LetsRun.com

Texas Relays/Assorted US News *Texas Relays Live Results

• Leo Manzano's 1:47.65 MR a Highlight of Thursday (Result, video here)  It's faster than the 1:47.89 he ran last year. Jacob Hernandez was 4th. 
  *Trey Hardee Hoping To Recover From Elbow Surgery In Time For US Trials/London He's doing LJ, discus and hurdles at the Texas Relays, but can't do the jav or PV at all right now.
  *Texas A&M 4x8 Sets Texas Relays Record With 7:15.99
  *Isaac Murphy & Chelsea Carrier-Eades Win Multis
• Chris Solinsky Talks About Finding Out Galen Rupp Broke His AR Right After Getting Out Of Surgery (Video) He says that Rupp "deserves it more" than he does as he's only raced one 10k and it's Rupp's specialty.
• "Caballo Blanco" (From The Book "Born To Run") Missing In New Mexico Wilderness He left for a run Tues. morning and didn't come back.

Suspension Costs Kenyan Marathoner $40,000 Rose Jepkemboi Chesire $40,000 in prize money after failing a doping test and getting a 1-yr ban.

Upcoming Action

• April 7: Canada's Tarah Mckay-Korir Ready for Harry's Spring Run Off After Training in Kenya and Buying House There With Her Husband Wesley Korir
  
• April 6: A Look At Top Stanford Entrants Which Include Dathan Ritzenhein And Shannon Rowbury
  
• April 16: Brief Chat With Nick Arciniaga (8th At The OT) On His Training Ahead Of Boston He's one of the few top runners from Houston doing a spring marathon as he doesn't think he has a real shot in the 10k.
  
• May 20th: Jessica Ennis Will Open Her Outdoor Season At Manchester City Games On May 20th A 100m hurdle race on the city streets.

Khannouchi's Retirement

LRC Carey Pinkowski Reflects On Khalid Khannouchi's Career: "He Was The Absolute Best I've Ever Seen" The Chicago marathon director talks about the man who made his name in the Windy City. Plus quotes from London Marathon director Dave Bedford and a tweet from Ryan Hall.

LRC Marathon Legend Khalid Khannouchi Officially Retires Khalid Khannouchi, one of the greatest marathoners of all time, has told LRC that he is officially retiring from competitive running. Khalid helped revolutionize the sport of marathon running, setting two world record in the span of three years, including his final one at the "Greatest Marathon Ever Run" - the 2002 London Marathon matchup that featured Khannouchi, Paul Tergat and Haile Gebrselassie. All three men would eventually hold the marathon record. Take a minute to read this article and reflect on Khannouchi's incredible career. At the end of 2002, Khannouchi had 3 of the 4 fastest marathon times ever run, and 8 of the top 9 times were run in races Khalid won, as he helped revolutionize the marathon. A decade later, Khalid's best time - believe it or not - is only the 46th best in the world (but is still the American record). Read all about it.

More: *RRW Flashback On Khannouchi's 1999 Chicago Marathon Race Where He First Broke The WR
*RRW Flashback On Khannouchi's 2002 London Race Where He Beat Paul Tergat & Haile Gebreslassie
*RW: Do Marathoners Have An Obligation To Run For Their Country "Will Geoffrey Mutai have a blight on his career if he’s never selected for the Kenyan Olympic team?"
*Scott Douglas Asks: What Does Phil Hersh Owe His Readers?
*Reuters Story With LetsRun.com Mention
*IAAF Story With LetsRun.com Mention
*Chicago Tribune's Phil Hersh Reacts Bitterly: Khannouchi calls it quits, which is nothing new Hersh is apparently very upset that Khannouchi never ran for the US in the Olympics.
*Recommended Read 1998 New York Times Profile Of Khalid Khannouchi - From Morocco to Brooklyn, A Runner's Road to the Top Nice quote from Joe McVeigh.
*1998 Chicago Tribune Profile Of US Immigrant Khalid Khannnouchi
*LRC MBoard: Khalid Khannouchi Retires

US Distance Pros In The News

"Fam" Says He Won't Back Down At Carlsbad 5k This Weekend Against Dejen Gebremeske,  Eliud Kipchoge & Tariku Bekele He may not back down, but we'll give 150 dollars to charity if he's within 15 seconds of the winner.

Shalane Flanagan Surprised Herself With Lisbon Half Victory "When I saw the start list, I was wondering if I should have entered the race. I was wondering what I'd gotten myself into. A lot of the women on the start list had PRs (personal records) that were a minute to a minute and a half faster than mine."

US World Indoor 1,500 Team Member Sara Vaughn Is Trying To Make It As A Mom Of Two & Next To Zero Sponsorship Props to her for going to World Indoors. "I'm not old, but I'm a little bit older. I didn't have a shoe deal - I couldn't get a shoe contract after I got pregnant with our second kid. Adidas dropped me. The Bowerman Athletic Club were the only people to offer anything, and it was like shoes and $500."

Somewhat Related: Des Moines Set To Host 2013 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships

News From Kenya

• 1st Round Of Kenyan Trials Will Take Place In Kenya On April 17th Kip Keino says success in running is 75% mental. We disagree.
• Kenyan Coach Julius Kirwa Is Upset That Kip Keino Stadium Is Being Used As Cattle Grazing Ground Ignore the part where Kirwa supposedly claims that the stadium is the same altitude as Oregon, as in the other article, Kirwa says the toilets are unusable and states the accurate altitude.

Marathon News

Lengthy Profile On Double World Champ Abel Kirui As He Prepares for London And Talks About Canova Kirui's dream is making the Olympics. On Renato: "Canova is a man almost 70, so old is gold all the time. He has the wise words and wise programmes. If you follow what he tells you, you will succeed. He gave good programmes and I respect him as a grand father."

Camobidan Olympian In Marathon Is A Japanese Comedian Who Was Discovered On A Reality Show There is another guy who is five minutes faster training in Kenya whom the federation does not like. The IAAF shouldn't waive its rules for this Japanese guy.

More Results From The Weekend

• Sardinia XC: John Kipkoech Wins Close Race Over World XC Silver Medalist Paul Tanui World 10k 4th placer Prisca Jepleting Cherono won the women's race.
• French HJer Mickael Hanany Sets Outdoor WL At 2.31m In the Iberian 10,000m, Spain's Gema Barrachina (32:08 WL) and Manuel Angel Penas (28:17) won individual titles while Portugal won the team trophy.
• Oscar P: Mom Was Oscar P's Inspiration "We never focused on disability in my family. When I woke up, my mother told my brother to put on his shoes and me to put on my legs."
  *Pistorius Loses To Arnu Fourie In 100m At SA National Disabled Champs

London 2012 News

• Never A Bad Idea To Have A World Champ Owe You A Favor: Dedicated Dai Greene Fans Steps Up To Get Him Extra Olympic Tickets Using Twitter, Greene was able to use the help of a fan who got him 8 extra tickets for his family. The fan initially paid £1,500 of his own money to buy them.
• First Leg Torchbearer For London 2012 Revealed Greek swimming world champ Spyros Gianniotis will start the trip off from Greece on May 10th. Detailed explanation of the torch's route/journey if you're interested.
• UK Sprinter Christian Malcolm Wants His Friend Dwain Chambers' Lifetime Olympic Ban To be Overturned Malcolm: "There should be redemption and I like to see drug cheats come back because I like to see what they can do without the drugs ... If they come back and don't do well, then that is a real punishment."
• Michael Johnson Warns Jessica Ennis That She'll Need A PR To Win In London After Losing Both Her World Titles
• Jacques Rogge To Meet In London With Prime Minister David Cameron About Final Preparations For Games One big topic still left to discuss is what political world leaders will get an invite to the Opening Ceremonies and who won't be allowed in the country.

Sunday's Action *LRC Updated Full Photo Gallery

Shalane Flanagan Wins Lisbon Half, Tadese Three-Peats Updated with IAAF story The American got the big upset win (just as we predicted) and Zersenay Tadese got the win but not the world record (just as we predicted - a broken clock is accurate twice a day). Flanagan ran 68:51 for the win.
OTB: Flanagan wins Lisbon. Lock for Olympic gold?
*Will there be an official Lisbon half-marathon thread?
*Letsrun...seriously your picking Shalane Flanagan to win the 2012 Lisbon Half Marathon?
*Full Photo Gallery
*LRC Lisbon Half Marathon Preview

B Of A Shamrock Shuffle: *Results (link fixed) *Discussion Abdelaaziz Atmani won as Abdi was 3rd. Julia Lucas won over Delilah DiCrescenzo.

More Weekend Action *Excellent Photo Of Spearmon By Max Faulkner Of FW Star-Telegram

• Arlington, TX: LRC Wallace Spearmon Runs 19.95 In March! To Crush Jeremy Wariner No one in the history of the world had run sub-20.00 in the Northern hemisphere in March until now. Spearmon's Achilles injury is clearly behind him. Doc Patton ran a 10.04 on a perfect 80-degree day and La Shauntea Moore ran a WL in the women's 200m. *Discuss
  FW Star-Telegram: Spearmon: "I'm back." Spearmon trains with Doc Patton, who ran 10.04.
• S. African Yellow Pages Meet: Caster Semenya 2:03.60 Win, Mbulaeni Mulaudzi 1:46.41 Win, LJ Van Zyl Is Rusty In 400 This was former world champ Mulaudzi's first race in 8 months, so that's a pretty good performance.  LJ Van Zyl only ran 46.50.
  *Mulaudzi Says The Only Person To Worry About Is David Rudisha He says he's "not really concerned" with anyone else. *Results
• Austin: Leo Manzano Runs 3:55.98 At Manzano Mile Congrats to Leo on the Texas state record, which was in essence a solo effort with rabbits. *MBoard Thread
• Kenya: 2:19 Marathoner Lucy Kabuu Gets Ready For London With 15:40 5k Win At Kenyan Track Meet Kabuu and her coach are still hoping to make the Kenyan Olympic marathon team with a win at London.
• Italy: Ethiopia's Yacob Jarso Wins Stramilano Half Marathon In 1:01:07 Jarso (4th in 2008 Olympic steeple) beat out Andrea Lalli in the last 800m. Italian marathoner Valeria Straneo won the women's race in 1:08:48.
• Asia: Bahrain Runners Dominate At Asian XC Champs World 10k 6th placer Shitaye Eshete won the senior women's race. *Top Results
  
  *US HS Action:  MileSplit Recap Of Weekend Meets Bernie Montoya runs 4:08 mile to win Chandler Rotary Invy. *Results

A Look At Top US Marathon Women Who Didn't Make The Team In Houston And Their Plans As They Move To The Track Deena Kastor originally thought her London Games dreams were done, but now is going to try to qualify on the track and says "my legs are waking up to the training and I feel refreshed dropping down in distance."

World Indoors *Results *Video Highlights For US Visitors *UK Visitors *Yahoo Photos

LRC Men's 3,000m Final Lives Up To The Hype World 5,000m champion Mo Farah squared off with two-time world indoor champion Bernard Lagat and 2012 World leaders Augustine Choge and Edwin Soi of Kenya. Once again, Bernard Lagat was too good. They were all in contention on the final lap. There was some contact, two guys running on the infield, a DQ and a resintatement, but none of that stopped Bernard Lagat from showing he's the best 3,000m runner in the world.

LRC 800s: Pamela Jelimo Is Back As USA's Erica Moore Gets Bronze, 18-Year-Old* Mohamed Aman Gets Gold The last time Pamela Jelimo was any good, Erica Moore wasn't an 800m runner. They both left World Indoors pleased, as Moore made her first sub-2:00 clocking count with a bronze medal. In the men's race, 18-year-old* favorite Mohamed Aman got gold. On The Boards: Erica Moore 800m at Worlds

LRC Hellen Obiri Stuns Four-Time World Champ Defar link fixed Obiri Closes In 4:06.6 For Gold Get used to the name Hellen Obiri. Last year, she ran internationally for the first time and won the Kenyan 1,500m championships. This year, in the fourth 3,000m of her life, she came from behind to stop Meseret Defar from getting her 5th world title.

IAAF Final Day Recap: Brittney Reese Is Incredible, Aries Meritt Upsets Liu Xiang, Will Claye Wins Brittney Reese had her back to the wall in the long jump, so what did she do? Unleash a jump that made her #3 all-time to win.

Saturday

LRC Saturday: Iguider Wins Thrilling Men's 1,500m, Dibaba Lives Up To The Hype, Ashton Eaton, Sanya Richards Ross, Chaunte Lowe And Justin Gatlin (Uh) Get Gold World Record And $90,000 For Eaton A tremendous day of action and a good one for the USA. We break it down, including the men's 1,500m, where Abdalaati Iguider ruined the coming out party of Ilham Tanui Özbilen in an exciting race that saw Matt Centrowitz challenge for the lead. Genzebe Dibaba dominated the women's 1,500, showing she's the real deal. Plus Sanya Richards Ross, Chaunte Lowe and Justin Gatlin are all back from various ailments, some self inflicted, some not. Not to mention a super-tight long jump and a gold by a 39-year-old married to a former heroin dealer.

The Fast Guys Of The LRC Puma Faas Challenge (Our Apologies For Disrespecting The Always Disrespected David McNeill)

LRC The Fastest Puma Faas Winners - Mark Wieczorek, David McNeill And Ricky Flynn LetsRun.com is made up of the most passionate and fastest runners on the planet. The three guys above entered the Puma Faas Challenge just like you even though they are total studs. Mark is a 1:46.00 800m runner, David a two-time NCAA 5,000m champion and an Australian national champion, and Ricky was a breakthough performer at the Olympic Trials Marathon. Read all about them. Thanks to Ricky's run at the Trials, he may be getting a sponsor soon, so he's giving his shoes to his roommate.

Previous: Get Inspired With The Final 20+ Winners In The Puma Faas Challenge A guy with incurable cancer who wants to run 16-minute miles, a guy who want to break 4 despite getting hit by a car going 35mph, a woman who has a 5-year running streak going that includes two pregnancies, much more.

Dreams Don't Become Reality?

LRC Haile Gebrselassie Tweets "My Olympic Marathon Dream Is Over" And Ethiopia Announces A Preliminary Olympic Marathon Team Missing A Few Stars Geb's tweet is big news as we'd like to see him make one final attempt to compete in the Olympics. Just as big news may be that neither Gebre Gebremariam, Tsegaye Kebede nor Fiyesa Lilesa were on the preliminary team. Their men's team is the top 4 Ethiopians from Dubai.

USATF Classic *Results *Photo Gallery

LRC Galen Rupp's American 2-Mile Record Is Highlight Among 5 World Leaders Pre-race, we pondered if this was the best men's indoor mile in the US since LetsRun.com was founded and it lived up to the hype, as Silas Kiplagat edged Caleb Ndiku in a world-leading time, but it was Galen Rupp, running to honor the late Geoff Hollister, who stole the show with an impressive American record at 2 miles. In other action, Brenda Martinez took on some of the world's best in the mile, Jamaica's 8th best sprinter beat all the Americans, and Tianna Madison (a long jump world champion most of you have forgotten) shocked VCB and Allyson Felix in the 60m.

A Lot Of Action This Weekend

• Carlsbad 5000: Anthony Famiglietti Up Against Dejen Gebremeske, Eliud Kipchoge & Tariku Bekele
  *Tirunesh Dibaba Leads Women's Field At Carlsbad Good article on Dibaba's comeback from injury and talks about her sisters, world indoor 1500 champ Genzebe and Chicago marathon runner-up Ejegayehu.
  
• Prague Half-Marathon: Lydia Cheromei And Philemon Limo Will Defend Their Titles Philemon is up against four sub 1-hour runners including Kenneth Kiprop Kipkemo (59:11). Road 10k/15k WR holder Leonard Komon withdrew from the race after spending 2 days in the hospital this week with malaria. *IAAF article
• Cherry BLossom 10 Mile: 2011 Winners Allan Kiprono And Julliah Tinega Will Defend Their Titles Kiprono up against Azmeraw Bekele (1:00:42 half), John Korir, as well as a slew of US marathoners including Patrick Rizzo (13th at the US OT in 2:13:42).
  
• Kenya: Olympic 800m Champ Pamela Jelimo Among Top Kenyans Competing At Home This Weekend Asbel Kiprop is in the 1500 against Elijah Kipchirchir, who ran a recent 3:37.01. Caroline Kilel in the 5k. 

Olmpic News

• Good Read: Nixon Chepseba :“I’m not afraid of anybody since I’m here training for 24 hrs and I’m confident my time has come." Tells of the life/career of Chepseba, his start with Brother Colm, and gives some insight into the World Champs selection debacle where he was selected and then put off the team.
• Really? UK Law Will Allow Athletes To Import Anabolic Steroids If They Are For 'Personal Use' Apparently steroid use in the UK is not illegal, so they can't stop Olympic athletes from importing them in for the Games.
• Japan's Arata Fujiwara: "If you can run 2:07 then you can compete with the Africans. I'm going to train focusing on time without worrying about what place it gets me." He's right in you can only focus on your self (time) not your competitors (place), but he's a little dilusional if he thinks 2:07 is going to compete with the best Kenyans.
• Cool: Names Of 361 London Underground Stops Changed To Names Of Olympic Athletes Include stops such as Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis, Michael Phelps, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, and Larry Bird.
  
• Sally Pearson Says She Feels "Naked" In Aussie Olympic Uniform
• Edwin Moses Says He Thinks Drug Cheats Deserve A Second Chance "If you go out and drive drunk, you'll get your drivers' licence back eventually."
• Q&A With 39-Yr Old Russian Javelin Olympic Medalist Sergey Makarov Who Will Compete In His 5th Olympics
• University Of East London & Essex County Cricket Club Join In Bid Battle For Olympic Stadium

Interesting To Say The Least

• 2851 & Counting: Kenenisa Bekele Breaks Record For Most Consecutive Days Holding Both 5,000 And 10,000 World Records Lasse Viren had the old record and Bekele's records are very safe as no one has come within 1 second per lap of either one in 5+ years.
• Male Track & Field Performance Of The Year So Far? US Pole Vault Star Brad Walker Is Sleeping With Lindsey Vonn
• 19 Of The Most Bizarre Explanations For Drug Positives In History
• Attention All Potential US Olympians: Don't Fall In Love While In London
  Olympic Athletes And Coaches Not Allowed To Marry While On British Soil For London Games The UK Borders Agency document states: "While you are in the UK, you will not be allowed to undertake a course of study; or marry or form a civil partnership, or give notice of marriage or civil partnership."

US Collegiate News *Accepted Stanford Entries

• Vin Lananna Happy With Oregon Ducks Progress So Far - Doesn't Flat Out Deny USATF Head Rumors He also said that Mac Fleet should race soon and he doesn't know if the women can win NCAAs. "On the women's side, I don't know if we have enough firepower to get it done on the NCAA level without killing people. We do need to pay attention to the Olympic Trials. We have the responsibility when we recruit these high-end, talented kids, who have dreams with five rings attached, to do the right thing. That's what we'll do."
• Hasay Will Open Up Outdoor Season At Penn Relays
• Running Times Asks: Is It Better For Collegians To Time Trial Or Learn How To Race? East coasters went 1-2-3 in the women's 5k last year and Abbey D'Agostino says racing is key. Diego Estrada doesn't agree: "When we go to California, it doesn't matter if I get last in my heat as long as I run a PR."

Olympic News

• Steve Cram Says He's Not A "Massive Fan" Of New Team GB Gear He tells a funny story of how back in the day he thought the "flares" on his leisure suit were outdated, so he "accidentally" forgot it.
• Irish Marathoner Mark Kenneally Will Carry Olympic Torch In Dublin The 2:13:55 runner was the 1st Irish person marathoner to qualify for the Games.
• Sonia O'Sullivan Will Also Carry Torch In Dublin
• Prime Minister David Cameron Vows To Deliver "Greatest Show On Earth" Without Hitches

Sad News

1984 Olympic 5,000m Bronze Medallist Antonio Leitão Dies He was only 51 years old. The Portuguese club Benfica named its race after him. *More On Antonio Leitão's Death Here
*Rosa Mota Pays Her Respects *Video Of 1984 Olympic 5,000m Final Announcer Tim Hutchings got 4th.
*RIP Dmitry Polyakov, Coach Of World Indoor Pentathlon Champ/World Record Holder Nataliya Dobrynska

LetsJump.com - Remember The Name Devin Field As He Seems Like A Real Stud

Recommended Read: Learn Why High School LJ & TJ Phenom Devin Field May Not Have A Jr. Season The two-time state champ in Texas in the LJ has already gone 25' 5.75" this year and won indoor nationals but can't compete for his team as he doesn't live with his mom, as she moved back to the coast after fleeing from a hurricane. *More On Field

We All Have Our Own Story Of How We Became A Runner, But Few Can Say It Was Because They Were Arrested

Recommended Read: Former CEO Of BETonSPORTS.com Went To Jail To Become A Runner At 50 years old, David Carruthers used his time in prison/house arrest to go from being 192 lbs. and overweight to running a 3:07 marathon and sub 5-min. mile.

Olympic And Distance News

• Thanks To Photoshop: Olympic Mascots Wenlock And Mandeville Are Being Mocked Worldwide *Deadspin.com Photoshop Contest
• Good News: Roger Bannister Goes from 33/1 To 3/1 Odds to Light Olympic Flame Steve Redgrave, a British rower hardly known outside of Britain, is the favorite still.
• Steve Ovett's Son Going To Univ. Of Oregon *Steve Ovett's Son Freddy (1:51 800) Signs With Oregon, As Does 3:45/8:12 Guy Richard Goodman - Both Are Eligible Right Now *MB: Ovett & Goodman join Ducks
• Oregonian On Ovett Ovett's son had been living in Australia.
• 5 Of Top 12 Finishers At US Men's Olympic Marathon Trials (Ritz, Arciniaga, Gotcher, Grabow, Flynn) Tell RW What Their Plans Are For Rest Of Year
• Complaints About Cost, An Olympic Rite, Are Being Voiced In Britain
• Charles van Commenee Takes Offense At Plastic Brits Term: "You're British or you're not." Well said.
• Liu Xiang Trying To Keep Focus On Himself As He Prepares For Olympics
• New Zealand Names Olympic Team Of 4 With Nick Willis, Kim Smith On It
• Garrett Heath Is Guest Speaker At This Weekend's 34th Fools Five Plus One-Mile Race In Minnesota

News At Home: A USATF CEO This Year(?), Another Men's Track Program Gone, And A Marathon WR For The US (Sort Of)

• Need A Job? USATF Has Resumed CEO Search Candidate interviews will begin next month and they plan on announcing the new CEO "well in advance of the 2012 Olympic Trials."
• Ray Flynn Signs 3-Year Deal As Millrose Meet Director Article reveals Millrose is considering moving its date further back to Feb. 16 for 2013.
• Some More Additions To The Elite Field For The Boston Marathon In addition to Jason Hartmann and Nick Arciniaga, who were announced last week, Sergio Reyes (2010 Twin Cities Marathon champ, 2:14:02), Mary Akor (2:33:50), and Paige Higgins (2:33:06) have been added.
• Watch Out, Patrick Makau: 41-Year-Old Chuck Engle Sets WR For Most Marathon Wins At 145 In 2011, he won 33 out of 51 marathons, averaging 2:45 (his PR is 2:31). Impressive, but he admitted that what he does is "unique" but he knows "there are a couple of Kenyans who ... could do it if they had the funding." A couple? Try 150 and then some a lot more.
• LaShawn Merritt Wanted To Be A Baseball Player Until He Went To His First Track Meet "I was about eight years old, an I didn't event know about track and field, and my mentor at the time took me to a track meet ... I just loved that one-on-one competition. You couldn't blame anything on anyone else."
• Galen Rupp Talks About His Relationship With Alberto Salazar, Which Has Spanned 12 Years
• Another One Bites The Dust: Winston-Salem State Cutting Men's Track And Field It's been a bad year for collegiate men's programs.
• Turning Pro Early In Track & Field: The Right Or Wrong Decision? Article has limited analysis, but some comparisons between former collegians such as Alan Webb, Robby Andrews, Nick Willis, Evan Jager and Matt Centrowitz.

LA Times Take A Look at Altitude Training At Mammoth Lakes

• Meb Keflezighi On His High Altitude Training Base At Mammoth Lakes: "This was a distance runner's heaven."
• Morgan Uceny One Of Many Elites Training At Mammoth Lakes "There's something special about this group. If you don't have a knowledgeable coach that can take that kind of training and make it work, then it's pointless. Just being at altitude isn't going to do anything. You have to know how to use it."

UK News: Athletes Not Feeling The Pressure

• Dai Greene Says He's Staying Relaxed And Not Letting Olympic Pressure Get To Him "I'm not going to get strung up on it ... I'm pretty sure that it'll be 400m that we'll run and it'll still be 10 hurdles. I try not to complicate things too much."
• Olympic 400m Champ Christine Ohuruogu On The Comeback After An Injury Filled 2011 "I can't see any point on going on a visit [to the stadium] now, I won't glean anything from the experience. As long as its got eight lanes, I will be happy."
• Former UK Rowing Great, Sir Steve Redgrave, Who Won 5 Olympic Medals At 5 Consecutive Games, Doesn't Think He'll Be Chosen To Light Olympic Flame At the last London Games, an unknown athlete was chosen for his "Olympian good looks."
• Irish Update: Ireland May Have Surplus Of Women's Marathoners With Olympic "A" Standard To Choose From

Aussie/NZ Updates

• NZ's 17-Year-Old Jacko Gill Not Officially Qualified For Olympics Yet As Only Has The "B" Standard
• Aussie 800m Runner Johnny Rayner Disappointed By Olympic Trials Experience As He Won The "B" Heat While Foreigners Raced In The "A" "Personally, I was a little disappointed that only 6 Australians got to race the 'A' 800m at the Australian Olympic trials."

In Case You Missed It

• Click On This Wallace Spearmon Photo Your money back if you don't like it.
• Recommended Read!!! Meet Norway's Full-Time Janitor Who Is About To Be An Olympic Marathoner Urige Buta is a 2:09 marathoner who works full-time as a janitor. Incredible.

Kiwi Champs *Results

• Nick Willis Crushes Will Leer - Wins NZ 5,000 Title & Says He Can Run 13:10 & Do 1,500/5k Double At Olympics Willis defeated his 13:36 training partner Will Leer by 11+ seconds to get the win and seems thrilled by his fitness. MB: Can Willis medal at 5k? *Willis Eases To 5,000m Title
• NZ Champs: Jacko Gill Misses His National Record In Shot, Nikki Hamblin Pulls Out Of 800 To Run 1,500
• Willis Pre-Race On 1,500 Chances: "I feel like I've put in the training a gold medallist would need to do." "The sky's the limit in terms of what can happen in London."
  
  More News From South Of The Equator
• From Australia: Australia's Michael Shelley Was Thrilled With His 43-Second 61:27 PR That Got Him 10th In New York
   
• Saturday In South Africa: 2009 World 800 Champion Mbualeni Mulaudzi Will Make His 1st Appearance Since Getting Injured Last June 30th 400m hurdles World Championships bronze medallist LJ van Zyl will also compete.
• We Agree: S. African Sports Minister Says Passion - Not Money - Will Win Medals In London "Spirit, courage, resilience and loyalty to South Africa is what will win medals at the end of the day."
• South African Javelin Star Sunette Viljoen Isn't Resting On Her Laurels
• Previous: Nice Recap Of Tuesday's 5,000 In South Africa: Mzazi, Gelant Gallant As 5,000m Goes To The Wire

4 Recommended Reads

• #1 With 4 Titanium Screws Holding His Hamstring To His Pelvis, Chris Solinsky Will Try To Not Overdo It In 2012 After a sensational 2010 which saw him become the 1st white man under 27:00, Solinsky went crazy in 2011 and overdid it. Now he's on the comeback trail from the 1st significant injury of his career. We almost certainly will use this as QOD for Thursday.
• #2 Meet Eulace Peacock - The Man Who Owned Jesse Owens Until He Tore His Hamstring (Note: The dates appear to be off) Even Owens doubted he could beat Peacock. Owens: "It's going to take a special man to beat Eulace Peacock. You see, I've already reached my peak. Peacock is just now reaching his. He's a real athlete. I don't know whether I can defeat him again."
• #3 Marc Bloom Asks: What Makes A Great HS Coach? Do you need to have been a former Foot Locker finalist yourself? Or maybe it's better to have never run at all? The secret is ...
• #4 The Week That Was In Running: March 12 - March 18, 2012 This week, we break down the action at the NYC Half and get ready for the Olympic 10,000 meters by talking about many of the US top prospects as well as Japan's 20 year old sensation Chihiro Miyawaki and by criticizing and praising Kenya's decision to have their 10,000 trials in Eugene. Along the way, we give you a stat that shows Kenya > the rest of the world at 10,000 despite the fact they haven't won gold in 44 years. Plus it's been a great last 365 days for Meb Keflezighi.

2012 NYC Half Marathon *Top 50 Results *LRC Photos (Updated) *Race Replay (Video)

LRC Recap: Peter Kirui & Firehiwot Dado Prevail After Head-To-Head Battles From the start, both the men's and women's races turned into one-on-one battles but with different results. In the men's race, Peter Kirui did all the work as Deriba Merga tried to hang on, but in the end, Kirui was rewarded with a victory in the 2nd fastest time ever (59:35) as no American men finished in the top 10. Kim Smith led most of the women's race, but Firehiwot Dado pulled ahead late and won in a new CR (68:35) as Kara Goucher was 3rd.
*MB: NYC Half 2012 race coverage thread and updates.
*MB:Today was Ritz's worst finish Since....
*MB:Did Kim Smith get pawned? (sic)
*MB: Todd Williams is really good at broadcasting
*Nice WSJ Recap
*Davila Loved The Weather: "If you can't run fast on a day like today, you might as well go bowling."
*IAAF Recap
*Goucher: "I had a lot more fun this year."

2012 NCAAs *Results

LRC 3,000s: Chris Derrick Pushes Lawi Lalang To The Line, Emily Infeld Wins Her First Title (link fixed) Friday night, Chris Derrick won accolades for coming within 1.7 seconds of beating Lawi Lalang. Derrick did even better on Saturday night, coming within .17 seconds. In the end, Derrick's efforts weren't enough, as Lalang completed the double. In the women's 3,000m, Emily Infeld won a four-person sprint around the final bend over (among others) Jordan Hasay. Hasay's Ducks were so good they would have won the team title if she had stayed in Oregon.

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

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

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).

Race Recap: Meb Keflezighi Captures 2012 Olympic Trials Marathon Title