Quote Of The Day

"I spoke earlier of being in the business of inspiration. It's inspiring to go on letsrun and see a number next to a name. I like the idea of running fast in this country."

- 15:33 5k'er Julia Lucas in a funny chat with Runner's World's Peter Gambaccini. The context of this quote is she's saying she'd rather run fast in the spring/summer in America than spend her summer chasing times in insignificant European races. In a serious breach of journalistic integrity, Employee #1 developed a crush on Lucas during the chat... too bad she's married.

Good Read: Brief Chat With Julia Lucas Lucas talks about moving to Mammoth and not enjoying it, moving to Portland and loving it, getting fed up with being obsessed with running and she does it all in less than 15,000 words!

The Day In Track and Field Isn't Complete Without... Drug Cheats in the News!

  • Drama: IOC Refuse To Give Marion Jones' Sydney Gold Medal To Greek Cheat Katerina Thanou In a comedic Olympic scenario, the IOC are trying to reallocate Marion Jones' medals to the rightful winners, but are having a tough time because those next in line were probably just as doped as Marion. A female Russian long-jumper and Bahamian 200m runner (we're trying hard not to make a cynical remark here) will get two of the other drug-tainted medals.
  • Victor Conte Talks With Track Journalist Duncan Mackay About Marion Jones Refusing To Come Clean Fellow Ex-Prisoner Victor Conte On Marion Jones: "Marion knowingly used drugs and I'm sure she knows it was a mistake. But, I believe Marion is continuing to make a mistake by not coming forward with the entire truth. Her message to kids called the 'Take a Break' programme advises them to think before they lie or cheat. I would like to see Marion follow her own advise and tell the entire truth about her past use of drugs.
  • Dwain Chambers On His Comeback Year This guy was willing to tell the whole truth, take a ton of heat for it, and now he's back. He got 6th in the WC 100m final, by a long shot the fastest 100m race ever run.

Fukuoka Marathon - Tsegaye Kebede Negative Splits; Smashes Japanese Soil Record 2:05:18 - Will HE Be The Next WR Holder?

2009 Fukuoka Marathon Results
Tiny Tsegaye Kebede showed he knows the best way to run marathon records, hammering home a 29:14 from 30-40k to lock up a 2nd-straight Fukuoka win and course record 2:05:18. Kebede's only 22 and his marathon PR is only 8 seconds away from Sammy Wanjiru's.

LetsRun.com Message Board
Fukuoka Thread

Ethiopians Roll To Course Record, 1, 2, 4 Finish At Fukuoka

Tekeste Kebede
finished 2nd in 2:07:52, while Ukranian Dmytro Baranovskyy became the first European under 2:09 in 2009 to get third.

LRC Boards:
Fukuoka All-Time Top 20

JRN: Video Highlights and Recap of Kebede's Japan All-Comers Record

Yesterday's Quote Of The Day:
"Previously, I was training in a group with a coach but I am now self-coached," Tekeste Kebede, 28, said. "I think it gave me an opportunity to think about the right training for me and that I think is the reason why I was able to improve the personal best by a huge margin." - 2nd-place Tekeste Kebede after an Ethiopian romp in Fukuoka.

NXN Results Boys: 1. Craig Lutz, 2. Elias Gedyon, 3. Joe Rosa
Girls: 1. Catherine Flood, 2. Kathleen Stevens, 3. Rebecca Mehra

Nike Commercial Between Races Features Alan Webb In A Galen Rupp-Made Speed Cape Dathan Ritzenhein, Paula Radcliffe, Bernard Lagat, Abdi, Alan Webb were all at the race and on the broadcast.

New Super Class? 3 Junior Boys Go 1-3 In Blanket Finish In Portland
(top 5 boys all juniors, top 3 all 15:09 course record)

Girls: NY's Manlius Wins 4th In A Row In Rout

*Watch The Races

Jamaica - The New Capitol Of The Sprinting World

Ludacris Flown To Usain Bolt's 9.58 Party In Jamaica

Michael Johnson - Let's See Jamaica Vs. USA Sprint Clash
The idea of a duel meet where the top American and Jamaican sprinters match up has been thrown around for the past year or so.

Doug Logan On US-Jamaica Duel - "We're Close."

A little more money and a title sponsor. We're thinking a cruise line would be perfect.

International Running Scene

Dublin To Host European XC Championships - Ireland Has Had Rainiest Monthin Decades
As usual, the hotly contested European XC Championships will be a mud fest.

35 Grand Goes To The Winner In Singapore - 5 Sub-2:10 Kenyans In The Field

2010 Virgin London Marathon Announces Stellar Elite Fields
Reigning London and World Marathon Major champions Sammy Wanjiru and Irina Mikitenko will defend their titles in what looks to be again the world's toughest marathon fields. Two top challengers on the women's side are '09 Bank of America Chicago winner Liliya Shobukhova of Russia and '09 world champ Bai Xue of China along with a ton of either aging or rising stars. On the men's side, it's a stacked deck with world champ Abel Kirui (left), half Marathon sensation Zersenay Tadese, Kenyan record holder Duncan Kibet and once-unbeatable Martin Lel. Top Americans at this point are Deena Kastor, returning to the course where she set her 2:19 American record in 2006, and Abdi Abdirahman.

Thursday Press Releases - Barringer Signs With Agent Ray Flynn

Jenny Barringer Signs With Flynn Sports Management The bigger announcement in the release is the American and NCAA record holder's intention to stay in Boulder with Colorado coach Mark Wetmore as her coach.

Colleen De Reuck Named USATF Masters Runner Of 2009
De Reuck had a time-warping year for a 45-year-old. She led most of the way in the Boston Marathon before finishing 8th, won a US title for the road 20k, and ran a 2:32 marathon at Twin Cities.

Inaugural Eugene Women's Half Marathon Directed By Olympian Nicole Teter
According to the press release and Teter, it appears the mission of this female-only race is to pamper the entrant as much as possible with "schwag" and perhaps free pedicures. Ladies, mark your calendars for Labor Day weekend 2010.

Important Financial Force Jim Elias Steps Down From USATF Post
Elias brought the books in order at USATF.

And The Biggest News Of All ...
New York City Half Marathon Moves To Spring

11th IAAF World Athletics Championships: Day Two LetsRun.com's The Week That Was Last week was a hodgepodge type of week in the running world but thankfully we have you covered. Our observations are short and all over the place, but nearly all running fans will have at least something that interests them. We talk about a wide range of characters including Sammy Wanjiru, Günther Weidlinger, Angela Bizzarri, Usain Bolt, Tyson Gay, Alberto Salazar, German Fernandez, Ryan Vail, Tim Montgomery, Caster Semenya, Aisling Cuffe, Lukas Verzbikas, Joe Rosa and others.

More News On Sammy Wanjiru

Michael Johnson Blabs From Jamaica *Link Fixed

12th IAAF World Athletics Championships - Day Eight *Link Fixed Michael Johnson Says Bolt Should Shoot For Simultaneous 100, 200, 400 WRs; Says He Would Easily Beat Wariner (MJ Is Wariner's Agent)

Former 200m and current 400m world record holder MJ is in Jamaica with BBC producers to make a Usain Bolt documentary. Easy for him to say - MJ pronounces Bolt could beat Americans LaShawn Merritt and Jeremy Wariner at 400m this year without much training.
*More On Usain Bolt: Swedish And IAAF Doping Expert, Former High Jump Great Arne Ljungvist Says Usain Bolt Is Absolutely Clean

LRC The Week That Was After perhaps the shortest ever LRC Week That Was, we wrote an Iliad-length weekly recap as the first year of the weekly reader favorite nears its end. Once again, we recap the action for you from across the globe, whether it's the high school nationals in Oregon of the Fukuoka Marathon in Japan. Along the way, we introduce you to a ten miler where 90 people broke 50 flat and give you the cure to stress fractures. And since we feel greatness comes in pairs, we talk about Usain Bolt & Tyson Gay, Alan WebbGalen Rupp, Chris Derrick & Craig Virgin, Al Sharpton & Jesse Jackson, plus Marion Jones, Gina Procaccio, Jenny Barringer and others.

For History Buffs

1960 Olympic Decathlon Battle Between CK Yang and Rafer Johnson is Brought Back To Life We thought this was a good read.

European Races From The Weekend

Marathon Recaps *Singapore Top 10 Results *Las Vegas Results *Cal. Intl. Results *Fukuoka Results

IAAF World Athletic Champs X Americans Run Fast On Cold, Windy Day In Sacramento
Josh Cox
set a marathon PR at age 34, running 2:13:51 at the California International Marathon 9 years after running 2:13:55 in Chicago.

VEGAS Marathon/Half:
Bekana Daba Wins Half In 61:40, Kenyans Win M/W Marathon - Top American Stephen Haas In 2:18
*Daba won Tyson indoor 5k over Galen Rupp in 13:17 back in February.
*LRC Vegas Photos

Singapore: Hot Weather Marathon Specialist Luke Kibet Runs 2:11 CR In 87 Degree Heat Kibet, the 2007 Osaka World Champion marathoner, is scary good in the heat and humidity.

Foot Locker West *Photos *Results

The Foot Locker 40-person finals are now set for next weekend. From the west, favorite Molly Grabill got the win in the girls' race and Flagstaff's Brian Shrader won the boys'.

Big Loss For Track And Field

LetsRun.com Track Writer Dick Patrick Let Go By USA Today After 23+ Years
Patrick wrote to us Thursday with the disappointing news. For a sample of his writing, earlier this year Patrick broke the news (Steve Nearman broke the news) wrote a nice piece on American mile record holder Alan Webb leaving long-time coach Scott Raczko to join Alberto Salazar's group in Oregon.

Has The World Gone Crazy?! Bolt Super Party Shut Down By Cops At 4 am
Everybody knows Bolt doesn't even consider it a party until he's watching the sun come up. The man runs 19.19, flies Ludacris to his party and can't have a proper bash?

One Cheated, One Did It Clean

LA Times: Informative Piece On BALCO Criminal Victor Conte's Comeback And Who He's Working With
Conte, who says his goal is to be absolutely 100% clean, has clientele including Dwain Chambers and several boxers and fighters.

British Heptathlete Jessica Ennis Wins BBC Sports Personality Of The Year Award

Rock 'N' Roll Vegas Marathon Is Sunday

Justin Young Top American In Lucrative Rock 'N' Roll Las Vegas Marathon
Like all the Rock 'n' Roll events, you can watch the leaders on a live camera webcam.

Photo: Speaking Of Vegas - Check Out This Photo Of The Amazing Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge

RIP David Hinz
Obituary For Marathoner David Hinz
Hinz, who ran 2:12 in Boston in 1983, died in a car wreck this week. He was 56.

LetsRun.com: Interesting Argument In UK Over Britain's European Cross-Country Spots
A LRC reader from GBR wrote us an email about the selection process for Great Britain's Euro XC team. We share the email with you and use it as proof that the best way to select championship team members is by selecting based on their performance in a single qualifier rather than having subjective bids.

You Can Vote For The US Sports Academy's 2009 Athlete Of The Year 4 female tracksters and Usain Bolt made the final 12 voting. It's interesting to see who the finalists are, as Linet Masai, a chubby Argentinian golfer and Santonio Holmes are on the same ballot. Or you could vote for an inspiring athlete from another sport such as NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson.

State Of The Sport - Thumbs Up Or Down?

Three Running-Related Articles

America - 30,000 Troops To Afghanistan? Who Cares, Let's Hear More About Tiger!

Tiger Jokes And Prop Bets
"What's the difference between and car and a golf ball? Tiger can drive a golf ball 400 yards."

Other Athletes React To Tiger-Gate
"We made ourselves too accessible to you. It backfires on the athlete. We don't get to write a story about y'all. An athlete makes a mistake, everybody wants to write about it. It's a one-way street, like it has always been." - NFL All-Pro linebacker Joey Porter commenting on the Tiger Woods saga.

Tiger Issues A More Juicy Statement

In this latest statement immediately distributed all over the internet, Tiger admits to transgressions and pleads for privacy.

Lesson In Honesty: Ron Artest Admits To Drinking Hennessey At Halftime
Not at all humorous NBA league spokesman comment: "We have no comment and we hope Ron has a successful season."

Important, Non-Humorous World Running News

Race of the Year Candidate: Kenenisa Bekele and Bernard Lagat - WC 5000m '09

Galen Rupp And Alan Webb In Nike Spoof Ad

Best Race Of The Year? Maggie Vessey At Pre

Cross Country: NCAA Championships LRC: The NCAAs That Were The Week That Was focuses on one thing for the most part, as last week the world of US distance running was dominated by one thing: NCAA cross-country. We break it all down for you and tell you who flopped (a ton of teams/individuals), who excelled (very few), and what to expect in 2010. Along the way, we talk about mid-d runners Andrew Wheating and Dorian Ulrey, give major props to Gina Procaccio and to the one team that seemingly did well on Monday (Villanova) and tell you why close to 75% of women All-Americans and 60% of men All-Americans had better start getting nervous.

Amazing Day-After Interview With Jenny Barringer

2009 NCAA D1 XC Championship Results

*Men's Team Results
*Men's Individual Results
*Women's Team Results
*Women's Individual Results

D2: *DII Men Complete Results
*DII Women Complete Results

D3: *WTeam *WIndiv
*MTeam *MIndiv

NAIA: Results

Usain Bolt's ESPN Commercial Released

New LRC Readers' Book Reviews

From Last To First,  A Race Like No Other, And See Dane Run From Last To First is the autobiography on English marathon record holder Charlie Spedding, A Race Like No Other is NY Times Writer Liz Robbins' take on the NYC Marathon, and See Dane Run recounts a guy who ran a marathon a week for a year.

Recommended Reads - You Can Buy The Books Online

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

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