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Rotterdam Marathon Sunday: Patrick Makau In His Debut vs. James Kwambai The race features the debut of half-marathon star Patrick Makau (8 times under 1 hour) as he takes on James Kwambai (who ran 2:05:36 challenging Gebrselassie in Berlin last fall). The race will be live on the net (4am) and on TV (Universal Sports 9am Eastern and 5pm Eastern) in most of the US (check availability here). *Fortis Rotterdam Marathon Press Conference Video (Kwambai, Kibet, Limo, Cheromei And Pitrea)
*58:52 Runner Patrick Makau Ready For His Highly Anticipated Marathon Debut Against Top Competition In Rotterdam
*David Monti Handicaps Fortis Rotterdam Marathon
*Past Rotterdam Winners

Carlsbad 5k
Scotty Bauhs Excited For Carlsbad 8 of the 22 elites on the men's side are American. 8 females as well.
IAAF Preview Of Race *Carlsbad Thread Scott Bauhs in his first race for Adidas, Anthony Famiglietti coming off big win at Gate River 15km, 13:16 guy Collis Birmingham from Australia, Alistair Cragg, plus returning champ Terefe Zewdie and Abreham Cherkos leading the Ethiopian entrants. On the women's side, American star miler Shannon Rowbury faces off with Christin Wurth-Thomas and Katie MacGregor plus a strong Ethiopian contingent.

Great Ireland Run
Fagan Hopes To Take Down "Hero" Tergat & Become First Irish Winner of Great Ireland Run
Martin Fagan vs. Paul Tergat, Mary Cullen vs. Jelena Prokopcuka In Ireland Sunday *Tergat On Fagan: "A Very Strong Young Man" Andrew Carlson is also running.

Cherry Blossom Ten Miler In D.C.

*Paris Marathon Preview
*Kipkorir Riding 2-Marathon Win Streak

The Berlin Half Marathon Is Also This Weekend

Florida Relays Feature Top Collegiate, Pro And HS Talent

The Return: Alan Webb Opening Season At Kansas Relays

Recommended Read: X-Man Working With Brooks Johnson To Get His Career Back On Track

Cool Piece On Private School Setup For Elite Distance Runners Remember - this piece came out on April 1, 2009.

Sad News: Swede Legend Arne Andersson Dead At 91 *Another History Lesson - Andersson's Wikipedia Page

LRC April Fools Homepage Reactions Yesterday was our annual April Fools homepage and a lot of people fell for it including an FBI agent, a running agent, a journalist, a first time visitor to the site, a p***** off conservative, and some regulars. We didn't get any threats of lawsuits like in 2004, but the emails and anonymous phone calls were pretty funny. We recap them all.
In Case you Missed It: 2009 LetsRun.com April Fools Homepage

Track Never Takes A Break: Weekend Action:
*Fam And Other Olympians To Race Carlsbad 5k On April 5
*Check Out The Lineups For Sunday's Paris Marathon
*Texas Relays Preview
*Martin Fagan Returning Home For Great Ireland Run vs. Paul Tergat

*German Fernandez Is USATF Athlete Of The Week

Must Read
The Week That Was/ World XC Recap We break down World XC and wonder whether any American could have won the junior boys race, give props to Moses Kipsiro, tell you why the Kenyan system is broken, try to save World XC for the future, tell you why Dathan Ritzenhein's big XC win from 2005 may not have in reality been a big win, analyze how steep the course was and give you exclusive post-race interviews with Kim Smith, Ryan Gregson and Julie Culley. Plus we give you the scoop on the post-race party thrown by the Prince and the challenge Ryan Gregson issued German Fernandez.

Post-Race Video Interviews From World XC With Ryan Gregson, Julie Culley And Kim Smith

3 Recommended Reads
1. History Lesson: Belayneh Densamo Recalls His 1988 World Record In Rotterdam That Stood For 10 Years "No, I don't think we'll ever see that. Maybe 2:02, 2:01 something, but under 2:00, I just don't think any man can do that."
2. Pat Butcher On World Cross-Country And Why It Used To Matter "The only thing that can revive the corpse [World XC] is for the rest of the world to recognise, like the Americans have done, that there are no easy options or short cuts. It's long, hard training. That's all!"
3. Edwin Moses Speaks Out On Drugs And Dwain Chambers

Biggest Jamaican Track Meet Taking Place Now
Jamaican Boys & Girls Athletics Champs *Results

Recommended Read: Behind The Scenes At The Jamaican Boys & Girls Athletics Championships 38,000-plus in the stands and 1.2 million out of a population of 2.8 million will watch it on television.
*National Jr. Record Holder Kemoy Campbell Runs Meet Record Of 3:48 In 1,500
*2nd Article On Campbell, Who Ran 3:42 Last Year - He Wants the Jamaican 5k Record As Well The record is only 14:45 and he says he can do 14:37-9. We think he can go way faster.
*World Junior And Youth Champion Dexter Lee Wins 100m In 10.31
*Holmwood Technical Set To Win 7th Straight Girls Title
*Day 2 Recap Of Jamaican Boys And Girls Championships
*Results From First Day Of Boys And Girls Jamaican Champs
*Big Money At Jamaica's Boys And Girls Champs

News From Kenya
AK Meeting #3: Asbel Kiprop Strolls To Victory In 1,500 The Olympic silver medallist was in the news for the wrong reasons earlier in the week, but this time he got an easy victory from the front in 3:40 on the dirt track in a meet which was ended early as a Kenyan football match needed to be played. Daniel Komen and Paul Koech didn't show for the final.
Comments On The Modern Day "SlaveTrade"
Athletics Kenya Trying To Get More Guys To Renounce Bahrain Passports
*Column: Young Athletes Shouldn't Suffer In Arab States Kenyans aren't even given citizenship - only Arab speakers get it apparently.

Texas Relays: *Results *Video
*Destinee Hooker Jumps World Leader In HJ Then Gets Engaged At Texas Relays
*Texas produces a high school prodigy, Craig Lutz The sophomore ran 9:03 for the 2 mile win and ran 30:46 for 10k on the roads last week.

Bolt: "I'll work to be a legend of my sport." He says his only at 60% right now which is crazy as he's already run 9.93.
*Bolt Responds To Dwain Chambers' Talk

Oregon Duck News
*Oregon Men Lose 800, 1,500 and Steeple & Meet To Indiana
*Duck Women Want Titles Just Like The Men
*Video From Meet
*Great Preview Of Oregon's Pepsi Team Invitational
*Check Out The First Outdoor NCAA Team Rankings

Ethiopian National Steeple Record Holder Yacob Jarso Wins Tractical 5k In Japan

Seb Coe's New Book Coming April 16th
*Great Seb Coe Interview - His father's boat was sunk in WWII and he escaped from German captivity.
*Excerpt From Book Which Is Tribute To His Father: "My father, my coach"

Chicago Trying To Show IOC "The Money" They are the only privately financed bid. Rio, Tokyo and Madrid are also in the mix.

Interesting Concept
*Only Debutant Marathoners Allowed In Vienna Marathon Elite Field April 19th

Comrades Marathon Will Be Held May 24th 
*Conflict With Indian Premier League Cricket Is Overcome As Stadium Is Found
*Entry Deadline Is Extended As People Were Unsure If Race Was Going To Be Cancelled

International News
*Recommended Read: The Observer Magazine Spends 4 Days With "The Dwain Event" In Turin It might be the best piece we've seen on Chambers and has some great quotes, including his thoughts on running for another country in 2012.
*Rating The Aussie Performances At Worlds
*France's World Junior Champ Teddy Tamgho Will Compete In Paris Golden League
*We Heart Throwers Too - Kiwi Valerie Vili's Online Journal
*Big Doping Scandal Going Down In Austria
*Read Up On The History Of the London Marathon Virgin is taking over for Flora next year as the sponsor of the biggest fundraising event in the world.

Interviews and Insight
*Geb Talks About His Hero Nelson Mandela
*Flotrack Kwik-E With UM's 3:58 Miler Justin Switzer This is a pretty entertaining interview with the avid Nascar fan.
*USA Indoor Champ David Torrence Blogs On Being Contract-Less

Kenya News
*Kenyans Upset With Young Athletes Being Lured To Bahrain
*Daniel Komen Kipchirchir And Asbel Kiprop Race 1,500m In Early Kenyan Meet
*Kenya Backs "Rio 2016" In Hopes Of "Nairobi 2020"

HS Action
*In Case You Missed It: Hasay Opens Season With 4:47 1,600m

We Know Why You're Looking Forward To The Weekend: Sweet Races

• Cherry Blossom Ten Miler Is This Weekend
• USA Minnesota Sending A Few Runners To Road Races
• Awesome Carlsbad 5k Fields Announced
• Sweet Road Races On Both Coasts This Weekend
• W&M's Colonial Relays Are Here
• Vienna Marathon Elite Entrants Announced

Random Stuff That's Sort Of Linked To Running

• Michael Jordan Now Publically Supporting Chicago 2016 Bid
• Spanish Steeplechaser Jose Luis Blanco And Buddy Catch Thieves On Foot
• Seb Coe Revisits New Zealand, His Past, And Nick Willis' Chances At Gold
• Athletics Kenya Wants To Protect Athletes Who Are Lured To Bahrain and Qatar
• NCAA Rule Barring Legal Representation For Athletes Is Struck Down
• 2 Years Later, Athletes Get Paid By Keino Sports Marketing