Quote Of The Day

"When you turn down New York, you'd better be sure you're right for a number of reasons"
- Chevron Houston Marathon director Steven Karpas on Houston winning the right to host the 2012 Men's and Women's Olympic Marathon Trials over New York and Boston.

USATF Olympic Marathon Decision Goes To The Underdogs

LRC The Inside Story: How Houston Beat Out New York Out For The Right To Host The 2012 US Olympic Marathon Trials The Chevron Houston Marathon will celebrate its 40th anniversary in grand style by hosting the men's and women's Olympic Marathon Trials. Nine years ago, this once-proud race which had hosted the 1992 Olympic Marathon Trials and had Bill Rodgers as a former champion dropped prize money and seemed to be on its way to exiting the national stage. Now Houston is on top of the US running world. Read how it happened and get some more details on the 2012 Trials.

More: Houston Chronicle Article on Trials Going to Houston

*A U.S. First: Houston Chosen As Host Site For Both Men's And Women's 2012 Olympic Trials Marathons

Stat Of The Day: Mike Morgan's 6th Place In New Orleans Is The 8th Kenyan American Sub-63:00 Already In 2010

*8 Americans Under 63:00 Through February 2010 All in Houston except Trafeh and Morgan.
Stephen Shay, Mohamed Trafeh, Tim Nelson, Brent Vaughn, Patrick Smyth, Antonio Vega, Mike Morgan
*9 Americans Under 63:00 In Half Marathon In 2009
Abdi, Vega, Bizuneh, Sell, Carlson, Gotcher, Hall, Meb, Ritz
*Stats courtesy IAAF

More From Houston: Houston's Sean Wade, 44, Runs 31:27 For 8th Rodeo 10k Win

Import Draughts - $7.00

Thursday In Melbourne: Willis vs. Kiprop In 1,500; Rudisha vs. Gregson In 800
NZL's Nick Willis and Kenya's Asbel Kiprop both got moved up in the 2008 Olympics after Rashid Ramzi got "Dairy Queened." 1:42.01 man David Rudisha comes up to the 800 after a nice 400, while teenager Ryan Gregson moves down after his 3:35 PR in Sydney on Saturday.
*LRC Boards: Ryan Gregson 3:35
(Photo of Ryan Gregson by RunnersTribe.com)

Kenyan Junior XC Champ Charlie Chebet Talks World XC Nobody pressurizes the World XC meet more than the Kenyans!

World's Best 10k

Moses Masai And Vivian Cheruiyot Win World's Best 10k Titles As Masai Picks Up $35,000 For His Efforts Masai ran 27:19 in Puerto Rico on the roads, easily defeating former course record holder Sammy Kitwara. Cheruiyot (world 5k champ) was in a duel with world half marathon champ Mary Keitany.

Mardi Gras Half Marathon *Results

Lel (61:07) Returns To Defeat Sub-Par Wanjiru, Adere (67:52) Wins Close Race Over Kim Smith (67:55) Adere and Smith ran the fastest times ever on American soil. Lel and Wanjiru will square off again in London.

On the boards: Shadrack Kiptoo Biwott Fantastic Run Biwott, the former Oregon runner, was only 7 seconds behind Wanjiru in 3rd. Biwott is the brother of 2:04:27 marathoner Duncan Kibet. Now that Biwott is out of school, he was faced with 2 options since he is not yet an American (and can't get American only prize money): 1) get really good really fast or 2) realize running doesn't pay that well unless you're running really fast. We praised him last month for winning 3 races in 24 hours, which showed he needed the money.

It's Not Fair Anymore

IAAF World Athletics Final - Day 2Bolt 400m! 43.58 Relay Split In February Michael Johnson is somewhere weeping.

*LRC Message Boards: Bolt 400!

Tokyo Marathon - Cold, Rainy And Windy

Recap Of Tokyo Marathon - Fujiwara Wins In Tough Conditions Brett Larner recaps from Tokyo, where the weather was horrible. Men's race was still won in 2:12.

More Weekend Action

Dathan Ritzenhein Out Due To Injury And Virus

Ritz Pulls Out Of World XC! A nagging foot injury and a stomach virus are the problems. Oregonian article above. Ritz is also out of San Juan's World's Best 10k.
*Message board thread here.

Sydney Classic A Ray Of Outdoor Track Sunshine

Sydney Athletics Grand Prix Ryan Gregson 3:35 19-year-old Ryan Gregson took his 1,500m PR down 2 seconds thanks to a 53 second final 400m.

David Rudisha 45.5 400m. Making The 400/800 Man Stylish Again
Kenyan phenom David Rudisha ran 1:42.01 last year and is exciting fans with his work in the 400m.

*Gregson On The Race And His Training:
Aussie Phenom Continues Romp: Ryan Gregson Wins Sydney 1,500 In PR 3:35.42
*Recap Of Entire Sydney Classic - Hooker, Vili And Samuels Impress In Field Events

4-Time Champion Catherine Ndereba Excited To Return To Boston For Try At #5 Last year, there were conflicting reports about why she didn't run Boston.

HGH Test Success May Send Shivers Through Many Athletes Many people don't know that there had never been a positive test for HGH until last week despite insiders saying it has been a widely-used drug by athletes.

LRC Stronger 2010 Boston Marathon Fields Finalized We've spent years ripping the lack of quality in the Boston fields but are actually fairly impressed for 2010. Boston is expecting more sub-2:07 guys than London this year and Meb Keflezighi has only the 17th-best PR of those expected to race.

Absolutely Great And Absolutely Atrocious NCAA Track News

Seton Hall Shock: We're Cutting Track Completely 38-year coach John Moon and his team were asked to attend a meeting where they were told Seton Hall would be cutting men's and women's track and field at the end of this season, in order to save money. "The Hall" has been known for excellent 4 x 400m and 4 x 800m teams and Moon has coached 71 All-Americans and 19 Olympians along with helping coach the US Olympic track team.
*Poignant: Junior Chris Cox Is Big East Athlete Of The Week

NCAA And PAC-10 Make Gutsy Decision And Allow Oregon State Athletes To Compete At League And NCAA Championships! We applaud all involved in this situation for doing the right thing and allowing kids at a school without a program to compete at the big championship meets if they meet the qualifying marks.
*Recommended Read: Oregon State Football Players Ask School If They Can Do Track

Recommended Read: Wesley Korir Profile If you are having a bad day at work, read this and realize what life is really about.

LRC The Week That Was In Running Feb 22-28, 2010 - This week we hand out praise to underdog US female runners, heavily-favored US male runnersUsain Bolt, Ryan Gregson, Martin Lel, Kim Smith and Japanese marathoners while we give a Thumbs Down to Kenya.
IAAF World Athletics Final - Day 2 Along the way, we wonder why we can't purchase a Mercedes for less than a quarter and then we actually give out praise to the Boston marathon and wonder if they are finally narrowing the gap with London.

Coming Thursday LRC Training Talk #5 with John Cook The coach of many of the US's top mid-d pros including world championship bronze medallist Shannon Rowbury and the former coach of Olympic 10k bronze medallist Shalane Flanagan will be our featured guest on Thursday (time TBD). Email us your questions ahead of time.

USA Indoors Saturday & Sunday In Albuquerque
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Results *Day 1 Race-By-Race Distance Recap *Day 2 Distance Recap Miracle: Watch A Replay Of The USATF Meet On ESPN360 (Verizon, AT&T, Charter, .Edus, Military Bases And Others Can All Watch Ato Boldon On The Broadcast)

Nike Unveils Track's Version Of NXN

Cross Country: Nike Cross Country Nationals Nike Track Nationals Unveils Website Nike is starting a new meet this year designed to crown an overall high school track champion team. 12 schools from 8 regions will go based on the best marks from their athletes. Your team gets selected to the meet based on decathlon-like scoring and one athlete can only have a maximum of 2 of your team's top seasonal marks in the 10 events. The meet is going to be held the night before the Prefontaine Classic, now a Diamond League event in Eugene.
*Old Nike Nationals Becomes New Balance Nationals June 17 In N.C. Individuals could do both meets if they wanted.

Video Of Joe Newton's Speech At Nike West Thanks to Dyestat, you can watch the entire Joe Newton speech at Nike West HQ from last Tuesday. Employee #1 attended and recapped the speech at the huge high school coaching clinic.

3 Semi-Running Related Stories

1. Athlete Recommends All Olympics Be Held In Switzerland To Cut Down Corruption and Wasted Billion$$ Hippie radical Employee #1 likes the idea.

 High School Play Spoofs Winona Ryder's Shoplifting Spree 2. Recommended Read: Female Athlete At Point Loma Gives Her Take On Her School Cutting Men's Track And XC Because Of Title IX

More Detail: Title IX KOs Men's Golf, Men's Track And Men's Cross-Country At SoCal University
*FAQ About Point Loma's Program Cuts

3. Barrier-Breaking Black Marathoner From Land-Locked Lesotho Has Died Lesotho is a tiny land-locked country surrounded entirely by South Africa. The lowest altitude in the whole country is 5,000 feet, 40% of the country makes less than $1.25 a day, and their main exports are diamonds and water (thanks, Wikipedia). Gabashane (Vincent) Rakabaele won Comrades back in the '70s.

Major Conference Championships *All NCAA Results

SEC Arkansas Wins SEC By 4 Points Thanks To Some Stellar Distance Performances Dorian Ulrey won the 3k on Saturday, the mile on Sunday and then anchored Arkansas to the DMR win after getting the baton in 6th place. Scott MacPherson had to run 13:49 to win the 5k. John McDonnell must be proud.
*Saturday: Torrin Lawrence and Calvin Smith go 45.88 in PRELIMS!
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Results
*Championship Central

Ridiculous DQ "Costs" Virginia Tech The ACC Title We got emailed about the winner of the 5k 3k getting DQd at the ACC meet. Little did we know the points decided by the DQ were the difference in the meet. You can see a photo here (#41 and 42) and watch a video here (we've fast forwarded it till right before the DQ). VTech's Will Mulherin threw down a crazy kick but got DQd apparently for holding his ground in lane 1 at the bell. When we first saw the still photos we assumed the FSU runner got DQd.

Track and Field: 103rd Millrose Games ACC: *Results
*FSU Men Win 8th Straight In Nail Biter

*Clemson Women In Blowout
*Frosh Robby Andrews wins open 800m & anchors UVA men to DMR win.

Big XII
*Results Oklahoma Takes Men's Title, NCAA #1 Texas A&M 3rd, Colorado Scores 1 Point As A Team XC NCAA team champs Ok State finished next-to-last.
*Message Boards: Lisa Koll 8:56.09
*Saturday: German DNFs Mile
According to a message board poster, Fernandez was in control halfway through and just stepped off the track and took off his shoe and was limping.
*Friday: Baylor Men DMR, Lisa Koll (15:41) set Big XII Meet Records.

U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials - Day Eight MPSF Indoor version of PAC-10.
*Results
*Boards: Wheating 3:58, Hasay 4:35!


Track and Field: NCAA Championships
Big Ten
*Big Ten Women
Penn State Women Win. NCAA XC Champ Angela Bizzarri (9:10) barely held  off PSU's Bridget Franek in 3,000m.
*Big Ten Men Minnesota Men Repeat.

Heps Princeton Men And Women Sweep
*Results: Men  Women
Coach Rojo and Cornell came up short in their attempt to win their 13th conference track championship in 15 tries.

More USA Indoor Coverage

Get Your Inspiration Here

Track and Field: Nike Coaches Clinic LRC Employee #1 - A Night With Joe Newton
Wandering around the country, LetsRun.com's Employee #1 infiltrated the Nike West HQ Tuesday in suburban Los Angeles to join a gathering of 300 SoCal high school track and XC coaches for a clinic. The centerpiece of the evening was a speech from long-time York cross-country coach Joe Newton. Newton was incredible, and we try to explain why.
*Recommended Read: Interview With Wesley Korir Louisville's Wesley Korir is "The L.A. man". This might be the best of the Korir articles.
*Hendrick Ramaala Wants To Be President Of Tattered Athletics South Africa Ramaala says the leaders of the sport should know the sport well and have time to meet and improve the sport - not just have business or political interests.