Flora London Marathon Sunday
*US and Canada Watch on WCSN for Free
*UK Viewers Can Watch BBC TV or a UK Stream

(The women's race is at 4:00 am eastern,  men's race 4:45 am (ending around 6:50 am eastern)
They will be available on demand a few hours later as well


Where Your Dreams Become Reality

We can't wait for Sunday:
"He (Ryan Hall) is an athlete who can win a lot of things, win a lot of medals.... He's the future."
- reigning Olympic marathon champ Stefano Baldini talking about American sensation Ryan Hall at Wednesday's Flora London Men's Press Conference. Hall indicated his training has gone very well as he's done his tempos "considerably faster" than last year and he's excited to see "how he stacks up" against the world's best.
LRC coverage: 1) Article on Ryan Hall. 2):  Article on men's press conference 3) Photo gallery.

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Book Review: Running Within
Want to improve your mental outlook on running? Then Running Within is the book for you. Read our review of this excellent book.
Recommended Reads
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Ryan Shay
1979-2007

*Official Ryan Shay Remembrance Thread.
*Ryan Shay Photo Gallery

We interview one of our own:
LetsRun.com's Rojo talks about coaching at Cornell

The British London Is Coming!!!
LetsRun.com
Ryan Hall:"The Future"(And Present?)
Western Civilization's great hope received the compliment of a lifetime at Wednesday's press conference when reigning Olympic champ Stefano Baldini called him "the future" and said he could win "a lot of medals." Hall himself seemed full of optimism and certainly didn't try to downplay expectations for Sunday. "Last year I proved I can do it through 23 miles (37 kilometers). This year, my expectations have grown from that."
*Video Highlight of Press Conference at link above.
LetsRun.com Flora London Marathon Men's Press Conference The greatest marathon of the year is Sunday and we're there to bring you the action. Only in London is the field so loaded that the 2nd fastest marathoner from the year before (Emmanual Mutai) is not invited to the press conference. How can that be? Because London has Ryan Hall, Martin Lel, Luke Kibet, Stefano Baldini, Sammy Wanjiru, Abderrahim Goumri, Felix Limo, Hendrick Ramaala and others. The piece includes video from Lel and Wanjiru.
LRC:
Photo Gallery from Wednesday

*Stefano Baldini's Marathon Show Rolls On
 The 36-year-old doesn't think he can win in London but he's hoping to defend in Beijing.
*Paula Radcliffe Offers Training Tips and Gives Insight On Her Rebound From Injury Radcliffe missed 8 weeks due to her toe injury but has been back running for two weeks now and is feeling good.
*Nice IAAF Profile of America's Great Hope Ryan Hall  The author points out that in less than a year, Hall has gone from a marathon virgin to being annointed as "the future" by the defending Olympic champ. Remarkable.  Hall: "I certainly believe I can win."

LetsRun.com The Week That Was
March 31 - April 6, 2008 We give praise to potential 2008 Olympic marathoner Lisa Koll, fast youngsters & geezers, and ultra-marathon legend Bruce Fordyce, sympathy to Sam Bair III, and scorn to Dwain Chambers and Justin Gatlin for making the entire sport look bad. We also take a  trip down memory lane and recall the 2002 Penn Relays 4 x mile when the much-hyped Stanford squad totally flopped (you're welcome, Grote).

Olympic Marathon Trials Are Less Than 2 Weeks Away
Colleen De Reuck Out of Olympic Marathon Trials
The almost-44-year-old defending champ is out with an unspecified injury. She did run a 57:17 at the Cherry Blossom 10 miler on Sunday (which is only 2:30 pace), so maybe that made her reconsider.
*2004 10k Olympian Elva Dryer Feeling Good About Chances Despite Dropping Out of US Half Marathon in February
*
Univ of Dayton XC Coach Ann Alyanak Hoping To Make Team

They Have Records For Everything
New World Record For Fastest Marathon By A Married
Couple Is Set In Paris Kenyans Simon Munyutu and Martha Komu ran a combined 4:34:57, with times of 2:09:24 for him and 2:25:33 for her.

One We Missed: Dennis Simonaitis Sets Age US 45-49 5k Record at Carlsbad 14:47 is very impressive at that age.

Dwain Chambers Enjoying Rugby League Tryout He may actually play a JV game this weekend.

London Marathon is Sunday (US visitors can watch for free on WCSN, UK visitors can watch it on the London Marathon website)
Marathon Cup Given Away at 1908 Olympics is Returning to Olympics This Year and Being Insured for $1 Million
We'll really start our blowout coverage on Wednesday with Ryan Hall's press conference. (Ryan is going to get a lot of attention this week as he has two press conferences). But the London betting odds are already out.

Rare Heat Conditions, Electrolyte Abnormalities Killed Adam Nickel, the 3 Hour Marathoner Who Died after Little Rock Marathon

Bee Stings Send 30 to Hospital at Half Marathon in Japan

The Greatest Marathon In The World Is Coming Sunday And We'll Be There To Cover It (US fans can watch it on WCSN, UK fans on the BBC)
Liz Yelling Confident In Her Fitness Heading Into London
 She's hoping to nail down Britain's final marathon spot in London this weekend

More Info on US 10k Champs: Richmond Times Dispatch Newspaper Article on Abdi's Win at US 10k Champs More here.
*Weldon Wins $2500 in AT&T Dash for Cash
Unfortunately it's wasn't Wejo as he'd have trouble beating Abdi with a 3 mile head start.

Texas Relays
Leo Manzano Runs 3:56.98, Darren Brown Runs 3:59.99 to Complete First American/Father-Son Sub 4 Combo
Brown is the son of the late Barry Brown, who was in the Florida Track Club with Frank Shorter. The Browns had received a lot less attention than the Bairs in their attempt for the father/son sub 4, but D. Brown had run 3:42 last year. In sprint action, LSU's Richard Thompson one-upped Manzano by wining the men's 100 with a 10.00. *Message Board Thread Here
*Tyson Gay, Jeremy Wariner, Sanya Richards All Run Relay Legs At Texas Relays
*More on Darren/Barry Brown
*
Leo Manzano Profile in Dallas Morning News
*Video

Profile Of Britain's 2nd Marathon Medal Hope - Mara Yamauchi The 34-year-old diplomat has developed into a serious medal threat. Given the fact she was raised in Kenya and now lives in Japan, it only seems logical that she's a good runner.

Protests/Arrests Turn Olympic Torch Run Into Obstacle Course in London 37 people were arrested and one even got his hand on the torch.
*Seb Coe: "Today has been great."

*
In pictures: Olympic torch protests

Lisa Koll Runs American Collegiate 10k Record at Stanford 32:11.13 for the unheralded Koll and she's only a (redshirt) sophomore. She beat Blake Russell (32:14) and Magdlena Lewy Boulet (32:33), who both were prepping for the Olympic Marathon Trials in 2 weeks. Koll's claim to fame in high school was an 8th place finish at the Iowa state meet in XC, but she is showing how much upside this likely future American star has. She was 2nd at NCAA indoors in the 5k.
*10k Results
*Full
Stanford Results
*Lisa Koll Interview *Last 3 Minutes of Her Race

Florida State: XMan 10.15, David Oliver 13.10 Hurdles

Tammy Thomas Convicted in Perjury Trial and Then She Goes Berserk New York Times
*
Before and After Photos of Tammy Thomas
*Message Board Thread on Thomas

Paula Radcliffe to Be an Olympic Torch Bearer in London This Weekend Times of London

Eamonn Martin, Last British London Marathon Winner, Worried About Lack of British Talents

NCAA Action:
Texas Relays Longhorns Run 7:17 4*800
It's the year of the Horns as Leonel Manzano continues to shine in his senior year (we guess it's not all down hill after winning NCAAs as a freshman, being compared to Michael Jordan, being told to go pro. Remember when you all were impressed when he broke 4 for the first time?) Splits Tevan Everett (1:51.1), Kyle Miller (1:50.3) Manzano (1:48.9) and Jacob Hernandez 1:47.4 from this IAAF article.
*
Video of Race
*NCAA Record Holder Hardee Posts Olympic Standard in Decathlon - In his first decathlon in almost two years, pro Trey Hardee scored 8,371 thanks to prs in the discus (172 feet, 10 inches )and pole vault (17-2 3/4).
*
Healthy again, Sanya Richards Is Gunning For Gold Life is good for the former Univ of Texas star. A year after her first bout with Behcet's syndrome, she is an Olympic favorite who sports a huge 7-carat engagement ring.
*
Results
Stanford Invite Starts Friday: SF Chronicle Preview
We're sure a slew of NCAA 10k and 5k qualifiers will come from the races on Friday night but the 'real' Stanford meet (ie American 10k record) which annually features the fastest distance racing in the US each year is next month. *Results
*Oregon's Rebekah Noble Will Not Run Until May, May Miss NCAA Season

Toshinara Takaoka & Worknesh Tola Lead Paris Marathon Fields Takaoka, the Japanese NR holder with his 2:06:16, will face 5 others under 2:08. Tola (2:25:42) will face off against many others including Kenyan debutante Alice Timbilil who has run 68:56 for the half.

The Soap Opera Continues
Drug Cheat Dwain Chambers Won't Compete This Weekend In Rugby Afterall
Apparently, there are several problems. 1) It's against league rules 2) He' snot very good and 3) He has no stamina
Long Overdue
Dwain Chambers To Meet With UK Anti-Doping Chief

Birmingham to Host 2009 World Half Marathon Champs

Ticket Sales Being for 2009 Worlds

IRS Agent Jeff Novitzky's Testimony at Balco Trial Not Good for Barry Bonds (link fixed) The 6'7 former college basketball player survived a tough cross-examination unscathed in what many view as a dress rehearsal for Bonds' case.

LetsRun.com The Week That Was
March 24 - 30, 2008 Since April Fool's day was yesterday, we decided to recap the previous week in distance running a day later than normal. We give praise to Australian women, Keninsa Bekele, the Dibaba sisters, James McIlory, Jorge Torres and others. We're sure our thumbs down will rankle some as we yet again refuse to be PC and give thumbs down to Europe and Moroccan-born EPO cheats. We even give you a list out all of the convicted EPO cheats since 2003.

Good Riddance: Drug Cheat Dwain Chambers To Play 1st Pro Rugby Match Just 9 Days After 1st Touching Rugby Ball
The coach doesn't want to waste any-time as Chambers is doing a one-onth unpaid trial.

Justin Gatlin Makes Our Sport Look Bad: Forget about getting busted for drugs, Gatlin did even wrose. He only ran a 4.42 40 at the NFL combine (slower than a ton of NFL prospects).

Blade Runner Oscar P To Have Appeal Heard At Highest Court (CAS) on April 29-30

(Link fixed) New Zealand: Outdoor Champs: Nick Willis 3:44, Kim Smith 15:19 Wins Willis crushed the field by 6 + on the last lap

World XC
Men *
Results *Race Reports
Bekele Amazes Again

Wins 6th Long Course Title Despite Losing His Shoe

Bekele tried to give the rest of the runners in the world a chance. He lost a shoe 2km in to the race, stopped, and put it back on (losing 15 seconds or so). He then wasted no time and zoomed back to the front, pretended to be tired for a little while, then crushed the field over the final loop. Unheralded Leonard Patrick Komon (4th last year in juniors) was 2nd and Tadese 3rd. As we predicted Jorge Torres finished 19th place and no non-African finished in the top 10 as Craig Mottram finished 31st. *Men's Results

*Message board blow by blow here
*Leonard Patrick Komon Barely Made Kenyan Team for Worlds, But Leaves Worlds With Silver Medal At the Kenyan Trials, he got a stitch, faded back to the 40s, and then battled back to finish 7th.
*Race Results Weekly Recap of 2008 World Cross Country Champs

On the boards:
What would the US have finished in World CC team results w/ best lineup racing?
*Photo of Bekele Looking Like a 70 Year Old Scottish Man
*Bekele's Wife Almost Feinted When His Shoe Fell Off Times of London
*Recap of World XCs from the Scotsman
*Photos
*
More World XC Photos
Junior Boys: Ethiopia's Ibrahim Jeilan Wins Junior Race at World XCs IAAF
*On the boards:
GERMAN FERNANDEZ #1 US finisher!! Take that all you non believers!! -

PreRace:

Not Again
LetsRun.com: Men's Preview: Bekele Will Prevail And Africans Will Dominate Can a Non-African Finish in the Top 10 For the First Time in 7 Years? For the 2nd straight year that it's a one-race affair, world cross is once again a must-see event as it will feature the greatest assortment of talent assembled for a single race on the planet in 2008. Can Bekele regain his crown? He'll have his hands full with 3 formidable challengers - one from Eritrea (Tadese), one from Uganda (Kipsiro) and one from Kenya (Ngatuny).Tadese shocked the world last year in the incredible carnival that was the World Champs in Mombasa, Kenya (click here for a must read if you missed our report from last year)
*Women's Preview: Can Dibaba Reclaim Her Title As Golden Girl? link fixed Last year, Dibaba was a huge favorite to get her 3rd straight title but failed to live up to the hype and then went on to have a sub-par year by her standards. She's only raced once this year. How will she do?
*
USA's Renee Metivier Ready For World's Big thumbs up to Metivier who believes running world xc is an honor and always goes if selected (she's running it for the 4th straight year). Major thumbs up to her for training in Flagstaff as well.
*
Unpredictability and fresh talent - Kenya's line-up for Edinburgh Several unkown by motivated newcomers are on Kenya's team which also features the 3rde and 4th placers from last year.
*
A look at Southern African region hopes in Edinburgh
*
Shami to lead Qatari team of 10 in Edinburgh
Only in Africa: Uganda Going Coachless At World XC
He couldn't get his passport in time apparently.
*Men's World XC Preview From IAAF

*
7 Time European Champ Sergey Lebid out of World XCs

*
Pray for Us Kenyan XC Team Says
*
$280,000 on Tap at World XCs IAAF
*
Linet and Moses Ndiema Masai Hoping to Make History at World XCs
*Expectations High as Kenyan Team Leaves for World XCs
Runners In Kenya Still Dealing with Aftermarth of Violence: "It will definitely have an effect at Edinburgh. But Beijing is still very far away. "

On the Boards:
*
Greatest performance ever including era?
*I hate talented runners...
*Which elite athlete since WW2 has been the least talked about runner on Letsrun?
*University that SHOULD have successful XC programs
NonRunning:
*
20 somethings not growing up
*
City Life vs. Small Town Life

Kaki's World Title At 800 Is Still Resulting in Huge Celebrations In Sudan When the youngest ever world indoor champion returned home, thousands showed up at the airport to celebrate. A famous singer even flew in from Egypt to sing a new song, entitled "Kaki, Kaki." We're pleased to say that we called him a sensation before he won.

2008 NCAA Indoors: Complete Results
D2 & D3 Info Here

*Kyle Who?
Arizona State Wins Men's & Women's Team Titles as Kyle Alcorn Shocks Field & Wins 3k To Lead Sun Devils To Team Title Over FSU
On Friday, Alcorn led ASU to a surprise 2nd in the DMR. On Saturday, he shocked everyone once again and blew away the 3k field with a big kick in the next to last event to put his team into a tie with FSU. It came down to the 4 x 400 and ASU edged FSU by a second to win. Alcorn's never been a real big collegiate name before today, but he apparently had a gnarly 55 second last lap in HS in the 3200.
*3k Thread Here
In other action, Texas' Leonel Manzano completed the DMR/Mile sweep as was expected by winning the mile with the big surprise being that his teammate Jake Morse was 2nd. The other big surprise was how average the field looked considering you had to run 4:00 to get in. In the ladies' distance races, it was all FSU as Hannah England won the mile and Susan Kuikjen won the 3k.
*Baylor Wins 3rd Straight 4*400

2008 World Indoors : *Results
*Event by Event Recaps

Yelena SobolevaSunday: Recap Soboleva 3:57.71 WR in 1500, 18 Year Old Kaki Wire to Wire 1:44.81 in 800, Bekele JR Wins 3k, Bryan Clay Wins Heptathlon

*Race Results Weekly Distance Recap Here

The performers at worlds saved the best for last. Most impressive was the women's 1500 where Yelena Soboleva broke her own wold record and picked up $90,000 as she led 4 women under the 4 minute barrier as the top 5 all set PBs.
18 year old Abubaker Kaki was almost as impresive in the men's 800, as the 18 year old led wire to wire to win in a 1:44.81 personal best as the entire field set personal bests including Nick Symmonds who finished last (6th). Tariku Bekele was nearly as impressive as his older brother as he went 3:56 the last 1600 to get the win in the 3000m as Craig Mottram finished out of the medals. Lastly, Australia's Tasmyn Lewis shocked the field to win the women's 800
Video: *Tamsyn Lewis Wins 800 at Worlds
Video: *Defar Wins 3k at Worlds
Video: *Liu Xiang Gets Gold over Allen Johnson in Hurdles
*On the boards:
*Kaki=Awesome (Nick Symmonds= Runnersworld Model)

*Soboloeva wins $90k
*Women's 1500 WR, 4 Sub 4:00, 5 PBs
*
T Bekele averages 29.1 sec's for the last 7 laps of World Ind. 3k! (3:56 last 1600, 3:54 pace last 1400)
Saturday: Is there anything left for the Kenyans? Deresse Mekonnen Dan Komen Deresse Mekonnen Wins 1500 Mekonnen originally won the race but was DQd along with Nick Willis (for stepping on the infield.). In other action Meseret Defar blew away the field in the women's 3000m with a 28.8 last lap. Nick Symmonds looked incredible in his 800m semifinal. Liu Xiang got his first indoor gold and all that is left is gold in Beijing. American veteran Allen Johnson got the silver.
High Jump: Stefan Holm Wins 4th World Indor High Jump Title
Hurdles:*Lolo Jones Gets World Indoor Gold
*
Liu Xiang Gets His First World Indoor Gold

Long Jump: Britain's Chris Tomlinson Gets Silver in World Long Jump
Photos:
*Saturday PM *Saturday AM (Qualifying)
*Friday
Video on Demand and Highlights:
Entire meet on demand on WCSN
*
Day 2 Highlight Video: 2 Minutes
*
Dayron Robles Thinks There is a False Start and Stops in 60m Hurdles
*
Cantwell Wins Shot
*
Fasuba Wins Men's 60
*
Angela Williams Wins 60
*Photos
*Friday Recap: Christian Cantwell Wins Shot, Angela Williams and Olusoji Fasuba Win 60
Olusoji Fasuba got Africa's first gold in the indoor 60 as Britain's Dwain Chambers ran a pb to get silver in what may be his final race as everyone is trying to blackball the ex drug cheat from the sport.
*
Day 1 Evening Distance Recap: Maria Mutola Takes First Step Towards Eighth World Indoor Title
Shot: Cantwell Wins Shot Gold, Says Critics Can Kiss His Ass IAAF
60: *Dwain Chambers Gets Silver at World Indoors
Guardian

Heptathlon:Tia Hellebaut Wins Heptathlon
IAAF
*Kelly Sotherton Comes Close But Settle for Silver in Heptathlon

IAAF Previews: Men *Women

RYAN HALL 2:09:02 Ryan Hall put on one of the most impressive performances ever in American marathoning history, as he destroyed the field and coasted to victory in an incredible 2:09:04 (after a 1:06:17 1st half, yes that's a 1:02:47 2nd half on the hills of Central Park) on the very difficult NYC course. Dathan Ritzenhein ran a very impressive 2:11:07 to get 2nd while Brian Sell got the 3rd Olympic spot in 2:11:40. Former World Record holder Khalid Khannouchi ran a very gutsy race to finish 4th.
Ryan Hall is the real deal in case you didn't know. Here are his 5k splits on the very difficult NY course to prove how incredible he is at the marathon: 16:44, 15:41, 15:27, 15:12, 15:05, 14:48, 14:28. Yes that's right a 14:28 from 30 to 35k. Hall pumped his fist, pointed to the heavens, and waved to the crowd the final mile savoring the incredible run and still ran a 15 minute 5k pace for the final 7.2k (14.56 from 35 to 40k)
*Results
Race Recap From RunnersWorld's Amby Burfoot Amby did an excellent job covering the lead up to the Trials so it is fitting we link to his race article.
*NBCOlympics Recap of 2008 Olympic Marathon Trials: Triumph and Tragedy
*Quotes
*Video: Watch the on Demand (For Free, Skip to Any Crucial Point Instantaneously. Thank you NBC)
*Post Race Press Conference Videos Top 3, Meb, Culpepper, Khannouchi, Lehmkuhle
*Dathan Ritz Quotes
*Brian Sell Quotes

*Khalid Khannouchi 4th at Trials A great great run for Special K. He got 4th hobbling around the park.
*Photos
Excellent ones from letsrun.com message boarders skylon

The mysterious flash banner explained
LetsRun.com Party in Boston hosted by Puma

Next Saturday April 19

Free beer, tshirts, and more. If you want to come click above.

Head of WADA Warns Olympic Hopefuls About New HGH Test He says the belief that HGH can be cycled through the body quickly and not get detected by a drug test is a thing of the past. The new test will supposedly last longer.

Not So Simple: London Times Looks At Kenyans Changing Nationalities and Spanish Athletic Boss Says They Are Exploited Like 'Slaves'
Comparing it to slavery totally glosses over how abhorrent slavery was.

London on the Boards: RYAN HALL RUNS WITH AN I-POD -

Profile Of Steeplechase World Champion Yekaterina Volkova Training at a high level isn't easy for Volkova, who is forced to leave her 3-year-old son for long periods of time. She, in turn, uses him for inspiration.

May 3rd Jamaica Meet Will Feature Ridiculous Sprint Action in Veronica Campbell-Brown, and Americans Tyson Gay and Kerron Clement.

How Will Jews Do At The Boston Marathon?
Passover starts two days before.

IOC Likely To Strip Marion Jones Teammates of Their Relay Medals From 2000 They aren't sure if they will re-allocate the medals or not. We're not sure why they re-allocated her individual gold to a fellow drug cheat.  Again, once you are banned for drugs, all of your performances should be erased. Period.

Alan Webb's DNF Ended Up Being A Bit Embarrassing As 10,000 Spectators Wanted To See Him Win  This commentary by Loren Nelson is pretty good and includes quotes from Raczko and Webb who both appear to be guessing for answers.
Webb:
"For the most part, I felt pretty good for this race. I'm doing a little more (training) than I can handle right now, I guess."
Raczko: "He, like everybody else, is going to have setbacks from time to time. When you're trying to train at such a high level, sometimes you bonk a little bit, I guess."

Paula, Paula, Paula - She isn't running London but that doesn't stop the British press from obsessing about her the week of the marathon
Fore!!! Paula Radcliffe Won't Be Hit By Golfers In Olympic Buildup in Macau
The world record holder is certainly meticulous in her preparations. Any fears she'd be nailed by a golfer have gone by the wayside as the British have secured a longer period of time for training on the golf course.
Paula Radcliffe Not Really Worried About Pollution - Heat is More of A Concern

European Cup 10,000 Is This Weekend Lornah Kiplagat To Run 1st Track Race In Nearly a Year She'll be after the Olympic A standard but will have her hands full with former 5k world record holder Elvan Abeylegesse as well as her own cousin Hilda Kibet, who just finished 5th at world cross country.

Olympic Torch Has to Be Extinguished 5 Times Due to Protests in Paris
Up next: The torch comes to the US. Hillary Clinton has called for a boycott of the opening ceremonies, but we have a better idea. The athletes, instead of waving, should do the sign language symbol for SPEECH, which a letsrun.com fan tells us is a wave with the back of the hand facing out.
*Polo to Outfit US Team at 2008 Olympics in Opening Ceremonies If the ceremonies are boycotted, no one will be able to see all the clothes made in China.
*Seb Coe Puts On Brave Face in Light of Olympic Torch Protests

More Weekend Action:
Young 1500m Star Asbel Kiprop Wins Slow 3k in Mauritius to Start His 2008 Season
IAAF

Underreported: Tyson Gay 45.2, Jeremy Wariner 43.4 Relay Splits in Texas

Tariku Bekele and Mestawat Tufa Win XC Race in Sardinia Tariku needs to start running world cross.

Doris Changeywo and Abraham Chebii Win Great Ireland Run BBC

Tons Of Weekend Road Action
2nd Straight Disaster: Time To Panic?
Alan Webb DNF's at Carlsbad 5k As Ethiopia's Terefe Zewdie Edges Mo Farah
A 16th place finish in the US 8k a few weeks ago was attributed to food poisoning, but Alan Webb is now at a total loss to explain his shocking DNF from Sunday. Making things even worse for Webb is the fact that the opening pace was slow (4:25 opening mile) and Webb was struggling to keep up.

*
Photos
On the boards: Alan Webb - Doesn't look good
*
Alan Webb crashes and burns....in early season road races..
More: *
San Diego Tribune Article on Webb: "Pretty much after 800 meters, I was hurting"
*AP Article on 2008 Carlsbad with more quotes from Webb Webb: "I was going to just jog it in, but I couldn't even jog."
*
North County Times Article on Webb Not Making it to the Finish and the Announced Telling Everyone to Cheer for Him When He Came In

Paris Marathon: Yet Another Ethiopian Phenom? Wind/Rain Don't Prevent 20 Year Old From Running 2:06:40 Kenyans took 8 of the top 10 spots on the men's side but the Ethiopian Tsegaye Kebede, who had run 2:08 in his debut in October, stole the show. In the women's race, Kenyan Martha Komu was a surprise winner with a 7 minute pb of 2:25. *Japan's Toshinari Takaoka was 16th in 2:11

Cherry Blossom 10 Miler In DC: Ridouane Harroufi and Lineth Chepkurui Win
Harroufi took the first 5 miles out in 23:05 and then outkicked Nicholas Kamaky by 1 second to win in 46:14. Chekurui, who was 14th at world xc last week, won in 54:21 as Catherine Ndereba was 4th in 54:52 . *Prerace Profile: Ndereba Focused on Winning Gold in Beijing Interesting to see that her agent says she hasn't been invited to Boston for 3 years.


Great Ireland 10k: Doris Changeywo Pulls Away From Jo Pavey - B. Johnson was 7th- Abraham Chebi Wins Men's Race in 28:48
Pavey left the race pleased with her fitness as Changeywo, who was 4th at world xc last week, only pulled away from her on the last hill and Pavey isn't a good hill runner. The good news for Pavey: there will be no hills in the Beijing 10k in August.

Berlin Half: Patrick Musyoki Wins Again In 1 Hr Flat - Peninah Arusei Run 68:22 To Win Women's Race
Stramilano Half; Philemon Kipchumba Successfully Defends Title in 62:44

Suicide Bomber Kills 12 at Sri Lanka Marathon Olympic Marathoner K.A. Karunaratne was one of those murdered.
Sri Lankan Minister: "This should serve as a wake-up call to the international community to redouble its efforts to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations"

Abdi Abdirahman Wins US 10k Champs over Dan Browne at Ukrop Monument Ave 10k in Richmond $7,500 for Abdi.

Lots Of Great Road Action On Sunday:
Carlsbad 5k in CA: Alan Webb Using Disappointment From NYC 8k To Motivate Him
*Alan Webb Ready For Rare Road 5k
Webb met former miler American record holder and Carlsbad course designer Steve Scott for the first time on Friday. However, he got advice on the course from Marc Davis who gave him call a few weeks ago. Scott calls Webb's running Carlsbad "the greatest thing to ever happen to the Carlsbad 5000."
Cherry Blossom 10 Miler in DC: On Paper, 3-time champ John Korir, Is Favorite By He Downplays His Chances How often do you hear an athlete say this when asked if he thinks he's the favorite. ?"No, no, no. I will try my best, but I'm not in good shape." Elite Entries Here
Stramilano Half in Italy: Philemon Kipchumba Set To Defend Title He'll have his hands full with a guy who just got 11th at world xc. 50,000 plus will run.
Great Ireleand Run:
Jo Pavey, Motivated For Beijing By Osaka Near-Miss, Ready To Compete She'll face Australia's Benita Johnson.

Kenyans Still Analyzing Performance At World's XC Check this sexist quote out from their athletics chief when he takes a dig at Ethiopia.
"If you do not do well in the men's seniors, then you have not done anything. Where were they (Ethiopians) in the men seniors, we really dismantled them apart from (Kenenisa) Bekele."
Column: Stop Making Excuses - We Got Beat Fair & Square "I hink the best our cross country team should have done was to be honourable in defeat and give credit to their vanquishers"

Track: Stanford Results: In addition to Koll's American collegiate record in the 10k, the mens' 10k (Sean Quigley winning in 28:03) was the top result. Michael Stember runs today.
*Message board thread on Quigley's Run
*On the boards:
Why Stanford for post collegiates?
Some are wondering why anyone would go to Stanford and run when they could win a few grand by running the US 10k champs on the road. We've got 2 words: the Olympics. Although it might be an interesting idea if USATF said the first five across the line at the road champs made the Olympic Trials.

Sonia O'Sullivan Running Boston, But Not Trying to Qualify for Olympics BBC

It's A Great Weekend For Road Action In The Us As Carlsbad 5k, Cherry Blossom 10 miler and US 10k Champs All Take Place
US Road 10k Champs Are Saturday in Richmond: Abdi Abdiraham Set To Defend Title The Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K is the US's 4th largest and it will feature a great men's field as Abdi will face Alan Culpepper, Fernando Cabada and others.

Carlsbad:
Alan Webb To Run Carlsbad 5k
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Britain's Mo Farah To Challenge Webb In Carlsbad
On the boards: Carlsbad 5000 $50 Get used to it.

Berlin: Patrick Makau Musyoki Back to Defend Title in Berlin

Good Call
Dick Pound Loses Bid To Head Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS)
We applaud his very strong anti-doping stance but believe accused athletes need a more unbiased person as the head of the highest appeals body for those accused of doping.

IAAF Council Gets Tour of 2012 Olympic Park Led By Seb Coe IAAF President Lamine Diack seems to think the Olympics being in London will help elevate track's importance once again. We certainly think having Coe serving as the head of the local organizing committee is a huge plus. We agree. Diack: “In Singapore where the vote for the Games took place, it was clear that London’s win was a major victory for the future development of the sport of Athletics.”

NYRR's Mary Wittenberg Helping Pete Julian and Boulder Go After World Cross Country Julian did a phenomenal job with the 2007 USATF XC Nationals in Boulder, the greatest XC race in US history, and with the post race party as well. Soon LetsRun.com (and Reebok) may be partying world-wide. Supposedly the event costs up to $3 million to stage.
*Message board thread:
How Worlds Costs $3 Million

Jeremy Wariner, Allyson Felix, Tyson Gay All Running adidas Track Classic on May 18 All three run for adidas.
*Nick Willis Wants to Beat Bernard Lagat at Adidas Home Depot Meet in May

Impressive: Michael Wardian Comes Up Short in Weekend Marathon Double But Still Ran 2 Sub 2:30s
*Message board thread on Wardian

Australian Mark Tucker To Retire From Sport He didn't make Australia's Olympic team.

USATF Gets New Offices

Just As We Thought: Geb's Coach Says He Can't Run 10k In Beijing - The article is also includes information that actually may even be more newsworthy but is being missed by many - Bekele is unlikely to double in Beijing.
*Jos Hermens Says Geb is Serious About Running Olympic Marathon in 2012


Good News: WADA Will Be Able To Test All Olympic Athletes For HGH Inside the Games broke the story and now it is in the New York Times. The problem is this apparently is the old HGH test that only can detect HGH if it was taken recently (no athlete unless they are an idiot would take HGH right before their event) and not the new "old" HGH test by Peter Sonksen that detects HGH use farther back in time.

A Quote That Almost Made Quote Of The Day As It Sums Up Our Key Belief About How To Train for Distance Running
Seb Coe: Distance Runners Needs More XC Training
Lord Coe
is right on the money when he says that Europeans need to emphasize xc more if they are going to compete with the world's best. The #1 training tip of LetsRun.com forever is Strength = Speed. Coe: "It is no coincidence that the decline in European distance and middle-distance performances has followed the drop in cross-country running....The truth is that too many British coaches have fallen out of love with a discipline that, in my view, provides the essential conditioning that underpins endurance events."

Post Worlds XC News:
*Kenya Team Returns To Lukewarm Reception
The Kenyans didn't do as bad as they think. Sure they didn't win an individual gold for the 1st time since 1984 but it's basically impossible to beat anyone named Dibaba or Bekele in xc so that rules out 3 of the 4 races. To lose the jr. men's boys individual title was probably a surprise.
*Paul Tergat: "It is the worst ever in Kenya's history"

The Kenyan legend is right. For the first time in the truly modern era of Kenyan running, Kenya left without an individual gold.

*IAAF Meeting to Discuss Decline of XC in Europe
The big news is the IAAF is finally going to act and try and increase the popularity of XC in Europe. The African dominance has basically meant the Europeans have stopped showing up.

*Seb Coe Says XC Was Very Important to His Track Preparations
*Steve Cram Talks About Decline of British XC Running
More:
*Benita Johnson As Happy as When She Won the Race After Her 11th Place Finish at World XCs on 6 Weeks of Training
*Ugandan's Disappoint at World XC

Non World XC Track Action We Didn't Report:
Pros Starting Their Outdoor Seasons

New Zealand: * Outdoor Champs: Nick Willis 3:44, Kim Smith 15:19 Wins
Arizona: Lopez Lomong Now Running for Nike Gets 1:51 Win in Arizona
Florida State Relays: Mark Carroll 13:53 5k Win, Kevin Sullivan 3:41 1500m Win
Raleigh: Chris Lukezic 13:52 5k at Raleigh Relays

World XC Women: Tirunesh Dibaba Back on Top link fixed Ethiopia swept all the individual titles as Tirunesh Dibaba used her strong finishing kick to regain her individual crown after she battled back from being dropped by the leaders. Former Minnesota star Emily Brown led the US women to a fourth place finish.
*Benita Johnson Leads Sonia O'Sullivan Coached Australian Team to Bronze Team Medal IAAF

*Race Results Weekly Recap of 2008 World Cross Country Champs

*Women's Results
*All Results
*
Message board blow by blow here
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Photos
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More World XC Photos
Junior Girls: Genzebe Dibaba, Tirunesh's Little Sister, Gets World Junior XC Win The genetic lottery of life some times isn't fair. IAAF

Quotes, Recap of US Team at 2008 World Cross Country Championships

IAAF To Have Crisis Meeting to Discuss Lack of Participation by European Teams IAAF head Diack had this to say of Germany's one entrant: "They could not have made more effort? For a country of 90 million not to field a team -- shameful." And the only excuse is the teams don't like getting drilled by the Africans. The Europeans send full teams to European XC.
*XC Worlds Brought In £2 million to Edinbrugh Economy

Zersenay Tadese's First Love was Competitive Cycling

Victor Conte Coming Out With Tell All Book in September

Lamine Diack Not Happy UK Athletics Tried to Keep Banning Dwain Chambers and Says Chambers "would have won in court"

IAAF President Lamine Diack Opposes Olympic Boycott

Dwain Chambers Switching to Professional Rugby

1:44 800m Man James McIlroy Talks in Detail About Quitting the Sport Due to Lack of Funding He couldn't even pay to get his car out of the parking lot after a pro meet. Guardian

Today: Clint Verran Running the Treviso Marathon in Italy

Yet another Moroccan-born athlete tests positive for EPO 2005 World Champs Bronze Medallist at 1,500, Bouchra Ghezielle, Is Busted *Ghezielle says she's innocent

More World XC
The Unbelievable Story of Kenyan Captain Mark Kiptoo
The 32-year old was a career military man who didn't run his first race until 2004. Yes that's right 2004. Then he was posted overseas and didn't resume racing until 2006. Now he's the 2nd best xc runner in Kenya.
Scotland's Andrew Lemoncello Looking Forward To Running Against World's Best
At Home
The former FSU star understands probably better than just about anyone what he's up against. 1) A very muddy course that made him 'wince' the last time he ran it. 2) An unbelievable armada of Africans who he acknowledged look almost "super-human when you see them running."
Fascinating Profile Of Sonia O'Sullivan
The former double world xc champ who is now the Aussie's coach says she'll never retire from running as she loves competing too much. "I feel as good winning (a local road race) as I would a world championship because your friends and family are watching, you get a nice bouquet of flowers and vouchers to the local restaurant and the same winning feeling.
German Fernandez Leading US Junior Effort
He admits to being nervous. We don't blame him. He's a phenom, but at 18, Africans are sometimes battling for world senior titles.
Bekele Full of Motivation To Prove He's The Greatest XC Runner Ever He'll be going for a record 6th 12k xc crown this year.
Record Cold Greets Kenyan Athletes The Kenyans decided to huddle in their hotel and let it warm up before going on their training run in 44 degree temps.
*Team USA Selects World XC Captains

Despite Missing Kenyan Trials Due To Malaria, Priscah Jepleting, Looking For Gold In Edinburgh

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Weakened British Squad To Toe Line Normally the host country puts up a really strong squad - not this year. Lemoncello is Britain's top man and he's supplementing his income by working at the Karma Sushi restaurant in Flagstaff.
*World XC Expected To Bring £2m Boost To Edinburgh
*Irish Ready For World XC
*Eamonn Martin - Member of Last British Men's Team To Medal At World XC - Decries Decline of XC In Britain \
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Moses Kipsiro Play Down His Chances Kipsiro defeated last year's champ Tadese earlier this year and some are thinking he might be able to win. Kipsiro "I will try my best. I pray to God that I get a good result."
Only in Africa
Zimbabwe's Participation At World XC Still Uncertain

2008 USA Masters Schedule/Results
*2 World, 10 American Records Fall At Day 1 Of 2008 USA Masters

Slovenian Federation Upholds Ceplak Doping Ban Good riddance.

6 Olympic Trials Hopefuls Including Samia Akbar Running SunTrust National Half Marathon in DC This Weekend Akbar is the former American U star who is trained by Scott Raczko - Alan Webb's coach. To win in her hometown would be extra special

NCAA Outdoor Season is Here: Men: Florida State Opens up the 2008 Outdoor Season as the Top Ranked Men's Track Team in Division I They'll need Walter Dix doing this and not getting sick and missing the NCAA meet like he did indoors.
Women: LSU Opens up the 2008 Outdoor Season as the Top Ranked Women's Track Team in Division I

Next Month's Rotterdam Marathon Field Announced (11 Guys Under 2:08) IAAF

IAAF Doping Statistics Released: 0.3% of Tests Were Positive The good news is 8 out of the 10 busted athletes were in targeted out of competition testing. The IAAF has started doing blood screens to get a pretty good guess of who is doping and then trying to catch the person for whatever wonder drug they are on. The athletes at this stage of the game generally are smart enough to not show up at a competition showing any traces of the drugs.
*List of Tested Athletes in 2007 One athlete was targeted 12 times.
*IAAF Yearly Doping Statistics IAAF

LetsRun.com Jorge Torres, Shalane Flanagan Win in Central Park (link fixed)
Food Poisoning Does Webb In
*Recap, analysis, interviews and photos above *Results
Torres is probably the only guy in American who can say this: every time he has raced Alan Webb, he has beaten Webb. Torres, now training under the legendary Steve Jones, got the win in the final 800m over the very impressive of late Andrew Carlson. Alan Webb had some food poisoning on Thursday and despite leading at 5k faded to finish 16th. Shalane Flanagan had some stomach problems of her own on Thursday but they only seemed to limit her margin of victory as she won over Katie McGregor.
*Photos, video, analysis
*NY Times Article on US 8k Champs

Former 100m Olympic Champ Donovan Bailey Wants Lifetime Bans for Drug Cheats

High School Indoors: Puskedra 8:49 2 mile/ Lowe 8:50
*Photos More coverage here and here

On the boards: *Why did Kastor pull out of Lisbon?
*
Fallujah, Iraq Holds Its First 5K Road Race
*How good was Shalane Flanagan in high school?
And only on LetsRun:
Is NY Gov David Paterson a Marathon Cheater?
The guy is blind and likely ran without a chip or before they were turned on but nonetheless clearly the sleuths on the message boards do not discriminate on physical disability. In other news, Eliot Spitzer went for a long run in the Park once he knew the news of his prostitution ring was going to break.
*
LetsRun.com NCAA Basketball Pool

Pre-Race Coverage Of New York City 8ks
LetsRun.com Alan Webb, Carrie Tollefson, Shalane Flanagan on the Road to Beijing America's finest addressed the media and letsrun.com was on hand to cover it. From, Shalane Flanagan's praise of Mary W. "What Phil Knight (chairman of the board of Nike) is to Nike, Mary (Wittenberg) is to distance running.", to our 50 minute audio/video interview with Alan Webb on page 2, we've got it all. Text, photos, and video and even and mp3 you can download.

Page 2: More Relaxed, Confident Zen-Like Webb Ready for 2008 We sat and talked to Webb for 50 minutes and have a recap plus video and audio. Webb talks about his 2007 season, his goals for 2008, his desire to win races and how in high school he "did not know what he was doing".
*Shalane Flanagan in NYTimes
*Race Website

Above photos courtesy of Steve Starr.

Ryan Shay Run in Bermuda a Huge Success
Organizers Ashley Couper Estwanik and Chris Estwanik were expecting a handful of people, but instead hundreds showed up.

LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon Women
Unbelievable
Adriana Pirtea Blows It

Just watch the video above. Shorter video here if you're impatient

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Chicago Tribune Recap of Ivuti's Narrow Win
Adriana Pirtrea, a runner basically no one has heard of (including ourselves) (she did finish 2nd at an NCAA indoors once), was on her way to winning the Chicago Marathon. She had been clear of Berhane Adere for miles. Pirtrea, as she took the final turn, was high fiving the crowd. She had a 15 second lead with 58 seconds of runing left. Little did she know that Adere had overcome whatever problems she had had and was quickly making up ground. Pirtrea never looked back and was strolling into the finish thinking about her career changing win. Meanwhile, Adere was in an all out sprint on the other side of the road. She flew by Pirtrea and Pirtrea had no chance to respond. A truly incredible turn of events as Adere made up a 15 second deficent in 47 seconds. Watch it to believe it.
*Former Yalie Kate O'Neill 3rd in Her Debut

*Wheelchair Race Decided by 1 Second All the races in Chicago were close.

LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon Men
Unvelievable:
Invuti Wins Unbelievable Finish in Chicago
Words don't do it justice just watch the video above.
*Chicago Tribune Recap of Ivuti's Narrow Win

It's hard for words to describe the greatest finish in (Chicago) marathon history. It came down to two time world champ
Jaouad Gharib and former track/xc star Patrick Ivuti, fresh off his 59:27 half marathon. Gharib surged ahead going up a slight incline down the finishing straight. Ivuti then battled back and took the lead on the downhill. Gharib dug back and retoook the lead as they barreled towards the finish and the two guys still standing there with the finish tape which is only about 5 feet wide. Ivuti surged back right at the finish and it was too close to tell but Ivuti got the win. Hot weather took its toll on everyone.
*Video: Patrick Ivuti Talks About His Narrow Win In Chicago

Millrose
*Results

LetsRun.com! 2008 Millrose Games Recap: Lagat Gets #6, Nelson Entertains, and Goucher Gets It Done Track and field's biggest indoor event saw Bernard Lagat capture his 6th Wanamaker mile, Kara Goucher get an exciting woen's mile win, and our hero Adam Nelson throws some bombs and entertains the crowd. Plus, upsets in the women's pole vault, women's hurdles and more.
*NY Times: Lagat Outduels Mottram
*LetsRun.com! Recap of 2008 Millrose Games High School Miles The boys mile is always the loudest event at Millrose.
*On the boards: Congrats to LetsRun.com Poster Crazystreaker on Winning the Boys' High School Mile
*Distance Photos

LetsRun.com 2007 World's Coverage:
*Sunday Homepage
Ndereba marathon
*Saturday Homepage
*Friday Homepage Tyson Gay
*Thursday Homepage Lagat
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Wednesday's Homepage Lagat
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Tuesday's Homepage Bekele 10k
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Monday's Homepage Tyson Gay
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Sunday's Homepage Dibaba/Goucher 10k
*Saturday's Homepage
Kibet Marathon