LetsRun.com

The Greatest Streak in Sports?

LRC Harrison Lakehomer Wins His Second Straight Puma LRC Prediction Contest Harrison Lakehomer has entered the rare territory of Joe Dimaggio's 54 game hitting streak, Edwin Moses' 122 straight hurdle wins, and Cal Ripkens' 2,632 straight games played. Lakehomer followed up his win in the LRC Puma NCAA Prediction Contest by winning the LRC Puma Marathon Trials Contest. We recap the contest and tell you his amazing story, plus talk about our men's winner (inspired by Geoffrey Mutai in NYC to take up running seriously) and women's winner (his mom was a World XC team member and his dad an NCAA champ at Villanova). Plus at last, the thing you've all been waiting for:
*The 12 Days of LetsRun.com Explained

Good And Bad News From Japan

• The Good: This Weekend 2004 Olympic Marathon Champ Mizuki Noguchi Returns To The Marathon & She's Obviously Very Excited About It "I can train hard again now. t's good to be back.....It's not a question of whether or not I'm near my old form. I'm there. I'm going to be running full-strength, like it hasn't been four years, and I'm going to reach my goal of a place at the London Olympics."
• And The Bad: Russian Tatyana Aryasova Stripped of 2011 Tokyo Marathon Title After Testing Positive for Masking Agent Japan Running News' Brett Larner wonders if this could just bet the tip of the iceberg as she shares the same agent with the world's #1 marathoner - Liliya Shobukhova.
  
  More Doping News: Former Wada Head Dick Pound decries delays in HGH testing for NFL

Good & Bad News From Ethiopia

• The Good: After Apology, Bekele & Others Have Suspensions Lifted The Ethiopian federation is still acting like they are in charge: "They [the athletes] have pledged to respect the body's directives from now on."
  *AP: Bekele & 34 Others Cleared
• And The Bad: AP: Bekele & 34 Others Cleared

Shalane Flanagan Surprise Molly Seidel At HS And Gives Her Gatorade National Cross Country Runner of the Year Trophy

LJ Beauty Darya Klishina Blog About Completing Sports Degree Some have called her the Anna Kournikova of track, but that's inaccurate as she actually cares about performing and is good, not just good looking. She's also not as good looking as Kournikova.

Crazy NRR Link Of Day: Shark Seen Swimming Just Meters Away From Ironwomen Triathletes

Lagat Vs. The Collegians

Strong Field Set For Millrose 5,000m As American, NCAA And HS Records All Could Go Down Bernard Lagat will be taking on the best collegians as he goes for Galen Rupp's American Indoor record of 13:11.44, while NCAA XC Champ Lawi Lalang, Elliot Heath, Leonard Korir and Chris Derrick will try to break Rupp's collegiate record (13:18.12). At the same time, Edward Cheserek will take a shot at Lukas V's 14:06.78 HS record (it's time we started recognizing high school records by Americans). Sam Chelanga and a slew of top international runners will also be in the field. *RRW Article

Don't Forget This Saturday: Bernard Lagat Vs. Silas Kiplagat Vs. Dan Komen In The Mile At Madison Square Garden One of the best indoor miles in the US in a long time. Kiplagat was world silver medallist last year. This announcement didn't get the attention it deserved.

Ethiopia's Track Federation Plans To Lift The Suspension On Kenenisa Bekele

This Weekend:
*Olympic PV Champ Steve Hooker Opening Season At Adelaide Track Classic
*2008 Olympic Marathon Champ Constantina Dita Vs. 2004 Champ Mizuki Noguchi At Sunday's Osaka Int'l Women's Marathon This race is used as one of the selection races for Japan's Olympic team.

The Big Interview: Dathan Ritzenhein

LRC Ritz Reflects On The Trials, His Years With Alberto, And Looks To The Future 24 hours after Dathan Ritzenhein just missed making the 2012 the Olympic Marathon team, a frank but more upbeat Ritz sat down and talked with LetsRun.com. He looked back on the Trials race ("I ran pretty good. It just was not enough.") and back on the last three years with Alberto ("He is a very smart, very passionate guy more than anything. He will find the way." and "There's been many times when we've screwed up.") before looking ahead to both the immediate future ("The Olympics is everything.") and farther down the road ("I do love the marathon, but I think I love being good better ... I want to succeed at what I'm going to be best at."). A confident Ritz has big plans for the future. A must read (or watch) if we can say so ourselves. Plus we give you splits of the last 3.2 miles in Houston.

Sunday XC Action *Good Recap Of Weekend XC

• EAA Review Of European Weekend XC Action Kenya's 2k steeple World Youth champ Conseslus Kipruto wins in Hannut as Belgium's SPAR Euro XC champ Atelaw Bekele only finished 5th.
• World Half Marathon Champ Wilson Kiprop Wins Over Deep Field In Discovery Kenya XC Meet Geoffrey Mutai and 3rd all-time half marathoner Matthew Kisorio were a close 2-3, while Asbel Kiprop ran with the lead group before fading to 8th place. Joyce Jepkurui won the women's race over Priscah Jeptoo. After this, Wilson Kiprop says he's looking to make Kenya's Olympic 10k team.
• World XC Silver Medallist Paul Tanui Wins Spain XC Meet He won over World XC Jr. Champ Geoffrey Kipsang and 2008 World XC silver medallist Leonard Komon. Ethiopia's Wude Ayalew Yimer won the women's race.

Japanese Ekiden News

*Recap Of Inter-Prefectural Ekiden: Team Hyogo FTW Interesting concept where the team consists of runners from all age groups: Jr. high, high school, and either college or pros. *IAAF Article
*Japan Girls HS Team Almost Runs Down The Pros In Kitakyushu Invitational Women's Ekiden Came close to an upset, as Ritsumeikan Uji HS was only 18 seconds behind pro team Tenmaya.

Martin Fagan Continues To Generate News In Irish Media

• Article Takes A Look At The "Hard Road" Many Irish Athletes Take When They Leave Home To Go To College In The US Liam Reale: "I think there's a misconception about what it's like. It sounds great. Four years on scholarship, your education and accommodation paid for. But they don't see the sacrifices. They don't know what it's like to uproot yourself and enter a whole new culture. It's great when racing is going well and you're on top of the world. But all it takes is an injury or one bad run and everything changes. The loneliness of the long distance runner is so true. It can be a dark, dark place at times."
• Martin Fagan: "Running Down A Blind Alley" "On one level I have a lot of sympathy for Martin Fagan. And on another I have none at all." This article believes that he wasn't using EPO in the past, but doesn't support his excuses.
• "Something Amiss When The Greatest Joy Is In Stopping" Includes a quote where Fagan says he's just happy to wake up and not have to run.

London Marathon Goes To Iten

Virgin London Marathon, Which Made 2012 Athlete Announcements In Kenya, Is Giving Back To Iten, Eldoret Communities

LRC Photo Of The Day: Virgin London Marathon Fields Announced From Iten, Kenya We didn't realize London was in Iten to announce its 2012 fields. Very cool.

Yesterday: London Does It Again Emmanuel Mutai To Try To Defend London Title Against World Record Holder Patrick Makau & Slew Of Other Top African Talent

Trouble In Ethiopia

Update: Ethiopian Athletics President Says Bekele Will Be Allowed To Compete At Olympic If He Shows Up For Training

"Let me run for another country," Says Bekele After Federation Bans Ethiopians From London 2012 The article includes a lot of quotes from superagent Jos Hermens, who said the following about Haile G: "Haile is not on the banned list, but he is a very wise man ... Maybe he has gone along to one or two sessions and shaken a few hands."
*Bekele Offers Excuse For Not Reporting To Camp - "I'm injured." Even though Bekele competed earlier this month, he says he's still hurt. "My injury is quite serious and I would not be able to bring back the performance of old for the time being. I'm only receiving a combination of treatment and training at the moment. It will take weeks before I return to ordinary training, and some two to three months before I return to competition."
*LRC Kenenisa Bekele, Tirunesh Dibaba, And 33 Other Ethiopians Banned By Federation The Ethiopian Federation has raised its iron fist and banned 35 of its top athletes, including top stars Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba for not following orders and reporting for national team training as they get ready for London 2012. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, but ultimately we think the athletes are stronger than the Federation. *List Of 35 Banned Athletes

If Only All Drug Cheats Were Treated This Harshly
British Sprinter Gets 4-Year Ban For Doping Because She Took Multiple Drugs And Then Made False Allegations Against Testers In Her Defense If you don't think drugs work, realize she went from 12.0 in 2008 to 11.4 in 2011.

Bring Back The Mile Officially Launches For years, we (and many in the sport) have wondered why the mile isn't the #1 distance event in the land and why it's not run instead of the 1,500 or 1,600. Finally, someone has decided to do something about it.
*Bringing Buzz Back To The Mile *Discuss *Like On Facebook

The Kenyan Olympic Marathon Team *MB: Kenya's Marathon Squad first cut

• Recommended Read: AK's Decision To Hold Off Naming Full Olympic Marathon Squad Gets Mixed Reactions "Rather than assuage the complex mathematics these runners go through at the beginning of the every season, AK's decision to name Olympics probables has just thrown more jigsaw pieces at the named dozen." It's understandable why some (such as Abel Kirui and Patrick Makau) who were already "named" to the team are bitter about being in this position now. Also, for anyone who was really hoping for a Kenyan Olympic Marathon Trials, AK says no dice.
• Mary Keitany Says Will Race One More Marathon In The Spring Before Team Is Named
• Profile On The 6 Men Selected As Probables *Profile On The Women

US Pro News

LRC Jenny Simpson Talks About Winning Worlds And Looks Ahead To 2012 Jenny was on a teleconference to talk about her 2011 Championships, her upcoming indoor campaign, and the 2012 season. She was the World Champion in 2011 despite having a lot of setbacks. What's in store for 2012? Plus in a rare LetsRun.com moment, we have some praise for Mary Slaney*, who ran 4:00.8 as a 21-year-old at Madison Square Garden. Who says you can't run fast at the Garden? *We usually point out Slaney has a drug conviction on her record and receive hate mail.

• Jenny Simpson And Shannon Rowbury Headline Women's Wanamaker Metric Mile Also includes Matt Centrowitz's sister Lauren, and Maggie Infeld, as well as many others.
• Nick Symmonds' $11,100 Tattoo Bidders Revealed The winning bid was an active lifestyle marketing firm called Hanson Dodge Creative.
• "Millrose" At The Armory: 5 Women Olympians In The 400m Includes Sanya Richards-Ross and Natasha Hastings.

Really, IAAF? 2009 African Jr. 800 Champ Mohamed Aman Geleto DQed For Being Too Young There are WRs set by essentially known dopers which still stand, "17-year-old" Kenyans winning World Junior titles, but they choose to focus time and energy on DQing a 15-year-old from 2009 because he was 10 days too young. Priorities?

Martin Fagan Gets 2-Year Ban

• Martin Fagan Gets 2-Year Doping Ban Since he immediately admitted guilt, they set the ban from his test date in December rather than his court date in January.
• Ireland's Independent: "If Fagan had not been caught, would he have owned up before the Olympics?" There has been a lot of sympathy for Fagan and his troubles with depression, but this article comes down hard on him and questions his story. "Irish athletes, and their sport, are in denial. None of them appear to understand that Fagan's actions are the sort that will continue to undermine and cast doubt on their own achievements."
• Anthony Famiglietti Blogs About Martin Fagan's Drug Bust And How Doping Hurts Athletes/Sport In General "Whatever the specific motivation or excuse behind their actions, the intention simply and clearly is to cheat the athletes that they compete against."

Recommended Read: NY Times Article On Australia's LJer Mitchell Watt, Who Quit Track For 5 Years But Came Back And Got 2nd At The World Champs Apparently he was convinced to keep competing by a "12 page email" from his coach.

US Men's Olympic Trials Marathon News *LRC Vote Totals *Men's Results *Women's Results *Mile-By-Mile Splits *Yahoo Flash Photos *LRC Puma Prediction Contest Scores Coming

LRC Men's Marathon Trials Analysis And Reaction The 2012 Trials race was a classic. We throw some love to the top 3, ponder Ritz's future in the marathon, tell you who had the best debut, and tell you who that guy you never heard of was. Plus we talk about Meb's 74-year-old badass dad and look at the fortune of some old timers who didn't make the team, Josh Cox and Dan Browne, in addition to the ones who did (Meb and Abdi).

Sunday Update: 24-Hours-Later Update On Ritz: "I do love the marathon, but I think I love being good better." Ritz indicated he still loves the marathon and is not done with it. He also said, "I ran pretty good yesterday."

Race Recap: Meb Keflezighi Captures 2012 Olympic Trials Marathon Title

NY Times Recap: Meb Over Hall, Abdi Grabs 3rd Spot The race lived up to the billing as the top four all broke 2:10, whereas previously there had only been one sub-2:10 in OTM history. After a blistering first half (63:25), Meb Keflezighi got his 2nd PR in 69 days, as he ran 2:09:08 to win over Hall (2:09:30). A resurgent Abdirahman (2:09:47) hung on for the final Olympic spot in 2:09:47 over Ritzenhein, who broke 2:10:00 for the first time (2:09:55). In the process, Meb became the first American to make an Olympic marathon team 8 years after making it previously. Abdi had no idea until we talked to him that Martin Fagan, whom he trained with some this winter, had reportedly tested positive for EPO.
LRC Trials Live Thread Here

More Trials: *Meb's Coach Bob Larsen Not Surprised Meb Won LA Times
*Ryan Hall To Meb And Abdi: "I watched you guys make the Olympic team when I was in high school."
*After coming up eight seconds short in Olympic marathon trials, Ritzenhein ponders future Denver Post There is a message board thread on this as well. We talked to Ritz on Sunday.
*Somebody ought to lose their job at Nike, Meb Keflezighi wins Olympic Marathon Trials

Trials On The Boards:

• Ritz's 4th place a blessing in disguise?
• Surprises from the Trials
• Will Deena Kastor retire now?
• Will Trafeh ever finish a marathon?

Lance And LIVESTRONG

Outside Magazine Article Accuses LIVESTRONG Foundation "If Lance Armstrong went to jail and Livestrong went away, that would be a huge setback in our war against cancer, right? Not exactly, because the famous nonprofit donates almost nothing to scientific research." *MB: Livestrong expose in Outside magazine

Patrick Makau Reacts To Renato Canova's Comments That His WR Will Be Broken This Spring Makau: "It makes me wonder if the record is a preserve for some region, tribe or runners. What shocks me is that some people are speaking ill of me just because I broke the world record ... Let us not talk much but redeploy our energies on good training and skills that will power our legs to do the talking."

Alan Webb's Comeback Begins

Raffi Cote = Matt VanDenHengel
Alan Webb Returns With A 1:55.02 And Loses To A Senior From Gwynedd-Mercy College Whose PR Is 1:53.53 In his first race since April and his first race since dumping Alberto Salazar, American mile record holder Alan Webb busted the rust with a 2nd-place 1:55.02 performance in a race that was won by the previously unknown Matt VanDenHengel. For everyone writing off Mr. Webb, we remind you that "talent doesn't go away" and that two years ago, Galen Rupp similarly lost to a freshman walk-on in January in the 800 in a 1:54 race. Since then, Rupp has run 13:06, 26:48 and 60:30.
*Alan Webb Interview With Ian Brooks: "I had to start somewhere."
More: MB: *Webb runs 1:55.02 today at Armory *Alan Webb's 800m In 1:55 Was A Good Thing *Webb spotted in 800 at Armory *Rupp loses to freshman walk-on at 800

LRC Todd Morgan And Pete Watson To Be New Women's And Men's Cross-Country Coaches At UVA

Stars On the Comeback Trail

• Agent Jos Hermens Gives Great Insight Into Reasons Behind Kenenisa Bekele's Absence And Now His Comeback He says that Bekele is in some ways too talented for his own good as he was double world champ in 2009 on very limited training. He also said Bekele is spending $1 million of his own cash to build a soft track so he doesn't get hurt.
• After Hip Surgery, Lisa Dobriskey Thinks She Can Reclaim Sub-4 Form Of 2009 & 2010 In 2012

Sad News

Frank Horwill 1927-2012 Horwill founded the British Milers Club and coached Tim Hutchings (most of you in the US know him as the the really good British announcer on track TV broadcasts; his real claim to fame was a 4th in the 1984 Olympic 5k). BMC Remembrances here.
*IAAF Remembrance Here

The Running Story Of The Year

Japan Running News Recaps The Life And Career Of Sammy Wanjiru Barcelona Olympics marathon silver medalist Koichi Morishita: "The people who were supporting Sam were only motivated by the money flowing around him, not from the heart, and they didn't give him the kind of support he really needed. You hear a lot of disturbing things about his family too, his wife, and I can't help but think that he should have had more people around him who cared about his soul."

XC Action: Foot Locker *Boys Results *Girls Results *Boys Photos *Girls Photos *Full Girls Race Video *Full Boys Race Video

LRC Boys: Cheserek Outkicks Futsum For The Win This race lived up to its hype as the top 2 African-born stars went mano-a-mano until the final 100m. After a cat-and-mouse 9:50 opening 2 miles, their last 1.1 was run at a pretty quick pace (4:31 mile pace), but the winning time of 14:51.5 wasn't close to Reina's 14:36 CR.

LRC Girls: Molly Seidel Turns Back Tough Challenge From Erin Finn Seidel was the favorite, undefeated in 2011, but Finn was the top returner and Finn made it super-interesting as she opened up a big lead and even managed to regain the lead once Seidel caught her.

2011 NCAAs Are History *Men's Results *Women's Results *Entire Race Video Replays

Men: LRC Wisconsin Badgers Take Control Early As Lawi Lalang Dominates Lawi Lalang waited until 5k before deciding it was time to crush the competition once and for all, while #1 Wisconsin showed no fear and put a stranglehold on the competition from the very beginning and held off a belated charge from Oklahoma State and a surprising Colorado team as the Cowboys tried to three-peat. American Chris Derrick took home individual runner-up honors to cap a brilliant career in style. *Discuss

More: Wisco #1: *Give 'em five: Badgers lay claim to program's fifth national title *Krause earns redemption as Badgers storm to fifth national title host.madison.com
OSU #2: *Dave Smith Calls Loss "Disappointing" - But Expected www.okstate.com
Colorado #3: *Wetmore Calls Medina Most Improved Runner In Country www.denverpost.com *CU Coach Mark Wetmore Pleased With Buffs 3rd-Place Run
Individual: Coach Li - I Think Lalang Would Have Got Course Record If He Was Pushed www.arizonawildcats.com

USATF Sticks It To Millrose
Arkansas Will Once Again Host Visa Championship Series Meet - The USATF Classic Will Take Place Same Day As Millrose And Be Broadcast on ESPN A stellar field has been assembled as Galen Rupp will run the men's 2 mile, Silas Kiplagat and Leo Manzano will battle in the men’s mile, world champ Kirani James will run the 400m, American record holder and World Outdoor bronze medalist Jillian Camarena-Williams and USA Outdoor champion Michelle Carter will battle in the shot put, Shawn Crawford, Richard Thompson and Churandy Martina will run in the men’s 60m, and world champion Brittney Reese, Olympic medalist Hyleas Fountain, Marshevet Hooker and Funmi Jimoh are in the women’s long jump. Full fields and more stars will be announced soon but we think this is as a development worth celebrating and hence the picture (sorry Rupp fans).

Don't Writer Her Off Just Quite Yet
Recommended Read After Falling Off The Map in 2011, Ann Pierce Is Talking Big At Start Of 2012 As She's Hoping to Het the AR in the 1k in Boston. Pierce, who had a disastrous 2011, talks big about 2012 as she's figured out what caused the 3:59 runner to only run 4:10 last year. Does your doctor ever tell you not take antibiotics unless you absolutely have to? Well apparently there is a reason: "It kind of ended up being an overgrowth of a yeast or a bad bacteria in my body that was a repercussion from having taken all those antibiotics over the years." We're excited she's back as it makes the women's 1,500 even more exciting but we just hope she doesn't run 50-flat in the 400.

We 100% Agree
Nick Symmonds Says Athletes Need To Stop Beiing Lazy and 100% Self-Focused & Start Promoting The Sport "I’m calling myself out here. I was as lazy as anyone. For the last six years, I was content to train hard, hide in my house and rest between workouts, and do little to nothing to engage our fans and grow our fan base. I figured that I was doing enough by just training hard and running fast. I no longer feel that way." Nick must have been reading LRC of late as we've been saying for months that the everyone in track (US Open/MSG People) and the whole world needs to stop doing what is only in their best interest and think about something larger than themselves)

College News

• Miles Batty Says He Wants Collegiate Record In Mile At Armory Hard to believe that Batty had never broken four until last year when he ran 3:55. Trivia. What is the CR in the indoor mile and who holds it? This will shock you - German Fernandez - 3:55.02.
• Oregon Dilemma: Will Ducks Go Hard For 3rd Straight Indoor Title Considering Their Stars Jordan Hasay and Brianne Theisen Are Olympic Hopefuls? It's a good question to ask but without a staggering breakthrough Hasay basically has zero shot of 1st getting Olympic A and then beating two of the following Uceny, Rowbury, Simpson and Wurth-Thomas.
• Arkansas' Chris Bucknam Is Pleased Hogs Are #1 In The Land He shouldn't be as it only raises expectations and knowing nothing about it, we think there is zero chance they win NCAAs.

News From Britain

• Holl Bleasdale Deservedly Steals The Headlines
  RR #2 Meet Britain's Newest Star - Holly Bleasdale - Is The Unknown Already Britain's 4th Best Athlete In History? That question seems ludicrous but only three Brits are higher up on the all-time list in their events - world record holders Paula Radcliffe and Jonathan Edwards as well as Sebastian Coe (#3 in 800) - as the 20 yr old who no-heighted at world's recently skied to #4 all-time over the weekend to make herself an Olympic contender. And to think, when the last Olympics concluded, she had never vaulted in her life. 
  *Daegu failure spurred me to greater heights, says Holly Bleasdale
• Rule #1 - Remember, Govts Can Print Money & Always Go Over Budget
  Brits Defend Decision To DOUBLE $64 million Olympic Opening Ceremony Budget "There will never be an opportunity like this in our history." Apparently, they have forgotten that the Olympics have occurredin the UK 4 times in the lAst 104 years. 
• Ridiculous: Even newborns need tickets to attend 2012 Olympics We're not sure what is more ridiculous- someone wanting to charge a newborn or someone wanting to take a newborn?
  

US News

• Runner Space Interview With New UVA Coach Peter Watson
• 3 New Members Added To USATF Board 4-time Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee, sports attorney Eve Wright and network television executive Mickey Carter.
• Interview With Andrew Carlson After His Debut Marathon (2:11), Which Landed Him 6th At The US Olympic Trials "I had the thought that it was my first one, but I didn't give myself that excuse because I'm 29 years old, I've run races up to 25K ..."
• Amby Burfoot Writes On What The US's Chances Are For A Marathon Medal In London "Why is it that the Hansons' runners are always everyone's favorites? First Brian Sell in 2008, now Davila in 2012. I guess the answer is simple enough: They weren't born fast, and they don't run in one of the glamour locations on one of the glamour teams. They just keep training hard and getting better."
• Jacob Blankenship Is Third HS PVer Over 17-4 This Season

Two Recommended Reads

• A Look Back At When Peter Snell Set The Mile WR, As Nick Willis Gets Ready To Race Mile In His Honor This Friday Peter Snell: "I found myself running in complete freedom from restraint. I was holding nothing back and I don't think I've ever felt such a glorious feeling of strength and speed without strain as I did during that final exhilarating 300 yards ... as I raced the last curve, I straightened, heard for the first time the rising roar of the crowd and kept on driving. Still, there was no conscious effort."
• Tom Bedford Blogs On The London Marathon's Experience In Iten, Kenya Includes pictures of the "Wall of Champions," which features paintings of each of Kenya's 12 London Marathon champs.

The Brits In Kenya - Farah Vs. Lagat

• Mo Farah Training In Kenya, Dodging Donkeys On The Track, And Relying On Paula Radcliffe To Tell Him When The Olympics Are Farah: "I didn't even look at the Olympic schedule, so I said to Paula, 'When are the Olympics?' I thought it was the end of August to, be honest." Mo, if you're reading this, the Opening Ceremonies are July 27th and the 10k final is August 4th.
• A Brief Chat With Bernard Lagat; Says He Thinks He's Ready To Take Back His 5k AR From Rupp (13:11) Compared to Mo Farah in the above article, Lagat's approach to training is very different. Lagat: "It's so funny. I go to bed late. I'm an 'after midnight' kind of guy and the following day ... All I need is just seven hours. A lot of guys go to bed at what, 10:00? ... And I take Sundays off."
  *Mo Farah Talks About Dealing With The Pressure Of Being The "Poster Boy" For The Olympics
  *2nd Article On Brits Training In Kenya Includes some quotes from Munich 5k bronze medallist Ian Stewart.
• Paula Radcliffe Admits To Being Paranoid About Injury While Training In Iten, Kenya
• "How An Irish Missionary Helped Put Kenya On Top" Brother Colm O'Connell coaches younger Kenyans and has coahed 4 Olympic and 25 World champions, including Olympic champ Peter Rono.

Saturday's Track Action *NB Pro Results *NB Men's Mile Video

NYC: Andy Baddeley Wins New Balance Elite Mile In 3:57, Edward Cheserek Runs 4:02 Cheserek's time was the second-fastest indoor mile by a student enrolled at a US high school.
*Strymar Livingston And Najee Glass Both Break 27-Year-Old High School 500m Record

Some Great Vaulting
New Olympic Favorite? 19-Year-Old Brit Holly Bleasdale Becomes An Olympic Contender With A 4.87 Vault (#2 Ever Indoors) She then took a crack at 5.01, the world record. Meanwhile, Yelena Isinbayeva, the only woman ever over 5.00, opened with a 4.70 vault.
*Some Quotes From UK's Holly Bleasdale She says that in the excitement of the moment, she didn't even get a real good attempt at the WR as she ran through twice. She says next time she'll be more prepared.

*UK HJer Robbie Grabarz Hits World Lead Of 2.34m Charles van Commenee: "If Holly and Robbie repeat this in the Olympic arena we will all be partying."

*Brad Walker Goes 19 Feet At Pole Vault Summit *PV Summit Results

Germany: David Storl's 21.24 Put Edges Reese Hoffa And Christian Cantwell In Germany

US: Texas A&M Men, LSU Women Win Dual (Results)

Saturday XC

Kenyan Armed Forces Champs: 35-Year-Old Mark Kiptoo & World Marathon Bronze Medalist Sharon Cherop Win Kenyan Armed Forces XC Champs With no World XC this year, it will be interesting to see how many Kenyans run the Kenyan XC Championships. Former World XC Champ Joseph Ebuya faded here to 24th.

N. Ireland: Antrim International XC: Fionnuala Britton Holds Off Gemma Steel, Mike Kigen Wins His Third Straight IAAF

Virgin London Does It Again!!!

Way Harder To Win Than The Olympics
Emmanuel Mutai To Try To Defend London Title Against World Record Holder Patrick Makau & Slew Of Other Top African Talent In addition to those two, 5-time world marathon champ Martin Lel will compete. In total, a ridiculous 10 - yes, TEN - sub-2:05:30 guys are in it.
*Race Takes Place Exactly 16 Weeks Before Olympics

Former NCAA Runners In The News

• After Setting A PR In 2011 Before Having A Flameout At Worlds, Nick Willis Is Upbeat Heading Into Olympic Year "What I do February, March, April, May will really determine what my chances are." Willis will start competing next week as the 50th anniversary of Peter Snell's 3:54.4 WR approaches.
• Former Butler Runner Ava Hutchinson Is Very Pumped With Her Olympic Qualifying 2:35 Run In Houston For Ireland The accomplishments of the Irish-coached athlete were overshadowed by Martin Fagan's positive.

1st IAAF Indoor Permit Meeting Of 2012 Is Next Weekend's US Open Meet At MSG The Millrose meet at the Armory didn't make the cut. *Series Website

White Lightning Lemaitre Says Schedule Is Too Tight, He Won't Try 100-200m Double In London

Recommended Read: Meet Jack Johnson - The Former Equipment Manager At Minnesota Lived A Simple But Beloved Life

RR#2 Former GA State Champ Jarry Wallace Is Pumped For Paralympics After Having His Leg Amputated After A Bad Case Of Compartment Syndrome

A Really, Really Bad Year Can Even Happen To An Elite
After Horrible 2011 That Included Injury, Illness, Divorce And A Med School Rejection, 2-Time World Champ Jana Pittman Is On Comeback Trail Even the greats have bad years.
*Pittman Says If She Can Get Into The Fnal, She Knows She's "a very good competitor."

Random Distance News

• Former FSU Star Ciaran O'Lionaird Asking Irish Fans To Donate To Support Him Financially (link fixed) We're not sure why he needs it, as he already gets $25,000 a year from the Irish government and we assume Nike must pay him something as well, as he is only in the most elite training group in the world with Alberto Salazar. But if he can get more power to him.
• Aussie 1,500 Star Ryan Gregson Blogs After 3 Of 4 Weeks At Altitude The man who beat Rudisha this year didn't turn 16 until 10 days after 2009 and therefore was too young. If only the IAAF DQed all of the overaged Kenyan XC squads.
• Popular HS Coach To Resign In Japan After Finishing Disappointing 12th At Nationals School administrators suggested the old coach come back and co-coach with him and he resigned, saying that was disrespectful.
• Moses Tanui Has Turned Attention From Athletics To Golf The former two-time Boston champ, 1991 10k world champ and first sub-60 half guy has lowered his handicap from 28 to 21 in 7 months.
• Preview Of Saturday's Antrim XC Meeting

This Weekend And Beyond ... Get Excited For Bernard Lagat Vs. Silas Kiplagat Vs. Gan Komen At MSG

• Friday: German World Champ David Storl Up Against US's Former World Champs Christian Cantwell, Reese Hoffa And Adam Nelson In Nordhausen SP Meet
• Jan 28th: A Look At The Stud Fields For The US Open At MSG The field for the mile is stacked, including Bernard Lagat, World 1,500m runner-up Silas Kiplagat, 2-time World Indoor silver medalist Daniel Komen Kipchirchir and 3:54 miler Henok Legesse, as well as Anthony Famiglietti. Now just too bad Centrowitz couldn't be in this instead of that other meet at the Armory.
• Feb. 11th: Jenn Suhr To Compete In The "Millrose Games" At The Armory
• Feb 12th: Karlsruhe 60m Hurdles Field Includes Lolo Jones, US Champ Kellie Wells, & Euro Indoor Champ Carlin Nytra

US Women's Olympic Trials Marathon News *LRC Vote Totals *Men's Results *Women's Results *Yahoo Flash Photos

Flanagan Over Davila, Goucher Gets Third As Top 4 All Break Old OTrials Record Flanagan (2:25:38) pulled away from Davila (2:25:55) and Goucher was third in 2:26:06. Amy Hastings broke the old Trials record at 2:27:17 but didn't make the team. Deena Kastor was 6th in 2:30:40.

• New: Amy Hastings Reacts To Fourth Place Finish Obviously disappointed, but a good run for Amy.
• Post-Race Reaction None of the four former Olympic marathoners in the race made the team. Hear from the top 3 and them.
• Women's Results
• Goucher: "I never imagined myself winning this race based on the short period of time I had to train." Oregonian
• Washington Post Recap Of Trials
• Deena: "I have no idea. This was not in my plans ... I really thought I was going to book my ticket to London today." MB Thread: Will Deena Kastor retire now?
• Kenyan Newspaper Reacts To Janet Cherobon-Bawcom Coming Up Short At Trials

Sunday Houston

Luke Puskedra Runs 1:01:36 Half Marathon Debut As Feyisa Lilesa Picks Up $17,500 With 59:26 Course Record The Oregon Duck's half marathon debut was super-impressive on a day where all 4 course records were broken in Houston (Tariku Jufar 2:06:51, Alemitu Abera 2:23:14 and Belaynesh Oljira 1:08:26 outkicking Boston Champ Caroline Kilel). Recap and interview with Puskedra on his decision to try a half in the college season.
More: IAAF Recap Interesting to note that Tariku Jufar missed basically a year of training in 2009 after being hit by a car while training.
*All Four Records Broken In Houston

A Crushed Simon Bairu Fails To Qualify For Canadian Olympic Marathon Team, Will Turn Focus To Track Nice article from Canadian Running Magazine. Wejo's not sure he has ever seen an athlete as emotionally disappointed after a race as Simon was.

International XC Track News *Yahoo Photos From Seville

Vivian's Win Streak Comes To An End: Linet Masai Crushes Cheruiyot In Seville XC Vivian's last lost was in an XC race to Masai in Nairobi a year ago.

• Also This Weekend:
  Maybe Ritz Should Run Some XC: NYC And Boston Course Record Holder Geoffrey Mutai Dominates Nairobi XC The guy is the best runner on the planet right now. IAAF
• Update: Geoffrey Mutai May Skip Boston If He Is Selected For Kenyan Olympic Marathon Team He's a lock for the team in our mind.
• Sunday: Laban Moiben Wins Sprint Finish At Mumbai Marathon, Nestanet Abeyo Sets Course Record 2:26
• Sally Pearson Opens 2012 In Good Form In Brisbane IAAF
  Usain Bolt Will Run 400m In February

Alan Webb News

• Ray Flynn Says Alan Webb Is Happy & Healthy With Vig "He's with a good coach and he loves Jason (Vigilante) and he's happy now. And he's healthy for the first time in a long time. He needed somewhere to start. Jason's philosophy is to race him, put him out there, with the view that his goal is the Olympic Trials. I think that Alan's still young. He's done a lot in his career at a very young age. And I fully expect him to be a contender next summer."
• Alan Webb Talks For 11 Minutes After His 1:55 800 Video also on right.

Centro In The News

LRC Matthew Centrowitz Signs Endorsement Contract With Nike & Joins Alberto Salazar's Nike Oregon Project Nike stepped up to the plate and kept the former Duck in the family. What was a surprise is that he's joining Alberto's group (although he'll get assistance from collegiate coach Andy Powell). *Discuss
*Matthew Centrowitz To Make Pro Mile Debut And Headline Wanamker Mile Field No, he will not be competing on the boards in MSG against the king of Millrose, Bernard Lagat. That would be too simple and too good of an idea for the sport. This is the Armory meet, not the US Open. Centro says he's way ahead of where he is last year. The article says (implies) his father and sister will be competing in the meet as well. We can't imagine his dad is actually competing.

2012 BUPA Edinburgh XC Race *Leading Results *Video Highlights *Start Lists *Meet Website

Asbel Kiprop Makes A Statement As Kenenisa Bekele Finishes A Distant 11th At BUPA Great Edinburgh Cross-Country Kiprop, the Olympic 1,500 champion, cruised to victory over the 2008 Olympic steeple, 5k and 10k champs, and showed he's intent on being the first since Seb Coe to defend an Olympic 1,500 title. European XC champ Fionnuala Britton won the women's title.
*IAAF Recap: Kiprop Totally Dominant On Last Lap
*Bekele Suffers But Seems Unfazed How bad was Bekele? Well, 5 Brits beat him, including one who was doubling back from the 8k, but Bekele was confident afterwards: "I'm not serious for this race. At this time of the year I don't want to be in very good shape. It is too early. It is a long time to the Olympics. I want to build up slowly."
*Bekele: "I lack fitness." "I was not confident before the race. But it's a long time until the Olympics and it is too early to be in better shape."

Great Marathon News

• Defending Champions Geoffrey Mutai And Caroline Kilel Will Try To Defend Their Crowns At The 2012 Boston Marathon
• 2012 ING New York City Marathon Will Be Broadcast Live On ESPN2 ESPN/NY execs, please let us consult and help you with your broadacst. We will do it for free in year 1. Our first advice will be to tell you who not to hire as broadcasters. It's amazing how little info has been shown when Boston has been on ESPN. Email us here.

The Weeks That Were

LRC Tirunesh Dibaba Returns, Dunbar Follows In His Dad's Footsteps & Meb Tries To Make The Olympic Team On 41 Days Of Running In case you've been (like us) more focused on the Holidays than keeping on top of the limited action in the world of running over the last two weeks, we are here for you. From the return of Tirunesh Dibaba to Meb trying to make the Olympic team off of 41 days of running to some high-profile transfers, we've got you covered.

2011 NCAAs Are History *Men's Results *Women's Results *Entire Race Video Replays

Women: LRC Georgetown, Reid Win Tight Battles Six women kicked for home over the last 400m of the race but in the end it turned into the duel many expected and Sheila Reid of Villanova got the narrow win over Jordan Hasay. The big surprise was in the team's race, where the Georgetown women, who were only third at Big East, won by eight over Washington as #1 Florida State faltered and finished 4th. *Discuss

More: *Georgetown Gets Its First National XC Title GUHoyas.com
*Washington Comes Up 8 Points Short GoHuskies.com
*#1 FSU Finishes 4th & Coach Karen Harvey Pulls No Punches "I felt like I was watching a nightmare. I really thought there was no way this is happening." www.seminoles.com
*Wetmore Says 11th-Placed Colorado Women Purposely Peaked For PAC-12s, Not NCAAs www.denverpost.com
*The FSU Women Finished Fourth And The Men 12th At NCAA Cross-Country Championships www.seminoles.com
*Lananna Says Hasay's Runner-Up Finish Was A Big Step Forward As She Didn't Get Antsy & Kick Too Early www.oregonlive.com

2011 ING NYC Marathon *Men's Results *Women's Results *Viewing Info *Flash Yahoo Photos

LRC 2:05:06!!! Geoffrey Mutai Caps Year In Style An unbelievable year in men's marathoning had an appropriate finish, as the Kenyan man who had the most unbelievable of all years, Geoffrey Mutai, smashed the previous NYC Marathon record by a stunning 2:38 - that's two minutes and 38 seconds. If it wasn't the greatest 2nd-greatest men's marathon performance ever, you'll have to tell us what was. American Meb Keflezighi hung with the leaders for 20 miles after a blistering 63:16 1st half and ended up with a much-deserved PR. Mutai picked up $200,000 by winning, but the big financial winner was runner-up Emmanuel Mutai, who won $635,000 ($500,000 for the WMM title).

LRC Mary Keitany Beats Herself The women's race was full of gut-wrenching drama, as Mary Keitany went out in a crazy 67:56. The problem was she came back in 74:42, as unheralded Firehiwot Dado (Rome Marathon champ) got the win.

LRC Post-Race Interviews: Meb And His Coach Bob Larsen Talks About His PR Despite Throwing Up Plus the winners - Geoffrey Mutai, Firehiwot Dado, men's and women's top 3, Ed Moran, Molly Pritz, Lauren Fleshman and Bobby Curtis.