Quote Of The Day


"You have to be an astute track fan to really understand [1,500m is] about 110 yards short and you're going to add anywhere from 15 to 17 seconds. By the time you do all of that, you've lost a large share of the general public."

- Jim Ryun, talking in an AP article about the "Bring Back The Mile" campaign. The article talks about the group's goals and includes some interesting history behind the mile and the US's move to 1,500/1,600 distances. Ryan Lamppa, who heads the group, says that he'd like to one day see them go to the mile at the Olympics.

Tomorrow And This Weekend

Bolt Update: Glen Mills: "Usain Bolt Is Not Injured" According to this, Bolt has scheduled visits with "Healing Hans" several times a year for treatment for his scoliosis, so this is just a routine thing. Mills could have avoided the speculation by saying that from the start instead of trying to cover it up with a faux "business trip."

Week That Was

LRC Rupp's Record Vs. Lagat's Record, Down Goes Rono, Miles Batty, Chris Derrick And Ryan Hill?, Plus Katie Flood, Marathoning, White Dudes In The 4 X 400, Some Canadian Coaching Advice And More Just in time for Valentine's Day, the track and field world came afire with some sizzling action and records galore. We got the meat (what you expect) and the potatoes (what you wouldn't expect) of the track and field world covered. We guarantee you won't be disappointed. If you are, complain here.

Interesting Read: Patrick Makau Speaks On Being Self Coached, His Half Marathon Loss In Spain, And His Two Newborn Twin Sons He gives great training advice, as he talks about listening to his body and says that he could have won in Spain, but he decided to save himself or other things ahead.

More Olympic News

What About The Sport? - USATF Still Sticking It To Millrose

Where Will The 2020 Olympics Be? Not In Rome

Sprint News

Recommended Read: The Telegraph's Ian Chadband Catches Up With Yohan Blake After His 2012 Season Opener - Blake Still Plays Cricket Every Sunday With Glen Mills' Blessing Can anyone in America imagine a college coach letting a sprint star play pickup games on the weekend? Yet Blake, who comes from a tough background, is super-fast. "I wasn't born with a golden spoon in my mouth; it was a really tough life. So many times, we had no money to even get to school. I'd have to find empty beer bottles to sell and spent hours carrying water on my head because we had no water at home. It gave me strength which helps me today."

Boltgate Day II
*Despite Denials, Sportsmail Says Bolt Visited Doctor In Germany
*Meet The German Doctor Bolt Went To See Instead of Running 400m Last Week - The Doctor They Call "Healing Hans" In December, ESPN did a long profile of Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt - the doctor to the stars - including 5 of the 8 Berlin 100m finalists, plus people like Bono. He swears by Actovegin injections - calf's blood.

Previous:
Bolt Doesn't Run 400m Because He Has "Business Trip"
*Coach Says He's Stunned That People Think Bolt Is Hurt But Yohan Blake Admits He Went To Get A "General Checkup"

News From The UK

USATF Classic *Results *Photo Gallery

LRC Galen Rupp's American 2-Mile Record Is Highlight Among 5 World Leaders Pre-race, we pondered if this was the best men's indoor mile in the US since LetsRun.com was founded and it lived up to the hype, as Silas Kiplagat edged Caleb Ndiku in a world-leading time, but it was Galen Rupp, running to honor the late Geoff Hollister, who stole the show with an impressive American record at 2 miles. In other action, Brenda Martinez took on some of the world's best in the mile, Jamaica's 8th best sprinter beat all the Americans, and Tianna Madison (a long jump world champion most of you have forgotten) shocked VCB and Allyson Felix in the 60m.

Other Big Track Results

USATF XC *XC Results *Men's Photos *Women's Photos

Molly Huddle Celebrates Too Soon, Sara Hall Wins XC On Lean, Bobby Mack Beats Aaron Braun Great races in the chill of St. Louis, as Molly Huddle and Sara Hall battled to the line. Huddle put up her hands thinking she won, but Hall leaned and got the win. Photos here. On the men's side, Mack pulled away from Braun the final 600m. More coverage here. Photo finish photo here.

Japan Distance News

Ken Goe: "Rivals Shalane Flanagan & Karak Goucher Become Teammates, Friends And 2012 Olympians"

Friday Action 12:58! For Thomas Longosiwa

Also This Weekend

News From The UK

UO Coach Vin Lananna Expects Football Star De'Anthony Thomas (20.61) To Run For The Ducks This Year, But It Might Not Be Indoors

Next Weekend's Action Ain't Bad Either

Kenyans In The News

WADA Says One In 10 Athletes May Be Doping Reveals that a lot of places that do drug testing don't even test for EPO because the test is too expensive. That is just unacceptable.

Lance News:
*Lance Armstrong To Race Ironman Panama 70.3 This Sunday?
*WADA Wants Feds To Turn Over Armstrong Evidence They say it may help catch future cheats.

A Sad Day In The World Of Track And Field

Geoff Hollister, An Original Nike Employee And Former University Of Oregon Track Runner, Dies At Age 66 Hollister was a legend at Nike and the sport of track and field and Nike wouldn't be the same without him. He also was the producer of Fire on the Track, which was voted the best running movie ever on LetsRun.com. Members of the Oregon Project wore special singlets at NB supporting him as he was critically ill at the time.
(Photo by Jeff Johnson via Walt Chadwick Larger Here)

More Results From The Weekend ... Patrick Makau Loses!

2012 NBIGP Is History *LRC Full Results *LRC Meet Photos *MB: Live Thread *LRC Meet Preview *LRC Press Conference Photos *Meet Website

RRW Fast Times, Drama At New Balance Indoor Grand Prix: Maggie Vessey (W. 800) was the only American winner in pro mid-d or distance races, as Dibaba (W. 2-Mile), Defar (W. 3k), Ndiku (M. 3k), O'Lionaird (M. Mile, pictured on left) and Lakhouad (W. 1k) win other races.

LRC Event-By-Event Recap Of The 2012 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix What did we learn on Saturday? Caleb Ndiku may be a new star, Galen Rupp can't quite kick with the milers, Ciaran O'Lionaird is a miler, Mo Farah can PR while falling down, Tirunesh Dibaba is back in good form, Anna Pierce might be on her way back as well, and Jenny Simpson shouldn't be too worried about finishing last.

*LRC Meet Photos

MB: New Balance Mile Results - WOW! *Mo falls at NB mile *Cam Levins 7:48(OT) 7:45(200mB) *O Lionaird wins NB Mile over Rupp and Farah

Australia

Collis Birmingham Notches 2nd "A" Standard And Wins 5,000 In 13:15 To Presumably Punch His Ticket To London 2012 Ben. St. Lawrence was third in 13:24. In the 800, Ryan Gregson ran 1:49 as former PSU star Ryan Foster ran 1:51. Former Oregon star Zoe Buckman won the women's 1,500 in 4:11.
*Runners Tribe: Birmingham Happy *Results

Bank Of America Chicago Registration Full

LRC Abdi Talks Olympics As He's In Chicago For Launch Of Registration For 2012 B Of A Chicago Marathon Abdi talked to LRC's Wejo via phone. Abdi discussed the Chicago launch, his track plans, his training group, and gave us an update on drug cheat Martin Fagan. Registration was over 18,000 as of 4pm.

Europe's Version Of BALCO?

28 Athletes From Around The Globe Implicated In German Doping Scandal link fixed A Dr. who worked at the Olympic training center is believed to have treated athletes' blood with UV light before re-injecting it. 3 Time Olympic/WC silver medallist in long jump James Beckford of Jamaica is one of athletes in probe, as are many German cyclists.
*Doc Denies Claims, Says Blood Was Treated To Stop Infections

More Olympic Logo Madness? We Kind Of Like It Except For The Mistake

Madrid Being Ridiculed For 2020 Olympic Logo As It Looks Like 20020 That's nothing compared to the oral sexual act that is actually being used for 2012 London.

The Big Interview: Dathan Ritzenhein

LRC Ritz Reflects On The Trials, His Years With Alberto, And Looks To The Future 24 hours after Dathan Ritzenhein just missed making the 2012 the Olympic Marathon team, a frank but more upbeat Ritz sat down and talked with LetsRun.com. He looked back on the Trials race ("I ran pretty good. It just was not enough.") and back on the last three years with Alberto ("He is a very smart, very passionate guy more than anything. He will find the way." and "There's been many times when we've screwed up.") before looking ahead to both the immediate future ("The Olympics is everything.") and farther down the road ("I do love the marathon, but I think I love being good better ... I want to succeed at what I'm going to be best at."). A confident Ritz has big plans for the future. A must read (or watch) if we can say so ourselves. Plus we give you splits of the last 3.2 miles in Houston.

London Marathon Goes To Iten

Virgin London Marathon, Which Made 2012 Athlete Announcements In Kenya, Is Giving Back To Iten, Eldoret Communities

LRC Photo Of The Day: Virgin London Marathon Fields Announced From Iten, Kenya We didn't realize London was in Iten to announce its 2012 fields. Very cool.

Yesterday: London Does It Again Emmanuel Mutai To Try To Defend London Title Against World Record Holder Patrick Makau & Slew Of Other Top African Talent

Bring Back The Mile Officially Launches For years, we (and many in the sport) have wondered why the mile isn't the #1 distance event in the land and why it's not run instead of the 1,500 or 1,600. Finally, someone has decided to do something about it.
*Bringing Buzz Back To The Mile *Discuss *Like On Facebook

Recommended Read: NY Times Article On Australia's LJer Mitchell Watt, Who Quit Track For 5 Years But Came Back And Got 2nd At The World Champs Apparently he was convinced to keep competing by a "12 page email" from his coach.

US Men's Olympic Trials Marathon News *LRC Vote Totals *Men's Results *Women's Results *Mile-By-Mile Splits *Yahoo Flash Photos *LRC Puma Prediction Contest Scores Coming

LRC Men's Marathon Trials Analysis And Reaction The 2012 Trials race was a classic. We throw some love to the top 3, ponder Ritz's future in the marathon, tell you who had the best debut, and tell you who that guy you never heard of was. Plus we talk about Meb's 74-year-old badass dad and look at the fortune of some old timers who didn't make the team, Josh Cox and Dan Browne, in addition to the ones who did (Meb and Abdi).

Sunday Update:
24-Hours-Later Update On Ritz: "I do love the marathon, but I think I love being good better." Ritz indicated he still loves the marathon and is not done with it. He also said, "I ran pretty good yesterday."

Race Recap:
Meb Keflezighi Captures 2012 Olympic Trials Marathon Title

NY Times Recap: Meb Over Hall, Abdi Grabs 3rd Spot
The race lived up to the billing as the top four all broke 2:10, whereas previously there had only been one sub-2:10 in OTM history. After a blistering first half (63:25), Meb Keflezighi got his 2nd PR in 69 days, as he ran 2:09:08 to win over Hall (2:09:30). A resurgent Abdirahman (2:09:47) hung on for the final Olympic spot in 2:09:47 over Ritzenhein, who broke 2:10:00 for the first time (2:09:55). In the process, Meb became the first American to make an Olympic marathon team 8 years after making it previously. Abdi had no idea until we talked to him that Martin Fagan, whom he trained with some this winter, had reportedly tested positive for EPO.
LRC
Trials Live Thread Here

Trials On The Boards:

Lance And LIVESTRONG

Outside Magazine Article Accuses LIVESTRONG Foundation "If Lance Armstrong went to jail and Livestrong went away, that would be a huge setback in our war against cancer, right? Not exactly, because the famous nonprofit donates almost nothing to scientific research." *MB: Livestrong expose in Outside magazine

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.

Some Good Interviews

Talking About The Sport

Fast Times In Lieven! *Website/Results

UK News

News From South Africa

Pre-Lieven News

Preview Of Fantastic French Meet On Tuesday: The meet has an unreal 800, as world leader Adam Kszczot will taken on the man who beat Rudisha (Aman) plus the Olympic champ Borzakovskiy. Baala versus Kiplagat at 1,500. Plus the indoor debut of Lemaitre at 60m and 200m, Brimin Kipruto at 3,000, and the return of Pamela Jelimo begins as she'll race the 800.

More Upcoming Action: Vivian Cheruiyot Will Make One & Only Indoor Appearance This Weekend At 3,000 In Birmingham
*Japan 10k National Champ Yuki Sato Headlines Fukuoka International XC Meet On Feb. 25th
*Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, the last chance for Japanese men to make the London Olympics marathon team, releases fields

More Recent Action We Want To Make Sure You Realized Happened

2012 Millrose Games *Results *Lagat, Wanamaker Mile Video

UK Indoor Champs *Results

Q&A With 1:46 Aussie 800m Runner James Gurr, Who Works Multiple Jobs While Training

Lance Still Making Headlines

More Top Action

More Distance News Of Note

2012 Boston Marathon

LRC Boston Marathon Releases Elite Fields For 2012 2011 champs Geoffrey Mutai & Caroline Kilel will try to defend their titles against a field that includes 5 sub-2:05 and 2:23 competitors.

Other Action This Weekend

Injury News

College Coaches Beware
Bottle Of Heineken Was Saving Grace For Irish Guy Who Set World Record By Runnig 7 Marathons On 7 Continents In 5 Days

Doping News - Another Tour de France Winner Is Busted

In symbolic move because he's been retired for 5 years, 2007 Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich suspended for 2 years for blood doping

News From Or Relating To Down Under

Seb Coe Gives David Rudisha Tour Of Olympic Park When asked about London Assembly member Andrew Boff saying Londoners are not confident of benefitting from the Olympics, Coe's response was: "He's clearly out of touch with the reality."

3-Time Boston Winner Ibrahim Hussein Says He Convinced Paul Tergat To Move From XC To The Marathon And That He Thinks Patrick Makau Will Run 2:02 Article also mentions that Kenya plans to announce their final Olympic marathon team on April 30th. "During my time we were doing 2:08. I was instrumental in convincing Paul Tergat, while he was still a cross-country runner, to switch to the marathon and run a 2:04 which he subsequently did and went ahead and broke the world record," three-time Boston Marathon winner Ibrahim Hussein said.

Two Recommened Reads

  • Meet HS Girls Super-Coach: Neal Levy The coach of girls HS mile leader Samantha Nadel as well as 12 sub-11:30 3k girls and 4 sub-10:05 3k girls has some simple coaching rules that would help 99% of all high school coaches - base is way more important than workouts: "No formal interval training. No mile repeats. No tempo runs either."
  • Learn About The The Rise Of The #1 Marathoner In The World - Liliya Shobukhova The former 5,000 also-ran is now a world beater in the marathon. We're not sure about what Carey Pinkowski says about her, though: "If you could somehow take all the great performers [in history] and somehow line them up, she would be hard to bet against."

Despite Making 2011 World Championships In 10,000, 27:48 Man Scotty Bauhs Is Dropped By Adidas "I am in this sport to try to run fast and enjoy the experience ... I hope someone pays me to do it but if not, I’ll keep trying anyway."

Crazy Olympic News

Fear - The Limiting Factor Of All Pole Vaulters

US News

Two Good Distance Reads

  • Dubai *LRC Recap *Results

    LRC Hello World, Meet Ayele Abshero (2:04:23 Debut!) The 21-year-old former Jr. World XC champ's marathon debut was super-special, as his surge with just over 3km remaining decimated the deepest marathon field in history, as four men broke 2:05 in the race, eight broke 2:06, 10 broke 2:07, and 17 broke 2:10 - all records as fastest-ever times for places were recorded in spots three through 17. 2011 belonged to the Kenyan men, will 2012 belong to Ethiopia? The women's race was super-fast and super-deep as well, as 3 women broke 2:20 in the same race for the 1st time, as Aselefech Mergia ran 2:19:31 to win and a record 9 women broken 2:25. Martin Lel was a DNF, Ramaala 2:12. *AP
    *Butcher: Ethiopians Strike Back
    *MB: 4 guys I've never heard of go sub 2:05 in Dubai

    Wejo Speaks: LRC What About The Sport? Wejo, an outspoken critic of Millrose Games moving to the Armory, says don't celebrate USATF sticking it to Millrose. Celebrate the sport being on ESPN.

    Be Inspired By These Two Olympic Trials Breakthrough Performers

    Wejo Speaks: LRC What About The Sport? Wejo, an outspoken critic of Millrose Games moving to the Armory, says don't celebrate USATF sticking it to Millrose. Celebrate the sport being on ESPN.

    US Women's Olympic Trials Marathon News *LRC Vote Totals *Men's Results *Women's Results *Yahoo Flash Photos

    Flanagan Over Davila, Goucher Gets Third As Top 4 All Break Old OTrials Record Flanagan (2:25:38) pulled away from Davila (2:25:55) and Goucher was third in 2:26:06. Amy Hastings broke the old Trials record at 2:27:17 but didn't make the team. Deena Kastor was 6th in 2:30:40.

    Great Marathon News

    Other News

    *Kaori Yoshida Tuning Up For Nagoya Women's Marathon With A 30k Road Race What's more interesting is how she paced a guy to a 2:30 who is attempting to qualify for Cambodia's London Olympic team after having changed his citizenship.
    *MB: Homepage Correction/Update On USATF Not Mentioning Millrose
    *Cool:
    BBC To Show Men's Olympic 100m Final In 3D
    *
    Daegu LJ 2nd Placer Mitchell Watt Blogs About Training & Holding Off Competing To Focus On Olympics He's already selected for the Aussie team, so he's not competing until June 9th.

    Assorted News

    *Galen Rupp Says It's Looking Like He Will Race Bernard Lagat At US Indoor Champs
    *Tokyo University Hakone Ekiden CR Setters Kento Otsu & Yuta Shitara To Run NYC Half On Mar. 18th They have PRs of 1:02:35 and 1:02:43.
    *DI Rankings: Arkansas And Florida Still 1-2 For Men (Texas A&M Jumps From 8th To 3rd) Oregon still lead for the women; Clemson and LSU swap 2-3 positions.
    *Sydney Olympic 800m Champ Nils Schumann Under Investigation For Blood Doping Was among those named in German doping scandal.

    Final 400 (Or Full Race) Of Lagat's American Record (Wanamaker Mile Video Here)

    Photo Gallery: Rupp Makes History (Interview Below Or Here)

    Galen Rupp After Breaking American 2-Mile Record

    USA XC Photo Galleries *Women Here *Men Here ... Captions Coming

    College Action *All Results Here *Tyson *UW *Indiana

    Three Interesting Reads Plus Oscar P / Jessica Ennis News

    Help Us Pick The Final Winners In The LRC Puma Faas Challenge

    We Want Your Votes We've got roughly 20 pairs of Puma Faas shoes still to put to the test and we want your votes. Voting has been going on on the message boards, but here it is for everyone else. See the amazing entries from LRC nation.

    Week In Review

    LRC 5 Thoughts On NBIGP, Patrick Makau Gets Beaten, Drug Talk, A Crazy Half Marathon In Japan And Minnesota Mid-D We give you more thoughts on the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix and tell you who really won the 800, then turn to the roads and talk about  Patrick Makau getting beaten and a crazy half marathon in Japan, plus an update on Minnesota's great middle-d program, plus some training advice.

    Osaka Marathon Photos

    Updated US Open Photo Gallery

    The Big Interview: Dathan Ritzenhein

    LRC Ritz Reflects On The Trials, His Years With Alberto, And Looks To The Future 24 hours after Dathan Ritzenhein just missed making the 2012 the Olympic Marathon team, a frank but more upbeat Ritz sat down and talked with LetsRun.com. He looked back on the Trials race ("I ran pretty good. It just was not enough.") and back on the last three years with Alberto ("He is a very smart, very passionate guy more than anything. He will find the way." and "There's been many times when we've screwed up.") before looking ahead to both the immediate future ("The Olympics is everything.") and farther down the road ("I do love the marathon, but I think I love being good better ... I want to succeed at what I'm going to be best at."). A confident Ritz has big plans for the future. A must read (or watch) if we can say so ourselves. Plus we give you splits of the last 3.2 miles in Houston.

     

    Bob Kempainen In All His Glory (Thank You Natural Running Center For Sending This) OTB: Never knew Kempainen was so fast - sub-2:09

    LRC Analysis Of The Women's Olympic Trials Marathon We break down the action from the 2012 Olympic Trials Marathon. Sure, we praise Shalane, Desi and Kara, but what about Wendy Thomas, Alisha Williams and Linda Somers-Smith, who ran faster at age 50 than she did at age 30 to win the Chicago Marathon? Plus a look at Deena and Amy Hastings.

    Deal Of The Day

    Meb Keflezighi's Book With Dick Patrick FREE For Kindle Owners With Amazon Prime $16.49 in hardback form.

    Joanie Inspires

    The Puma Team Answered Your Shoe Questions

    Running Shoe Question And Answer You had questions and the team from one of our sponsors Puma answered them on them boards.

    Trailer For "ITEN - The Town Of RED Dust"

    NCAA Women's Photo Gallery

    NCAA Men's Photo Gallery (500+ Photos)

    Training Corner (More In The Training Forum)

    A Scintillating Men's 10,000 Finish (US Visitors Only)

    Universal Sports Back To Top