Running Inspiration
*Great Read: 75th Anniversary Of Jesse Owens' 4 WRs In 45 Minutes At Michigan Sports Illustrated ran this piece to mark the 75th anniversary of Owens setting WRs in the 100, long jump, straight 200 and 200 low hurdles in less than an hour.
*Relaxed Running - Old Interview With Sprint Coach Bud Winter Unearthed As Winter humorously explains, one of the most overlooked keys to running (sprinting or distance) is to relax. To get re-energized with the keys to proper training, check out any of our LetsRun.com Training Talk audio interviews.
*Haile Gebrselassie Talks About His 130 Mile Weeks And Upcoming Plans
Keitany To Face Stiff Test This Weekend - Upcoming Events
- Mary Keitany To Face Linet Masai In BUPA London 10k Mary Keitany has been untouchable on the roads, especially at the half marathon - 25k distances. We'll be interested to see if track 10,000m world champion Linet Masa, who just ran 14:31 in Shanghai, can upend Keitany in London.
- Strands.com, NYRR Putting On Strong 5,000m At New Meet In Corvallis
- North Central College Going For D3 XC/Indoor/Outdoor Sweep
Good Reads From Last Week
- High School Freshman In Korea Runs 15:38 5,000m A national record as well. Pretty damn impressive.
- Recommended Read: Former Ivy 800m Runner Writes Great Piece On Genetics And Speed For SI.com Nature or nurture? Genetics or environment? What are the genticists finding out about specific genes and how they relate to sprinting?
- LRC Cheating Hurts The Honest Man - The Dark Side Of Charlie Francis' Impact On The Sport
Former Canadian 1,500m record holder, NCAA 1,000m record holder and 1988 Olympian Doug Consiglio wrote us a great email about Charlie Francis' impact on the sport. His take - as a runner who refused to cheat and take steroids - is that Francis set the sport back for decades in Canada and repeatedly and unabashedly sent the wrong message that it's okay to cheat if other people are doing it. - David Mack, Former US All-Time #3 At 800, Oregon Star, Gets Out Of Prison
Mack, a former LAPD officer, was part of the Rampart scandal. He went to jail for bank robbery but was a suspect along with fellow Oregon teammate Amir Mohammed in the murder of Notorious B.I.G. We hope Mack turns his life around but reports are he became an avowed member of the Bloods gang while in prison.
*LetsRunners Shared Their Mack Stories Here Last Year - Recommended Read: Coaching Advice - Jerry Schumacher Speaks We found this interview inspiring.
Sanya Richards Suffering From Bechet's Disease Flare Up We found this article fascinating. Sanya Richards talks about dealing with Bechet's Disease, the symptoms of which appear after especially stressful episodes like her platinum wedding to NY Giant Aaron Ross.
USATF High Performance Mid-D Meet At Occidental
*USATF Occidental Results Leo Manzano and Russell Brown raced to the wire in the 1,500 with Manzano getting the win and Brown a PR, both in 3:36.
*Video/Results Runnerspace was there with coverage of the women's 800/1,500 races where some big name pros stepped down in distance. Treniere Clement won the women's 800 and Nicole Edwards was the surprise 1,500 winner.
*Boards: JennyB - 4th, Clement - 1st, More results to Come Tonight! Rowbury 4th!
Former Jamaican Sportsperson Of The Year Incensed With 2-Year Ban Chris Williams, 38, is appalled at the way he was treated by the JAAA.
Kara Goucher Talks About Popular Jordan Hasay And Pregnancy Doug Binder got Kara Goucher to agree that Jordan Hasay is the most popular female runner in Oregon.
Top US Pros In LA For 800/1,500 Races
Seemingly all the healthy American mid-d runners will be in L.A. this weekend for a 4-race USATF High Performance meet at Occidental College. Also look for distance runners Galen Rupp (we heard he was entered but don't see him on the 1,500 start
list),
Shalane Flanagan and Jenny Barringer going down in distance to join Shannon Rowbury, Leo Manzano, Jacob Hernandez, Morgan Uceny and others in the 800/1,500 fields.
*Boards: USATF High Performance meet @Occidental College May 22nd 6:30pm West coast time start, 1,000 fans expected ...
US 25k Champ Andrew Carlson Featured In AZ Daily Sun One of America's most dedicated runners gets some nice attention after adding a US 25km title to his 15km title.
Eugene Register Guard: Oregon Looking Outside The Box For Next AD The article says, "There apparently aren't any internal candidates," but mentions former Duck and Nike exec Rudy Chapa as an example of someone who might be pursued.
Report From Kenya: Ebuya, Chepkok (12:51), Kiptoo Beaten By Unknown In Men's 10,000, US Road Phenom Chepkurui Glides To Women's Victory
LetsRun.com's Week That Was Last week was an epic week. The BCS power conferences had their conference meets, the Diamond League got under way in impressive fashion, Tyson Gay ran 19.41, Charlie Francis passed away, and there were a ton of high quality road races. We try to recap it all for you. Along the way, we announce the return of Nancy Langat and give out special praise to AJ Acosta for an amazing performance at PAC-10s and famed coach Renato Canova for ripping the idiots on the LRC message boards.
Video Of The Next Sprinting Phenom? Check Out Japan's Shota Iizuka We knew something crazy must have happened when distance running enthusiast Brett Larner of JapanRunningNews.blogspot.com sent us a link to a university 4 x 100 video. Chuo University (lane 5, in white) runs 38.54 thanks to a monster anchor leg from freshman Shota Iizuka. 38.54 would have won
the NCAA 4 x 100 final last year, almost beaten the
2nd American team at Penn Relays (38.50), and made almost any Olympic or WC final. Worth a watch.
*More From Larner: Dream Win For 5000m Underdog
Shanghai Diamond League Coverage *Full Results *LRC Photos
LRC Recap/Results: Bolt Smashes Competition, Fast Distance Races Headline Shanghai Diamond League
*LRC Photos Usain Bolt ran 19.76 or better for the 11th time in his career (the next closest guy in history has 3). Other happenings included Liu Xiang finishing as the 2nd Chinese hurdler, Sentayehu Ejigu winning a great 5,000 in 14:30,
Asbel Kiprop showing he is in top form, and flops by some dominant field eventers.
*Bolt 19.76 Video
*Shanghai Meet Writeup From IAAF
*Bolt Tells Gay He Can Chase The Records Bolt says to Gay - go ahead and chase my times, I'm just trying to stay undefeated this year.
Readers React To Lananna's Criticism Of NCAA Regionals
*Why NCAA has regionals
*DEAR VIN LANANNA: Here are the reasons to have regionals
*Original Article: Lananna On Ducks' Entries In Austin
More Results: USA's Karjuan Williams Runs 1:45.79 For 5th In Brazil The X-Man won the slower of two 200m heats and the men's 5,000 was won in 13:17 in this IAAF World Challenge meet attended by a number of US sprinters.
*Festival Of Miles Elite Men Video 2 guys broke 4:00 in Missouri, led by Andy McClary.
Latest Track Talk
- Pat Butcher On Baffling London Mascots, Charlie Francis Legacyy, Floyd Landis
- Marcus O'Sullivan On Hating College Coaching At First O'Sullivan found it difficult to go from being the star athlete to the athlete's servant (aka the coach).
- 2 Oregon State Football Players Make NCAA Regional HJ Despite Having No Official Team
- Donovan Bailey Wonders Why Michael Johnson Pretends He Never Existed Canada's former 100m WR holder Bailey takes exception to MJ calling himself the former fastest man on earth.
NCAA "Round 1" Declarations Announced ... Wheating Doubling 1,500/800
*Men East - West *Women East - West
In the new system starting this year, the top 48 D1 performers in each event from the East and West compete for 12 spots in their region. Combine the top 12 from East and West to make the 24-person fields in the NCAA finals in Eugene.
*Championsip Central
*Site/Date: Greensboro, NC and Austin, TX ~ May 27-29 (Thu-Sat)
Lance And Landis Hot On The Boards After Unexpected News:
- Cyclist Floyd Landis Admits Doping, Alleges Use by Armstrong and Others
- Lance coming up live on Sportscenter, getcha popcorn ready!
- Seriously, is cycling dirtier than T&F?
Shanghai Previews
Diamond League Shanghai Entry Lists
Usain Bolt, Jeremy Wariner and Liu Xiang highlight Sunday's sprinting action and we'll also see many of the top African distance runners square off, including Asbel Kiprop and Deresse Mekonnen in a loaded 1,500, Pamela Jelimo and Jenny Meadows in the
800 and Linet
Masai in the 5,000. Plus field event fans will like to see Irving Saladino (PAN) vs. Dwight Phillips (USA) vs. Fabrice LaPierre (AUS) in the 2nd of 12 Diamond League meets.
*Liu Xiang And Bolt Meet Shanghai Press - Liu Says Bolt Is Not From Earth
Running Times Interviews Lukas Verzbicas After demolishing the competition at the '09 Foot Lockers, Lithuanian-born Verzbicas cemented himself as the best HS distance runner in the US. Only a sophomore, Verzbicas may focus on the triathlon for a few years to try to make the US 2012 Olympic Team.
Daegu Crowds Stand And Applaud Bolt
Boards: Bolt 9.86 In Daegu
*Recap Bolt got a bad start before running hard to an 9.86 victory on a day where most times were not fast. See the race video to the right. (Shorter Video (1:00))
Recommended Read: Funeral For A Friend - Jim Ferstle Recalls Charlie Francis Ferstle describes the pinnacle of the sprinting world: "Contrary to popular belief, not everyone was seeking an 'edge' from doping, many just wanted it to be a 'fair fight' where each side came into the battle with similar tools."
Maybe We Should All Listen To The Smart Guy
Recommended Read: World-Leading Sports Scientist Tim Noakes Speaks Out In Defense Of Semenya, ASA If anyone has an educated, unbiased grip on the Caster Semenya situation, it's Tim Noakes, the South African-based co-founder of the IOC's Olympic Science Academy and of the Sports Science Institute in Cape Town. In no uncertain terms, Noakes explains why he believes unequivocally that Caster should be allowed to run and the case is more about protecting image rather than a reality.
History Lessons
Ben Johnson Says The Time Has Come To Speak The Truth - Will Appear At NYC Symposium, Release Book
Recommended: Mike Hurst - A Personal Perspective On Coach Charlie Francis A great read from a friend of Francis titled "End of good run for flawed coach."