A Late (Or Early?) Merry Xmas From Haile G


"In Ethiopia we celebrate christmas in January and new year in September, but for now I wish you all a merry christmas and a great 2011!"

- Marathon world record holder and running legend Haile Gebrselassie wishing everyone a Merry Xmas (unfortunately the wish comes via twitter).

Bored? Watch Video Interviews And Learn What Alan Webb, Evan Jager, Anna Pierce And Others Are Looking Forward To In 2011

More Year End Stuff

Think Your Year Was Bad? Read This
Recommended Read British Beijing 10k Olympian Kate Reed Had 4 Surgeries & Nearly Died In 2010 A simple Achilles surgery nearly killed her.

Bored? Tired Of Family? Japanese High School Ekiden Will Be Broadcast Live At 8 PM EST XMas Night Girls race is at 8, boys at 10 as Japan is 14 hours ahead of New York.

Xmas Is Often About Trips Down Memory Lane

Week In Review

LRC Week That Wasn't: Haile G And Johnnie Walker, Ritz And Rupp Running JV Race In Europe Not too much happened on the dirt or roads last week, but there were some developments off of it. And a large percentage of the LRC staff did not realize the race we were all excited Rupp and Ritz are running in Europe next month is a JV race.

More XC: Ed Moran Joins US Team At Great Edinburgh JV Race

Definitely Not The JV:
Reigning World Track Champs Vivian Cheruiyot And Linet Masai Join Edinburgh XC Field

Good News

Recommended Read: IAAF Was Long Suspicious Of Marta Domínguez The IAAF basically  knew she was doping form her blood profile (it was too consistent), but couldn't prove it. Eventually, the doping authorities will start banning people on their biological profiles alone.

Suspect Arrested In Shooting Of Coppin State 800m Star Dale Dunn
Dunn was shot while coming home from the grocery store and as of last month was still in the hospital.

Athletics Kenya Had $1.4 Million In Income Last Year And Year End Surplus So They Are Going To Build Hostel For Athletes

Brett Gotcher Confident He'll PR In Houston Next Month He's sticking to the same cycle of training in hopes that it will result in even more in 2012 than it did in 2010 when he ran 2:10:35. Gotcher: "I feel like there is more in the tank there."

Andrew Carlson Leaves USA Arizona To Return To USA Minnesota *Message Board Thread

Don't Drink Too Much In Your Next Marathon If You Want To Run Fast Tim Noakes says, "The clear evidence is that drinking just to thirst is the optimum strategy."

Spanish Doping News

Legends Of The Sport On The Comeback Trail

XC News

Haile G To Race In Special Half Marathon In Vienna In April He'll race the half but be trying to beat the guys in the marathon, who will get a huge head start.

Sorry, Ladies

David Rudisha Gets Married 2010 will be a year Rudisha never forgets. 2 world records and now he has married his long-time girlfriend Elizabeth. Congrats to David and Elizabeth. 2010 also saw Galen Rupp and Alan Webb get married.

More News From Kenya: Sammy Wanjiru Focused On World Record, Ndereba Wants Another World Title

Train Smarter

Weekend XC Action

Recommended Read Meet The Only Two-Time Olympic Pole Vault Champ - The Amazing 84-Year-Old  Bob Richards He's lived an amazing life, as he also founded the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, won 11 straight Millrose Games, was an Olympian in the decathlon and had a son who went 18-2 in high school.

The Independent Talks To One Of Britain's Best Hopes For 2012 Gold In Phillips Idowu Idowu has hit his stride in his 30s thanks to a new coach. Now he's Mr. Clutch at the big meets.

US Distance Stars In The News

Bureaucratic News

2011 World Championships News

Interesting: Cross-Country Is In Crisis But Edinburgh XC Meet In Scotland Is A Lone Bright Spot The race even gets good television ratings in the UK. Meanwhile, in the US, track and field is rarely on mainstream TV.

London & Boston 2011

CHICAGO - OCTOBER 10: Sammy Wanjiru of Kenya collapses after winning
the Bank of America Chicago Marathon in a time of 2:06:24 on October 10, 2010 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jim Prisching/Getty Images) Incredible 2011 Virgin London Marathon Field Announced: Wanjiru Vs. Kebede Vs. Makau On Men's Side Director Dave Bedford is calling the women's field "undoubtedly our strongest ever," but we once again are amazed with his men's field. London's got the top 3 men's marathoners in the world Sammy Wanjiru, Tsegaye Kebede and Patrick Makau going head to head to head. This year's Chicago marathon with Wanjiru vs. Kebede duelling to the finish was incredible and left Sammy Wanjiru exhausted (photo above). Now throw Makau (Amsterdam and Berlin champ) into the mix. *Message Board Thread On London
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European XC Champ Jessica Augusto And Hayley Yelling To Make Marathon Debuts In London

American Hopefuls Kara Goucher And Desiree Davila To Run Boston 2011
Davila has come a long way in her career, as she got equal billing with Goucher in the press release. Last week it was announced Ryan Hall is running Boston.
On The Boards: Desi will kick Kara's butt this April

More Spanish Doping News

Kenny Moore Has New Book On "Track Town" USA

Lengthy Eugene Register-Guard Article On Book We highly recommend Kenny Moore's classic "Best Efforts" if you want a great read on some of the legends in the sport.

Distance Reads

Honolulu - America's 3rd-Largest Marathon *Top Results

Despite Assistance, Belainesh Gebre Declared Honolulu Marathon Champ The Flagstaff-based Gebre has been tearing it upon the roads. She was not invited to the elite field so she flew to Honolulu on her own and entered the race with her boyfriend. He paced her during the race and they shared drinks, but despite a protest she still got the $40,000 prize.
Men: Last Year's Runner-Up Nicholas Chelimo Pockets $40,000

2010 USATF Club Nats *Results

Even Earlier Spanish Doping News

Previous Spanish Doping News

World Steeple Champ Marta Dominguez Arrested In Doping Raid The pregnant Dominguez has reportedly been arrested. *Message Board Thread Here
*Reuters Article Here

Paul Tergat's Brush With Death

Tergat's Car Was Crushed Between Two Trucks, Says It Is A Miracle He Survived "On my right was a tanker that had stalled. But on the on the left side, was another trailer heading my way for a head-on crash. I had to make a move. I swerved, and that is all I can remember. Everything went dark. I could hear a woman shout, 'Is this Tergat?' I said, 'It is Tergat.' I don't know if they heard me."
*More On Tergat With P

Think Track Is Popular In Europe? Read This
Head Of Snooker & Darts Thinks Idea Of Keeping Olympic Track Is Totally Stupid And Not Viable

More Than 2 Million People Have Signed Up For 2012 Olympic Tickets

Logan Vs. USATF

Apr 24, 2010; Philadelphia, PA, USA;
USA Track & Field chief executive officer Doug Logan attends the 116th Penn Relays at Franklin Field. Photo by Image of Sport Photo via Newscom LRC Exclusive USATF Strikes Back With Charges Of Tax Evasion, Expense Report Abuse And The Real Reason Doug Logan Was Fired We're far from lawyers and most of you aren't either, but this is worth a read, as USATF has filed its response to former CEO's Doug Logan's lawsuit. USATF hurls some serious charges at Logan and some dirt (improper gifts to a female athlete), but none of them are the real reason Logan was fired. We've got it covered, plus news who on the USATF board Logan referred to as Fantasia and Opie.
*Message Board Thread

Interesting Reads

Awards/Year End Stuff

Profiles

Track Year In Reviews Starting To Appear

Things Worth Reading

LRCer Small Business Spotlight

EscapeeJays
We're in the holiday spirit and, despite being a huge corporate behemoth ourselves, we have decided to highlight some of the small businesses of LetsRun.com Viewers (LRCers). We're starting off today with EscapeeJays, maker of escape-proof pajamas for toddlers. EscapeeJays is the brainchild of Paul Stoneham, Wejo's former Flagstaff training partner. These functional PJs have a unique, patent-pending design that makes them not only escape-proof but diaper access-proof as well. For more info, click here. If you're an LRCer with a cool business, email us.

Chinese Oil Company Becomes Sponsor Of IAAF We guess the Chinese can't spend all their money on buying up the US.

US News

Bernard Lagat To Go For Ninth Wanamaker Mile Title At 2011 Millrose Games Lagat's days as a miler are over, but winning the Wanamaker mile is apparently still in the cards. We talked to Lagat last month in Monaco about his 2011 plans and his move to the 5k. More on that here. To see him in his tux, click here.

Boston News: Boston Globe: BAA At A Crossroads? We think the article is a bit sensationalist but its worth a read. It gives the impression the change in leadership at the BAA was not voluntary. The BAA's main "problem" is a good one to have - too many people want to run its race. The solutions are simple. Pick from these options:  raise the qualifying standards, charge the charity runners more to run the race, and/or get rid of the charity runners and charge the qualifiers more.

BAA Expected To Make Changes To Boston Qualifying Times Bill Rodgers has a great quote: "You've got to be good with the computer these days. I'm not. If I was a qualifier, I would lose out"

On The Boards: The Boston Debate
*Do you seriously think they are going to lower BostonMarathon qualifying stds for next year?

All That Is Great About LetsRun.com

LRC NCAA And Foot Locker Contest Recaps: The Greatness Of You Recapping our contests always reminds us what is greatest about LetsRun.com - that is you, our incredibly loyal, smart and interesting readers. This time our contest winners impress as usual. Not only do we have acts of sportsmanship, but we have a runner with MS who can no longer run anymore but it still super-dedicated to the sport, a college coach who nearly pulled off the NCAA D1, D2 prediction double (and btw went to high school with the rocket scientist who has won two of our previous contests), a guy who watched malmo win an NCAA XC race, and a guy who issued a challenge to Aaron Braun before he won last week's club XC champs.

Haile G In The News

NCAA Divsion 1 XC Nationals To Return To ISU In 2011 Apparently the NCAA was uncomfortable that the meet in Oregon was going to be at a race track. Hello NCAA, the high schoolers handle the site just fine. Please get a brain.

Gay/Bolt News

The 10 Best High School XC Runners Ever

LRC Week That Was: The 10 Best High School XC Runners Of All Time, Verzbicas, Tribute To Gary Reed, The NY Times & The NE Patriots And More We've got the entire running world covered from San Diego to Japan, from the high school ranks to the pros, and even talk about the NE Patriots and the NY Times.

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XC News

Aug
17, 2009; Berlin, GERMANY; Dathan Ritzenhein and Galen Rupp (USA) finished sixth and eighth in the 10,000m in 27:22.28 and 27:37.99 in the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics at Olympic Stadium. Photo via NewscomRupp And Ritzenhein To Race "B" Race at Great Edinburgh XC On January 8th Great to see some Americans running XC. Message board thread on their decision here.
*Serhiy Lebid To Lead European Team At Edinburgh XC
*Lebid Would Love To Get His 10th European XC Title Next Year

Tuesday's Spanish Doping News

Gary Reed Calls It A Career

2010 Foot Locker Finals Are History *Results *Action Photos *Boys Finish Photos *Girls Finish Photos *2000 Race Photos *Photos Of All The Foot Locker Winners Here *$20,010 LRC Prediction Contest Scores

LRC Favorites Lukas Verzbicas And Aisling Cuffe Take Care Of Business Verzbicas cemented his legacy as one of the all-time greats as he became just the third boy to repeat. Cuffe capped off a truly dominant senior year as she won by 34 seconds.
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Photo Above From TrackandFieldPhoto.com, More Photos Here
*
Verzbicas' Facebook Page Had Been Focused On Number 2 For Weeks
*Stanford Signee Cuffe: "I tried to break them early." She certainly did that.

European XC *Results

European XC Men: Serhiy Lebid Gets His Ninth European Title Afterwards, Lebid says he has given up hopes of training for the marathon. He is great at one thing ... cross-country.
European XC Women:
Portugal's Jessica Augusto Gets Gold on Home Turf The Brits are happy as Charlotte Purdue won the junior race and the women got a silver.

Recommended Read:
Meet "The Next Sonia" - Ciara Mageean At 15, she was the Irish 1,500 champ. She might make an NCAA school real happy real soon. *Mageean Is Watching Last Year's Runner-Up Gulshat Fazlitdinova *Ireland's Best Year By Year At World XC

Excellent Read: 10-Year Anniversary: Ritz Over Webb Over Hall At Foot Locker
It was an epic race and Ritz dominated. Classic 2000 Race photos here. Photos of all past winners here. More FL history here. It's the 20th anniversary of Louie Q's dominating win.

US Distance News

The Stars Of Track And Field Party In Monaco *Wejo's Photo Gallery 1 *Pro Photo Gallery 2

Week In Review

Dec 4, 2010; Portland, OR, USA; Christine
Rutledge (136) and Rachel Johnson lead the girls' race LRC Week That Was - Fukuoka, Working Hard For A Living, Cal International And NXN We go beyond the headlines to give you the scoop of what is happening in the sport. We present to you a difficult way you can make $77,000 a year from running, analyze American vs. Japanese marathon depth, show you the favorites always win in our sport and then turn around and have some interesting stories from NXN on underdogs coming out on top. We even point out the first mistake ever made from the Nike marketing department.

Week In Review WikiLeaks Style

LRC NCAA Week In Review We didn't steal the data or jeopardize national security, but in the tradition of WikiLeaks, we have a data dump in our Week In Review that covers the NCAA XC Meet. Also, last week Alan Webb took down Galen Rupp on the roads at 5k.

Training Corner

Recommended On The Boards: The Legend Of Steve Jones Grows

More On The Boards

Geb's Johnnie Walker Commercial

 

Two Of The Best Running Movies Of All Time (Don't Believe Us? Click Here)

The 10 Best High School XC Runners Ever

LRC Week That Was: The 10 Best High School XC Runners Of All Time, Verzbicas, Tribute To Gary Reed, The NY Times & The NE Patriots And More We've got the entire running world covered from San Diego to Japan, from the high school ranks to the pros, and even talk about the NE Patriots and the NY Times.

Female Stars On Different Ends Of The Spectrum

Highlights Of Menjo's Win Down Under At Zatopek 10k

London $012

Former American Hurdler Tiffany Ofili And Long Jumper Shara Proctor (6th At Worlds) Are Now Representing Britain For 2012

What's Next For Rudisha After Hero's Welcome In Kenya? (If You Haven't Heard About Rudisha, Coe, Kipketer And Juantorena Getting Together, Click Here)

Relive Men's NCAAs: *Recap *Results *Photos *New (2nd Photo Album Added Here)

Relive Women's NCAAs: *Recap *Results *Photos *New (2nd Photo Album Added Here)

800m Royalty Together For The First Time Ever: Juantorena, Coe, Kipketer And Rudisha (It's Well Worth A Watch If You Have The Time, Or Read The Recap Here)

Webb Beats Rupp - Silicon Valley Turkey Trot Finish Video - More, Including Interview With Salazar, At Spiked Up Psyched Up Blog

Old 15k WR Holder Interviews New WR Holder

LetsRun.com's Message Boarders Rejoice

Despite Being European 400m Champ, Kevin Borlée's Dad Wants Him To Move Up To The 800 He is the "slow" Borlée twin yet was the European champ this year. He's not ready to move up.

Save Some Cash

2010 ING NYC Photos

Geb's Emotional Retirement Speech

Train Smarter

Menjo On Video! Winning One Of The Coolest Races We've Seen (Race Through History In Belgrade)

Great Deals

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