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Yohan Blake Out For Up To 6 Weeks With Hamstring Injury The injury occurred during the UTech Classic meet where Blake DNFed, grabbing his right hamstring.

The 117th Boston Marathon *Top 25 Results *Boston Photos *Boston Pre-Race Photos

LRC Top 25 Boston Results: Rita Jeptoo And Lelisa Desisa Win The action was exciting as Portugal's Anna Dulce Felix was reeled in after having a 1+ minute lead at 35k. The men's race ended up being a 3-way sprint for home between Gebre Gebremariam, debutante Micah Kogo, and Desisa. Shalane Flanagan and Jason Hartmann led the American charge with 4th-place finishes. The American men, thanks to Daniel Tapia and Craig Leon, place 3 in the top 10!

Race Recaps/News:

• LRC We Covered It Live With 2 Different Blogs:
  *Live Boston Message Board Thread
  *Coveritlive Coverage
• IAAF Recap
• Competitor Women's Recap: Some Interesting Quotes From The Chase Pack As Anna Dulce Felix Gapped Them Eventual 3rd placer Sharon Cherop on what she said to countrywoman/eventual winner Rita Jeptoo: "Let us move forward. These ladies may end up winning the race. They have already gone far. I was so worried," Jeptoo replied, "I'm not going now." *Men's Recap
• AP Recap Flanagan: "The hardest part about Boston is the Bostonians want it just as bad as we do, which really tugs at our heart. We all want it too. We want to be the next Joanie." *2nd AP Article
• Shalane Flanagan Post-Race: "What we all dream about as athletes is winning and Kara and I really wanted to win this for everyone ..." ... "I really wanted to thank them and I was hoping a laurel wreath was the way to thank them."
• Good Post-Race Video With Goucher Talking About The American Drought In Boston And What's Ahead For Her
• RW: Notable Names In The Results: How Joan Benoit Samuelson, Shalene's Sister And Others Fared 1968 champ Amby Burfoot was about 3/4 of a mile away from a 4:26 finish when he was among the first runners diverted from the course after the explosions.
• World Marathon Majors Update 2012-2013: WMM Series Leaderboards Post-Boston Tsegaye Kebede and Wilson Kipsang are tied for the lead for the men and Rita Jeptoo leads for the women.
• Japan's Hiroyuki Yamamoto And US's Tatyana McFadden Win Boston Wheelchair Races
  
  Boston On The Boards:

• Lesisa Desisa Wins Boston 3 Months After Winning Dubai (And $200,000)
• Jason Hartmann deserves more respect
• Why was Boston so slow?
• Joan Benoit Samuelson - new Masters World Record?!
• You know it had to be asked: how would a healthy Ryan Hall done in today's Boston Marathon?
• I would rather be a mediocre runner and look muscular than win the Boston marathon and look like a skeleton
• Daniel Tapia!!! Couldn't Break 10 for 2 Mile in HS, 9th at Boston!!!
• Live Boston Message Board Thread

More Non-Boston News

• Entire Athletics South Africa Board Suspended By South African Sports Confederation And Olympic Committee
• 49 SA Police Officers Had Their Cellphones Confiscated After Many Took Photos Of Oscar P And The Crime Scene On The Night Of The Murder Apparently reporters were trying to buy pictures of key pieces of evidence from officers including an offer of $50,000 for a photograph of the toilet door Pistorius shot through.
• Kenya's Julius Kogo (28:18) Wins Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10k In Richmond, VA In A Sprint Finish Over Pius Nyantika (28:19) Kenyan Ogla Kimaiyo won the women's race in 32:25.
• Updated DI Rankings: Texas A&M Men And Kansas Women Stay On Top On the women's side, Texas A&M moved up to 2nd and Oregon down to 3rd.
• April 28th: Canadian Half Marathon Champs Preview: Banque Scotia 21k de Montreal Promises A Battle Defending champ Eric Gillis faces Giitah Macharia and Rejean Chiasson.
• USATF Tribute To Longtime Track And Field Journalist Hal Bateman, Who Passed Away At 81 He held many different positions, including USATF's director of promotions.
• Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis And Greg Rutherford Confirmed For Anniversary Games At The Olympic Stadium In July
• Baseball And Softball Officially Join Forces In Attempt To Boost Chances For Selection To Be Added To 2020 Olympic Games
• Report Says Men Far Outnumbered Women At London Games With 1,233 More Athletes And 30 More Medal Events

We Hope You Read Our Preview As We Nailed Both Races Perfectly And Told You "If you read one piece all year here, this is the one you have to read."

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.

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 1,500 as Stephen Mokoka (13:25) wins 5,000.
*More On SA Champs

Recap Of Fourth National Bank Of Kenya/Athletics Kenya Track And Field Meeting At Thika Municipal Stadium

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

Previous Boston News

• 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 58.
• 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

LRC World XC Photo Gallery

The Horror In Boston *Channel 7 News Update (Video) *Video Of Explosion *CNN Photos (Warning: Some Intense Images) *Boston Race Photos

• Spirited 8-Year-Old And Outgoing 29-Year-Old Woman Among Boston Marathon Victims Article on two of the three fatalities and updates on the many of the other injured.
• Chinese Consulate Just Announced 3rd Person Killed In Boston Was A Chinese National
• Joan Benoit Samuelson: "I feel as though our community has been violated in a violent and senseless way."
• Statement From Thomas Grilk, Executive Director Of The Boston Athletic Association "Boston is strong. Boston is resilient. Boston is our home. And Boston has made us enormously proud in the past 24 hours. ... We are committed to continuing that tradition with the running of the 118th Boston Marathon in 2014."
• NY Times: Bring On The Next Boston Marathon "Wash the sidewalk, wipe away the blood, and let whoever did it know that while they have sickeningly maimed and killed some of our brothers and sisters, they have left no trace on our society or way of life."
• Reactions From Track World, Including Paula Radcliffe, Haile G And IAAF President Liame Diack  Liame Diack: "This ghastly and cowardly attack strikes at the very core of the freest of human activities. Whether as a fun runner or elite competitor, road running exemplifies the honestly of basic human movement, strength and resilience."
• President Obama Calls Boston Bombings An Act Of Terrorism
• Federal Agents Say Kitchen Pressure Cookers Packed With Explosives And Lethal Shrapnel Were Used In Bombings
• Reflections On A Senseless Tragedy: "Americans have always proven to be resilient and Marathon Monday in Boston may not mean the same thing in the future, but the important part is that it will continue."
• Instinctive Running: Some Kept Running To The Finish, Others Started Running Towards The Danger
• College Coach Says He Saw Bomb Sniffing Dogs And Greater Than Normal Security Before The Start There were multiple announcements saying it was just a training exercise. *MB Thread
• Spectators And Runners Share Their Experience During The Attack One said, "It's just a loss of innocence."
• Russian Sport Officials Say They Will Be Increasing Security At This Summer's World Championships In Wake Of Boston Bombing
• Even Smaller Marathons And Races Will Start Looking Into Increasing Security

The London Marathon Will Be On Sunday

• Elite Field Committed To Running Sunday's London Marathon Despite Boston Attacks
  *GB Olympian Freya Ross Pulls Out Of London Marathon With An Injury
• Paula Radcliffe Shares Her Thoughts In Wake Of Boston Tragedy And Ahead Of London Marathon "It is hard to comprehend that anyone could want to do something as cowardly as that and to target innocent people, especially children, in that way. On the one hand, it seems trivial to be running a race after this but on the other hand, if you call the race off, are you letting terrorists win?"
• Britain's Sports Minister Hugh Robertson: "I think this is one of those incidents where the best way to show solidarity with Boston is to continue and send a very clear message to those responsible." "... to send a very clear message that we won't be cowered by this sort of behaviour."
• London Marathon To Pay Tribute To Boston Victims With A Period Of Silence Before Race Organisers are also encouraging runners to wear black ribbons.
• Brendan Foster, BBC London Marathon Commentator: "London Marathon 2013: Poignant day will herald a celebration of human spirit" "The bomb blasts at the Boston Marathon this week did not just represent an attack on one of our most sacred sporting occasions - they were an attack on humanity itself."
• London Organizers Say They Can Change The Route Of The London Course At A Moment Notice If Threatened With An Attack
• London Will Have Increased Security For Mo Farah As Him Stopping At 13.1 Will Cause Extra Security Problems
• London Organizers Say There's No Reason For Anyone To Pull Out Of Sunday's Marathon And Have No Indication That People Will

Previous Boston Attack News

• Running seemed so unimportant after yesterday's events, so we've left it to far better writers than us to express their thoughts:
• Jason Gay WSJ: "The athletic aspect of the Boston Marathon feels hopelessly unimportant now, as it should."
• Alan Abrahamson: "The (blasts) were timed to do maximum damage not just in the real world we live in. They were aimed at an idea - more, at an ideal."
• Amby Burfoot: "To me, the marathon is nothing more than the fact that America is a country of freedom and democracy ... It's all part of our great democratic tradition." The former Boston champ was a half mile from the finish 45 years after his Boston triumph.
• Nicholas Thompson: "An attack on a marathon is, in some ways, more devastating than an attack on a stadium; you're hitting something special but also something very quotidian."
• Overwhelming Kindness In Boston Following Blast USA Today
• Jason Hartmann In Bonnie Ford Article: "Our entire sport is going to change."
  
  More:
• ESPN Article With Quotes From Witnesses At The Blast Includes a story of a 35-year-old state trooper who had just finished the race who ran towards the blast and helping injured by tying tourniquets to stop bleeding.
• At Least 3 Killed, Over 140 Injured In Boston Bombing
• 78-Year-Old Bill Iffrig Was Knocked Down By Blast And Then Got Up And Finished "I ended up second in my division. After you've run 26 miles you're not going to stop there." He finished in 4:03:47 (chip time). *Video Interview *MB Thread
  *2nd Article His son was tracking him online and didn't realize what had happened until he went on Facebook to post about his dad finishing the race.
• Interview With Kara Goucher Talking About The Attack
• MileSplit: Boston Marathon: Reflecting On A Tragedy That Is Beyond Words
• Security Beefed Up Worldwide After Boston Blasts
• Loved Ones Struggle To Reconnect After Boston Tragedy
• Statement From The Boston Athletic Association
• London Marathon: Minsister Of Sport Insists London Marathon Will Go Ahead As Planned
  *Boston Blasts Prompt UK Review Of London Marathon Security
• OTB: Bombs at 2013 Boston Marathon - Fairmont Copley is locked down *Josh Cox On CNN

Non-Boston Weekend Results

• Edward Cheserek Opens His Outdoor Season Anchoring St. Benedict's 10:24.50 DMR Victory With A 4:06.6 At NJCTC Relays
  *Cheserek Will Miss New Balance Outdoor Nationals In June Because He's Returning To Kenya After He Graduates His last high school race will probably be the Dream Mile at Icahn Stadium in NYC on May 25th.
• Georgia Freshmen Maicel Uibo And Shaunae Miller Are USTFCCCA NCAA DI Athletes Of The Week Miller (the indoor 400 champ) set a collegiate-leading mark of 22.41w (+3.1m/s)in the 200.
• Korea's Kim Mi Gyong (2:26:32) And Ethiopia's Ketema Nigussee (2:13:04) Win Pyongyang Marathon In North Korea
  *Video: Pyongyang Goes Ahead Despite North Korea Tensions
• IAAF Recap Chinese Youth National Champs

Sunday Morning Action *BAA 5k Results *5k Photo Gallery

Boston: BAA 5k: RRW: Kim Smith (15:16) And Dejen Gebremeskel (13:27) Win Aaron Braun was a strong second in 13:40 for the men and Molly Huddle third in 15:28 for the women. Link includes video interviews with Smith, Gebremeskel, Braun, Huddle and Aussie Brett Robinson.
*5k Photo Gallery
*Post Race Interviews

BAA Mile: 2013 BAA Mile: Brenda Martinez (4:51.4) Wins As Nick Willis Makes It Look Easy (4:03.3) Willis came in full of confidence as he'd already run a 3:34 this year - so confident that he was willing to sport pink shoes. Interviews with Martinez, Willis, Gabrielle Anderson and Donn Cabral.
*Post Race Interviews
*MB Thread
*Pre-Race: Nick Wills Moving On After Olympic Disappointment

Non-Boston Weekend Action

• Rotterdam: Tilahun Regassa (2:05:38) And Jemima Jelagat (2:23:27) Win (updated with IAAF article) Sammy Kitwara was third in 2:07:22.
  *MB Thread *Results
• Great Ireland Run:IAAF Dublin Recap: Kenenisa Bekele (28:51) Over Ukrainian Sergey Lebid (29:08) And World 10,000m Champ Ibrahim Jeilan (29:18). For the women, Brit Lauren Howarth (33:36), beat defending champ Gemma Steel and double Olympic finalist Julia Bleasdale.
  *Bekele: "I am still young. I don't have a message for Mo Farah. The message is that I will train hard and I will be back."
  *MB:  Kenenisa Bekele wins in 28:54 as Jeilan third in 29:20
  
• Vienna: Kenyan Henry Sugut Wins Vienna Marathon For 3rd Time In 2:08:19; Flomena Cheyech Won The Women's Race In 2:24:34 Haile Gebrselassie took the half in 61:14.
  *2nd article: Haile Gebrselassie Not Done Yet - Wins Vienna Half In 61:14 *Vienna Results
• Daegu: Abraham Kiprotich Wins In 2:08:33 And Margaret Akai Wins In 2:23:28 IAAF
• Brighton: Kenyans Dominic Kangor And Eunice Kales Break Course Records To Win Brighton Marathon Kangor won in 2:10:46 while Kales took it in 2:28:26.
  *23-Year-Old Dies During Brighton Marathon

Saturday: Andres Arroyo Does It Again!!! Andres Arroyo - 8:51.47, Brian Jäger Elite Classic
*Race Video *Video Interview
*MileSplit Weekend HS Coverage

International Track Action: Kirani James 400 WL, Merritt Over Gatlin

• Kirani James Opens His Season With A 400 World Lead Of 44.72 At Chris Brown Bahamas Invitational LaShawn Merritt won the 200 in 20.34 over Justin Gatlin (20.44), Doc Patton won the 100 in 10.09 (headwind) and Kellie Wells the 100H.
• Aussie Champs: Ryan Gregson Is Only 6th In A Tactical 1,500 Won By James Kaan In 3:46.29 Kelly Hetherington won the 800 in 2:01.22.
• IAAF UTech Classic Recap: Yohan Blake DNFs His First 100 Of Season; Pulls Up And Later Tweets It Was "Just A Cramp" Bronze medallist Warren Weir won 200 in 20.33 into a headwind; Stephanie McPherson lowered her own 400 World Lead to 50.74.

Recommended Read: Irish Examiner Devotes 2,500+ Words To Look Back At 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 BlakeThinks He Could Be The Fastest Bowler In The World
• Cycling Ireland Nominates McQuaid For Third Term With UCI

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.

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