Pre Classic Is Friday/Saturday *Start Lists

Bring Back The 1,500!
LRC Pre Day 1 Preview: An Unreal/Farce Of A Mile With Alan Webb & Centrowitz; Alysia Montaño's 800 Debut For 2012; The Return Of Tirunesh Dibaba For The "De Facto" Ethiopian Trials; And Of Course The Actual Kenyan Trials Friday night, "Hollister Night" in Eugene, should be something special as the very best (amazing talent) and worst aspects ("A" standards/1,500s/miles) of our beloved sport will be on display. We break it down like only we can. Along the way, we give you the most amazing, "Did you know?" about Galen Rupp and wonder "Where is Wurth-Thomas?" But mainly we say "Bring back the 1,500" as we can't believe that in a matchup with Matt Centrowitz that the American record holder in the mile, Alan Webb, will kick it in for a 1,500 in the middle of a mile but then have to finish? Give us a break. *Discuss

*Preview Of 10,000 From Kenya
*Men's 110 Hurdles With Liu Zhang, Robles, Richardson, Oliver & More Will Be Sensational
Ridiculous: Visa Delay May Results In Robles Not Competing His coach doesn't want to send him there at the last minute. "This competition is an Olympic final," Antunez said.
*Japan-Based Paul Tanui Arrives In Eugene - All The Kenyans Are Ready
*Pre Attendance Record Of 14,221 Could Fall On Saturday

The Week That Was

LRC Weekly Recap: US Mid-D Fans, It's Time To Get Nervous; Hope For Bekele; Meet Ayanleh Souleiman; Fast 800 Juniors; A Look Back At Jim Ryun; & Bolt Struggles - Or Does He? Last week, the world and even Usain Bolt himself panicked when he ran 10.04, but we start things off by telling Bolt there is likely little to worry about. However, there is plenty for fans of Nick Symmonds to worry about, as well as fans of Robby Andrews, Matt Centrowitz, Leo Manzano, Alan Webb, Andrew Wheating and Nick Willis. Along the way, we tell Pamela Jelimo she can't quite start celebrating yet. Plus hope for Kenenisa Bekele fans, a geography lesson on Djibouti, the world is confirmed to be round, and we introduce you to Ayanleh Souleiman - the world's new mid-d star? And we take a look at some fast junior times at 800 and before you can call them age cheats, we remind you what Jim Ryun did some 46 years ago.

Random Mid-D / Distance News

Pre-Classic Is Friday/Saturday

*Collis Birmingham Getting Ready For Pre 5,000 In Mammoth Lakes Compatriot Craig Mottram also will run.
*Kenyan athletes hit US ground running - go for jog on Nike campus

German TV Hits Back On Kenyan Doping Charges

Don't Count On It:
IAAF: Stellar Shot Put and Javelin fields may steal the show in Eugene *For the first time in 25 years, the men's javelin will be contested at the 38th edition of the Pre Classic at Hayward Field on Saturday. Germany's Matthias de Zordo, the 24-year-old reigning world champion reigns.

You're Welcome: Matt Tegenkamp Says He'll Double At Trials & Says Message Boards Helped Ignite US Distance Running

USATF Names New COO

News From The UK

Bolder Boulder Was Monday *Elite Men's Results *Elite Women's Results

Mamitu Daska (33:06) Wins 3rd Bolder Boulder - Americans Janet Cherobon-Bawcom 2nd (33:23) & Deena Kastor 3rd - Kenya's Allan Kiprono Wins Men's (29:54) Over Tadese Tola (30:03) Aaron Braun was 4th in 33:09 as the US women were 2nd in the team standings.
*Runner-Up Janet Cherobon-Bawcom Is Winning In Love & Running John Mayer gives insight into how her husband was a teacher in Kenya who fell in love with Janet when returning to the US and delivered a Care package to Janet from her mother.
*
50,000 People Run On Picture-Perfect Day The event is much more than a race. It's an event (as shown by picture).
*Bolder Boulder: Josh Eberly, Nuta Olaru Win Citizens Race
*Former Romanian Olympic Marathoner Nuta Olaru Is Now A US Citizen At Age 41

*Pre-Race Recommended Read: A Great Profile Of 1972 Olympic Marathon Champ Frank Shorter
*Pre-Race RR: John Meyer: Deena Kastor, mother of running's rebirth, in Bolder Boulder field at 39 "I'm definitely in a different place now than I have been at any other track trials I've participated in.I usually go in not thinking about my competitors, just saying I want to win the race and run fast. This time I want to get in the top three and run the Olympic 'A' standard. My training is indicating that I am right there to be able to do that. It's going to take a tough and gutsy race, obviously, but I'm ready for the challenge."
*Pre-Race: Kastor & Sara Slattery Were Hoping To Do Good Things
*Shalane Flanagan, Kara Goucher In Town For Bolder Boulder Expo They talk about their friendship.
*Ethiopian Men Want To Repeat At Bolder Boulder

More Weekend Action

Hengelo Highlights Sunday *Results *Live Thread

LRC Haile G's Olympic Days Come To An End As Tariku Bekele Wins In 27:11.70 As Geb Gets Smoked On Last Lap, Ritz Misses "A" Standard updated The Ethiopian selection race came down to a kick on the final lap and there was no way the 39-year-old Gebrselassie was going to outkick his younger rivals. Afterwards, Geb said, "That's life. I am not disappointed." Dathan Ritzenhein missed the "A" standard of 27:45 on a warm day (78 at the start). In other action, Nixon Chepseba won in 3:29.90, Nate Brannen got a PR and an "A" standard, Janeth Jepkosgei ran 1:57.79, Hannah England won the 1,500, Adam Kszczot ran 1:43.84 for his second win in 2 days, and 18-year-old Luguelín Santos ran 44.45. *IAAF

*Post-Race Video Interview With Ritz He's not sure if he'll just run the 5k at the or go for the "A" in the 10k at the Trials. Says the heat was tough.
*Some More Quotes From Haile
*Pre-Race Video With Haile G With this race he became the fastest 39-year-old ever at 10k.
*SA 800m Runner Andre Olivier Hits Olympic Standard In Hengelo With 1:45.20
*Phillips Idowu Won The TJ In 17.31m
OTB: Live play by play of 10k thread
*Chepseba 3'29.90 !!!
*What will Ritz do now?

Gotzis:
Jessica Ennis And Hans van Alphen Follow Up Day 1 Leads To Win Hypo Multis Jessica Ennis won with a new UK NR, beating World champ Chernova Tatyana and Olympic champ Natallia Dobrynska.
*Ennis' Score Was The Best In The World For The Last 5 Years It was also a good omen she broke Denise Lewis' NR, who went on to win the Syndey Games after setting it.
*Elsewhere: UK's 2004 Heptathlon Bronze Medallist Kelly Sotherton Retires After Having Surgery On Back Injury
*Day 1: Jessica Ennis And Surprise Hans van Alphen Lead Hypo Multis After Day 1 IAAF
*Excellent Recap On Jessica Ennis' Day 1 A poor high jump but a stellar 200.

Toronto:
Geoffrey Mutai (27:41), Lindsey Scherf Win Ottawa 10ks It's ridiculous that Mutai, the Kenyan XC Champion and the best runner on the planet in 2011, won't be at the Olympic Trials next week or the Olympics in the 10,000m. *Results
*Former Harvard Standout Lindsey Scherf Wins Women's Race
*
IAAF Article Windy conditions and lack of competition or pacemaker hurt Mutai's time.
*Laban Moiben Defends Ottawa Marathon Title In 2:09:13 For the women, favorite Teyba Erkesso (2:23:53 PR) dropped out with sickness, leaving the victory to Yeshi Esayias in 2:28:46.
On The Boards: I just watched Mutai destroy the field in Ottawa

Canadian High Schooler Runs 1:47.14 To Beat Nick Willis

Bolt Was In Ostrava Friday *Results *Yahoo Photos Of Meet

Latest: Bolt Still Looking For Answer On 10.04 In Ostrava, Will Race Powell In Rome On Thursday
*Rome Diamond League Start Lists

Bolt 10.04: "It's hard to explain. I don't really know what went wrong."
Well, Bolt got a horrible start and still trounced the field. The times were slower across the board (Sanya Richards-Ross 50.65, Wallace Spearmon 20.14), due to the cooler weather (we think).
*
Bolt Can't Explain Slowest Time Of Sr. Career - Maybe YouTube Will Help "I had some very good starts on the warm-up track so I have no explanation. My coach will see the race on YouTube and will comment about what I must do before Rome."
*Reuters Recap Of Bolt's Race *Video Of Bolt's Race
*
Reigning Olympic Champ Pamela Jelimo (1:58.49) Crushes Caster Semenya (2:00.80)
*
Caster Semenya Says She Will Dedicate Games Success To Nelson Mandela
*
Oscar P Only Runs 47.66 - Fails To Qualify For London

Full Results & Flash Highlights

On The Boards:
Bolt 10.04!!! Is He in Trouble?

The Guy In The Fall

LRC The Collegiate Career Of Jake Hojnacki, The Guy In The Epic Steeple Fail, Comes To An End If you're like the other 516,654 people who have seen this video, you know Jake Hojnacki as a guy who took a dive into the steeple pit and pretty much almost drowned. Turns out Employee 1.1 is one of Jake's coaches. Jake's collegiate career came to an end this past weekend in notable fashion. We bring to you his story as runners like Jake represent the heart and soul of LetsRun.com.

Recommended Read: Two Years Ago, Joey Stoltz Almost Died And Today He Is A Marathoner "Less than two years ago, I was at the hospital and the doctors told me I wouldn't run again so those last two miles [of the marathon] were so emotional."

More US News

Great Action Sunday In Manchester *Manchester Run Results

BUPA Great Manchester Run
Haile Gebrselassie Wins In 27:39, Thinking Olympic 10,000m
The great one turned back the clock in Manchester on Sunday with a comfortable win 27:39 over Tsefaye Kebede, Patrick Makau and Ayele Abshero. After the race, Geb turned his attention to making the Olympic team next weekend in Hengelo at the Ethiopian Olympic Trials, saying, "I am not surprised to run that fast. I wanted to run under 27 minutes."
*
BBC Interview With Geb After Race *Top Results *IAAF
On The Boards:
Great Manchester 10km - Gebrselassie DOMINATES!

Manchester City Games Street Meet: Wallace Spearmon, Sanya Richards-Ross, Jessica Ennis All Got Wins In Cool Conditions Ennis beat Olympic champ Dawn Harper in a PR but afterwards they found out there were only 9 hurdles instead of 10. She was understandably very annoyed. Spearmon looked great in his 14.87 150m win.
*Dwain Chambers Admits He Was Worried How The Crowd Would Greet Him He got 2nd to Spearmon.

2012 USATF Occidental HP *Results *LRC Photos

LRC Men's Recap: Mo Farah Wins Twice! Galen Rupp 3:34 & Robby Andrews 3:34! Donn Cabral Collegiate AR! Ritz 13:14! What a meet! The men's very entertaining from start to finish. The meet started off with an Evan Jager face plant and American collegiate record in the men's steeple and ended with a world champion rabbitting and then winning the men's 5,000. Along the way, Galen Rupp showed speed he's never shown before that made us think he might be a medal contender and Robby Andrews PRed by 5.99 seconds as both ran 3:34, David Torrence got the "A" and a whole lot more, including an Andrew Wheating loss to a guy you've probably never heard of. Oh yeah, so much happened we almost forgot Alan Webb ran 3:37.
*Dathan Ritzenhein Visibly Happy And Excited In Interview After 5k

LRC Women's Recap: Morgan Uceny Loses, Anna Pierce Almost Wins & Deena Kastor Does All The Work
The women's action at the 2012 USATF Occidental High Performance meet confirmed what we already knew - the US women's 1,500 team is going to be very hard to make (world #1 Morgan Uceny was beaten and world champion Jenny Simpson ran 2 seconds slower than she did last year), Deena Kastor is very tough and still motivated at age 39, and Bridget Franek, Lisa Uhl and Jackie Areson are all in good form even if Uhl and Areson did zero work and let Kastor do it all. Plus Shannon Rowbury wins.


Occidental On The Boards:

News From The UK

A Fantastic & Informative Read: Learn All About 9-Time Olympic Gold Medallist Paavo Nurmi A fascinating read. Nurmi was an absolute machine. Did you know that in 1924 that after winning the 1,500 and 5,000 he was mad he wasn't named to the 10,000 team so he ran a 10,000 on the practice track faster than the winner of the 10,000 at the same time of the race just to show he should have been selected to the event? He also divorced his wife because his son was born with feet too small for a runner.

Samsung Diamond League Doha *Results *LRC Recap *MB: Discussion *IAAF Recap

Doha: LRC LetsRun.com's Recap Of Doha 2012: The Samsung Diamond League Starts Off In Style If all the meets this year are as good as this one, we're going to have an incredible Olympics. Asbel Kiprop went sub-3:30 for the first time ever and lost to Silas Kiplagat, a race was perfectly designed for Vivian Cheruiyot to lose and she won, Kenenisa Bekele looked average, Paul Koech tore up the steeple, and Pamela Jelimo may have a new challenger. American stalwarts LaShawn Merritt and Allyson Felix impressed, and Americans Russell Brown and Molly Beckwith did what they wanted in the distances.

Diamond League #3 Is Thursday - 2 PM ET *Start Lists/Results *TV On Universal Sports At 8 PM

LRC A Fan's Guide To The 2012 Rome Diamond League Track & Field Meet: Bolt Vs. Powell, Uceny Vs. Dibaba, And An Olympic Preview At 800 For a casual sports fan, the meet is all about the matchup of Asafa Powell and Usain Bolt at 100 meters. But for the LetsRun.com fan, the meet features a fantastic women's 800 which looks to be an Olympic preview for all practical purposes, a great women's 1,500 where 2011 world #1 Morgan Uceny will try to stay close to sensation Genzebe Dibaba, a men's steeple with the Olympic gold and silver medallists battling the 2012 world leader and American Billy Nelson, and a women's 5,000 with all three of last year's medallists. Plus 5 of the top 10 fastest for 2012 in the men's 800 and more.
*IAAF Preview

*
AFP Preview

Confident Steepler Ezekiel Kemboi Expecting Big Things - Maybe 7:55 - In 1st Race Of Year "I'm planning to have a fast race - trying maybe to run 7:55 ... (Doha) was too early for me to compete there, I was concentrating on my training which has gone really, really, well."
*Caster Semenya Speaks To Press - Says She Want Her Running To Do Talking For Her "The plan is to win the Olympics, that's all." She also says her coach Mutola is very strict.
*Asafa Powell Says He Still Can Beat Bolt "If I do here what I do in practice, no one can beat me. And that includes the Olympic Games."
*The Telegraph's Guide To Key Events In Rome

Doping News

Reminder - Rule #1 For Pole Vault - Don't Forget Your Poles

Religion News

Only In Japan: Public Pilgramage Held At Midnight To Pray For Good Fortunes Japanese Olympic Marathoner The townspeople walked 1.2 km at midnight "to pray for the fortunes of locally-born London Olympics marathoner Risa Shigetomo (24, Team Tenmaya)."

Previous Pre-Rome News

Bolt Talks To Press In Rome About Ostrava Struggles
*BBC "I've been trying to get a lot more sleep and eating better."
*Independent: "Even if I lose every race up to the Olympics it doesn't matter because I know that I have one focus and that is just to go to the Olympics and do great things."
*Dismisses Gatlin To Eurosport: We love this quote. "I don't want to be rude or anything but I think that Gatlin had his chance. It's funny the things he says. I think he has a few guys to get past before worrying about me."
*Jamaica Observer: Bolt: "I definitely think Rome is a fast track, Asafa (Powell) proved that when I think he ran 9.7 twice on this track."
*IAAF
*Steve Hooker: Trust Is Key To Comeback

Coming To America - June 9th

LRC David Rudisha Q&A: World Record Holder Is Excited To Be Coming To NY And Excited To Take On Challenge Of Being 1st 800 WR Man To Win Gold In 36 Years A confident Rudisha spoke to the media on Tuesday morning and revealed himself to be a true student of the sport, one who is familiar with the history of the sport, and one who doesn't seem fazed by trying to be the first 800 world record holder to win the Olympic 800 title since 1976. Considering Rudisha runs the majority of his races in rabbitted time trials in Europe, we asked him if he feared the championship style racing that is found at the Olympics and Rudisha sounded very confident when he said he did not.
*AP On Rudisha

Kenyans (Most Of Them) Arrive In Oregon - Haile G Goes To Jail???

*Kenyan 10,000 Runners Pumped To Be In Oregon - Some Think Trials Might Be Harder Than Olympics Titus Mbishei: "This will be the like the Olympic final. I can say the top three in Oregon can easily be the top three at the Olympics in London."
*Visa Issues Cause Paul Tanui To Miss Flight To Oregon For Kenyan 10,000 Trials The WChamps team member will still compete.
*Rest Of Kenyan Olympic Hopefuls Show Up In Eugene

Depressing News From Kenya: "It is now official that Central Kenya is drinking itself into oblivion." 34% of men are alcoholics apparently and there are 20% more bars than schools.

News From Ethiopia:
As Part Of Business Dispute, Haile Gebrselassie Faces Criminal Charges & Will Be Arrested Haile will face a simple imprisonment of one year or less.

Random But Interesting: Sho Kawamoto Sets New National 800 Jr. Record In Japan (1:46.89)

US Mid-D/Distance Guys In The News

"100 Olympic Hopefuls In 100 Days" New Pro Robby Andrews Gets USA Today Profile He talks about Alan Webb's prodigious workouts, how Vig doesn't appear to be scatterbrained, and not having girls at practice. "It's definitely different having just two people in practice. You don't think your coach is scatter-brained and you're not thinking about the 20 other guys on the track and you're not thinking about the girls at the track. You're only thinking about you and your partner." *MB: Discuss

Trevor Dunbar, You Won't Be Missed?
With Scholarship Money Freed Up, Portland Pilots Secure One Of Top Distance Classes In Country Led by Izaic Yorks, who had a 1:50/4:04 double, they also have an 8:57 guy and a 4:10.40/9:01.96.

USATF Q&A With Andrew Bumbalough, Who Will Likely Run Mile At Pre Classic - Says Workouts Are Going Well
It sort of sounds like he can't get into the 5,000.

Ryan Vail Q&A
"It rains all the time in Portland. Running in the rain can be miserable."

High School

Golden South: Tyreek Hill Runs 20.14 To Miss Roy Martin's High School Record By .01 In one day, Hill dropped his PRs from 20.94 fo 20.14 and from 10.44 to 10.19. Crazy. And Hill probably didn't know it, but he paid homage to Roy Martin by saying in this interview when he goes to New York for the adidas 100m, he hopes to see tall buildings and a bunch of McDonald's.
*Video Of 200m Race *100m Race Video & Interview He credits his new adidas spikes.

PA: MileSplit Weekend HS Coverage: Angel Piccirillo Wins PA State Meet 1600 In 4:39; Doubles Back To Win 800 In 2:09 After being wrongfully disqualified and then reinstated, Eric Futch won the 200m, the 300H, and ran a leg for his team's winning 4 x 4.

Washington: Izaic Yorks 1:50.56, 4:04.77 Double

Delaware: Hailey Pierce 4:41, 10:24 Double
*WV:
1:54, 4:08, 8:57 Triple

Lolo Jones Virginity Update

*Shanghai Diamond League #2: Saturday *Results *Yahoo Photos

LRC: Shanghai In The Books: Liu Xiang And Genzebe Dibaba Impress, Bekele's 5,000m, 17-Year-Olds Go 1-2 In Tthe 800, And More Liu Xiang's 12.97 in the rain was incredible, as was Genzebe Dibaba's 3:57.77 world leader in the 1,500. There wasn't a sub-4:00 all last year and now there was one in the first DL race of the year. In other action, two "17"-year-olds went 1-2 in the 800, VCB and Carmelita Jeter battled in the women's 200 in a driving rain, and of course Kenenisa Bekele's return to 5,000. Recap, analysis and results.
*Race Videos In Recap

LRC:
Women's 1,500 And Men's 5,000: Genzebe Dibaba Runs Brilliant 3:57.77! And Kenenisa Bekele 5th In 13:13.89 We break down the two most important distance races of the night. The full recap of the meet above has this story as well.
*5,000m Winner Hagos Gebhriwet Only Started Running 2 Years Ago

On The Boards: *Bekele's Done!
*Shanghai Live Thread

LRC Rojo Speaks: Is Kenenisa Bekele Done? Rojo says everyone who is predicting Kenenisa Bekele's demise is jumping the gun. He compares Bekele's run to Dathan Ritzenhein's the night before.

Sammy Wanjiru RIP: Nov 10, 1986 To May 15, 2011

4 Really Great Recommended Reads *Also Look For A Great Wanjiru Article In Print Version Of The New Yorker

#1 - Journalism Still Exists: ESPN The Magazine's Shaun Assael Writes 5,122 Word Epic On Sammy Wanjiru's Life And Death From his start as a schoolboy to details as to why his mother claims he was murdered, Assael leaves no stone unturned. He also points out that many other successful Kenyans before Wanjiru have also struggled with fame, including Paul Kipkoech, Richard Chelimo and Benson Masya, who all died young. Sadly, Wanjiru was going to train in San Diego to get away from it all but couldn't because of a gun charge. *Interview Of Author On Right Column

#2 - 50 Stunning Olympic Moments No. 30: Zola Budd In 1984 Do most people remember Budd was just 17 when she set the WR in the 5,000 at 15:01 and when she collided with Mary Slaney? The article reveals that Budd's family disintegrated after she left South Africa to compete for GBR and it also reveals Mary Slaney to have been unbelievably rude to rip a 17-year-old. *Zola Budd - In Pictures

#3 - Wall St. Journal Profile Nails Abdi Abdirahman's Personality Perfectly!!! "Going for Gold - or Whatever The Secret to an Aging Olympian's Endurance: Don't Let Training Get in the Way of Fun" Is Abdi's love of life (ohers might say laziness) an asset?

#4 - What Really Happened At 1st Olympic Women's 800 In 1928? Despite what was reported, 5 of the 11 runners didn't drop out with another 5 collapsing at the finish. The only person collapsing at the finish that year was Paavo Nurmi, but women's mid-d and distance running would be banned for years nonetheless.

Kenyan News

One Year Later, The New Yorker Looks At Sammy Wanjiru's Death & Says He Looked Into Running For Qatar We imagine that piece of info was included to get people to read it, as he wasn't hurting for money. *New Yorker Article On Wanjiru Subscription needed for whole article.

A Brief Chat With "Running With the Kenyans" Author Adharananand Finn
The subtitle is "Discovering the secrets of the fastest people on earth."

Ryan Hall

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."

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

Non-London Marathon News

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.

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.

Pro Distance News

Korir Running Chicago
LRC Wesley Korir: From #T248 To #1 At Chicago The first time Wesley ran Chicago (photo here), he paid his entry fee like everyone else and started with the masses. Now 4 years later he's returning as the Boston Marathon champ. Learn more about Wesley (he hopes to be a US citizen soon) and how the late Sammy Wanjiru inspired Wesley to be a champion.

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.

On The Boards: *Live Update Thread *
Kenyan Olympic team

Cashing In

Robby Andrews Signs With adidas The mid-d star Andrews will run a low key 800m this weekend and then race David Rudisha, Kaki & crew at the adidas Grand Prix next week in NYC.
On The Boards: ROBBY ANDREWS SIGNS WITH ADIDAS!!!

The Great One Says Goodbye To The Track (Hengelo Photos)

Ostrava Photos (Usain Bolt 10.04)

Random Olympic News

*Weird Or Awesome? Olympics Fan Pays Just £33 To Change His Name To Include 12 Legends Thomas Manly has officially changed his name to Thomas Steve Redgrave Matthew Pinsent Linford Christie Ian Thorpe Daley Thompson Chris Hoy Seb Coe Carl Lewis Steve Ovett Jonathan Edwards Ben Ainslie Usain Bolt Manly.
*Actresses Made To Do 1,000 Situps A Day To Get Ready For Roles Portraying Top UK Sprinters In New Film, "Fast Girls" They claim it's the next "Chariots of Fire."

More Distance News

The Wait Is Over

LRC LetsRun.com T-Shirt Design Contest The Empire State Building was built in a year, Hoover Dam took 5, so we figured 12 years is long enough for LetsRun.com T-Shirts. We pay homage to the 99%, and you let your LRC faithful come up with the design.

LetsSprint.com

LRC: Hungry Wallace Spearmon Talks About Usain Bolt, Justin Gatlin, And Pickup Games With NBA Stars Wallace Spearmon has a ton of talent. He used to hate it when people reminded him of that. Now after a career-threatening injury last year, Spearmon accepts the talent, and has added even more hard work to the mix. Pickup basketball with Usain Bolt and NBA stars will have to wait until after the Olympics, as first Wallace is focused on the 200 in London.

Show Me The Money

New Running Documentary On Chris Derrick, Kyle Merber, Erik Van Ingen And Riley Masters Now Out! (More Info Here, Trailer Below)

Oxy High Performance Photos *Men's Recap *Women's Recap *Results

Doha Photos Now Up

Shanghai Photos

Drug Corner

Big Story? Doping widespread in Kenya? Fresh allegations by German journalist

Unbelievable: Convicted Drug Cheat Dennis Mitchell Coaching Justin Gatlin This isn't new news and has been the case all spring, we just didn't realize it. 6 years ago, little LRC pointed out Mitchell, the guy who claimed he tested positive because he had five beers and sex four times with his wife (maybe Dennis can give his advice here), an excuse USATF accepted, was coaching a USATF international team. USATF then tried to claim a different Dennis Mitchell, the University of Akron coach, was the actual coach. Mitchell is free to coach whomever he wants. You'd think Gatlin might be concerned about public perception.

UAE Healthy Kidney 10k Photos

Another Steeple Fail (Getting Picked Up By USA Today Blogger)

We Never Posted These: Paula And Haile G In Vienna

Interesting Read

Bekoji, Ethiopia: Town Of Runners By now many of you have heard of Iten, Kenya - the tiny town where many Kenyan stars train. The Ethiopian town of Bekoji may be even more impressive, as it is 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. Lengthy Guardian profile on the town and its unheralded coach Sentayehu Eshetu. A movie on the town - "Town of Runners" - comes out later this month.
*Bekoji Photo Gallery

Virgin London Marathon Photos

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. Learn all about him.

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