-2 In Houston's USA Half Champs With Antonio Vega And Pat Smyth
Patrick Smyth having a great young pro career, Antonio Vega gets the win of his career in Houston.

Man Of The Weekend - USA's Brett Gotcher Runs 2:10 Debut

Houston Chronicle: Gotcher Makes Splash
McMillan Elite's Brett Gotcher credits training partner Paige Higgins with getting him ready for his big first splash. Amazingly, Gotcher only finished 7th with the 4th-fastest US debut of all time.
*Houston Chronicle: How Houston Marathon Was Run It was run fast.

More From Weekend - Biwott Triples In Bermuda

LRC Boards: US Jeff Eggleston 2:14 Debut In Phoenix

Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott Wins Mile, 10k And Half Marathon In One Weekend In Bermuda The Oregon alum will be sad when he has to get back on a plane for Eugene.
*LRC Archive - Shadrack Kiptoo Biwott Talks About His Brother Duncan Kibet
*Biwott Tells the Royal Gazette He Wants To Come Back To Bermuda
*Steve And Sara Slattery Compete In Bermuda Along With Kenia Sinclair

*Asbel Kiprop And Saif Shaheen Smoked In Kenyan XC Race

Collegiate News

*PSU's Ryan Foster Just Misses Collegiate Record In 1k He ran 2:19.60 to set a new Australian record, as the CR is 2:19.57. LRC MB: Penn State True Frosh Casimir Loxsom Also Runs 1:16.92 For 600.

New Mexico Freshman Walk-On False Starts In 400m, Comes Back To Beat Galen Rupp In His Pro Debut At 800m Rupp apparently was sick and went 54-60. Shannon Rowbury ran 4:34 the mile at the same meet. *UNM Press Release
*
Full Results
*
Rupp Race Video
*Pre-Race:
Nike Man Galen Rupp Opening Pro Season With A 3,000 & 800 In New Mexico Meet In Albuquerque

This Weekend's Elite Racing

Houston's Aramco Half Marathon And Chevron Marathon
*Brett Gotcher Runs 4th-Fastest Debut In US History (2:10:35) Amazingly, that time only got him 7th in Houston, but Mr. Gotcher gets our top headline for the day!!!
*Shalane Flanagan Runs 69:41 In Half Debut As American Antonio Vega Has A Breakout 61:54 To Win The Men's Title
*Ethiopia's Teshome Gelana Sets CR Of 2:07:37 To Win Men's Marathon As Teyba Erkesso Defends Women's Title In 2:23 It was Gelana's 2nd marathon in 6 weeks as 6 guys broke 2:10.

Coming Up Later In The Season In New York City

Dubai Marathon - Friday - Another Carefully-Paced WR Attempt

LRC Photos: Aerials From Dubai's Insanely Tall Building With Haile Gebrselassie
We can't tell if the photos are taken from a plane or from the top of the building (even though the photographer wrote us and told us he rode a 40mph elevator to the top).
LRC: Photos From Houston Half And Full Marathon

Good Preview Of Haile's Latest Record Attempt In Dubai IAAF
36-year-old's training was "perfect."

What A Surprise: Haile Tells Gulf News World Record Is Possible gulfnews.com
He gets half a million and a private island just for saying that.

Haile Gebrselassie's Daily Life As He Trains For Marathons And Operates Huge Business

Sammy Korir, First Man To Run Sub-2:09 Ten Times In Career, Will Race Haile In Dubai
Korir is 38, so calling him top competition isn't really being honest.

World Round-Up

Japanese Organize Elite Marathoning Training Camps To Improve Global Performance
The Japanese Rikuren are concerned with their elite marathoners and their training in the Ekiden system, so they're going to have training camps in New Zealand, then Colorado, then Africa.
Worth A Watch (3:00 In): *YouTube Video Of Hakone Ekiden, Where Toyo Univ's Ryuji Kashiwabara Crushes Uphill Stage
This guy was 8:00 better than any other runner on the uphill stage that essentially decides Japan's biggest race.

Commonwealth Games Organizer Blames Western Snobbery For Concerns Over Mumbai Security www.theaustralian.com.au

LRC: Photos From Houston Half And Full Marathon Gotcher, Flanagan and Vega grabbed headlines, but these photos are the best way to see the rest of the elites in action and we tell you how they finished in the photo captions.

Upcoming Races In New York:
The Armory: Erin Donohue And Andy Baddeley Highlight New Balance Games Mile The mile fields are solid if you're in the city looking for a good meet.

IAAF: Preview Of Empire State Building Run-Up Race They need to have a run up that new building in Dubai.

Turkish/Ethiopian Olympic Star Elvan Abeylegesse Given Fair Play Prize For Giving Rival Melkamu Her Extra Spikes Before Worlds 10,000m She helped set up the race of the year, where huge favorite Meseret Defar blew up in the last 50, then it looked like Melkamu had it before she slowed down just before the line allowing Kenyan Linet Masai to win.
LRC Archive: Women's 10,000m: 9,950 Meters According To Form And A Very Bizarre Finish

Worth Noting - The Man Who Helped Deceive IAAF About Caster Semenya Also Ran S. Africa Athletics Into Massive Financial Debt Leonard Chuene was corrupt from head to toe.

Deena Kastor Runs 69:43 As Simon Bairu (62:47) Blasts Ryan Hall At P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Half Marathon Kastor was thrilled to win for the first time in almost a year while Bairu said he expected to beat Hall. Kastor: "Today was the first time in a couple of years I felt like my old self running again." *LRC MB: Bairu Over Hall *LRC MB: How Did Deena Do Today?

Other Weekend News

Benita Willis/Collis Birmingham Win Austrlian World XC Trials Ryan Kevin Batt, who trains with Ryan Gregson, won the junior men's trials. *Full Results
*Kenya’s Leonard Komon And Linet Masai Win 5th Leg Of IAAF XC Series In Spain It was Komon's first win in 3 tries this season as the world champ Gebremariam was only 6th some 49 seconds back. Masai obliterated the women's field.
*Recap Of Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon The race in hot conditions in Mumbai is an IAAF gold race.
*Ethiopians Dominate Italian XC Meet
*Recap Of 7th AK XC Meeting

Last Week's 10 Most Interesting Stories

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.