A Look At This Weekend's Action
- Koll 8:53, Flanagan DNF Flanagan apparently was only trying to pace a few laps.
- UW Results Maggie Vessey opened 2011 with a 2:09.14 800m. Andrew Bumbalough 4:00.14 mile.
- PSU Runners Run Fast in 1k Caitlin Lane gets school record of 2:45.95 as Ryan Foster Run 2:19.9
- $420,000 Attracts Unbelievable Stacked Field For XC Meet In Spain Three of the top four from last year's men's World Champs will race.
- $325,000 On The Line This Weekend At Mumbai Marathon
News From Europe
EthiopiaTurkey Pleased With 2010 & Is Looking Forward To 2012 And Hoping To Get First Track Gold Medal (Via Ethiopian Imports) If they get their first ever athletics gold, they can thank Ethiopia.- UK Athletics Boss Says It Would Be A "Breach Of Trust" If Track Is Removed From 2012 Olympic Stadium
- Column: London's So Organized - The Only Controversy The Media Can Create Is What Happens To Stadium After 2012
- Two-Time Olympian & 1:45/3:35 Guy James Nolan Is Manager for Ireland's Paralympic World Championships T&F Team Nolan: "Before I got involved with them last year I was probably like a lot of people and didn't really appreciate the level they're training at."
Interesting (But Not Quite Recommended) Reads:
- Trevor Dunbar To Run Mile Race On 240m Track At Halftime Of Portland Basketball Game The race is all part of UP's effort to make their track and XC teams more accessible to the public. We think alll schools should open up their facilities and reach out to the public like UP.
- Sally Meyerhoff Borderline Hated Herself After NYC Disappointment But Has Refound Love For Running While Winning Trail Run Championship The interesting young lady is now training for the Ironman, which is 14 weeks before the Olympic Marathon Trials.
Distance News
Galen Rupp Racing Paul Koech Over 5,000m In Dusseldorf, Germany On February 11 Rupp no doubt will be trying to regain his American record from Bernard Lagat (13:11). Koech ran 13:02 last year in Dusseldorf to become the 4th fastest ever indoors.
*Message Board Thread
- Colt Goucher's Illness And Hospital Stay Delays Kara Goucher's Trip To PF Chang Rock N Roll Half Marathon The good news is doctors have diagnosed the problem and Colt is doing better.
- Sally Mayerhoff, An Olympic Marathon Hopeful, Now Planning To Do Ironman Triathlon 14 Weeks Before Olympic Trials
- Desiree Davila Running Naples Daily News Half Marathon This Weekend
- Vivian Cheruiyot (World 5k Champ) And Linet Masai (World 10k Champ) To Get Edinburgh Rematch This Weekend At Police Champs In Kenya Masai easily turned back Cheruiyot over the snow in Edinburgh last weekend.
- Deena Kastor Hasn't Run In Months And Is Expecting A Baby Girl
- Carmen Douma-Hussar Talks About Coming Back From Pregnancy (18 Months Ago), Looking Forward To 2011 Indoor Season
- First 4 At Kenyan Trials To Be Automatically On World XC Squad
- National Bank Of Kenya To Sponsor Athletics Kenya For $400,000
Week In Review
LRC Week In Review: Naked High Mileage XC This week, we've got it all covered - from the exploits of Joseph Ebuya to the winter XC racing of Galen Rupp and Linet Masai in Edinburgh to an academic analysis of some of the nude photo shots in our sport. Plus, we tell you to run more miles, but we guarantee half of you click through to see the Playboy cover with Amy Acuff. Sad on our part and yours.
New Balance In The News
- Reebok Boston Indoor Games Becomes New Balance Indoor Grand Prix New Balance, with former Nike exec Josh Rowe as running marketing manager, appears to be getting more into the pro level of the sport to show their shoes aren't just for your parents. *More On New Balance's Rescue Of Boston Indoor Games
- New Balance Games At Armory Next Week To Feature Stacked Women's 800 And 1,500 The 800 features Maggie Vessey vs. NCAA champ Phoebe Wright, whereas the mile features Jenny Barringer vs. Canadian Olympians Carmen Douma-Hussar and Megan Wright, Ireland's Ciara Mageean (the reigning IAAF World Junior Championships silver medallist at 1,500m), Serbia's Marina Muncan (the 2009 World University Games 1,500m champion) and Americans Frances Koons, Lindsay Gallo and Brenda Martinez.
- LRC MB: New Balance is getting hard into the running game
Cross-Country News
- Matt Gabrielson Is Pumped With His XC Performance In Scotland - Will Skip US Half In Houston And Run US Cross Instead He's been battling side stitches and was pumped not to get any.
- Did You Know?
The European Junior XC Champ Charlotte Purdue Easily Beat Senior XC Champ Jessica Augusto In Scotland
US Distance News
- Brief Chat With Kara Goucher She's running Rock N Roll Half this weekend and will run US Cross, but the focus is on Boston. Husband Adam Goucher tore an ACL and his helping train her through Boston.
- Galen Rupp Running 2 Mile, Queen Harrison Also Running At Millrose Games
- Galen Rupp Writes In Oregon Paper About Auburn-Oregon BCS Game (Before The Game)
Non-Distance News
- Usain Bolt Commits To His 1st Diamond League Meeting Of 2010 He'll run the 200 in Oslo on June 9th. But once that came out, the people in Rome said he'll actually run there on May 26th.
- Pole Vault Queen Isinbayeva Is Pumped To Return To Action In 2011 She hasn't vaulted since finishing 4th at last year's World Indoors.
Are You Tough Enough? (Sponsored Post)
"America's Toughest" Road Marathon
Want to run a challenging marathon (half marathon and marathon relay as well) in a beautiful setting? The National College Blue Ridge Marathon has 3,620 feet of elevation gain and 7,234 feet of elevation change in the beautiful Roanoke Valley of Virginia. The race looks perfect for LRCers looking for a challenge and costs less than $100. The race prides itself on its difficult course and is
even offering free entry to anyone who ran the all-uphill 2010 Mount Lemmon Marathon to prove it. A $5,000 Tag Heurer watch is available to the winner. For more info on this race click here.
XC News
- World XC Champ Joseph Ebuya Crushes Field In Spain 12:51 5ker Vincent Chepkok, Olympic 10k Bronze Medallist Micah Kogo and others were among his victims at the Amorebieta XC race in Spain.
- World 5k Silver Medallist Sylvia Kibet To Skip Indoors To Try To Make Kenyan World XC Team For First Time This year's women's team could be truly incredible (last year's champ Emily Chebet, Linet Masai, Vivian Cheruiyot).
- Kenyan Coach Says Athletes Must Compete Twice Locally To Be Considered For World Cross Team
- First African XC Champs To Be Held 2 Weeks Before Worlds This Year
Bupa Great Edinburgh Cross-Country *International Individual Races Results *Team Results *LRC Race Photos *LRC Course Photos *Race Website
LRC International Races: Kipchoge Over Kiprop, Masai Over Cheruiyot Snow blanketed Edinburgh overnight but it did not keep Eliud Kipchoge and
Linet Masai from dominating the individual races at the 2011 Edinburgh XC Races. Kipchoge won over Olympic 1,500m and World junior XC
Champ Asbel Kiprop, while Masai won over World 5k champ Vivian Cheruiyot.
*BBC Recap With Video For UK Visitors
*LRC Race Photos
LRC Saturday Course Update: Snowfall Blankets Course Definitely not a Rupp-certified course, but the American star is in Edinburgh to race. Couse photos
Shalane Flanagan Has Big Goals For 2011 The marathon is her focus but this article says she wants the 5k record back.
Three-Time Olympic Champ Peter Snell Says Coaches, Not Administrators, Are Key We agree but go a step further and say athletes, not coaches are the key. Snell is irate some canoeing coaches were canned in his native New Zealand. Snell: "The administrators thought they were the most important people; that the sport couldn't exist without them."
Not So Fast, Sammy
Sammy Wanjiru's Wife Says She Hasn't Reconciled And That She Wants A Divorce She also claims her mother in law is a royal pain in the ***.
Sad News: Former JMU Runner & Sub-4 Miler Jason Long Dies In Plane Crash At Age 32 The JMU school record holder in the 800 and 4-time All-American was a very accomplished pilot who died doing what he loved as his plane hit a medical helicopter.
More: *Fellow Runner Remembers Long As "Good, Loyal"
*Wing Was Sawed Off After Collision With Medical Helicopter
*Crash Victim Loved To Fly
*Friends Remember Men Killed (payment required)
*LRC MBoard Talk About Long's Passing
A Legend Passes
Olympic Legend Bud Greenspan Dies If anyone did more to spread the greatness of the Olympics, we'd like to know who it was. Greenspan's documentaries brought the Olympics to life for millions. Not familiar with Bud? Check out his work here.
*NPR Obituary On Bud Greenspan *AP Obituary Of Greenspan
On The Boards: Bud Greenspan RIP
Sorry, Ladies
David Rudisha Gets Married 2010 will be a year Rudisha never forgets. 2 world records and now he has married his long-time girlfriend Elizabeth.
Congrats to David and Elizabeth. 2010 also saw Galen Rupp and Alan Webb get married.
More News From Kenya: Sammy Wanjiru Focused On World Record, Ndereba Wants Another World Title
Train Smarter
- When is it ever a good idea to train with rivals?
- Soup to Nuts - Letsrun Train Me
- Legs start to burn/hurt when I start to go faster, what gives?
- Master runners, what is your 400 meter time?
London & Boston 2011
Incredible 2011 Virgin London Marathon Field Announced: Wanjiru Vs. Kebede Vs. Makau On Men's Side Director Dave Bedford is calling the women's field "undoubtedly our strongest ever," but we once again are amazed with his men's field. London's got the top 3 men's marathoners in the world Sammy Wanjiru, Tsegaye
Kebede and Patrick Makau going head to head to head. This year's Chicago marathon with Wanjiru vs. Kebede duelling to the finish was incredible and left Sammy Wanjiru exhausted (photo above). Now throw Makau (Amsterdam and Berlin champ) into the mix. *Message Board Thread On London
*European XC Champ Jessica Augusto And Hayley Yelling To Make Marathon Debuts In London
American Hopefuls Kara Goucher And Desiree Davila To Run Boston 2011 Davila has come a long way in her career, as she got equal billing with Goucher in the press release. Last week it was announced Ryan
Hall is running Boston.
On The Boards: Desi will kick Kara's butt this April
Pro Distance Profiles/News
- Nick Willis Wants Sub-3:35 1,500m In New Zealand Next Month, Will Try To Go Sub-3:30 In Paris This Summer He also reveals he still has not received his Olympic silver medal from 2008. He'll be running the New Balance Boston Games February 5th.
- Leo Manzano Rejuvenated And Focused On 2012 He had a tremendous 2010, pushing Kiprop to the line twice. Austin American-Statesman
- NCAA Champ Angela Bizzarri Running 50 Miles A Week, Trying To Choose Between Gags Group And Mammoth Track Club
- Kenyan XC Coach Worried His Men's Team Won't Be Strong Enough After Ebuya, he's worried.
Sprint News
- Veronica Campbell-Brown Had Top 100 And 200 Times In The World In 2010 But She Doesn't Have A Coach For 2011 She's changed coaches a lot and still performed well.
- Charlie Moore To Donate 1952 Olympic 400m Hurdle Gold Medal to His High School, Mercersburg Academy Moore never lost a 400m hurdles race in his career and held the Cornell school record until a few years ago.
Mary Wittenberg, Close Your Eyes
After Finishing Third In Marathon Debut, Mary Keitany Hoping To Up Game & Win In London Keitany knows London is the most competitive in the world as she says, "London may not be as easy as New York."
Millrose Has So Little Money That ...
FDNY Versus NYPD Being Hyped As One Of Big Events At Millrose
Lukas Verzbicas To Skip Illinois Track Season So He Can Run New Balance Indoor Games And Millrose + He Narrows His College Choice To 4 The lucky four are Oklahoma St., Colorado, Oregon and UP. Verzbicas seems to think he can wait until May or early summer to decide - we say that's ridiculous.
2009 NCAA XC Angela Bizarri Choosing Between Gags & Mammoth Track Club For Pro Home It won't matter what group she's in unless she can get her mileage up from the high 50s, as she'll never be world class running that little.
TIA
- Thanks To Yet Another African Govt. Screwup, Ghana Banned From 2012 Olympics
- Organizing Committee For 2010 African Champs Closes Shop In Kenya Without Paying All Debts
Madonna's Charity Picks Drug Cheat Dwain Chambers As Goodwill Ambassador
Sprint/Field News
- Aleksandr Shustov, Russian High Jumping Stud, Wants Russian Qualifying System For Big Events To Be Like USA - 1-2-3 At National Champs The system is fair and that is what Shustov wants.
- Jessica Ennis Wants European Indoor Gold, May Go for World Record As Well This reminds us ... anyone remember Carolina Klüft?
- Yelena Isinbayeva Competing Next Month In Moscow, Then Targeting European Indoors
Stadium/Organizational News
- Tottenham Hotspur Plans To Revitalize Crystal Palace As A Track Venue And Take Track Out Of 2012 Olympic Stadium So It Can Be Their Soccer Stadium
- IOC President Jacques Rogge Wants A Track Legacy At Olympic Stadium But Will Not Intervene (Because He Can't)
- Malaysian Athletics VP Will Not Seek Reelection, Asks Others Whether They Should Step Down Wish more administrators would ask the question.
- Frankie Fredericks Wants Lifetime Olympic Bans
Drug News
- Now The Lawyers Will Get Involved
IOC Backs Doping Rule That Will Ban LaShawn Merritt From 2012 Games It will be interesting to see if this is ruled as 2nd punishment for a single crime. A German lawyer says it's just a condition of participation - not a sanction. If not going to the Olympics isn't a sanction, we don't know what is. - False Start: Trial Of Cheating Greek Sprinters Kostas Kenteris And Katerina Thanou Starts & Then Is Quickly Postponed Until January 21
Pre-Trial: 6 Years Later: Greek Sprinters To Stand Trial For False Statements At 2004 Olympics
Want To Know Why Oregon Lost The BCS Game? - Speed Rules
Oregon's LaMichael James, Who Was Third In Heisman Voting, Will Still Run Track This Spring 3rd in the Heisman but only 5th in the PAC-10 100. James' windy PR of 10.52 wouldn't even make the final of the SEC meet and his wind-legal PR of 10.72 would place him 18th.
Olympic News
- Thinking About Driving In "Olympic VIP Lane" In 2012? It'll Cost You $314
- Former Sprint Great Frankie Fredericks Joins Chorus That Wants London 2012 To Honor Its Bid To Promise And Retain The Running Track At The Olympic Stadium After The Games
News From Kenya Or Involving Kenya
- 1st Four Across The Line In Kenya Will Go To Worlds The other two spots will be picked by the federation. We still think it's a disgrace that World Cross isn't at least five scorers and seven runners.
- David Rudisha To Begin His Season Outdoors In Australia On March 3 & 19th Six times last year, he went 1:43.00 or faster.
- A Kenyan Shines In Last Edition Of Asahi Ekiden In Japan
- Athletics Kenya Receives $369,000 Gift From National Bank Of Kenya
International Distance News
- Kim Smith Runs 14:59 Road 5k, 5 Seconds Behind A 2:16 Marathoner
- Former Iona Runner Stephen Chemlany Runs 2:10 Marathon In Israel And Wins $20k
- Chris Thompson Wants UK 10,000m Record On April 30th At Stanford
- David Rudisha To Start Season In March In Australia
- Doping Historian To Study Doping, Attitudes Towards Doping But of course Kenyans would never dope. They are saints.
6 Years Later: Greek Sprinters To Stand Trial For False Statements At 2004 Olympics
Alberto On Galen
LRC: Update On Galen Rupp's Training: Two Distinct Seasons For Rupp In 2011, More Mileage Alberto Salazar has done a tremendous job crafting Galen Rupp's career despite the critics (we specifically remember pro athletes who saw Galen train as a high schooler saying he'd burn out). Alberto says 2011 will be a bit different for Galen than 2009 and 2010, with 2 distinct peaks (and time off in between) and that there is still a lot of room for improvement in terms of training mileage. Plus, we take a look back at Galen's incredibly long and consistent 2009 and 2010 seasons.
Ritz Running London
LRC Dathan Ritzenhein To Run 2011 Virgin London Marathon Alberto Salazar told LRC that his marathon pupil Dathan Ritzenhein will take on the world's best this April in London. Alberto also talked about Ritz's NY run, Ritz's mileage, and more (a lot more on Galen coming tomorrow, but you can watch the interview).
*More Americans In London Americans Jason
Lehmkuhle (9th at Boston this year), Mo Trafeh (1:00:39 half marathon, debut), Patrick
Smyth (debut, runner-up at US Cross last year), Stephan
Shay (brother of Ryan), and former Kiwi Michael Aish running as well, plus 27:29 Aussie Collis Birmingham.
*Ryan Hall Running Houston Half This Month So is Abdi.
Field/Sprint News
- 1996 Olympic Discus Champ Ilke Wyludda Loses Her Leg To Septicemia She was faced with losing her leg or her life.
- Olympic 100m Champ Shelly-Ann Fraser Gets Married
Bupa Great Edinburgh Cross-Country Team Race *Team Race Results *LRC Race Photos *LRC Interviews *Video Highlights (Available Worldwide - They Show Snow And Huge Hill)
LRC Team Race: Mo Farah Over Galen Rupp
Mo Farah
prevailed over Galen Rupp
on an officially non-Rupp-certified snow course. We recap the action, have photos, and talked to Galen, Mo, Alberto, and some of the American studs, including Scott Bauhs, who puts an end to "Rupp certification" once and for all.
*Video Of Farah's 2:00 Win Worth a look to see hill and snow.
*LRC Interviews With Alberto, Galen, Scott Bauhs, Stephen Furst, Bobby Mack And Matt Gabrielson
*LRC Race Photos
*BBC: Video Highlights Of Farah's Dominant Win A post-race interview of Farah is included as well.
And To Think We Thought Rabid Dogs Were A Sign Of Rural Poverty
Paula Radcliffe Attacked & Bitten By Dog On Training Run In Monaco
Ryan Crouser Picks Texas Over Oregon Due To Academics The discus star was a top priority of the Ducks, who were hoping his desire to unite with cousin Sam would sway him, but they lost him as Texas has an engineering program while UO does not.
Matt Tegenkamp Q&A On His 2010 Season - He Hopes He's Found Cure To His Injury Woes The highlight came off the track as his son was born in May. Injuries derailed his season but he's now working on "trying to re-pattern the firing sequence of muscles" on his right side as his right side was dysfunction from his ankle to his lower back.
3 Recommended Reads
- RR#1: Meet Former World Beater Adrian Royle The scrawny Brit shocked the world when he won the 1981 US XC title over more famous stars like Alberto Salazar, Steve Scott and Henry Rono. The 27:47 performer then suffered a mysterious illness that wiped him out for 18 months. *Wikipedia Page Here
- RR#2: Chris Solinsky Sees Himself As A Serious Medal Threat This profile on Solinsky by Parker Morse is a must-read and full of great quotes.
- RR#3: Unbelievable: Runner Who Was Whistle Blower On Leonid Shvetsov Being Eddy Hellebuyck's EPO Provider Was Repeatedly Threatened By A Man With Russian Accent Before NYC Marathon Canadian Bruce Raymer ended up not going for the Canadian masters national record and running another race instead. In our (and many people's) minds, he's a hero. Our apologies for not getting this up before Christmas.
It's Not This Easy In America
Olympic Marathon Champ And Accused Attempted Murderer Sammy Wanjiru And His Wife Supposedly Reconcile Press reports are indicating that the families of Wanjiru and his wife got involved and urged a reconciliation which may result in charges being dropped, although his wife was a bit coy in her responses to the press (as we're
sure $$$ is still being negotiated). *Updated
LRC MBoard Talk: "He is now officially qualified to be a professional American athlete. Can some of the women on this board tell me why abused women stay with their abuser. Often, until they are beaten to death?"
*Sammy Wanjiru Arrested For Attempting To Kill His Wife And A Domestic Worker
Worth Reading
- A Must Click Track With A Hill On It Is Built
- A Recommended Read Discoverer Of EPO Dies Eugene Goldwasser never patented EPO and never got fame or fortune. Rather, Amgen is the one who reaped billions off of it.
- Interesting Read The New York Times Looks At Why We Feel Warm For Hours After A Workout Good news also comes from the article, which reveals intense athletes burn more calories hours after exercise is done, whereas average athletes do not.
All That Is Great About LetsRun.com
LRC NCAA And Foot Locker Contest Recaps: The Greatness Of You Recapping our contests always reminds us what is greatest about LetsRun.com - that is you, our incredibly loyal, smart and interesting readers. This time our contest winners impress as usual. Not only do we have acts of sportsmanship, but we have a runner with MS who can no longer run anymore but it still super-dedicated to the sport, a college coach who nearly pulled off the NCAA D1, D2 prediction double (and btw went to high school with the rocket scientist who has won two of our previous contests), a guy who watched malmo win an NCAA XC race, and a guy who issued a challenge to Aaron Braun before he won last week's club XC champs.
The 10 Best High School XC Runners Ever
LRC Week That Was: The 10 Best High School XC Runners Of All Time, Verzbicas, Tribute To Gary Reed, The NY Times & The NE Patriots And More We've got the entire running world covered from San Diego to Japan, from the high school ranks to the pros, and even talk about the NE Patriots and the NY Times.
The Stars Of Track And Field Party In Monaco *Wejo's Photo Gallery 1 *Pro Photo Gallery 2
Drug News
- Kiwi Author Rips LaShawn Merritt Over His Drug Positive We wanted this to be quote of the day, just so the word penis could be in the quote of the day, but decided against it: "In other words, LaShawn Merritt has been banned from the Olympics because he took a pill that he thought would give him a bigger penis...Surely there's no shame in being forever known as the medallist who wanted a bigger gong. Seems to me, this is one rap where you hide the truth and say: "I took steroids because I wanted to be even faster.""
- As Career Comes to an End Armstrong Not Losing Sleep Over Doping Investigation
Training Corner
- What is considered "junk mileage"
- intervals question?
- Lost motivation to run
- What is your favorite marathon?
- Galen Rupp only averaged 80 miles a week
- How far can you run in 1:11:11 on 1-11-11?
Alberto On Rupp And Ritz's Training
Galen On Edinburgh XC And 2011 (if you'd like to see a video of the conditions he ran in Edinburgh, click here)
Scott Bauhs Ends The Rupp Certification Debate ... Or Does He Not?
Logan Vs. USATF
LRC Exclusive USATF Strikes Back With Charges Of Tax Evasion, Expense Report Abuse And The Real Reason Doug Logan Was Fired We're far from lawyers and most of you aren't either, but this is worth a read, as USATF has filed its response to former CEO's Doug Logan's lawsuit. USATF hurls some serious charges at Logan and some dirt (improper gifts to a
female athlete), but none of them are the real reason Logan was fired. We've got it covered, plus news who on the USATF board Logan referred to as Fantasia and Opie.
*Message Board Thread
Training Corner
- How to deal with depression caused from injury?
- plantar faciitis will not go away! Any tricks you used to get rid of it?
- Sets and Reps for Lifting Program for High Schoolers
- Most Mileage You've Ever Done in a Week
- More In Our Training Forum
Recommended On The Boards: The Legend Of Steve Jones Grows
Two Of The Best Running Movies Of All Time (Don't Believe Us? Click Here)
Relive Men's NCAAs: *Recap *Results *Photos *New (2nd Photo Album Added Here)
Relive Women's NCAAs: *Recap *Results *Photos *New (2nd Photo Album Added Here)
800m Royalty Together For The First Time Ever: Juantorena, Coe, Kipketer And Rudisha (It's Well Worth A Watch If You Have The Time, Or Read The Recap Here)
Save Some Cash
Train Smarter
- Long run, 25% of your weekly mileage?
- 5x1 mile repeats with 1:1 work/rest ratio, 10k time?
- Marathon Training Thread - Week Ending 10/17
- Could I break 33 mins. in the 10k based on this workout
- Does anybody here train using Daniels Running Formula
Great Deals
Universal Sports Back To Top