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Elite Marathon / Ultra News

• Recommended Read: Toni Reavis Looks At Why Ryan Hall And Dathan Ritzenhein Aren't As Good As The Top Kenyans Reavis: "Maybe the best advice would be for Ryan, or any other American, to discover a time machine and dial it back about 30 years when he could have been number one in the world rather than just number one from sea to shining sea."
  *Rojo answers: G-E-N-E-T-I-C-S
• Good Q&A With Jason Hartmann Ahead Of Next Weekend's NYC Marathon Hartmann says he "can't complain" about his training going in and feels confident in his fitness. Hartmann also talks about still not having a sponsor (despite back-to-back 4th place finishes at Boston) and wanting to be a college coach when his career is over.
• USATF 24 Hour National Championship Are This Weekend In Oklahoma City AR holder and 2012 World Champ Mike Morton leads the field. In case you're curious what the AR is, it's 172.457 miles, which is 8:21 pace (151.759 miles for women).
• Matt Flaherty Named USATF Athlete Of THe Week After Winning US 50 Mile Road Champs
• Major Security Increases This Year For The Standard Chartered Nairobi International Marathon This Weekend

Cycling: Private Investigators Seized Former UCI President Pat McQuaid's Laptop Within Minutes Of Him Losing His Re-Election To UK's Brian Cookson Apparently Cookson's first act as President (literally minutes after winning) was to sign a form ordering McQuaid's laptop and documents be seized before he had a chance to destroy possible evidence against him.

WADA Officials Will Visit Jamaica To Audit Anti-Doping Program Next Week After WADA Head John Fahey Expressed Anger Over JADCO's "Stonewalling" Until Next Year Embarrassingly for Fahey, apparently the plans for WADA's visit next were set before he went public with his criticisms.

NYC And Other Marathon News

• US Olympian Julie Culley Withdraws From NYC Marathon With Injury In What Would Have Been Her Marathon Debut She was also supposed to race NYC last year before it was cancelled. She raced last weekend, placing 3rd at the Army 10-Miler.
• Geoffrey Mutai Confident Of 3-Peat At The NYC Marathon After Seeing Training Partners Wilson Kipsang And Dennis Kimetto Run So Fast In Berlin And Chicago Talking about training in Kenya, he said, "It is all about training harder and harder in these hills and valleys that are in places like here or Iten, staying focused and when you make it, avoiding the kind of lifestyle that will finish your strength. The secret is simple, train, train and train more."
• Interesting: Former Elites Share Their Advice To Ryan Hall During His Almost 2-Year Stretch Of DNS/DNFs At Marathons Past US greats, including Bill Rodgers, Rod DeHaven and Brian Sell, give advice such as get a coach, step down in distance, and get some training partners.
• Twitter Updates From Elites Running NYC Marathon Next Weekend Alisha Williams ran into a bear and cub on an easy run in Colorado Springs and Meb Keflezighi tweeted a pretty graphic photo of his knee after a bad fall.
• New Raleigh Rock 'N' Roll Marathon On Palm Sunday Sparks Debate As Local Pastors Are Concerned People Won't Be Able To Get To Church On Race Morning Just another example of CGI's burden on the community without giving anything back.
• Public Urination An Issue At Beijing Marathon As Race Official Calls Runners' Actions "Uncivilized Behavior" Some, however, blame the issue on poor race organization as there was only 1 porta-john per 100 runners.
• Meanwhile, Other Groups Step Up To Support US Elites: Pittsburgh Race Series Commits To More Prize Money And Travel Assistance To Developing US Elites
• UK Writer Worried That Mo Farah's London Marathon Training Plan Could Be Compromised After Kenyan Sports Minister Implied Foreign Athletes Shouldn't Be Allowed To Train In Kenya

North Carolina Grad Student Looking For Help With A Study On Exercise & Male Libido You're only asked to fill out a short survey.

Interesting Pro News

Haile G's 3 Keys To Running Success: Discipline, Commitment And Hard Work And - Oh Yeah - Accepting Pain "Age is just a number. If you think you're old, if you tell to yourself you're old, if you're old mentally, then you're old automatically physically."

HS Rivals Evan Jager, Chris Derrick Are Enjoying Being Teammates Now And Currently Hanging Out In Illinois Jager: "There is still a little bit of a gap between me and the top guys."

Good Collis Birmingham Profile: Birmingham Just Loves To Run (And Race) He's raced at least once every month this year and has PRs from 3:35 for 1,500 to 60:56 for 13.1.

More Pro News

Newly-Minted Canadian National Record Holder Lanni Marchant Is Not Done Yet In 2013, Will Do Chiba Ekiden After Chiba, she plans on returning to Kenya to train in the winter before focusing on 2014 Commonwealths.

5 Questions With Emily Infeld, Who No Longer Is "Intimidated" By Longer Distance And No Longer Considers Herself A 1,500 Runner

Okay, Then How About We Stop Kenyans From Competing In The US/UK? Kenya's Sports Minister Says They Are Adopting New Ways To Stop Drug Cheats - Sports Minister Wonders Why Mo Farah Is Allowed To Train In The Country

UK Columnists Raves About Book About 1988 Olympic 100m Final: The Dirties Race In History

We Don't Believe The Hype: Press Tries To Claim Jamaican Athletes, Including Usain Bolt, Could Be Excluded From Olympics Due To Testing Policies In Jamaica

Alan Abrahamson Is Amazed By The Cleverness Of Vladimir Putin And Reminds Us That Russia's "Controversial" Anti-Gay Law Passed Its House 436-0

News From Africa

• The Beginning Of The End Of Kenya's Dominance? Tartan Track To Be Unveiled Soon In Iten
• 2005 World Steeple Champ Dorkus Inzikuru's Estranged Husband Has Died

Elite Distance News

• LRC 4-Time World Champ Vivian Cheruiyot Gives Birth To Baby Boy The question now becomes, when will the Kenyan 5,000 record holder return to competition?
• Cool Facebook Post By Meb: Meb Keflezighi's 26 Most Memorable Miles Number 25 on his list said, "2012 London Olympic Games, last mile after coming back from 20th place to 4th with 500m to go. Winning is not about first place, but giving it all you got on any given day. I sure did that day and had to use a wheel chair to get around the airport a few days later."
• New WR! British 10,000m Champion Andrew Lemoncello Breaks World Treadmill Half Marathon Record He ran 67:29, breaking the previous record of 68:50 set by US's Mike Wardian earlier this year. Lemoncello raised almost $30,000 for the National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) after his daughter, Isla, was born with Down Syndrome in June.
• MB: Anthony Famiglietti sighting - He's back - wins Big South 5k in 13:57
• After A Rough Track Season, Amy Hastings Says She's In Good Shape Going Into Next Month's NYC Marathon She thinks she's in better shape than her previous couple of marathons and said, "I've had a couple of tempo runs that were better than I've ever done before. I've been pretty much stride for stride with Kim [Smith]."
• 61-Year-Old Doug Kurtis Gets His 200th Career Sub-3:00 Marathon With A 2:59:03 In Detroit Kurtis is a 5-time Olympic Trials qualifier and has 76 sub-2:20 marathons to his name.
• Aussie Steepler Genevieve LaCaze Returns To Training After Injury Includes video of her on alter-G treadmill.
• Kenya's Top Women Marathoners Think Teamwork Is The Key To Breaking Paula Radcliffe's Marathon WR London Marathon champ Priscah Jeptoo: "I believe it can be achievable if we take a joint approach to a particular race like the Berlin or London marathon."
• USATF Recap Of Masters XC Champs: Atlanta TC Takes NJ By Storm Kathryn Martin and Peter Magill had the top performances based on age-graded performances scoring tables.

IAAF Recap Of South America Junior Track Champs Ecuador's Angela Tenorio was a highlight, winning the 100m in a wind-aided 11.24 and the 200m in 23.35.

UK Telegraph Writer: "It's time to stop being misty-eyed about the Olympics."

International Pro News

• RRW With Broken Bone Healed, Sally Kipyego Ready To Return To Racing And Race For First Time In 2013 Kipyego will face Shalane Flanagan, Molly Huddle, Emily Infeld and others next weekend in the NYRR Dash to the Finish 5-K.
• As We Get Closer To Winter, World's Top Athletes Turn Their Focus To World Indoor Champs In Sopot, Poland This March Among athletes who've confirmed their intention to compete is Mohammed Aman, who will defend his title from 2012.
• TJ World Champ Teddy Tamgho Also Confirms He Will Compete At 2014 World Indoor Champs Tamgho is the WR holder indoors.
• GB Sprint Phenom Adam Gemili Leaves Coach Who Got Him To A Sub-20 200 To Work With Sub-10 Man James Dasaolu And His Coach Gemili hopes that training with Dasaolu will help him improve.
• Canada's 2003 IAAF World Championships 100 Hurdles Gold Medalist Perdita Felicien Has Retired She is the Canadian NR holder and represented them at all 6 World Championships between 2001 and 2011 (as well as the 2000 and 2004 Olympics).
• Australian Athletes Will Be Banned From Drinking Alcohol In The Olympic Village During Rio 2016 And Even On The Flight Home This is in direct response to the controversies the team experienced at London 2012.
• AW Preview Of This Weekend's UK Cross Challenge: £30,000 Total Prize Money On The Line 1:05 half marathoner Dewi Griffiths leads the men's field.
• Japan May Be Forced To Scale Back Ambitious Design For 2020 Olympic Stadium To Save Costs

NCAA Stuff

• Huffington Post Blogger Claims "There is nothing more fashionable these days than attacking the NCAA." Are people too harsh on the NCAA?
• Bucknell University No. 1 In Nation In Student-Athlete Graduation Rate

Assorted US News

• Q&A: Alberto Salazar On Shannon Rowbury Joining The Oregon Project Salazar points out that Rowbury's PRs are 2:00.47 for 800m, 4:00.33 for 1,500m, and 15:00.51 for 5,000m and says, "The Oregon Project isn't necessarily time goal oriented, but these seem like some obvious barriers that she can break so she can sleep better at night."
• Nick Symmonds Will Be Happy: Texas Universities Consider Allowing Alcohol At Sporting Events
• Colorado Men, Arizona Women Take Control Of Division I National Coaches Polls
• Massachusetts Bill That Will Call For The Formation Of A Commission To Examine The Possibility Of Boston Hosting The 2024 Olympics Almost Passed
• LA Times Q&A With Sanya Richards-Ross Where She Talks A Bit About Her Reality TV Show
• Track Doing Well With Overall NCAA Participation Rates
• Ashton Eaton Visits Elementary School Kids In Boise To Promote USATF Foundation's Run With US! Interactive Game The game brings physical activity into classrooms by showing students skills and techniques that can be completed while standing next to a desk.
• Burke & Herbert Bank Named Official Bank Sponsor Of The .US National Road Racing Championships

International Stuff

• Athletics Weekly Talks To UK Cross-Country / Mountain Runner Steve Vernon On His Training And Racing Interestingly, Vernon moved to XC/Mountain running because of a long-term injury problem that caused his legs to cramp up when he ran at a sustained pace on even surfaces.
• SP World/Olympic Champ Valerie Adams Says She's Making Good Progress After Her Recent Knee And Ankle Surgeries
• Top UK PVer Steve Lewis Has Lost His UKA Funding
• Video Clips Created To Teach UK Coaches Sign Language To Make Track More Accessible For Deaf Participants

HS News

• Might American-Born Cerake Geberkidane Be The US's Next Great Distance Runner? The fact that his father is Ethiopian and mother is Eritrean is ideal, as is the fact that he's been raised at altitude in CO.
• Best State Per Capita In HS XC: Utah Has 7 Of Top 30 Ranked Boys Teams
• World Triathlon Champ Tamara Gorman Is Ready For South Dakota State XC Meet She's looking for a college XC/track team that will let her still focus on the triathlon while running.

College News *New Rankings

• Sickness Hampering Duke Women's Cross-Country - Causes #2-Ranked Pre-Season Team To Go To Unranked Duke coach Kevin Jermyn: "There have definitely been a lot of bumps along the way that I was prepared for, but I don't know if some of the younger kids were. Sometimes the path to something really good down the road with a motivated group can look a little different than they might script it."
• Tight 20-Second Pack Running Gave GTown Women Victory And #1 Ranking At Pre-Nats *New Rankings
• Abbey D'Agostino Isn't The Only Good Runner At Dartmouth - Mark Coogan's Big Green Team Is Near-Lock For NCAAs

Training Science

• Feeling Sick And Thinking About Running? Be Sure To Keep It "Moderate" And Take A "Sports Drink" With You
• Older Athletes Need To Eat Fat
• Did You Know Flu Shots Result In Lower Risk Of Death In People With Heart Disease?

Drug News

• WADA Chief John Fahey Furious At Jamaican Anti-Doping For Failing To Accommodate Their Audit Until Next Year Branding JADCO's position "farcical," Fahey said, "To suggest to WADA they're not ready to meet with us to talk about their problem until sometime next year is unsatisfactory, it's totally unacceptable to me and we shall act appropriately within an appropriate time frame."
• NY Times Cycling Article: USADA Exposed Lance Armstrong, But What About Others? In USADA's report, many witnesses were listed who said they doped with Armstrong; however, a year later none of those doping cyclists have been named nor have there been any punishments levied against them.

NCAA Stuff

• NCAA Polls Are Out: Two New #1s As Colorado Men, Arizona Women Vault To The Top
• Kennedy Kithuka And Emma Bates Are USTFCCCA Athletes Of The Week After Pre-Nats XC Wins Bates won a close race over Aisling Cuffe while Kithuka dominated his race by 33 seconds.
• Running Times Weekend Recap: Colorado Men And Georgetown Women Prevail At Pre-Nationals; NAU And Arizona Win Wisconsin Invitational
• Track Gossip: NFL Quarterback Colin Kaepernick Dating Arizona State Sprinter
• Texas Tech Shot Putter Ifeatu Okafor Named 2013 NCAA Woman Of The Year Okafor was an All-American and the Big 12 shot put champion in 2011.