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Boston Marathon On Monday, Rotterdam Sunday

Geoffrey Mutai Ready To Defend Boston Title Next Monday Mutai is the world's top marathoner coming off his course records at Boston and London. American eyes will rightfully be on Boston, but don't forget about Rotterdam on Sunday, where Chicago champ Moses Mosop will go after Patrick Makau's world record of 2:03.38.

More Marathon News:

• Brutal Weather Forecast For Boston
• RW Editor Amby Burfoot And Journalist David Powell Agree Boston Shouldn't Count For Record Purposes
• Amby Burfoot Says Open Up Olympic Marathon To All Top Competitors
• New York Times Looks At Crazy Marathon des Sables In Sahara Desert
• Back On My Feet Running Charity For Homeless Launches In New York Today With CEO Of NASDAQ

Train At Altitude This Summer (Sponsored)

Adams State Launches New Altitude Center For Collegiate Runners Adams State College, the home of champions at 7,544 feet of altitude in Alamosa, Colorado, is announcing a new altitude center designed for college runners looking for a place to train in the summer. You'll take a for credit college course from Adams State coach Damon Martin (winner of 29 National Coach of the Year Awards) with guest lectures from famed coach Joe Vigil. Then you'll get to train at 7,544 feet while having access to all the Adams State facilities. For more info on this unique opportunity, click here.

Strange Sport News

• High School Student Crashes Car Onto Track During Meet (with photo)
• Protesters Halt Oxford, Cambridge Rowing Race By Swimming Into Middle Of River And Nearly Getting Run Over (with video) London 2012 officials are worried about another incident like in the 2004 Olympic marathon.

Recommended Read

Recommended Read: Meet 2:19:44 Marathoner Florence Kiplagat, Who Is Focused On Winning London The former World Cross and World Half star was a soccer player in school who picked up running after being told do so by her uncle - 2:06:50 marathoner William Kiplagat. Her goal was to come to school in the US, but that didn't work out and the rest is history. A year ago, we wondered prior to Boston if she'd be the world's new marathon star. The answer seems to be yes. Her 66:38 half from February proves she is fit.

Weekend US Track Action *Stanford Results *Florida Results

Jeremy Wariner Runs 1st 400 Of Year - 45.64 - Leaves "a little disappointed." Last week, he split 44.58, so we understand why he's upset. He did say, "My strength is where I want to be at."

Stanford Invite: Nice IAAF Recap Of Stanford: Areson Makes Up 35m Gap And Catches Lisa Uhl & Gets World Lead; Ritz Wins And More Dathan Ritzenhein won the 10,000m in 28:21 in his first track race in 2.5 years, Jackie Areson got an Olympic "A" qualifier in the 5,000 (15:18.31) as Lisa Uhl just missed (15:21). Chris Derrick won his slower section of the 1,500 in 3:41.17 to beat Evan Jager and Lawi Lalang, and Kevin Castille ran 28:57 10k at age 40!
On The Boards: *Derrick Finally Beats Lalang *Ritz in the 10,000!

Florida Relays Marvin Bracy False Starts, 7th Grader Daesha Rogers Runs 2:09.44 Orlando Sentinel
*Results Alan Webb's 2012 struggles continued as he ran 1:54.17 for 800m and then 40 minutes later 3:54.08 for 1,500m.
On The Boards: 3:54 Webb? Really?, 7th Grade Girl Wins Florida Relays 800

Oregon: Pepsi Team Invitational Thanks To Elijah Greer's 1,500, 4 X 400 Heroics, Oregon Men Narrowily Win Pepsi Team Invitational The 800 star won the 1,500 in 3:45 and then held off Texas A&M in the 4 x 400. The Duck women won in a laugher.
*Alex Kosinski Was Surprised By Her 15:36, A 21-Second PR
*Might Sprinter English Gardner Be Oregon's Olympic Trials Hero Like Andrew Wheating Was In 2008?

LSU: LSU Sweeps Team Titles At "Battle Of Bayou" *LSU Results
MB: Loxsom Returns But Loses To Sowisnky (1:47.98 to 1:47.02) - 3 Penn State Guys Break 1:50

Duke: Curtis Beach Runs 1:47.99 With Middle 400 At 49.8

A Racewalker That Would Make Jimmy Wyner Proud

Kiwi Olympic Racewalker Was DQed For Doing Forward Somersault At Finish Line Of 1st National Champs "Some people might get upset about [the disqualification], but I did what I set out to do and I wasn't too concerned whether they gave me a medal or not."

News From Europe

• UK Columnist Thinks It Sucks That He's Hoping That Drug Cheat Dwain Chambers Gets To Compete In London, But Since Cheats From Other Countries Get To Compete It's Only Fair "It is a sorry state of affairs when sport has come to this: feeling sympathy for the devil ... But there you have it. Such is the sporting world we inhabit."
• Does This Mean There's Hope For USATF?
  2.5 Years Ago A New Head Took Over A "Thoroughly Dysfunctional" Athletics Ireland After Previous Head Was Sacked, Now All Seems To Be Going Well
• British Author Of New Book - "Running With The Kenyans" - Says Hard Work Is Key To Kenya's Success Memo to Chris Lear: "Imitation is the best form of flattery."
• Irish Author: Saudis claim gold for sexism - Should be banned from Olympics South Africa was banned from the Games for a long time for violating the Olympic charter which forbids discrimination, but the Islamic countries are allowed to discriminate against women at will.
  *Qatar Will Send Women - 3 Of Them - For The First Time

Kenyans In The News

• Geoffrey Mutai: "I am just going to Boston to win." He wants the win and an Olympic spot, not a fast time.
• 2011 WChamps Semifinalist Eunice Sum Beats Olympic 800 Silver Medallist Janeth Jepkosgei In 1,500 In Kenya On Friday, Jekpkosgei had said, "(Winning the Olympics) will not be easy. (Pamela) Jelimo is not the only one to offer challenge. We have South Africa's Caster Semenya and that's why I am using 1,500m to gauge my endurance."

Other Olympic News

• A Refreshing Read: An Interview With The Oldest Living Olympic Gold Medallist - 97-Year-Old Evelyn Furtsch Ojeda She won 4 x 100m gold when in 1932 when the Olympics were totally different.
• Delano Williams Got His UK Passport 4 Days Ago And May Represent The UK In London 2012 He's from the Turks and Caicos islands, which can't send athletes to the Olympics. The weird part is that he is now a UK citizen, but still plans to compete for Turks and Caicos at the World Jr. Champs in Barcelona in July.
• Dutch Angry About Fanny Blankers-Koen Snub From London Underground Olympic Re-Naming She won 4 gold medals at the 1948 Olympics but wasn't chosen by Transport for London as a name for one of it's 361 Olympic stops.
• SA Marathoner Hendrick Ramaala Trying To Qualify For His 5th Consecutive Olympics

High School Big News

17-Year-Old High Schooler Cayla Hatton Runs 33:17 10,000m Olympic Trials "B" Qualifier The prodigy only started running full-time this year. Now she's putting up a time that would make her 5th in the NCAAs last year. Truly ridiculous. The time is so fast some were wondering if it was a lap short, but this video proves it's legit and shows she ran every lap (16:30-16:46).
*A Q&A With HS Prodigy Cayla Hatton Two years ago, she was in awe of Kara Goucher and asking for her autograph. Now she'll be racing against people like her at USAs in the 10k.

Super-Fast Road Races In The US *Elite Results

Carslbad 5,000: Dejen Gebremeskel Repeats At Carlsbad 5,000 In 13:11 Gebremeskel let the Olympic 5,000 medallist Eliud Kipchoge do all of the work in the wind before kicking home to a 2nd straight win in 13:11. Alistair Cragg (pictured left) set a new European road record of 13:26 as Ryan Gregson ran 13:39. Anthony Famiglietti struggled with a 14:21. Kevin Castille, who ran 14:01 this winter, won the Masters race easily in 14:57.

Tirunesh Dibaba Remains Undefeated On Year With An Easy 15:01 Win Dibaba: "I'm happy about the race but I didn’t run a fast time because of the wind. ... I'm going to be ready for the Olympics."

DC: Allan Kiprono Sets Course Record (45:15) As Julliah Tinega Repeats At 40th Credit Union Cherry Blossom Run

More Sprint News

• Recommended Read: Lengthy Edwin Moses Profile "My story is not one of someone who was born to be a champion. I stayed in the sport longer than some who were better than me at 15, 16, 18 or even 20. And I put more into it."
• Alan Abrahamson Takes A Look At Wallace Spearmon's Amazing 19.95

World Indoors *Results *Video Highlights For US Visitors *UK Visitors *Yahoo Photos

LRC Men's 3,000m Final Lives Up To The Hype World 5,000m champion Mo Farah squared off with two-time world indoor champion Bernard Lagat and 2012 World leaders Augustine Choge and Edwin Soi of Kenya. Once again, Bernard Lagat was too good. They were all in contention on the final lap. There was some contact, two guys running on the infield, a DQ and a resintatement, but none of that stopped Bernard Lagat from showing he's the best 3,000m runner in the world.

LRC 800s: Pamela Jelimo Is Back As USA's Erica Moore Gets Bronze, 18-Year-Old* Mohamed Aman Gets Gold The last time Pamela Jelimo was any good, Erica Moore wasn't an 800m runner. They both left World Indoors pleased, as Moore made her first sub-2:00 clocking count with a bronze medal. In the men's race, 18-year-old* favorite Mohamed Aman got gold. On The Boards: Erica Moore 800m at Worlds

LRC Hellen Obiri Stuns Four-Time World Champ Defar link fixed Obiri Closes In 4:06.6 For Gold Get used to the name Hellen Obiri. Last year, she ran internationally for the first time and won the Kenyan 1,500m championships. This year, in the fourth 3,000m of her life, she came from behind to stop Meseret Defar from getting her 5th world title.

IAAF Final Day Recap: Brittney Reese Is Incredible, Aries Meritt Upsets Liu Xiang, Will Claye Wins Brittney Reese had her back to the wall in the long jump, so what did she do? Unleash a jump that made her #3 all-time to win.

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

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).

Race Recap: Meb Keflezighi Captures 2012 Olympic Trials Marathon Title

Alberto's Book Goes On Sale Today, Buy It From Our Partner Amazon And Support LRC

Great Read If You Didn't Read It Yesterday: Alberto Salazar Unplugged - Part II This interview with Amby Burfoot is great. From Ritz's struggle in the marathon, to Ritz's form change, to Alberto's competitive relationship with Jerry Schumacher, to Galen Rupp's marathon future and, to Alberto's biggest regrets, Amby Burfoot leaves no question unasked and Alberto doesn't shy away from any of them and talks about Rupp running 12:45 and in the 26:20s.
*Part I: Alberto's Book & The "Duel In The Sun"
MB: An Incredible Amby Burfoot Interview With Alberto Salazar

*The Wall Street Journal Positively Reviews Alberto Salazar's New Autobiography Pre-order the book today here (it's released tomorrow) and get Amazon price guarantee.

More Action From The Weekend

• Korea: David Kemboi Kiyeng Gets $110k And Course Record At Daegu Marathon
• New Orleans: Crescent City 10k: Solomon Deksisa, Who Won Cooper River 10k, Defeats Cherry Blossom Record Holder Alan Kiprono Genoveva Jelagat Kigen won the women's race and said of the Ethiopian-Kenyan rivalry: "We are friends when we travel, but when we see each other in a race, we are like two lions. We want to kill each other."
• Navy Beats Army In 4 X 400 To Win 86th Army-Navy Dual Meet
• Olympian Carrie Tollefson Runs 16:26 5k, 4 University Of Minnesota Athletes Break 1:50

Sprint News

• Scientist Says With Max Wind, Max Altitude & Quicker Reaction Time, Usain Bolt Could Run 9.45 This guy wasted his time doing a published paper on this. He could have just used this free online calculator.
• Renaldo Nehemiah Looks Back At Olympic Boycott, Amateurism, The NFL And At Today's Crop Of Hurdlers
• Is The Hammer Throw Being At The Olympic Trials On The Nike Campus Good For The Event Or Bad?

Japanese Amateur Marathon Ace Yuki Kawauchi Shows Up Unannounced At Half Marathon, Beats Many Top Japanese Collegians The guy is a star in Japan as he got an ovation from the mass runners at the start line. His time was 63:48 but it was very windy.

HS News

• MB: It's Official - 9:00 Is What 9:15 Was 20 Years Ago - 16 Boys Break 9:00 At Arcadia
• Princeton: High Schooler Edward Cheserek Runs 29:42 10k
• Canadian Jr. Tyler Smith Runs 1:49.30 At Arcadia
• Sarah Baxter Runs US-Leading 10:08 At Arcadia
• Sophomore Phenom Mary Cain Thinks 2012 Games Aren't Out Of The Question "You never know. I might get out there and be so pumped and so motivated, it might be, 'Oh my gosh, who is that kid?'"
• AZ Hurdler Devon Allen Wins 5 Events At Arcadia - Only Problem Is There is A 4-Event Limit The kid won the 200 and both hurdle races plus two relays and may now be DQed for being a stud. Xavier Carter was the last guy to win 3 individual events in 2003. Whatever happened to him?
  
  
• Overworked In Jamaica As Well? Jamaican Champs Were Most Exciting In Years, But Glen Mills Fears HSers Are Way Overworked And Ran Too Many Events
• Jamaica Wins 26 Medals To Start CARIFTA Games Some weak distance running - gold in the boys under-17 1,500m came in 4:18.92. *Results

News From South Africa

• 3-Time Comrades Champ Stephen Muzhingi Wins 1st Two Oceans 56km Title On Saturday But Gert Thys Steals Some headlines With 4th Place Finish In 1st Ultra The 2:06 marathoner Thys says he'll be gunning for Muzhingi at Comrades.
• South African Olympic Marathoner Rene Kalmer Wins Half-Marathon in 75:02
• $4 Million Later, South Africa Will Be Outfitted By Chinese Company Erke For Olympics
  *Protesters Demand A South African Company Be Chosen
  *Kit & Rhino Mascot Revealed

Ryan Hall Movie

LRC Ryan Hall Feature Film In The Works A full length film on Ryan Hall's quest for glory in London 2012 is in the works. Learn more about the film "41 Days," watch a trailer, and learn how you can help support the film and get some Ryan Hall memorabilia. Image below.
On The Boards: Ryan Hall's Big News

Shoe Biz News

• A Look At The Legal Merits Of The Vibram Five Fingers Lawsuit The key for the plaintiffs will be to make this a class action suit.
• Nike Signs Big Endorsement Deal To Cover All Brazilians Sports Except Volleyball At Rio 2016
• Puma CEO Talks About Signing Usain Bolt And Sticking With Him Also said the Puma Faas was selling well even before the LetsRun.com Puma Faas Challenge.
• President Obama Given A Free Pair Of New Balance As Congressman Tries To Lobby To Make Army Buy US-Made Shoes
• Nike Track Nationals For High School Teams Won't Exist This Year That's the team competition that has yet to catch on.

Half Marathon Madness

Ethiopia's Next Star? In Cold And Windy Conditions, Virtually Unknown Ethiopian Atsedu Tsegay Runs 4th-Fastest (58:47) Half Marathon Ever The 20-year-old's claim to fame before today was a 6th place at the World Junior 5,000 and a course record at last October's Marseille and Cassis road race. Joyce Chepkirui, the African XC champ, broke the women's course record in Prague. *RRW Recap

Prague Berlin: Geoffrey Mutai's Training Partner Dennis Koech Stuns Half Marathon World Champion Wilson Kiprop 5 Kenyans broke 60 flat as Koech (59:14) edged Kiprop (59:15) on a day which 5 Kenyans broke 60 and 3 Kenyan women led by last year's Rotterdam champ, Philes Ongori (68:25), broke 69. Koech's coach thinks he can get the WR.

Big Sprint News

Reuters: Tyson Gay Holds Open Workout For Media & Says He'll Only Do 100m This Year *ESPN.com *AFP

*AP Article That Is More Upbeat & Says He's Nearing Full Recovery Given his surgery, Gay doesn't feel he hasn't done enough work to handle the 200m. His coach says that the Trials might actually be his first race of the year: "You'd prefer to have a couple of races before the trials. But at the end of the day, if his first race is at the Olympic trials, then he'll be ready to run.''

More Sprint News: Slate Asks: Might Justin Gatlin (And Other Drug Cheats) Be Benefitting From Doping They Did Years Ago? Answer: Yes

We All Have Our Own Story Of How We Became A Runner, But Few Can Say It Was Because They Were Arrested

Recommended Read: Former CEO Of BETonSPORTS.com Went To Jail To Become A Runner At 50 years old, David Carruthers used his time in prison/house arrest to go from being 192 lbs. and overweight to running a 3:07 marathon and sub 5-min. mile.

LA Times Take A Look at Altitude Training At Mammoth Lakes

• Meb Keflezighi On His High Altitude Training Base At Mammoth Lakes: "This was a distance runner's heaven."
• Morgan Uceny One Of Many Elites Training At Mammoth Lakes "There's something special about this group. If you don't have a knowledgeable coach that can take that kind of training and make it work, then it's pointless. Just being at altitude isn't going to do anything. You have to know how to use it."

2012 NYC Half Marathon *Top 50 Results *LRC Photos (Updated) *Race Replay (Video)

LRC Recap: Peter Kirui & Firehiwot Dado Prevail After Head-To-Head Battles From the start, both the men's and women's races turned into one-on-one battles but with different results. In the men's race, Peter Kirui did all the work as Deriba Merga tried to hang on, but in the end, Kirui was rewarded with a victory in the 2nd fastest time ever (59:35) as no American men finished in the top 10. Kim Smith led most of the women's race, but Firehiwot Dado pulled ahead late and won in a new CR (68:35) as Kara Goucher was 3rd.
*MB: NYC Half 2012 race coverage thread and updates.
*MB:Today was Ritz's worst finish Since....
*MB:Did Kim Smith get pawned? (sic)
*MB: Todd Williams is really good at broadcasting
*Nice WSJ Recap
*Davila Loved The Weather: "If you can't run fast on a day like today, you might as well go bowling."
*IAAF Recap
*Goucher: "I had a lot more fun this year."

2012 NCAAs *Results

LRC 3,000s: Chris Derrick Pushes Lawi Lalang To The Line, Emily Infeld Wins Her First Title (link fixed) Friday night, Chris Derrick won accolades for coming within 1.7 seconds of beating Lawi Lalang. Derrick did even better on Saturday night, coming within .17 seconds. In the end, Derrick's efforts weren't enough, as Lalang completed the double. In the women's 3,000m, Emily Infeld won a four-person sprint around the final bend over (among others) Jordan Hasay. Hasay's Ducks were so good they would have won the team title if she had stayed in Oregon.

Khannouchi's Retirement

LRC Carey Pinkowski Reflects On Khalid Khannouchi's Career: "He Was The Absolute Best I've Ever Seen" The Chicago marathon director talks about the man who made his name in the Windy City. Plus quotes from London Marathon director Dave Bedford and a tweet from Ryan Hall.

LRC Marathon Legend Khalid Khannouchi Officially Retires Khalid Khannouchi, one of the greatest marathoners of all time, has told LRC that he is officially retiring from competitive running. Khalid helped revolutionize the sport of marathon running, setting two world record in the span of three years, including his final one at the "Greatest Marathon Ever Run" - the 2002 London Marathon matchup that featured Khannouchi, Paul Tergat and Haile Gebrselassie.

Lisbon Action *LRC Updated Full Photo Gallery

Shalane Flanagan Wins Lisbon Half, Tadese Three-Peats Updated with IAAF story The American got the big upset win (just as we predicted) and Zersenay Tadese got the win but not the world record (just as we predicted - a broken clock is accurate twice a day). Flanagan ran 68:51 for the win.
OTB: Flanagan wins Lisbon. Lock for Olympic gold?
*Will there be an official Lisbon half-marathon thread?
*Letsrun...seriously your picking Shalane Flanagan to win the 2012 Lisbon Half Marathon?
*Full Photo Gallery
*LRC Lisbon Half Marathon Preview

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.

• New: Amy Hastings Reacts To Fourth Place Finish Obviously disappointed, but a good run for Amy.
• Post-Race Reaction None of the four former Olympic marathoners in the race made the team. Hear from the top 3 and them.
• Women's Results
• Goucher: "I never imagined myself winning this race based on the short period of time I had to train." Oregonian