LetsRun.com

NBIGP Is Saturday *Watch It On ESPN2 On Sunday 2-4 PM (Before The Super Bowl) *LRC Meet Preview *LRC Press Conference Photos *Meet Website

LRC A Fan's Guide To The 2012 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix Saturday's meet is a real treat for distance fans. How will the US 1,500-meter stars like Centrowitz, Uceny, Simpson and Rowbury fare in their 2012 debuts? Can Anna Pierce rebound? Galen Rupp and Mo Farah in the mile. The Ethiopian queens Defar and Dibaba will also will be there, as will the real King James - Kirani. And don't forget the man who last year beat eventual world champ Mo Farah with one shoe - World Champs 5,000m bronze medallist Dejen Gebremeskel. And to the delight of LRC junkies, college star Cam Levins was added yesterday.
*LRC Press Conference Photos

Latest:

• Maggie Vessey Ready To Open Her Season in Boston RW
• Shaking Off Last Year's Disappointments, Rowbury Optimistic About 2012 Season RRW
• Centro Junior Following In His Dad's Foosteps AP
• Galen Rupp Says Wet Weather Of London Is Great For His Allergies He's racing mile vs. Mo Farah on Saturday.
• No US Woman Has Ever Won A Medal In The 1,500m At The Olympics, But 2012 Could Be Our Shot Talks about Jenny Simpson, Morgan Uceny and Shannon Rowbury, who will all race at NB tomorrow. USA Today
• Nearly 10 Years Later, Nicole Teter's American Indoor 800m Record Still Stands  The 1,000m record could fall Saturday.
• Cool Cam Levins Takes On The Big Boys: Salt Lake Paper: Cam Levins "Gets Prestigious Invite" To New Balance Meet This Weekend A huge Thumbs Up for the meet inviting him and for his college coach letting him race the big boys instead of worrying about racing two weekends in a row. This is what is right about the sport.
• Cam Levins Talks About His Double Last Weekend, Says He Likes To Run 155-Mile Weeks Every Week Except Championship Season Yes, 155 a week.
• On The Boards: Levins vs. Centro - NB Grand Prix 3,000m this weekend! Props to NBIGP and S. Utah for getting Levins in the meet this week. *Irishman Ciarán Ó Lionaird Is 3rd Of Salazar's Athletes In NB Mile
• Silas Kiplagat Talks About Running Indoors, Advice From Lagat, And More Plus news he will race Amine Laalou in Arkansas in a 1,500. Leo Manzano is in this race as well. Earlier reports said this would be a mile. Bring Back the Mile! Hopefully it's a mile and you might see a 3:50.
• LRC What About The Sport? Tirunesh Dibaba And Meseret Defar Not Racing Each Other In Boston

US Distance News

• Stanford Athletics Does Q&A With Ryan Hall He says his biggest sacrifice is his social life - he doesn't have cable TV, and training consists of 2 hard quality sessions per week with the rest easy running and 1 day off.
• On The Boards: Jordan Hasay will NOT redshirt outdoors
• Team USA Minnesota Runner Gabriele Anderson Receives Award For Courage & Inspiration She deserves it, as she not only came back from cancer twice, but came back and performed extremely well in national championships.
• Desiree Davila Looks Back On Journal Entry From 6 Years Ago "Back in 2006, as a 16:17 5k runner, I wrote the entry ... It's crazy to think that the prospect of an Olympic medal would even enter my mind, even crazier that this summer I'll have the opportunity to make it a reality."
• Meb Keflezighi Runs Into Pack Of Coyotes On Run
• Jerry Schumacher Makes Some Comments On Last Weekend Performances From Andrew Bumbalough And Lisa Uhl
• Amy Yoder Begley Joins OTC (She Left The Oregon Project In The Fall)
• US Cross Ritz Thinks He'll Be Ready For US Cross
• Katie Flood's 8:55 3k Last Weekend Was 8th-Fastest Ever By A Collegian, Deserves More Recognition How about this for the names faster than her: Jenny Barringer, Vicki Huber, Sally Kipyego, PattiSue Plumer, Kathy Butler, Kim Smith, Kara Goucher.

Week That Was

LRC The Week That Was In Running: January 23-29, 2012 This week, we start by showing how a single marathon in Dubai surpassed the entire history of US marathoning, we analyze Haile G's chances for London 2012, praise Cam Levins and Nick Symmonds, wonder if Lawi Lalang can medal in London, mark the return of Stephen Sambu and recap the greatest blowup at the 2012 US Olympic Trials Marathon.

Japan Distance News:
*Preview Of Japan's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon You can watch live beginning at 11:50 a.m. Japan time on Feb. 5th.
*Japan's World Champs 5th Placer Yukiko Akaba Skipping Tokyo Marathon To Run Olympic Selection Race At Nagoya On March 11th
*Japan's Yuki Sato Says He Wants Japanese Record For 10,000 This Year The record is 27:35.09 and his PR is 27:38.25.

Bank Of America Chicago Registration Open

LRC Abdi Talks Olympics As He's In Chicago For Launch Of Registration For 2012 B Of A Chicago Marathon Abdi talked to LRC's Wejo via phone. Abdi discussed the Chicago launch, his track plans, his training group, and gave us an update on drug cheat Martin Fagan. Registration was over 18,000 as of 4pm.

NCAA News

• Andrew Valmon Talks To NCAA About How His Fundraising Efforts Are Going As He Tries To Save Maryland Track Program They need to raise $4.2 million.
• Oregon Women Cement #1 Ranking After Fine Showing At Texas A&M

We Agree 100% But Still Don't Think He Should Be Allowed In The Olympics
Seb Coe Says Oscar P Is Big-Time Star Who Brings Lots Of Publicity To Track & Field

Europe's Version Of BALCO?

28 Athletes From Around The Globe Implicated In German Doping Scandal link fixed A Dr. who worked at the Olympic training center is believed to have treated athletes' blood with UV light before re-injecting it. 3 Time Olympic/WC silver medallist in long jump James Beckford of Jamaica is one of athletes in probe, as are many German cyclists.
*Doc Denies Claims, Says Blood Was Treated To Stop Infections

More Olympic Logo Madness? We Kind Of Like It Except For The Mistake

Madrid Being Ridiculed For 2020 Olympic Logo As It Looks Like 20020 That's nothing compared to the oral sexual act that is actually being used for 2012 London.

*Competing Doha 2020 Logo To Come Out On Feb. 10

News From Jamaica

• Thanks To Usain Bolt, Gatorade Sales Are Going Through The Roof In Jamaica
• Robertson Twins Take Note: White Norwegian Sprinter Is Enjoying Life And Training In Jamaica

1956 1,500 World Record Holder Istvan Rozsavolgyi From Hungary (3:40.6) Dies At Age 82

Pro Action: US Open *US Open Results *LRC Photo Gallery

US Open: LRC Silas Kiplagat Over Lagat, Asafa Powell Is Back, So Are Lolo Jones And Terrence Trammell World Champs silver medallist Silas Kiplagat used a burst of speed over the final lap to turn back Bernard Lagat in the mile at MSG. Asafa Powell and Veronica Campbell Brown looked good in the 50s, Terrence Trammell upset David Oliver in the hurdles, Lolo Jones came back from injury, World Champ Jesse Williams opened higher than he did in 2011, Brenda Martinez won the mile (and Anna Pierce was well-beaten), and a MSG high school record was set in the mile.

• LRC 52 Thoughts On The ESPN2 Broadcast If a tree falls in a forest, is there a sound? If a track meet is not on TV, does it exist? Who cares, as the US Open was on ESPN2 last night and we analyze the coverage.
• NY Times: Williams Rules High Jump In New Meet At The Garden
• AP Recap Of US Open: Lolo Jones, Powell, Kiplagat Win
• Latest US Open Reaction: Jesse Williams Starts Off Well, Jenn Suhr No-Heights But Is Confident
• Nesta Carter - The Forgotten Sprinter In Jamaica Is Feeling Good About 2012 He's run 9.78 and may not make the team. Thinking of that made us think of what happens if Bolt is 4th at the Jamaican Trials.
• Asafa Powell Says He Will No Longer Miss Training Sessions
  
  Osaka: Risa Shigetomo Wins In 2:23:23 As Fukushi Fades Hard to believe that is the fastest time by a Japanese woman since 2007. What has happened to the Japanese women?
  
  Glasgow: Latest: Charles Van Commenee On Mo Farah: "He's the world champion and there are no weaknesses."
• Andy Turner's Achilles Problem Seems Serious; He May Get A 2nd Injection
• Mo Farah's 3:39 Edges Augustine Choge A good start to the season for Mo. Hannah England got pipped at the line. *Results *Message Board Thread
  

Latest Dubai News *LRC Recap *Results *MB Talk *Men's Km-By-Km Splits

• Agent Gianni Demadonna And Coach Renato Canova Give Thoughts On Dubai Marathon
• Close, But No Cigar: Lucy Kabuu's 2:19:34 Leaves Her 3 Seconds Short Of $250,000 And Won't Put Her On Kenyan Team She's the second-fastest Kenyan ever but the Kenyan coaches say they won't put her on the team.
• Aselefech Mergia's 2nd-Straight Dubai Win Has Netted Her $500,000
• S. Africa's 39-Year-Old Hendrick Ramaala's 2:12:12 Makes Him First S. African To Qualify For Olympics

US Distance Guys & Gal Making News

• Fox Sports: Past his prime? Abdirahman just keeps running Abdi says the doubters fueled him to the team. Thankfully, LRC was one of the few who knew Abdi had a good chance. "There were some people who said, 'This guy has no chance of making the Olympic team.' They said, 'Oh, Abdi's done.' Even leading up to the Olympic Trials, there were only a few people who believed in me. I was a dark horse."
• Ritz Shows Up To Name Zeinasellassie Gatorade National Boys Cross-Country Runner Of The Year
• New Dad Aaron Braun Hoping To Win 1st XC Title At USAs Next Month
• Shannon Rowbury, Andrew Osagie Join Ricky Simms' PACE Sports Management

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

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.

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

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
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."

Two Good Distance Reads

• Great Look At Peter Snell And His Training And 2 World Records 50 Years Ago Nick Willis and other stars are racing on a grass track this weekend to honor Snell's runs.
• Ryan Hall And Alberto Salazar Discuss The Importance Of Recovery In Training If it wasn't the 50-year anniversary of Snell's record, Alberto would have gotten quote of the day with this: "A lot of what we see in athletes that just train all the time and never give themselves adequate recovery is often portrayed as toughness. What I've realized over the years is it really is a weakness. It's an insecurity that you're not good enough to recover like other athletes: I'm not good enough to do that; I need to keep training; I can't take time off; I can't take easy days."
• More Distance News: Meb, Ryan And Alberto Go For A Run In Boston bostonglobe.com
• Semenya Now Being Coached By Maria Mutola, Will Cut Back Her Schedule To Get Ready For Olympics

European News

• Thursday Action: Lolo Jones' 7.98 Edges Yvette Lewis In Linz
• Sunday: Lolo Jones To Race Silver Medallist Danielle Carruthers, Borzakovskiy To Run 600m In Moscow
• Next Wednesday - Great Matchup: Yelena Isinbayeva To Take On World Pole Vault Leader Holly Bleasdale In Poland
• Also Wednesday: Nearly All The World High Jump Studs, Including Jesse Williams, To Square Off At Banska Bystrica Meet In Slovakia

RIP: Legendary University Of Colorado/Army Coach Jerry Quiller Passes Away At Age 69 Mark Wetmore: "I've been lucky to know many people considered to be successful ... athletic champions, Olympians, wealthy people, well known or influential people. But I'm not sure I ever knew anyone more successful than Jerry Quiller."

Drug News

USADA Wipes Nearly All Of Eddy Hellebuyck's Masters Career From The Books EPO Eddy, who dominated the American masters seen in the early 2000s, when caught testified that he had never intentionally used EPO. Then he came clean in December 2010 to RunnersWorld. We might have been willing to not call him EPO Eddy, but somehow he wanted to claim he should keep his records because the statue of limitations ran out. Moral of the story - Be careful of what a convicted cheat tells you. Eddy, please accept you didn't earn those results. *MBoard Thread On Eddy

Nice Editorial On Martin Fagan We Missed Last Week "An Irish cheat is the same kind of a cheat you find anywhere else ... I wish Martin Fagan good health in the future. But he'll never really know peace until he accepts that it wasn't depression or a lack of Athletics Ireland funding or injuries which made him take EPO. It was the man in the mirror." The article also contrasts how Cathal Lombard, who also admitted to using EPO, was crucified in Ireland by many, but Fagan got a lot of sympathy. We hope Martin turns his life around. However, many of us at LRC are skeptical, he was tested the day after he first ever injected EPO as he claims. And as the RW Hellebuyck article says, if you know anything about doping and want to help clean up the sport, email us, you can remain anonymous.

More Doping News:
*US Amateur Thrower Gets 2-Year Doping Ban From UK Anti-Doping Agency For Taking Doctor Prescribed Medication
*South Korean Sprinter Lim Hee-Nam And Portuguese Steeplechaser Sara Moreira Receive 6 Month Bans For Failing Doping Tests In Daegu Why only 6 months? They don't even miss the Olympics.

High Schoolers In The News

• Edward Cheserek Doubles 4:07.1 And 1:51.63 To Anchor His DMR And SMR Relay Teams
• Aldrich Bailey #1 200 And 400 High Schooler (21.14 And 47.05 Bests) Also Ran 1:54 TWO Years Ago His coach actually gives some credit to his 800 training for his current sprinting success. *MB Thread
• See Who Your Rivals Picked Up: Class Of 2012 College Choices Gives breakdown by state, college, and conference. *MB: Class of 2012 Commits

International Distance News

• Sub-13, Sub-27, Sub-59 Man Mathew Kisorio Favorite At This Wekeend's Marugame Half Marathon In Japan LRC hero Yuki Kawauchi is also in the field.
• Ben St. Lawrence Up Against Collis Birmingham (13:15) In Aussie 5k Tomorrow Oceania 1,500m record holder Ryan Gregson up against Penn State alum Ryan Foster in 800.
• New Zealand: Cool: Nick Willis, Will Leer, Brandon Bethke Running 2-Mile Handicapped Race On A Grass Track In New Zealand For A Bottle Of Wine Bethke will get an 8-second head start.

Valerie Adams, Jacko Gill Competing In Co-Ed Shot Put

BBC Radio Looks At The Kenyan Success Of Iten

Yesterday

• Rust-Buster Or Denial?
  Despite Strugles At US Open, Anna Pierce Still Dreaming Big For 2012 Hoping To Get 1,500 "A" Standard Indoors Some might be surprised that given at this point she's a longshot to make the 1,500 team, she says that while she may run a steeple or 800 outdoors, the 1,500 is her event at the Trials. "Even if I broke the world record in the steeple I think I would still run the 1,500m."
• Morgan Uceny To Run Millrose Games 800 At Armory The release talks about the great Millrose 800 of 1990. To us, that's kind of like the Indianapolis Colts talking about the great games they had in Baltimore. It's a good matchup with Maggie Vessey.
• A Brief Chat With Stony Brook's Lucy Van Dalen She'll be running the "Metric Mile" at Millrose, proving that the Bring Back The Mile movement makes sense.
• Salazar Says His Group Is Training Great At Altitude In Albuquerque - Wants Ritz To Race US Cross On Feb. 11th Amazingly, Salazar says Ritz is already completely recovered from the OTrials and that he wants him to keep running and he'll race US Cross on Feb. 11th. He says Irish import Ciaran O'Lionaird has "been a good help to Galen with his speed."

David Rudisha To Open Season With 400 On Feb 18 And 800 On March 3rd In Australia

Hurdlers In The News

• Meanwhile, American Collegians Transfer At The Drop Of A Hat
  Cuban Hurdler Robles Criticizes Training Conditions In Cuba But Vows To Do Best He Can For His Country
• Recommended Read David Oliver Is Modern Day Pen-Pal (Video-Pal) For Group Of 5th Graders In New York He works for Classroom Champions - a seemingly great organization. More info on the group here: *Classroom Champions Video
  More On John Coghlan's Sub-4 He's been hanging out in Providence with the other Irish lads and will run Millrose this weekend.

Good/Bad News
Millrose Games To Be Broadcast Live On YouTube Sports The major part of the meet goes from 6:45 pm to 10 pm ET on Saturday. Tim Hutchings will commentate. The good news is people can watch it live and for free. The bad news is it's no longer on national TV live for the first time in 5 years. (Earlier we said it was going to be on tape delay tv as well but are trying to confirm that)

*LRC 6 Thoughts On Millrose Being On YouTube

More Post-Weekend Collegiate-Related News

• Eamonn Coghlan's Son Goes Sub-4 For 1st Time
• Coach Li Says Lawi Lalang Lost Concentration Or He Would Have Gotten Collegiate Record In The Mile "He lost concentration for a bit but overall it was a great race by him, a huge personal best and he beat some really good runners."
• So Sick: Minnesota Teammates Harun Abda And David Pachuta Both Ran 1:46 Over The Weekend Start the petition now. They need to go to Penn Relays to take on PSU and UVA.
• Nittany Lions Cas Loxsom And Robby Creese Run 1:48s
  *With 3 Freshmen, PSU DMR Ran 9:35 Night Before The new collegiate record holder in the 1,000m, Creese, "only" ran 4:01.

Saturday College Meets/Alan Webb *Arkansas Results *Terrier *UW *Glasgow Results *More College Results

LRC Alan Webb Falls In 800 At George Mason In Comeback Race #2 link fixed Alan stumbled coming off the final turn and hit the track but still got up in finished in 1:59. He was on 1:53-high pace before the fall.

Arkansas: Latest: Coach Li Says Lawi Lalang Was After Collegiate Record In Mile But Lost Concentration A Bit When He Ran 3:55

• NCAA XC Champ Lawi Lalang Runs 3:55.09, German Fernandez Runs 4:05 (Thread) Lalang just missed Fernandez's own NCAA record of 3:55.02 which he ran 3 years ago as a freshman. This must be the year the NCAA mile record finally catches up to the times, as David McCarthy ran 3:55.7 at BU today and Diego Estrada ran a converted 3:55. Tony Waldrop ran 3:55 in 1974.
• Full Arkansas Results Defending NCAA champ Elliott Heath beat teammate Chris Derrick by .04 to win the 3k in 7:50.

Dubai *LRC Recap *Results

LRC Hello World, Meet Ayele Abshero (2:04:23 Debut!) The 21-year-old former Jr. World XC champ's marathon debut was super-special, as his surge with just over 3km remaining decimated the deepest marathon field in history, as four men broke 2:05 in the race, eight broke 2:06, 10 broke 2:07, and 17 broke 2:10 - all records as fastest-ever times for places were recorded in spots three through 17. 2011 belonged to the Kenyan men, will 2012 belong to Ethiopia? The women's race was super-fast and super-deep as well, as 3 women broke 2:20 in the same race for the 1st time, as Aselefech Mergia ran 2:19:31 to win and a record 9 women broken 2:25. Martin Lel was a DNF, Ramaala 2:12. *AP
*Butcher: Ethiopians Strike Back
*MB: 4 guys I've never heard of go sub 2:05 in Dubai

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 Mexico

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.