Quote Of The Day

"When I won, there were just a few acknowledgements from people on the finish and nothing else. What could I do? I was a winner in a foreign land. I felt lonely. The trophy weighs about 20kg coated with gold and no one came to help me lift it at the podium."

- Stephen Muzhingi, 2009 Comrades Marathon champion from Zimbabwe. He was the first African runner not from South Africa to win the legendary ultra and now says he can eat for free in restaurants, though he doesn't know where 85% of his prize purse went. Comrades is Sunday, May 31.

Shalane Flanagan To Announce Fall Marathon While In New York As the folks at Track Focus point out, it's pretty unlikely the choice will be Berlin or Chicago though ING NYC has not been confirmed.
*OTC Elite Help Out At Oregon's HS State Meet - Run Elite 1,500 Flanagan was 2nd in the women's 1,500 as the pros mixed in with the HS kids in Eugene.

Ottawa Race Weekend 10k *Results *LRC Photos

Dire Tune Wins Gender Challenge, Feyisa Lelisa Wins Men's Race In Ottawa Feyisa Lelisa, Deriba Merga and the men were 1 minute off WR pace so Tune took the gender prize purse home.

D2 And D3 Nationals This Weekend

*D2 Results
*Board:
ADAM STATE SCORES 2PTS IN 10,000M D2
St. Augustine's
wins another men's title, Angelo State takes women's. Adams State got 8 in the 5k and 13 in the 1,500.

*D3 Results, Recap
*Boards: DIII Outdoor Nationals

North Central
men win XC/indoor/outdoor triple crown, Illinois Wesleyan takes women's championship.

Comrades - All 89km - Coming Sunday! *Wiki Page

Amazing Read: Zimbabwe's Stephen Muzhingi, Reigning Comrades Champion Muzhingi's story - to start, he's the first African not from South Africa to win Comrades - is simply incredible. Find out what his occupation is, how he got into running, why he needed someone from his country at the awards stand, why he wants to present the trophy to President Mugabe and more.

Unlike Soccer, American Runner Has A Prayer In South Africa
Josh Cox Ready To Roll Race, Then Check Progress Of Team World Vision Charity Work

A woman shops inside a Foot Locker store in New York Matt Fitzgerald: Doctors Reporting "Born To Run" Causing Epidemic Of Running Injuries It's best to remember that switching to Vibram or barefoot is not a magic bullet for health or running success.
*Latest Boards: Can minimalism help a beginning runner who is highly prone to shin splints?

Ostrava Golden Spike *Results/Recap *LRC Ostrava Photos

Usain Bolt is human after all as he could not break Michael Johnson's world 300m record. Bernard Lagat was third in the 3k.
*
Powell Breaks Charlie Green's 100yd World Best
 
*
Ben Johnson Talks To Media - Warns Usain Bolt Of Sabotage 22 years later, Ben Johnson is opening up to the media with appearances, new book.

Boards:
*
Lagat 3rd in Ostrava
*Bolt 300m Ostrava 2010 Predictions
*Video of Bolt's Run

Who's Racing Where

12th IAAF World Athletics Championships - Day Nine Manager Jos Hermens Says Torn Calf Means Bekele Is Likely Out For Season

Josh Cox And Team World Vision Head To South Africa For Sunday's Comrades Ultra

BolderBOULDER Preview With Team Listings Ethiopian men look very strong. American men: Hartmann, Torres, Carlson.
*Boards: Bolder Boulder Elite Race

Deriba Merga Racing 10k In Ottawa Enough already: Merga just got spanked in Bangalore by a 19-year-old Kenyan, yet he and the race director are talking world records.

Inspiration From Billy Mills

Believe, Believe, Believe - Billy Mills Continues To Inspire

Top 3 Sport Reads Of The Day

Recommended Read: Anton Krupicka Talks Training We usually don't have time to cover ultra-marathoners unless they're amazing hype machines (see Josh Cox, Dean K) or they name us as influences like Boulder's Krupicka.

Floyd Landis Offers Details On How Athletes Beat New Biological Passport Testing With Ease Living in a fantasy world where top athletes, managers, coaches and sponsors aren't giving 100% effort to cheat the system? Read this article.
*More: Paper On EPO Testing Co-Authored By LetsRun Reader

David Owen: Charlie Francis Was My Sporting Hero

Bonus: Semenya Gives AP Interview - Says IAAF Decision Won't Affect Her

LetsRun.com's The Week That Was In Running
The 2012 Olympic mascot Wenlock and Paralympic mascot Mandeville pose for photographers in the playground at St. Paul's primary school in LondonLast week was light in terms of domestic US action, but we've found plenty to talk about. In roving the globe from Shanghai to Daegu to California, we find time to rip the new 2012 Olympic mascots, wonder if long years are in store for top US pros Shalane Flanagan and Jacob Hernandez, catch up with Lukas Verzbicas, give out free coaching advice from Jerry Schumacher and bow down to the great Japanase sprinters with an introduction to Shota Iizuka.

Speaking Of Cheats And Liars

Friend Of Tim Montgomery Writes Book Detailing Check Fraud Author says Marion Jones knew exactly what she was doing and got off easy with the law; Jones says she doesn't know the author.

Comrades Coverage - Can Josh Cox Win The World's Most Famous Ultra?

2009 Comrades Marathon Josh Cox Hopes To Become 1st American Since Alberto Salazar In 1994 To Win Comrades
If he's gonna win on Sunday, he'll have to take down this guy on the downhill course.

Profile - Reigning Comrades Champion Stephen Muzhingi From Zimbabwe

*Boards: Will Josh Cox win the Comrades race in South Africa?

Stud

Cory Martin Shocks Throwing World With 72'6" Shot Put In Arizona He's the USATF athlete of the week.

Intl. Meet News

Adidas Grand Prix In NYC Announces More Stars
Matchups include Kiprop vs. Symmonds At 800. Scroll this article to see all the big-name pros signed up (plus there will be a great HS mile). Ticket sales for the few remaining tickets will reopen June 2. Of course Usain Bolt will be running, but also see Matt Tegenkamp race Bernard Lagat at 1,500 plus all the best US women's 1,500 runners.

Bekele Still Bothered By Calf - Pulls Out Of All June Meets In this day and age it's startling that a runner with as many resources as Bekele hasn't found a way to get back to racing. But if you're going to miss any year, it's this one.

USATF Launches Coaches Registry Program In order to become a coach registered with USATF you must now undergo criminal, terrorist, sex offender and identity verification procedures and sign a code of conduct.

NCAA Regionals End After Weather Delays

East Regional Results --- West Regional Results
*Updated NCAA Bracket

Men's 800: More Of This Coming Soon?
*Boards: Wheating with a 1:46.44 jog....
*Boards: ROBBY ANDREWS 1:46 blows by everyone in his heat the last 150

LRC Exclusive The 24/8 NCAA Qualifying Plan Explained - Day 4: Women's Field Events
This year in outdoor track, we have the Pure Regional system. Last year was regionals plus time qualifiers. The NCAA plan for next year may likely be a totally different version. As a way of looking ahead, we took the time to find out exactly who would make NCAAs this year if the proposed "Wilson Plan" or "24/8 Plan" was already in place.
Day 4: Women's Field Events
Day 3: Women's Running Events
Day 2:
Men's Field Events
Day 1: Introduction/Men's Running Events

*Talk Of The Week: DEAR VIN LANANNA: Here are the reasons to have regionals

Recommended Read: Sports Illustrated: Army 800m Runner Andy Ferrara Follows Brothers To Battle After Regionals

Scientists, Medicine, Testosterone Deodorant And Sport

Upcoming Events For The Sport That Never Sleeps

Thursday: Usain Bolt To Run Golden Spike Ostrava 300m David Rudisha will contest the 800m as well.

Friday And Saturday:
Preview Of NCAA Regional 800m Regionals will run from Thursday - Saturday to determine who makes NCAAs in Eugene.

Sunday:
Josh Cox And Team World Vision Head To South Africa For Sunday's Comrades Ultra We're fascinated by Josh Cox's attempt to win this race.

Monday:
Boulder, CO Getting Excited For Memorial Day Bolder Boulder

More Weird Cheating News From China

Shandong Marathon Winner Banned After Ringer Revealed Video revealed that the supposed race winner actually hired a ringer to run for her.

Another Rising Star - Titus Mbishei

Cross Country: 37th IAAF World Championships-Junior Men Titus Mbishei Announces His Arrival With Big Win Over Kipsiro, Lelisa, Tola and Merga 19-year-old Titus Mbishei truly left his mark this weekend by defeating some big names by big margins in Bangalore, India.
*Young Kenyan Mbishei Will Use Prize Money To Help Teammates An amazing gesture from Mbishei, who won $21,000 and trains with 25 other guys in Kenya.
*Titus Mbishei Profile World junior XC and 10,000m silver medalist has run 27:31 for 10,000m. Stats courtesy of Pace Sports Management

More Interesting Results
*Geoffrey Mutai Follows 2:04 Marathon With 1:07 Half Marathon Win At Altitude In Nairobi

*20-Year-Old Teddy Tamgho Sets Triple Jump World Best With Amazing Series You may remember Tamgho as the guy who broke the indoor TJ world record (we gave him the quote of the day because he sounded so interesting).

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 5,000m 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

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