LetsRun.com

2011 London & Boston Were So Good They Continue To Dominate The News Cycle

• LRC John Kellogg Explains How He "Predicted" The Unpredictable - A Sub-2:03:59 In Boston LetsRun.com's coaching guru explains the rationale behind his prediction that is making waves around the globe. Years of timed out-and-back and straight-shot tempos with the wind in Waco, Texas (and other windy Texas venues) proved invaluable to his understanding the effects of the wind. JK took a stab at converting the Boston performances by Mutai and Hall to London and Berlin and even reveals what would happen if the Boston Mutai raced the London Mutai.
• LRC Week In Review: 13 Thoughts About The 2011 Virgin London And Boston Marathons We try to give out some thoughts about a glorious two days of marathoning. From it not being a good two days for North American-based debutants or US Olympic women, to Ryan Hall never runs a bad marathon, to stats showing how the wind helped the mid-packers, to you couldn't find two more deserving winners than the Mutais. All of that plus we give out our top contenders for the 2012 Olympic medals and praise Caroline Kilel while talking about kissing Dave Bedford's ***.
• LRC Rojo Speaks: Boston - Please Stop This World Record Nonsense "(Boston), you are the most historic of all the major marathons and don't need publicity stunts ... You don't need a record to validate what happened. In fact, you shouldn't want it. Your race course has character and tradition behind it - all most of the others can do is get in a contest amongst themselves for time."
• Jubilant Crowd Meets Geoffrey Mutai On His Return To Kenya - He Says He Wants Olympic Title As for the wind, Mutai wonders why if it was so big, then why didn't the women run faster? He also says he won't run the WChamps.
• G. Mutai Says Weather In Boston Was "Bad," Course Was Tougher Than Any Other Course, But He's Not Upset He Doesn't Have WR - Now He'll Will Just Be More Motivated Mutai: "Kenyans do not trust themselves and depend on others tactically during races. They can do better if they have self belief."
• Haile G. "Respects" Boston Times - Is Motivated To Run Even Faster
• Emmanuel Mutai Returned To Kenya The Day Before - Says He Envisions 2:00 Meanwhile, London 3rd placer and NYC champ Edna Kiplagat says she wants to run Worlds. She could do Worlds and NY and get more WMM points.
• Coach Knows Best: Olympian Blake Russell Says She Just Wasn't Suited Well For Boston's Downhills She dropped out before halfway on a course her coach told her not to run.
• Blister & Upset Stomach Are Explanation For US Olympian Lewy Boulet's Poor London Showing She stopped at mile 23 but got going again and explained, "A disappointing race is better than a DNF - emotionally, it takes less time to get over."
• To The Runner-Up Go The Spoils: Desiree Davila To Throw Out Pitch At Detroit Tigers Games Next Tuesday
• Kip Keino Speaks About Boston - "It's up to the IAAF to decide."
• Kenya's World Championships Marathon Team To Be Unveiled After Easter
• Japanese Marathon Squad Selected For Daegu

Sad

Alvin Harrison, Former Olympic 400m Silver Medallist (And Drug Cheat), Getting Second Chance Coaching High School Team, Drunk Drives A High School Van At Arcadia, Flips Another Car, Jailed On $50,000 Bond Less than 10 years, ago he was on Oprah. Now he could be in prison for a while (we also were surprised to read he competed for the Dominican Republic last year and ran 47 seconds).

Let Us Continue To Celebrate Grete's Great Life

• George Vescey Of NY Times Remembers Grete Waitz
• NY Road Runners Head Mary Wittenberg Talks About Legacy Of Grete Waitz
• A Look At The Grete Waitz, Fred Lebow Friendship

European News

• Legal Challenge Over Olympic Stadium May Prevent London From Getting 2017 Worlds The plan is for the Worlds to be awarded in August, but if the legal battle is still going, London could lose out.
• Wimbledon Chief Calls On Britain To Change Tax Laws That Keep Usain Bolt From Competing In Britain
• Jo Pavey Given Daugu Marathon Spot For Britain
• Steve Cram: Brits Disappointed At London Fortunately, Paula Radcliffe returns to action in a month.

The Sport Loses A Legend *Grete Waitz's NYC Marathon Results

Grete Waitz Loses Battle With Cancer Waitz is best known for being a 9-time New York City Marathon champion, a class act, and a pioneer in the sport, but she also was a 4:00 1,500m runner and an 8:31 3,000m runner. As a kid, watching her on ABC win NYC every year was one of the site founders' earliest running memories. She will be missed. Thanks to Leo Kulinski for the photo. Another one here.
*Pay Your Respects In This Thread
*Grete Waitz: In The Long Run, A Legacy Of Triumph For Women And Sport
*IAAF: Grete Waitz, Distance Running Legend, Passes Away
*The Independent: Norwegian Marathon Legend Grete Waitz Dies Of Cancer At Age 57
*Runner's World: Remembering Grete Waitz
*Runner's World: 2005: When We First Learned Of Grete Waitz's Battle With Cancer

US Elites Left Homeless/Other US News

• Leonel Manzano And His Elite Training Group Kicked Off University Of Texas Track; Many Elite Athletes Have Nowhere To Train
• Carl Lewis's NJ Residency Being Challenged, Which Could Make Him Ineligible To Run For Office *Carl Lewis's Run For Political Office Gets Off To A Rocky Start
• Top Five Teams Remain Intact In D-I; Preseason Marks Go Away Next Week
• Pete Magill Says: "Most masters runners race like idiots."

Other International News

• Tokyo Marathon Star Yuki Kawauchi To Run First Naoko Takahashi Half Marathon In May
• Asafa Powell Wants To Take On Usain Bolt And Tyson Gay Before Worlds
• USAToday: More On The Utrecht Marathon, Which Is Taking A Lot Of Heat For Giving More Prize Money To Dutch Runners
• Profile Of Teen UK Sprinting Star Jodie Williams
• Kenyan Olympic Steeplechase Bronze Medallist Paul Kipsiele Koech Returning For 5th Time To Ostrava Golden Spike Meet
• IAAF: David Oliver Has Sights Set On WR In 110 Hurdles At Aviva London Grand Prix

Virgin London Marathon *Watch Full Race On Demand *Photos

LRC Emmanuel Mutai Runs The Best 10km Ever In A Marathon To Destroy The Field & Arrive As One Of The World's Best A lead pack that was a who's who of marathoning went through 30km together, but soon the race would be nothing but a coronation for Emmanuel Mutai, who destroyed the field with a 28:44 4th 10k and ended up with a 2:04:40 course record. Almost as big of a story as Mutai's incredible run was the fact that the 2nd placer ended up being one of the all-time greats - Martin Lel - who shocked even himself in his first marathon since Beijing 2008. American Jason Lehmkuhle was the only elite American finisher as the three rookie American marathoners went out too fast and blew up - none worse than Mo Trafeh, who ran with the lead pack for 15 km.

LRC Women's Marathoning Has A New Star Named Mary Keitany Keitany knocked nearly 10 minutes off her personal best and knocked Liliya Shobukhova off her pedestal as the best in the world, as Keitany ran the first sub-2:20 since 2008 and made mincemeat of "undoubtedly" of the strongest women's field in London history. All together, a record 22 women broke 2:30 - but that didn't include US Olympian Magdalena Lewy-Boulet.

More London:

• Great Britain's Jo Pavey Given World Champs Marathon Spot Thanks To London Debut
  *UK Names Marathon Team For Daegu
• Greg McMillan-Coached Andrew Lemoncello Gets Stitch & Fails To Qualify For London 2012
• Liliya Shobukhova Runs Russian Record Despite Finishing 2nd
• Independent: Is Keitany Radcliffe's Ultimate Rival?
• Jo Pavey And Louise Damen Delighted With Olympic Qualifying Times
• Telegraph: Kenyans Dominate London
• Guardian: Behind The Elites At London, Thousands Of Stories From The Masses
• Other Recaps: Guardian Recap Of London *Athletics Weekly Men's Recap *Athletics Weekly Women's Recap *BBC Recap Of London *IAAF Recap Of London

Haile G's Back & A Winner In Vienna Only Haile G could be upset with a solo 60:18 at age of 37 years and 364 days. Happy B-Day Haile!!!

Other Action From The Weekend

• Yohan Blake (20.33) Beats Asafa Powell (20.55) At 200
• IAAF Recap Of Mt. SAC: In Addition To Russell Brown, Carmelita Jeter (10.99) Impresses
• Australian Champs Day 3 Recap: Sally Pearson Completes Triple
• South African Steepler Reuben Ramolefi Runs 8:22, Says He Can Break 8:11 NR
• Jo Pavey And Louise Damen Delighted With Qualifying Time
• Moses Arusei Runs Sets New Course Record In Madrid (2:10:51) Girma Tadesse defended her women's title.
• 2:09 And 2:29 Win In Padua

NCAA News

• UCLA Men Tie Oregon In Dual Meet *UCLA Was Gunning For Victory
• Florida's Jeff Demps Runs Windy 9.96
• Oregon Frosh English Gardner Sets New 100m Oregon Record

LRC The Week That Was This week, we investigate German Fernandez's Shoe-Gate, quote a 9th or 10th grader who says that more fans watch his 9th-10th grade meet than Leo Manzano, tell you why to be truly elite in the marathon you now need to be a sub-2:06 guy, and re-introduce you to Leilani Rios, the runner who was a national sensation 10 years ago when she was kicked off the Cal State-Fullerton track team for making a lot of money each night she worked.
*Athletics Weekly Weekend Recap: 9 World Leads Set, Including Men's Steeple, Marathon, Decathlon, And Men's/Women's 4 X 1 And 4 X 4

Doping News

• LA Times: Barry Bonds' Trial So Humiliating It Might Dissuade Athletes From Using Steroids "It's hard to imagine how any pro athlete, or any high school kid aspiring to be one, could look at Bonds' public disgrace and decide that taking steroids would be a good idea. Cheating doesn't just shrink sexual organs; it ravages reputations." *Barry Bonds Guilty Of Obstruction Of Justice
• Banned Coach Trevor Graham Says US Anti-Doping Agency Covering Up For US Coaches Graham coached drug cheats Justin Gatlin and Marion Jones and was given a lifetime ban by the USADA.
• Germany's Anti-Doping Agency Warns Eating Meat In China Could Lead To Accidental Doping & Failed Drug Tests

Interesting Reads

• Meet Usain Bolt's Brother - Sadiki Bolt - Will He Too Soon Be A Famous Professional Athlete? He's 8 months younger than Bolt but cricket is his game and he's got some real talent but was sidelined by distractions when his brother became famous.
• Recommended Read: The Story Of Eastern Michigan's Austin Hendrix, An Openly Gay Distance Runner
• Scientific Paper: Doping Varies Greatly By Country We are too cheap to pay the $35 to read it but wonder if it says Moroccans and Russian women and US sprinters are the worst.
• Half Of Eldoret Is Now Owned By Former Running Stars Who Helped Rebuild It After Post-Election Violence
• Japanese Olympic Marathon Hopeful Masato Imai's Parents' House Is Located Within Nuclear Exclusion Zone
• Sonia O'Sullivan Will Always Be At Home In Cork, Ireland - So She Might As Well Win The Local Marathon College age and don't know who O'Sullivan is? She starred at 'Nova and had every Irish record from the 800 through 13.1.
• Doug Logan, Rejoice: Brits Arguing Over How Many Track Medals They Should Win In 2012 The coach van Commenee says if they don't win 8 with at least one gold, he's gonna be a goner.

When To Start?
Early Vs. Late Specialization: When Should Children Specialize In Sport?

Usain Bolt & Tyson Gay In The News

Recommended Read: Usain Bolt Shares His Unique Perspective On Running And Life In Profile On Front Page Of Sports In USA Today We promised to use this article as Quote of the Day for today, as there are enough quotes to last a week. Bolt talks about partying, psychologically destroying his opponents, the stupidity of getting married before your late 30s, and a pro soccer career after London 2012 (print edition only). Bolt: "Dancing is good physical activity. So don't think about partying and dancing as negative." Bolt also hints in the video that him and Gay talk a lot less since Bolt took over as the main star. *5 USA Today Questions With Bolt (video)
*AP: One-Track Mind - Gay Closing Gap On Bolt

April Fools News

LetsRun's 2011 April Fools Edition

Recommended Read Ato Boldon's 10 Pieces Of Wise Advise That Current Pro Track Athletes Don't Understand (But Retired Ones Do) Among the highlights, he advises staying away from European wine and women and to beware of falling in love with insincere shoe companies.

The Only Required Reading In The Industry

LRC: Week That Was: Flanagan Gets Bronze, Rupp Makes An Impressive Debut, An American Runs 2:27 At LA, And The US XC Dream Team Sure, we bet you know about Shalane Flanagan's bronze at World XC and Galen Rupp's half marathon in NYC. But we help put these in perspective and tell you about the American who ran 2:27 in LA (Amy Hastings) and wonder how well the US dream team of Lagat, Rupp, Solinsky, Tegenkamp and Ritz would do at World XC. And of course the most important news of the week, the fight at World XC.

Zersenay Tadese Misses His Own WR But Runs 2nd-Fastest Half Marathon Ever (58:30) In Portugal Despite having little help from rabbits and having to run into the wind the last 3 miles, Tadese was great as usual at the 13.1 distance.

2011 NCAA Champs *Full Results *2011 Event-By-Event Results With Splits *LRC Women's Preview *LRC Men's Preview *LRC Day 1 Photos *Video Highlights (48 Hours Only) Within Articles Or On Right

Day 2: LRC 3ks: Hasay Becomes A Legend, Heath Unleashes His Legendary Kick As of Fri. night, Jordan Hasay was viewed as the former teen prodigy who couldn't quite kick for the big one in college. Now, just as was the case for Galen Rupp two years ago, she is college distance running's biggest star, as she won the mile and then came back in the 3k to make herself into a legend by turning the tables on Sheila Reid. Stanford's Elliott Heath's kick was even more lethal, as he destroyed a super-talented men's 3k field over the final 140m. Includes last lap video coverage.

Day 2: LRC Mid-D: Hasay Gets Title #1, Batty Gets Title #2, Fred Samoei Wins A Nailbiter, And BYU's Bleazard Dominates After being outkicked in the DMR on Fri. night, Jordan Hasay outkicked the competition to grab her first NCAA title as BYU's Miles Batty completed the double in the men's mile, holding off a spirited challenge from Tulsa's Chris O'Hare. The men's 800 featured the best finish of the night as Michael Rutt's bold move to the lead 400 meters in almost held up. In the women' s 800, BYU's Lacey Bleazard won her 2nd indoor title - it's a shame the ESPN3 announcers had no idea who she was. Includes last lap video coverage.

Day 1: LRC DMR: Villanova's Reid Outkicks Oregon's Hasay, BYU's Miles Batty Holds Off Incredible 3:53 Anchor From Andy Bayer Both DMRs had great finishes. The women were first and 'Nova's Sheila Reid and Oregon's Jordan Hasay put on a battle for the ages. On the men's side, Andy Bayer split a sick 3:53 to take Indiana from 9th to 2nd, but it was not enough to overtake BYU's Miles Batty, as the night of incredible men's distance running continued with three sub-3:55 splits. Arizona's Lawi Lalang split 3:56.9 and his team lost 3 spots. Recap, interviews, photos, and video of last laps.

LRC 5,000m Recaps: Unheralded Leonard Korir Storms To NCAA Record, Jackie Areson Impresses, Mia Behm Surprises Everyone The men's 5,000m witnessed Iona's Leonard Korir winning a scorching-fast 5k in 13:26.01 over Sam Chelanga, as three guys broke the previous NCAA meet record. On the women's side, Jackie Areson put on a display over the last 600m and Mia Behm, who was 7th at the Big 12, shocked everyone to get 2nd.

Sad News

Sad News: Sally Meyerhoff Killed In Cycling Accident The two-time All-American and US Olympic Trials qualifier as well former US champion at 25km was killed on Tuesday in a cycling accident at the young age of 27 while she trained for the Ironman World Championship. *LRC MB: Sad News: Sally Meyerhoff Killed in Accident
*Abc15.com Article With Video On Meyerhoff's Death
*Ahwatukee.com Article On Meyerhoff's Death
*AZcentral.com Article
*USATF Article
*New York Road Runners Article
*More Sad News: Florida High School Track Athlete Sarah Landauer Dies After Collapsing At Practice

The Secret Is ... There Is No Secret

Coaching: There Are No Secrets, Substitutes Or Shortcuts For Success ... Do The Work

Judge Throws Out Drug Trafficking Charge Against World Steeple Champ Marta Dominguez But thankfully she still faces counts of tax evasion and allegedly administering medications without a license. *Former European XC Champ Alemayehu Bezabeh Also Is Cleared Of Doping She's the one who admitted her blood was in a bag.

US Pros In The News

Recommended Read: Andrew Bumbalough Thriving In 1st Year As Pro One Year After Getting Mono And Nearly Being Left Out Of Nike's Plans This is an unbelievably good piece of writing for a college newspaper. It also reveals he's gotten his mileage up to 90 per week from 65 to 70 in college.

Molly Huddle To Run 10k At Stanford & Then Her Next Race Will Probably Be USAs

NCAA News

• After NCAA XC Title And Indoor DMR Title, Sheila Reid Hoping To Get Penn Relays Watch At Last
• After Online Relationship With AJ Acosta, Princeton HJer Justin Frick Needed Little To Sell Him On Oregon
• Oregon 400m Freshman Mike Berry Appears To Be The Real Deal A World Jr. gold, a 3-month marijuana suspension, and now a 45.5 split.
• Penn State's Ryan Foster Has Left His Mark In State College By Winning More Big 10 Titles Than Any Penn State Athlete In History
• $4.5 Million Renovation Of LSU Track Is Complete

David Rudisha Says Training Is Going Well And He's Expecting To Do Well In Doha On May 6th, But That He's A Few Weeks Behind From Last Year
*David Rudisha Rules Out Competing At 400m or 1,500m - For Now

News From Britain

• Somewhere, Benedict Arnold Is Smiling It's Official: Former PSU Star Shana Cox Switches Allegiance To Britian
• Jessica Ennis Worried She May Miss Outdoor Season The "minor" injury has apparently kept her from running or jumping for 7 weeks.
• A Lengthy Look By The BBC At Olympic & World Champ Christine Ohuruogu's Comeback
• Scandal? London Hotels Withdraw Promise To Give LOCOG Hotel Rooms Cheaply They were going to do it but then found out that they were being flipped by ticket resellers for a HUGE profit.
• Q&A With Former Olympic 400H Champ Sally Gunnell

Wednesday's Action On And Off The Track

• Dylan Armstrong Throws Shot Over 70 Feet To Defeat Reese Hoffa And Adam Nelson At Downtown Shot For Kansas Relays Christian Cantwell pulled out.
• Judge Says Carl Lewis Can Run For New Jersey Senate His opponents were questioning his residency.
• One We Missed: Jesse Williams High Jumped 7'8" PR At Mt. SAC Last Weekend

Latest On "Wind-Gate" In Boston

• Former Boston Marathon Champ And RW Editor Amby Burfoot Says Boston Should Withdraw Its World Record Application "On the day he (Mutai) ran Boston, it was an artificially fast course, due primarily to the steady tailwind."
• Famed Coach Renato Canova, Coach Of 2:03:06 2nd-Placer Moses Mosop, Says Wind Only Had "Small Advantage" We disagree with his wind analysis but agree "The reality is that Marathon is changing" with sub-27:00 10,000m guys running it in their prime.
• Kara Goucher Says She Was Worried Three Miles Into Boston Marathon

A World Record For Boston?

• Boston Officials Applying To Have Geoffrey Mutai's 2:03:02 Certified As A World Record Hopefully this is just a publicity stunt. *LRC MB Thread
• We Didn't Feature This Enough: Sciene Of Sport Blog Estimates Boston Wind Was Worth 3-4 Minutes That's exactly what LRC's JK predicted BEFORE the race.
• Chicago Tribune's Philip Hersh Agrees With Wejo, Desiree Davila: Pure Guts Hersh, of course, writes more eloquently than Wejo did yesterday, and says let's discuss the wind another day but praise Desiree.
• The Boston Marathon, A Divine Tailwind, And "The Mother Of All Asterisks" Author says this year's Boston is "exactly the type of race that the asterisk was designed for" and that "in track and road running, times are just too important to view them without context, especially the outliers."
• DailyNation Explains Why Mutai's Time Isn't A WR; BAA's Tom Grilk Says, "No one could have predicted that a time like that would be run." Obviously, he didn't read JK's quote of the day from Sunday.
• The Independent: A 2-Hour Marathon Is The New 4-Minute Mile And Paula Radcliffe's 2:15:25 is worth a 2:01:58 by a man.
• Guy Who Ran The Boston Marathon For 44 Years In A Row Noticed The Distinctive Tailwind "The tailwind really was a wonderful asset. It blew us along for the final miles when you're really fighting yourself, wondering if you can keep going."
• The Oregonian: Ken Goe Gives A "Mainstream" View Of The Boston Results And Voices His Problems With "Stat Geeks"
  
  A World Record For Paula?
  Possible New Rule For Women's Marathon Would Create Two World Records: One For Mixed Races And One For All-Women This would mean Paula Radcliffe's 2:15:25 she ran in a mixed race would be a separate record from the 2:17:42 she ran in an all-women race. The 2:15 is "invincible," but the 2:17 could be at risk from runners like Mary Keitany.

Boston Marathon *Live Boston Thread *Women's Reaction *Men's Reaction
*Video Highlights *Weather *Photos

One For The Ages In Boston: Desiree And The Fastest Marathon Ever Run "Unbelievable" is probably the best way to describe the 2011 Boston Marathon. First, American Desiree Davila, off the back of the lead pack multiple times, was gutsy as hell, battling for the win with Caroline Kilel down the final straight. There were 4 lead changes on the final straight before Kilel came out on top. In the men's race, American Ryan Hall ran 2:04:57 and lost by nearly 2 minutes. Yes, ladies and gentleman, Geoffrey Mutai and Moses Mosop ran faster than anyone else ever before the in the marathon, 2:03:02 and 2:03:06 respectively, thanks in part to 20 mph tailwinds. Mutai cemented his status as the strongest runner on the planet with the win. We give you some post-race comments below but purposely are holding off discussing the wind.
LRC: Wejo Speaks: Desiree Davila Inspires Us All At The 2011 Boston Marathon She had the entire press room and Alberto Salazar yelling for her.
LRC: Men's Post-Race Reaction The top 4 were all pleased with their blazing fast times. Ryan Hall summed up the magical day: "I am running 2:04 pace and I can't even see the leaders."
LRC: 2011 Boston Marathon Post-Race Reaction From Desiree, Caroline And Kara

*Video Highlights *Men's Post-Race Reaction/Interviews *Women's Post-Race Comments/Interviews
*Photos

More: Runner's World Brief Chat With Ryan Hall
*Alistair Cragg Hangs With Leaders Through 15k, But Ends Up Dropping Out In Marathon Debut
*NZ's Kim Smith Dropped Out With Injury After Taking Big Lead At Start
*All Guts, Plenty Of Glory For Desiree Davila In Boston Marathon Of the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project she said, "It has taken me from being an average runner and put me here. Everything has been one step at a time. You don't have to be great tomorrow. That has allowed me to take the necessary steps to get here instead of swing for the fences and fail. Everything has been small steps, and it's working very well."
*Some Random Boston Stat Trivia
*USATF Recap Of Boston Marathon
*New York Times Recap Of Thrilling 2011 Boston Marathon
*It's Tuesday In S. Africa: Science Of Sports Blog Discusses Boston Wind
*NY Times Looks At Record-Certified Courses And Alberto Salazar Agrees Boston Shouldn't Count As A Record New York Times
*Alberto Salazar: "We're knocking on the door. Sooner or later we're going to win." Oregonlive.com
*Kara Goucher PRs, Vows Return RWorld

Non-US Track News

• Day 2 Of Australian Champs: Craig Mottram Pulls Out Of 1,500m Heats With Minor Injury IAAF
• Day 1 Of Australian Champs: Sally Pearson Going For Triple, Tamsyn Lewis Going For 400/800 Double
• Qualifying Standards For Olympics Released And They Are Easier Or The Same As World Champs Standards

Don't Forget Haile G
*Washington Post Looks At Haile G's Comeback From Retirement, Which Begins Sunday In Vienna While the great one unretired, the article admits he's finally starting to wonder when he will actually retire.
*Preview Of Vienna Marathon: Haile Gebrselassie Running Half And Paul Kirui Going For Marathon CR With Boston and London coming up, it's easy to overlook this, but the Vienna Marathon is also Sunday. Geb will be making his return in the half in his first major appearance since dropping out of the NYC Marathon.

More Boston News:

• Defending Boston Champion Teyba Erkesso Worried About Ankle Injury
• Ray Treacy Thinks Kim Smith Has Great Chance To Win On "Home Course" He says, "She is going to step on the line thinking, 'I have as good a chance as anyone to win this.'"
• Greater Boston Track Club Coach Tom Derderian: "Athletic competition is not a democracy. Faster runners should be privileged." "My concern is that fast runners be guaranteed entry and not be tossed into a lottery or be rushed to make a deadline. Athletic competition is not a democracy. Faster runners should be privileged. The Boston Marathon was conceived in the tradition of the Olympic Marathon to be a footrace to see who's fastest."
• Detroit News Looks At Desiree Davila's Remarkable Rise & Her Chances On Monday
• Stating The Obvious Economists Say If Americans Regularly Won Boston That Its Sponsorship Money Would Skyrocket

Webb Coaching Search

Not So Fast: LRC Julia Webb: Alan Webb HAS NOT FINALIZED PLANS To Head Back To Virginia To Be Coached By Jason Vigilante
Steve Nearman Stands Behind His Story
Steve Nearman, the former Washington Times reporter who first broke the story about Webb's pro contract in 2002, reported Wednesday night that sources (plural) close to Webb confirmed that Alan was going to be coached by UVA's Jason Vigilante and we said, "Nearman can be trusted." Well, Nearman is trusted in the industry, but Alan's wife Julia Webb has written and said, "Just wanted to give you a heads up that the story is definitely not true ... we are still looking at the options. No decisions made although Vig (is) still a good option." We contacted Nearman and relayed him Julia's comments and he said, "I stand by my story and I stand by my sources."
*RRW: Alan Webb's Agent Ray Flynn Calls Webb Story "Totally Bogus" In reality, Flynn said the story is "at this stage totally bogus."
*LRC MB: *Julia Webb (Alan's wife) Has Written and Said Webb to UVA Story is Not Accurate *Thread On Webb-Vig

Previous Boston Marathon News

• Boston Herald: Kara Goucher Taking A Second Run At Boston
• Boston Herald: Ryan Hall Says He's Going Into Boston Relaxed Without Pressure But that doesn't mean he doesn't have big ambitions: "You never know who's going to produce the biggest challenge ... So, you have to have your eyes open and have respect for everyone and be ready for a variety of runners. Hopefully, it's me."
• Brett Gotcher Bummed About Missing Boston Due To Hip Injury
• Desiree Davila Will Show How Much She's Progressed Since She Debuted At Boston 4 Years Ago
• Kara Goucher Blogs On How Winding Down To Race Day Is Like "Closing The Door On A Little Chapter Of My Life"
• Ryan Hall Says With A Week To Go, It's Time To Shut The Brain Off And Not Think About The Race
• Denver Post: Last Americans To Win Boston Tired Of Waiting For Americans To Win Again
• Boston Globe: Free At Last - Ryan Hall Feels No Pressure To Break American Drought In Boston
• Kim Smith: "I think it is a winnable race, and, if I won it, it would mean a lot."
• Alistair Cragg Hoping For Top-5 Finish At Boston In Marathon Debut
• Husband-Wife Duo Of Florence Kiplagat And Moses Mosop Ready For Marathon Debuts In Boston (link fixed) Kiplagat is the reigning half marathon champ, whereas Mosop was a past runner-up at World XC. Kiplagat reveals she has an ongoing hamstring problem which doesn't hurt her too much on the roads.
• Boston Herald: Is Kenyan Dominance A Permanent Thing Or Is It Just The Latest String Of Countries Having A Great Run Once upon a time, Canadians were the best, then Japanese ... and as late as 1988, it was viewed that Kenyans couldn't win.
• Boston Globe: Desiree Davila took long road to Boston
• LRC: Desiree Davila Looking For Respect In Boston Davila finished one spot behind Kara Goucher at the last World Championships in the marathon, and she's hoping to finally get out of Kara's shadow at Monday's Boston Marathon. LetsRun.com has spent the last six years getting a mole into the Hansons-Brooks team, and now thanks to him we have this inside look at Desiree's preparations for Boston, which has included a 123-mile week. Article and video interview plus some video of the Hansons-Brooks training runs.
  

Last Sunday's South African Champs *Results (Scroll Down)

• Caster Semenya Does 800m/1,500m Double At S. African Champs (2:02 And 4:12) Her first minor test at 1,500m was successful.
• S. African Outdoor Champs: Olympic Silver Medallist Khotso Mokoena Wins Long Jump, Blade Runner Doesn't Make Final
• S. African Hammer Throw Champ Chris Harmse Wins His 16th-Straight National Title The Commonwealths champ can never compete in the Olympics because the hammer is always on Sunday, and for religious reasons, he can't compete on Sunday (Eric Liddell would approve).

NCAA Action *Texas Relays Results *Pepsi Invite Results *More NCAA Results

• Texas Relays: Texas A&M Brings It At Texas Relays: Gerald Phiri 10.06 100m, 3:00.45 4 X 400, 6 Relay Wins The Aggies have upped their game for sure. Jessica Beard twice split 49.6 for the women's 4 x 400.
  LRC: NCAA 800m Champ Fred Samoei Wins Slow Texas Relays Mile Over Leo Manzano And German Fernandez A 2:15 opening 2 laps made this a crap shoot as the WChampionships finalist Manzano was only 4th and Fernandez ran 4:17.
• Jeremy Wariner Motivated For Gold After Anchoring Adidas Team At Texas Relays To 3:04 Win Good thing they weren't in the college race.
• Alex Austin, Son Of Olympic Champ Charles Austin, High Jumps 6'8" With 5 Weeks Of Training
• Pre-Meet Article On Austin: He High Jumped 6'7" In His 2nd Practice Session Ever
  
  Oregon Pepsi Invite: Strong All-Around Performances Lead Oregon To Sweep At Oregon Pepsi Invite Jordan Hasay won the women's 1,500 in 4:18, AJ Acosta won the men's 1,500 and Matt Centrowitz won the 5,000m - all as expected. The big surprise was Oregon freshman and Ethiopian refugee Boru Guyota winning the 800 over Elijah Greer in 1:48.65.

2011 World XC *Results *New Women's Race Photos *New Men's Race Photos

LRC: Shalane Flanagan Gets Bronze The Olympic bronze medallist and ING NYC Marathon runner-up ran a stellar race to snatch the bronze versus a star-studded field. Flanagan appeared to be dropped with 2km to go, but dug deep to stay in contention and battle back for the bronze. World 5,000m champ Vivian Cheruiyot pulled away from World 10,000m champ Linet Masai for gold. The American women did very well to get a repeat bronze medal.

Men: Imane Merga Blasts Away From Four Kenyans In Sprint To Win The Kenyan men dominated the team competition and had 4 of the top 5 guys in the pack for the sprint the final 400m. However, the lone Ethiopian - Imane Merga, the Diamond League 5,000m champion - got the win the Kenyan nation wants most every year. Ben True was the first American in 36th, as he and fellow Ivy Leaguer Max King were America's two best.
*Merga: "Before I used to think of myself as a track runner but this winter I have got to like cross-country races more."
*Craig Mottram Finishes As Top Non-Afrrican Born Male In 21st As Two Guys Ahead Of Him Are DQed For Fighting In Race To Line Eritrea's Samuel Tsegay and Ethiopia's Abera Kuma were given the DQ.

Junior Boys: Geoffrey Kipsang Leads Kenya To 13th Straight Title Kipsang was only 4th at the Kenyan Trials but dominated. High schooler Craig Lutz was the first American in 29th.

Junior Girls: Faith Kipyegon Of Kenya Wins, But Ethiopia Edges Them For Team Title High schooler Aisling Cuffe was the first American in 17th.

Other Nationals *NCAA D3 Champs *NCAA D2 Champs *HS Nationals Results *Photos

HS: Lukas V. Runs Away From The Top Milers To Complete Historic High School Nationals Triple His double on Sunday was super-impressive, but we had completely forgotten about German Fernandez's 4:00, 8:34 double at the California state meet.
*IAAF Article On Verzbicas

We Wrote This Article Too Soon:
Gerry Lindgren's Legendary 47-Year-Old High School National Record Survives Scare From Lukas Verzbicas And Edward Cheserek Verzbicas hammered home over the final lap to pull away from Cheserek, but in the end, Lindgren's 8:40.0 lived to see another day, as Verzbicas ran 8:40.70 and Cheserek shattered the high school indoor and overall sophomore class records with his 8:42.66. More: Gerry Lindgren 8:40 indoors *LRC MB Lukas V. 8:40.7!! *LRC MB So close *Running Times Q&A With Lindgren About His 8:40.0 Note: This article incorrectly implies the record was set in a 16-lap race.
*Lucas Verzbicas (14:06.78) & (Waverly Neer) 16:35.15 Set National HS 5,000 Records

Tokyo Marathon: A Legend Is Born *Photos

Hailu Mekonnen Wins, Japanese Amateur Yuki Kawauchi Runs Amazing 2:08:37 For 3rd And Faints At Finish Yuki Kawauchi's story is amazing. A 13:59 5ker and 29:02 10ker, he has a full-time job and has stayed away from the Japanese collegiate and professional system, yet he stunned all of Japan with a 2:08:37 run. Dreams do become reality.
*On The Boards: 13:59 5k, 29:02 10k Japanese AMATEUR Runs 2:08:37 at Tokyo Marathon and Passes Out

Records For Rupp And Farah *Video Of Rupp's And Farah's Race

Galen Rupp & Mo Farah Set National 5k Records! (13:11.44 and 13:10.60) The two Alberto Salazar-coached athletes put on a brave battle, with Farah coming out on top on the last lap, as Rupp regained his American record from Bernard Lagat by .06. Rupp and Farah will be training together through 2012 and their partnership is off to a strong start. Rupp is scheduled to go for the American 10k record next week in New Zealand. The meet also saw a cool 400m hurdles race (video here or on the right), an 8:30 3k and American Morgan Uceny going sub-2:00 in the 800.
*Mo Farah Breaks British 5,000m Record With His New Coach Alberto Salazar One Of The 8,000 In Attendance Telegraph.co.uk
*Farah Credits Salazar's Coaching
*Rupp/Farah 5k Video

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.