Quote Of The Day

"People say the marathon begins after 30, 35k, and the weather is important. Perhaps I should have calculated that from the beginning. I've learned a lot today. If I become a coach for marathon runners, I'll be a good coach."

Even the great ones keep learning. 36-year-old Haile G bravely attempted a new world record but then really paid for it in the final 7km. His post-race comments are classic Haile - honest and funny.

For Wild Weekend's Results, See This Column

WOW: Tyson Gay Ties Bolt's Beijing 100m WR With AR 9.69 And Carmelita Jeter Hops Marion Jones With PR 10.64
*Shanghai Track Meet Results
*Video Embedded To The Right
We know we're a distance-oriented site, but since there weren't any records on the roads,
we have to give a headline to the most underappreciated sprinters of all-time: Tyson Gay and Carmelita Jeter. Both are the 2nd-fastest of all time.

LRC: Ryan Hall Looking Good For New York *Photo Of Ryan Hall Crossing The Finish Line Ryan Hall hammered a 4:27 13th mile to win the 2009 ING Philadelphia Distance Run in 61:52.
*
Ryan Hall Wins His 1st And Catherine Ndereba Her 7th Philadelphia Distance Run Race Press Release
*Ndereba Sibs Almost Pull Off Double Win Philadelphia Inquirer
Olympic Marathon champion Constantina Dita finished 10th on the women's side while Josh Cox nabbed 6th for the men.
*Mboard Thread On Race

Matt Tegenkamp And Amy Yoder-Begley Win US Road 5k Crowns In Providence Matt Tegenkamp won over Bolota Asmerom and Anthony Famiglietti, while Amy Yoder-Begley won the women's race over 2nd-place Rebecca Donaghue and Jen Rhines. Tegenkamp's winning time was 59 seconds slower than his track PR, but he'll take the win!
*LRC MBoards: US 5k Champs - Providence, RI
*Women Now Make Up 55% Of Providence Field, Run For Variety Of Reasons Providence Journal
*Fam Praises Teg's Tactics As Oregon Track Club Put Green Jerseys On Top Of Podium Providence Journal

Great North Run - England, Half Marathon
Martin Lel And Portugal's Jessica Augusto Take Great North Run Titles

*Boards: Great North Run Thread
*Great North Run Results - J Torres 62:42

Dam tot Dam - The Netherlands, 10 Miles
*Masai Sibs Linet And Moses Win "Dam tot Dam" 10-mile In The Netherlands World-leading 10-mile times for Masais.
*Post Race Video With Linet And Moses Masai Includes footage of the final 50m of the race.

Philly Distance Run Pre-Race

Ryan Hall Faces Former NCAA Cross-Country Champ Josh Rohatinsky Sunday In Philly Distance Classic The women's field is intriguing as well, as elder stateswomen Constantina Dita and Catherine Ndereba take on some up-and-comers. On the men's side, 4 of the top 5 American half marathon performances have been run on the fast Philly course. A good read: Ryan Hall Writes - Philly Half Marathon This Sunday Followed By Exciting Announcement Coming Wednesday

Friday's News

Remarkable News Sort Of Related To Elite Distance Running

Husky Team Prepare For Aviemore Dog Sled Rally Can Distance Runners Learn From Sled Dogs? Read This Development In Sled Dog Racing Our friend emailed us the link to this National Geographic article discussing sled dogs and their new racing strategies. It used to be that the dogs would race for 6 hours, rest for 6, and repeat. But now mushers have found that on a fat-based diet, the canines click into another gear after many hours of running and can now run for up to 14 hours straight.
*Strangely Inspiring: Cross-Dressing British Comedian Completes 43 Marathons In 52 Days It goes to show where there is a will, there is a way.
*We Would Hope So: WADA Upset With Frequency Of Russian Athletes Testing Positive Lately most of their dopers have been caught in skiing events.

LRC: Interview With Oklahoma State Coach Dave Smith We talked with Dave Smith about the big-time new additions to the Cowboys team, the expectations of German Fernandez, and his biggest challenge as a coach: holding his runners back in practice. In our LRC Preview Of Ok St., we officially put all the pressure on them and rank them #1 in the country over the 2-time defending champs Oregon thanks to the late addition of transfer All-American Girma Mecheso.

Ambassador Bolt

*Reuters: Bolt Given Jamaica's 4th-Highest Honor & A Highway Will Be Named After Him Bolt is the youngest to ever be given the Order of Jamaica and officially Bolt will be an Ambassador and be allowed to carry a diplomatic passport. We wonder if the speed limit will be infinity on the highway. *Jamaican Prime Minister: "His endearing personality, charisma and passion for his country make him a superb ambassador of Jamaica."
*Interesting Read: Editorial: Celebrating The Usain Bolt In All Of Us The paper says Jamaicans needs to celebrate all Jamaicans who achieve greatness, including Sanya Richards.
*Jamaica To Have 3 Days Of Celebrations For Track Stars In October

Recommended Read Javelin World Champ Steffi Nerius Retires On Top 3 Weeks ago at age 38, she won her first world title in front of an adoring home crowd and realized it will never get any better than that.

LRC: The Week That Was This week, the 2009 track season came to a close with the World Athletics Final (WAF), where Anna Willard and Kenenisa Bekele impressed us once again and Usain Bolt was upstaged by Carmelita Jeter as everyone paused to ask, "Is she clean?" Plus some fine road racing performances by Brett Gotcher and Colleen De Reuck in New Haven, as well as Sammy Kitwara in Rotterdam. And even though he got crushed, we tell you why it's time to get excited for Sammy Wanjiru's run at the BOA Chicago Marathon in less than a month and prove once and for all that we don't hate the Oregon Ducks.

Recommended Read: Read About How Running Has Helped A Girl's Depression When Drugs And Therapy Could Not

Tuesday's Sprinting News

Berlin: Gallant Geb Goes For It But Bonks Beyond 35k!
*LRC: Beautiful Race Photos From PhotoRun

The Great Haile Gebrselassie's Final Words From Berlin Catch Haile's parting words and some final reflections on one of the most congenial sporting personalities in the modern era. Longtime athletics writer Pat Butcher is on assignment in Berlin.

*Video:
Post-Race Chat With The Most Happy Competitor Ever The great one went after the WR in a major way, hitting halfway in 1:01:44 and staying on pace until 35k. Even Haile G couldn't keep the pace and he ran the next 5k in 15:57 (5:07/mile) and had to settle for a 2:06:08 win. In hindsight, the heat may have been too much or the pace a little too quick. He did get rewarded with a new 30k WR.
*IAAF Recap With More Haile Quotes
*Science Of Sport Coverage Here See where it all fell apart for Haile G in his 4th, and most daring, Berlin win.

Must-Read: Semenya Uproar Shifts To Lying Officials In Sporting Drama Of The Decade

*SA Paper Shock Headline: "Chuene Is A Liar Who Was Willing To Sacrifice A Young Woman's Future For A Medal."
*Mr. Secretary General, We Agree!!!
The secretary-general of the ruling African National Congress, Gwede Mantashe, said all ASA officials "should be gagged before they make matters worse." ASA Boss Leonard Chuene admits he and the rest of ASA have been lying about their ignorance of any pre-Berlin tests on Caster Semenya.
*World War 2.5? Officials Call For Chuene's Head! But not until he undergoes invasive gender testing.
*Too Late: Leonard Chuene Apologizes
*Earlier: Unearthed Emails Show Indisputable Proof South African Athletics Boss Is Lying About Semenya Knowledge
This whole episode demonstrates why good journalists and a free press are so important.

Berlin Post-Race

*Berlin's Live Blog Here
*LRC MBoard Here
*Race Re-Broadcast On Internet Here *Race Will Be Re-Broadcast On Universal Sports TV At 5 pm EST (Now On Directv #604) Let's hope it's rebroadcast then as, like competitor.com, universalsports.com blew it, as the supposed "live" internet stream was more than 45 minutes delayed, leaving LRC fans irate.

Berlin Pre-Race

*Pat Butcher Meets With Haile G In Berlin
*Berlin's Top 5 Men and Women Previewed
*New: Reporting From Berlin: Pat Butcher On Duncan Kibet And His Unusual Running History
*Despite Saying He's In Best Shape Of His Life, Duncan Kibet Downplays His Goals Prior To Berlin The 2nd-fastest man in history says he's not going for the world record, just a PR. But when your PR is 2:04:27, things get interesting ...
*Berlin Is Full of History, As 6 Records Have Fallen In Last 10 Years
*LRC: Employee #1 Predicts New WR - Do The Stats Back Him Up?

New York: 6 Former Champions, Including Marilson Gomes dos Santos & Martin Lel, To Run In 40th ING NYC Marathon The marathon will offer a record and world's marathon best $800,000 in prize money. Ramaala, Tergat, Prokopcuka, Petrova are the other former champs. *Irishman Martin Fagan To Make NYC Debut

Chicago:
Irina Mikitenko Announced For Chicago
Commentary: Jim Hage Offers Tidbits On Berlin, Chicago & New York

Caster Semenya Still All Over The News

Track News Hodgepodge

Another Day, Another Bombshell From Johannesburg

Sammy Kitwara Rocks Rotterdam With 58:58 Course Record As 7 Kenyans Not Named Wanjiru Go Under 59:33
Sammy Kitwara is now the 4th-fastest man on the half marathon list after his latest outrageous road run. The first 5,000m was covered in an unbelievable 13:37, but Kitwara said it was not too fast because he is a track guy. He won the Kenyan 10k Trials this year on the track but they didn't let him run Worlds because he ran and won Peachtree.

LRC LetsRun.com's Race Of The Weekend: Fortis Rotterdam Half Marathon Preview Half marathon WR holder Sammy Wanjiru returns to the roads against brash phenom Sammy Kitwara. Each 22 years old, they will be joined by fellow youngster Tilahun Regassa of Ethiopia and 2:04:27 marathoner James Kwambai in what might be the best half marathon ever seen. Get a feel for the new generation of African road racing stars with our preview, stats and videos.

Post-Race Press Conference With Haile G

Tyson Gay Runs 9.69 In Shanghai (With Mellow Swedish Commentary)

LRC Worlds Prediction Contest

Recap Our winner was a former high school 800m star and our runner-up shows all that is great about the sport and LetsRun.com. Read all about it.

Latest Photo Albums From PhotoRun.net

  • LRC Zürich Photo Album - Beautiful photos of Yelena Isinbayeva setting the new pole vault world record at 5.06m, Ken Bekele after his 16th-consecutive 5,000m win, and the great Usain Bolt being carted into the stadium (literally, he is in a human-drawn cart reminiscent of Roman Emperors).
  • LRC Rieti Photo Album - This daytime meet produced the fastest 800m run in over 12 years thanks to 20-year-old Kenyan David Rudisha. Plus see pics of Asafa Powell having fun winning thanks to Usain Bolt taking a rest.
  • LRC RNR Va Beach 1/2 Marathon Photo Album - Photos from the team battle in Virginia Beach on Labor Day weekend.
  • LRC Vlašić Vs. Friedrich Photo Album - Currently, the most glamorous event in the world is probably the women's high jump. These photos show the Vlašić/Friedrich battle from Berlin, as the crowd tried to spur the German to victory over the Croatian.

Recommended Reads

One for the Mind: Running Within
One for the Soul: Best Efforts

Cool Product: ING NYC Marathon Watch

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