LetsRun.com

Our Weekly Analysis Returns At Last

LRC The 2012 NCAA Cross-Country Championships That Were We bring back our weekly recap by looking back two weeks to the 2012 NCAA Cross-Country Championships. We start by praising the Uconn women, Jordan Hasay, Abbey D'Agostino and ourselves before telling who flopped (NAU/Stanford), comparing Vin Lananna and Martin Smith, and telling you who the favorite is for 2013. Along the way, we crush the dreams of all college runners by telling them they likely won't improve (much) after their sophomore year before ending with talk about unbreakable women's world records.

More About The Rock Being Thrown From Bridge Which Nearly Killed Two U. Oregon Runners

Oregon Runner Involved In Horrific Car Crash, Chris Brewer, Releases Statement - "I am just thankful that Molly and I are alright. It's really a miracle." "It was just a shock when it happened, like something you see in a movie."
*Track Focus Publishes Photo Of Oregon Runners' Car That Was Destroyed By Rock Thrown From Overpass

MB: Two Oregon Distance Runners Hit By Rock On Freeway

More News From Oregon: Galen Rupp Named USA Track & Field Athlete Of The Week

2012 Euro XC Is This Weekend

• Belgium's Ethiopian-Born Yeshe Bekele Ready To Defend His European XC Title This Weekend We think the 24-year-old has only run 13:43 and 29:47 on the track.
• Athletics: Irish boss confident ill stars will be fit for Euros

More Than 1,000 Will Run Kenyan XC Meet This Weekend

Pamela Jelimo Might Win Comeback Athlete Of The Year Award In Kenya Next Week

The Closest Things To NYC 2012: CIM And Fukuoka Are This Weekend

Haile G Thinks He Can Run 2:05 Or 2:06 In Fukuoka This Weekend His last marathon was 2:08:17 in Tokyo in February, where he finished 27 seconds behind future Olympic champ Stephen Kiprotich.
*The Trailer Profiles 2:12 Man Jeffrey Eggleston, Who Is Racing His 5th Marathon Of 2012 At CIM This year, he ran a 2:15:41 in March, a 2:14:26 in May, a 2:13:13 in June and a 2:12:03 in October. Now he's going for the CIM CR of 2:10:27.
*Profile On US Marathoner Kelly Calway, Who Ran 2:37 At The Trials But Has Since Taken On A Full-Time Job For The Army, Which Has Made It Harder To Train For CIM "It takes a lot for me to escape for a run when my daughter says, 'You're only mommy on the weekends.' That breaks my heart. But I have to make sure I take that time for myself and get out there and run because that's what keeps me sane."
*Also Sunday: RnR Las Vegas Marathon Hires Outside Contractor To Distribute Water To Runners After Hundreds Were Infected With Stomach Virus After Last Year's Race

Running Science

• WSJ: Another Scientific Study That Says Running Is Bad For You They say that running is healthy in the short term, but that chronically running too much or too fast (they say more than 20-25 miles a week or faster than 8 miles/hour) could eventually kill you. However, many disagree.
• Another Study Finds That Being Physically Fit Prevents Brain Atrophy And Wards Off Dementia So would you rather die a fit, fast and sane 80-year-old or live to be 90, fat, slow and losing your mind?

US News: Two Oregon Track Athletes In Car Crash

• Two Oregon Track Athletes Injured In Car Crash After Someone Threw A Rock At Their Car From A Highway Overpass
• Olympic Trials Qualifier Camille Herron (2:37 PR) Runs 2:48:51 As Spiderwoman To Break WR For Running In A Superhero Costume She broke the previous record by 20 minutes and said it "felt like running a marathon at high altitude in the heat."
• Knee Injury Forces Chris Nicholas To End His Running Journey Across The Country And Switch To A Bike He was trying to become the first person to run across the United States twice in less than a year, but ended the run 1,000 miles into his second trip.

Odd But Interesting

• Did You Know?
  At 1st World XC In 1973, Irish Protesters (Terrorists?) Stormed The Course, Tackled & Punched Runners Before Runners Punched Back & Kept Running Apparently they were upset there were two Irish teams.
• Good News: All Items Taken During The Armed Robbery Of Archaeological Museum Of Olympia, The Birthplace Of The Ancient Olympics, Are Recovered - Thieves Arrested The thieves tried to sell a gold ring for $1.3 million. The other items were buried in a field.
• US Women Medal For 1st Time Ever In Cross-Country (Skiing, That Is)
• NZealand Editorial: Peter Snell's Long-Held Resentment Deeply Sad Some in NZ are upset that the only men's 800/1,500 double Olympic champ from a single Olympics said he stayed in America as "no one seemed interested in having my talents in New Zealand."
• Japan Running News Head Brett Larner Is Irate That His Work Has Been Plagiarized By Flotrack LetsRun seems to be one of the few websites in the world that isn't afraid to properly attribute.

Weekend Action We Didn't Cover Yesterday

12:47 Man And World Junior Record Holder Hagos Gebrhiwet And The 2012 Berlin Marathon Champion Aberu Kebede Win Great Ethiopian Run

Osaka Marathon: 39-Year-Old Lidia Simon Defends Crown (2:33:14) As Mongolia's Ser-Od Bat-Ochir Set's New Men's CR Of 2:11:54 Simon was the 2000 Olympic silver medallist and 2001 world champ.

2010 World Cross-Country Silver Medallist Teklemariam Medhin Dominates IAAF XC Meet Outside Of Madrid Olympic bronze medallist in the steeple Abel Mutai was 4th. Eritrean Nazret Weldu won the women's race.

Ethiopians (2:09:59 & 2:30:08) Dominate Florence Marathon

Ethiopia's Mosinet Geremew (27:36) Wins 10k In India Yebrqual Melese won the women's 10k in 33:21.

Euro XC Is This Upcoming Weekend

• Defending Champ Fionnuala Britton Will Lead Irish Team At Euro XC Champs On Dec. 9th
• Former U23 Champ Hassan Chahdi Of France, Now Age 23, Hoping For Senior Individual Medal After Team Gold Last Year

Administrative News

• South Africa More Likely To Bid For 2024 Olympics After Govt. Issues Final Report On 2010 World Cup And Says It Left An "Intangible Legacy"
• Journalist Rips Rwanda For Missed Opportunity When It Recently Pulled Out From Hosting Next Year's African Jr. Track Champs

In Case You Were Gone Over the Weekend: IAAF Gala Awarding Athlete Of Year And Celebrating 100 Years Of IAAF

Usain Bolt, Allyson Felix: 2012 IAAF Athletes Of The Year Bolt won out over Aries Merritt and David Rudisha and of course Mo Farah (who was not a finalist, which means he didn't finish in the top 3). Jessica Ennis and Valerie Adams were the other women's finalists. LRC cast its ballot for Rudisha and Felix. The IAAF should release the vote tallies.

• Rudisha Says He Thought He Could Have Run 1:40.50 This Year
• No Long Jump, 400m For Bolt In 2013
• Tirunesh Dibaba Says She No Longer Thinks of Breaking 10k World Record
• Aries Merritt Has Changed His Pin Codes Hoping To Go Sub-12.80
• World Champs Stadium Seating In Moscow Will Be Diminished From 80,000 To 50,000

US Running: The State Of The Sport

• Monday's Quote Of The Day: RW: "Are Races Becoming Like Airlines? Service Charges And Premium Fees Increasingly The Norm" From late packet pickup to online processing fees, the cost to run road races has gone up and up.
• Q&A With Scientist/Statistician Dr. David Martin On The State Of American Marathoning We 100% disagree with him when he says we'll see a sub-2 hour marathon by 2015.
• RRW: Turkey Trot Participation Up 6% From Last Year
• Superfan Jesse Squire Examines The Olympic Trials And What Aspects He Thinks Should Or Shouldn't Be Changed

Sunday Marathon Results

• Tariku Jufar Wins Beijing Marathon In 2:09:39 In Cold 35-Degree Conditions 2:05 man Eliud Kiptanui was second in 2:10:15. China's Jia Chaofeng won the women's race in 2:27:40.
• Kenya And Uganda Runners Clean Up At MTN Marathon In Kampala, Uganda

Jarmila Kratochvilova Thinks A Russian Could Be The One To Finally Break Her 29-Year-Old 800m WR (1:53.28) In Moscow Next Year Hers is the longest standing record on the track.

Pregnant Writer Says The Olympics Have Inspired The Next "Baby Boom" In The UK "In the Telegraph offices alone, three of us are due within a week of one another - in mid- to late April. ... It seems that it wasn't only the athletes who needed to be provided with condoms, as they were before the Games started - it was the spectators, too."

Thanksgiving Day Action

And To Think, Unlike Lance, He's Actually Clean
Unbelievable 4 Months After Nearly Dying In Bike Crash, Lukas V Runs 5:25 Pace For 2.5 Miles The phenom who went sub-4 in HS is truly thankful to be second in his age group. *MB Thread On Lukas V's Comeback

Chiba Ekiden: Galen Rupp Wins His Leg With 28:20 10k Split (28:46 Was 2nd) As Kenya Edges Japan The most impressive running by a male may have come from New Zealand's Zane Robertson, who ran 13:29 on leg #1. His twin Jake also won his leg. *MB: On Chiba Ekiden

The Greatest Feat In HS XC History?

Recommended Read: With State Meet Saturday, NJ MOC Wednesday & NXN Saturday, CBA Sits Top 5 - Runs JV - And Still Wins New Jersey Meet Of Champs Three sophomores, two freshman, a junior and a senior pulled off one of the most remarkable feats in HS XC history.

This Bud's Not For You

Man Who Threw Heineken Bottle At Start Of Olympic 100m Final Is Out Of Mental Hospital & Will Stand Trial In January

34-Year-Old Father Admits He Threw It But Is Denying Charge - Only Question Is His Mental State At Time

We Are Thankful For The Many Great Coaches Out There

Recommended Read: Famed Coach Bill Squires Is Turning 80 & Toni Reavis Celebrates His Life Squires is a legend to many. Squires: "Oh, I can figure out anyone. I figured out Shorter. I know your tendencies. I know what you do. And all you have to do is put it into reading, or whatever, and I can do - I can!"

Jessica Ennis' Coach Is Thankful For Jessica Ennis
RR: Profile Of Toni Minichiello, The Man Who Coached Jessica Ennis To Olympic Gold We love this guy's humility. "I don't have a magic wand like Harry Potter. The truth is, as a coach you're only as good as the material you're given. The day I met Jessica Ennis it was like being dealt four aces in a hand of poker." and on having to re-apply for his job: "If I don't get my old job back I'll just have to go back to an office and come down here coaching as a volunteer. Im not giving this up now."'
*Minichiello Named UK Athletics Coach Of The Year

More UK News
*UK Athletics Defends Plans To Create Elite Hub At Loughborough
*After Failing To Medal In Home Olympics As Reigning WChamp, Dai Greene Has Moved On & Is Ready To Try To Defend His World Title

Jamaican Tempers Starting To Flare

• Two Jamaican Greats - Don Quarrie & Glen Mills - Have To Go Mediation After They Got into Argument On National TV About Elections Quarrie is the 1976 Olympic 200 champ and Mills is Bolt's coach.
  
  
• More Jamaican News: Jamacian Paper Wonders: Will Usain Bolt Get His Fourth IAAF Male Athlete Of The Year (AOY) Award At The IAAF Grand Gala And Awards Ceremony? We loved this excerpt: "Though never one who needed a real reason to party, Bolt is looking to make it a big weekend at the glitzy affair in Barcelona, Spain."

Post-Collegiate XC News Never Gets Old In Our Minds *LRC Photo Gallery *Banquet Photos *Men's Results *Women's Results  *LRC Women's Recap *LRC Men's Recap *LRC M Individual Recap

1st Place Pub:
*Great Q&A With OK State's 13:15 #2 Man Tom Farrell He admits #1 man Girma Mecheso ran more aggressively than planned. Farrell has his own blog here, which we just found.
*After XC Crown, Oregon Women Are Dreaming Of Becoming First Women's Program To Win Triple Crown Only the UTEP men (3 times) and Arkansas men (5 times) have ever done it.
*Kithuka Embraced Underdog Role At NCAAs The article reveals what we'd heard - TTech coach Jon Murray IDed Kithuka 5 years ago in Kenya and had him placed at Wayland Bapist.

Previous Post-NCAAs Reactions

*Wisco Men Not Upset With 2nd
*OSU's 5th Man Shane Moskowitz: "It was definitely the best day of my life. For sure."
*ISU's Corey Ihmels Full Of Praise For Indivual Champ Betsy Saina: "Her life revolves around being as good as she can be and it showed ... She's a great athlete but she's just as great of a person."
*Colorado Women Had Worst Showing In School History (28th) - But Coach Wetmore Is Excited As Everyone Returns For 2012 Included in the returners is Olympian Shalaya Kipp, who will be looking to become Colorado's 1st 4-time XC women's All-American.
*NCAA Cross-Country Champs Stat Facts

Mixed Day For FSU: FSU's #1-Ranked Women Finish 4th But #18 Men Finish 5th

Oregon Reacts Differently To Scoring Mishap:
*Oregon's Asst. Coach: "That was bush league. I had to walk back into a tent and tell seven girls that they didn't win."
*Oregon Runner: "It was kind of a shock when they said we didn't win, but now, we're good."

Recommended Read: Toni Reavis Fondly Remembers The Great Joseph Kimani Especially Kimani's amazing CR run in Cleveland, where Kimani ran so fast that Reavis while doing TV thought the mile markers were likely misplaced.

NCAAs Are In The Books *Men's Results *Women's Results *LRC Photo Gallery updated 258 photos *Live Thread

LRC Oregon Wins NCAA Title As Betsy Saina Outkicks Hasay Confusion reigned supreme with the team results as Oregon was the winner, then Providence, but eventually once it was all sorted out the Oregon Ducks had a convincing NCAA championship over Providence. There was no confusion on the individual side as Betsy Saina outkicked Jordan Hasay and Abbey D'Agostino for the win.
*Full Results *Photo Gallery

NCAAs On The Boards:

• Kennedy Kithuka What's His Story
• Jordan Hasay Even Though She Lost I Commend Her
• Congrats to Oklahoma State and Dave Smith
• Who is the most successful US runner to never win an NCAA title?
• So WTF happened what was the offical word on the Women race
• Biggest Chokes at NCAA XC Nationals
• People who think this isnt bad for the sport are in flat out DENIAL

Yet Another Great Dies Too Young

Former 10k WR Holder Joseph Kimani Has Died At Age 40 The former road superstar took down the world's best in the 10k by a ridiculous 30 seconds in the summer of 1996 as he ran a still unthinkable 27:04 at Peachtree. He won virtually every big road race in the US at least once, also set a 12k WR, and is still the CR holder at Boilermaker.

More: *LRC MB Remembrances of Kimani
*RRW Article On Kimani

US News: Lolo Jones Wins Bobsled World Cup Silver Medal

• Lolo Jones' Team Wins Silver At Bobsled World Cup Tianna Madison and her partner took bronze. Jones said, "I'm kind of in shock."
  *Videos Of Lolo Jones And Tianna Madison In Bobsled Action

With NYC Cancelled, 2:11 Man Nick Arciniaga Is Running Cal International This Weekend Along With Alisha Williams Arciniaga wasn't feeling good about his prospects until he did a 29:29/14:39 Tukey Trot double.

Can You Say P-L-A-C-E-B-O? Kinesio Taping Doesn't Improve Blood Flow

Police Chief Catches Burglar While On Morning Run

Ridiculous: Drug Cheat Justin Gatlin To Be Grand Marshal For The 2012 Orlando Citrus Parade

Lance Armstrong News

• IOC Board Member Says Lance Armstrong Should Be Stripped Of His Olympic Bronze Medal Even Though Technically The IOC Does Not Have The Right To Take It Away
• Gym In Lance Armstrong's Home Town Erases His Name, Pretends He Never Existed
• Proof That Hollywood Has No Morals
  Backers Say Lance Armstrong Movie Is Still Full Steam Ahead and Will Be Made
  *Matt Damon On Lance Armstrong: "I love the guy."

News From The UK

• RR: Depating Coach Charles van Commenee Talks About His Legacy: "I got rid of cynicism in UK athletics." "People have high expectations. The athletes understand there is no place for excuse."
• van Commennee Talks About Phillips Idowu "But people who do not want to be happy, you cannot help. As a leader you cannot help people who are self-destructive either ... I think I've said enough."
• van Commennee Says His Successors Will Have It "Very Easy" Thanks To His Great Work
• UK Cycling (Which Track Is Trying To Copy) Not Sure If New Training Center In Loughborough Will Work For Track "You've got such a diverse set of events, do you need your pole vaulter with your hammer thrower? Who knows? It's not for us to tell athletics what to do."
• Seb Coe Joins Britian's Top Politicians In Urging Prime Minister David Cameron Against Imposing Any State Regulation On Newspapers
• Jessica Ennis' Coach Says She Can Win Two More Olympic Golds
• After Injury Plagued 2012, Steph Twell Will Be Patient In Comeback In 2013 - Goal Is 2014 Commonwealths In Scotland She had all of the metal pins and plates taken out of her leg and is very happy with the decision.

5 Silvers Is Way Too Many; Let's Hope He Gets Olympic Gold #1

MB 2004 Olympic Shot Put Champ Yuriy Bilonoh Has Tested Positive In IOC's Re-Test Of 2004 Olympic Samples - Adam Nelson May Be Elevated To Olympic Gold When Nelson failed to make the Olympic team in June, we assumed the two-time Olympic silver medallist would never realize his dream of Olympic gold since he's 37. We guess we were wrong.
*If Nelson Gets SP Gold, He'll Be The First Ivy League Olympic Champion Since Frank Shorter
*Russian Shot Putter Svetlana Krivelyova Among Athletes Whose 2004 Olympic Samples Tested Positive; She Could Now Lose Her Bronze Medal Krivelyova: "I'll just tell them to go to hell If they come and ask for my medal ... I'm not going to give my medal back. You can count on it."
*IOC To Hold Hearings Early Next Month For 5 Busted In 2004 Re-Tests - US's Adam Nelson May Be Elevated To Gold

Legends Of The Sport

• Good Read: Tim Layden Casts His Vote For Usain Bolt As SI's Sportsman of the Year "Bolt's races are not competitions -- they are performances that must be witnessed and shared and felt, historical moments of emotional -- almost spiritual -- resonance."
• IAAF Centenary Exhibit Closes With Meeting Of T&F Legends Including Seb Coe, Steve Cram, Steve Ovett And Sonia O’Sullivan
• Peter Snell Says His Bitter Comments About NZ Not Offering Him A Job Opportunity Were Misinterpreted "I shouldn't have said, that New Zealand owes me anything job-wise ... What I felt I said was that the opportunities to lift myself out of the situation I was in at the age of 34 just weren't available in New Zealand."
• Mo Farah And Jessica Ennis And Paralympian David Weir On Short List Of Finalists For UK's Sports Personality Of The Year Award
  *Paralympic Sprint Champ Johnnie Peacock Named One Of The Most Unlucky To Miss Out On Short List

Future Legend? Yohan Blake Explains His Really Gross Long Nails He says it's all "part of the Beast look."

Say It Ain't So

Paula Radcliffe Admits Foot Injury May Have Ended Her Career As An Elite Runner For Good Her most recent surgery resulted in 10 weeks of total immobilisation and the rehab may take 8 months, so 2013 Worlds is out. But she's not a quitter and she's hoping London 2014 is in and then the Commonwealths.
*Just To Run With My Kids Would Be Enough, Admits Radcliffe After Triple Operation
*Discuss

• More Updated News From The UK:
• IAAF Profile UK's World Jr. Heptathlon Champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson Who Came Back From A 2-Year Knee Injury To Win WJ's & Place 15th In London "It made getting to the Olympic Games all the sweeter - I never took making the Games for granted, it was a dream I had but it was more for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, but with it being in London, I put my heart and soul into qualifying for it."
• British Cycling Head Warns UK Athletics That Their New Loughborough Base Might Have Some Pitfalls Many of the top athletes such as Jessica Ennis, Mo Farah, Greg Rutherford, Christine Ohuruogu and Adam Gemili won't actually be training there.
• New UK Athletics Performance Director Neil Black Names 5 Coaches To Be Based At Elite Loughborough Hub As Part Of Restructuring Plans Americans Rana Reider and Terrence Mahon make the cut.
• Trying To Copy UK Cycling, UK Sport Invests £720,000 In Team GB Coaches To Boost 2016 Olympic Hopes To get cycling's success, they'll have to get rid of the worldwide competition found in track and field. It helps a great deal when whole continents don't really do your sport.
• UK Sport To Pay Each Coach £20,000 Per Person Per Year In Effort To Turn Those Selected Into Future Leaders In Their Disciplines UK Athletics to pay more after that.

The 2012 New York City Marathon That Never Happened

• Q&A With 27:40 Man Brent Vaughn, Who Will Run Fukuoka This Weekend After NYC Cancellation Vaughn will be looking for his first finish in a marathon as he was a DNF in his only marathon at the Trials.
• After NYC Cancellation , 2011 World Champ Edna Kiplagat Won't Run Fall Marathon But Will Defend World Title In Moscow Next Year

Yohan Blake Talking A Bit About 2013: "My legacy starts next year."

Saturday HS Foot Locker/NXN Coverage

• MileSplit Foot Locker/NXN Regional Coverage: Edward Cheserek Wins Foot Locker Northeast At VCP In 15:20 Mary Cain won the NXN NY Regional as FM boys and girls won the team races.
• Good Region-By-Region Foot Locker Recaps
• MileSplit Recap Of Foot Locker Midwest Regional Meet: Anna Rohrer Was The Surprise Winner In 16:53
• OTB: The McGorty (FL South winner) conundrum, what would you do? *ASHLEY ERBA NOT EVEN IN TOP 30 AT FL - TODAY WHAT HAPPEND *NE Footlocker Times Very Slow? *Footlocker Regionals - news, play by play and results *SARAH BAXTER 16:40 Woodward Park Record!!! *NXN At-Large bids? Who get?

Next Weekend: Fellow Japanese Amateur Sho Matsumoto Looking To Gun Down Yuki Kawauchi At Sunday's Fukuoka International Marathon Taking after Kawauchi's prolific racing, he ran a 65-minute half marathon on Nov. 25th and will have a full this Sunday.

News From The IOC, WADA And IAAF

• IOC Threatening To Suspended National Olympic Committees Of India And Kuwait Because Of Government Interference In Elections
• Good: InsideTheGames Poll Shows Fan Support For 4-Year Drug Bans
• Chinese City Guiyang Will Host IAAF 2015 World Cross-Country Championships
• Debate In Russia As To Whether Or Not To Knock Down Moscow's Historic Luzhniki Stadium Which Hosted The 1980 Olympics

Weekend Cross-Country Action: Cam Levins Wins His 3rd Straight Canadian Title

Cam Levins Wins Canadian Cross-Country Championships He won with 29:41 just ahead of Wisconsin's NCAA 8th placer Mohammed Ahmed (29:42).
*Full Men's Results *Women's Results *Meet Site
*Hosea Macharinyang & Magdalene Masai Win Senior Races At The Latest KCB/AK National Cross-Country Series In Mount Elgon
*Recap Of UK Trials For European XC Champs

IAAF Gala Legends Of The Sport News

The IAAF has many of the sports stars in Barcelona for the celebration of its 100th anniversary.

• David Rudisha Wins IAAF Performance Of The Year Award
• Usain Bolt Says The Focus In 2013 Is Breaking His Own WRs And He Won't Be Doing The 400 Or LJ "I'm getting older so I should try to go as fast as I possibly can now."
  *Ato Boldon Says Yohan Blake Will "Run Bolt Out Of The 100" "I actually think Blake is going to run Bolt out of the 100m; I think Blake is going to make Bolt a 400m and 200m guy in the next two to three years."
  *Maurice Greene Thinks Bolt Can Break His 100m WR
• Interviews With Kip Keino And Peter Snell
• Kip Keino Thinks Kenyan Athletes Disappointed At The Games Because They Arrived In London Too Late He criticizes the athletes for only coming down 3 or 4 days before the Games; however, studies have shown that it is effective to come down from altitude 72 hours before you race.
• Peter Snell Criticizes New Zealand For Not Helping Out Its Athletes Professionally He says many leave to work with athletes in other countries because they're not given any offers in NZ.
  *Snell: "No one seemed interested in having my talents in New Zealand."
• Interviews With Angelica Bengtsson, Adam Gemili, Ana Peleteiro And Anthonique Strachan
• Adam Gemili Will Stick With His Coach, Who Was Just Fired By UK Athletics And Said He Won't Be Moving To Loughborough Where UKA Will Now Be Based
• IAAF Centenary Gala Show Continues With Trophy Presentations To Inagural Members Of IAAF Hall Of Fame
• All-Time Track & Field Greats Inspire Youth At IAAF/Nestlé Kids' Athletics Competition

Love For DIII And An "Overaged" Collegian - DIII Women's National Champ Is A 27-Year-Old Mother Of Two

27-Year-Old Mother Of Two & DIII National Cross-Country Champion, Christy Cazzola, Named USATF Athlete Of The Week

*Nov 17: Mike Woods Column: In life and running, Cazzola staying ahead
*Running Times Profile Of Cazzola From Sept. Cazzola was a the Wisconsin 800 state champ in 9th grader in 2000 and then walked away form it all and had a kid. She ran the 2008 XC nats while pregnant with kid #2.
*Mike Woods DIII Race Story On Cazzola: Cazzola Wins DIII Title
*2012 NCAA XC D3 Photo Gallery

Track And Field's Male Fans Are Thankful For This
Fit Again & Recovered From Achilles Surgery & Bacterial Infection, Blanka Vlasic Is Ready To Compete Again

37-Year-Old Sergey Lebid Hoping To Get European XC Title #10 On Dec. 9th

UK Olympians And Their Coaches In The News

• Leaked Confidential Document Reveals UKA Is Changing Up Its Coaching Structure Setting Tiers And Forcing All To Move To Loughborough Univ. All have to re-apply for their jobs and many could be let go.
• Athletes Talk About How Winning Gold In London 2012 "Changed Their Lives Forever" Greg Rutherford: "My most surreal moment since the Olympics was attending the GQ Men of the Year awards and then afterwards being invited back to Matthew Freud's house. I noticed Bono hanging out in the kitchen before somebody beckoned me to go downstairs. ..."
• Olympic Long Jump Champion Greg Rutherford Moving To Phoenix, Arizona So He Can Continue Working With Coaching Genius Dan Pfaff

Ladies 2012 New York City Marathon - Or At Least As Close As We Are Going To Get To It

Yokohama: Lydia Cheromei Wins With 2:23:07 CR As Kim Smith (2:27:35), Amy Hastings (DNF) And Jo Pavey (DNF) Disappoint Smith's PR remains 2:25:21 from her debut in London 2010. Her teammate Amy Hastings was a DNF. Serena Burla was 11th. MB: Live Thread on Yokohama Non-NCAA Weekend News

JRN Recap: Mizuho Nasukawa Was Top Japanese In 2:26:42
*Kiwi Kim Smith Finishes Sixth
Pre-Race: Pavey Was Adamant She Could PR (2:28:24)
 
Turin: Boston Winner Sharon Cherop Runs Negative-Split CR (2:23:57) The top 3 finishers were all going to run NYC. #2 Hilda Kibet (KEN) 2:25:46. #3 Valeria Straneo (ITA) 2:27:04. 2:10:34 won the men's race.

Kenya: Weldon Wins Kass Marathon In Kenya - Will He Be Kenya's Next Star? Weldon Kirui, that is. He got the win 1 month after being 2nd in LA. The winner of the Kass often becomes a star like G. Mutai. Agnes Jepkosgei won the women's race.
*RR: Weldon: "Let me tell you, life has been hard for me. I braved numerous challenges."

Philly: 36-Year-Old Mike McKeeman (2:17:51) Wins Hometown Philly Marathon Over Scott McPherson As Women's CR Goes Down To Russia's Irina Mashkantceva (2:35:27) The half marathons were won by the same people who won the 8ks on Saturday.
Records Are Made To Be Broken: 8k In Philly: Samuel Ndereba's 22:28 Smashes Marcus O'Sullivan's 23:03 CR That Had Stood Since 1997

Non-Marathons:

Seven Hills Loop 15k: MB: Tirunesh Dibaba Destroys Olympic Marathon Champ Tiki Gelana - 47:08 To 48:09 - At Seven Hills Loop 15km *Video Highlights In Dutch
*IAAF Recap: Nicholas Kipkemboi Upset Men's 15k WR Holder Leonard Komon In Men's Race

Big Sur Half Marathon: 3 Weeks After Marriage, Husband-Wife Combo Of Ben Bruce (1:04:45) And Stephanie Rothstein-Bruce (72:19) Win

A Really Rich Mountain Race: Ethiopians Abebe Dinkesa And Etenesh Dironeda Win $50,000 (US) At Obudu Mountain Race
*Australian High Commissioner To Nigeria Completes Mountain Race

Kenyan News: Paul Tergat Is On The IOC

• Sammy Wanjiru Honored By Commonwealth Games Federation & Paul Tergat Chosen To Succeed Kip Keino As Kenya's Representative On The IOC Executive Board The award included $379, which was given to one of his wives his wife. She gave the money to the Wanjiru Foundation, which aids local races and is helping the local hospital buy equipment that could have possibly saved Wanjiru.
• Caroline Kilel Among Athletes Vying For Overall Jackpot In 3-Part Safaricom Gusii Golden Kebirigo 10k Road Series Winner gets $584, a cow, a goat and a sack of maize. Cha-ching!
• Big Surprise: AK President Isaiah Kiplagat Urges Retired Kenyan Athletes To Take Up Management Of Current Runners Rather Than Use Foreign Agents "It is not economically healthy for all the agents to be from abroad. If our agents take care of our athletes, the benefit would be for the Kenyans."
• Heated Debate Continues At Eldoret Athlete Seminar Beteween KRA And Runners Over The Taxation Of Prize Money

After 3 Days In Cell With 40 Men, One Open Toilet And A Blanket That Had Not Been Washed In Years, Former World High Jump Champion Jacques Freitag Gets Bail

National Security Issues Start With Running:
Wall Street Journal Examines Paula Broadwell And David Petraeus' Running: "Paula Broadwell Is Faster Than You" She ran 1:36 for the half marathon at 39.

Recommended Reads And Seb Coe News

• Recommended Read: Having Recently Won $500,000 WMM Title, Geoffrey Mutai Hasn't Forgot His Poor Upbringing & Remembers How He Borrowed Money To Run 2007 Kass Marathon This year's edition of the race is this year and Mutai says the winner will be able to get top 3 in Boston.
• Recommended Read: Brothers Futsum Zienasellassie And Bahlbi Gebreyohanns Talk About Being Separated & Now Reunited Again At NAU
  
  
• A Nice Q&A With Former Olympic Medallist And TV Columnist Extraordinaire Brendan Foster
  
  Speaking Of Recommended Reads, A Few People Actually Have Emailed And Said That His New Autobiography Is A RR Despite Monday's Terrible Review
• Seb Coe Talks To Sky Sport About His New Book And Olympic Memories From London 2012
• IOC President Jacques Rogge Has Expressed Caution About The Chances Of Sebastian Coe Becoming A Member Of The Olympic Body Next Year
• Even Though They Brought In 50% More Money Than Any Other Olympics Through Ticket Sales, Politicians Are Still Expected To Criticize Seb Coe On Wednesday

NYC News: NYPD To Refund Fees Paid By NYC Marathon Police fees were the main reason entry fees spiked for the 2012 marathon.