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The 117th Boston Marathon Is Monday *TV/ Internet Info (Free Internet Steam 9:30 AM ET) *Boston Pre-Race Photos

Sunday: LRC 2013 Boston Marathon Preview: We break down the field and try to make you look good at the office on Monday If you read one piece all year here, this is the one you have to read. On Monday everyone in the office will ask you what is going to happen and you'd better be able to sound like a running expert or your reputation will be ruined. Sadly we say the American men have ZERO chance for victory and say don't expect Shalane to end the US drought that dates to 1985.

Saturday:LRC Elite Media Day At The 2013 Boston Marathon: Trying To Get The Inside Scoop On The Leading Ethiopian And Kenyan Contenders Rojo thinks he's got some inside scoop on who is the man to beat. It's a shame betting isn't allowed. How will the 6th fastest 10,000 man in history, Micah Kogo, do in his debut? Is Lelisa Desisa the marathon's newest young star? Is relative unknown Dickson Chumba really the man to beat or is he not in top shape as he claims? And what about 2010 champ Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot? Plus let's not forget defending champ Wesley Korir.

More LRC Coverage:
LRC Jason Hartmann Has Upped His Mileage But Talks To LetsRun Before The 2013 Boston Marathon "I'll try to run as hard as I can and allow other people to beat themselves."
LRC Stephanie Rothstein-Bruce Talks Prior To 2013 Boston Marathon "I feel like things are kind of right where they want to be and we'll see where 'Lady Marathon Luck' is on Monday."
LRC Fernando Cabada Hoping For Race Of His Life And Top Five Showing At 2013 Boston Marathon We caught up with a more mature Fernando Cabada, who isn't ruling out a top-3 showing.
*ESPN: Time Is Right For Fernando Cabada - Former U.S. Olympic Hopeful Is Ready To Show Running World His Evolved Self

Weekend Track Action *Collegiate Results Page by USTFCCCA

LRC Andrew Wheating 1:50.75 season opener *Wheating 2013 debut!!

First Usain Bolt, Now Powell: Utech Classic: Yohan Blake Pulls Up With Cramp As Kim Collins Wins 100m *Powell hopes to stay healthy

2nd day of SA Senior Athletics Championships: Long jumpers steal show in Stellenbosch Johan Cronje (3:38.13) over Juan van Deventer (3:38.40) in 1500 as Stephen Mokoka (13:25) wins 5000.
*More on SA Champs

Recap of fourth National Bank of Kenya/Athletics Kenya track and field meeting at Thika Municipal Stadium.

Previous Boston Coverage

Reuters On Defending Champ Wesley Korir: Kenyan Lawmaker Faces Fast Field In Boston Marathon

RRW: Gebre Gebremariam Hopes Third Time The Charm At 2013 Boston Marathon

Nearly All Of The Kenyans Were Talking About This In Boston: Floods Sweep Athletes Out Of Kenyan Training Venues - Dirt Stadium Unusable

An Awesome/Tearful Read About The Power Of True Love Six Years Ago, Colombian Yolanda Caballero Was Only A Jogger; Now She's A 2:26 Marathoner Trying To Persevere After Losing The Man Who Romanced Her And Turned Her Into A Star She lost her beloved husband and coach to a totally unexpected death at age 44.

Did You Have To Work On Friday And Miss The Press Conference? LRC Archived BAA Teleconference With Nick Willis, Kim Smith, Ben Bruce And Gabrielle Anderson They are going to talk about Sunday's Invitational miles and 5ks as well as the BAA $100,000 distance medley challenge. If you miss it live, you can watch it taped.

Boston Isn't The Only Marathon This Weekend *Rotterdam on Live at 4:25 AM ET Sunday
*Rotterdam Preview: Ethiopian Favourite Getu Feleke Wants 2:04:27 Course Record And Weather Should Be Good

Paula Radcliffe Is Happy Her INCREDIBLE 2:15:25 WR Is About To Turn 10 Years Old - Hopes It Lasts Longer

Previous Boston News *Live Stream Monday @ 9:30 AM ET

• LRC Shalane Flanagan Prior To 2013 Boston Marathon: "I don't know if I'm in the best shape (ever) but I certainly feel really good. ... It's by far the best I've felt in a marathon buildup." We caught up with America's only realistic hope to end the US's 28 years of futility in Boston just before she got on the plane to head to Beantown. An excited, antsy, nervous, superstitious Flanagan revealed she's tried to learn from overtaining for last year's Olympics and has maxed out at "only" 117 mpw - a good omen for the 117th Boston race?
• Great Q&A With Kara Goucher, Who Says She Didn't Have A Perfect Buildup For Boston But Is Ready "You know, my preparation for this marathon has not been perfect, and at times it's actually been like a nightmare. But what does that mean? You just don't not run because things haven't been perfect. I mean, that's crazy."
• RR: Dick Hoyt And His Son Rick, Who Has Cerebral Palsy, Have Done 1,092 Races Together, Including The Boston Marathon The duo that raises money for charity and awareness for people with disabilities has been honored by a sponsor of the Boston Marathon with a life-size statue in Hopkinton where Boston starts.
• Some Good Tips If You're Racing Boston: Alan Culpepper's Tips For Racing The Boston Marathon
• Sharon Cherop: "I am doing well with my preparations for the Boston Marathon at the moment and I am determined to win it for the second time in a row."
• Guys From The 1983 Boston Marathon Comment On Why That Day Was So Fast On that day, 84 mostly North American runners broke 2:20, and 263 bettered 2:28:30.
• Q&A With Boston Marathon Director Dave McGillivray Interesting fact: Every birthday, McGillivray runs a mile for every one of his years; he started at 12 years old and is now 46.
• Boston Marathon Will Honor The 26 Victims Of Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting With A Special Mile Marker At Mile 26
• Interview With 1968 Boston Marathon Winner Amby Burfoot

HS News: MileSplit Updated 2013 World Youth Championships Prospects-April 10th Report
*adidas Grand Prix Dream Mile/100 Announce Some Of The First Invites

More Boston News

• IAAF Boston Marathon Preview: Reigning Champions Wesley Korir And Sharon Cherop Return To Defend Their Titles Korir faces Gebre Gebremariam, Lelisa Desisa Benti (2:04:45), Deriba Merga, 2010 champ Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot, and last year's runner-up Levy Matebo. Cherop will be chased by Meseret Hailu Debele and Tirfi Tsegaye Beyene (course record holders at the Amsterdam and Paris Marathons respectively), 2012 Chicago runner-up Rita Jeptoo and obviously Shalane Flanagan and Kara Goucher.
• Recommended Read: Wesley Korir Has A Lot On His Plate As He Prepares To Defend His Boston Marathon Title In addition to training, he has spent a lot of time in Kenya campaigning and winning a seat in the Kenyan parliament and his wife is pregnant with their 2nd child.
• Kara Goucher Is Hoping That "The Third Time's A Charm" At This Year's Boston Marathon "My first year, I felt like I made some tactical errors. My second time there I had a six-month-old baby, so that was what it was ... I just have to get it right on race day because I want to win it so bad."
• 30-Minute RW Video Interview With Shalane Flanagan Ahead Of The Boston Marathon
• Flanagan: "I feel really fortunate that they are talking about me in that capacity ... I like having this big platform to perform."

Some Interesting International Track News

• Ryan Gregson Blogs: "No More 5,000 For Me" Gregson explains how he and Dorian Ulrey once had a conversation about wanting to move to the 5,000 because commentators would have more time to talk about your life story. Gregson says, "Maybe I won't get my life story told, but the 1,500m is way sexier."
• Former 400H Olympic Champ Melaine Walker Reveals She Left MVP Track Club Because Long-Time Coach Stephen Francis Refused To Help Her Move To The 100H Some harsh quotes from her coach, including, "If you are going to retire, then you retire, but I am not going to help you with the foolishness about you being a sprinter. You were a sprinter at 15 years old, you are now 30 and a lot has happened during that time and it is pointless."
• David Rudisha Says He Will Not Be Aiming To Break The WR At This Year's Moscow World Champs, But Says He Does Think Sub-1:40 Is Possible "I have beaten Kipketer's former world record (1:41.11) three times now and one day I hope to break the 1:40 barrier. It's not impossible but it is a very difficult task to accomplish."
• Valerie Adams Says She's Focused On Winning Championships Rather Than On Drug-Tainted Record Books Even though she's a 2-time Olympic champ she's only 23rd on the all-time list, but says, "Okay, realistically I'm No. 23, but how many of those athletes have been suspended?"
• Athletics South Africa Fiasco Continues As 6 ASA Board Members And Financial Manager Were Suspended By Formerly Impeached ASA President James Evans
• Tunisian Athletics Federation To Be Suspended By The IAAF After It Overturned The Democratically Elected National Governing Body
• Mercyline Jerono Wins 1,500 At Kenya Technical Training Institutes Sports Organisation Championships In 4:53.1
• IAAF Online Diary For Olympic 800 Champ Mariya Savinova Who's Back In Hard Training After Some Downtime In The Winter

Last Sunday Road Action *Carlsbad Top 10 Results *Carlsbad Photo Gallery

Carlsbad: LRC Gebremeskel 3-Peats And Gelete Burka Wins - Manzano Struggles Big-Time When you put one of the top track runners on the road, normally he wins and Gebremeskel did just that. Leo Manzano's much hyped 5k debut was a total disaster but the race also served as the return of 2011 Mo Farah slayer Ibrahim Jeilen. Will Leer and Brenda Martinez were the top Americans. *IAAF

LRC World XC Photo Gallery

Sunday Morning Action *BAA 5k Results

BAA 5k: LRC Kim Smith (15:16) and Dejen Gebremeskel (13:27) win Aaron Braun was a strong second in 13:40 for men and Molly Huddle third in 15:28 for women.
*Video Interviews with Smith, Gebremeskel, Braun, Huddle and Aussie Brett Robinson.

Rotterdam: MB: Tilahun Regassa (2:05:38) and Jemima Jelagat (2:23:27) Win Sammy Kitwara was third in 2:07:22.
Great Ireland Run: MB:  Kenenisa ekele wins in 28:54 as Jeilan third in 29:20
Vienna: Haile Gebrselassie not done yet - Wins Vienna half in 61:14 w
Daegu: Abraham Kiprotich wins in 2:08:33 and Margaret Akai wins in 2:23:28 IAAF

Saturday: Andres Arroyo Does it Again!!! Andres Arroyo - 8:51.47, Brian Jäger Elite Classic

Boston Is Monday - Extensive (and Good) Boston Globe Coverage *TV/ Internet Info (Free Internet Steam 9:30 AM ET) *Boston Pre-Race Photos

• Flanagan contemplates what she'd do if she won:"You know what would be such a badass move?If I were to win the Boston Marathon and retire the next day
• Recommended Read: Ethiopians in Boston closely follow Gebre Gebremariam This article takes you back to win Gebremariam won world cross country at age 18 after patientily moving up after being 30th after lap one - barefoot.
• Kara Goucher takes on Boston Marathon and training partner Shalane Flanagan
• For Shalane Flanagan, Marblehead is home turf
• Elite runners share their favorite things to do in Boston
• False Boston Globe Headline: Jason Hartmann is America’s best hope to win Monday’s Boston Marathon We say fasle headline as rounding to the nearest .1% - Hartmann has zero chance of winning. The article also reveals G. Mutai told Micah Kogo to not run Boston as the course is too difficult.
  
  Non Globe Coverage:
  
• Toni Reavis: Boston - The mecca of marathoning
  
• 30 years after his last American male title, Greg Meyer is back in Boston running race.
  
• IAAF preview has no mention of 6th fastest 10,000 man in history - Micah Kogo

Recommended Read: Irish Examiner devotes 2,500+ words to look back a great career of Sonia O'Sullivan O'Sullivan is full of praise for Kim McDonald. “He taught me confidence and to challenge people I’d have seen as better than me ...“He made me believe I belonged and in that sense, I think it takes a long time to understand what you are doing. I’d be a lot more confident about things now than I was as an athlete."

Crazy But Interesting Thinking

• Arizona man starting 5k in 110 degree weather on purpose - Hottest sporting event ever to be staged in Arizona "Whether someone has gone bungee jumping, ran an Ironman or run with the bulls, this is something they won't have experienced before," said race inventor Jason Rose, a Scottsdale PR executive. "This is about us choosing to celebrate the heat, not retreat from it."
  
• Delusional: Yohan Blake thinks he could be the fastest bowler in the world
• Cycling Ireland nominate McQuaid for third term with UCI

Previous Boston News

His Mileage But Talks To LetsRun Before The 2013 Boston Marathon "I'll try to run as hard as I can and allow other people to beat themselves."
*RRW Jason Hartmann Remains Confident In What May Be His Final Elite Race
*Boston Herald: Hartmann Closing In On Retirement: "I don't know how much longer I'll be in this sport."

Great Watch Goucher Goes 1-On-1 On Local CBS TV And Talks About Her Near Miss At First Boston

ESPNW: Boston Brings Shalane Flanagan Full Circle

Burla: Cancer Survivor And Mom Hoping To PR

Good, Bad And Awful Injury News

• The Good: Kenenisa Bekele (And Ibrahim Jeilan) Hoping To Get Back Over Post-Olympic Depression With SPAR Great Ireland Run I'm still a little bit disappointed about the Olympics, but it's OK, it's life."
• The Bad: Heel Fracture Will Rule Sally Kipyego Out Of Moscow WChamps
• Awful: Report: Injured Again, Liu Xiang Is Basically Retired But Can't Admit It As Millions Of Endorsements Hang In Balance

We Didn't Realize This Was Controversial

Kenyan Columnist Is VERY Upset With Atlantic.com Article Saying Kenyan Distance Success Is Due To Genetics "There exists a system of knowledge, institutional infrastructure, and people that created and sustain Kenyans running dominance." Our response. Of course genetics play a role. Genetics play a big role in the NBA where the avg. height is 6'7" - nothing wrong with saying that. If genetics aren't big, then why are so many of a single tribe so good?
*Atlantic.com: Why Kenyans Make Such Great Runners: A Story Of Genes And Cultures
*MB: How fast were your parents?

This Weekend *Vienna Live Stream Sun. @ 3AM ET *Aussie Champs Live Stream On Sat./Sun.

• 2:06 Man Henry Sugut Will Try To Defend His Vienna City Marathon Title On Sunday; Haile Gebrselassie Will Defend His Title In The Half Marathon He will face a field with 10 sub-2:10 runners, including Jafred Kipchumba (2:05:48). The women's field is highlighted by Ethiopia's Kebebush Haile (2:24:09) and Houston Marathon runner-up Assefa Meskerem (2:25:17).
• Photos - Haile Gebrselassie Meets The Austrian President
• Asbel Kiprop And Silas Kiplagat Highlight FIelds For This Weekend's KCB/AK Meet At Thika Municipal Stadium World XC Champ Emily Chebet is competing, although the article refers to her as "World Cross-Country champion Winnie Chebet" so we're assuming they just wrote the wrong name.
• Video Report From The Ongoing Sarah Desert Ultra-Marathon Video is from the 4th stage. *2nd Article/Video
• SA Joint 100m NR Holder Simon Magakwe Will Try To Win His 5th Straight SA National Title This Weekend 400 hurdler LJ van Zyl will compete in the 200.

More On 2016 Trials

• More Updates On 2016 Trials With Quotes From Vin Lananna, Max Siegel They'll also host the 2015 World Champs Trials.
• Andrew Wheating Would Have The Trials Always Be At Hayward Field "It's a rock show for track athletes. It doesn't happen very often, every four years, where you get the opportunity to be the Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise of Hollywood at Hayward Field. And we totally embrace it."
• RegisterGuard: "Like a comet that returns every four years to stage a spectacular show, the U.S. Olympic Trials are coming back to Eugene."
• Des Moines Very Disappointed With 2016 Trials Choice They will try again in 2020.
• Speaking Of Hosting: Poll: What US City Should Bid To Host 2024 Games? Right now LA is dominating the vote.

The Fields For This Season's Top Track Meets Are Starting To Take Shape

• Beijing: Asafa Powell Vs. Justin Gatlin And David Oliver Vs. Jason Richardson Two Highlights Of May 21st Beijing World Challenge Meet Russia's Olympic HJ champ Anna Chicherova and Carmelita Jeter will also compete.
• Shanghai: PV WR Holder Yelena Isinbayeva Will Open Her Season In Shanghai DL Meet On May 18th There have been various reports, but VFLA chief Valentin Balakhnichyov said she would definitely compete at the World Championships in Moscow.
  *German PV Record Holder & Olympic 4th Placer Silke Spiegelburg Will Open Her Season At Shanghai After Taking The Winter Off To Focus On Her Studies
• IAAF Interview Jenn Suhr And Holly Bleasdale On Their Plans/Expectations Ahead Of Their 2013 Season
• NYC: Veronica Campbell-Brown Will Compete In The 200 At NYC DL Meet On May 25th
• Liu Xiang Definitely Won't Compete This Year; There Is A Chance He Could Compete Again In The Future If He Recovers Enough From His Achilles Surgery

Week In Review

LRC WTW: Can An American Win Boston? Andres Arroyo Impresses, And It's OK To Race A Lot Less than a week before Monday's Boston Marathon, we examine American futility in Boston and ponder: Can Shalane Flanagan end the drought? Plus, we span the globe from Carlsbad, to Gainesville, to Prague, and look at women's running depth.

US Elite/NCAA News

• Jordan Hasay Says She's Going "All-In" With The 10,000 This Year And Wants To Take A Crack At The "A" Standard At Payton Jordan
• Recommended Read: Update On Alan Webb, Who's Still Hungry, Focusing On Longer Distances And Says He's "Not Done Yet" Good news for Webb fans because he has definitely not given up. Good quotes from Jerry Schumacher, Chris Solinsky and the man himself, Webb, who talks about setting PRs at 5k and 10k (currently 13:10 and 27:34) and even mentions sub-2:10 in the marathon.
• Lukas Verzbicas Disappointed With Carlsbad Race, Where He Was Hampered By Lingering Effects From His Spinal Cord Injury He said he wanted to run 15:00 here, but wasn't too upset with the 15:21.
• Lauren Fleshman Writes For RW About Her Childhood - She Was A Tomboy And Was Angry That As She Got Older She Could No Longer Beat The Boys "What did balls have to do with this? All the boys were going to turn into something better than me, and there was nothing I could do about it? I quickly scanned my memory from health class for what puberty had in store for me and was horrified."
• Updated NCAA Rankings: Top 4 On Both Sides Stay The Same As Texas A&M Men And Kansas Women Stay #1
• An Open Letter From The TFAA's Adam Nelson Giving An Update On Their Battle To Get Athlete's More Opportunties To Market Themselves/Sponsors
• IAAF Inside Athletics Episode 8: Ato Boldon Interviews Former Olympic 100m Champ Maurice Greene

London Loses One: 2:19 Marathoner And RAK Half Marathon Champ (66:09) Lucy Kabuu Pulls Out Of London Marathon, Citing Lack Of Fitness

Upcoming Action On The Track And Roads

• Saturday: LaShawn Merritt And Kirani James Will Be Racing At Saturday's Chris Brown Bahamas Invitational Naturally, they'll be in different events - James in the 400 and Merritt in the 200.
• Toughest Ultra Run On Earth? The 220K Sahara Desert Run Starts This Weekend Would you oat $4,500 to spend a week running in the Sahara Desert?
• May 18th: Aries Merritt, Yohan Blake, Kirani James, Yelena Isinbayeva And Trinidad And Keshorn Walcott Lead Fields For Shanghai Diamond League Meet
• Liu Xiang Will Likely Miss All Of The 2013 Track Season As He Recovers From His Achilles Injury This has meet organizers of the Shanghai Diamond League meet worried as they expect to see a drop in ticket sales and sponsor interest.
• June 27th: Olympic PV Champ Renaud Lavillenie And Kirani James Will Compete At Ostrava Golden Spike Meet

Weekend Track Results *Weekend College Track Schedule/Results *2013 Arcadia Invitational Results

• LRC 2013 Arcadia Invitational - 18 Boys Go Sub-9 Colorado signee Ben Saarel of Utah used a 55-second last lap and 4:14 last 1,600 to win in 8:45.74.
  *2013 Arcadia Invitational Results
  *MB: Ben Saarel Arcadia Champ - 8:45 With 55 Last Lap, 4:14 Second Mile
  *MB: Sarah Baxter Wins In 10:08
  *MileSplit Weekend HS Coverage
  
• Oregon Pepsi Team Invy: Oregon Men Upset No. 1 Texas A&M As Texas A&M Women Put A Damper On UO Women's Triple Crown Hopes Jordan Hasay won the 1,500 with a kick, proving the LetsRun.com training principle that strength = speed. After the race, she said, "I'm a sprinter. I feel like a sprinter. I think the strength is only helping my speed." Mac Fleet won the 800 in 1:48.70 in his first race at Hayward since 2010.
• *Many School/Meet Records Go Down At Pepsi Invitational, Including Texas A&M's Henry Lelei's 8:32.94 Steeplechase Washington's Joey Bywater beat Elijah Greer in the 1,500 with 3:52.78 to Greer's 3:53.08.
• Oregon Women Still Hoping For The Triple Crown After Losing To Texas A&M At Pepsi Invitational At Nationals, overall depth across all events won't be much of a factor since it will be all the best in the nation instead of just 4 teams. *Register-Guard Recap
  *Full Results *Oregon Recap *Meet Photos