Quote Of The Day


"Once the Olympics were finished and I had to think about what would motivate me next, I thought a showdown with him (Yuki Kawauchi) would be the most fun."

- Japan's 2:07:48 man Arata Fujiwara saying why he is running December's Fukuoka Marathon. He wants to take on Japan's amateur warrior. Fujiwara says that Fukouka won't interfere his preparations for February's Tokyo Marathon, as if he runs sub 2:08 at Fukuoka, then he'd do 2:04-5 in Tokyo.

Richmond Marathon, Half & 8k

Neely Spence Runs With Dad Steve For 3 Miles Then Smashes 8k Course Record With 25:22 Win Steve ran 25:45. Ethiopians won the half marathons. Mengstu Nebsi set a CR at 1:03:21 as Hirut Beyen ran 1:15.14. *Discuss

Kenya's Kipkoech Ruto Wins Richmond Marathon In 2:15 As American Christo Landry Debuts In 2:17 After Pushing Pace Early Hoping For 2:12


Aziza Aliyu Of Ethiopia - Who Was Going To Run In New York - Blows Away Women's Field In 2:40:21
A pretty easy run for Aliyu, who has a 2:36 PR.

Richmond Photos


Pre-Race:
Richmond Marathon Acquires A New York Accent Not too much of one as the first place was only $2,500.

Other Post NYCM News: Great News: Philly Takes 1,360 NY Would-Be Marathoners - Says They'll Donate $100 Hurricane Sandy Relief
*Ridiculous: New York Marathon Giving Out Finisher Medals Even Though No One Finished The Race

Kenyan XC Meet

Pre-Regionals News

Pre-Race: LRC John Kellogg's Projected Team And Individual Qualifiers Thanks to message board poster "devils advocate," we were able to tell you what teams and individuals would get in if JK's picks hold up.
LRC
NCAA XC Regional And National Polls: The Numbers Are In Nate Silver is still crunching his numbers for NCAAs, but the LRC polls are in. We've got the national and regional top 10 before regional action. John Kellogg's Pre-Regional Projected 2012 NCAA Cross-Country Team and Individual Qualifiers
LRC John Kellogg's 2012 Individual NCAA Cross Country Formchart - The Top 10 Individuals Who has in the inside track on being the King and Queen of collegiate running? Will an American man crack the top 10? Could a true frosh American woman win it all? What about Jordan Hasay?
LRC John Kellogg's Amazing Regional Previews LRC stats/prediction/coaching guru John Kellogg, the one man on the planet who saw the possibility of the 2:03:02 coming before Boston 2011, tells you what he sees coming on Friday at the NCAA Cross-Country Regionals.
*Northeast Region *Mid-Atlantic *Southeast *South *South Central *Great Lakes *Midwest *Mountain *West

*RunningTimes Looks At The "At Large Bid" Process For Making It Into NCAAs Dartmouth coach Barry Harwick: "It's a really fair system, without any backroom politicking."
*Good Oregonian Profile On Oregon's Top Runner This Year, Alexi Pappas, Who Came In As A Grad Student After Finishing At Dartmouth Last Year Pappas: "Our team is dangerous. With the work we've put in, if we come with confidence there is no telling how great we can be."

Kenyan News

US News

Mammoth Track Club News Many May Have Missed During Hurricane/NYCM

Meb Keflezighi Leaving Mammoth Track Club He'll be making a move to San Diego soon and may start his own community running group there. He'll do a spring marathon, but not hasn't announced which and said, "I have three marathons left in my potential career."
Morgan Uceny Will Follow Terrence Mahon To The UK Uceny: "In case you haven't heard the BIG news, I'm moving to England at the end of the month! My coach is the new UKA middle distance coach and I wasn't about to give up on someone who has taken me as far as I've come. Cheerio!" No official word on Anna Pierce other than Mahon will still coach her.

Post-2012 NYCM News: Wilson Kipsang To Honolulu *Photos From The Unofficial NYC Marathon

The IAAF Names Their Athlete Of The Year Finalists

Looking Ahead

Non-NYCM News

James Kwambai Is Back!!! The 2:04:27 Man Defended His Title At The Seoul Marathon Winning By Almost 5 Minutes In New Course Record 2:05:50 Kenyans went 1-2-3.

Shadrack Kemboi Wins Soweto Marathon In CR 2:16:28
Mamorallo Tjoka won her 7th title in the women's race with a 2:45:20.

Regina George, Arkansas' 13-Time All-American, Five-Time SEC Champion And Olympian, Arrested For Being Drunk


Milt Campbell, 1st Black Olympic Decathlon Winner From 1956, Dies


News From Australia:
Aussie Collis Birmingham Wins Asics 5km Bolt Race In 13:56 Ryan Gregson was 3rd in 14:24.

Australian Olympian Olympian Ben St. Lawrence Wins "Rebel Sport Run4Fun" 10k In 29:37


News From Japan:
Komazawa University Runs Course Record To Win Japan's National University Men's Ekiden Championships

Fukuoka Prefecture Team Dominates Japan's 8-Day, 50-State 732.3k Grand Tour Kyushu Ekiden
A highlight was Olympic marathon 6th placer Kentaro Nakamoto winning his 17.9k stage in a CR 52:47 (4:44 pace).

We Think It's Way Better Than Going To Victor Conte
Jamaican Doctor Living In The UK Says He Can Make Usain Bolt Run Faster By Using An Ancient Form Of Chinese Medicine Called Tunia Therapy
It's an intense form of massage he uses with UK sprinter Perry Shakes-Drayton and he claims almost all of her PRs come after sessions with him.

NYCM Cancellation's Financial Aftermath

More Sensationalism From The NY Post

More On NYC Cancelation

The Cover That Ended It All

American Corner

LRC Meb Keflezighi Leads The American Hopes At The 2012 ING New York City Marathon A strong American field is led by America's top marathoner, Meb Keflezighi. Meb says his preparations for New York have gone better than his other two marathons this year (Olympic Trials victory and 4th at the Olympics), but things have been far from perfect. What does that mean for Sunday?

LRC A Look At The Ten American Men's Contenders Not Named Meb Remember when Ritz got over a hundred grand to make his New York debut? There's a guy with PRs very similar to Ritz making his debut this year at New York and it has only made a ripple. An unsponsored American got 4th at Boston this year. Plus, Abdi Abdirahman.

More:

NYC And Hurricane Sandy

Previous NYC News

Previous NYC Marathon News

2012 BMW Frankfurt Marathon Is In The Books *Top 30 Results *Official MB Thread *Tracker/Leaderboard

LRC WR Holder Patrick Makau Battles Back To Win As Meselech Melkamu Debuts With Win On Women's Side The weather was near-freezing so the WR attempt was out at the start but Makau showed he's a champion by battling back after getting dropped several times, including before halfway. The 2nd-fastest woman in history at 10,000 had a very successful marathon debut to win the women's title.
*
Pat Butcher's Frankfurt Recap Makau: "My legs weren't working today. They just weren't reacting. But I found the strength in the end."

On Eve Of WR Attempt, World Record Holder Patrick Makau Rips Report That Sort Of Linked Him To PEDs *Discuss
*Reavis: Is Doping Widespread In Kenya?
*Original "Allegations" Here Note the "allegation" is that Makau buys supplements but specifically not EPO at a place that sells EPO in Kenya.

Marathon News: Mo Farah Wants To Do 10k-Marathon Double In 2016; Alan Webb Might Run One Next Fall

Mo Farah Gets A Visit From His Twin Brother Hassan In England

Recommended Read: For The First Time Since They Were Separated At 8 Years Old, Hassan Farah Visits Mo In England Mo, talking about his daughter, said, "She's taught [Hassan] 'fat ass, big bum bum' because she says he's a fat version of daddy."
*Twitter Post/Photo From Mo

NYRR's Mary Wittenberg

Rec. Read: Lengthy NY Times Piece On NYRR President Mary Wittenberg: "Running INC" Since taking over at the NYRR, Wittenberg has more than doubled the club's revenue. No one in our opinion has done more to promote running as a pro sport in America. Most of the criticism in the article is from those who say the NYRR has gone too far from the "grass roots" the club started with. Wittenberg: "We're not sorry we're successful. To our critics, we say, we want you to come along."
*Mary Wittenberg To Receive Sports Leadership Award From The March Of Dimes New York Division
*MB: Wittenberg article in the NY Times

2012 Bank Of America Chicago Marathon *Top 30 Results/Splits *Live Thread

Men Full Recap Kebede 2:04:38 Course Record, Ritz 9th 2:07:47 updated Tsegaye Kebede scorched the second half in 1:01:44 to run 2:04:38, a course record by nearly a minute. Dathan Ritzenhein ran a more than 2-minute PR of 2:07:47 to become the third-fastest American in history but amazingly that only got him 9th.

Women Full Recap Baysa Edges Jeptoo In A Thriller Two-time Paris champ Atsede Baysa and Rita Jeptoo battled all the way to the line. They both raised their hands but Baysa was the winner. Renee Metivier Baillie's marathon debut was great as she's now #8 all-time in US history at 2:27:17.

LRC Ritz Runs A Big 2:07:47 PR To Become Third-Fastest American And Finish 9th Dathan Ritzenhein ran a solid race to become the third-fastest American ever. That only got him 9th place in the race, but this was a big step in the right direction for Ritz.

BMW Berlin Marathon *Yahoo Photos *Video Of Berlin Finish

Even If They Fixed The Race, Athletics Kenya Boss Congratulates Mutai And Kimetto The WMM should disband its $500,000 first place gimmicky prize going forward if this is the outcome that is encouraged. LRC's recap and message boarders are quoted extensively in the article.
*
Km-By-Km Splits In Berlin Updated

LRC
Geoffrey Mutai Wins?* Berlin And World Marathon Major Title In Bizarre Finish (AKA Did Dennis Kimetto Let Geoffrey Mutai Win $500,000?) The 2012 BMW Berlin Marathon was a masterpiece on the men's side until the final 2km. The fastest marathoner ever, Geoffrey Mutai, and his training partner and breakout star in 2012, Dennis Kimetto, were putting on an exhibition, running side-by-side with each 5km faster than the one before it and on world record pace. Then the wheels fell off and there was the sprint for the finish. The problem is the mad dash for home never occurred and that left some wondering what the hell happened? Were they both completely trashed or had Kimetto deferred to Mutai, helping him win $500,000? Aberu Kebede won on the women's side for the 2nd time in a PR of 2:20:30.

LRC Does Politics

LRC Meet The Man Who Changed American Politics Started The Paul Ryan Marathon Controversy LRC Poster and 2:29 marathoner Bill Walker started the thread that made Paul Ryan's marathon time a matter of national discussion. Until now, Mr. Walker has received no credit for his contribution to the American political landscape. Meet the man behind it all. Plus learn who he's voting for.

Saturday:
LRC Mo Farah Completes The Double As The British Fans Go Wild The British fans got what they wanted on the final day of Olympic track competition (marathon tomorrow is on the roads and doesn't end in the stadium) as Farah won a tactical 5,000. Bernard Lagat came up just short in his quest for his first Olympic medal for the US as he was 4th, Rupp 7th and Lomong 10th.
*MB: Official men's 5000m thread *That was the worst 5000m final in an Olympics ever

Friday

W 1,500: LRC Disaster Strikes Twice As Morgan Uceny Gets Tripped Again And A Former Doper Wins Gold Disaster struck twice in the 1,500 final. First at the bell when, unbelievably, Morgan Uceny was sent sprawling for the second straight year. It struck again a lap later when a former doper won gold and her compatriot, who has gone from 4:18 to 4:01 this year, nabbed silver.
*Pat Forde: "Saddest sight of the Games"
*Woods: "Half a lifetime of preparation, of dreaming, shattered in an instant."

Usain Bolt Wins 200 To Become A "Legend" Bolt became the first man to win the 100 and 200 at back-to-back Olympics and become a legend in his own words. We thought he was already a legend. After leading the Jamaica 1-2-3 sweep, Bolt trashed Carl Lewis, saying he has "no respect for him" as a result of Carl's thinly-veiled drug allegations at Bolt.
More Bolt-Lewis: *Bolt Rips Lewis

A Legend Passes Too Young

LRC Eight-Time US Cross-Country Champion Pat Porter Dies In Plane Crash Updated: We've added a great photo of Porter with 3-time World XC Champ Lynn Jennings.
*Authorities: "There are no indications as to what may have caused this accident." Porter and his 15-year-old son and a neighborhood friend have perished.

Japan And China Go To War Over A Marathon?

Not Sure If This Is Funny/Sad
Janitor At San Diego's Mission Bay Park - Home Of USA XC In 2008 And 2011 - Says Runners, Particulary Women, Are Mean *Discuss

Field Event News

Sunday Action

US News: Lolo Jones Wins Bobsled World Cup Silver Medal

Marathon News From Asia

Haile G Back At It In Fukuoka *Current Elite Field

Next Weekend: Samuel Ndereba, Scott Smith And Sheila Reid Lead Fields For Next Saturday's Rothman Institute 8K In Philadelphia

More On Russian Doping

London Marathon Race Director/World Marathon Majors Founder David Bedford Speaks On The Issue Of Geoffrey Mutai "Winning" In Berlin And Possible Changes He says Mutai's agent claims it was set up and he believes him. On the WMM, with the addition of Tokyo he thinks things could change and would like to see the payout go deeper.

UK Stuff

Interesting News From Kenya

International News: Two More Russian Drug Busts

More On Seb Coe And The UK

The Election Is Over And The Winner Is ... SEB COE

US-Related News

Cycling News

Previous NYCM News: The "Run Anyway" Marathon

More News News From Overseas

News From Russia

NYCM Cancellation's Emotional Aftermath

NYC Is NOT Sunday

2012 ING NYC Marathon Is Canceled A joint statement from Mayor Bloomberg and Mary Wittenberg said, "While holding the race would not require diverting resources from the recovery effort, it is clear that it has become the source of controversy and division. The marathon has always brought our city together and inspired us with stories of courage and determination. We would not want a cloud to hang over the race or its participants, and so we have decided to cancel it."

On The Boards: No Chance for NYC 2012, Pros Will Find Out in a Week What They Get Paid

NYC Athlete News

The Runners Start To Turn Over Their Cards
LRC
Who Is The Favorite? Three Of The Men's Race Favorites Reveal Their Fitness The London marathon champ, Wilson Kipsang, talked very confidently at the press conference on Wednesday, as did the undefeated Stanley Biwott. Moses Mosop, on the other hand, said he's only 80-85% ready to go, but the last time he was that fit - he set a CR in Chicago. Renato Canova, who no longer coaches Mosop, seemingly thinks Biwott is the man to beat.

Saturday's NYRR Dash To The Finish Line 5k Cancelled
So, too, is Friday night's Opening Ceremony.

LRC
New York Road Runners Create And Give $1 Million To NYC Marathon Race To Recovery Fund; Rudin Family, ING Give Another $1.6 Million We at LRC are glad to see the race go on Sunday. The mayor made his call and the race is going forward. Sure there are critics, but if the race was cancelled there would be critics as well.

Women's Preview: The Five Six Women That Could Win The 2012 ING New York City Marathon We break down the strong New York women's field led by favorite and Olympic champ Tiki Gelana. Will Edna Kiplagat challenge? Can Kim Smith figure out the marathon?
*In Her Debut, Japan Marathoner Kayoko Fukushi Went Out Hard With The Leaders But Crashed And Collapsed 4 Times Before Finishing She's improved since then (2:24 for 3rd in Chicago 2011) and is looking to do well in NYC.
*Last Year, Molly Pritz Was The Top American In Her Debut With A 2:31 And Is Going For Something Sub-2:28 This Year She arrived before the storm hit, making a 14 hour drive from Detroit when her flight was cancelled and has been doing workouts on the hotel treadmill. *NYRR Article On Pritz
*Kim Smith Arrives Safely In NYC; Says She Expects Changes To The Course

LRC
Men's Preview: The Five Men That Could Win The 2012 ING New York City Marathon As New York turns its attention to cleaning up from Monday's devastating hurricane, it's time to break down the 2012 ING NYC Marathon pro men's field. Who will win: Wilson Kipsang? Moses Mosop? Martin Lel? We continue the tradition on LetsRun.com of discounting the chances of America's best marathoner, Meb Keflezighi.
*Moses Mosop Says He's At About 85% Fitness Due To The Achilles Injury That Kept Him Out Of The Olympics
*Kenyan Stanley Biwott Is Undefeated In His Five Races This Year And Is Hoping To Become The 10th NYC Champ To Come Out Of His Training Camp
*Moses Mosop, Wilson Kipsang, Stanley Biwott, Sharon Cherop And Edna Kiplagat "Faced A Marathon Just To Get To NYC" They took a flight from Nairobi to London to Boston and from there drove to New York, getting there Wednesday.
*Wilson Kipsang Benefitted From Training With NYC CR Holder Geoffrey Mutai In His Buildup For New York
*Quotes From The NYC Marathon Elite Athletes Scrambling To Make New Travel Arrangements To Make It To NYC On Time

Other Non-NYC News: Lance Could Lose His Olympic Medal

International News

NYC Marathon Updates *MB: NYC marathon and hurricane

RW Q&A With Deena Kastor On Coming Back From Recent Injuries To Win The LA Half She also talks about only running competitively for 1 or 2 more years and wanting to win one more major marathon like Boston or NYC before she retires. She and her husband are taking over the Mammoth Track Club and she's looking forward to coaching other elite runners in the future.

NCAA XC Conference Action Is This Weekend *All Results

On The Sabbath: Big 10: *Results *Discuss
*Wisconsin Men Take 14th Straight Big 10 Title
IU's Zachary Mayhew won over Wisco's Maverick Darling and Mohammed Ahmed. NCAA 1,500 champ Andy Bayer was 4th.
*Michigan Takes Big 10 Women Title Sara Kroll
won individually.

Saturday: PAC-12: Men: #2 Colorado Men Comfortably Defeat #3 Stanford And #8 Oregon That's 2 for 2 in the PAC-12 for Colorado. Arizona went 1-2 as expected but finished 7th. *Boulder Daily Camera *Results
Women: Jordan Hasay Leads #3 Oregon To Win In The Toughest Conference In The Country Over #5 Arizona, #4 Stanford & #6 Washington *Results
Hasay was the runner-up as Stanford's Kathy Kroeger got the win. Hard to believe it's Oregon's first conference win since 1995.
*MB:
Discuss *Post-Race Hasay Video

Big 12: Oklahoma State Men Dominate For 5th Straight Title
Five in the top 8 for OSU. *Results *Discuss
Women: National #2 Iowa State Cruises *Results

Heps *
Results *HepsTrack.com
*#7 Cornell Women Roll By Going 1-2-3 Up Front Congrats to friend of LRC Artie Smith, coach of the Big Red.
*#23 Princeton "Upsets" #10 Columbia & Wins In A Rout As Vig Gets Heps Title #1 We write "upsets" as it's hard to call it an upset when you are winning for the 6th time in 7 years and 4 of your top 5 broke 9:00 in the 3,200 or steeple in HS and you have 8 sub-9:00 high school 3,200 guys on the roster. *Heps 2012 Highlight Video
*MB: Discuss

ACC: *
Results/Discussion
Men: #22 V. Tech Men Upset #14 FSU And #18 Duke To Win 1st-Ever Title The unranked UVA men got 2nd.
*#1 FSU Women Win

Patriot:
Congrats To The Lehigh Men, Who Claim 1st-Ever Title - Navy Women Win

Recommended Read:
Blogger Incredibly Previews/Predicts Virtually All The Men's XC Conferences

Two Biggies Were Friday - SEC & Big East
Big East: *Results

 MB:
Syracuse Men Win For 4th Time In 5 Years / GTown Women Win As Nova Goes 1-3 But Finishes 4th
*With Syracuse Going To ACC Next Year, Redshirt Frosh Champ Martin Hehir Will Go Down In History As Only Undefeated Big East Meet Runner In History

SEC: *Results
*
SEC Report: Arkansas Men And Florida Women Win SEC Cross-Country Titles Texas A&M's Henry Lelei won the individual race in 23:29.95 as Kentucky's Cally Macumber won for the women in 20:23.29.
*Quick Q&A With Henry Lelei Asked what sport he'd play if he wasn't a runner: "I would like to play golf; you don't use a lot of energy. You just walk around and hit [the ball]."
MB:
#30 Florida Women Upset #12 Arkansas As Heavily-Favored #9 Arkanas Men Win

MB:
SEC distance stock skyrockets / xc predictions
MB: Anyone got a live results link to the SEC XC champs this morning?
MB: Who is timing the SEC meet

Who's The #1 Team In The Land? The Coaches Say Okla. State, You Say It's Colorado

LRC Mark Wetmore's Colorado Buffaloes, Florida State Women The New #1 In The LetsRun.com NCAA Cross-Country Polls Florida State is shooting for its first national title and Colorado Buffaloes hope to get back on top for the first time since 2006. Plus we have conference predictions for the major conferences.

Memo To All LetsRun.com Fans - You Now Have As Many Tour de France Titles As Lance Armstrong

Cycling Feds Strip Lance Armstrong Of 7 TDF Titles & Bans Him For Life "The UCI will strip him of his seven Tour de France wins. Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling. He deserves to be forgotten in cycling."

Insurance Company Wants Its Money Back "Mr. Armstrong is no longer the official winner of any Tour de France races and as a result it is inappropriate and improper for him to retain any bonus payments made by SCA."

Christian Hesch Admits To Taking EPO, And Other Drug News

2012 World Half Is In The Books *Results *MB: World Half Thread

Zersenay Tadese Dominates World Half - Wins Record 5th Title Tadese put on a show at the 5k mark and won by 32 seconds.
*LRC US Men, Led By Top-20 Showings By Augustus Maiyo And Luke Puskedra, Finish 4th
*
South Africa's Stephen Mokoka Moves From 16th At 15km To 8th At Finish
*
Amateur Kawauchi Is Top Finisher & Japan Running News Brett Larner Rips The Entire Japanese System As A Result How can a self-trained guy who has won two marathons in six weeks beat the best of the Japanese corporations?

Ethiopian Women Stun Kenya And Win Individual And Team Titles

The Kenyan women had the five best times in the field but someone forgot to tell that to the Ethiopians, who went 1-2 to win as Meseret Hailu (68:55) edged Feyse Tadese (68:56).
*LRC Shalane Flanagan Falls Off Early - Fades To Disappointing 25th Place Finish As US Women Finish 5th Flanagan went out in the top 10 at a sub-70 pace but ended up in 74:41 as just the third US finisher.

Recommended Read: 27 Years Later, Twin Cities Marathon Record Of 2:10:05 Still Belongs To A Single Father Of Three Who Had A Full-Time Job & Didn't Go College As He Wasn't Fast Enough For A Scholarship

LRC "Non-Running" Running Photo Of The Week

LRC LetsRun License Plate Spotted In Texas: What Does It Mean? A car (Porsche?) in Texas has been spotted with a 26.2 sticker and a LTS RUN license plate. We assume the owner has run a marathon, but more importantly ... do they come to LetsRun.com? Of course they should, but we want your help in unraveling this mystery.

The Greatest 800m Ever?

800 Could Be Was Epic:
LRC
David Rudisha Becomes A Legend By Winning Gold With A World Record In The Greatest 800 Race In History updated David Rudisha went after in London and delivered, as he became the first person to break 1:41 in the 800. The rest of the field went after Rudisha and delivered as well as 7 of 8 runners PRed in a truly epic race where places 1-8 set new all-time best time-for-place marks. Duane Solomon and Nick Symmonds became the 2nd and 3rd Americans to break 1:43 and amazingly neither medalled.
*MB: Rudisha 1:40.91 WORLD RECORD!!
*Epstein: How low can Rudisha go in 800?
*Science Of The Sport Analyzes The Olympic 800 Final And Rudisha's Race Strategy

Goodbye, London

Getting High Praise In The Email Inbox:
LRC Mediocre Great Britain: You Lived Up To Your Name "For a country where pessimism is now part of the national consciousness, the Olympics were a resounding success. Not okay, not pretty good, but truly Great ..."