And The Speculation Ends 1 Week Out

"If he runs a marathon now, he won't be able to run in any indoor meets. It's going to take a long time to recover. We wouldn't be able to get back to work on his speed until March or April."

- Alberto Salazar talking about why his star pupil Galen Rupp will not race the Olympic Marathon Trials next weekend.

Don't forget to change your picks in the LRC Puma Marathon Trials Prediction Contest
.

Galen Rupp Says He'll Pull Out Of Olympic Marathon Trials We're sure many Olympic hopefuls are breathing a huge sigh of relief as the debate as to whether Rupp would run, rabbit if he did start or go all out is over a week before the starting date, as his coach Alberto Salazar wants him to work on his speed by racing indoors. We'd argue that by training for the marathon and getting stronger, Rupp just did a ton for his speed. Kudos to Rupp to not waiting until the last minute to decide. Rupp: "It would be difficult to do all the speedwork for (the 10k), and still train for the marathon."
*MB: Rupp Out

Patrick Makau Reacts To Renato Canova's Comments That His WR Will Be Broken This Spring Makau: "It makes me wonder if the record is a preserve for some region, tribe or runners. What shocks me is that some people are speaking ill of me just because I broke the world record ... Let us not talk much but redeploy our energies on good training and skills that will power our legs to do the talking."

Alan Webb's Comeback Begins

Raffi Cote = Matt VanDenHengel
Alan Webb Returns With A 1:55.02
And Loses To A Senior From Gwynedd-Mercy College Whose PR Is 1:53.53
In his first race since April and his first race since dumping Alberto Salazar, American mile record holder Alan Webb busted the rust with a 2nd-place 1:55.02 performance in a race that was won by the previously unknown Matt VanDenHengel. For everyone writing off Mr. Webb, we remind you that "talent doesn't go away" and that two years ago, Galen Rupp similarly lost to a freshman walk-on in January in the 800 in a 1:54 race. Since then, Rupp has run 13:06, 26:48 and 60:30.
*Alan Webb Interview With Ian Brooks: "I had to start somewhere."
More: MB: *Webb runs 1:55.02 today at Armory *Alan Webb's 800m In 1:55 Was A Good Thing *Webb spotted in 800 at Armory *Rupp loses to freshman walk-on at 800

6 Days & Counting - 2012 US Olympic Marathon Trials Are Next Saturday - Time To Get Excited  - LRC Puma Marathon Trials Prediction Contest

LRC Todd Morgan And Pete Watson To Be New Women's And Men's Cross-Country Coaches At UVA

One We Missed - 2012 Millenium Mile
Yet Another Sub-4 Mile Took Place At New Year's Millenium Mile In NH That's #24 in the race's 13-year existence (it is downhill).
*Video Highlights From 2012 Millenium Mile
*Race Website

Stars On the Comeback Trail

Want To Watch Track & Field On TV? - Get Out Your Credit Card

Universal Sports Moves From Free To Cable (Directv) Only We're sure many LRC fans will complain about having to pay to watch track and field, but think about how many hundreds of dollars you pay to watch an NFL or NBA game each year. This makes sense from a business sense - put the channel on a sports package so they can get subscription fees for niche sports.
*LA Times: Universal Sports channel didn't disappear, it just seems that way "The channel has not gone under but rather has changed its distribution strategy and is basically starting from scratch."
*Letter From Universal Sports CEO David Sternberg

Track And Field 2011 Men's World #1s - Event By Event - MEN & WOMEN To get the top 10 lists, you need to purchase the magazine.

Good News
Olympic Track Champion Lee Evans Undergoes Successful Brain Surgery

Looking Ahead To Some Upcoming Exciting Action

News From Europe

81-Year-Old Kenyan Athletics Legend Says Youths Accompanied By Police Beat Him & Stole 3.5 Acres Of Land He Was Given For Bringing Kenya To Glory In 1950s

All-athetics.com Says Stats Reveal That Usain Bolt & Carmelita Jeter Were Athletes Of Year *All-athletics.com

Help 2008 & 2009 NCAA 800 Champ Geena Gall Get A $100,000 Wedding By Voting For Geena & Jason Here You can vote up to 999 times per computer.

$347 Seems Absurd But We Think It's Worth It
New York City Marathon Organizers Raise Entry Fees By About $60 To Compensate For Increased Police Costs
The cost for 2011 will be $216 for NYRR members and $255 for non-member U.S. entrants, while international applicants will have to pay $347 this year. Remember, everything in NY costs way more than it does elsewhere. Cowboys stadium with a retractable roof cost $1.3 billion while MetLife stadium cost $1.6 billiion.
*NYTimes: New York Marathon Raises Entry Fee By Roughly $60, Citing Police Costs "Running the New York City Marathon is a great way to lose weight. It is also going to leave your wallet a little lighter this year. Largely because the New York Police Department has begun charging event organizers to recoup its costs, entry fees for the November race jumped about $60, or 24 to 39 percent, depending on the entrant."

New Year's Eve / New Year's Action

Kenyans Beware - Tirunesh Dibaba Is Back Dibaba got the win in Madrid in what was her first competitive race since August 2010.

Italy:
Double World Champ Vivian Cheruiyot And Former Bronze Medallist Edwin Soi Win Bolzano Races In Italy

Madrid: Tirunesh Dibaba And Teenager Hagos Gebrehiwot Win In Madrid

Sao Paolo: Tariku Bekele And Priscah Jeptoo Triumph In Sao Paolo On New Year's Eve

Angola: Zersenay Tadese Wins

Japan: Nissin Foods Wins Japanese New Year's Ekiden

NYC:
Stephanie Pezzullo And Landon Peacock Win Emerald Nuts Run In Central Park

Sad News

Frank Horwill 1927-2012 Horwill founded the British Milers Club and coached Tim Hutchings (most of you in the US know him as the the really good British announcer on track TV broadcasts; his real claim to fame was a 4th in the 1984 Olympic 5k). BMC Remembrances here.
*IAAF Remembrance Here

Chris Solinsky Passes Up Chance to Go To Monday's Rose Bowl Because He Doesn't Want To Be Surrounding By Duck Fans

The Trials Keep Generating Great Interviews

Teddy Tamgho Does A Rap In Response To His 6-Month Suspension YouTube video here.

Michael Johnson Says Bolt Can Break 400 WR Maybe not if he trains like this: TMZ photo gallery of Bolt partying.

Sarah Gillespie Runs First Sub-5 Of The High School Indoor Season

The Olympic Marathon Trials Are 2 Weeks Away: Good Interviews Worth A Read

US LJ Champ Marquise Goodwin Representing Track Athletes Well As Wide Receiver For The Longhorns

US News

2012 News

Not Much Going On In The Running World Right Now, But The Trials And Indoors Are Coming

The Running Story Of The Year

Japan Running News Recaps The Life And Career Of Sammy Wanjiru Barcelona Olympics marathon silver medalist Koichi Morishita: "The people who were supporting Sam were only motivated by the money flowing around him, not from the heart, and they didn't give him the kind of support he really needed. You hear a lot of disturbing things about his family too, his wife, and I can't help but think that he should have had more people around him who cared about his soul."

Did You Get Your Run In On Christmas?

On The Boards: Haile G trains twice a day, every day, except christmas. Who doubled today?
*Merry Christmas / How Far Are You Running Today?

More US Open And Millrose

LRC USATF Trying To Continue The 99-Year MSG Track Tradition Continues With The US Open USATF is attempting to put on a fan-friendly 2-3 hour meet (instead of 6 hours) with the promotional muscle of MSG behind it with a focus on the pros and a few select high school races. Since MSG is helping promote the meet there is a chance for success. Will the meet make changes to entertain fans once they get in the door to bring them back for year 100? See below.

LRC Emails Track And Field: Entertain Or Continue A Slow Death An email from an LRC visitor: "The Millrose Games as you knew it no longer exists. So what? Why should any track athlete or fan care?" got Wejo to think about our sports slow decline and what needs to be done to change it. Entertaining meets with good matchups. An another emailer who co-authored books with both Bill Bowerman and Bill Dellinger says why not have a pro Millrose (at the Garden) and a separate amateur one (at the Armory)?

"The Armory is just the symptom. Boring track meets with unexciting matchups is the disease."

More: Track & Field Superfan Responds To LRC Piece On Death Of Millrose Games At MSG  He basically says Millrose was already dead. "If Millrose died, then it was suffering from senility for years." We tend to agree but don't know why the name wasn't left at MSG. Take it up to the Armory only if a meet can't continue at MSG.

Yesterday: LRC How The Millrose Games As We Knew Them Died On October 2, 2009, steps were put into place to give the Armory the rights to the Millrose name. Considering the mission of the Armory and the declining attendance, it was only a matter of time before the meet moved.

Recommended Read Portland Tribune Writer Feels For Portland's Rob Conner As He Loses Trevor Dunbar To Supposedly Better Program (Oregon) The author points out that Portland has been better than Oregon at the West Regional 5 of the last 10 years and only two Ducks have run faster than the Pilots' best 5,000 man at 13:40 and concludes his piece by writing, "Doesn't seem right. That's life, I guess." Portland coach Rob Conner also says it doesn't seem fair to him and it's pointed out that Portland actually cares about the athletes' well-being and releases them, whereas Oregon doesn't return the favor.

Look Out

LRC Galen Rupp Enters The 2012 US Olympic Marathon Trials The American record holder at 10,000m has only run one race over 10,000m but he's now entered in next month's Trials. The question is will he run? Our quick take on Rupp's entry.
On The Boards: Galen Rupp in Marathon Trials

Other OT News:
*
Over 300 Have Entered USA Olympic Trials Marathon Overall, the USATF has collected $16,150 in entry fees ($50 each athlete). Those do not go to the Houston Marathon Committee even though they pay the athletes' travel, lodging, and meal expenses. Does that make sense?

Saturday XC Action: Foot Locker *Boys Results *Girls Results *Boys Photos *Girls Photos *Full Girls Race Video *Full Boys Race Video

LRC Boys: Cheserek Outkicks Futsum For The Win This race lived up to its hype as the top 2 African-born stars went mano-a-mano until the final 100m. After a cat-and-mouse 9:50 opening 2 miles, their last 1.1 was run at a pretty quick pace (4:31 mile pace), but the winning time of 14:51.5 wasn't close to Reina's 14:36 CR.

LRC Girls: Molly Seidel Turns Back Tough Challenge From Erin Finn Seidel was the favorite, undefeated in 2011, but Finn was the top returner and Finn made it super-interesting as she opened up a big lead and even managed to regain the lead once Seidel caught her.

Recommended Read: Dyestat Recap: Cheserek, Zeinasellassie Forge Bond In San Diego

More Coverage: *Newark Star-Ledger Recap
Note the paper incorrectly reports their last 800 as being a 1:54. No chance.

*San Diego Tribune Recap Cheserek says he just wanted win - might go for Reuben Reina's record next year.

MB:
*Where would Cheserek have placed at NCAA XC? *Cheserek and Futsum's last 800 meters - 1:54? *Poll: How old are Cheserek and Futsum? *Will an American male ever win Foot Locker again? *Another FL Finalist Staying Home

2011 NCAAs Are History *Men's Results *Women's Results *Entire Race Video Replays

Men: LRC Wisconsin Badgers Take Control Early As Lawi Lalang Dominates Lawi Lalang waited until 5k before deciding it was time to crush the competition once and for all, while #1 Wisconsin showed no fear and put a stranglehold on the competition from the very beginning and held off a belated charge from Oklahoma State and a surprising Colorado team as the Cowboys tried to three-peat. American Chris Derrick took home individual runner-up honors to cap a brilliant career in style. *Discuss

More: Wisco #1: *Give 'em five: Badgers lay claim to program's fifth national title *Krause earns redemption as Badgers storm to fifth national title host.madison.com
OSU #2: *Dave Smith Calls Loss "Disappointing" - But Expected www.okstate.com
Colorado #3: *Wetmore Calls Medina Most Improved Runner In Country www.denverpost.com *CU Coach Mark Wetmore Pleased With Buffs 3rd Place Run
Individual: Coach Li - I Think Lalang Would Have Got Course Record If He Was Pushed www.arizonawildcats.com

Week That Was

LRC Geoffrey Mutai Amazes Again, Adam Goucher Retires, & Lukas Verzbicas Calls It Quits We go behind the scenes to take a look at the last two weeks in the running world, which included the NYC Marathon, Adam Goucher's retirement, and Lukas Verzbicas leaving Oregon mid-season. Plus we take a look at the Phil Hersh-Ryan Hall spat and compare Hall to Tim Tebow.

2012 BUPA Edinburgh XC Race *Leading Results *Video Highlights *Start Lists *Meet Website

Asbel Kiprop Makes A Statement As Kenenisa Bekele Finishes A Distant 11th At BUPA Great Edingburgh Cross-Country Kiprop, the Olympic 1,500 champion, cruised to victory over the 2008 Olympic steeple, 5k and 10k champs, and showed he's intent on being the first since Seb Coe to defend an Olympic 1,500 title. European XC champ Fionnuala Britton won the women's title.
*IAAF Recap: Kiprop Totally Dominant On Last Lap
*Bekele Suffers But Seems Unfazed How bad was Bekele? Well, 5 Brits beat him, including one who was doubling back from the 8k, but Bekele was confident afterwards: "I'm not serious for this race. At this time of the year I don't want to be in very good shape. It is too early. It is a long time to the Olympics. I want to build up slowly."
*Bekele: "I lack fitness." "I was not confident before the race. But it's a long time until the Olympics and it is too early to be in better shape."
*11 Years Since Bekele Finsihed Outside Top 10 Of Any Race
*US Men Struggle In 8k Team Competition, But Bobby Mack Finishes 2nd And Beats European XC Champ
*Neely Spence Takes 4th Place In Her First Pro Race; Bobby Mack & Jon Grey Go 2-4 In Men's Race
*American Dominates Jr. Boys Race Oklahoma State's Kirubel Erassa, who ran 14:19 in HS, won easily.
*MB: Alan Webb running better than Bekele *Jr. Race In Edinburgh - (America?)/OSU Guy Dominates!!!

Other Results From Saturday

Michael Johnson Speaks Out Against "Plastic Brits" "It's hard to believe it when athletes who have tried to represent their country and couldn't make that team turn round and claim that all along they wanted to represent Great Britain."

Kenenisa Bekele Says He's Not Afraid Of Mo Farah And Wants To Be The First To Win 3 Olympic 10k Titles He says he's not sure if he will also double with the 5k. And a note that you can never trust the media, as this article makes it sound like he's not sure if he'll race the Olympics at all.

International Results/Preview

UK News:
*Jessica Ennis Says She Doesn't Think She's Attractive She also says she's embarrassed that "Jessica Ennis bum" was the top search for her name on Google.
*Another Ticket Glitch: London 2012 Ticket Resale Website Suspended After Computer Problems

Asafa Powell Says If He Can Stay Healthy He Thinks He Can Beat Usain Bolt "Over the years, before everyone came on, I was the only one out there running very fast. I got quite comfortable, and it became a habit for me to slow down before I get to the finish line. I need to just power through."

LRC Support The Sport Of Cross-Country And The Bay Area Track Club - Run In 2nd Annual Bay Area Cross Challenge On January 15th 3:54 miler David Torrence is involved in the event and has offered LRC visitors the opportunity to save $15 by typing in "resolution" to the checkout box.

Great Marathon News

Sprint/Jump News

Mo Farah Will Run 2-Mile In Birmingham On Feb. 18th

NY Times Recaps A Study That States The Obvious: Icing An Injury In The Middle Of Exercise (Like At Halftime) Is Likely Not A Good Idea

IAAF Links:
*2011 Samsung Diamond League Review - Part 1
*2011 Samsung Diamond League Review -  Part 2
*IAAF Turns 100 On July 17, 2012 & Their Centenary Celebrations Have Begun

Outrageous, Crazy Inspirational, Crazy Brilliant?, And Crazy Sad (But All Interesting) Reads

Simon Bairu Running For Olympic Berth And Boys & Girls Clubs Thanks To CharityBets.org (Sponsored)

Will Simon Bairu Make The Canadian Olympic Team? 2-time NCAA XC champ and Wicso star Simon Bairu needs to run sub-2:11 at next weekend's Chevron Houston Marathon to make the Canadian Olympic Team. Can he do it? Wager on Simon at CharityBets.org. The Regina, Canada native is benefiting his hometown Boys & Girls Club and needs a sub-2:11 marathon for his charity to collect all money wagered. CharityBets creates a charitable result for any running event. How fast will Simon go? More on the 7-time Canadian National Champion here.
*Article: Simon Bairu - Chasing The Olympic Standard (And Raising Money For Charity Too) *MB: Discuss

Africa-Related News

Interesting Interviews

Proof That Japanese College Teams Are Way Better Than US

Toyo University Takes Eight Minutes Off Hakone Ekiden Course Record In Historic Win "This year Toyo redefined what was possible, refusing to settle back and run conservatively, attacking each stage to take an incredible 8:15 off Waseda's 2011 Hakone course record, running 10:51:36 to become the first school ever to average under 3:00/km for the entire course, its ten men averaging 2:59.4 per km, an average of 1:03:05 for a half marathon for all ten men on the team. Only ten American men, all pros, ran that fast for a half marathon in all of 2011."

News From The UK

Random And Not Running (But Olympic) Related
Man Who Played Darth Vader In Sword Scenes Has Died Why do we mention it? Because we loved Star Wars and because the guy was an Olympic fencer.

Random: HSer Vaults 17'6 (#3 All-Time)

The Weeks That Were

LRC Tirunesh Dibaba Returns, Dunbar Follows In His Dad's Footsteps & Meb Tries To Make The Olympic Team On 41 Days Of Running In case you've been (like us) more focused on the Holidays than keeping on top of the limited action in the world of running over the last two weeks, we are here for you. From the return of Tirunesh Dibaba to Meb trying to make the Olympic team off of 41 days of running to some high-profile transfers, we've got you covered.

LetsRun.com Puma Marathon Trials Prediction Contest

LRC Puma Marathon Trials Prediction Contest The Trials in Houston are less than two weeks away and we're back with our world famous prediction contest. Shalane or Desi? What about Deena or Kara? Ryan or Meb? What will Dathan and/or Galen do? Pick the top 10 in the men's and women's races perfectly and you could win $250,000. Come out on top of the other LRC faithful and you could win some great Puma prizes as they celebrate the Feb. 1 launch of the first motional control shoe the in the Faas line, the Faas 800.

AOY

David Rudisha Is Surprise Men's Winner Of Track & Field News Athlete Of The Year

Vivian Cheruiyot Is Track & Field News Athlete Of The Year

Olympic VIPs To Get Special Treatment - Regular UK Visitors May Suffer As A Result
VIP treament of 25,000 Olympic athletes, coaches and officials will mean delays for other fliers, according to the UK Border Agency.

Sick: Hitler Filmed Irish Hammer Throwers To See What Made Them So Good

Oscar Ponce Doesn't Show Up For Scheduled Court Date; Police Still Searching For Him *MB: Ponce arrested

Moscow's Lenin Stadium Holds Special Importance To Seb Coe It's where he won the 1980 Olympic 1,500 over Steve Ovett. Coincidentally we received an email informing us that Ovett's son, Freddy Ovett (1:52 800, 4:00 1,500) will be starting at Oregon next semester. *MB: Ovett's son off to Oregon

Goodbye, 2011: The Science Of Sport Story Of The Year: Fatigue And The Role Of The Brain In Regulation Of Performance/Pacing Strategy
*Prefontaine Classic Ranked 2nd-Best Invitational In 2011 Monaco was first.
*All-Athletics.com: US Ranked #1 Country In T&F For 2011 This obviously doesn't weigh the distance events, as Kenya (#2 overall) would easily take that.
*EAA 2011 Review: Women's Middle Distances/Steeple
*Best Hammer Throw Stories Of 2011
*Runner's Tribe Aussie Year Review

Junior College Cross-Country Champ Could Face Deportation Ayded Reyes is a top runner with a 3.5 GPA who has been offered scholarships to many universities (including an Ivy League school), but spent 5 days in prison when it was discovered that her parents brought her to the US from Mexico illegally when she was 2 years old.

Ciaran Ó Lionáird Talks Training Under Salazar And What Changes He's Made "Alberto is changing my arm carriage and posture and also I am spending a lot of work in the gym fixing the imbalances that caused all the injuries when I went to college."

Finishing Up 2011: Science Of The Sport Controversy Of The Year Award Goes To Oscar P With honorable mentions to Caster Semenya and Usain Bolt/the false start rule.
*
IAAF End Of Year Reviews - Sprints
*Review Of Jamaican Sprint Performances In 2011 Makes a couple of points defending Asafa Powell and shot putter Dorian Scott for missing WCs.

2 Recommended Reads

NCAA News: Neely Spence Goes Pro

US Olympic Marathon Trials Are Approaching Quickly

Sad News

Zithulele Sinqe, Who Ran 2:08:04 And 1:00:11 Half Marathon In Apartheid S. Africa, Dies In Crash This guy sounds like a legend and sadly until his death today and a reader email we had never heard of him. Way back in the '80s, he ran 2:08:04 and 1:00:11 in S. Africa. Because of apartheid and/or apartheid boycotts, he could never compete abroad.
On The Boards: South African Icon Passes Away

BBC Sports Personality Of The Year Awards

*World Road Race Champion And Tour de France Green Jersey Winner Mark Cavendish Beats Mo Farah For BBC Sports Personality Of The Year British Open champ Darren Clarke was 2nd, Farah 3rd.

*British Press Says Jessica Ennis & Paula Radcliffe Stole Show With Stunning Outfits At BBC Awards

TMFKAMG

LRC Wejo Speaks October 2, 2009: The Day The Millrose Games As We Knew Them Died Our very own Wejo did a little research and tells you why they Millrose Games as we all knew them died not this past spring with their announced departure from Madison Square Garden, but on Oct. 2, 2009, when plans were quietly put in place to give the Millrose Games to the Armory Foundation. Then considering the mission of the Armory and the state of track and field in America, it was not surprising that in only two years, Dr. Norb Sander, the head of the Armory, would go from saying, "This (the Millrose Games) is the flagship event of indoor track and field and its presence at the Garden is crucial" to telling Wejo, "I'm not sure we left it (the Garden) reluctantly. It's (the Armory) a better place to have the Millrose Games than the Garden for track." Fortunately, 98 years of tradition have not been completely tossed aside, as USATF is hosting the US Open at the MSG this year, the 99th straight year track will be at MSG.

Mo Farah Making News

Mo Farah Back In UK To Launch His Foundation And For BBC Sports Person Of The Year Awards He's the third betting choice to win Thursday's award as the top sportsman in Britain. Then Friday, it's off to a training camp in Kenya apparently without Galen Rupp or his family. Mo did the media rounds in Britain and said he still wants to do the Olympic double, went to Somalia this fall with his family and "it was like Beatle-mania." His foundation website is here and wants to help people in need in Somalia.

More Mo: Mo Will Go On Friday To Kenya For A Training Camp Sponsored By Virgin London
Mo Writes In The Telegraph: "I'd lost in the final of the 10,000 metres to Ibrahim Jeilan. We didn't have a clue who he was." It was the distance race in the year in our minds. Final lap here. The announcer even says "It's over, I think" with 300 to go.

LRC's Blue-Collar Hero Makes News Again

Week That Was

LRC Foot Lockers, Fukuoka Pulling People From The Course, Africans NOT Running To School, Chinese Dopers, And Sam Chelanga's YouTube Video It was the end of the US high school season, the beginning of the Australian pro season, and we take a look at it all, exactly one month before next month's Olympic Marathon Trials.

Week That Was

LRC Centro Goes Pro (Should German Have Too?), Kawauchi, NXN, And How Soft Are The Women's Olympic Marathon Trials Standards? We cover the big stories in the world of running in the last week, the ones above, plus the USATF convention and we take a look at the amazing depth of the Fukuoka marathon, where you can't compete unless you can run under 2:42.

2 Weeks And NCAAs In Review

LRC NCAAs Go According To Form, Chris Derrick's College Career Comes To An End, Tim Tebow = Don't Overtrain, Track Returns To The Garden, And Alan Webb Has Sex Now that we've got your attention with the Alan Webb headline, get your weekly read on the running world. After the Thanksgiving break, we're back with a good week in review if we must say so ourselves. Plus a little comedy if you haven't seen the Border Clash XC false-start video.

2011 NCAAs Are History *Men's Results *Women's Results *Entire Race Video Replays

Women: LRC Georgetown, Reid Win Tight Battles Six women kicked for home over the last 400m of the race but in the end it turned into the duel many expected and Sheila Reid of Villanova got the narrow win over Jordan Hasay. The big surprise was in the team's race, where the Georgetown women, who were only third at Big East, won by eight over Washington as #1 Florida State faltered and finished 4th. *Discuss

More: *Georgetown Gets Its First National CC Title GUHoyas.com
*Washington Comes Up 8 Points Short GoHuskies.com
*#1 FSU Finishes 4th & Coach Karen Harvey Pulls No Punches "I felt like I was watching a nightmare. I really thought there was no way this is happening." www.seminoles.com
*Wetmore Says 11th-Placed Colorado Women Purposely Peaked For PAC-12s, Not NCAAs www.denverpost.com
*The FSU Women Finished Fourth And The Men 12th At NCAA Cross-Country Championships www.seminoles.com
*Lananna Says Hasay's Runner-Up Finish Was A Big Step Forward As She Didn't Get Antsy & Kick Too Early www.oregonlive.com

He Will Be Missed Adam Goucher Retires Goucher is having knee surgery on Friday and says his competitive racing career is over. We've always said that one way to judge whether a runner's career was a good one or not is simple: Were They Good Enough That They Could Retire Or Just Quit? Goucher certainly is retiring, as he had an INCREDIBLE career - Foot Locker champ, NCAA champ indoors, NCAA champ outdoors and NCAA champ in XC, USA champ in XC and track and an Olympian. Goucher is a runner at heart and we wouldn't rule out seeing him in the 2016 Marathon Trials.
*MB: Adam Goucher retires

2011 ING NYC Marathon *Men's Results *Women's Results *Viewing Info *Flash Yahoo Photos

LRC 2:05:06!!! Geoffrey Mutai Caps Year In Style An unbelievable year in men's marathoning had an appropriate finish, as the Kenyan man who had the most unbelievable of all years, Geoffrey Mutai, smashed the previous NYC Marathon record by a stunning 2:38 - that's two minutes and 38 seconds. If it wasn't the greatest 2nd-greatest men's marathon performance ever, you'll have to tell us what was. American Meb Keflezighi hung with the leaders for 20 miles after a blistering 63:16 1st half and ended up with a much-deserved PR. Mutai picked up $200,000 by winning, but the big financial winner was runner-up Emmanuel Mutai, who won $635,000 ($500,000 for the WMM title).

LRC
Mary Keitany Beats Herself The women's race was full of gut-wrenching drama, as Mary Keitany went out in a crazy 67:56. The problem was she came back in 74:42, as unheralded Firehiwot Dado (Rome Marathon champ) got the win.

LRC Post-Race Interviews: Meb And His Coach Bob Larsen Talks About His PR Despite Throwing Up Plus the winners - Geoffrey Mutai, Firehiwot Dado, men's and women's top 3, Ed Moran, Molly Pritz, Lauren Fleshman and Bobby Curtis.

Trailer For "ITEN - The Town Of RED Dust"

Got A Question For Puma? Now's Your Chance To Ask It

Got A Question On Running Shoes? Puma Wants To Hear It In part of Puma's effort to show its new Faas line is made for the LetsRun.com audience, Puma is making its designers and product managers of its new Faas line available for three days to the LetsRun.com audience starting January 10. They'll respond to your questions and educate you about the Faas line. They want to hear your questions now, however, so they'll know what you are most interested in in advance. So if you've got a question or comment about the Faas line, Puma, or running shoes in general, now is the time to ask it. Click here to submit your question.

Week In Review

LRC Tirunesh Dibaba Returns, Dunbar Follows In His Dad's Footsteps & Meb Tries To Make The Olympic Team On 41 Days Of Running In case you've been (like us) more focused on the Holidays than keeping on top of the limited action in the world of running over the last two weeks, we are here for you. From the return of Tirunesh Dibaba to Meb trying to make the Olympic team off of 41 days of running to some high-profile transfers, we've got you covered.

DIII Represent (If You've Got A Darkhorse Runner You Want People To Know About For The Trials, Email Us)

Yearly Vote (Note: TMFKAMG = The Meet Formerly Known As Millrose Games)