Quote Of The Day

"For me, money is an ingredient that makes things interesting. Without salt, you can not consume food properly. Without money, sport does not mean anything to those who win the races. It is very important."

- Kenenisa Bekele in an in-depth look at his monetary earnings from running by Fortune magazine, based in Addis. Read more about Bekele and his astounding 5,000m and 10,000m win streaks in our Week That Was.

Olympics Day 15 - Athletics LRC The Week That Was - Week 36 - For the 2nd-straight week, an American broke 13:00-flat in the 5k (isn't it fun to write that?), for the first time in a long time someone almost broke 1:42.00, and Anna Willard staked her claim to the #1 US ranking at 800 meters. Plus, the Golden League concluded with great runs by Bekele, Richards and Bolt, while the Caster Semenya story got crazier and crazier.

Kenyan News
*Brother Colm O'Connell Says David Rudisha Can Break Kipketer's 800m Record And he should know considering he's coached so many of their great runners at St. Patrick's.
*Kenyan Press Blasts Some Kenyan Runners For Not Talking To The Kenyan Press They were willing to talk to LetsRun.com! Janeth Jepkosgei here, Asbel Kiprop here, and of course a hilarious Ezekiel Kemboi here.
*Kenyans Concerned With Athletes Defecting (Smuggled?) To Qatar And Bahrain

Unexpected News: Shalane Flanagan Volunteer Coaching At UNC This Fall This might be good "down-time" for the normally very focused multiple American record holder. She had been training with Jerry Shumacher and the Wisconsin boys in Portland. LRC co-founder Wejo interviewed her after her disappointing 10k in Berlin (see the interview here).

Lawyer Who Leaked BALCO Details To Chronicle Reporters While Representing Conte Is Out Of Jail

Great LetsRun.com Offer 10% Off AND Free Shipping From RoadRunner Sports Click Here

LRC Recap: Bolt Does It Again In Brussels

Track & Field First? Bolt Reportedly Receiving US $500,000 To Race In Daegu, South Korea We understand paying a top marathoner a half a mil to run twice a year, but this is rarified air for a 10-second race. Daegu is hosting the 2011 World Championships (we can't get over what a bad idea that is), so the more excitement he brings, the better.

Olympics Day 16 - AthleticsLRC Ritz Speaks USATF held a teleconference with Dathan Ritzenhein Tuesday afternoon and we quickly give you the highlights. We tell you what Ritz had to say about new coach Alberto Salazar and what event Ritz will focus on for 2012. Plus we tell you what Ritz's next race will be. Is an American 10k record run a possibility?

Ian O'Riordan Column:  "Berlin restored a lot of people's faith and interest in the sport ..." But will it all go to waste?

LRC: Dathan Ritzenhein Breaks Bob Kennedy's American 5,000m Record In Zürich Amazed? So are we.

Peter Kamais Runs 27:09 To Win Tilburg 10k In The Netherlands!

London: *Cheruiyot Over Masai - Paula's Record Stands In Hyde Park 5k

US: *
Elite New Haven 20k Entrants New Haven is on Monday, Labor Day. The men's field seems to be deep and even, the women's field is led by returning champion Jill Swope (Steffens) and Magdalena Boulet. *3 Team USA Minnesota Runners Head To New Haven *Elva Dryer Interview *2008 New Haven Results

IAAF Golden league  LRC Recap Bolt Does It Again In Brussels Usain Bolt thrilled a capacity crowd in Brussels on the final leg of the Golden League tour. He ran 19.57, but it was the enormous margin of victory and apparent ease that were so wonderful to watch. We recap almost every event, including a win for Anna Willard, 8:14 for Dan Huling, the oldest world record on the books going down, and 48.83 for Super Sanya as all three Jackpot contenders won.
*Usain Bolt Runs 4th-Fastest 200m In History In Brussels
*Sanya Richards, Yelena Isinbayeva And Kenenisa Bekele Secure 6 Golden League Wins And 1/3 Of A Million Each
*Review The Brilliant Seasons Of The Golden League Winners Sanya Richards was incredibly dominant, ditto for Bekele, and Isinbayeva set a new world record in her up-and-down season that included a no-height at WCs.
*LRC Boards: ESPN discussion: Usain Bolt's potential as wide receiver

International News - Brussels, Japan And Jamaica

*Runner's Tribe Was In Brussels And Did A Bunch Of Video Interviews
*Japanese Runners Line Up For Fall And Winter Marathons Promising young marathoner Kensuke Takahashi will run Berlin, while Yuri Kano will run NYC.
*Over 300,000 Sign Up For Tokyo Marathon And 10k It's almost like you're in the minority if you aren't running a marathon.
*JAAA Struggling To Provide Documents To Prove They Mandated Sprint Group's Participation In Pre-Berlin Camp If the Jamaicans succeeded in banning the six MVP track club sprinters from Berlin - a fiasco the IAAF prevented - they would have lost the men's 100m bronze, the women's 400m hurdles gold, the women's 100m silver and the 100m hurdles bronze.

Another Shocker From An American Distance Runner! Dramatic Final Leg Of The Golden League - Memorial van Damme From Brussels *Results

Paula Radcliffe To Run World Half Marathon Paula R, the women's marathon WR setter at an amazing 2:15, will suit up for Great Britain on her home soil in Birmingham. The race is October 11 and also will feature Dathan Ritzenhein of the US.

Recommended Read: Addis Fortune Magazine Takes A Close Look At Kenenisa Bekele's Monetary Earnings This is a really fascinating article as it gives you an idea of how money inspires Bekele and the huge monetary difference between being the world's best distance runner and the world's best golfer (or even the world's best sprinter).

Caster Semenya Results Are In ...

12th IAAF World Athletics Championships - Day Three *Too Close To Call: Semenya Results Must Be Given To Independent Agency For Further Investigation We say "tie goes to the runner" and leave her alone.
*Awesome Semenya Quote: "God made me the way I am and I accept myself. I am who I am and I'm proud of myself." Of course, this quote goes along with a fashion "makeover" for the biggest English language magazine in Africa, but we don't blame her for cashing in on her celebrity.
*IAAF: "No Matter What The Gender Results Say, Semenya Can Keep Her Medal."
New:
Caster Semenya's YOU Homepage Makeover Photos
*Excellent Journalist Mike Hurst Weighs In On Caster Semenya's Coach And Doping Past

*Return Of The Road Warriors! Sammy Wanjiru To Race Sammy Kitwara In Sep 13 Rotterdam Half Marathon The 22-year-olds get to duke it out. Yes, they would be redshirt juniors if they were in college in the US.

Colleen DeReuck And McMillan Elite's Brett Gotcher Win New Haven Road Race *USATF Press Release Brett Gotcher got his first-ever US title in a sprint finish over fellow Flagstaff resident Mo Trafeh while DeReuck, 45 years young, set an age group world record by 7 minutes in an astounding 67-minute win. Rojo-coached Zac Hine ran well in the LetsRun.com singlet to get 13th with a strong 1:00:47 in his first post-collegiate race.

Sad News: UCSD Pole Vaulter Leon Roach Dies In Vaulting Accident

NCAA XC Gets Underway And The Freshmen Are Eager To Show Their Stuff

Track and Field: Nike Outdoor Nationals *2008 Nike XC Champion Reed Conner Wins By A Mile In First Meet For Badgers Impressive win for Wisco coach Mick Byrne's freshman.
*Arkansas Razorback Solomon Haile Comes Out Of The Gate Strongly With A 23-Second Victory Over His Teammates *Video Of Solomon Haile After The Race Coach Bucknam and Solomon Haile spoke after the opening race.
*Next Foot Locker Champ? HSer Lukas Verzbicas Opens With 1-Minute Win
*Jacob Kirwa Gets Massive Win In New Mexico Jacob Kirwa smashed the field and Nicodemus Ngetich by 54 seconds. New Mexico season preview where they talk about how conference foe BYU should be worried about their team.
*Michigan And Their Two New Zealand Freshmen Open Season At Home
*Bill Matthews Runs First Race As Georgia Bulldog
*Adams State Opens Up With Big Wins
*Pre's Run Kicks Off Oregon's Season

USA Track and Field National Championships LRC 12:58.56 For Matt Tegenkamp In Brussels It took only 8 days for Matt Tegenkamp and Dathan Ritzenhein to shatter the 13:00 barrier in an awesome 1-2 punch for American distance runners.

Recommended Read: Kenny Moore On Andrew Wheating's "Out Of Nowhere" Quest To Become The Next Great 1,500m Champion Kenny Moore, one of our favorite running authors, wrote a long piece for Runner's World on the improbable rise of Andrew Wheating from soccer player in Vermont discovered by a former Nike exec to Olympian who is only just getting started. To read our review of Moore's "Best Efforts," click here.

IAAF Golden League Brussels David Rudisha Sets African Record 1:42.01 800m In Rieti! 20-year-old Kenyan leads three men under 1:43 and now sits behind only Wilson Kipketer, Seb Coe and Joaquim Cruz on the all-time 800m list.
*David Rudisha, Son Of Olympic 4 x 400m Medalist Daniel Rudisha, Surprises With 1:42.01 The Nation - Kenya
*Boards: Leo Manzano Pr's Again - All 3's 3:33.33
*Results

Virginia: *William Chebor And Abebu Gelan Win Rock 'n' Roll VA Beach *Results *LRC:
Photos From Virginia Beach

Mary Keitany Runs 67:00 Half Marathon In Lille
3 men broke 60 minutes as well. Mary Keitany is one of the fastest-ever women's half marathoners with a personal best of 1:06:48.

12th IAAF World Athletics Championships - Day Three Bolt Vs. Bekele Match Race In The Works When and where? We are not going to miss this. They should have it in Beaver Stadium or the Rose Bowl and see if they can sell 100,000 tickets. The most dominant sprinter and most dominant distance runner of all time are willing to run a match race at a distance between 600m and 800m in 2010. Their agents ... that may be a different story.
< 19.00 ? Bolt Says 200m Record Will Be Easier To Lower Than 100m

You'll Enjoy This
*LetsRun.com Homepage From 8 Years Ago HS senior Alan Webb was on the front page of the Washington Post and had just defeated Ryan Hall in a mile race, an email campaign was on to save UVA Men's track and message board posters were wondering if all the marathon courses in the '80s were short.
*How 20 Popular Websites Looked When Launched They must have forgotten to add LetsRun.com to the world's most popular website list.

Latest Photo Albums From PhotoRun.net

  • LRC Zürich Photo Album - Beautiful photos of Yelena Isinbayeva setting the new pole vault world record at 5.06m, Ken Bekele after his 16th-consecutive 5,000m win, and the great Usain Bolt being carted into the stadium (literally, he is in a human-drawn cart reminiscent of Roman Emperors).
  • LRC Rieti Photo Album - This daytime meet produced the fastest 800m run in over 12 years thanks to 20-year-old Kenyan David Rudisha. Plus see pics of Asafa Powell having fun winning thanks to Usain Bolt taking a rest.
  • LRC RNR Va Beach 1/2 Marathon Photo Album - Photos from the team battle in Virginia Beach on Labor Day weekend.
  • LRC Vlašić Vs. Friedrich Photo Album - Currently, the most glamorous event in the world is probably the women's high jump. These photos show the Vlašić/Friedrich battle from Berlin, as the crowd tried to spur the German to victory over the Croatian.

Matt Tegenkamp Gives Credit To Ritz And Americans In Post-Race Interview

Funny Interview With Kenyan 19-Year-Old Nixon Chepseba

Semenya Returns Home To A Celebration

Recommended Reads

One for the Mind: Running Within
One for the Soul: Best Efforts

Bolt On Cover Of Sports Illustrated

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