LetsRun.com

US Olympic Men's Marathon Trials News *Race Starts At 9 am ET Sat. *NBC 3- 5 pm ET *LRC Puma Trials Prediction Contest *LRC Predictions *LRC Vote Totals *LRC Men's Preview *LRC Women's Preview *LRC Long Shots *LRC Canaday *LRC Hine *LRC King

LRC Trials Live Thread Here

LRC Nation Marathon Predictions As Of Midnight

LRC Predictions: Upset City!!! Ritz Over Hall & Flanagan Over Davila We made you wait until after the pre-race Q&As for our picks, so we might as well make them interesting. Ryan Hall is an overwhelming favorite but he hasn't been at altitude & altitude matters. Thus, even though for years we've argued he isn't a proven marathoner, we've picked the 38-1 long shot Dathan Ritzenhein to win. In part, we do so out of hope that a new US men's marathon star will arrive and if it happens, it will be him or MoTrafeh. Both Davila and Flanagan raved about their buildups and were 2nd in a marathon major in their last marathons, so we go with the 30:22 woman.

• LRC The 10 Long Shots For OT Glory - Can One Of These Guys Take Tim Tebow Off The Front Page? Yesterday, we gave you ten men who will contend, but today we tell ten additional men that "they have a chance." If you aren't on this list, enjoy the experience - the pressure is off unless you are the athlete that is secretly being coached by JK.
• LRC 2012 US Men's Olympic Trials Marathon Preview We break down the field into three categories and give you the 10 names we think have a realistic shot of nabbing top 3. We have the one lock, three more who should make it (knowing only two can), then five long shots and one wild card. We predict a record-setting day in Houston as well. To not crush the dreams of everyone who has trained hard, we will give out 10 more real long shots later in the week, plus the women's preview.
   
• Pre-Race Q&As From Thursday's Press Conference
  Three Very Confident Men
  *Hall: "I'm feeling similar now to the way I felt before Boston." He also says God has been waking him up in the middle of the night and telling him to do things.
  *Mo Trafeh: "I'd like it to go out in 1:03-1:04" "That's the pace I've been training for. That's a pace that I know I can handle for a long time."
  *Abdi's Pumped As Well: "I think I am where I was in 2008."
  We also loved this quote: "I wouldn't actually say it was the hardest I've ever trained. I think it was the smartest I've ever trained."
  
  One Confident Coach: Alberto Salazar Says Dathan Ritzenhein Is Ready For A Great Race
  
  One Who Is Realistic
  *Gotcher: "I don't think anyone is super-confident."
   
• More News
• Wall Street Journal Says Ryan Hall Could Walk Final .2 Miles And Win Men's Trials
• LA Times Talks A Lot About Ryan Hall & Little About Meb But we focus on Meb, as we are trying to figure out what his fitness is. Bob Larsen admits you'd have to count most people out if they missed as much time as Meb, but that Meb has a chance. "Three people are going to have to run fairly well to keep him off the team."
• Having To Explain It To The 99%: Phil Hersh And Renato Canova Say Don't Expect An American Man To Medal In The Olympic Marathon
• Alan Culpepper Says Believe In Yourself If You Want To Make The Olympic Team
  
  
• Recommended Read: USA Today Looks At How Ryan Hall, The Tim Tebow Of Running, Is Relying On His Faith In Marathon Quest Hall, who hasn't been at altitude for the first time before a marathon, sounds confident. "I have a lot of snap in my legs. I'm in a good spot." His wife says that leaving Mammoth TC was "the best thing that ever happened to" Hall and that Hall is now a totally different person who is "much more at peace, really enjoying his running." Another reason Hall decided to go out on his own was that, after some frustrating setbacks, he felt that Mahon, his coach, doubted him. "If my coach doesn't believe in me, that's a really huge problem." *MB: Discuss
• San Jose Mercury News: God Is Coaching Hall "It's pretty cool to be on the starting line and think the guy who is my guiding coach is the creator of the universe. It's pretty cool to wake up every morning and talk to him about training."
• AZ Republic Looks At AZ Qualifiers To Trials Including Ryan Hall, Who Has Big Praise For Chiropractor John Ball
• Chicago Marathon Director Carey Pinkowski Makes His OT Picks He likes the obvious three in both the men's and women's races with Davila winning the women's race and is intrigued by Vaughn, Trafeh and Olinger.
• Meet The Cornellians: *LRC Author Sage Canaday Ready For The Trials & Hoping To Improve On His 2:16:52 PR
  *LRC Zac Hine Has Secretly Been Coached By John Kellogg And Is Hoping For A Sub-2:14
  *LRC 31-Year-Old Max King Has Returned To His Roots He's our #6 long shot to make the team as well.
• Ray Flynn Says Thinks That Abdi Might Make Some Noise At The Trials The interview is mainly about Millrose, but we focus on the interesting stuff. "I think Abdi's going to be right there this weekend. He's been healthy now for awhile. He hasn't raced, so people haven't seen him. And I'm not angling for this, but nobody's even invited him to a press conference, and he'll probably be on the team on Saturday, you know?" *Abdi's Coach Is Talking Up His Chances As Well
• Proof That Josh Cox Is Better At Creating Publicity Than Anyone In History - Even When Not Trying To
  Josh Cox Survives Carjacking Attempt At Houston Airport "A guy just tried to carjack us. Walked up to the window w/ his hand in his jacket," Cox wrote. "We nearly ran him over, he hopped in his car chased us. He swerved at us, turned on his interior lights, signaled us to pull over-screaming, waving arms. We floored it, called 911. Welcome to Houston?"
• Mike Morgan Gets Some Press
• Ideal Weather Predicted For Marathon Trials 50s with no wind or rain.
• Ryan Hall doesn't believe a 2 hour marathon is outside of his own capabilities
• "Hungry Like A Wolf, Goucher Eyes Her Competition" "I wanted to be held more accountable. Alberto was taking on some big time athletes and has to travel a lot more ... it was just Adam and me (laughs). I could slack a little bit, or I could tell him, 'I was up all night with the baby.' He wasn't going to be, 'No, Kara, suck it up.'"
• Toni Reavis Blogs On Why The Women's Marathon Team Could Threaten For A Medal In London
• More Than 300 Set To Run At The Olympic Marathon Trials On Saturday $500,000 at stake for men; $50,000 to the winner of each race.
• 2:35 Marathoner Michelle Frey Hoping For A Big PR At OT
• USATF Profile OT Marathon Qualifier And Air Force Pilot Caroline White

LRC Jan 10-12: The Puma Faas Team Answers Your Questions On The MBoard In part of Puma's effort to show its new Faas line is made for the LetsRun.com audience, Puma's Faas designers and product managers are braving the LRC messageboard and answering questions from the LRC audience. Thursday is the last day. So if you've got a question or comment about the Faas line, Puma, or running shoes in general, let's hear it now.
*Meet The Puma Faas Team Learn about the people that are chatting with you on the MBoard.
Earlier: The Puma Faas Team Starts To Answer Your Questions

ESPN Takes A Look At CharityBets: Want to bet on Olympians? Now you can. The LRC advertiser is now mainstream as it's getting ESPN coverage. Bet on whether Meb makes the team this week. Walter Dix is also on board.

Marathon News

• Frank Shorter Heads Philip Hersh's List Of Top 10 Greatest US Marathoners Ever Ryan Hall is only 10th, but Hersh says he'll move him to 3rd if he medals in London. *MB: Phil Hersch ranks US marathoners on all time list
• At 100, World's Oldest Marathoner Still Going Strong Fauja Singh's coach on when he set an age group 10k record: "After seven laps, he told me he wanted to go to the toilet. I told him a firm No! And he continued running. At the end of the race, he told me that he was very grateful that I stopped him from going to the toilet. That shows the man's spirit."
• Running Times Interview With OT "Wildcard" Meghan Armstrong Peyton
• OT Qualifier Patrick Smyth's Blog: "No Guarantee Of Where You'll End Up" "It starts with a kind of hopeless commitment. No guarantee of where you'll end up. The 'hope' is atop the podium or one of the two adjacent steps but you could very well end up hovered over a porta john ..."

Lance And Livestrong

Outside Magazine Article Accuses Livestrong Foundation "If Lance Armstrong went to jail and Livestrong went away, that would be a huge setback in our war against cancer, right? Not exactly, because the famous nonprofit donates almost nothing to scientific research." *MB: Livestrong expose in Outside magazine

Olympic News

• This Is At Least Part Of Why Kenyans Are Good At Running, Everyone Runs: Kip Keino Wants Kenyans To Excel At The Olympics In Sports Besides Track As 68 Of Kenya's 75 Medals Come From Track "Dependence on track and field alone is not good for a sporting nation like ours."
• CAS Case For British Olympic Drug Ban Will Start March 12th With a decision by April.
• Olympic Ticket Resale Site Still Down After 3 Days
• More Details On The Fake Bomb That Got Past Olympic Secruity USA Today
• A Look At Possibles For The Aussie Olympic Marathon Team

If You Didn't Already Know, There's A Pretty Big Race In Houston The Day After The Trials, Too

• A Look At Some Of The Field For The Jan. 15th Houston Marathon Simon Bairu up against Kenyan Charles Munyeki (2:07:06 PR). In the women's race, Australia's Benita Willis will be up against Ethiopia's Alemitu Abera (2:26:33 in Daegu).
• Live Web Chat With Simon Bairu Ahead Of The Houston Marathon He's going after the Canadian Olympic standard of 2:11.29. Come here at 12:00-12:45 p.m. ET for the chat.

OT Marathon News

• Stephen Shay Blogs About His Prep For The Trials Also talks about running to honor his brother, Ryan Shay, who passed away at the 2007 Trials.
• Profile On Brett Gotcher, The "#4 Seed" Going Into The Trials
• Josh Moen Taking One Last Stab At The Marathon; Hoping To Drop At Least 8 Minutes Off His 2:23 PR He qualified with a 1:02:53 half, but has only finished one marathon.
• 47-Year-Old Lisbet Sunshine Ready For Her Fifth OT Marathon

Galen Rupp Says He'll Pull Out Of Olympic Marathon Trials We're sure many Olympic hopefuls are breathing a huge sigh of relief as the debate as to whether Rupp would run, rabbit if he did start or go all out is over a week before the starting date, as his coach Alberto Salazar wants him to work on his speed by racing indoors. We'd argue that by training for the marathon and getting stronger, Rupp just did a ton for his speed. Kudos to Rupp to not waiting until the last minute to decide. Rupp: "It would be difficult to do all the speedwork for (the 10k), and still train for the marathon."
*MB: Rupp Out

Patrick Makau Reacts To Renato Canova's Comments That His WR Will Be Broken This Spring Makau: "It makes me wonder if the record is a preserve for some region, tribe or runners. What shocks me is that some people are speaking ill of me just because I broke the world record ... Let us not talk much but redeploy our energies on good training and skills that will power our legs to do the talking."

Alan Webb's Comeback Begins

Raffi Cote = Matt VanDenHengel
Alan Webb Returns With A 1:55.02 And Loses To A Senior From Gwynedd-Mercy College Whose PR Is 1:53.53 In his first race since April and his first race since dumping Alberto Salazar, American mile record holder Alan Webb busted the rust with a 2nd-place 1:55.02 performance in a race that was won by the previously unknown Matt VanDenHengel. For everyone writing off Mr. Webb, we remind you that "talent doesn't go away" and that two years ago, Galen Rupp similarly lost to a freshman walk-on in January in the 800 in a 1:54 race. Since then, Rupp has run 13:06, 26:48 and 60:30.
*Alan Webb Interview With Ian Brooks: "I had to start somewhere."
More: MB: *Webb runs 1:55.02 today at Armory *Alan Webb's 800m In 1:55 Was A Good Thing *Webb spotted in 800 at Armory *Rupp loses to freshman walk-on at 800

LRC Todd Morgan And Pete Watson To Be New Women's And Men's Cross-Country Coaches At UVA

Stars On the Comeback Trail

• Agent Jos Hermens Gives Great Insight Into Reasons Behind Kenenisa Bekele's Absence And Now His Comeback He says that Bekele is in some ways too talented for his own good as he was double world champ in 2009 on very limited training. He also said Bekele is spending $1 million of his own cash to build a soft track so he doesn't get hurt.
• After Hip Surgery, Lisa Dobriskey Thinks She Can Reclaim Sub-4 Form Of 2009 & 2010 In 2012

Want To Watch Track & Field On TV? - Get Out Your Credit Card

Universal Sports Moves From Free To Cable (Directv) Only We're sure many LRC fans will complain about having to pay to watch track and field, but think about how many hundreds of dollars you pay to watch an NFL or NBA game each year. This makes sense from a business sense - put the channel on a sports package so they can get subscription fees for niche sports.
*LA Times: Universal Sports channel didn't disappear, it just seems that way "The channel has not gone under but rather has changed its distribution strategy and is basically starting from scratch."
*Letter From Universal Sports CEO David Sternberg

Track And Field 2011 Men's World #1s - Event By Event - MEN & WOMEN To get the top 10 lists, you need to purchase the magazine.

Good News
Olympic Track Champion Lee Evans Undergoes Successful Brain Surgery

Sad News

Frank Horwill 1927-2012 Horwill founded the British Milers Club and coached Tim Hutchings (most of you in the US know him as the the really good British announcer on track TV broadcasts; his real claim to fame was a 4th in the 1984 Olympic 5k). BMC Remembrances here.
*IAAF Remembrance Here

The Running Story Of The Year

Japan Running News Recaps The Life And Career Of Sammy Wanjiru Barcelona Olympics marathon silver medalist Koichi Morishita: "The people who were supporting Sam were only motivated by the money flowing around him, not from the heart, and they didn't give him the kind of support he really needed. You hear a lot of disturbing things about his family too, his wife, and I can't help but think that he should have had more people around him who cared about his soul."

Saturday XC Action: Foot Locker *Boys Results *Girls Results *Boys Photos *Girls Photos *Full Girls Race Video *Full Boys Race Video

LRC Boys: Cheserek Outkicks Futsum For The Win This race lived up to its hype as the top 2 African-born stars went mano-a-mano until the final 100m. After a cat-and-mouse 9:50 opening 2 miles, their last 1.1 was run at a pretty quick pace (4:31 mile pace), but the winning time of 14:51.5 wasn't close to Reina's 14:36 CR.

LRC Girls: Molly Seidel Turns Back Tough Challenge From Erin Finn Seidel was the favorite, undefeated in 2011, but Finn was the top returner and Finn made it super-interesting as she opened up a big lead and even managed to regain the lead once Seidel caught her.

Recommended Read: Dyestat Recap: Cheserek, Zeinasellassie Forge Bond In San Diego

More Coverage: *Newark Star-Ledger Recap Note the paper incorrectly reports their last 800 as being a 1:54. No chance.
*San Diego Tribune Recap Cheserek says he just wanted win - might go for Reuben Reina's record next year.

MB: *Where would Cheserek have placed at NCAA XC? *Cheserek and Futsum's last 800 meters - 1:54? *Poll: How old are Cheserek and Futsum? *Will an American male ever win Foot Locker again? *Another FL Finalist Staying Home

2011 NCAAs Are History *Men's Results *Women's Results *Entire Race Video Replays

Men: LRC Wisconsin Badgers Take Control Early As Lawi Lalang Dominates Lawi Lalang waited until 5k before deciding it was time to crush the competition once and for all, while #1 Wisconsin showed no fear and put a stranglehold on the competition from the very beginning and held off a belated charge from Oklahoma State and a surprising Colorado team as the Cowboys tried to three-peat. American Chris Derrick took home individual runner-up honors to cap a brilliant career in style. *Discuss

More: Wisco #1: *Give 'em five: Badgers lay claim to program's fifth national title *Krause earns redemption as Badgers storm to fifth national title host.madison.com
OSU #2: *Dave Smith Calls Loss "Disappointing" - But Expected www.okstate.com
Colorado #3: *Wetmore Calls Medina Most Improved Runner In Country www.denverpost.com *CU Coach Mark Wetmore Pleased With Buffs 3rd-Place Run
Individual: Coach Li - I Think Lalang Would Have Got Course Record If He Was Pushed www.arizonawildcats.com

US Olympic Women's Marathon Trials News Race Starts At 9 am ET Sat. *NBC 3- 5 pm ET *LRC Puma Trials Prediction Contest *LRC Predictions *LRC Vote Totals *LRC Men's Preview *LRC Women's Preview

• LRC Nation Marathon Predictions As Of Midnight
• LRC 2012 US Women's Olympic Trials Marathon Preview: Expect A Record-Setting Day - Five Women Will Battle For Three Spots The Trials record almost certainly will fall and it's possible someone breaks the Trials record and doesn't make the team. We break down the top 10 entrants and say two women are locks, leaving three women to battle it out for one spot. Plus praise for the amazing Colleen de Reuck.
• LRC LetsRun Nation Says Ryan Hall & Desiree Davila Will Be Your Champs Hall is as of big of a favorite as you can possibly be, as he 750 1st place votes to Meb's 37. On the women's side, some may be surprised that World XC bronze medallist Shalane Flanagan is getting 50% fewer votes than Desi Davila.
  
  
• Pre-Race Q&As From Thursday's Press Conference
  Three Ladies Are Confident:
  *Desi Davila: "It's the best (buildup I've had) by far."
  *Flanagan: "I can honestly say I've had a flawless buildup."
  *Amy Hastings: "I'm much more fit (than when I ran 2:27:03)."
  
  Not Super-Confident
  *Recommended Read: Goucher: "I would love to have five more weeks of training, but the date is set in stone." Goucher admits she had "anxiety attacks" after struggling in her first workouts with Jerry S. but now is very pleased with how far she's come but wishes she had more time. She says she'll be "more conservative" than normal as a result.
  *Lewy Boulet: "The races leading up to Houston have not been very spectacular for me."
  
   Deena Feels Re-Born After Giving Birth
  *RRW: After Long Road Back, Deena Kastor's "Going To Be Fighting Like Mad" To Make Fourth Olympic Team Less than a year ago, she was running over 10 minutes per mile. Now she's got a shot at a 4th Olympic team.
  *NY Times: Deena Kastor, After Pregnancy, Sees Trials As New Start Terrence Mahon: "I told people, she's either going to retire or come back strong. An athlete like her, she's never going to run just to run. If she can't be at the top level, she's not going to do it."
   
• Phil Hersh Ranks His All Time Top 10 American Women Marathoners
• Video: Desiree Davila Considers Herself The Favorite
• Unbelievable 47-Year-Old Colleen de Reuck Is Pumped To Be Competing At Olympic Trials She's not just there for show either, as she's the 8th-best American marathoner of the last 2 years.
• RR From Overweight Mom To Olympic Trials Qualifier At Age 40 - Be Inspired By Victoria Russell
• RR WSJ: Racing With No Chance of Winning - That is Plight of Most Trials Runners "People hear that I'm going to the Olympic trials, and they're like, 'Oh, you can make it in the top three!'" Chin said. "And I'm like, 'No, no. It's really pretty hard.' And they're like, 'You never know!' But I know."
• Janet Cherobon-Bawcom Is Thankful To Be Running For US Spot After IAAF Granted Her Waiver From 2-Year Waiting Period For New Citizens
• Trials Director Is Encouraging Spectators To Wear Houston Texans Gear In Attempt To Turn Trials Into Giant NFL Pep Rally A good idea. They are hoping for 200,000. *Houston Chronicle Urges Readers: Don't miss the Olympic marathon trials
• Runners Begin Arriving In Houston

Alan Webb News

• Ray Flynn Says Alan Webb Is Happy & Healthy With Vig "He's with a good coach and he loves Jason (Vigilante) and he's happy now. And he's healthy for the first time in a long time. He needed somewhere to start. Jason's philosophy is to race him, put him out there, with the view that his goal is the Olympic Trials. I think that Alan's still young. He's done a lot in his career at a very young age. And I fully expect him to be a contender next summer."
• Alan Webb Talks For 11 Minutes After His 1:55 800 Video also on right.

Other Marathon News

• Officially, Gert Thys Is Not A Drug Cheat The 4th man ever under 2:07 gets his conviction reversed nearly six years later because the same technician tested his A & B samples.
• Deriba Merga Ready For His Clash With Martin Lel In Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon Later This Month

Sprint News

• Bolt Will Make 2012 International Debut In Oslo In June At 100m
• Nesta Carter In, Richard Thompson Our For US Open 50m At MSG The race features 2 of the 4 fastest 100 guys in history.
• Jamaican Writer Dreaming Of 14 Medals In London - 3 More Than Beijing

Random

• Low risk of heart incidents found for marathoners 1 death per 259,000 participants.
• Michael Johnson's Company Will Provide An Intensive Training Programme For Williams Formula One Team's Pit Crew
• Zola Budd Will Make Comrades Marathon Debut In June & Has Modest Goals

Centro In The News

LRC Matthew Centrowitz Signs Endorsement Contract With Nike & Joins Alberto Salazar's Nike Oregon Project Nike stepped up to the plate and kept the former Duck in the family. What was a surprise is that he's joining Alberto's group (although he'll get assistance from collegiate coach Andy Powell). *Discuss
*Matthew Centrowitz To Make Pro Mile Debut And Headline Wanamker Mile Field No, he will not be competing on the boards in MSG against the king of Millrose, Bernard Lagat. That would be too simple and too good of an idea for the sport. This is the Armory meet, not the US Open. Centro says he's way ahead of where he is last year. The article says (implies) his father and sister will be competing in the meet as well. We can't imagine his dad is actually competing.

Millrose And Other Upcoming Indoor Action

• World Champ Kirani James To Race Bershawn Jackson In Beantown
• Hugh And Ned Willig Make Millrose Games History By Being First Father-Son Pair To Qualify For HS Mile We agree with Ned's statement: "It would have been nice to run at MSG, but either way, there is going to be great competition. But it's sad it's not at MSG."
• Veronica Campbell-Brown To Start Season In The 50m At The US Open At MSG She says "It will be strange to compete in the 'Garden' minus the Millrose Games label."
• Two-Time Defending Champs Florida, Oregon Begin 2012 Indoor In No. 1 Position
• World Indoor Shot Champ Christian Cantwell Headlines Field At Feb 12th Meet In Karlsruhe, Germany Up against outdoor World Champ David Storl.
• Millrose Games HS Trials On Wednesday

ESPN Q&A: Lolo Jones On Her Magazine Cover Pic *MB: Lolo Jones - Cover of this months Outside Magazine

The Week That Was

LRC The Week That Was In Running: January 2-8, 2012 In this week's weekly recap, we praise the Japanese collegiate system, wonder if Alan Webb and/or Kenenisa Bekele are done, talk about the $347 marathon and talk about the dream job that lets you charge $200 an hour while running the Boston marathon.

Post-Edinburgh News

• UK's Jonny Hay Delighted With Notable Scalps At 19 years old and with a 5k PR of only 13:57, Hay finished 2nd in the Edinburgh XC meet, beating two Olympic champions as well as an Olympic runner-up. MAJOR, MAJOR PROPS to Mr. Hay, who is just 19.
• Kenenisa Bekele: "I think in the summer we will see the real Kenenisa Bekele again." Hints that he may go to road racing or the marathon after the 2012 Games.
• US Junior Runners Including Aisling Cuffe And Molly Seidel Do Well In Edinburgh XC
• Neely Spence Blogs About Her First Pro Race
• MB: Kenenisa should give back his appearance fee

USTFCCCA's Weekend Collegiate Results Links

2012 BUPA Edinburgh XC Race *Leading Results *Video Highlights *Start Lists *Meet Website

Asbel Kiprop Makes A Statement As Kenenisa Bekele Finishes A Distant 11th At BUPA Great Edinburgh Cross-Country Kiprop, the Olympic 1,500 champion, cruised to victory over the 2008 Olympic steeple, 5k and 10k champs, and showed he's intent on being the first since Seb Coe to defend an Olympic 1,500 title. European XC champ Fionnuala Britton won the women's title.
*IAAF Recap: Kiprop Totally Dominant On Last Lap
*Bekele Suffers But Seems Unfazed How bad was Bekele? Well, 5 Brits beat him, including one who was doubling back from the 8k, but Bekele was confident afterwards: "I'm not serious for this race. At this time of the year I don't want to be in very good shape. It is too early. It is a long time to the Olympics. I want to build up slowly."
*Bekele: "I lack fitness." "I was not confident before the race. But it's a long time until the Olympics and it is too early to be in better shape."
*11 Years Since Bekele Finsihed Outside Top 10 Of Any Race
*US Men Struggle In 8k Team Competition, But Bobby Mack Finishes 2nd And Beats European XC Champ
*Neely Spence Takes 4th Place In Her First Pro Race; Bobby Mack & Jon Grey Go 2-4 In Men's Race
*American Dominates Jr. Boys Race Oklahoma State's Kirubel Erassa, who ran 14:19 in HS, won easily.
*MB: Alan Webb running better than Bekele *Jr. Race In Edinburgh - (America?)/OSU Guy Dominates!!!

Great Marathon News

• Defending Champions Geoffrey Mutai And Caroline Kilel Will Try To Defend Their Crowns At The 2012 Boston Marathon
• 2012 ING New York City Marathon Will Be Broadcast Live On ESPN2 ESPN/NY execs, please let us consult and help you with your broadacst. We will do it for free in year 1. Our first advice will be to tell you who not to hire as broadcasters. It's amazing how little info has been shown when Boston has been on ESPN. Email us here.

Simon Bairu Running For Olympic Berth And Boys & Girls Clubs Thanks To CharityBets.org (Sponsored)

Will Simon Bairu Make The Canadian Olympic Team? 2-time NCAA XC champ and Wicso star Simon Bairu needs to run sub-2:11 at next weekend's Chevron Houston Marathon to make the Canadian Olympic Team. Can he do it? Wager on Simon at CharityBets.org. The Regina, Canada native is benefiting his hometown Boys & Girls Club and needs a sub-2:11 marathon for his charity to collect all money wagered. CharityBets creates a charitable result for any running event. How fast will Simon go? More on the 7-time Canadian National Champion here.
*Article: Simon Bairu - Chasing The Olympic Standard (And Raising Money For Charity Too) *MB: Discuss

The Weeks That Were

LRC Tirunesh Dibaba Returns, Dunbar Follows In His Dad's Footsteps & Meb Tries To Make The Olympic Team On 41 Days Of Running In case you've been (like us) more focused on the Holidays than keeping on top of the limited action in the world of running over the last two weeks, we are here for you. From the return of Tirunesh Dibaba to Meb trying to make the Olympic team off of 41 days of running to some high-profile transfers, we've got you covered.

LetsRun.com Puma Marathon Trials Prediction Contest

LRC Puma Marathon Trials Prediction Contest The Trials in Houston are less than two weeks away and we're back with our world famous prediction contest. Shalane or Desi? What about Deena or Kara? Ryan or Meb? What will Dathan and/or Galen do? Pick the top 10 in the men's and women's races perfectly and you could win $250,000. Come out on top of the other LRC faithful and you could win some great Puma prizes as they celebrate the Feb. 1 launch of the first motional control shoe the in the Faas line, the Faas 800.

Week That Was

LRC Centro Goes Pro (Should German Have Too?), Kawauchi, NXN, And How Soft Are The Women's Olympic Marathon Trials Standards? We cover the big stories in the world of running in the last week, the ones above, plus the USATF convention and we take a look at the amazing depth of the Fukuoka marathon, where you can't compete unless you can run under 2:42.

2011 NCAAs Are History *Men's Results *Women's Results *Entire Race Video Replays

Women: LRC Georgetown, Reid Win Tight Battles Six women kicked for home over the last 400m of the race but in the end it turned into the duel many expected and Sheila Reid of Villanova got the narrow win over Jordan Hasay. The big surprise was in the team's race, where the Georgetown women, who were only third at Big East, won by eight over Washington as #1 Florida State faltered and finished 4th. *Discuss

More: *Georgetown Gets Its First National XC Title GUHoyas.com
*Washington Comes Up 8 Points Short GoHuskies.com
*#1 FSU Finishes 4th & Coach Karen Harvey Pulls No Punches "I felt like I was watching a nightmare. I really thought there was no way this is happening." www.seminoles.com
*Wetmore Says 11th-Placed Colorado Women Purposely Peaked For PAC-12s, Not NCAAs www.denverpost.com
*The FSU Women Finished Fourth And The Men 12th At NCAA Cross-Country Championships www.seminoles.com
*Lananna Says Hasay's Runner-Up Finish Was A Big Step Forward As She Didn't Get Antsy & Kick Too Early www.oregonlive.com

He Will Be Missed Adam Goucher Retires Goucher is having knee surgery on Friday and says his competitive racing career is over. We've always said that one way to judge whether a runner's career was a good one or not is simple: Were They Good Enough That They Could Retire Or Just Quit? Goucher certainly is retiring, as he had an INCREDIBLE career - Foot Locker champ, NCAA champ indoors, NCAA champ outdoors and NCAA champ in XC, USA champ in XC and track and an Olympian. Goucher is a runner at heart and we wouldn't rule out seeing him in the 2016 Marathon Trials.
*MB: Adam Goucher retires

2011 ING NYC Marathon *Men's Results *Women's Results *Viewing Info *Flash Yahoo Photos

LRC 2:05:06!!! Geoffrey Mutai Caps Year In Style An unbelievable year in men's marathoning had an appropriate finish, as the Kenyan man who had the most unbelievable of all years, Geoffrey Mutai, smashed the previous NYC Marathon record by a stunning 2:38 - that's two minutes and 38 seconds. If it wasn't the greatest 2nd-greatest men's marathon performance ever, you'll have to tell us what was. American Meb Keflezighi hung with the leaders for 20 miles after a blistering 63:16 1st half and ended up with a much-deserved PR. Mutai picked up $200,000 by winning, but the big financial winner was runner-up Emmanuel Mutai, who won $635,000 ($500,000 for the WMM title).

LRC Mary Keitany Beats Herself The women's race was full of gut-wrenching drama, as Mary Keitany went out in a crazy 67:56. The problem was she came back in 74:42, as unheralded Firehiwot Dado (Rome Marathon champ) got the win.

LRC Post-Race Interviews: Meb And His Coach Bob Larsen Talks About His PR Despite Throwing Up Plus the winners - Geoffrey Mutai, Firehiwot Dado, men's and women's top 3, Ed Moran, Molly Pritz, Lauren Fleshman and Bobby Curtis.