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- Florida track coach Mike Holloway, who also works with the Florida Gators football team. Speed is so important to the Gators that they just built a track in the middle of their 23,500 sq. foot weight room.

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Book Review: Running Within
Want to improve your mental outlook on running? Then Running Within is the book for you. Read our review of this excellent book.
Recommended Reads
Looking for a good running book ? Read our mini-reviews and suggestions

Ryan Shay
1979-2007

*Official Ryan Shay Remembrance Thread.
*Ryan Shay Photo Gallery

We interview one of our own:
LetsRun.com's Rojo talks about coaching at Cornell

Geb Set To Chase Another Marathon World Record On Friday, January 16th, 35-year-old Haile G will run the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon. It is hard to believe that The Emperor is already set to tackle another world-record paced marathon. Seems like just a couple of months ago he was running 2:03:59 in Berlin, but time has flown and he's ready for another crack. Geb says he's fitter than he was last year when he ran the first half in Dubai in 1:01:27 en route to 2:04:53 (#2 all-time performance at that point). He said after Berlin that sub-2:03 was possible.

Deriba Merga Commits To Run 2009 Chevron Houston Marathon Merga's name adds real credibility to the marathon after he finished 4th in the 2008 Olympic marathon. He'll face 3-time Houston winner David Cheruyiot. The top woman is expected to be marathon debutante and 10-mile world record holder Teyba Erkesso (ETH, 51:44 from 2007 Cherry Blossom).

XC The Way It Would Be In The Olympics
*Eliud Kipchoge Holds Off Big Names Lebid And Soi In XC Snowstorm 2008 Olympic silver medalist at 5k, Kipchoge could only hold off Lebid by 2 seconds, while bronze medalist Edwin Soi was back in 5th. Recommended Click: Check Out These Sweet Photos

Racing Results
*British Miler Andy Baddeley Runs 14:23 In Low Key 5k
*More Baddeley Baddeley, 2008's Fastest Miler, Has Extensive Cross-Country Schedule Lined Up
Plans to race in New Zealand, Australia, US and Amman. Hard to believe Baddeley and Alan Webb have run world-leading times the last 2 years.

Chats With Track & Field Icons
*Interview With Heptathlon WR Holder Jackie Joyner-Kersee
*Texas A&M Coach Pat Henry Excited For 2009 Indoor Season In New Track Center
*
Brief Chat With Fan Favorite Pete Gilmore
*One We Missed: A Sara Hall Blog Entry From Zambia

LRC: The Week That Was
We keep to our New Year's resolution of recapping all 52 weeks of the year. We give you the rundown on Japanese Ekiden mania, New Year's races galore, and tell you why Oregon doesn't get every recruit in the nation. And we even make fun of Ohio State for coming up short each year around this time.

Fields For 2009 Men's & Women's USA Half Marathon Championships A great start to the New Year with Ritz, Meb, and Brian Sell going head to head to head.
More Houston:
Deriba Merga Commits To Run 2009 Houston Marathon Merga has run 2:06, was 4th at the Olympics, and is a great pickup for Houston.

Steve Roush, The USOC Chief Of Sports Performance, Resigns USA Today He apparently got in some trouble for telling the cyclists who wore the stupid black masks in Beijing to apologize. We applaud the guy.

PRRO Circuit Eases Bonus Purse Eligibility Rules: One Win Automatically Puts You Into Bonus Contention

Extensive 2009 Hakone Ekiden Review The New Year's race is Japan's most important professional Ekiden and this year's was perhaps the best one ever. Our apologies. We were confusing the race with the professional New Year's Ekiden. The Hakone is just technically the Japanese Eastern Collegiate Champs but it is a huge, huge deal (national television for two straight days) and comes one day after the New Year's Ekiden which is the Super Bowl of Japanese professional running (and where David Monti reports the top 3 runners all ran for 8.3km a total time faster than the 8k world record). So 3 straight days of running on national television in Japan. Brett Larner explains more on the history here.

HS News: Zach Torres' Dive At Foot Lockers Got Him All-American Status "For me, getting to the national championships and getting to run in that race and getting treated like I did ... it just blew my mind." And the dive likely was the photo of the year on letsrun.com. In case you were gone over the holidays, here are the LetsRun.com 2008 Photo Archives and 2008 LetsRun.com Homepage Archives.

Colette Falsey, 9th Placer At Illinois State Meet, Overcame Battle With Leukemia

Almost A High Schooler: Linet Masai, Rising Star, Is Moses Masai's Sister

1996 NCAA Champ And Collegiate 800 Record Holder Julius Achon Getting Married In Uganda On Saturday And The Stars Like Ismael Ahmed Will Be There In case you aren't familiar with Achon's life story, it is a a remarkable one. From child soldier to NCAA champ and record holder to pacer/assistant for the Nike Oregon Project. In August, we apparently missed a great profile on his life which we now recommend that you read. Recommended Read: Profile Of Julius Achon He supports 11 orphans on his $20,000 stipend from Nike and other sources. *Support his charity here.

Asafa Powell To Open Season With 400m Race On Jan. 31 He did the same thing last year and only ran 48.7.

Edwin Soi And Sergiy Lebid To Have Rematch Of Last Year's Epic XC Duel On Wednesday In Italy

Reno Vault Summit Recap And Results Former Binghamton star & NCAA champ Rory Quiller 2nd on men's side.

Huge Upset On Men's Side Of Xiamen Marathon

NCAA-Related News
Recommended Read: Another Great Interview With John McDonnell
*Interview With Ohio State Miler Jeff See
*Trevor Dunbar Discusses His College Decision With The Oregonian
Dunbar's mom went to Portland, he likes the coach and, unlike the Oregon Ducks, the Pilots offered up some dough!
Trevor Dunbar To Portland *Dunbar Thread

One of our favorite 2008 Stories: Stephanie Brown Trafton Missed The 2004 Olympic Team And Returned Golden In 2008

Bill Livingston Writes About Reno's National Pole Vault Summit Good piece about Track and Field's high fliers truly in their element.

William Sichel's Goal: 600 Miles In 6 Days
*
Time for your daily running history lesson. Today's topic? Victorian-Era Pedestrianism!

IAAF's Golden League 2008 Review

We hope he's OK:
*Double Silver Medalist Richard Thompson Involved In Car Accident
*Thompson Just Voted Trinidad & Tobago's Sportsman Of The Year

We Agree: Get Ready for a Great 2009
10 Things To Watch In Athletics (From A UK Perspective)


Track & Field News 2008 World Rankings
*Men's Event-By-Event Leaders
*Women's Event-By-Event Leaders
*Women's Athlete of Year: Dibaba
*Men's Athlete Of Year: Bolt


Blackballed Into Retirement?

Drug Cheat Dwain Chambers Admits He Might Retire Due To Financial Pressure
Britain's sprint star has been banned by 51 top European meets, so it's going to be hard for him to make a living. He currently is being supported by a lady friend. "I'm able to continue competing as long as my lady is still in a job. I have no one other than Leonie supporting me."


Usain Bolt Beats Michael Phelps Again & Is Honored As La Gazzetta dello Sport's Athlete Of Year
He tells the Italian paper his coach has told him 9.58 and sub-19 are possible.

2008 IAAF Grand Prix Review Part Deux

Great Thread Resurfaces:
Exxx-Duck, malmo and "Old School Oregon training week"

Sad News: A great athlete you may have never heard of passes at 70
Sid Purkis Dies Of Cancer; Ran 1:48 And :48 In 1961

Interview With NZ Star Runner Jonathan Wyatt Great PRs from 1,500m to marathon to mountain races, and a LetsRun fan to boot! (We appreciate the encouragement)

Sergiy Lebid Hopes To Be First Non-African Winner Of Edinburgh's BUPA Cross-Country Race The bigger news is that Kenenisa Bekele is still injured. The race is set for January 10th.

Big Names In Monday Action From France
Micah Kogo (28:04) Takes Down Edwin Soi And Jaoud Gharib In Road 10k

UK Athletics Has Cut The Fat, Will It Pay Off With More International Medals?

Weekend Action: Kenyan XC Meet: Linet Chepkirui Dominates, Sally Barsosio Is Back Racing Barsosio was Kenya's first female gold medallist on the track (gold in 1997). She is only 30 now. Also returning to action was former XC star Sammy Kipketer.
Update: No Money On Hand To Pay Winners Of Athletic Kenya's 5th XC Race
More Kenya In The News: Best-Ever Olympic Performance By Runners Lifted Kenya's Collective Spirit In 2008
*NYTimes Remembers Wanjiru's Gold - Kenya's First - In Olympic Marathon

Palema Jelimo, Bernard Lagat To Run Aviva Grand Prix In Birmingham On February 21 Jelimo is doing what everyone on letsrun.com thinks is the solution to every problem - moving up in distance - as she is going to run the mile for the first time.
*On the Boards: Anticipation On Pamela Jelimo's Mile Debut

Spikesmag Asks The Greats: What's It Like To Set A World Record

108 World Records Too Late: World Swimming Org To Discuss Swimsuit Rules Imagine if the Zoom Victory led to 100 new World Records in track.
*US Sports Academy Votes Phelps Male Athlete Of The Year ... Bolt 3rd

If she keeps fibbing, Santa might keep her on the naughty list Video: Marion Jones Continues To Deny Knowingly Using Drugs On National Television

USATF CEO Doug Logan Grades Himself On Performance In 2008

LRC The Week That Was As the year nears its end, we decided to focus our attention on our year-end review which will start on Xmas. As a result, we recap the week that was in a single sentence.

Two Young Women's Track Stars Of The Future
*Nadonnia Rodrigues
Is The US 400m Star Of The Future And Brooklyn's Athlete Of The Year
*Morgan Uceny
Had A Great 2008, Currently Dealing With Knee Injury

UK Athletics Poaching Track Coaches From Around The World
Canada's Kevin Tyler Appointed Coaching Director Of UK Athletics

USATF Changes World Junior Youth Qualifying

Indianapolis Track That Hosted Olympic Trials, Nationals To Be Destroyed The track saw a lot of great memories, including Flojo's 10.49. We just looked this run up on Wikipedia to double check it was in Indy and it was. Then we found out it was in the quarterfinals. Are you kidding? It immediately should be scrapped from the books. That's all the evidence we need. Then we saw a video of it. She doesn't react like someone who thinks they just smashed the world record.
On the boards: Discuss Flojo's Run

*
Track stadium in Indy slated to be demolished
Blog: Should USATF Leave Indianapolis For NYC?

USATF To Allow Headphones In Non-Championship Races

Jim Hage's Running Column In Washington Post Gets The Ax We're sorry to see it go.
On the boards: Which cities still have weekly running columns in the newspaper?

Map Of Haile G's World Record Marathon With Splits

New LRC Usain Bolt Boston Celtics Photo Gallery
The world's fastest man was in Boston Friday night with front row seats at the Celtics game. LetsRun.com was on hand as the Celtics won their 17th straight, and Bolt got the lead in the associated press recap of the game: "After racing within a game of tying a team winning streak, the Boston Celtics were all abuzz -- with talk of a famous face in the front row. Olympic gold medalist sprinter Usain Bolt watched as the defending NBA champs won their 17th straight and improved to 25-2 with a 125-108 victory over Chicago on Friday night."


Random Swedish Blog Recaps A Great Year In Track
From world records to drug busts, 2008 was something special.

Popular Connecticut Running Store - Road & Track Sports - Relocating Away From New Milford

Financial Crisis Hurts Irish Olympic Preparations As New Indoor Athletics Arena Is Postponed

Year In Review:
European Men's Sprints: Two 5th Place Finishes At Olympics Were Best They Could Do

Slovenia's 1st Olympic Gold Medallist Reflects On Winning Drug-Infested Hammer Throw

End-Of-Year Looks Continue

*Kenya: Kenya's Track Women Finally Come Of Age 2008 certainly will be remembered as the coming of age of the Kenyan women as they got their first-ever Olympic golds.
*Britian: Usain Bolt Is Michael Johnson's Athlete Of The Year Johnson writes a good piece and also gives his theory on why Bolt celebrated in the middle of the 100m.
*USA: Running USA's Ryan Lamppa's 10 Best Moments In US Distance Running In 2008 Ryan Hall's 2:06:17 or Shalane Flanagan's bronze? Which is #1?
*Britian:
The 20 Best Sports Pics From The UK Include One Great One Of Usain Bolt
*IAAF: Combined Events Year-End Review

Nice IAAF Profile Of Falk Cierpinski Is Ruined By Fact There Is No Mention Of His Father's Drug Usage Falk's story is an interesting one, but any story in 2008 should talk about how his father was really a drug cheat who won two Olympic golds.

Berhane Adere And H. Gebrselassie To Defend Dubai Marathon Titles On Jan. 19th

LRC: Foot Locker Prediction Contest Results The computer has done its calculations and it should have done them sooner. LetsRun.com's Wejo comes in 2nd place in the unofficial men's results.

Recommended Read Of The Day: John McDonnell Speaks In Front Of Razorbacks Sports Club

2008 Is Coming To A Close
*Trackshark's Top 10 College Track Moments Of 2008
*IAAF 2008 Multi-Events Recap
*UK's Telegraph Lists Top 10 Athletics Moments Of 2008

Awesome Piece On Retirement Of UK's "The Beast" Dean Macey He truly trained like an absolute animal.

Chilling AP Article Presents Differing Opinions On Gene Doping There was a conference in the nation's capital entitled, "What's So Bad about Gene Enhancement and Doping?"

Seb Coe Nominates Christine Ohurougu For Sport Hero Of The Year She came through in the clutch, as other than the Olympics, she had the 19th and 70th best times of the year.

USATF Names Michael A. McNees As New COO He seems like a good fit for the job as he's currently in charge of $600 million budget and he was a Big 10 champion at Indiana.

The Yearly Reviews Have Begun
*The IAAF Asks Was 2008 The Greatest Year In History For The Men's Marathon?
We'll answer yes. The statistics speak for themselves. A new world record, Olympic record, fastest 3-6 places, 10-16 places and, for the first time, triple digits in the number of sub-2:10s. Yes, that's right. 106 sub-2:10s and 1 was from the USA.
*
The London Telegraph's Top 10 Athletic Moments From 2008 (In Chronological Order)
*A Look At The Top Distance Performances Produced By Minnesotans In 2008

Almost All Athletes Get Them But The NY Times Ask Do Massages Really Help?

English Athletics To Host 1st-Ever English National Championships This Summer Andrew Baddeley is pleased that England will have it's own championships and they are using the historic name, England AAA Championships, which has been taking place since 1880.

While UK Sport Cuts Athletics Funding, England Sport Increases It In A Big Way They are aiming for more grassroots competition and funding is up from £6.5m to £20.4m

LRC The Week That Was We cover it all this week and pull no punches. Whether we are officially declaring the hammer throw to be a joke or recapping a Foot Locker race for the ages, we have you covered. We even tell you how Galen Rupp equalled the American record in the men's 10k last week (in our minds). Plus we teach you some history and tell you how Christian Smith has nothing on Klaus-Peter Hildenbrand.

Mark Rowland Named Head Coach Of Oregon Track Club

Foot Locker Nationals Turns 30 In Historic Fashion
*Girls' Results *Boys' Results
*New Foot Locker Photos
LRC Girls: Jordan Hasay Gets Bookends In Thrilling Race
The girls' race featured the last three defending champs for the first time ever and it did not disappoint. Unheralded Allie McLaughlin made the race, opening up a big lead and nearly pulling a Rudy. Last year's champ Ashley Brasovan led the chase and caught McLaughlin in the last quarter mile and appeared to be on her way to victory but Hasay, who won as a freshman, was not done yet. She stormed back the final 200m to get the win to go out just like she started her high school career - on top. Read the recap above and watch this video if you want to see the *Girls' Results. *Excellent Video (no chop) of the final part of the girls race. Well worth a watch.
LRC Boys: Solomon Sails Maryland's Solomon Haile crushed the field as expected and LetsRun.com fan favorite Trevor Dunbar (the guy who ran a ~ 9 minute 3,200m on a snow-covered track) was an impressive second. Plus one of the runners drops the word "repose" in his post-race interview. *AP Recap
*Boys' Results

*Video with no choppiness
On the boards:
A ton of threads on Solomon Haile's age. Maryland officials cleared him to compete after talking to officials in Ethiopia, but Wejo is curious about the excuse of having the Coptic calendar having him 21 years old (???)
LRC's World Famous Boards:
Has Nike's NXN Ruined Footlocker's Nationals? *Trevor Dunbar wins Foot Locker H.S. Division *More Impressive than Hasay's win is that she has a 4.83 GPA
How is this even possible?

Foot Locker PreRace:
*LetsRun.com Contenders And Pretenders Excited For Saturday's 30th Foot Locker High School XC Champs
The Super Bowl of high school running is here and the contenders and pretenders are excited. The last two women's champs, Ashley Brasovan and Kathy Kroeger, and men's pre-race favorite Solomon Haile talk about the excitement in the air. Plus Haile talks about meeting his favorite runner, Ryan Hall.
LRC's Girls Preview: 30th Edition Of Foot Locker Championship Is An All-Time Classic!!! 3 Former champs will battle it out with a slew of newcomers. A truly exceptional race. The boys are definitely being overshadowed by the girls this year.
LRC's Boys Preview:
Can An American Win It? FLCC is normally all about the search for the next great American distance star. Not this year.
*
All 40 Runners Ranked: 2008 Foot Locker Cross-Country Prediction Contest Polls

LRC The Week That Was In running and in life, the highs and lows are never too far apart and this week's action proves that. We cover it all - from Tsegay Kebede's Japanese all-comers record at Fukuoka to the passing of Kerryn McCann less than three years from one of the greatest marathon finishes in history. We also find a reason to mention our favorite sprinter Usain Bolt and tell him to dream bigger than 18.99 as Paula Radcliffe has run the equivalent of 18.63.

LRC: The NCAAs That Were Now that the emotions have died down, we've decided to take a look back at NCAAs and analyze what it all meant. Who had the best and worst meet? Best and worst season? How good were the Oregon men? Is women's running really much less competitive than men's? We answer these questions and much more including, "How smart are the Letsrun.com visitors?"

If you can't dominate the big sports, quit and try to dominate the lesser sports

Crew & Swimming Now More Important Than Athletics In Britain
The UK is trying to go for the medals regardless of sport or signficance and as a result, the once mighty Britain is giving more money to swimming and crew than athletics as athletics received a tiny decrease in funds while swimming and crew got more. *Athletics, Flagship Event Of 2012 Games, Given Slight Funding Cut *Despite Funding Cut, UK Athletics Chief Niels de Vos Is Bullish About 2012 *Athletics To Grin & Bear £1.4m Funding Cut *It Could Be Worse: Volleyball, Fencing, Handball, Table Tennis, Water Polo, Weightlifting And Wrestling Get Nothing.

Men Results: *Team *Individual LRC: *Men's Photos Almost 600 of them.
LRC: RUPP And Oregon Are Golden
Galen Rupp put away the demons of the near misses and captured his first NCAA title by shadowing Liberty's Sam Chelenga for 9,600m and then outkicking him on the straight to lead Oregon to the team win. Oregon dominated the team title as Oklahoma State had a forgettable day. Super frosh German Fernandez dropped out with an achilles injury (photo of Fernandez in great pain here), while Oregon frosh Luke Puskedra was a very impressive fifth.
*USA Today Recap of Race
*On the boards: Eyewitness Account Of German Fernandez's Injury
*
Chelanga's Lack Of Experience Shined Through!
*
German Fernandez Has Achilles Injury
*Recap On NCAAs From Oregonian
*NCAA Post-Race Interviews: Flotrack
*
NCAA Post-Race Interviews: Trackshark

Women Results: *Team *Individual LRC: *Women's Photos
Kipyego Threepeats Susan Kuijken
tried to make it interesting, but in the end, Sally Kipyego was too good and she became the first woman to win 3 NCAA XC titles. The Washington women got the women's team title as expected.
Only On LetsRun : *Kipyego Is Lucky
*UW Coach Greg Metcalf Says Race Didn't Go According To Plan But Huskies Came Out On Top
*Metcalf: "We should be better next year" (scroll down in article)
*NCAA Post-Race Interviews: Flotrack
*
NCAA Post-Race Interviews: Trackshark

*
LRC: 2008 NCAA Men's XC Championship Preview Rupp vs. Chelanga And Oregon vs. Oklahoma State Headline A Championship For The Ages

*LRC: 2008 NCAA Women's XC Championship Preview Kipyego And Washington Chase History - Others Shoot For The Podium
Recommended Read: Rupp & Kiptoo-Biwott Friendship Fuels Oregon Success
The article for the most part is a profile on Kiptoo-Biwott, who is a father figure to the team and a new father himself.
*
Liberty's Preview of Race
*W. Virginia Women Hope To Respond To Bell Ringing With 1,500 Meters Left
*Terre Haute Tribune Star Preview
*Profile Of Indiana State's Scott Keeney

*
Matt Centrowitz Jr. Reportedly Will Race NCAAs For Oregon *Message Board Thread on Oregon 7
*Oklahoma State Ready For NCAAs - Shooting For Win
*Recommended Read: Dick Patrick's USA Today Sam Chelanga Interview
*Great For The Sport: NCAAs To Be Shown Live In Hayward Field
*Oregon Runner Alex Kosinski Profiled By Eugene Paper

*LRC: World Famous NCAA XC Prediction Contest

More NCAA XC News:

NCAA D2 & D3 XC Nationals
D2
Scott Bauhs Gets Coveted Individual Win As Adams St. Wins Team Titles
*Men's Results *Women's Results
D3 Cortland St. Gets 1st Men's Title As Middlebury Wins Women's
*
32 Page Message Board Thread

Lance Armstrong Gives A Lengthy Interview On His Comeback And Talks About Almost Everything
From politics to doping to fearing for his safety at this year's Tour, Armstrong tells all and the best part is The Guardian has published it all.

*AP Recap of Interview: Armstrong Fears For His Safety
Column: Lance Armstrong should stay away from France
*
Lance Armstrong Claims British Cycling Success Helps Prove His Innocence

2008 ING New York City Marathon *Results *Searchable Results *Video: Men's Highlight Video *Photo Gallery
Women's Race: Paula Dominates Goucher Third
Paula Radcliffe
showed why she's the best marathoner in the world as she dominated the women's field in the second half of the ING NYC Marathon. Radcliffe took a different strategy this year in NY. She led every single step of the way, but she said with the high winds her plan this year was to save something for the end and run negative splits and it showed. She poured it on the final six miles, winning by nearly two minutes. Radcliffe never looked back and said when she turned for the final quarter mile at Columbus Circle, she wasn't even positive she had the race won. American Kara Goucher ran up front for most of the race and had a successful debut in third in 2:25.53 (American debut record). Olympic silver medallist Catherine Ndereba, Dire Tune, Rita Jeptoo and Gete Wami were left in Radcliffe's wake, causing Wami to tie with Irina Mikitenko for the World Marathon title. The World Marathon Major race directors were then left to vote to break the tie. They voted for Mikitenko and just like that she got $500,000 and Wami got nothing.
*Radcliffe Doesn't Look Back En Route To 3rd Win
*Paula Destroys Top-Class Women's Field

*Mikitenko Awarded WMM Prize In Tie-Breaking Vote
*Women's Recap And Race Replays From UniversalSports.com
*
Paula Post-Race Press Comments
On the boards: Wami gets nothing of World Marathon Prize while tying for spot #1
Men's Race: Marilson Gomes Dos Santos Storms From Behind To Win Coming into the 2008 ING NYC Marathon, Abderrahim Goumri had the distinction of being the top marathoner in the world who had never won a marathon (2nd in London in 2007, 3rd in London in 2:05:30 this year, and 2nd in NY last year). On Sunday in NY, he was clear of the field and on his way to what seemed to be his first marathon victory. However, savvy 2006 NY champ Marilson Gomes Dos Santos saved his best for last and stormed from behind in the final mile to overtake Goumri and get the win (afterwards Goumri said a missed fluid bottle might have caused him to run out of steam). Dos Santos ran 1:02 for the second half for a big negative split. Veteran Paul Tergat said he twisted an ankle on the course but returned to action with a fourth place finish. American Abdi Abdirahman led the American charge in 6th place as four Americans were in spots 6, 7, 8 & 10.
*Men's Recap and Race Replays From UniversalSports.com

*Gomes dos Santos Is Going To Disney To Celebrate
*NYT: New York Brazilians Say "Gomes who?"
On the boards: Nate Jenkins at NYC marathon?

Liu Xiang In The News
China's most high-profile athlete is recovering in the United States following surgery to repair his famously-ailing Achilles tendon. Liu's coach came out and stated that he will not compete at outdoor worlds unless he runs 13.20 before the Berlin meet. We found two other interesting bits of news on Liu Xiang, one a video (apparently a Coke commercial) of Houston Rockets and NBA star Yao Ming visiting Liu in his temporary home in Houston and the other an interview with Liu Xuegen, Xiang's father.
*Liu Xiang Will Skip Berlin Worlds Unless Able To Run 13.20
*Coke Ad Where Yao Ming Stops By To See Rehabbing Liu Xiang
*Liu Xiang To Father: "I will get stronger."

UPDATE: Eugene On Short List For Possible Golden League Expansion Sites The Prefontaine Classic is one of a handful of meets the IAAF is considering elevating to Golden League status. Sounds exciting, and it would be great to have more big, international meets on US soil. But we're not sure how realistic this is because the Pre meet is a late spring meet, plus it's like a 12-hour flight from Europe, so how many big stars are really going to be expected to show up? We guess they'll show up if the price is right. Story to be continued ...
Golden League May Expand To 12, But Current Meet Directors Quietly Seem To Express Some Misgivings
Apparently if there is any dispute it is all about one thing - who controls the television money.
*London In The Running For 2010 Golden League Meet BBC

Great XC Action This Weekend:
*Stephanie Twell And Paula Radcliffe Comparison Increasing In Advance Of This Weekend's BUPA Edinburgh XC

*Twell To Face Tough Test At Bupa Great Edinburgh International Cross-Country sport.scotsman.com

*Miler Andrew Baddeley Out To Defend His 4k Crown In Edinburgh

21-Year-Old Dayron Robles Envisions Perfect Indoor Season And World 60m Hurdles Record

Belarusian Hammer Throwing Cheats Appealing Testosterone Suspensions

Zürich May Be Dropped from Golden League Hard to believe as many regard it as the top meet in the world. Maybe it doesn't need the Golden League.

Additions To Salazar's Group: Arianna Lambie And Joaquin Chapa

Brief Chat With Kara Goucher After The ING NYC Marathon

A Great Profile Of 2008 Olympic Heptathlon Champion Natalya Dobrynska IAAF

A Star In the Making?
Eritrea's Samuel Tsegay Shockingly Dominates Spanish XC
The Eritrean, who was 4th in the world junior 10k in 2006, dominated the 4th placer in the 10k from the Olympics, Moses Masai, from start to finish. Linet Masai got the women's win.

More On Steph Twell's Debut Win As Senior On the men's side, former FSU Seminole Andrew Lemoncello was 3rd behind Boniface Kiprop, who surprisingly was beaten.
*
American Emily Brown Was 4th In Ireland Behind Twell
Good to see she's back healthy and racing.

29 Years Later, BUPA Great North Run Is Still The Greatest The race is so great it gets publicity in January when it doesn't take place until September.

Hakone Ekiden Final Results And Recap: 1st Win For Toyo!
Toyo U. Rides Big First Day To Hakone Victory

*Video Highlight Of 2009 Hakone Ekiden

Scintillating First Day Of Hakone Ekiden Surprise Toyo Univ. leads team race. Japan Running News' Brett Larner recaps an amazing first day of action at Japan's biggest sporting event, the Hakone Ekiden. The final leg, 23.4km with 800+ meters elevation gain, was won in 1:17, one of 4 records set on the day. *Hakone Ekiden Video Highlights

Glen Mills Has Found 3 Things To Fix In Bolt's Start For Next Season

Saturday International Action
*Twell And Boniface Kiprop Highlight Saturday XC In Antrim, Ireland
*More Saturday Action: China's Xiamen International Marathon

*Reigning Champion Kiroptich Faces Tough Field In Xiamen

Tadesse Tola Trounces 10k Field In Madrid
Tola Wins Madrid 10k Blazing First Half In 13:36, Morocco's Goumri Only 9th

Kwambai Rings In 2009 With Another Superb Performance As Kenyans Roll Kwambai ran 2:05:36 in Dubai in '08.

Strange, strange, strange: Indian 800m Runner Who Failed Sex Test Is Now Content Coaching

Track and Field Goes 2 for 2!
Bolt Narrowly Voted Sportsman Of The Year By International Media - Isinbayeva Is Sportswoman Of The Year
Bolt edged Michael Phelps
on men's side and 800m sensation Pamela Jelimo was a distant 2nd on women's side. Seems like a fitting ending to a great year in track and field.

Global New Year's Eve/New Year's Day Race Results
*NYC Quigley Takes Down Olinger At Emerald Nuts Midnight Run Through Central Park *
Emerald Nuts Thread
*Italy Edwin Soi Over Lebid, Gharib And Baldini In Bolzano, Galkina Samitova Takes Women's 5k
*Japan Fujitsu Wins New Year Ekiden - Resu
lts and Recap
*Brazil Kwambai And Yimer Win In Sao Paolo
*Portugal Merga And Felix Win In Amadora

British Press: Let's Turn The UK Athletics Ship Around It's not nearly as easy to dominate the world in track as it is in sailing and rowing.

Once A Runner Re-Released *LRC Thread

11 Bulgarian Weighlifters Tested Positive Before Olympics
DRUGS: Bulgarian Champion Sprinter
Tezzhan Naimova Earns Two-Year Drug Ban
Olympian Tezzhan Naimova is a big name in Bulgaria, but now has become infamous after admitting guilt for manipulating her urine samples just as a large group of Russian women were. She won the World Junior Championship 100m and 200m in 2006. Enough is enough; the IAAF should get the urine manipulators - perhaps the most audacious cheats of all - out of the sport for good.

*Three Bulgarians Test Positive, Receive 2-Year Bans
*Top Bulgarian
Sprinter Drug Cheat Naimova's Stats
*Message Board Thread

The Kenyan XC Trials Are Approaching
*Competition For World XC Spots Will Be Extra Tough This Year Thanks To IAAF Rule Changes
Only six competitors are allowed per race; kind of sad to see the numbers cut down on the men's side.
*Coach Julius Kirwa Thinks Team Will Be Better In '09 Than '08 No post-election violence this year, plus a lot of junior studs are moving up to the senior ranks.

British News:
The Big Female Hope
Stephanie Twell Honored By Radcliffe Comparisons And Excited To Move Up To Senior Ranks
She almost made the Olympic final as a teenager.
*
Twell Facing American Emily Brown And Plenty Of Tough African Competition On Saturday In Antrim, Ireland Boniface Kiprop leads the men's field.
The Big Male Hope
Ian Stewart And UK Placing Their Distance Hopes On Mo Farah's Shoulders

Christine Ohuruogu Honored As MBE As Other Athletes Get Bigger Honors Triple Gold Medallist Chris Hoy was knighted.

Avoid The Seven Deadly Sins Of Running Technique

A Bona Fide Star: Everyone's Excited For Jelimo's Indoor Debut

Team Discovery LETSRUN?
One we missed (but you guys didn't!) and came across today: 2 relatively untrained Kenyans cycled Alpe d'Huez in August (in sick times). It would be fascinating to see Kenyans and Ethiopians emerge on the European cycling scene in 2009.
*Kenyan Cyclists On The Way
*More On Kenyan Cyclists Zakayo Nderi And Samwel Mwangi
*Results Of The Kenyans' Alpe d'Huez Time Trial
LRC Thread From August: Kenyans on Bikes

Olinger And Dobriskey To Run Emerald's Midnight Run In Central Park

Italy's New Year's Eve BOClassic Preview

*2008 IAAF Grand Prix Review
*2008 Sprints Review
It was an amazing year in the sprints and the IAAF does a great job of placing 2008 in proper historical perspective. Times were certainly fast, but rather than the whole world getting faster, the time drops came mostly from the tiny nation of Jamaica. More from '08: Bolt's 100m Is The Independent's 5th Greatest Moment Of The Year

Catch Up With Two American Track Stars
*Scott Bush Interviews Khadevis Robinson
Almost the quote of the day from the best interview in track, KD: "Have I bounced back? Bounced back from what? I was never down." He was .06 seconds from making the Olympics.

*Extensive Profile Of Golden USA Hurdler Dawn Harper

Tour The House That 26 World Records Built - Haile G's Mansion

Recommended Read: Extensive Preview Of Japan's Biggest Sporting Event - The 85th Hakone Ekiden Most letsrun.com visitors don't realize how big this Ekiden (and many others) are in Japan. Live national television for hours.
*The History Of Hakone Ekiden

IAAF Year In Review: Long Distances The number of women's 5kers sub-15:00 is holding steady. The US men are #3 in the 10k and the steeple. IAAF
*
NEW IAAF's 2008 Mid Distance Review
*IAAF Year In Review: Marathon IAAF
*Year In Review: European Long Distance
On the boards: WOW, U.S. Steeple talent worse than it was 25 years ago

Recommended Read: The Best Article Yet On Bolt's 100m Olympic Race

Interesting Article On Barack Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder, NFL Attorney In Steroid Scandals

Best-Selling Author Nick Sparks Making Waves In Track And Field In New Bern, NC Author has donated $1mil (and he coaches) to the local track and field scene to help get kids off and running.

Recommended Read: Phenom Marathoner Sammy Wanjiru Interviewed Sammy talks in depth about his training, his mental preparations for Beijing, his thoughts during the record-setting race, and his future. On the boards: New Wanjiru Interview

Quote Of The Year?:
"The reason I'm telling you this is that I didn't want to miss a day's training. I always tell young athletes the same thing, 'Wherever you go, whatever you do, what must your top priority be? Running.' In my life I do a lot of things but I never forget my training. Athletics is in my blood. The top priority must always be training, training. This is a discipline. You have to do it." - the one, the only, the legend, Haile Gebrselassie, commenting in a great Telegraph profile on how he still manages to be a world beater now that he's a business king in Ethiopia. Geb, who employs 500 people in his Ethiopian businesses, amazingly now has a 14.5 hour work day as he runs before and after a full day in the office.

Britian Announces New World Championship Qualifying Procedures A win at nationals and an A standard guarantee one a spot.

A Few Days In The Life Of Usain Bolt
*Bolt Voted L'Équipe's Athlete Of The Year
Surprise! American Michael Phelps not #1 in the French's eyes.
*Usain Bolt Sits Courtside At Best Bud Garnett's Celtics Game
*Bolt: Jamaica's Got Tons Of Talent
He's not wrong.
*Bolt Test Drives Ferrari F430 Spider

Move Over Dean K!! Lawyer Breaks Guinness World Record, Runs 105 Marathons In 2008 It wasn't even Dean's record, but still this is actually pretty impressive, especially considering the guy is in his 60s.

Freshmen Foot Locker Sensations
*Best Freshman Boy Ever: Zeinasellassie 7th At Foot Lockers As 9th Grader
*Article On Freshman Danielle Menlove's All-American Foot Locker Performance

Interesting Read:
NYC's Village Voice Writes Unbelievable 4,000 Word Piece On The Difficult Life Kenyan Road Racers Face Trying To Scrape By
A lot of attention given to Westchester Track Club and Mike Barnow. You can check out their club website here.

Golden League Jackpot Events Announced - Women To Receive Same Number As Men The men's 100m is included to entice Usain Bolt as are the men's 3ks and 5ks. No distance events on the women's side.

Review Of Toby Tanser's New Book On Kenyan Distance Runners

Bernard Lagat To Press For 7th Wanamaker Mile And Tie Coghlan

America's Biggest Distance Star Ryan Hall Summarizes His 2008

Dutch Physiotherapist Hilda Kibet Thrilled With European Cross Victory

Great Doping News
USAToday Profiles The Two GMU Rock Star Profs Who Invented The Urine HGH Test The two apparently are the biggest stars at GMU. They make $250,000 a year (pre-royalties) and had a $2-3 million lab built just for them. The test isn't out yet. *Original article on test from July here.

Thanks To Russian Sting, Reuters Says 2008 Was A Good Year For Drug Testers In addition to the sting, a test for CERA came out and it was a pretty good year on the anti-doping front. This article is a recommended read for sure.

Usain Bolt News
*
Bolt Honored As L'Equipe's Athlete Of Year
Phelps 2nd, Nadal 3rd.
*
British Sprinter Tyrone Edgar With His 10.06 PB Says Usain Bolt Can Be Beaten
*
Usain Bolt Starts Own Clothing Line
Bolt's clothing line can be found here at Sun Island Jamaica Limited. We'd love to know what PUMA thinks of it all.

Athletes 1 - Athletics Kenya 0
Athletics Kenya Backtracks On Making Athletes Run 4 of 7 Domestic XC Races To Be Eligible For World XC

Gregory Konchellah, aka Youssef Saad Kamel, Counting His Losses & Getting Ready For Indoors. He hopes to compete for Kenya at Worlds. All we can say is don't count on it.

Athletics Kenya Using Death In Brazil As Good Reason To Reign In Rogue Managers We certainly think there are rogue managers but we also imagine AK will want a cut of the $$$ as well.

Boston lands another top American, this time for the women's race: Kara Goucher To Run Boston In 2009
On The Boards: Kara Goucher to run Boston Kara joins Ryan Hall as a legitimate American contender for the Boston win in 2009. Remember, no American female has won Boston since Lisa Larsen-Weidenbach in 1985. Boston - as far as depth of talent - may be a JV race compared to London, but Boston's name means a lot to the average American (regardless of which international elites compete) and Boston's strategy seems to be pool its limited money to try to have a good shot at an American winner.

A Must Read: Martin Lel Reveals A Ton And Is Poised For World Record Run This article is great as Lel reveals that he was coming back from malaria and an amoeba attack and therefore he wants to thank God for his "incredible" 2:10 Olympic performance. Lel also reveals that Sammy Wanjiru has him thinking of the world record. In the same article, Robert Cheruyiot announces he's now Muslim.

Great Interview Radcliffe On the Run: A Journalist Goes Running With Paula Radcliffe And She Shares Her Secrets She tells you how to get out of a mental bad patch.

USATF Club XC Nationals: Scott Bauhs Over Andrew Carlson
Club Nats Results
*USATF Club Cross Recap
Bauhs has always been a blue collar runner and it showed in the snowy conditions (check out this video) in Spokane as he prevailed over Andrew Carlson, who was an emerging star in 2008 (US 15k title and runner-up at 8k).

Women: Rebecca Donaghue Of New Balance Boston Over Toni Salucci
*Message Board Thread On Races

Pretty Good News:
Delaware Makes Indoor Track
A Club Sport But To Keep Outdoor And XC

Honolulu Marathon This Sunday
*Jimmy Muindi Going For Lucky #7 In Honolulu But Will Be Tested By Former Chicago Champ Patrick Ivuti
*Inspired by Wanjiru: Red Sox All-Star Reliever Hideki Okajima Registered To Run Honolulu Marathon This guy is going to be in good shape for spring training!

Great Team And Individual Races On Tap For USA Club Nationals This Weekend Bauhs vs. Sell, Hanson's vs. Oregon Track Club, Bowerman & McMillan.
*Official USATF Club National Thread

Yuusef Saad Kamel Claims Bahrainis Lied About His Age So He Could Run Junior Races According to him they changed his birthdate from 1983 to 1987.

Juan Carlos Higuero Aiming For Sub-3:30 And World Champ Medal In 2008

500 Beijing Blood Samples To Be Retested - 400 for Cera and 100 for insulin.

More On Yamauchi's Possible Switch To Skiing

Article On Calibrating Road Races - They have to be within 17 meters on a half marathon course.

Shocker: Usain Bolt Jamaica Athlete Of Year

2:45 Wins Peace Marathon In Rwanda 3,000 showed up.

Half Marathoner Finds Dead Body In Louisiana

Great Read: Old School Japanese Coach Dismayed At Gap Between Kebede And Top Japanese At Fukuoka Three Sub-2:10s would probably be rejoiced in America.

Is it too much to ask Geb to race someone instead of going for a WR every race?
Geb Aims To Recapture World Half Marathon Record In March In The Netherlands At The Fortis City-Pier-City

Former Colorado All American Erik Heinonen Who Helped Colorado Win 2006 NCAA Title In Peace Corps In Moldova Hoping To Build A Local Track

Berlin's 2009 World Championship Marathon Will Be First To Start And Finish Outside Stadium

Toby Tanser & Shoe4Africa Get Some Nice Press

Liu Xiang May Return In May

Results From Wincanton Montferland 15k In Netherlands (Men Close In 13:47)

Still Rolling After NCAA XC
Va Tech's Tasmin Fanning Runs 9:08 3k Indoors At Altitude

Big High School Saturday: Foot Locker West And NXNs
Jordan Hasay
won her 4th consecutive Foot Locker West crown, becoming the first high schooler to win their regional 4 times. At NXNs, the big story was the Manlius girls winning their third team title in a row while the Elmhurst boys (better known as York) fell short of Spokane (WA) 134-151 on the boy's side.

*Jordan Hasay Wins 4th Consecutive Foot Locker West Regional

*NXNs: Spokane (Men's) And Manlius (Women's)
*FM Girls Win Third NXN Title In A Row

*Boys NXN Photos *NXN Girls Photos

Sunday's International XC And Road Action
*Ethiopians Dominate Men's Side Of Spanish XC Race
*Kenyan Marathon Run In 98 Degree Weather, Top-3 Finishers Run 2:22

*Lisbon Marathon Results
*Las Vegas Local (Ethiopian) Wins Vegas Marathon In 2:27
*California International Marathon Results
(6 Under 2:20 on downhill course)

New WADA Testing Rules For 2009 The big change is the 60-minute rule. This rule stipulates that athletes on WADA's testing list must provide the agency with a 60-minute window every day where they can be found and tested. We're all for the most effective testing methods but this seems like a total pain.

News From America And The UK
*UK Athletics Signs Extended Deal With BBC To Televise Track Meets
*USOC To Increase Spending On Athletes By 12%
In Britain they're cutting funding for athletes, but at least the meets are on TV. Here we can't get the meets live, but at least the athletes are getting funding.

USATF News
Stephanie Hightower Elected USATF President
Some are upset, some are pleased, but this post on the message board probably tells most people's views: "Who cares? I'm not a USATF member, and my nine mile run this morning felt great."
*USATF Enacts Restructuring
Details of the restructuring can be found in this press release here from USATF, which says the board had been cut from a ridiculous 31 to 15.
*
Bill Roe Opens USATF Annual Meeting
LRC: USATF "Run Amuck" And The USATF Presidential Election
The Finalsprint.com has done a 7-part series on the dysfunction in USATF. LetsRun.com's Wejo finally took a read of it and gives his snyopsis, thoughts, and criticism of the piece and a few thoughts on USATF.

A LetsRun.com Thumbs Up
Children's Running Book Review
LRC reviews Kids Running and our guest reviewer says, "I can say with full confidence that it is perhaps the best children's running book of 2008."


Usain Bolt Answers Carl Lewis' Doping Questions In Interview

LetsRun.com Boston 08 LetsRun.com Party Photos The party hosted by Puma was a smashing success. A packed house, as those passionate about running (from ages 5 to 65+) came to celebrate a great weekend in Boston. LetsRun.com fans celebrated with Rojo, Wejo, Matt Taylor, and a few legends in the sport, including former marathon world record holder Steve Jones and Olympic Silver Medallist Sonia O'Sullivan. The Harpoon beer was flowing, DJ Inkognito kept things going and contrary to popular opinion, there was a healthy mix of males and females. The reviews were excellent. "It's refreshing not to see the same 50 people (industry insiders) at a party." "Most favorable female-to-male ratio I've seen in a long time."

101 Years Old, Still Smoking, Running and Drinking: Buster Martin: "I'm not worried about the fags because I'll carry them with me. Everyone says smoking kills but it's taking a long time in my case." The 101-year-old legend plans on smoking while running Sunday's London Marathon.

LetsRun.com 2007 Worlds Coverage:
*Sunday's Homepage
Ndereba marathon
*Saturday's Homepage
*Friday's Homepage Tyson Gay
*Thursday's Homepage Lagat
*
Wednesday's Homepage Lagat
*
Tuesday's Homepage Bekele 10k
*
Monday's Homepage Tyson Gay
*
Sunday's Homepage Dibaba/Goucher 10k
*Saturday's Homepage
Kibet Marathon

LetsRun.com London Men: Lel Leads 3 Under 2:05:30!!!, Ryan Hall 2:06:17
Ryan Hall Goes Through Halfway on World Record Pace
The 2008 Flora London Marathon will be remembered for a long time. The lead pack of 9 went through 5k at 14:21 (2:01 pace). They continued together (yes, all 9) through halfway on world record pace (1:02:13). Ryan Hall then went to the front soon after and asked the pacemakers to go FASTER. Soon Hall was off the back, but he would catch the leaders briefly again and go on to run 2:06:17. Until Sunday, only 7 guys had ever run under 2:06:15, now 11 have. Up front, it came down to a 3-man battle over the final mile before Martin Lel got his 3rd straight World Marathon Major win over the final quarter mile as he led 6 guys under 2:07 and to $50,000 bonuses each. Recap, photos, video above

This Guy Has Totally Won Back Our Respect

Maasai Warriors Finish Marathon link fixed One of them went back to the course and finished the race a day after being forced to go the hospital after a ceremonial wrap cut off his circulation. He said, "It was very important for me to do this. This is what I came to England for."

LetsRun.com Ryan Hall Reflects On His Incredible Run
We tell you (and let you watch) what Ryan, his dad, his granddad, his coach and even Martin Lel had to say about Ryan. Lel was full of praise for the American and shocked by Ryan's attempt to get the pacemakers to go even faster. If Hall didn't already have your respect, he does after reading this article, as he pays homage to a throwback type of guy - Steve Jones. Text and Video.
LetsRun.com Video: R
yan Hall Talks About His 2:06:17 at the 2008 Flora London Marathon
*More LRC London Videos Here
*
Photo Gallery

LetsRun.com Rojo's Tour of China, Part 1 - Hanging Out With Usain Bolt
Rojo went to the Puma Party put on for Usain Bolt. Open bar, Chinese dancers putting on their best sorority girl imitations, and then Rojo going 1-on-1 with Bolt. Rojo actually asked Usain about moving up to the 800m. Bolt hinted the Jamaicans want him to run the 4 x 400m. More importantly, Bolt apologized for visiting Facebook instead of LetsRun.com.

2008 real,- BERLIN MARATHON - Watch Video Highlight or Race Replay *Results *Photos
Haile G. 2:03:59!!! Mititenko 4th Fastest Woman Ever Haile Gebrselassie
made more history Sunday on the streets of Berlin. After going through the halfway point in 1:02:04, Haile continued to flirt with world record pace but was stalked by Boston runner-up James Kwambai. Haile threw down the gauntlet the last 7km to dispatch Kwambai and just dip under the 2:04 barrier. On the women's side, German star Irina Mikitenko ran a brilliant race, running a negative split to smash the 2:20 barrier and become the fourth fastest woman ever.
*
Geb: "I can go faster."
*
The Science Of Sport Analyzed Geb's Splits As The Race Unfolded link fixed
*Geb's Record in Berlin Is His 24th World Record (or 26th depending on who is counting)
*Mikitenko Moves Into Tie in World Marathon Majors Standings Gete Wami must finish 2nd or higher in New York to move ahead. If she doesn't, they will be tied (and tied in the tie-breakers) so they might share the title. *Washington Post Article on WMM
*Falk Cierpinski, son of Waldemer Cierpinski, 2:13 in Berlin
On the boards:

*
Wanjiru's Olympics > Geb's WR
*
Haile's Splits from Berlin. ... how far could you run with him??
*
Live Message Board Thread

Track Coach Mike Holloway Works On Florida's Football Players' Speed