The Week That Was In Running: March 12-18, 2012
By LetsRun.com
March 19, 2012
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Recommended Reads
*The New York Times Introduces Kirani James To The World
*Meet NCAA Mile Champ Chris O'Hare Of Tulsa
*LRC 2012 Track & Field By The TV Numbers
With the indoor track season now over, we thought we'd
take a chance to look back and tell you how the indoor meets did on
television (as well as on YouTube for Millrose). The stats reveal that
new era hasn't taken over at all, as at least 5 times more people still watch track on television as on the Internet.
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Other News Of Note From The Last Week
Bob Day dies at 67; UCLA's greatest distance runner: Bob Day set records in multiple events, led
the Bruins to a 1966 national championship and represented the U.S. at
the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. His 3:56.4 in the mile and 8:33 in the 2-mile were national records.
Robby Andrews Turns Pro Last week, LRC broke the news that Andrews was leaving the University of Virginia. Now the 800m star has done what most expected - turn pro. He'll be coached by Jason Vigilante and train with American mile record holder Alan Webb. He has not signed an endorsement deal yet but will be represented by Ray Flynn.
Replacement Runner - Clement Langat - Wins African XC Men's Individual Title
*Kenyans Dominate African XC Champs
Seoul: Kenyan Wilson Loyanae Shatters CR (2:05:37)
Fatuma Sado (2:25:31) Wins LA Marathon & $155,000 With Equalizer Battle Of Sexes Bonus
Oscar P Runs 45.20, Gets Close To Olympic Selection
Married Jeremy Wariner (With A Kid Coming In October) Opens Season With Wind-Aided 20.66 At TCU
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Quotes Of The Day From The Week:
Note: To see a particular day's homepage, click on the hyperlink of the date on the left. The quote's hyperlink will take you to that particular article - not that day's homepage.
Monday 3/19: "I just tried to tell myself that she (Dado) must be hurting as much as me, but obviously she wasn't."
- Kiwi Kim Smith after hammering and leading for virtually the entire 13.1 miles at Sunday's NYC Half Marathon before losing at the very end to 2011 ING New York City marathon Firehiwot Dado, who set a new CR (68:35).
Sunday 3/18: "Some people like golf, some people take off to Florida...
I like clicking my stopwatch."
- Legendary coach Gags (Frank Gagliano) in a Wall Street Journal profile on him and the NJ/NYC Track Club. Julie Culley, Gags' athlete, is running the NYC Half on Sunday (watch live at 7:30 am Eastern). It's her first half marathon and apparently the first by a Gags-coached athlete.
Saturday 3/17: "The meet's reputation as 'the toughest race to win' came from the simplicity of the program: 12K race for senior men, 8K for senior women. The IAAF era has seen as many as 76 countries entering teams. Those runners were marathoners and milers, steeplechasers and road warriors, all in one event. Some of the greatest runners of all time found World Cross too challenging - Haile Gebrselassie never won a World Cross title - and some stars made their names there. In early April of 1975 Steve Prefontaine sent a few pairs of Nikes to a relatively unknown up-and-comer who had just finished third at World Cross in Rabat, Morocco; Bill Rodgers wore those shoes when he won the Boston Marathon in 2:09:55."
- Parker Morse, writing in a Running Times article on the history and origins of World XC (which go back to 1903) and why it has lost so much of its luster over the years. This weekend last year, we were getting ready for another edition, but this year the world's "toughest race to win" isn't even happening.
Friday 3/16: "I think it is too early for me to get the world record, but if I break it, no problem."
- Pro pacemaker Peter Kiriui, talking about his plans ahead of the Rotterdam marathon, which will be at least his 6th marathon start, but the first he will start with the intention of finishing. Kirui was part of the pace team that led Patrick Makau to his WR in Berlin and Wilson Kipsang to his 2:03:38 in Frankfurt (where he decided mid-race to finish in 2:06:31). He also paced Makau to last year's world lead and Sammy Wanjiru to a 2:06:24 victory in Chicago. Now he's tuning up in this weekend's NYC Half and looking for a 2:04-5 at Rotterdam.
Thursday 3/15: "I'm always tense before races and it affects everyone as well. Even before the men 3,000m final in Istanbul, I was so nervous at the warm-up that I was thinking if there were a replacement, I would have gladly given up the chance to him."
- Kenya's Edwin Soi, talking about how he felt before the World Indoor 3,000m final, where he nipped Mo Farah for the bronze medal. Soi also talks about his collision with Farah and his team tactics with silver medallist Augustine Choge.
Wednesday 3/14: "This is, to my mind, the most important event that ever happened to our country, even more important than Christopher Columbus landing."
- James Clarkson, Grenada’s police commissioner, speaking when authorizing celebrations in Grenada after 19-year-old Kirani James' World Championships victory. The quote comes from a great profile of James from The New York Times, a definite Recommended Read.
Tuesday 3/13: "When I first saw Fujiwara, I noticed his pelvis was going up and down, left and right - it wasn't very stable. I tried to make sure his pelvic area was more relaxed - removing wasted energy to release that explosive power."
- Hiromi Kashiki, the creator of a popular dance style based on highly suggestive hip-gyrating movements, explaining to Reuters what she worked on during a one-on-one workout with Arata Fujiwara the day before this year's Tokyo marathon - a race in which Fujiwara would finish faster than ever - 2:07:48 - to make the Japanese Olympic team. Fujiwara was named to Japan's Olympic marathon team on Monday, and becomes LRC's newest sensation, as he had the guts to dump the Japanese corporate system. Sadly, amateur sensation Yuki Kawauchi was snubbed from the alternate spot despite finishing 1st in one Trial race.
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