Quote Of The Day


"I was asked if I was sad to not be attending the World XC Championships. I thoughtlessly said that the race was no longer significant, and that was why I was not running it. That comment came off as careless and wrong. I know that, especially to the athletes who are competing there, it can be a very important step in international development,"

- 2:07 American marathoner Dathan Ritzenhein, himself a former world junior cross country medallist, responding to criticism that erupted last week on LetsRun after his original anti-World XC comments were our QOD last Thursday.
The original comments sparked this MB thread, "Anyone else totally disgusted by Dathan Ritzenhein's comments about world cross country?" The apology has sparked this MB thread: Ritz apologizes for World XC comments.

Get To Know USATF's Head

In Life, Like Track, The Finish Is More Important Than The Start
Recommended Read USATF CEO Max Siegel Overcame A Really Rough Childhood To Be A Huge Success "(All my homes) were all bad. It is hard to measure degrees. There was a lot of violence, a lot of alcohol. I grew up feeling uneasy, craving stability....I didn't enjoy my childhood at all...From an early age, I made a conscious decision not to let what anyone else thought of me affect me emotionally."

*USATF Announces $100,000 Prize Purse For .US National Road Racing Championships

More US News

*It Takes A Strong Man To Apologize: After Messageboard Backlash To RW Interview, Dathan Ritzenhein Apologizes For Comments About World XC "No Longer Being Significant"

*NYRR: Former NY Times Sports Editor And USA Today Olympic Writer Debate What Event Specialist Has The Advantage When It Comes To The Half-Marathon

*MileSplit Weekend High School Highlights

US Indoor Champs *Results *LRC Saturday Photos *LRC Sunday Photos *LRC Lomong American Record Photos *5k Record Was Friday Night In NY

Day 2: LRC Mary Cain Dominates & Wins Her First US Indoor Title Cain was simply brilliant and thrashed the field. In the process, she showed a technical savvy and closing speed way beyond her years.
*
Sunday Photo Gallery *Video Of Cain's Win

*LRC Rest Of Mid-D & Distance Action: Will Leer Completes Heart-Warming Double As Erik Sowinski's Dream Season Continues And Teen Phenom Ajee Wilson Joins Cain In Winner's Circle The 2013 USA indoor meet ended up being fantastic from a fan's perspective. With his cancer-stricken father in the stands, Leer found the guts to complete the 3k/mile double as Erik Sowinski just held off Robby Andrews and Wilson led throughout.
*Short On Time? Men's 800 Recap Only
*Women's 800 Recap Only
*Men's Mile Recap Only
*USATF Recap Of Day 2 Ryan Whiting threw a world leader in the shot put (21.80), Mississippi State's D'Angelo Cherry ran the world's 3rd-fastest 60m of the year (6.49 - world leader is 6.48) and 2004 Olympic gold medallist Jeremy Wariner won his first-ever US indoor crown with a 45.82 clocking (#4 in the world).
*AP Recap Of USAs From A Guy Who Clearly Doesn't Cover Track
*
IAAF Recap

More 2013 USA Indoor News

Updated: LRC
Day 1 Distance: Chelsea Reilly Wins National Title As Lisa Uhl Nearly Impales Herself, Will Leer Dominates
Chelsea Reilly
won her first national title in NASCAR fashion as she and Lisa Uhl collided right before the finish with Uhl catapulting herself head first off the track. Fortunately, both women survived without serious injury. Will Leer dominated the men's as expected. Can he pull off the 3k/mile double tomorrow? In the 800, the "names" - Mulder, Andrews, Centro, Sowinski -  all advanced except for Mark Wieczorek.
*Photos
(Video of 3k finish in article or to right on homepage)

UK/European News *Full European Indoor Results *GB Pictures From Euros

Gutsy In Japan: Former Japan NR Holder (2:06:51) Atsushi Fujita Says He's Looking To "Settle on a Retirement Race" After DNF'ing At Lake Biwa The 36-year old started the race despite having fractured a rib in training just five days before. He took pain killers and started out in the lead pack but dropped out at 15k.

Other Weekend Action

Non-Championship News

Previous Non-Championship News

Milers In The News

LRC Meet Jacob Burcham: West Virginia's 4:02 High Schooler Wants To Go Sub-4 This Spring Joel Wolpert has produced a short film on the WV star, who while certainly very talented, is far from obsessed with running. Burcham, "I used to think of myself as a football player all of the time. I still kind of do in my head."

Rock 'N' Roll New Orleans *Top Results *Photo Gallery

LRC Farah Outkicks Gebremariam, Meseret Defar Over Shalane Flanagan, Kara Goucher Way Back Meseret Defar's second half marathon was much like her first one, a win (1:07:25) over Shalane Flanagan (1:08:31). Mo Farah doesn't lose and he found a way to beat Gebre Gebremariam 1:00:59 to 1:01:00.
*On The Boards: Cool Race Blow by Blow


*Mo Farah's 1:00:59 Is A New British Record This is actually slower than the 60:23 he ran in his debut at NYC, but NYC is not a record-eligible course.
*
IAAF Recap Farah said he had a brief side stitch at the ninth mile which might have had to do with drinking too much water.
*
Pre-Race Article On Mo Farah
*Farah Says Running The First Half Of The London Marathon Isn't About The Money

Stockholm Meet *Results

LRC Friday Tidbits From Stockholm: Update On Galen Rupp's Record, Plus Dibaba News We've got splits for Galen Rupp's last 600m, plus news that Genzebe Dibaba is not now coached by Jama Aden, the coach to Taoufik Makhloufi, who has strong USA ties.
On The Boards: Jama Aden Coaching Philosophy

LRC Galen Rupp 7:30.16 American Record! Aregawi Just Misses 1,500m World Record Galen Rupp's tremendous 2013 continued with his finest performance yet. Not only did he get the American record, but perhaps most importantly he got his first European win of note. The other big news was new Swedish citizen, Abeba Aregawi, just missing the world record by .12 in the women's 1,500m. In other action, Genzebe Dibaba blitzed an 8:26.57, Mohammed Aman ran a world leader in the 800m, and Matt Centrowitz came up well short of the American 1,000m record. Flash recap.
*IAAF Recap: Olympic Silver Medallist Yarisley Silva Breaks Her Own Cuban Record And Sets World Lead In PV With 4.71m Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce set a PR in her 2nd-ever 60m to win with 7.04.
*Pre-Race Interview With Rupp

On The Boards: *Rupp 7:30.18!!! *GALEN RUPP NEW 3000 AR 7:30.18 *STOCKHOLM MEET updates! *Galen Rupp Will NOT Break U.S. 3000m Record In Stockholm

US Distance News

Kenya Gives The US Some Respect: Kenya World XC Team Reports To Training Camp: Mercy Cherono Says She "Relishes The Challenge From Ethiopia AND USA Athletes" Other good news for the US, it seems Kenya is going back to it's potential killing pre-championship training camps as 28 are at the camp, but only 24 make the team. The head coach said, "We will have a serious and tough training. And those who want to escape the axe must prove their mettle."

Millrose Games *Results For The 2013 Millrose Games *TV Re-Broadcast Online Here

LRC: Records Galore At 2013 Millrose Games: Lagat, Mary Cain, 2 X 600, Chris O'Hare Mary Cain started the record-setting night in the women's mile and it continued all night after that until Chris O'Hare set a collegiate record in 4th place in the Wanamaker Mile. In between, Bernard Lagat barely got back his 2 mile record, unheralded Erik Sowinski upset Duane Solomon AND Nick Symmonds to set the American record in the 600, and Alysia Montano crushed the field and the AR in the 600.
*IAAF Recap

Daring To Ask The PED Question

A Must Read: Daring To Ask The PED Question: "If everyone is secretly suspicious of so many athletic achievements, why aren't we talking about it?" In our last Week That Was, we said, "There are two types of runners - those that either 'get' letsrun.com or don't." Well, sports writer Bill Simmons might not be talking about running, but he definitely "gets" LRC as he explains why questioning today's professional athletic performances in is not only okay, but has become part of sports. As he says, "There is no such thing as 'the benefit of the doubt' anymore. Not in sports. Too many people took advantage. All the benefits are gone." It is for this reason that we allow threads like this one to exist: MB: Solomon suddenly world class and Rupp soloing 3.50 indoor miles - Come on Letsun, ask the questions!

2013 USA XC *USA XC Results/Splits *MB: Official 2013 USA XC Thread *LRC Photo Gallery

LRC Photo Gallery

LRC Chris Derrick!?! - National Champion! link fixed The wait is over. Arguably the greatest American collegiate distance runner not to win an NCAA title, Derrick pulled away from Dathan Ritzenhein and Matt Tegenkamp to win his first national title in his first race as a sponsored pro. It was a good day for Jerry Schumacher's crew as they had 3 of the top 4 in the men's race plus Shalane Flanagan winning the women's.

LRC
Shalane Flanagan Wins 2013 Women's US Cross-Country Championships Flanagan was the class of the field (World XC bronze in 2011), but Olympian Kim Conley put up a brave fight. Afterwards, Flanagan said she will not run World XC as she prepares for the Boston marathon.

Jr. Races: *LRC 2013 Jr. Girls Results - William & Mary's Emily Stites Dominates
*LRC 2013 Jr. Boys Results - Ok. State's Craig Nowak Wins
*USATF Athlete Quotes

A MUST Read - One Of The Greatest Races Ever Run - The US Women's Version Of The Billy Mills 10,000 Win

RWorld Re-Introduces The World To Debbie Heald, Who 40 Years Ago Incredibly Ran The US HS Indoor Mile Record Of 4:38.5 Steve Friedman's piece on Heald is moving to say the least. Heald, whose father had committed suicide, who had been molested and who was always battling injury (13 different running-related surgeries), somehow at the US vs. USSR meet at age 16 in 1972 beat the greatest runners in the world, including the indoor 1,500 record holder and that year's eventual Olympic 1,500 champion, by running an a 8.5-second PR of 4:38.5. She came from way back to win thanks to a ferocious kick and she was known for having no kick. Her life since then has been full of struggles with schizophrenia but her HS indoor record still stands.
MB:
Debbie Heald article in RW

NCAA News

African News: Kenyan Elections, Stephen Kiprotich In Car Accident

Al Sal Defends Mo's Lucrative London Payday "If they think this is in the best interests of their race, I don't know how anybody can criticize Mo."

2013 European Indoor Champs Conclude (Day 1-2 News Below) *Full Results *Race Replays

NCAA Last Chance Meets *Results *Arkansas: Compiled Men's Results *Women *ND Results *IC4A *ECAC

Man, 46, Suffers Massive Cardiac Arrest As He Starts Swim During Alcatraz Triathlon In Calif.

Previous European Indoor Champs News

Day 2:
*
Former FSU Runner Ciaran O'Lionaird Takes Bronze For Ireland In Gothenburg *Discuss
*
O'Lionaird Satisfied With 3,000m Bronze
*
IAAF Day 2 Euro Recap: Sweden's Abeba Aregawi Takes 1,500 Gold With The Largest Margin Of Victory In The 42-Year History Of The Event She won in 4:04.47 as Spain's Isabel Macias was second place 9.72 seconds back in 4:14.19.
*
European PV Comes Down To A Jump-Off Between Eventual Winner UK's Holly Bleasdale And Runner-Up/Defending Champ Anna Rogowska She was offered the choice between sharing the gold medal or a sudden-death jump-off and chose to gamble. Good for her; ties in championships are never popular with fans.
*AW Full Day 2 Recap
*Russia's Darya Kilishina Wins LJ With 7.01m World Lead
*After A Photo Finish In 60m, France's Jimmy Vicaut Gets The Win He shared an identical finish time of 6.48 with James Dasaolu; they now share the world lead.
*
Disappointment For Ireland After One Of Their Top Medal Chances Derval O'Rourke Misses Medal Stand In 60H By One Hundredth Of A Second "It's not arrogant but my problem is that I don't believe any of those three girls are better than me. If I thought that I wouldn't be the woman that I am."
*Fionnuala Britton Eases Into 3,000m Final After Controlled Heat
*Italy's Daniele Greco Takes TJ In World-Leading 17.70m
*PVer Renaud Lavillenie And 60m Runner Verena Sailer Make Finals Easily

Wow:
British Columnist: TV Interviewer's Mo Farah Gaffe Is Typical Of The Self-Absorbed United States Of Amnesia "Large parts of the United States of Amnesia still exist in a cultural vacuum. If it doesn't happen between sea and shining sea, it doesn't make the cut."

*
Video Highlights Of Day 1 Here.
*BBC Day 1 Recap: 2013 World #3 Michael Rimmer (1:46.55) Fails To Make Semis In 800 As Dwain Chambers Bombs In 1st Round As Well
*Athletics Weekly Day 1 Recap: Shubenkov Among First Winners In Gothenburg

Related: *Many Top Athletes From 2005 World Champs - Lots Of Them Russian - To Be Banned After 2005 World Champs Re-Tests
*British Athletics Coach Peter Eriksson Concerned By Fact There Are 33 Russian Dopers Currently Serving Bans
*2nd-Largest Track Stadium In UK To Be Demolished To Make Way For Medical Facilities

Two New Lawsuits Filed Against Lance - Another Insurer Wants $3 Million For A TDF-Related Payout

News From Down Under

Foreign News: Nick Willis Misses The "A" Standard; Will Try Again Next Week

Ethiopian XC Champs And Tokyo Marathon *Results *Tokyo Marathon 2013 Photo Gallery

2013 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix *NBIGP Results LRC Photo Gallery

LRC Photo Gallery

Men's 3k: LRC Galen Rupp Is Defeated As Hagos Gebrhiwet Sets New World Junior 3,000 Record Of 7:32.87

Women's 2-Mile: LRC
Mary Cain Runs 9:38.68 For 2 Miles - The Greatest Distance Performance In US HS Girls History Tirunesh Dibaba was way ahead of the field as she won in 9:13.17.

LRC The Rest Of The 2013 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix - Centro, Lakhouad And Wright Win As Suhr Takes Crack At AR

Rest In Peace Will Steele - aka "The Cancer Guy"

LRC Celebrating The Life Of "The Cancer Guy" Will Steele Will Steele was running 18-minute miles last year. And never has there been a more inspirational runner on LetsRun.com. We pay our respects to this great man who contributed so much to the LetsRun.com community and lost his battle with cancer one month ago on Christmas eve.

Jamaican News: Steve Mullings Lifetime Ban Upheld

Jenn Suhr World Record *Photos

Jenn Suhr Breaks World Record Suhr was perfect all day until she broke the world record at 5.02 meters. She then attempted 3 times at 5.07 (the highest vault indoors or out).
*Video Of World Record Vault
*Reuters: "Gritty Suhr Happy To Finally Reach New Heights"

Didn't Visit LRC Over the Weekend? We Help You Out

Jerry's Boys Take On The Big Apple
LRC
Lopez Lomong Sets New American Indoor 5,000 Record - Runs 13:07.00!!!
We recap the historic night in NYC that saw Lomong get the AR, Chris Derrick get the "A" at 13:12.00 and the rest of Jerry's boys struggle a bit at the end as the pace was super hot. Includes exclusive post-race interviews that include Teg, Lomong, and Derrick, who talks about German Fernandez and Alan Webb.
*Photo Gallery *Race Video *Post-Race Interviews *
Race Results Weekly

*Great News From Another Schumacher Stud:
Chris Solinsky's 1st Track Race In Nearly Two Years Is Successful - Dominant 8:05 Win At UW

USATF Sunday Gallery: Mary Cain, Ajee Wilson Get USATF Titles #1

Lopez Lomong 13:07.00 American Record Photos

Saturday USATF Photos, Jenn Suhr World Record

Crazy Finish Of Women's 3k (More Here)

Jenn Suhr's World Record (Larger Here)

Chris Derrick After 13:12.00 (Full Coverage Of AR Here)

Week That Was *New Orleans Photos *Tokyo Photos

LRC TWTW Part II: College: A Look Back At The 2013 NCAA Indoor Track And Field Conference Championships In part II of our weekly recap, Arkansas' Chris Bucknam gets praise, the nation's longest winning streak is snapped, we talk about the arbitrariness of victory and Mississippi State's one-woman track team, and introduce you to Nick Rivera, a freshman at Texas Tech who hasn't broken 1:52.03 this year but is a Big 12 champ. Plus props for the Virginia Tech and Washington State men, Betsy Saina, Abbey D'Agostino and Johns Hopkins in the D3 ranks.

LRC 
TWTW Part I: Pros: Galen Rupp Runs 7:30, Japan Over US At The Marathon, New Orleans, Chris O'Hare, Dennis Kimetto And More We span the globe from New Orleans to Tokyo to Stockholm to give you some perspective on our sport. From analyzing Galen Rupp's incredible 7:30.16 to the awkward interview of the week, we've got it covered.

Jerry Schumacher's Group

Usain Bolt Does The Harlem Shake

Ryan Hall Speaks

LRC Ryan Hall Talks About Cam Levins' 190-Mile Weeks And Is Impressed Hall: "It's working for him. My hat's off to him. He inspires me. That's why I started following him on Twitter. I feel like I'm training hard and I'm not doing nearly that kind of training."
LRC Ryan Hall Talks About His Running Shoes Hall says he has different shoes for every speed he runs and that he has an "unhealthy attachment" to the Asics Gel Hyper Speed.

Beautiful People: NCAA Banquet Photos (Click On Photo)

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