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Kenyan Olympic Team Named

Kenyan Olympic Marathon Team Announced: Makau AND Mutai Left Off The Kenyan Olympic Marathon team was announced (video here) and the AP is making a big deal of the World Record holder Patrick Makau being left off. The big news in our minds is the world's best marathoner in 2011, Geoffrey Mutai, being left off in favor of Mosop Mosop (and Abel Kirui). The women's team was the top 3 in London, although Employee #1 was surprised Boston Champ Sharon Cherop was left off.
*IAAF *Athletics West:
Discuss: The Kenyan OG Marathon Squad revealed
*World Record Holders not chosen for Olympic Team

Payton Jordan Cardinal Invite Is Sunday *Payton Jordan Entries

RRW Deena Kastor To Run 1st Track Race In 5 Years On Sunday As She Turns Her Focus To The Track & The Olympics Her lone Olympic 10k experience was a bad one as she was lapped in the prelims but the Olympic bronze medallist is excited to be going for another team. We must admit her coach doesn't sound particularly confident. Maybe he's lowering expectations. Goal #1 is US Trials A standard (32:45). Goal #2 is IAAF A (31:45). Photo on left from 2001 - the early days of LRC. Deena: "My training has been more aggressive and playful. I am hungry to make this team."

*Alberto Salazar Says Dathan Ritzenhein Pulled Out Of Mt. SAC With Toe Injury, Won't Race Payton Jordan Either Salazar: "We had a little scare. But Dathan will be fine."

Interesting But Random News From The UK

• Guardian: 50 stunning Olympic moments No24: Abebe Bikila runs barefoot into history
• UK Boat Protestor Told Not To Go Anywhere Near Olympic Torch Run Let's hope he doesn't get near the Olympic marathon.
• Commonwealth gold medallist at 200m Leon Baptiste sells car to try to make Olympics Not for monetary reasons. "It was my own fault really. I bought myself a cheap sports car and it was very low to the ground so my back was constantly in flexion, compressing everything."
• London LGBT Pride House Is Scrapped The Reason? A lack of sponsorship and headline entertainment.
• 765 BBC Staffers Will Be Used To Cover Olympics
  
  Random News Not From The UK
• Got Some Extra Cash? Namibia's 1:46.62 Guy Daniel Nghipandulwa Needs Sponsors If He's Going To Make Games
  Over $1 Million Already Raised For Charity In Honor Of Woman Who Died Running London *More On Claire Squires

Bolt NOT Racing Powell

• Usain Bolt Not Racing Asafa Powell On May 5th; Powell Vs. Yohan Blake In 200
  *Behind Scenes Documentary On Bolt's Training/Daily Life To Be Broadcast After London Games
  *Asafa Powell Eulogises His Brothers With Diamond Spikes

USATF Gets A New Boss

USATF Hires Sports Marketer And Former Board Member Max Siegel As CEO Siegel most recently was a sports marketer and formerly was a music exec and President of Dale Earnhardt racing (NASCAR). Problematic to some is he's a former USATF Board member and his sports marketing agency was hired by USATF in October. USATF must have liked what he did as now he's the boss. The question is will the board let him do his job?
*LRC's Wejos Quick Thoughts
*3 Wire Sports Alan Abrahamson Reacts Alan says, "he has big-time credentials in auto racing and the music industry." Alan wants to see a track meet in Cowboys stadium and so do we.
*Phil Hersh Of Chicago Tribune Reacts Hersh is very critical of the process of how he was hired. We agree the process sucked (and Hersh takes a few shots at Stephanie Hightower), but that doesn't mean Siegel cannot do a good job.
*USATF Release
*Message From USATF President Stephanie Hightower "The days of USATF's 'leadership gap' are over."
*Siegel Says The Goal Is Still 30 Medals For London
*Siegel Will Continue To Own NASCAR Team
On The Boards: Give your opinion on Siegel's hire

Post-London News

• IAAF Recap Of IAU 100km World Champs: USA Women Win Team/Individual Title US men 2nd.
• Isaiah Kiplagat: "We have no headache in the selection, especially among the women. We may have to scratch our heads a little [with the men.]" A "source" leaked that AK so far will choose the top three women from London and Wilson Kipsang.
• Blue Collar: 30-Year-Old Accountant Dave Webb Is Surprise Selection For Team GB's Olympic Marathon Squad He doesn't have the "A" standard, but was 15th at World Champs. He gets up at 6am each day to do a 7 miler before a 9 hour work day which he tops off with another 15 miles in the evening.
• Claire Hallissey Joins Paula Radcliffe And Mara Yamauchi On GB Olympic Marathon Team
• Jo Pavey Frustrated That UK Selectors Didn't Take Into Account The Difficulty Of The NYC Marathon Course She ran 2:28:42 on the much slower NY course to Hallissey's 2:27:44 in London.
• Thousands Of Dollars Donated Following Tragic Death Of Claire Squires During The London Marathon Her site has raised £216,494.77 for charity. You can donate here. She was a pretty impressive person as she also raised £1,430 for the Royal Air Force by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. The cause of death is still to be determined.
• Runner Uses Running London Marathon As Way To Deal With Mother's Death
• Laundry List Of Reasons Why The Kenyans Are Good At The Marathon

Random News

• Zola Budd Argues For Barefoot Running Budd: "I think it's only in the U.S. and Europe where people are frowned upon if they go barefoot." However, she admits she did about 60% of her training in shoes.
• Two Canadians Plan Appeal To Get Into Olympic Marathon They hit the IAAF Standard, but not the stricter Canadian standard.
• Former Olympic TJ Champ Jonathan Edwards Happy BOA's Lifetime Ban Is Set To Be Overturned But he supports a minimum 4-year ban.
• Want To Work For The IAAF? IAAF Is Looking To Hire Project And Planning Officer
• Official London Olympic Video Game Due June 26

Women's 2012 London Is History *Top Results *Live Splits *Video Highlights *Mary Keitany Photo Gallery From Kenya *Getty Images Photos From Kenya

LRC  Mary Keitany Runs Fastest Final 10km In Marathon History To Repeat & Become The #3 Performer In History The Kenyans certainly came to play when it was time to battle it out for the title and London Olympic spots, as they went 1-2-3-4-5, but in the end, everyone was left talking to about Keitany, who used a 5:07 23rd mile and 4:59 24th mile to pull away from world champion Edna Kiplagat and mark herself as the Olympic favorite.

LRC Meet Mary Keitany Employee #1 met her in her home in Kenya.

*Claire Hallissey Runs 2:27:42 For 11th Place And May Have Secured 3rd GB Olympic Spot Jo Pavey is the other option as she ran 2:28:24 in London last year and 2:28:42 in New York.
*LJ van Zyl's Fiance Irvette van Blerk Clinches SA Olympic Spot With 2:33 In London
*30-Year-Old Woman Collapses At Mile 25 And Dies
*NYTimes Recap Of London *London Organizers Women's Recap *1:47 Audio Interview With Keitany *IAAF
On The Boards: *Live Update Thread *Kenyan Olympic team

More London

Employee #1 Goes To Kenya
LRC Meet Mary Keitany The half marathon world record holder destroyed the best women's field in the world last year in London. Then on the hilly New York course, she went out faster than Paula Radcliffe during her world record before falling apart miserably. Now she has to qualify for the Olympics in London. Get to know Mary Keitany.
*Keitany Photo Gallery *Getty Images Photos From Kenya

LRC Meet Wilson Kipsang: "If I had to compare him to an NFL quarterback, I'd compare him to Peyton Manning." link fixed We share with you this unpublished segment on Wilson Kipsang from Employee #1's final piece in the 8 Days of Glory Series. Short segment with video interview with Kipsang overlooking the Rift Valley.

LRC The Electrifying Abel Kirui The two-time World Champion has dominated non-rabbited races. Can he do the same in London on Sunday? Learn about his training and his set-up in Iten as he talks about phantom planets and more - from Employee #1's trip to Kenya.
New: Renato Canova Talks About Abel Kirui (Video)

Worth A Read: The Cool Story Of How Scott Overall Made The British Olympic Marathon Team A year ago he was selling shoes and about to quit the sport. Now he's an Olympic marathoner.

Non-London Results/News

• 2007 WC Bronze Medalist Martin Mathathi Sets 10k WL At 27:35 At Hyogo Relay Carnival Hitomi Niiya set the women's WL at 31:28.26.
• Padua, Italy Marathon: Robert Kwambai Wins With 2:09:14 Debut IAAF
• Two-Time Olympic Silver Medalist Frankie Fredericks Urges UK Athletes To Boycott Games If Dwain Chambers Is Declared Eligible British athletes boycotting a home Olympics? Never going to happen.
• Craig Mottram Clocks Fastest Split Of Day At Aussie XC Relays He ran 17:26 for 6k, which was almost 2 minutes faster than Olympic 800m runner Jeff Riseley.
• Kenyans Patrick Korir And Margaret Agai Win Rock N Roll Madrid Marathon
• IOC Refuses To Commemorate Munich Olympics Massacre
• One We Missed: Kenya's Peter Some And Belarus's Sviatlana Kouhan Set CRs To Win Brighton Marathon

Non-London Marathon News

RRW: Neely Spence Joins Hansons-Brooks Updated The D2 star is Hansons-Brooks biggest pickup ever.
*Discuss On The Boards

Meet Glenn Randall
LRC The Story Behind Glenn Randall (The Guy Who Led Boston) Who was that dude leading the first 10k of the Boston Marathon? Believe it or not, he's an NCAA champion (in another sport). LetsRun.com talks to the guy who made the first 10k of the marathon entertaining. His frontrunning was no stunt and has paid off big time in the past. This time it resulted in a 2:37:13 61st place finish.

A Brief Chat With 2:10:47 Canadain Olympian Dylan Wykes Random facts from article:
1) After dropping out of Lake Biwa, he couldn't get into any other marathon but Rotterdam 2) He was never an All-American at Providence 3) He's given up being a vegetarian.

Jason Hartmann Still On Cloud 9 "If I never accomplish anything else in the sport of running again, I can look back at this and be really happy with my running career."

• Other Post-Boston News: Boston Organizers/Athletes Happy To Have The Hot Race Behind Them Wesley Korir: "When they took off, I wish I had an opportunity to tell them, 'You guys are crazy.' I was not going to go with them. I thought about my daughter. I thought about my wife. I didn't want to go to the hospital. I wanted to go home."
• Good Article On How Korir Battled Typhoid Back In February And 58 Days Later Won Boston Maybe Emmanuel Mutai is right not to be worried ahead of London.
• 1980 Marathon Trials 3rd Placer Kyle Heffner Won His Age Group (55-59) At Boston With 2:48:36
• One We Missed: Jenn Rhines (74:05) Second To Alemtsehay Misganaw (73:25) At More/Fitness Half Marathon In NYC On Sunday

Boston Marathon Monday *Men's Results/Splits *Women's Results Splits *Winners Photo Gallery *Video Highlights

Recommended: Excellent Post By Science Of Sport On Boston Conditions: The Surge Between 25 And 30k And The Sun Did The Leaders In We'll have more LRC analysis but this post does an excellent job of explaining what happened. Also read this post that explains why telling people to over-prepare for the heat may not be the best idea. And only 427 people deferred to next year's race.

RRW: Wesley Korir Comes From Behind For Shock Victory Korir, the former University of Louisville, Ron Mann-coached athlete was 57 seconds behind the leaders with less than five miles to go. Then the heat took its toll on leader Levy Matebo and Korir stormed to victory in 2:12:40 as American Jason Hartmann used a similar tactic to get 4th in 2:14:31. The winner was nearly 10 minutes slower than last year. Crazy.
*Top Results/Splits *Winners Photos *Video Highlights

More Men's Boston:

• Jason Hartmann On Getting 4th: "This is the body God gave me. I have no control over that, and I just try to do the best with the abilities I've been given." Denver Post
• Champ Wesley Korir And Jason Hartmann Talk About Prevailing In The Heat, Geoffrey Mutai Not Too Upset About Dropping Out Hartmann: "I circled this on my calendar and every day this is what I prepared for. I wasn't gonna fail today. I came here to do something, fortunately for me it worked out."
• A Race Of "Redemption" For Jason Hartmann In Boston (Article And Video) RW
• RW Takes A Look At Retro Win For Wesley Korir Post-race interview as well. Korir may do a lot of his training in Mennonite country in Canada but he is a great hot weather runner as he showed Monday.
• Geoffrey Mutai Dropping Out Complicates Kenyan Olympic Picture "Time Plus" will be a key factor for selecting the team. And Wesley Korir won't be on it.
  
  Boston On The Boards: Official Boston Thread
• Jason Hartmann Looks a Lot Heavier than 160
• Would Ryan Hall Have Won Boston Today?
• OK - Which year at Boston was hotter - '12 or '04?
• How many of your friends are FLOPPING at Boston right now?
• Pull a "Glenn Randall" (GR)
• Kellog is more lucky that smart

Other Weekend Action

• Rotterdam:LRC No WR - No Kenyan Win: Ethiopia's Yemane Adhane Spoils The Party & Wins 2012 Rotterdam Marathon In 2:04:47 2011 was unofficially the year of the marathon for the Kenyan men, but 2012 seems to belong squarely to the Ethiopians who now have the top 5 times on the year. Moses Mosop's WR attempt was "stopped" as was his bid for victory. After a 1:01:37 1st half, the pace slowed in windy conditions, but Yemane Adhane emerged victorious in 2:04:47 over compatriot Getu Feleke (2:04:50) as Mosop was third (2:05:02). Ethiopia's Tiki Gelana became the 4th-fastest women in history the with a stellar 2:18:58. *IAAF
  *MB: Rotterdam Marathon live stream *New huge PR for Moses Mosop!
  *New: Canova: Calf Injury Ts To Blame For Mosop's Struggles Canova said Mosop ran on hard pavement the last 3 days in Kenya. The Ethiopians credited their success to a change in their training regime to feature more speedwork.
  Marathon Mission's Catriona Jennings Gets "A" Standard In Rotterdam
  
  Pre-Race: LRC Moses Mosop Goes For Glory: "Moses Has Speed That Has Never Been Seen"
  Interesting Read: Learn About "Marathon Mission" - Ireland's Version Of Marathon Group Training
  
  
• Vienna: Haile G (60:52) Beats Paula Radcliffe As Radcliffe Runs Slowest 13.1 Of Her Career (72:03) Radcliffe came in after recently having bronchitis but was expecting better. Meanwhile, Kenya's Henry Sugut won the marathon in 2:06:58.
  *Paula To BBC: "I am at a loss to explain why it was quite so bad. I still would have expected and hoped for a time in the 69s."
  *Classic British Press Over-Reaction: Tearful Paula Radcliffe Sees Hopes Of Olympic Medal Fade In Vienna
  *Geb On Paula: "Paula is an inspiration but I would ask all British people not to expect too much of her. I don't expect Paula to win the Olympics."
   
• Dublin: MB Kenenisa Bekele Looks Majestic In His Return He destroyed the field and impressed at least once message board poster who seemingly watched the race.
  *27:50 Destroys Mottram's Course Record By 46 Seconds On Hilly Course

High School Big News

17-Year-Old High Schooler Cayla Hatton Runs 33:17 10,000m Olympic Trials "B" Qualifier The prodigy only started running full-time this year. Now she's putting up a time that would make her 5th in the NCAAs last year. Truly ridiculous. The time is so fast some were wondering if it was a lap short, but this video proves it's legit and shows she ran every lap (16:30-16:46).
*A Q&A With HS Prodigy Cayla Hatton Two years ago, she was in awe of Kara Goucher and asking for her autograph. Now she'll be racing against people like her at USAs in the 10k.

World Indoors *Results *Video Highlights For US Visitors *UK Visitors *Yahoo Photos

LRC Men's 3,000m Final Lives Up To The Hype World 5,000m champion Mo Farah squared off with two-time world indoor champion Bernard Lagat and 2012 World leaders Augustine Choge and Edwin Soi of Kenya. Once again, Bernard Lagat was too good. They were all in contention on the final lap. There was some contact, two guys running on the infield, a DQ and a resintatement, but none of that stopped Bernard Lagat from showing he's the best 3,000m runner in the world.

LRC 800s: Pamela Jelimo Is Back As USA's Erica Moore Gets Bronze, 18-Year-Old* Mohamed Aman Gets Gold The last time Pamela Jelimo was any good, Erica Moore wasn't an 800m runner. They both left World Indoors pleased, as Moore made her first sub-2:00 clocking count with a bronze medal. In the men's race, 18-year-old* favorite Mohamed Aman got gold. On The Boards: Erica Moore 800m at Worlds

LRC Hellen Obiri Stuns Four-Time World Champ Defar link fixed Obiri Closes In 4:06.6 For Gold Get used to the name Hellen Obiri. Last year, she ran internationally for the first time and won the Kenyan 1,500m championships. This year, in the fourth 3,000m of her life, she came from behind to stop Meseret Defar from getting her 5th world title.

IAAF Final Day Recap: Brittney Reese Is Incredible, Aries Meritt Upsets Liu Xiang, Will Claye Wins Brittney Reese had her back to the wall in the long jump, so what did she do? Unleash a jump that made her #3 all-time to win.

US Men's Olympic Trials Marathon News *LRC Vote Totals *Men's Results *Women's Results *Mile-By-Mile Splits *Yahoo Flash Photos

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).

Race Recap: Meb Keflezighi Captures 2012 Olympic Trials Marathon Title

Penn Relays Or Drake Relays? We've Got You Covered
*Penn Results *Drake Results

PENN:

Walt Murphy's Comprehensive Penn Relays Preview

*IAAF: Record international field set for USA vs. The World Big American stars include Khadevis Robinson, Nick Symmonds, Russell Brown, Leo Manzano, Phoebe Wright, Erica Moore, Walter Dix, Angelo Taylor, Justin Gatlin, LaShawn Merritt, Allyson Felix, Sanya Richards-Ross, Carmelita Jeter and more.
*Milesplit Girls HS Preview *Milesplit Boys HS Preview

Penn's Interim Men's Coach Robin Martin Dreaming Big His dream is his DMR team with SBs of ??? for 1,200, 49.4, 1:50.4, and 3:44.9 is going to be in the top 3 with 300 to go. Good luck.
*Hard To Believe - Sheila Reid has never won a Penn Relays title.

HS Boys DMR: CBA Wants To Be 1st School Since 1952 To Repeat But Edward Cheserek Wants To Spoil Those Plans Will Cheserek split sub-4? That's the question in our minds.

DRAKE:

Kansas Relays Repeat: Peter van der Westhuizen Defeats AJ Acosta To Win Drake Relays Road Mile/Sara Hall Wins Women's The results were just the same as at Kansas Relays on the weekend. Boaz Lalang & Fred Samoei were 2nd and third. *Drake Relays Mile Article With Video Of Finish

*Poor Drake Relays Weather Forecast Worries Organizers Who Have Organized Great Elite Fields Big names include: Lolo Jones, Wallace Spearmon, Jenny Simpson, Terrance Trammell, Queen Harrison, Javier Culson, Chaunte Lowe, Christian Cantwell, Jeff Demps and others.

*Jenny Simpson's Making Her Outdoor Debut In The 1,500 But The Mile Is Special To Her Why Drake is running the 1,500 is beyond us. Bring Back The Mile. Simpson set the indoor mile record in college in the only race she ever beat Sally Kipyego - 4:25.91.

*Complete List Of Elite Drake Performers
*Des Moines Register Drake Relays Web Page
*Des Moines Register's Elite Preview of Drake
*Jenn Suhr Highlights Pole Vault At West Des Moines Mall
*Bryan Clay Headlines Decathlon

Other NCAA News: Scotland's 2:08/4:23 Laura Muir Will Not Go To College In US But NCAA Mile Champ Chris O'Hare's Sis Will Olivia O'Hare has run 2:10 from what we can tell. She'll got to Tulsa as well.

*Saturday: Miles Batty Trying To Break Utah Mile Record At BYU  Former Olympian Doug Padilla has it at 3:57.83 (only sub-4 ever in Utah).

21-Year-Old Rising Weight Lifting Star & Prospective Medal Favorite Tests Positive For HGH Only the 2nd US athlete to ever get busted. This story is a week old.

Meet 2010 World Youth Olympic 100m Champ Odean Skeen Of Jamaica The 18-year-old with a 10.33 PR had a fantastic 2010 but horrendous 2011 during which he he was injured and pulled out of the 100 at World Youths and false started in the 200m. He's gearing up for World Juniors this year.

Pro Marathon News

Ryan Hall Running ING NYC Marathon Hall and Kiwi Kim Smith were announced for this year's race at this year's Opening Day presented by Asics, which featured a live ABC7 broadcast (full replay here) and even the "Ridiculously Photogenic Guy." It will be Hall's second New York City Marathon.
Discuss: Ryan Hall Running NYC

• Kenyan Selection: "Wilson Kipsang Pleads For Olympic Slot" Which is ironic since he's the only man at this point who is basically a guarantee.
  *Daily Nation: "Marathon Choice Too Close To Call" Article says the team is to be named TODAY.
  *After 2nd Place In London, Martin Lel Happy To Be Back From Injury, But Not Worried About Olympic Selection
• Definite Recommended Read: Running Times: "Often underrated, enigmatic Abdi Abdirahman has quietly made four Olympic teams" Abdi: "There are a lot of people out there on message boards and stuff who don't know what the hell they're talking about."
• Interesting Look At Pro Sponsorship: Sketchers Breaking Ground With Meb Keflezighi's Sponsorship He will be allowed to wear other corporate logos, and his contract doesn't include financial penalties for poor performance.
• UK 2:13 Marathoner Passed Up For Olympic Team Even Though Has "A" Standard He didn't hit the UK 2:12 standard, but they only have 2 on the team and one has a 2:15 PR.
• RRW: With More Than 90 Turns, Olympic Marathon Favors Tactical Approach Desire Davila has already put 100 miles of training on the course.
• Ritz Blogs In Praise Of HS Teammate And Best Friend Jason Hartman Gives an inside look into the injury struggles Hartman has had to go through to get to the top.

Entertaining: The Best Of Lolo Jones On Twitter "The good thing about being single is you don't have to charge your phone but every three or four days."

Legendary Coach Dr. LeRoy Walker Passes Away At 93

• Philip Hersh: LeRoy Walker Was A Man Of Olympian Achievement Walker was the first African-American coach of the U.S. Olympic Track & Field team, the first African-American president of the U.S. Olympic Committee.
• USTFCCCA Article

Russia's Former Olympic LJ Silver Medalist Irina Meleshina Gets 2-Year Doping Ban Also a 2-year ban to hurdler Alina Antipova.

Recommended Watch: Bekoji, Ethiopian Version Of Kenya's Iten

Watch "Town of Runners" For Free Through April 29th Movie about the small Ethiopian town of Bekoji, where Kenenisa Bekele (3 Olympic golds), Tirunesh Dibaba (2 Olympic golds), Derartu Tulu (2 Olympic golds), and Fatuma Roba (1 Olympic gold) were all born.
*Interview With Director Jerry Rothwell
*Movie Website/Trailer

Bolt Will Finally Race A 100 And It Will Probably Be Against Asafa Powell *Powell Vs. Blake In 200

• Usain Bolt Will Run First 100 Of Season On May 5th In Jamaica Asafa Powell is most likely in the 100 and Yohan Blake in the 200. Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce and Melaine Walker are also entered in the meet.
• Diamond League Kicks Off On May 11th In Doha Asafa Powell, Nesta Carter and Justin Gatlin in the 100, Walter Dix in the 200, Jamaicans vs. Allyson Felix showdown in the 100, and LaShawn Merritt in the 400.
  *Media Info Guide For 2012 Diamond League Season This year there is a new rule that Diamond Race winners will get "wild card" entry into the World Championships, the same way defending champions do.

US News Updates

• Good Interview: Jason Hartman On Being The Top American At Boston And Still Without A Sponsor "I often compare running to a job in sales. If you run well, or make a lot of sales, you can do well."
• Interesting: Sanya Richards-Ross No longer Thinks She Has Behcet's Syndrome & With New Diet She Thinks She Can Dominate In 2012
• Two-Time NCAA Runner-Up Donn Cabral: Princeton Poster Boy "Bubble Boy" He's dreaming of the Olympics and leaving no stone unturned.
• Q&A With Morgan Uceny About Training And Her Win At The B.A.A. Mile "I always thought if I put my head down and trained as hard as I could every day that's all I needed to do. It's not about that. It's about training smarter ..."
• Blogger Estimates Boston Qualifying Rate Will Drop By A Third In 2013 Thanks To New Stricter Standards

RR: NY Times: The Footprints On A Path To Gold, Amantle Montsho Overcomes Obstacles to Become A World Champion Talks about her humble beginning in Botswana and how she has inspired a generation of female athletes.

Men's 2012 London Is History *Top Results *Live Splits *Video Highlights *Getty Images Photos From Kenya

LRC A New #1: Wilson Kipsang Destroys One Of Greatest Marathon Fields In History In his first marathon major, Kipsang certainly wasn't scared of the bright lights, as he did something unheard of in major marathoning in the year 2012. He took off before halfway and used a 14:09 fifth 5km to obliterate the lead pack, as a 1:02:12 halfway wasn't fast enough for him, and he went to earn the largest margin of victory in 30 years, while Martin Lel was second. We recap it and speculate as to who gets the Kenyan Olympic spots and tell you why a DNF in our minds is a positive for someone's Olympic hopes.

LRC Meet Wilson Kipsang: "If I had to compare him to an NFL quarterback, I'd compare him to Peyton Manning."

*NYTimes Recap Of London *London Organizers Men's Race Recap *2:08 Audio Interview With Kipsang *IAAF
*Joe Battaglia's Picks For Kenyan Team: Kipsang, Makau, Kirui
On The Boards: *Live Update Thread *Kenyan Olympic team  Pre-Race: Makau won't start on Sunday and Kirui will win
*Video Highlights Here

Relay Season/NCAA Action Heats Up *K-Relays Results *Mt. SAC Live Results *More NCAA Results

Kansas Relays: Peter van der Westhuizen Wins Elite Mile In 3:56.90 Over AJ Acosta (3:57.08) And David Adams (3:58.44) Nick Symmonds was 4th in 4:01.57 as Jordan McNamara was 6th and Will Leer 7th. *Race Video *Bearded AJ Acosta Says He Won't Shave Until He Gets A Contract
*Bershawn Jackson Sets World Lead (48.2) In 400 Hurdles DeeDee Trotter won the 400 in 50.94.

Mt. SAC - Day 3: LRC Walter Dix 9.85!!! Duane Solomon Crushes NCAAs Best, Molly Beckwith Remains Undefeated Outdoors & Jeremy Wariner Loses Walter Dix's time was wind-aided but impressive nonetheless. Jeremy Wariner broke 45 but lost as Duane Solomon crushed a strong 800 field that included Charles Jock, Ryan Martin & Cas Loxsom. Beckwith's 2:00 was easily best of the ladies 800s. Plus Jason Richardson, a 17-year-old winner in the women's 400, and more.
*IAAF: Jamale Aarrass Wins Over Deep Mile Field With World Leading 3:52.21 Canadians Taylor Milne (3:54.29) and Nate Brannen (3:54.81) went 2-3. There was also a WL for US LJer Brittney Reese.
*Charles Jock Hits "Rusty Speed Bump" At Mt. SAC
*AP Recap Of Day 3

LRC Cam Levins 13:18.37 Outkicks Lawi Lalang The Southern Utah legend Levins, known for his 160 miles/week, used a 55-second last lap to become the first collegian to defeat Lalang at a distance over 1,500m this year. Former NCAA Champ and LRC Puma Faas Challenge Winner David McNeill also got an Olympic "A" qualifier (sub-13:20) in 3rd. Molly Huddle won the 5,000 at Mt. SAC as Abbey D'Agostino and Lucy Van Dalen were third and fourth in the 5,000. Jenny Barringer did not run. Canada's Hilary Stellingwerff (4:31.04) and French drug cheat Jamal Aarrass (3:52.21 ahead of Taylor Milne and Nate Brannen) won the Puma Miles and $2,500.
*Last Lap Or Full Race Of Levins' Win

S. Africa: Semenya Runs 1:59.98 To Qualify For London, Mulaudzi Comes Up Short

Kenya: IAAF: Kenya Meet Day 2 (Rudisha DNS, Jelimo Another 53.6)
Rudisha Runs 45.8 400, Asbel Kiprop 3:35.0 1,500m, Jelimo 54.5 400m

Oregon: Sally Kipyego's 4:08.59 World-Leading 1,500 Highlights Oregon Relays Jordan Hasay faded to 4:15.00 as discussed in this thread. *Results
*Register-Guard Recap: Russell Brown (1:48.95) And Sarah Vaughn (2:05.29) Win 800s

Princeton: Cayla Hatton, HS Senior, 16:14 Win Against Collegiates After the Indiana steeplers put up the #1, 2, 5 and 10 times in the country, Princeton's steepler Donn Cabral responded by looking incredible in the 1,500 as he had his way with NCAA 4th placer in the mile Sam McEntee. *Results *Live Results

ACCs: Saturday: Virginia Tech Men Win 1st Ever Title, Clemson Women Win Congrats to Vtech. *Full ACC Results (PDF)
Day 2: Virginia Tech Men Maintain Lead, Duke Women Grab First Place Clemson's Alyssa Kulik impressed in the steeple (9:52.90).

Other/HS: Sanya Richards-Ross Sets 50.18 400 WL At Michael Johnson/Dr. Pepper Meet
*Alli Cash Runs 4:50 To Win Kansas Relays 1,600 As 5 Girls Go Sub-4:58
*Ajee' Wilson Wins Princeton 800 In 2:05.28
*Drew Magaha - PA Senior 1:48.82 State Record 800!!!

Previous Mt. SAC

Mt. SAC Relays: Live Results
LRC: Evan Jager Throws Down Last Lap Of 64, Wins Steeple Debut In Olympic B Standard Of 8:26 updated Jager's steeple debut was a big success as he crushed WC team member Dan Huling. There no doubt is room for improvement as he closed in 64 seconds and this was his steeple debut. In the 10k, Stephen Sambu ran 28:06. *Track Focus On Jager *Post-Race Interview With Jager *Jager's Last 2 Laps

*Oregonian: It looks like OTC/Portland's Evan Jager has found an event Jager: "I know I'm a pretty good 5k runner, gut on the world stage, I think the steeple would be my best event. So that's why we ultimately made the decision to switch to it."

On The Boards: Evan Jager runs 8:26.14, wins steeple, 64 last lap, gets Olympic B standard

Quick Look At Mt. SAC Friday Nice women's 5k with Molly Huddle, Jenny Simpson, Sheila Reid, Sara Hall, Julie Culley, and the Puma miles with $2,500 for 1st.
*Nice Article On Molly Huddle's Preparations From Her Hometown Newspaper

Sprint, Hurdle, Pole Vault News + Kenya 400 News

Recommend Read: Ultimately All Tyson Gay Wants Is Happiness But He's Not Sure If Even Beating Bolt Would Give Him That A confident sounding Gay talks about his mom's influence in his life, a cocky Maurice Greene, and why he thinks he should have already run 9.62.

Sammy Wanjiru's Blood Line Continues; Battle Over His Assets Gets Complicated

DNA Tests Confirm Sammy Wanjiru Had A Son With Second Wife Judy Wambui Wairimu came forward last year, proclaiming to be his second wife and pregnant with his child. He also had a son and daughter with his first wife, Triza Njeri.

More Wanjiru: Wanjiru's Mom Claims He Was Executed By Police

Boston Women *Women's Results Splits *Men's Results/Splits *Winners Photo Gallery *Video Highlights

Sharon Cherop Outkicks Jemima Sumgong Cherop was third last year and third at the World Championships but she got the huge win here as she outdueled countrywoman Jemima Sumgong. Believe it or not, this was the 5th straight year the women's race has been decided by 3 seconds or less.
*Top Results/Splits  *Video Highlights Including Exciting Women's Finish
*RunnersWorld Article On Cherop's Win, Post-Race Interview As Well
*40-Year-Old First American Sheri Piers Is From Maine But Was Ready For Heat Thanks To Training On A Treadmill Text and interview.

Non-Rotterdam/Boston Marathon Weekend Action

BAA 5k: LRC Course Records Fall As Ben True Outkicks Sam Chelanga For BAA 5k Title; Werknesh Kidane Wins Women's Race Olympian Desi Davila was only 10th in the women's race but wasn't too upset afterwards.

BAA Mile: Morgan Uceny & Collis Birmingham Earn Wins The times may not appear fast but remember it's on a 500-meter long block with 90-degree turns.

George Mason: LRC Alan Webb Redeems Himself With A 3:43 1,500m/ 14:15 5,000m Double, Robby Andrews Opens With 1:49 Win Alan didn't win the 1,500m, but his performance was so much better than last weekend's 1:54/3:54 debacle that all Alan Webb fans like this guy can breathe a sigh of relief. And the message boards went nuts with Webb: here, here, here, here.
Update: Video On Webb's Race

Jamaica: Usain Bolt Blasts Asafa Powell In 4 X 100 To Open Season World 100m champ Yohan Blake ran a super-impressive 9.90 to open the season as well and didn't even get mentioned in the Reuters article.
*IAAF Recap Of Bolt/Blake's Run With pics of small crowd.
*Video Of Bolt's 4 X 100 Win Over Powell *Video Of Blake's Opener

S. African Champs: Oscar P Only Runs 47.28, LJ Van Zyl Only Runs 51.00, Semenya Runs 2:02.68 To Win, Mulaudzi Runs 1:45.68 To Win Sounds like Oscar didn't try very hard, saying, "I felt like I was at the verge of pushing it into the red. I didn't see the point of really doing that."
Semenya Wins But Doesn't Break 2:00 - Says It's Key She Doesn't Panic "It was okay for me. I retained my title but the race was a bit disappointing because we were hoping for a qualifier but unfortunately I didn't make it, but the time will come. I just need to be patient."

Austin: Jeremy Wariner Runs 46.43 For 400m It was really, really windy.

Australian Champs: Melissa Breen Misses Olympic Qualification By .02 In 100, Tamsyn Manou Wins In 2:02.01
*Results *"B" Standard Is Not Good Enough For Tamsyn Manou To Go To Olympics

Alberto's Book On Sale Now, Buy It From Our Partner Amazon And Support LRC

Great Read If You Didn't Read It Yesterday: Alberto Salazar Unplugged - Part II This interview with Amby Burfoot is great. From Ritz's struggle in the marathon, to Ritz's form change, to Alberto's competitive relationship with Jerry Schumacher, to Galen Rupp's marathon future and, to Alberto's biggest regrets, Amby Burfoot leaves no question unasked and Alberto doesn't shy away from any of them and talks about Rupp running 12:45 and in the 26:20s.
*Part I: Alberto's Book & The "Duel In The Sun"
MB: An Incredible Amby Burfoot Interview With Alberto Salazar

Ryan Hall Movie

LRC Ryan Hall Feature Film In The Works A full length film on Ryan Hall's quest for glory in London 2012 is in the works. Learn more about the film "41 Days," watch a trailer, and learn how you can help support the film and get some Ryan Hall memorabilia. Image below.
On The Boards: Ryan Hall's Big News

Khannouchi's Retirement

LRC Carey Pinkowski Reflects On Khalid Khannouchi's Career: "He Was The Absolute Best I've Ever Seen" The Chicago marathon director talks about the man who made his name in the Windy City. Plus quotes from London Marathon director Dave Bedford and a tweet from Ryan Hall.

LRC Marathon Legend Khalid Khannouchi Officially Retires Khalid Khannouchi, one of the greatest marathoners of all time, has told LRC that he is officially retiring from competitive running. Khalid helped revolutionize the sport of marathon running, setting two world record in the span of three years, including his final one at the "Greatest Marathon Ever Run" - the 2002 London Marathon matchup that featured Khannouchi, Paul Tergat and Haile Gebrselassie.

Lisbon Action *LRC Updated Full Photo Gallery

Shalane Flanagan Wins Lisbon Half, Tadese Three-Peats Updated with IAAF story The American got the big upset win (just as we predicted) and Zersenay Tadese got the win but not the world record (just as we predicted - a broken clock is accurate twice a day). Flanagan ran 68:51 for the win.
OTB: Flanagan wins Lisbon. Lock for Olympic gold?
*Will there be an official Lisbon half-marathon thread?
*Letsrun...seriously your picking Shalane Flanagan to win the 2012 Lisbon Half Marathon?
*Full Photo Gallery
*LRC Lisbon Half Marathon Preview

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