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Dubai Is Thursday Night (10 PM ET) In The US *Website

Renato Canova Previews the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon, Lel and Merga vs the Field The famed Italian coach gives his views on this race with the riches 1st place prize on the sport- $250,000. Martin Lel lead the field.
On the boards: Dubai 18 guys with pbs under 2:08.

Pat Butcher Previews Friday's Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon: Old Timer Martin Lel Hoping To Impress (Along With Hendrick Ramaala) Lel will be looking to prove he's still one of Kenya's - and the world's - best at age 33, while Ramaala wants to qualify for the Olympics just a week shy of his 40th b-day.

Osaka Is Sunday

Bad News: 2004 Olympic Champ Mizuki Noguchi's Comeback Is Derailed As She Pulls Out Of Sunday's Osaka Marathon With Thigh Inlfammation A shame, as her training had gone great and she said last week: "I did almost 100% of what was on the training menu. I'm ready to drop a big one." She'll now turn her attention to the last Olympic selection race - the March 11 Nagoya Women's Marathon.
*MB: Mizuki Noguchi injured again - is she done?

Giving A Trophy To Every Little Kid Is Bad, But We're Not Sure If This Is The Solution
Usain Bolt Can Relate 8-Year-Olds Brought To Tears In NZ As Track & Field's No-False-Start Rule Is Enforced Strictly In Local 60m Sprint "(My 8-year-old) was just a bit unbalanced and was disqualified ... she had been pretty keen to run that race and it was absolutely gutting for her. It didn't make me angry, but it made me feel very sad for her. I think the rule is a bit too heavy-handed for the babies, shall we say."

News From The UK

• Paula Radcliffe Says Her Big Race Of Spring Will Be OMV Vienna Half Marathon On April 15th
• British HJer Robbie Grabarz Says UK Was Right In Cutting His Lottery Funding After Miserable 2011, Now He's On Top Of World Rankings Thanks To #4 Jump In British History Conservatives will love this guy's no-nonsense approach. "It's a performance sport and I didn't perform, so why should they support me?"
• London Organizers Expecting Drug Cheats To Come To 2012 Games "To say there will be no positive cases would be naive and misleading."
• Michael Johnson Tells Brits How To Succeed At Home Olympic Games
• Govt. Perverts Officials Have Bought Twice As Many Beach Volleyball Tickets As Track & Field
• Jessica Ennis Stars In British Airways In-Flight "Wellbeing" Video
• West Ham United "will not submit formal bid" For Olympic Stadium By Deadline
• Kenya planning to spend $5 million marketing itself during London 2012

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. It'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: After Recent Attack, Media Asks: "Will Eritrea and Ethiopia go back to war?"

Shalane Flanagan Surprises 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 The 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

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

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."

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."

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

Wejo Speaks: LRC What About The Sport? Wejo, an outspoken critic of Millrose Games moving to the Armory, says don't celebrate USATF sticking it to Millrose. Celebrate the sport being on ESPN.

Be Inspired By These Two Olympic Trials Breakthrough Performers

• Recommended Read! The Ultimate Blue-Collar Runner: Meet Jimmy Grabow - The Guy With A Full-Time Job Who Ran 2:12:29 At The Trials In His First Marathon If this piece doesn't inspire you, then we don't know what will. The guy gets up every day at 5:30 and bangs out 15 miles + a core workout before going to a real 40-hour/week job before running 5 more miles after work.
  *MB: Jimmy Grabow - The Ultimate Blue Collar Runner Do you know about the blue collar or yuppie debate - it's one of the greatest in LRC history.
• 5 Minutes With Alissa McKaig She PRed by 5+ minutes to finish 8th at the OTrials in 2:31.

Big Names In The News

*Achilles Surgery Does In Blanka Vlašić's Indoor Season Before It Even Begins

*LaShawn Merritt Gets Huge USA Today Profile: "I don't go near the Internet anymore."

*Leo Manzano Is Training At Altitude In New Mexico

College Distance News

• Traitors In The News Portland coach Rob Conner moves on without star Trevor Dunbar, who left to become a Duck OregonLive.com We have no idea why these coaches release these guys mid-year. Make them sit out 365 days.
  OU Brags About Getting Casey From Montana State
• VMI Coach Paul Spangler Gets Florida Distance Job

Samsung To Remain Title Sponsor Of Samsung Diamond League Through 2012

Runner's Tribe Previews Saturday's Adelaide Track Classic, Which Features Ryan Gregson Versus Jeff Risely At 1,500

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.

Wejo Speaks: LRC What About The Sport? Wejo, an outspoken critic of Millrose Games moving to the Armory, says don't celebrate USATF sticking it to Millrose. Celebrate the sport being on ESPN.

Don't Write Her Off Just Quite Yet
Recommended Read After Falling Off The Map In 2011, Anna Pierce Is Talking Big At Start Of 2012 As She's Hoping To Get 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

• Holly 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-year-old who no-heighted at Worlds 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, Governments 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 occurred in 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.

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.

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.