LetsRun.com

John Hancock Boston Marathon Preview - Who's Gonna Take It Down On Monday?

LetsRun.com's John Hancock Boston Marathon Preview - Men We pick our top 5 (although it's down to 4, as Evans Cheruiyot pulled out this afternoon) contenders and give you the lowdown on the field. Are they trying to set this thing up for Meb or Hall to win? You be the judge.

LRC - Bios Of The Boston Elite Men Get the facts on the fastest men coming to Boston.

*Antonio Vega Talks With Running Times Leading Up To Boston Vega: "For some reason, I always had a feeling that things were going to work out exactly as I wanted them to work out - like now."
*Hear From Meb's Coach Bob Larsen Larsen is full of praise for Meb Keflezighi, saying despite a yoga knee injury that hampered training, he wouldn't be running Boston if he didn't think he could run well.
*Boston Globe Investigates Lack Of Depth In Elite US Women Marathoners Tons of women are running marathons, but not too many are training all-out to beat the East Africans.

Worlds And Olympics News

2011 Daegu Mascot Announced Daegu mascot faced with perhaps the toughest-ever mascot shoes to fill.
Only 500 Days To Go - Daegu Poster Unveiled

From Sydney - Ryan Gregson Has Sights Set On Aussie Champs, Commonwealths, Olympic 1,500 Gregson points out that Nick Willis won Olympic silver with the same PR as Aussie Jeff Riseley. Author Mike Hurst wrote us to say that Youcef Abdi should have been included in the article as a Commonwealth 1,500 medalist (bronze in 2002)

Pat Butcher Writes - Remarkable History of The Man Behind The Modern Olympic Games A good read for those interested in the history of the sport.

Obamas To Greet, Celebrate US Olympians At White House Taxpayer bill: $6.2 million (just kidding).

News From Africa

Kenyan Coaches Say Foreign Coaches Coming To Coach Kenyans Must Be Stopped
"It is high time something was done to halt this trend to enable grass roots coaches have time to grow with local runners. We cannot entrust the future of our sports men in the hands of foreigners." - John Mwangi, schools.

Jelimo And Keitany To Race Thursday In Kenya

South Africa:
*World 800m Champ Mulaudzi Gets A New Coach, Draws Praise From Hendrick Ramaala
*Semenya Can Still Run In Kenya - May Release Test Results Herself The latest news says Semenya may release her medical test results herself, which makes sense considering they are her property.
*Media Rush: Caster Semenya Left Off South African Squad For July African Athletics Championships It was only a preliminary listing and she will be added later if fit and eligible.

Kenya Working To Host African Champs, But Chief Organizer Says "We're Running Out Of Time" They just had to cancel a meet because they can't get proper equipment there in time.

Mobile Service Provider Safaricom To Sponsor Mombasa Marathon

LRC's The Week That Was In Running

LRC The Week That Was This week, we break down arguably the fastest marathon in history and wonder why it's not considered a World Marathon Major, let you know how the 2010 Boston Marathon is rapidly getting weaker in quality, get free coaching advice from British great Ron Hill, take a look at the best road 5k in the world as well as the greatest 3,200 in HS history, praise Magdaleny Lewy Boulet, and much more. Along the way, our momentum in breaking down the hot spring action is interrupted as we are forced to talk about the fall marathons a bit too early.

Words From Running Masters

• Coaching And Training Advice From Meb's Coach Bob Larsen Larsen is full of praise for Meb Keflezighi, saying despite a yoga knee injury that hampered training, he wouldn't be running Boston if he didn't think he could run well.
• Q&A With Former Miler And Now Coach Steve Scott Where He Shares The Best Advice He Ever Got Read the advice New Zealand great Rod Dixon gave Scott that he calls the most important thing he ever learned.
• Joan Benoit Samuelson Ran Age Group Record 60:52 At Cherry Blossom 10-Mile At Age 52

Improving The Sport - NYRR's Lottery And Watching World XC

LRC Improving The Sport - NYC Marathon Lottery And World XC Ideas This is hopefully the first in a series of articles on what we can do to make our sport better off. Instead of just being critical, we're proposing ways to improve our sport. If you have any suggestions for our sport, please email us.

3 Interesting Stories

• Doug Logan Says There Was Hubris Involved In Mary Wittenberg's Oly Trials Marathon Bid The story behind the surprising Oly Trials double win by Houston. Mary Wittenberg and Doug Logan trade shots.
  *Boards: NYRR are crybabies
• Kara Goucher Writes About Training With Paula Radcliffe For 3 Months Kara was at first intimidated when Paula specifically asked to train with her. But by the time Paula left, Kara was sobbing to see her go.
• Weather Channel Video Of Grinnell College XC Runners Pelted By Hail

Americans Look To Win Boston On Patriot's Day

• Ryan Hall Talks About His Prep for Boston, Then Talks LetsRun And Rise Of American Distance Running
  *Flashback: LetsRun.com Interviewed Ryan Hall In High School Back in 2000, we talked to Hall as we knew even then that he was the most talented guy out there.
• Brief Chat With American Hope In Boston - Meb Keflezighi