You Only Have One First Time
– Paris Marathon race director Thibault Vellard, talking to the New York Times, which devoted 1,264 words to Bekele’s marathon debut tomorrow in Paris.
MB: Official 2014 Paris Marathon Live Discussion Thread – Kenenisa Bekele Makes His 26.2 Debut
- Abbey D watch out - Texas' Marielle Hall wins Stanford 5k in 15:19 over Alisha Williams!!!
- NCAA 200 runner-up Dedric Dukes runs 19.97 into headwind at Florida Relays
- K. Bekele ran up to 150 miles /week for his marathon debut in Paris on Sunday
- Breaking -- Nike supports athletes right to organize -- announcement coming
The Most Accomplished Track/XC Distance Runner In History Makes His Marathon Debut Tmw! *Stay Up Late & Watch It Live (Race Starts 2:45am ET/11:45pm Sat. Night West Coast) *Elite Field*Results*Key Stats
Recommended Read:Kenenisa Bekele’s Marathon Debut Gets 1,264 Words Of Coverage In NY Times A great piece which also talks about Farah’s debut in London. Bekele’s agent Jos Hermens has some pointed words for Bekele: “He has to get his act together, and stay motivated and forget about business and run for five or six years.”
- MB:Awesome NY Times article on Bekele’s debut in Paris – Hermens on Bekele and Haile – ‘They’re not really friends’
- MB:Bekele aims for world record in debut!
- MB:Bekele Marathon Debut Prediction Thread
- In Anticipation Of Bekele’s Marathon Debut, RW Takes A Look Back At How Other Track Greats Fared In Their Marathon DebutsScott Douglas covers them all from the great (Radcliffe) to so-so (Haile) to awful (Bob Kennedy).
- Kenyans, Led By Mark Kiptoo, Have Won 4 Of Last 5 Paris Marathons
London Is Next Week
- Fukuoka Champ Martin Mathathi And Brit Gemma Steel Pull Out Of London With Injuries Steel was to make her London debut.
- Mo Farah States The Obvious, Says He’ll Be Disappointed If He Doesn’t Beat British Record Of 2:07:13
- British Marathon Running Needs Some Serious Revival – Top 11 Men’s Times Are All More Than 10 Years Old
Week That Was
LRCWTW: Even Kenyan Teens Are Embarrassed To Run, Kenya Rules Ethiopia In Quantity But Not Quality, And Hope For Galen Rupp?
This week we give Galen Rupp fans reason to believe a victory over Bernard Lagat at 5,000 is possible, are amazed that even Kenyan phenoms are sometimes embarrassed to run, wonder why Kenya rules Ethiopia in quantity but not quality, and go crazy with our quotes of the week.
Weekend Road News
- Sunday:Joyce Chepkirui Wants To Go Under 1:06 At Prague Half Marathon The 1:07:03 runner will face a deep field with 7 sub-70-minute runners including 2-time World XC champ Emily Chebet (1:08:20) and former NYC Marathon champ Firehiwot Dado (1:08:35). In the men’s field there are 4 sub-60-runners and 2 more who have ran just over, led by Philemon Limo (59:30) and Hunegnaw Mesfin and Peter Kirui (both 59:39).
- Sunday:Ireland’s Fionnuala Britton Rematches French Rival Sophie Duarte At Great Ireland Run 10K In Dublin Duarte won Euro XC Champs when Britton was going for her 3rd straight title. World XC champ Japhet Korir leads the men’s race.
- Next Sunday: Last Year’s Runner-Up Abebech Afework Leads Women’s Field For Rotterdam Marathon Afework has a 2:23:59 PR.
Distance News
Bekele, After Running Up To 150 MPW, Ready For Marathon Debut In Paris & Says Some Of Training Was “Boring” No word yet on what the halfway pace will be.
*On The Boards: K. Bekele ran up to 150 miles /week for his marathon debut in Paris on Sunday- David Rudisha Confirms That Article Saying He Was Retiring Was An April Fools Joke
- RW Talks To Desiree Linden (Davila) About Her Training Ahead Of Boston 2014 Linden says she’s had a good training buildup which included altitude training in Kenya. She said, “I think I’m ready to be competitive, and I think I will be, but still, it’s going to be a jump from Berlin (where she ran 2:29). Where exactly I land, who knows?”
- Ken Goe Talks To A.J. Acosta, Who Is Working As An Elementary School Substitute Teacher To Continue To Fund His Running Dreams
High Fitness Associated With High Brain Function Later In Life New study shows that cardio fitness has long-term effect on several key cognitive functions.
Road News
Amy Hastings Drops Out Of Boston Marathon, Citing Lack Of Fitness Also, Colombia’s 2012 Olympian Yolanda Caballero is out due to a positive result in out-of-competition drug testing in Kenya,- Deena Kastor To Compete In More Magazine/Fitness Magazine Women’s Half Marathon On April 13
- Kenya’s 2:06:58 Runner Henry Sugut Will Try To Win His 4th Straight Vienna City Marathon On April 13th He’ll face Ethiopia’s 2:04:50 man Getu Feleke as well as 5 other sub-2:08 men.
- RW: Fans Can Expect Some Changes At Boston Marathon As Authorities Increase Security New security guidelines discourage costumes and put extra barriers on course between fans and runners.
2014 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships*Official Thread*Results (Updated With Team Scores)
More In OurWorld Half Special Section:
#USATFIncompetence #40daysandcounting
- Nike Supports Athletes As Well: Nike Holds Conference Call With TFAA’s Adam Nelson And Gives Its Support To TFAA – “We respect athletes’ rights to affiliate and align as they choose.” Nelson: “We’ve established a working relationship with the biggest sponsor in our sport, and that’s pretty critical.” *Ken Goe
- USATF Issues Statement Saying It Supports TFAA And Reminds Athletes They Are Members Of USATF And Set The By-Laws Which Govern The Competitions
- MB Discussion:Breaking — Nike supports athletes right to organize — announcement coming
- History Lesson:Track & Field News Takes A Look Back At When Athletes Rose Up Against Governing Body In 1960s
- Previous:LRCUSATF’s Incompetence Makes Front Page Of Wall Street Journal Marketplace Section Under Headline “Nike Runs Into Trouble On The Track”
Weekend NCAA Track Action *All Weekend NCAA Results *Stanford Results
- Stanford: MB:Abbey D watch out – Texas’ Marielle Hall wins Stanford 5k in 15:19 over Alisha Williams!!!
- MB:28 guys Break 29:00 At Stanford – Edward Cheserek 28:51
- Florida Relays: MB: NCAA 200 runner-up Dedric Dukes runs 19.97 into headwind at Florida RelaysJoanna Atkins was pretty darn good as well in women’s action at the FLorida relays as she ran 11.09 and 22.27
- MB: So so sick: Triple jump gold medalist Christian Taylor 45.37!!! Will he focus on 400 in 2014?
- Oregon Vs. Arizona:Oregon’s Mac Fleet Wants To Become A Legend In His Final Season At Oregon Fleet will get started on his legendary status when he clashes with Lawi Lalang in the 1,500 at the Oregon vs. Arizona dual at Hayward field on Saturday. “I want to be remembered,” Fleet said. “I want my name so high on those school lists, it’s hard to take off.”
- Oregon’s Laura Roesler Going For Sub-2 Minutes At Saturday’s Oregon-Arizona Dual
*Live Stream On PAC-12 Network - Q & A With NCAA 5th Placer In The Mile – Will Geoghegan Of Dartmouth, Who Will Run A 5th Year At Oregon
- USTFCCCA Weekend NCAA Preview
- First Stanford Meet – Meet Info*Live Results*Entries*Schedule
- Ole Miss Track Meet Cancelled Because Of Problems With The Track Surface
*MB: Ole Miss cancels home meet?
This Weekend's Pro Track Action
- Q & A With Australian HJer And Model Amy Pejkovic
The 21-year-old won World Youth silver and has a 1.87 PR. - Australian Championships Day 2 Wrap
More On Ostapchuk Doping Case
- Loophole Was Why Belarussian Shot Putter Nadzeya Ostapchuk Only Got 4-Year Ban Instead Of Life For Second Positive Test She only got 4 years because she was notified of her two positive tests at the same time (one was a retroactive positive test from her re-tested 2005 World Champs sample).
- Valerie Adams And Her Camp Concerned About What Kind Of Testing Ostapchuk Will Be Subject To During Her 4-Year Ban Adams’ agent said, “On the surface, it looks like she could do that for the next 18 months, come off the drugs, compete the week after Rio and break the world record.”
NCAA Stuff: Outdoor Gets Going With First Stanford Meet This Weekend
- Edward Cheserek Making His 10K Debut Friday At Stanford Oregon’s Coach Johnson said the goal was just to get the NCAA Regional qualifying time of 28:45, not to run a really fast time.
- Dartmouth Sub-4 Miler Will Geoghegan Will Do His 5th Year At Oregon
*LRC Archive: Will Geoghegan Q & A: The Secrets Of Going From 4:05 To 3:58 In The Mile Are Revealed
Doping News
- Galen Rupp Most USADA-Tested Athlete In 2013Dathan Ritzenhein and Shalane Flanagan were the 4th and 5th most tested US athletes across all sports.
*MB:USADA Targeting Rupp
- Valerie Adams Angry, As She Should Be, That Belarus Doper Nadzeya Ostapchuk Won’t Get Lifetime Ban For 2nd Doping Offense Ostapchuk had her second positive test for steroids at the London Olympics after initially finishing first, but she’ll only be receiving a 4-year ban.
*Adams Tweets Out In Anger: “WTF” - 1968 Double Olympic Champion And Former 400 WR Holder Lee Evans Gets 4-Year Doping Ban From Coaching Evans was banned for giving a girl he coached a banned substance that caused her to fail a doping test and collapse. A second coach was banned for life; the athlete was unnamed.
2014 Carlsbad:*Results*Full Video Race Replay*LRC Photo Gallery
LRCDejen Gebremskel And Julia Bleasdale Win 2014 Carlsbad 5,000 – Bernard Lagat Sets New American Record Of 13:19 Gebremeskel turned the tables on Lagat from World Indoors but Lagat left with a nice consolation prize. In the women’s race, no one came close to Bleasdale, who became the first non-African born winner since 2002. Brenda Martinez was the top American – not JordanHasay or Gabriele Grunewald.
*MB:Official 2014 Carlsbad Live Discussion Thread: Bleasdale & Gebremeskel Win – Lagat Gets American Record
*MB:Oh crap! Grunewald vs Hasay rematch at the Carlsbad 5k, who’s gonna win?
LetsRun Goes To Jamaica
LRCJamaica Day 4: Rare Insider Access To A Racers Track Club Workout With Yohan Blake And Warren Weir, And Watching Track In The Bathroom At Usain Bolt's Sports Bar
Steve was given unprecedented access to a workout session of the famed Racers Track Club and learned the sprinters actually work their asses off. Afterwards, he celebrated in style at Usain Bolt‘s sports bar. Steve loved the establishment – the only problem is track was only being shown on the TV in the bathroom.
Meet Warren Weir – The Man Whom Glen Mills Calls The “Heart And Soul” Of His Racers Track Club He’s not as well known as Bolt and Blake but has a lot of respect within the club.
*More In Our LRC Goes To Jamaica Special Section
Stats Guy Says Michael Johnson Should Have Broken 43.00 Based On His 19.32 PR
US 10-Mile Champs – 2014 Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Miler Is Sunday *Full Fields*Live Feed At 7:10AM ET*Results
- Runner’s World: Janet Bawcom And Matt Tegenkamp And Mo Trafeh Headline Fields
- USATF’s Preview Of Sunday’s US 10-Mile Champs, Which Are Part Of Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run In Washington, D.C.
Pro Distance News
- Q & A With Bring Back The Mile Founder Ryan Lamppa, Who Is Hoping To Gain Momentum In 2014 – The 60th Anniversary Of Bannister’s Sub-4
- Will Leer, Nick Willis And John Walker All Talk About Their Favorite Mile Moments
- Did You Know Alan Webb’s Wife Julia First Ran A Mile In 6:40? Julia Webb writes about how she became a runner and how you can stay motivated.
- Laura Muir’s 2:00.94 And 4:05.32 Ratified As Scottish Records
- Sunday’s SPAR Great Ireland Run Will Feature Battle Between Fionnuala Britton And Woman Who Denied Her A 3-Peat At Europeans – Sophie Duarte
Bizarre News
- Looking For A New Challenge? 200 Lucky (Or Unlucky) Tourists Will Be Allowed To Run A Marathon In Pyongyang, North Koreaon April 13
- Pat Butcher Writes About The Fact It’s Now Illegal To Jog In Groups In Burundi
- Kenya’s Kericho Marathon, Which Ended Up Being 52K Last Year By Mistake, Will Be 42.2 This Year And Features $17,000 In Prize Money It costs $5.80 US to enter.
- Veteran Modesto, CA Runner Survives After Making Wrong Turn On Trail Run And Being Lost In Snow For 55 Hours
High School News
- JamaicaObserver.com: 2014 Champs Were A Record-Breaking “Champs” To Be Remembered Not only did the boys 100 (10.12) and 400 (45.00) records fall, 19 other records fell as well.
- Q&A With US HS #1 At 3,200 (8:53.99) Ian Milder, Who Is Headed To NC State
US News: USATF Too Big To Succeed?
- Toni Reavis Argues That USATF’s Scope Is Too Broad And The Organization Should Be Broken Up Into Smaller Parts “Consider if Little League Baseball, Slow Pitch Softball, Wiffle Ball and Major League Baseball all came under the same organizational umbrella, with MLB having no standing, more or less, than any other component. What odds of success would you offer that arrangement?”
- When Did The Boston Marathon Actually Start Being Called The “Boston Marathon”? The 117-year-old race was first called the “American Marathon”when it started in 1897 and different names have been used throughout the years.
- San Diego Wants To Bid For 2024 Olympics
UKA Performance Director Neil Black Says He’s Confident About Mo Farah’s Fitness Ahead Of London After Visiting Him In Kenya Black said, “Alberto’s very happy. The type of phrases being used are ‘best shape’ and ‘best athlete in the world.’ Everything is positive in terms of what Alberto is seeing and understanding. … [Farah is] in absolute peak physical shape to approach the marathon.”
News From Scotland
- Scottish Steeplechaser Eilish McColgan Expects Home Commonwealth Games To Be Highlight Of Her Career She was 10th in the Moscow 2013 steeple final.
- Scotland’s Most Decorated Athlete In Last Decade, 400 Runner Lee McConnell, Announces Her Retirement At Age 35 She had a baby in October and had thought about continuing to compete in the Commonwealth Games at home this year, but has decided to hang ’em up.
Interesting:You Think Breaking A WR Is Tough? It’s Even Harder For Horses Human WRs have dropped significantly in the last 50 years, but horse times haven’t got much faster. This article looks at some of the reasons why.
Sprints / Jumps
- Watch Out In 2016, Usain: Are We Seeing The Future Of Sprinting In Trayvon Bromell And Zharnel Hughes? Last weekend, Bromell tied the WJR with 10.01 and Hughes ran 10.12 to win Jamaica’s prestigious Boys and Girls Champs.
- Lolo Jones Returning To The Track At Drake Relays She’ll run the shuttle hurdle relay instead of open 100H.
- IAAF Q&A With Qatar’s World Indoor HJ Champion Mutaz Essa Barshim He says he’d like to go over 2.40m this outdoor season.
- Australia Could Send A Rare “Full Quota” Of Sprinters In The Women’s 100H To Commonwealth Games Unlike the US, Australia doesn’t try to send all the athletes it can to major championships, but it has 3 under or close to the “A” standard in the 100H, led by Sally Pearson. The other two are Shannon McCann and Michelle Jenneke.
*Day 1 Recap Of Aussie National Champs
Oscar P’s Defense Lawyers Expected To Call Pathologist As First Witness Pistorius himself is expected to take the stand eventually.
Berlin Half
LRCLeonard Komon Runs Fastest Half Marathon Debut Ever - Wins In 59:14 In Sprint Finish In Berlin
Komon was pretty spectacular and wanted even more - the World Record - as he went out with the wind in 13:39 (57:36 pace). LetsRun.com wind geniusJohn Kellogg estimates the wind might have cost Komon around 17 seconds. *Results
*Ken Nakamura:List Of Fastest Half Marathon Debuts In History*Chronological List Of All Sub-60 Half Marathons In History
LetsRun.com Founders Named as Two of “The 50 Most Influential People in Running”
Runners World Honors You and the Brojos
We like This Photo So Much We Leave it Up
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American Strong: The Untold Story of How American Teamwork Helped Meb Keflezighi Win Boston
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A Real Running Hero:
The Flo Groberg Story
Flo Has Now Won the Medal of Honor
