Week That Was
LRC Rupp's Record Vs. Lagat's Record, Down Goes Rono, Miles Batty, Chris Derrick And Ryan Hill?, Plus Katie Flood, Marathoning, White Dudes In The 4 X 400, Some Canadian Coaching Advice And More Just in time for Valentine's Day, the track and field world came afire with some sizzling action and records galore. We got the meat (what you expect) and the potatoes (what you wouldn't expect) of the track and field world covered. We guarantee you won't be disappointed. If you are, complain here.
Interesting Read: Patrick Makau Speaks On Being Self Coached, His Half Marathon Loss In Spain, And His Two Newborn Twin Sons He gives great training advice, as he talks about listening to his body and says that he could have won in Spain, but he decided to save himself or other things ahead.
What About The Sport? - USATF Still Sticking It To Millrose
- Track & Field Superfan Blogs: "What's Missing Here?" (From Front Page Of USATF Website) "An Olympic year, a struggling sport dying for attention, and the people who call the shots can't swallow their pride for even a minute."
- Ryan Craven Blogs About USATF Failing To Acknowledge Any Results From Millrose, Even Lagat's 5k Record "Not acknowledging American Records is a low blow. ... You may think yourselves clever for not mentioning anything of their achievements while showering praise over your own events, but you do so at the sport's expense."
Where Will The 2020 Olympics Be? Not In Rome
- Rome Withdraws From 2020 Olympic Bid Citing Financial Reasons They cite financial difficulties as their reason.
- Madrid Says Winning 2020 Olympic Bid Would Be Major Source Of Economic Development Funny how economic difficulty is the reason Italy says they can't host, but the reason Spain says they should.
- Baku Claims Their 2020 Olympic Bid Is A Big Improvement Over The One They Submitted For 2016 They should hope so as they didn't even make the final list in 2016.
- Could The World Championships One Day Be In Tanzania? Seb Coe is all for it.
Sprint News
Recommended Read: The Telegraph's Ian Chadband Catches
Up With Yohan Blake After His 2012 Season Opener - Blake Still Plays Cricket Every Sunday With Glen Mills' Blessing Can anyone in America imagine a college coach letting a sprint star play pickup games on the weekend? Yet Blake, who comes from a tough background, is super-fast. "I wasn't born with a golden spoon in my mouth; it was a really tough life. So many times, we had no money to even get to school. I'd have to find empty beer bottles to sell and spent hours carrying water on my head because we
had no water at home. It gave me strength which helps me today."
Boltgate Day II
*Despite Denials, Sportsmail Says Bolt Visited Doctor In Germany
*Meet The German Doctor Bolt Went To See Instead of Running 400m Last Week - The Doctor They Call "Healing Hans" In December, ESPN did a long profile of Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt - the doctor to the stars - including 5 of the 8 Berlin
100m finalists, plus people like Bono. He swears by Actovegin injections
- calf's blood.
Previous: Bolt Doesn't Run 400m Because He Has "Business Trip"
*Coach Says He's Stunned That People Think Bolt Is Hurt But Yohan Blake Admits He Went To Get A "General Checkup"
News From The UK
- Brits Are Outraged That For $30,000 You Can See Men's 100m Final + Get 6 Days + VIP Access To Olympic Transportation Lanes The transportation lanes supposedly aren't for sale but the high end tour developers apparently are paying coaches to travel with their high-end clients. And it really costs $700,000+ for 23 people.
- Lots Of Athletes Without Lottery Funding Are Coming On In 2012 & Coach Charles van Commenee Promises To Help Them If They Need It Apparently the free health care over there doesn't cover MRIs, as van Commenee says he'd help get them one of those.
- Brits Are Freaking Out As Unheralded Russian Ekaterina Bolshova Scores 4,896 Points - Becomes Rival To Jessica Ennis
USATF Classic *Results *Photo Gallery
LRC Galen Rupp's American 2-Mile Record Is Highlight Among 5 World Leaders Pre-race, we pondered if this was the best men's indoor mile in the US since LetsRun.com was founded and it lived up to the hype, as Silas Kiplagat edged Caleb Ndiku in a world-leading time, but it was Galen Rupp, running to honor the late Geoff Hollister, who stole the show with an impressive American record at 2 miles. In other action, Brenda Martinez took on some of the world's best in the mile, Jamaica's 8th best sprinter beat all the Americans, and Tianna Madison (a long jump world champion most of you have forgotten) shocked VCB and Allyson Felix in the 60m.
- USATF Recap
- Silas Kiplagat, Caleb Ndiku, Russell Brown And Leo Manzano Talk About Their Miles
- Galen Rupp Interview
- Register Guard: Bernard Lagat Hints At Eventually Taking Back His 2-Mile Record
- IAAF Recap Says Salazar "waived a post-race workout" as a "reward" for the record, but we doubt either Salazar or Rupp would skip a workout unless it made sense.
- Ciarán Ó Lionáird Cites "Poor Tactics" As Cause For Disappointing 6th Place Finish
- On The Boards: Rupp gets AR
- Was This the Most Stacked Indoor Mile in the US Since LetsRun.com Was Founded?
- Galen Rupp Has NO CHANCE At Lagat's 2 Mile AR
Other Big Track Results
- College: Ryan Hill Runs 7:43.08 American Collegiate 3,000m Record Diego Estrada was 2nd in 7:44.
- Conspiracy? Despite A New 400m PR, Yohan Blake Starts Season With A Loss Allodin Fothergill took it in 46.29 to Blake's 46.4.
- Donetsk PV Meet: France's Renaud Lavillenie Wins With 5.82m Over Other Top 6 PVers From WCs
USATF XC *XC Results *Men's Photos *Women's Photos
Molly Huddle Celebrates Too Soon, Sara Hall Wins XC On Lean, Bobby Mack Beats Aaron Braun Great races in the chill of St. Louis, as Molly Huddle and Sara Hall battled to the line. Huddle put up her hands thinking she won, but Hall leaned and got the win. Photos here. On the men's side, Mack pulled away from Braun the final 600m. More coverage here. Photo finish photo here.
- DyeStat Coverage Of Junior Race
- Quick Photos Of Finish
- Men's Photos
- Women's Photos
- OTB: 2012 USA XC Nats
- Is Bobby Mack the Jeremy Lin of Running?
- Why does Sara Hall still compete?
Japan Distance News
- Impressive: Recap Of Japan Weekend Road Action: 8 High Schoolers Go Sub-30 Minutes In Road 10k
- Kenyans HSers, Charles Ndirangu And Susan Wairimu, Running In Japan Win Weekend XC Races Ndirangu won over 2007 WC's 10k bronze medallist Martin Mathathi.
*JRN Article - Tyler McCandless Wins Iwaki Sunshine Marathon In 2:27:35 How much prize money was on the line to get a 2:17 marathoner to go run a 2:27 in Japan?
- Kazuya Ishida Wins Nobeoka Marathon In 2:11:57
Ken Goe: "Rivals Shalane Flanagan & Karak Goucher Become Teammates, Friends And 2012 Olympians"
Friday Action 12:58! For Thomas Longosiwa
- Duusseldorg Results (Nixon Chepseba 3:35, Thomas Longosiwa 12:58, Adam Kszczot Crushes Boaz Lalang, Lolo Jones Wins Hurdles, Jimmy Vicaut Wins 60) Dayron Robles got beaten by Kevin Craddock of the US. Logosiwa was Kenyan Champ in 2007 and ran 12:51 that year. He was 6th at Worlds last year.
- On The Boards: 12:58 indoor 5K for LONGOSIWA
Also This Weekend
- Stacked Men's And Women's 3,000s, Shot Put, Lolo Jones Highlight Karlsruhe Meet IAAF Sylvia Kibet and Meselech Melkamu on the women's side. Yenew Alamirew (world leader last year), Edwin Soi, Augustine Choge, Abera Kuma on men's side.
- Britain: Preview Of British Indoor Champs
- PV Action: Top 6 Men From Worlds Pole Vault Competing In Donetsk Pole Vault On Saturday
- Morocco's Elabassi El Hassan Trying To Defend ING Eurocross In Diekirch, Luxemburg On Sunday
News From The UK
- Isinbayeva Edges Britain's New PV Star Bleasdale On Countback At 4.68m In Bydgoszcz
*BBC: Holly Bleasdale edged out by Olympic champion - Injured And Need Inspiration? Read This Former World Youth 100m Champ Asha Phillips Is Suddenly Back 4+ Years After Horrific Knee Injury Suffered At Age 17
- Jodie Williams' Private Coach Is Named To UK Staff Getting People To Believe Williams Will Run Relay In London
- UK Govt. Spending $200 Million In Advertising To Promote Tourism - Ads Appears In NY And LA
Next Weekend's Action Ain't Bad Either
- WRecord Holder Mary Keitany And 2:03 Marathoners Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich And Geofrrey Mutai Will Run RAK Half Marathon Next Weekend Keitany set the WR in this race (65:50) last year.
- Dayron Robles & Liu Xiang To Clash In Hurdles In Birmingham Next Weekend
Kenyans In The News
- Interesting Read: Article On Asbel Kiprop And His Family Of Runners Apparently his father still trains with him and they competed against each other in a recent XC race.
- Patrick Makau And Paul Tergat "Racing" In United Nations Environmental Program 5k On Feb 19th UNEP is sponsoring a half marathon and Makau and Tergat are supporting it by running the 5k that goes along with it. There is mention of prize money, so Makau might be running hard. *2nd Article
- Patrick Makau Says He Wants A Double Victory In London With April's London Marathon And The Olympics
WADA Says One In 10 Athletes May Be Doping Reveals that a lot of places that do drug testing don't even test for EPO because the test is too expensive. That is just unacceptable.
Lance News:
*Lance Armstrong To Race Ironman Panama 70.3 This Sunday?
*WADA Wants Feds To Turn Over Armstrong Evidence They say it may help catch future cheats.
A Sad Day In The World Of Track And Field
Geoff Hollister, An Original Nike Employee And Former University Of Oregon Track Runner, Dies At Age 66 Hollister was a legend at Nike and the sport of track and field and Nike wouldn't be the same without him. He also was the producer of Fire on the Track, which was voted the best running movie ever on LetsRun.com. Members of the Oregon Project
wore special singlets at NB supporting
him as he was critically ill at the time.
(Photo by Jeff Johnson via Walt Chadwick Larger Here)
- TrackFocus Article On Geoff Hollister With Email From Prefontaine's College Roommate, Pat Tyson
- Excellent Tribute From American Running Association
- Alberto Salazar: "He's the most courageous man I've ever seen ..."
- Nike Co-Founder Phil Knight On Geoff Hollister: "Greatest track and field promo man in the history of the sport"
- MB: R.I.P Geoff Hollister
- Former 1,500m WR Holder István Rózsavölgyi Passes Away At Age 82
- Longtime USATF Official Charles Ruter Dies At Age 91
More Results From The Weekend ... Patrick Makau Loses!
- Biggest Upset Of 2012: Spain's Carlos Castillejo (2:10:02 Marathoner) Beats WR Holder Patrick Makau (2:03:38) In Spanish Half Carlos Castillejo ran 62:37 to Makau's 62:40. Makau said that the cold weather (39ºF/4ºC) was not ideal for him. No kidding.
2012 NBIGP Is History *LRC Full Results *LRC Meet Photos *MB: Live Thread *LRC Meet Preview *LRC Press Conference Photos *Meet Website
RRW Fast Times, Drama At New Balance Indoor Grand Prix: Maggie Vessey (W. 800) was the only American winner in pro mid-d or distance races, as Dibaba (W. 2-Mile), Defar (W. 3k), Ndiku (M. 3k), O'Lionaird
(M. Mile, pictured on left) and Lakhouad (W. 1k)
win other races.
LRC Event-By-Event Recap Of The 2012 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix What did we learn on Saturday? Caleb Ndiku may be a new star, Galen Rupp can't quite kick with the milers, Ciaran O'Lionaird is a miler, Mo Farah can PR while falling down, Tirunesh Dibaba is back in good form, Anna Pierce might be on her way back as well, and Jenny Simpson shouldn't be too worried
about finishing last.
*LRC Meet Photos
MB: New Balance Mile Results - WOW! *Mo falls at NB mile *Cam Levins 7:48(OT) 7:45(200mB) *O Lionaird wins NB Mile over Rupp and Farah
Australia
Collis Birmingham Notches 2nd "A" Standard And Wins 5,000 In 13:15 To Presumably Punch His Ticket To London 2012 Ben. St. Lawrence was third in 13:24. In the 800, Ryan Gregson ran 1:49
as former PSU star Ryan Foster ran 1:51. Former Oregon star Zoe Buckman
won the women's 1,500 in 4:11.
*Runners Tribe: Birmingham Happy *Results
Bank Of America Chicago Registration Full
LRC Abdi Talks Olympics As He's In Chicago For Launch Of Registration For 2012 B Of A Chicago Marathon Abdi talked to LRC's Wejo via phone. Abdi discussed the Chicago launch, his track plans, his training group, and gave us an update on drug cheat Martin Fagan. Registration was over 18,000 as of 4pm.
Europe's Version Of BALCO?
28 Athletes From Around The Globe Implicated In German Doping Scandal link fixed
A Dr. who worked at the Olympic training center is believed to have treated athletes' blood with UV light before re-injecting it. 3 Time Olympic/WC silver medallist in long jump James Beckford of Jamaica is one of athletes in probe, as are many German cyclists.
*Doc Denies Claims, Says Blood Was Treated To Stop Infections
More Olympic Logo Madness? We Kind Of Like It Except For The Mistake
Madrid Being Ridiculed For 2020 Olympic Logo As It Looks Like 20020 That's nothing compared to the oral sexual act that is actually being used for 2012 London.
The Big Interview: Dathan Ritzenhein
LRC Ritz Reflects On The Trials, His Years With Alberto, And Looks To The Future 24 hours after Dathan Ritzenhein just missed making the 2012 the Olympic Marathon team, a frank but more upbeat Ritz sat down and talked with LetsRun.com. He looked back on the Trials race ("I ran pretty good. It just was not enough.") and back on the last three years with Alberto ("He is a very smart, very passionate guy more than anything. He will find the way." and "There's been many times when we've screwed up.") before looking ahead to both the immediate future ("The Olympics is everything.") and farther down the road ("I do love the marathon, but I think I love being good better ... I want to succeed at what I'm going to be best at."). A confident Ritz has big plans for the future. A must read (or watch) if we can say so ourselves. Plus we give you splits of the last 3.2 miles in Houston.
London Marathon Goes To Iten
Virgin London Marathon, Which Made 2012 Athlete Announcements In Kenya, Is Giving Back To Iten, Eldoret Communities
LRC Photo Of The Day: Virgin London Marathon Fields Announced From Iten, Kenya We didn't realize London was in Iten to announce its 2012 fields. Very cool.
Yesterday: London Does It Again Emmanuel Mutai To Try To Defend London Title Against World Record Holder Patrick Makau & Slew Of Other Top African Talent
Bring Back The Mile Officially Launches For years, we (and many in the sport) have wondered why the mile isn't the #1 distance event in the land and why it's not run instead of the 1,500 or 1,600. Finally, someone has decided to do something about it.
*Bringing Buzz Back To The Mile *Discuss *Like On Facebook
Recommended Read: NY Times Article On Australia's LJer Mitchell Watt, Who Quit Track For 5 Years But Came Back And Got 2nd At The World Champs Apparently he was convinced to keep competing by a "12 page email" from his coach.
US Men's Olympic Trials Marathon News *LRC Vote Totals *Men's Results *Women's Results *Mile-By-Mile Splits *Yahoo Flash Photos *LRC Puma Prediction Contest Scores Coming
LRC Men's
Marathon Trials Analysis And Reaction The 2012 Trials race was a classic. We throw some love to the top 3, ponder Ritz's future in the marathon, tell you who had the best debut, and tell you who that guy you never heard of was. Plus we talk about Meb's 74-year-old badass dad and look at the fortune of some old timers who didn't make the team, Josh Cox and Dan Browne, in addition to the ones who did (Meb and Abdi).
Sunday Update: 24-Hours-Later Update On Ritz: "I do love the marathon, but I think I love being good better." Ritz indicated he still loves the marathon and is not done with it. He also said, "I ran pretty good yesterday."
Race Recap: Meb Keflezighi Captures 2012 Olympic Trials Marathon Title
NY Times Recap: Meb Over Hall, Abdi Grabs 3rd Spot The race lived up to the billing as the top four all broke 2:10, whereas previously there had only been one sub-2:10 in OTM history. After a blistering first half (63:25), Meb
Keflezighi got his 2nd PR in 69 days, as he ran 2:09:08 to
win over Hall (2:09:30). A resurgent Abdirahman (2:09:47) hung on for the final Olympic spot in 2:09:47 over Ritzenhein, who broke 2:10:00 for the first time (2:09:55). In the process, Meb became the first American to make an Olympic marathon team 8 years after making it previously. Abdi had no idea until we talked to him that Martin Fagan, whom he trained with some this winter, had reportedly tested positive
for EPO.
LRC Trials Live Thread Here
Trials On The Boards:
- Ritz's 4th place a blessing in disguise?
- Surprises from the Trials
- Will Deena Kastor retire now?
- Will Trafeh ever finish a marathon?
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
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.
Fast Times In Lieven! *Website/Results
- Poland's Adam Kszczot Runs 1:44.57 And Moves To 3rd On World All-Time Indoor List Ethiopia's Mohamed Aman (the man who beat David Rudisha) was 5th in 1:46.80. Olympic bronze medallist Edwin Soi ran 7:32.56 for 3k to beat out 12:53 5k man
and 20+-year-oldIsiah Koech (7:32.89). Koech's time got him the world "junior" record. World indoor silver medallist Abdelaati Iguider won the 1,500 in a WLing 3:34.10. Mariem Alaoui-Selsouli ran 4:03.67 to win the 1,500 (Brit Steph Twell was ninth in 4:11.65). - Jamaica's Lerone Clarke Beats Christophe Lemaitre To Set The WL In The 60m At 6.50 Seconds Lemaitre went on to win the 200m in 20.92. Morocco's Malika Akkaoui set a world-leading time of 1:59.01 in the 800, beating Olympic champ Pamela Jelimo (1:59.10). Yelena Isinbayeva is rounding into shape as she won the PV in 15 feet, 9 1/4 inches and made three attempts at a WR mark of 16-1 1/4 (Jen Suhr has current WR at 16-0.)
- Elsewhere: National Records Go Down At Chinese Indoor Meet China's Zhang Jun set the Asian indoor shot put record at 20.16m and Xue Fei set a 1,500m NR at 4:09.71.
UK News
- BOA Says "We Own You": BOA Puts Out Extremely Strict Set Of Rules For UK Olympic Athletes Rules dictate everything from where the athletes need to be and when, what they must and cannot wear, and even what they're allowed to say. They are not allowed to make negative comments about the performance of team members or criticize the BOA or Locog. Also, they are not permitted to sell their issued gear, but the BOA "reserves the right to reclaim one piece of kit per competitor and sell it to raise money."
- Shouldn't They Focus On 2012 First? Charles van Commenee Wants Top UK Athletes To Compete At The Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Foreign athletes will be happy as they will not have to pay income tax on prize money. The UK income tax rule is why Usain Bolt has refused to compete there in the past.
- Jessica Ennis Eyes World Indoor Pentathlon Record
News From South Africa
- SA 400m Hurdles NR Holder LJ van Zyl Says He "Owes It To Himself" To Medal In London His future wife is trying to qualify for the Olympics as well in the marathon.
- Athletics SA Could Face Liquidation If Doesn't Pay Off Its Debt
- Comrades Marathon Record Holder Leonid Shvetsov Coming Out Of Retirement To Run This Year's Race In June
Pre-Lieven News
Preview Of Fantastic French Meet On Tuesday: The meet has an unreal 800, as world leader Adam Kszczot will taken on the man who beat Rudisha (Aman) plus the Olympic champ Borzakovskiy.
Baala versus Kiplagat at 1,500. Plus the indoor debut of Lemaitre at 60m
and 200m, Brimin Kipruto at 3,000, and the return of Pamela Jelimo begins as she'll race the 800.
More Upcoming Action: Vivian Cheruiyot Will Make One & Only Indoor Appearance This Weekend At 3,000 In Birmingham
*Japan 10k National Champ Yuki Sato Headlines Fukuoka International XC Meet On Feb. 25th
*Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, the last chance for Japanese men to make the London Olympics marathon team, releases fields
More Recent Action We Want To Make Sure You Realized Happened
- Sunday: Karlsruhe, Germany: Genzebe Dibaba Runs 4:00.13!!! - Augustine Choge & Edwin Soi Run 7:29.34 (Choge Wins) For 3,000 As Yenew Alamirew Is 3rd in 7:31.23 The 21-year-old Dibaba, who was 8th in the 5k at the last two WCs, became the 5th-fastest woman in history at 1,500 indoors thanks to her 4:00.13 win. In the 3k, Mariem Selsouli destroyed WC silver medallist Syliva Kibet (8:36 to 8:43). *Karlsruhe Results
- 23-Year-Old Russian Yelena Kofanova Is 1st Under 2:00 In 2012 With 1:59.80
- Bronze Medallist From 2010 World XC Juniors, Japheth Korir, Wins Luxembourg XC Meet - Canada's Reid Coolsaet Is 4th (43 Seconds Back) Ethiopia's Almensh Belete won the women's title.
- IAAF: Ennis double win the highlight in Sheffield - UK champs wrap
2012 Millrose Games *Results *Lagat, Wanamaker Mile Video
- LRC: Lagat Smashes American Record, Collegiate Record Books Rewritten Bernard Lagat ran 13:07.15 and smashed Galen Rupp's American indoor record, but the most impressive achievements may have been the rewriting of the collegiate record books. Lawi Lalang (13:08) not only obliterated the old indoor record but he ran faster than Henry Rono's nearly 34-year-old outdoor record. Chris Derrick got beaten badly but becomes the 5th-fastest collegian in the US indoors or outdoors. In the Wanamaker mile, Matt Centrowitz reminded us why he won the bronze medal at Worlds and Miles Batty broke the collegiate record.
- NY Times: Centrowitz Makes It Look So Easy (3:53.92) - American, Collegiate & HS Records Fall In 5,000 Centrowitz is one of the world's best milers and he showed it on Saturday as he totally schooled the collegians who were lined up to challenge him, although the top collegian didn't care, as Miles Batty got the collegiate record with a 3:54.54. In the women's 1,500, world champ Jenny Simpson beat Shannon Rowbury as both ran 4:06. LaShawn Merritt came up way short of the WR in the 500.
- Miles Batty Reacts To Collegiate Record
- Post-Race: Bernard Lagat Reacts To Galen Rupp Getting His 2-Mile Record
- RRW: Lagat Shatters American Record, Centrowitz Wins Wanamaker Mile
- Daily News: Lagat breaks U.S. record in 5,000 meters at Millrose Games
- IAAF Recap
- DyeStat Coverage Of HS Action
- MB: Lagat AR (13:07) Lawi 2nd in 13:08 CR, Cheserek 13:57 and Derrick 13:19!
- MB: Centrowitz just jogged a 3:53
- MB: Batty destroys CR
- MB: Ajee Wilson mixes it up with the pros, gets 4th to beat Vessey
UK Indoor Champs *Results
- World-Class Performances At Aviva UK Trials Not a lot of hot distance action, although former FSU star Hannah Engalnd won the 3k - also Dwain Chambers in the 60m and Jessica Ennis in 60m hurdles. Steph Twell ran 4:09 in the 1,500.
- Dwain Chambers Approaching Training With Focus On Olympics Despite the fact that he won't know if he's eligible until April.
- Jessica Ennis Wins High Jump At Trials
Aussie Stuff - Great Matchups At This Weekend's Sydney Track Classic
- Feb 18th: Start Lists For Sydney Track Classic: David Rudisha In The 400; Asbel Kiprop, Nick Symmonds, & Jeff Rissley In The 800 1,500 includes Will Leer, David Torrence, Craig Mottram and Collis Birmingham.
- Q&A With 1:46 Aussie 800m Runner James Gurr, Who Works Multiple Jobs While Training
- Chance To Chat With Some Top Aussie Athletes Via Twitter On Wednesday, Feb 15th 7-8PM (AEST).
Lance Still Making Headlines
- Lance Armstrong Finishes 2nd In His First Ironman Lance had the lead at 12 miles into the run, but ended up losing by less than a minute.
- Interesting Video: How Do Tri Pros Feel About Racing Lance Armstrong? We agree with commenter who said "would be good to know who the dudes in the video are."
- Good Read: Lance Armstrong May Have Avoided Charges, But Speculations About Doping Are Far From Over "If Lance Armstrong was drug-free throughout his career, then no innocent sportsman has ever been more severely traduced."
- Some Great Quotes: NY Times: Fights Over Doping Charges Cast Shadow Over Cycling "Imagine that, around two years from now, a panel of judges rules that the New York Giants did not actually win the Super Bowl. Sorry, Giants, please Fedex the trophy to Boston. That is more or less the situation that the universe of professional cycling."
More Top Action
- NZ: NZ's Valerie Adams Wins Porritt Classic SP With 20.19m
- Germany: Recap Of Adam Kszczot's 1:45.44 And Thomas Longosiwa's 12:58 In Düsseldorf
- Australia: Even With Stutter, Pearson Wins In Australia
- College: Katie Flood Runs 4:28 Mile
More Distance News Of Note
- 2:19:34 Marathoner Lucy Kabuu Added To London Marathon Field The Kenyan officials have said they won't put her on the Olympic team.
- Vivian Cheruiyot Says She Will Try To Break World Record In 5,000m Before London Olympics
- Impressive: Chris Derrick Wins His 2nd Scholar-Athlete XC Athlete Of The Year, Sheila Reid Wins Her Third
- Oregon Track Club Is Thriving In Eugene Register-Guard
- Kara Goucher Has A Lot OF Praise For Her Husband Adam Oregonian
2012 Boston Marathon
LRC Boston Marathon Releases Elite Fields For 2012 2011 champs Geoffrey Mutai & Caroline Kilel will try to defend their titles against a field that includes 5 sub-2:05 and 2:23 competitors.
Other Action This Weekend
- LRC Meseret Defar Wants An Unprecedented 5th Straight World Indoors 3,000 Gold
She will also race this Sunday(Update: Defar is out of this race) against 5k world silver medalist Sylvia Kibet and 2009 World 10k medalist Meselech Melkamu at 3k in Karlsruhe, Germany. Yenew Alamirew, Augustine Choge and Eliud Kipchoge headline the men's race. - 10 events to watch at this weekend's 2012 UK Indoor Championships
- Usain Bolt And Yohan Blake To Open Season With A 400 This Saturday In Jamaica Both sprinters are expected to race in the timed finals of the 400m, but likely won't go head-to-head in the same heat. Big surprise.
- College: UW Heat Sheets *Schedule *All College Results Here
Injury News
- Harvard runners "get hurt with distressing frequency"- NYT reviews medical study that says heel strikers get injured twice as often as forefoot strikers
- 80-Year-Old Marathon Legend Ed Whitlock Is On Comeback Trail From Broken Rib
- After Pulling Out Of Osaka International Women's Marathon With Injury, Mizuki Noguchi Is Healthy And Heading To Altitude Camp In China Her last shot to make the 2012 Olympics will be at the Mar. 11th Nagoya Women's Marathon.
- More Japanese Marathon News: Japan's Yoko Shibui Is Training Well With Up To 60k Long Runs Getting Ready For Nagoya Women's Marathon
College Coaches Beware
Bottle Of Heineken Was Saving Grace For Irish Guy Who Set World Record By Runnig 7 Marathons On 7 Continents In 5 Days
Doping News - Another Tour de France Winner Is Busted
News From Or Relating To Down Under
- NZ's 17-Year-Old Shot Put Star Jacko Gill Is Old Enough For The Olympics, But Has To Apply To Be Able To Compete In NZ National Champs They changed their age restriction to 19 years old and say Jacko will definitely be allowed if he applies for dispensation to the rule; but he still has to apply.
- 42-Year-Old Kiwi Woman Wins Empire State Building Run Up (Includes Video) "I knew I had it when I got to the 70th floor and I could no longer hear them breathing behind me." - Melissa Moon
- Steve Hooker Will Have About A Month To Post Two Olympic A Qualifying Clearances If He Wants To Make Aussie Olympic Team
- Preview Of NZ Porritt Classic Tomorrow: World Shot Champ Valerie Adams Headlines Meet
Seb Coe Gives David Rudisha Tour Of Olympic Park When asked about London Assembly member Andrew Boff saying Londoners are not confident of benefitting from the Olympics, Coe's response was: "He's clearly out of touch with the reality."
3-Time Boston Winner Ibrahim Hussein Says He Convinced Paul Tergat To Move From XC To The Marathon And That He Thinks Patrick Makau Will Run 2:02 Article also mentions that Kenya plans to announce their final Olympic marathon team on April 30th. "During my time we were doing 2:08. I was instrumental in convincing Paul Tergat, while he was still a cross-country runner, to switch to the marathon and run a 2:04 which he subsequently did and went ahead and broke the world record," three-time Boston Marathon winner Ibrahim Hussein said.
Two Recommened Reads
- Meet HS Girls Super-Coach: Neal Levy The coach of girls HS mile leader Samantha Nadel as well as 12 sub-11:30 3k girls and 4 sub-10:05 3k girls has some simple coaching rules that would help 99% of all high school coaches - base is way more important than workouts: "No formal interval training. No mile repeats. No tempo runs either."
- Learn About The The Rise Of The #1 Marathoner In The World - Liliya Shobukhova The former 5,000 also-ran is now a world beater in the marathon. We're not sure about what Carey Pinkowski says about her, though: "If you could somehow take all the great performers [in history] and somehow line them up, she would be hard to bet against."
Despite Making 2011 World Championships In 10,000, 27:48 Man Scotty Bauhs Is Dropped By Adidas "I am in this sport to try to run fast and enjoy the experience ... I hope someone pays me to do it but if not, I’ll keep trying anyway."
Crazy Olympic News
- Nike-Sponsored British Athletes May Go To Awards Podium Barefoot Rather Than Wear Adidas On Medal Stand
- London Organizers To Ship Olympic Tickets On Boat, Not Planes, To Reduce Carbon Footprint
- Crazy Irish News
Irish Guy Sets World Record, Having Run 7 Marathons On 7 Continents In 5 Days He does it on a shoestring budget, flying coach from continent to continent to raise awareness for some charity.
Fear - The Limiting Factor Of All Pole Vaulters
- Scared To Vault With Full Run-Up, Steve Hooker Pulls Out Of Australian Meets - Olympic Title Defense In Doubt
- Hooker Written Statement: "My auto-pilot is not working at the moment." "The confidence I require to stand at the end of the runway and then charge down, land my pole and soar almost six metres into the air has left me for the time being,"
- Olympic champion Steve Hooker grounded by the yips (includes video interview
US News
- Interview With Steve Magness On Why Oregon Project Runners Do Workouts After Races Specifically talks about Galen Rupp and Mo Farah doing a tempo after the NB mile.
- Sign The Petition: Bring Back The Mile Website Expands Content Includes a state federation petition requesting that the Mile be brought back to the State Championship level.
- Good Interview With Greg McMillan On Some Of His Runners And The Types Of Training They Do
- Bob Babbit Talks With Desiree Davila On Her Career, Boston, And Making The Olympic Team Davila: "It is this feeling where I don't give myself enough credit or allow myself to enjoy the moment, because I'm always thinking forward."
- In-Depth Gary Cohen Interview With Gerry Lindgren Definitely worth a read, especially if you don't know much about Lindgren.
- Interesting: Very Complete List Of 2012 Indoor Bests By Collegiate Football Players Surprisingly a couple of DIII football milers. One ran a 4:37 and another 4:58.
- NCAA: Clemson’s Women Move Up To 3rd With New D1 Rankings; Oregon Women Still #1 Top 7 stay the same for the men, with Arkansas-Florida 1-2.
- Article On The Charity Efforts Of Ryan And Sara Hall Ryan Hall: "Running puts you in touch with humanity. It makes me feel grounded."
Two Good Distance Reads
- Great Look At Peter Snell And His Training And 2 World Records 50 Years Ago Nick Willis and other stars are racing on a grass track this weekend to honor Snell's runs.
- Ryan Hall And Alberto Salazar Discuss The Importance Of Recovery In Training If it wasn't the 50-year anniversary of Snell's record, Alberto would have gotten quote of the day with this: "A lot of what we see in athletes that just train all the time and never
give themselves adequate recovery is often portrayed as toughness. What
I've realized over the years is it really is a weakness. It's an
insecurity that you're not good enough to recover like other athletes:
I'm not good enough to do that; I need to keep training; I can't take
time off; I can't take easy days."
More Distance News: Meb, Ryan And Alberto Go For A Run In Boston bostonglobe.com - Semenya Now Being Coached By Maria Mutola, Will Cut Back Her Schedule To Get Ready For Olympics
Dubai *LRC Recap *Results
LRC Hello World, Meet Ayele Abshero (2:04:23 Debut!) The 21-year-old former Jr. World XC champ's marathon debut was super-special, as his surge with just over 3km remaining decimated
the deepest
marathon field in history, as four
men broke 2:05 in the race, eight broke 2:06, 10 broke 2:07, and 17 broke 2:10 - all records as fastest-ever times for places were recorded in spots three through
17. 2011 belonged to the Kenyan men, will 2012 belong to Ethiopia? The women's race was super-fast and super-deep as well, as 3 women broke 2:20 in the same race for the 1st time, as Aselefech Mergia ran 2:19:31 to win and a record 9 women broken 2:25. Martin Lel was a DNF, Ramaala 2:12. *AP
*Butcher: Ethiopians Strike Back
*MB: 4 guys I've never heard of go sub 2:05 in Dubai
Wejo Speaks: LRC What About The Sport? Wejo, an outspoken critic of Millrose Games moving to the Armory, says don't celebrate USATF sticking it to Millrose. Celebrate the sport being on ESPN.
Be Inspired By These Two Olympic Trials Breakthrough Performers
- Recommended Read! The
Ultimate Blue-Collar Runner: Meet Jimmy Grabow - The Guy With A Full-Time Job Who Ran 2:12:29 At The Trials In His First Marathon If this piece doesn't inspire you, then we don't know what will. The guy gets up every day at 5:30 and bangs out 15 miles + a core workout before going to a real 40-hour/week job before running 5 more miles after work.
*MB: Jimmy Grabow - The Ultimate Blue Collar Runner Do you know about the blue collar or yuppie debate - it's one of the greatest in LRC history. - 5 Minutes With Alissa McKaig She PRed by 5+ minutes to finish 8th at the OTrials in 2:31.
Wejo Speaks: LRC What About The Sport? Wejo, an outspoken critic of Millrose Games moving to the Armory, says don't celebrate USATF sticking it to Millrose. Celebrate the sport being on ESPN.
US Women's Olympic Trials Marathon News *LRC Vote Totals *Men's Results *Women's Results *Yahoo Flash Photos
Flanagan Over Davila, Goucher Gets Third As Top 4 All Break Old OTrials Record Flanagan (2:25:38) pulled away from Davila (2:25:55) and Goucher was third in 2:26:06. Amy Hastings broke the old Trials record at 2:27:17 but didn't make the team. Deena Kastor was 6th in 2:30:40.
- New: Amy Hastings Reacts To Fourth Place Finish Obviously disappointed, but a good run for Amy.
- Post-Race Reaction None of the four former Olympic marathoners in the race made the team. Hear from the top 3 and them.
- Women's Results
- Goucher: "I never imagined myself winning this race based on the short period of time I had to train." Oregonian
- Washington Post Recap Of Trials
- Deena: "I have no idea. This was not in my plans ... I really thought I was going to book my ticket to London today." MB Thread: Will Deena Kastor retire now?
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.
Assorted News
*Galen Rup Says It's Looking Like He Will Race Bernard Lagat At US Indoor Champs
*Tokyo University Hakone Ekiden CR Setters Kento Otsu & Yuta Shitara To Run NYC Half On Mar. 18th They have PRs of 1:02:35 and 1:02:43.
*DI Rankings: Arkansas And Florida Still 1-2 For Men (Texas A&M Jumps From 8th To 3rd) Oregon still lead for the women; Clemson and LSU swap 2-3 positions.
*Sydney Olympic 800m Champ Nils Schumann Under Investigation For Blood Doping Was among those named in German doping scandal.
Final 400 (Or Full Race) Of Lagat's American Record (Wanamaker Mile Video Here)
Photo Gallery: Rupp Makes History (Interview Below Or Here)
Galen Rupp After Breaking American 2-Mile Record
USA XC Photo Galleries *Women Here *Men Here ... Captions Coming
College Action *All Results Here *Tyson *UW *Indiana
- LRC Indiana University's DMR Gets The Auto With 9:29.12 It was also the 5th-fastest time ever recorded indoors. Includes race video and post race interview.
*MB: IU w/ the DMR auto - Sally Kipyego 15:15, Deborah Maier 15:29, Jordan Hasay 15:45 Deborah Maier, who was 11th at NCAA XC, was the big surprise.
Three Interesting Reads Plus Oscar P / Jessica Ennis News
- Bloomberg News: Is the New York City Marathon Too Expensive? Consumers ultimately will vote with their pocketbooks and are saying no as of now.
- Length Article In Washington Post On Carmelita Jeter's Transformation To A World Class Sprinter Interesting read. Jeter's camp wants you to believe her improvement is due to new mechanics and this article goes into that in depth. It also acknowledges that some speculate its drugs.
- Yamilé Aldama Has Competed For 3 Countries And Is Married To A Heroin Dealer But She's Ready For London 2012 As A Brit Guardian
- S. Africa May Make Oscar Pistorius Run Under "A" Qualifying Time Twice To Make Olympic Team
- Jessica Ennis After Pentathlon World Record At World Indoors
Help Us Pick The Final Winners In The LRC Puma Faas Challenge
We Want Your Votes We've got roughly 20 pairs of Puma Faas shoes still to put to the test and we want your votes. Voting has been going on on the message boards, but here it is for everyone else. See the amazing entries from LRC nation.
Week In Review
LRC 5 Thoughts On NBIGP, Patrick Makau Gets Beaten, Drug Talk, A Crazy Half Marathon In Japan And Minnesota Mid-D We give you more thoughts on the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix and tell you who really won the 800, then turn to the roads and talk about Patrick Makau getting beaten and a crazy half marathon in Japan, plus an update on Minnesota's great middle-d program, plus some training advice.
Osaka Marathon Photos
Updated US Open Photo Gallery
The Big Interview: Dathan Ritzenhein
LRC Ritz Reflects On The Trials, His Years With Alberto, And Looks To The Future 24 hours after Dathan Ritzenhein just missed making the 2012 the Olympic Marathon team, a frank but more upbeat Ritz sat down and talked with LetsRun.com. He looked back on the Trials race ("I ran pretty good. It just was not enough.") and back on the last three years with Alberto ("He is a very smart, very passionate guy more than anything. He will find the way." and "There's been many times when we've screwed up.") before looking ahead to both the immediate future ("The Olympics is everything.") and farther down the road ("I do love the marathon, but I think I love being good better ... I want to succeed at what I'm going to be best at."). A confident Ritz has big plans for the future. A must read (or watch) if we can say so ourselves. Plus we give you splits of the last 3.2 miles in Houston.
Bob Kempainen In All His Glory (Thank You Natural Running Center For Sending This) OTB: Never knew Kempainen was so fast - sub-2:09
LRC Analysis Of The Women's Olympic Trials Marathon We break down the action from the 2012 Olympic Trials Marathon. Sure, we praise Shalane, Desi and Kara, but what about Wendy Thomas, Alisha Williams and Linda Somers-Smith, who ran faster at age 50 than she did at age 30 to win the Chicago Marathon? Plus a look at Deena and Amy Hastings.
Deal Of The Day
Meb Keflezighi's Book With Dick Patrick FREE For Kindle Owners With Amazon Prime $16.49 in hardback form.
Joanie Inspires
The Puma Team Answered Your Shoe Questions
Running Shoe Question And Answer You had questions and the team from one of our sponsors Puma answered them on them boards.
Trailer For "ITEN - The Town Of RED Dust"
NCAA Women's Photo Gallery
NCAA Men's Photo Gallery (500+ Photos)
Training Corner (More In The Training Forum)
- Anyone else run hard workouts in the very-early morning?
- Stitches, breathing, and racing
- Anyone ever made a comeback after something serious (cancer)?
- I lost the spark between me and running
- How to develop speed endurance
A Scintillating Men's 10,000 Finish (US Visitors Only)
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