Quote Of The Day


"Everything seemed pretty much normal in Eugene, which bills itself as Track Town USA.

It’s a lovely thought, Eugene as Track Town USA, except — really — it’s not. There’s no place that’s Track Town USA. It’s a big problem. After this weekend’s Prefontaine Classic, before the meet this weekend in New York, before the nationals back in Eugene later this month — it’s time for everyone connected to the sport to recognize that it’s time for a thorough re-think. Track and field is going nowhere fast in the United States...

Galen Rupp, the American distance standout, didn’t run in the 10k Friday night. He and his coach, Alberto Salazar, cited concerns about allergies — along with the worry, further spelled out on the USATF Facebook page, that if Rupp ran and had an allergy fit he wouldn’t be ready for the nationals. That decision underscores a major part of the problem.

There are really only two meets this year that matter — the nationals, June 23-26, and the worlds, Aug. 27-Sept. 4.

The rest has devolved, regrettably, to varying degrees of noise, and everyone knows it. Why should fans care if the athletes, coaches, shoe companies and other sponsors — everyone else who has a meaningful stake in the game — make it plain that an event such as the Pre, allegedly one of the nation’s top meets, is something you can skip without any real consequence because you’re way more worried about the nationals?"

- Olympic writer Alan Abrahamson, writing a column entitled, "Track and field — going nowhere fast in the United States," where he argues track and field should consider radical changes if it is going to flourish. We 100% agree and think sooner rather that later, everyone (athletes, agents, promoters, bureaucrats, etc.) needs to start thinking every now and then about what's in the sport's best interest, not just their own. For example, having NCAAs and adidas GP the same weekend -  does that make any sense?

Officially 100% Crazy Sammy Wanjiru's Mom Allegedly Stabbed His Wife's Driver Over The Weekend She did spend the night in jail but wasn't arraigned on Monday as expected.

NCAAs Start Wednesday *Men Start Lists *Women Start Lists *Schedule *Live Online or on TV *TV Fri: CBS College Sports 7:30 - 9:30 EST Fri./TV Sat: 1 - 3 pm Regular CBS  (When it's Not On TV, Then It Will Be Streamed Live Online)

Two Japanese World Championship Team Members Head To Boulder For Altitude Training - One Is Hoping To Run 496 Miles In A Month

Meet The Newest HS Star - Edward Cheserek Profile - Kenyan Is Thriving In US "I feel comfortable when I'm here and life is safe."

Jamaican Junior Champs Are This Weekend Carifta Games champ Jahzeel Murphy (10.27 for 100) won't be running as he's hurt but he should be ready for World Youth.

Was Wanjiru Murdered? Case Still A Mystery

*Doctor Says That Sammy Wanjiru Did Not Die From Balcony Fall But From A "Fatal Hit To The Back Of The Head" "Medical experts have zeroed in on two possible scenarios that could have led to the death of Olympics champion Samuel Wanjiru three weeks ago - and they both point to murder." That's one doctor's opinion but this thing is far from settled.
*In Pictures: Life Of Sammy Wanjiru Sammy looks so young wearing his Olympic gold. We guess that makes sense since he won at age

If You Want To Get Into Barefoot Running Or Are Constantly Injured, Read This
The Barefoot Running Debate: Born To Run, Shoes & Injury: The Latest Thinking The Science Of The Sport guys look at everything you'd ever want to know about barefoot running: the arguments for and against, why your shoes might increase chances for injury, who should/how to make the transition to barefoot, and more.

2011 Pre Classic *Results *Friday Photos *Saturday Photos *Post-Race LRC Interviews *LRC Recaps: *Saturday *Friday 30k WR *Friday 10k/5k

LRC Prefontaine Saturday Distance Scoop: Lagat, Kaki And Sinclair Impress, Lukas Verzbicas Gets High School Record The distance races at Prefontaine were stellar as always. Bernard Lagat won the men's 2 mile with his patented kick, Lukas Verzbicas smashed the high school 2 mile record, 5 guys went sub-3:50 in the mile, Kenia Sinclair ran a world leader to win the 800m over Caster Semenya, and Abubaker Kaki ran the first 1:43 in the history of Hayward Field. Plus, the Oregon 800m crew disappointed, and more. We have analysis, video, post-race reaction and results.

Saturday Recap From Eugene Register-Guard
Eugene is not known for its sprinting, but the top marks were in the men's and women's 100m. The results made us scratch our heads (13 of the 16 ran seasonal bests, which we attributed to the legal tailwinds) and apparently even Usain Bolt, who tweeted "Listen to me ppl that's the same track last US trial was kept and everybody ran fast and them they couldn't repeat."

Friday Night At Pre

LRC Moses Mosop Smashes 30k World Record And He And Renato Canova Say He Can Run 2:02 For The Marathon Moses Mosop put on an exhibition to smash the world record at the Prefontaine 30,000m. Not only did he run a 63-second lap on his 45th lap of the race, but he aferwards talked of a 2:02 marathon in Chicago and his coach Renato Canova said a 2:02 is possible next year.

LRC Pre 5,000m And 10,000m: Rupp Doesn't Start, Solinsky Stops, Mo Farah Shocks, Vivian Cheruiyot Wins Again The men's 10,000m was the most shocking race of the night. The much-hyped American showdown between Chris Solinsky and Galen Rupp did not take place, as Galen Rupp did not toe the line despite warming up. Chris Solinsky then dropped out before two miles and before it was all done, Mo Farah, who had had been near last place early on, pulled a huge upset and defeated the strongest 10,000m field since the World Champs. Interesting post-race comments from Solinsky, Alberto, and Mo. In the women's 5,000m, Vivian Cheruiyot showed she's the top female track distance runner on the planet.Chris Solinsky, Mo Farah, Shalane Flanagan And Alberto Salazar Reaction At 2011 Pre Classic Distance Night In Eugene

It's Time We Revisit The Yuppie Vs. Blue Collar Runner Debate - Blue Collar People Rejoice, You Have A New Leader

LRC 34-Year-Old "Regular Guy," Working Dad Khadevis Robinson Talks To LetsRun.com About Beating The World's Best In Rome KD has always been one of the best interviews in the sport, and now we feature him when he's on top of the world after his shock win in Rome. Robinson, who went to Rome in part last week as he wasn't sure he could even get a lane at the upcoming two US Golden League meets, has almost always worked in addition to running.

News From Oregon

American Stars In The News

Olympic Ticket Update

Get Off The Computer And Go For A Run - June 1st Was National Running Day

LRC The Week That Was Last week, Usain Bolt shocked the world by barely winning, whereas Khadevis Robinson shocked the world by winning convincingly, World XC champ Imane Merga picked up the track season right where he left the XC season, and two female stars trying to rebound from sub-par 2010s had totally different results, as Maryam Yusuf Jamal shined and Sanya Richards-Ross struggled. Paula Radcliffe returned after an 18-month hiatus and struggled as well. Along the way, the NCAA regionals were held and Vin Lananna complained about the format even though his men and AJ Acosta greatly benefited from it. Along the way, Jos Hermens may have jinxed his star pupil Yenew Alamirew, who turned 21 last week.

News From Overseas

Doping News

Paula Radcliffe Returns To Action After 18 Months Away

Paula's Return Is A "Bit Of A Disaster" & Results In Tears At Finish The marathon world record holder hadn't raced in 18 months and her much-anticipated return to action went horribly wrong. A tear in one of the discs in her back resulted in her generating no power and running a slower pace for 10k than she'd like for a marathon (33:17). Radcliffe: "I didn’t have any power."
*IAAF Recap Of Bupa London 10,000 - Jo Pavey And Mo Farah Win *MBoard: Paula third Mo wins
*Radcliffe Rules Out World Champs And Reveals That In Addition To Back Problems She Has Been Hampered By Bronchitis, Which Flared Up Her Asthma
*Radcliffe: Back Problem Keeps Me From Training On The Track
*Recommended Listen: BBC Audio Interview Of Teary Radcliffe, Who Says She Was "Embarrassed" But Explains Her Medical Problem Radcliffe says her track sessions had been a struggle, but her road sessions had been good.
*Racers Give Olympic Course A Thumbs Up It's interesting note that this says the Olympic marathon will be run at 11 am to placate Japanese and US television audiences.
*Pavey Will Decided On World Championship Marathon In Next Few Days Did we even mention that Brit Jo Pavey won the race?
Pre-Race: Paula Radcliffe Returns To Action Monday At BUPA London 10k

2011 Bolder Boulder *Elite Results With Mile Splits

US Women Use Slow-Start Strategy To Finish Surprising 2nd As Ryan Hall Runs 30:29 Amy Hastings (34:19) led the US women with a 4th-place showing individually in a race that was dominated by Lineth Chepkurui (32:29). James Carney (30:16) was the #1 American man over Ryan Hall (30:29), as Crescent City winner Belete Assefa won in 29:22. For comparison's sake, in 2008, Hall ran 30:07 at Bolder Boulder. MBoard: Bolder Boulder Race Coverage
*Pre-Race: US Women Were Actually Strategizing For A Win *Ryan Hall Back At Bolder Boulder, But With More Reasonable Expectations
*Recommended Read Q&A With Bolder Boulder Founder Frank Shorter Shorter talks about his most courageous race and says he still runs an hour every day.

Doping News

LRC John Kellogg Explains How He "Predicted" The Unpredictable - A Sub-2:03:59 In Boston LetsRun.com's coaching guru explains the rationale behind his non-prediction that is making waves around the globe. Years of timed out-and-back and straight-shot tempos with the wind in Waco, Texas (and other windy Texas venues) proved invaluable to his understanding the effects of the wind. JK took a stab at converting the Boston performances by Mutai and Hall to London and Berlin and even reveals what would happen if the Boston Mutai raced the London Mutai.

The Sport Loses A Legend *Grete Waitz's NYC Marathon Results

Grete Waitz Loses Battle With Cancer Waitz is best known for being a 9-time New York City Marathon champion, a class act, and a pioneer in the sport, but she also was a 4:00 1,500m runner and an 8:31 3,000m runner. As a kid, watching her on ABC win NYC every year was one of the site founders' earliest running memories. She will be missed. Thanks to Leo Kulinski for the photo. Another one here.
*Pay Your Respects In This Thread

Virgin London Marathon *Watch Full Race On Demand *Photos

LRC Emmanuel Mutai Runs The Best 10km Ever In A Marathon To Destroy The Field & Arrive As One Of The World's Best A lead pack that was a who's who of marathoning went through 30km together, but soon the race would be nothing but a coronation for Emmanuel Mutai, who destroyed the field with a 28:44 4th 10k and ended up with a 2:04:40 course record. Almost as big of a story as Mutai's incredible run was the fact that the 2nd placer ended up being one of the all-time greats - Martin Lel - who shocked even himself in his first marathon since Beijing 2008. American Jason Lehmkuhle was the only elite American finisher as the three rookie American marathoners went out too fast and blew up - none worse than Mo Trafeh, who ran with the lead pack for 15 km.

LRC
Women's Marathoning Has A New Star Named Mary Keitany Keitany knocked nearly 10 minutes off her personal best and knocked Liliya Shobukhova off her pedestal as the best in the world, as Keitany ran the first sub-2:20 since 2008 and made mincemeat of "undoubtedly" of the strongest women's field in London history. All together, a record 22 women broke 2:30 - but that didn't include US Olympian Magdalena Lewy-Boulet.

April Fools News

LetsRun's 2011 April Fools Edition

Tokyo Marathon: A Legend Is Born *Photos

Hailu Mekonnen Wins, Japanese Amateur Yuki Kawauchi Runs Amazing 2:08:37 For 3rd And Faints At Finish Yuki Kawauchi's story is amazing. A 13:59 5ker and 29:02 10ker, he has a full-time job and has stayed away from the Japanese collegiate and professional system, yet he stunned all of Japan with a 2:08:37 run. Dreams do become reality.
*On The Boards: 13:59 5k, 29:02 10k Japanese AMATEUR Runs 2:08:37 at Tokyo Marathon and Passes Out

The 10 Best High School XC Runners Ever

LRC Week That Was: The 10 Best High School XC Runners Of All Time, Verzbicas, Tribute To Gary Reed, The NY Times & The NE Patriots And More We've got the entire running world covered from San Diego to Japan, from the high school ranks to the pros, and even talk about the NE Patriots and the NY Times.

5 Recommended Reads

More News From Last Weekend (Including Some Stuff We Missed)

San Diego And Other Weekend Results

Upcoming

Olympics & TV
*
Rupert Murdoch & Fox Want Olympics For 2016 and 2020 He thinks if you are going to spend a ton, you need some time to market it to the public and we agree.
*
The Olympics Is A "High-Reward Gamble" For Television Networks Bidders have to bid so much, so far in advance, it is hard to determine how profitable it will end up being 4-5 years down the road.
*A Breakdown Of Bidders For US Olympic TV Rights NBC vs. Fox vs. ESPN.

Freihofer's & Other Results

Pre Saturday On The Boards *Full Results

Non-Pre Results/Upcoming Action

A Lot Of Other Stellar Action This Weekend Outside Of Pre

San Diego: Meb (And Martin Lel) Returning To San Diego To Run This Weekend's Dodge Rock N Roll Half Marathon No one is making a big deal of it, but Meb is facing the incredible Martin Lel (2nd at London) in the half.
*Hansons-Brooks Distance Project Ready To Build On Boston Success In San Diego

Three Recommended Reads Because All Three Articles Are Very Entertaining And Are About More Than Running

1) Molly Huddle And Kim Smith To Both Race In New York The Weekend Of 2011 ING New York City Marathon Huddle will race a new 5k the day before the 2011 ING New York City marathon, whereas Smith will run the marathon (as well as an upcoming 10k, which is good news, as she's almost healed after being injured in Boston). We were hoping that Huddle was going to run the marathon as well - many Americans will be skipping fall and spring marathons to get ready or recover for the Trials. Please click on this article to see who won the Tug of War Contest - Huddle or Smith.

2) As AJ Acosta's College Career Comes To An End; He And The AJ Nation Will Be Leaving Behind A Huge Legacy At Oregon This article is a fantastic recap of AJ's impact at the U of O. The writer clearly understands AJ as well as LetsRun.com, as he called AJ "perhaps the most quotable individual in any Oregon sport." That certainly has to be true. However, our favorite line of the story was this: "The denizens of the forums at LetsRun.com - the country's premier track and field website, covering professionals and amateurs alike - took to their keyboards." To read more about the AJ Nation, click here or here.

3) AP: Wallace Spearmon Wants In On Tyson Gay/Usain Bolt Rivalry At 200m
Spearmon, who currently is hurt and swimming as an Achilles injury heals, wants in on the biggest rivalry in track and field. Spearmon: "When we first started off, there was Bolt, Tyson and myself. I beat them, they beat me." The article also talks about his Twitter fight with NFL star Chris Johnson, who responded to Spearmon with the classic line of: "Beat bolt then holla at me."

Important News From Kenya

Australia's Leading Men Get Some Much-Deserved Publicity

Ostrava & Usain Bolt On Tuesday *Results *Photos

Ostrava: Bolt Wins Again With 9.91, Veronica Campbell Brown Blasts 10.76 PR Usain Bolt got the attention like he always does and ran 9.91 for the second time in a week, but this time into a headwind. Veronica Campbell Brown (VCB), however, had the performance of the night. She blasted a 10.76 100m. Last year, she had the top 100 and 200 times in the year despite racing infrequently.

Bolt's 9.91:

Sammy Wanjiru Will Probably Be Buried On Wednesday According To His Wishes - Wanjiru Loved Wednesday, As He Supposedly Won Several Marathons On A Wednesday The only problem is Wanjiru never ran a marathon on a Wednesday from what we can tell. Meanwhile, the article also says his Mom has asked for a lawyer to be removed as the head of his burial committee, as she represented Sammy and his wife in matters and is biased.

Recommended Read/Free Coaching Advice
Struggling AJ Acosta Tells How He Was Able To Qualify For NCAAs In 1,500 After Finishing 7th At PAC-10s - "I treated (regionals) as the NCAA final." We like this article, as it provides great advice to up-and-coming mid-d runners. AJ apparently share some of our same beliefs about mid-d racing. Remember: 1) It always opens up and 2) Don't kick too early. "I didn't want to make the same mistake I made at PAC-10s, which was all-out with 300 meters to go. I kind of closed my eyes a little bit and was telling myself to be patient, something will open up, because I didn't want to swing out to lane three. I told myself just be patient, it will open up, it will open up, it will open up."

Weekend Action *Hengelo Photos *Hengelo Results *Senegal Results

Hengelo: Maryam Jamal Runs 4:00 World Leader In 1,500m, Dayron Robles Shows It's A 3-Man Battle In 110 Hurdles With 13.07 Win This is always one of the better non DL meets, but the withdrawal of Kenenisa Bekele and David Rudisha with injuries hurt. *Results

Comrades:
Stephen Muzhingi Becomes First Man To 3-Peat, Elena Nurgalieva Recovers From Fall To Beat Her Twin Sister

Hypo Götzis: World Champs Jessica Ennis And Trey Hardee Dominate Heptathlon And Decathlon At Götzis

Canada: Taylor Milne Sets Canadian 2,000m Record Of 5:01.37

Ottawa:

Rome Diamond League *Results *Photos *IAAF Recap

LRC: Usain Bolt Nips Powell, Khadevis Robinson Storms From Last To First To Shock The World In 800 47,000 fans and a worldwide television audience were focused on the Usain Bolt-Asafa Powell showdown and it did not disappoint, as Usain Bolt - who said he was nervous for the first time ever - overtook Asafa Powell in the final meters. The surprise of the evening was the men's 800m, where 8 time US champion, 34-year-old Khadevis Robinson put on a stunning display the final 250m, going from last to first to win (video here). Last year, KD was rabbiting Golden League races, now he's winning them. In other action, Allyson Felix went sub-50 to defeat Sanya Richards-Ross in the 400 and world XC Champ Imane Merga showed his great finish in the 5,000m, running 12:54 and throwing down the gauntlet to Bernard Lagat, whom he'll race in 25 weeks in NYC. Sara Hall had a 9-second PR to get a Worlds and Olympic qualifier in the steeple and Christin Wurth Thomas led the women's 1,500 at the bell before finishing 6th in a qualifying 4:03.72.
More Rome:

Time To Learn Some T&F History - 40 Years Ago, Jim Ryun & Marty Liquori Ran A Dream Mile In Philly & It More Than Lived Up To The Hype

"The Road Of Death"

Feature On Somali Runners Training Each Day On "Road Of Death" For London 2012 (Video) The video shows how some Somali athletes avoid gunfire each day to realize their dream of competing and winning at the 2012 Games. *LRC MB: Top Video on MSNBC Is Feature on Somali Runners Training Each Day on 'Road of Death' For London 2012

Boston Marathon *Live Boston Thread *Women's Reaction *Men's Reaction
*Video Highlights *Weather *Photos

One For The Ages In Boston: Desiree And The Fastest Marathon Ever Run "Unbelievable" is probably the best way to describe the 2011 Boston Marathon. First, American Desiree Davila, off the back of the lead pack multiple times, was gutsy as hell, battling for the win with Caroline Kilel down the final straight. There were 4 lead changes on the final straight before Kilel came out on top. In the men's race, American Ryan Hall ran 2:04:57 and lost by nearly 2 minutes. Yes, ladies and gentleman, Geoffrey Mutai and Moses Mosop ran faster than anyone else ever before the in the marathon, 2:03:02 and 2:03:06 respectively, thanks in part to 20 mph tailwinds. Mutai cemented his status as the strongest runner on the planet with the win. We give you some post-race comments below but purposely are holding off discussing the wind.

2011 World XC *Results *New Women's Race Photos *New Men's Race Photos

LRC: Shalane Flanagan Gets Bronze The Olympic bronze medallist and ING NYC Marathon runner-up ran a stellar race to snatch the bronze versus a star-studded field. Flanagan appeared to be dropped with 2km to go, but dug deep to stay in contention and battle back for the bronze. World 5,000m champ Vivian Cheruiyot pulled away from World 10,000m champ Linet Masai for gold. The American women did very well to get a repeat bronze medal.

Men: Imane Merga Blasts Away From Four Kenyans In Sprint To Win The Kenyan men dominated the team competition and had 4 of the top 5 guys in the pack for the sprint the final 400m. However, the lone Ethiopian - Imane Merga, the Diamond League 5,000m champion - got the win the Kenyan nation wants most every year. Ben True was the first American in 36th, as he and fellow Ivy Leaguer Max King were America's two best.

Sad News

Sad News: Sally Meyerhoff Killed In Cycling Accident The two-time All-American and US Olympic Trials qualifier as well former US champion at 25km was killed on Tuesday in a cycling accident at the young age of 27 while she trained for the Ironman World Championship. *LRC MB: Sad News: Sally Meyerhoff Killed in Accident
*Abc15.com Article With Video On Meyerhoff's Death
*More Sad News: Florida High School Track Athlete Sarah Landauer Dies After Collapsing At Practice

Lagat Wins 2 Mile At Pre, Verzbicas Gets HS Record!!! (More Coverage Here)

Definitely The Interview Of Friday Night - An Upset Solinsky (If You Were Gone Over the Weekend, Read All About It Here, Men's 30k WR and 2:02 Marathon Prediction Here, Saturday Pre-Distance Recap Here)

Alberto On Galen Not Starting, Mo Winning

Moses Mosop Says He Can Run A 2:02 Marathon (Renato Canova Says The Same Thing Here)

Photos Of The Week

  1. Jerry Buss Track & Field Photo Album Buss, the 77-year-old owner of the Lakers, is notorious for dating much younger women, and in all the photos of him at USC track meets the last two years, he's seated next to a much younger woman. Surprised no one has discussed this on our forums. No doubt Phil Jackson is upset. *LA Lakers Owner Jerry Buss Is Track Fan Who Knows The Name Of Oregon Sprinter English Gardner
  2. African 10k Champ Wilson Kiprop Wins 10k In Iten In 28:55 Be sure to check out the photo of the timing clock being powered by a car battery.

KD Wins 800m In Rome (More Here)

Usain Bolt Nips Asafa Powell (More Here)

Train Smarter (More In The Training Forum)

Everyone Might Want To Watch 60 Minutes On Sunday

George Hincapie, Like A "Brother" To Lance Armstrong, Reportedly Testified Armstrong Doped A day after Olympic champ (and liar and cheat) Tyler Hamilton said Lance Armstrong doped, George Hincapie, who is like a "brother" to Lance, reportedly told the grand jury Lance doped. This is big news because many, including just today The Ticket (a top 5 sports radio station in America), said if someone who was more credible like Hincapie came forward, it would bear more weight.

Tyler Hamilton Confession Letter He explains to his friends why he lied for so long.

Remembering Sammy Wanjiru (News On Events Surrounding His Death In Left-Hand Column)

LRC RIP Sammy Wanjiru: The World's Greatest Marathoner Has Died Yesterday in the article above, we paid tribute to Sammy's incredible career and now athletes, journalists, and industry insiders are all paying their respects to the incredible marathoner Sammy Wanjiru.

Train Smarter (More In Our Training Forum)

Stanford Photo Gallery

London 2011 Photos

Boston (Updated Photo Gallery Below) *Recap Analysis: *JK On The Wind *Wejo On Desiree *Rojo *London And Boston *Video Highlights

Desiree Davila Pure Guts

Women's World XC In Photos

Men's World XC In Photos

Train Smarter (More In The Training Forum)

Relive Men's NCAAs: *Recap *Results *Photos *New (2nd Photo Album Added Here)

Great Deals

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