He's Even More Pathetic Than We Ever Imagine

"You don't hold the keys to my redemption. There's one person who holds the keys to my redemption," Lance went on, pointing at himself, "and that's me."

- A pathetic Lance Armstrong as he stormed out of a secret meeting last month with USADA head Travis Tygart after Tygart refused to buy Lance's sob excuses to get his triathlon ban over-turned. So Lance stormed out and sought Oprah to try to get redemption via the public's sympathy. The man, who still flies on private jets and vacations in Hawaii, apparently wants to do triathlons as he views it as his only way to make dough.

The Weekly Review: The Week That Was In Running: January 7 – 13, 2013

LRC Mary Cain, Rudisha & Farah, Lance & Oprah, and Running Fast But Never Winning This week we try to put Mary Cain's 9:02 in perspective, praise Mark McGwire and rip Lance as we get ready for Oprah, catch up with Mo Farah & David Rudisha hanging out in Kenya, talk about the fastest marathoners that have never won in history and get words of wisdom from Sheila Reid and Ryan Vail and Andrew Wheating. Plus we wonder why more pros don't do x-country?

Random Distance News

Sprint News

Houston Marathon/Half Was Sunday

LRC Ethiopians Feyisa Lilesa And Mamitu Daska Win 2013 Aramco Houston Half Marathon The performance of the day belonged to Daska, who was dominant on US soil just as she was in all of 2012. Shadrack Biwott (62:23) and Lisa Uhl (73:28) were the top Americans as Luke Puskedra and Aaron Braun also broke 63.

LRC
Bazuk Worku (2:10:17) And Merima Mohammed (2:23:27) Win 2013 Chevron Houston Marathon Titles The former WJr. record holder picked up marathon win #1 as Andrew Carlson (2:17:16) and Tera Moody (2:39:10) took top American honors.

RRW:
Ethiopians Sweep Titles At Cold, Wet 2013 Chevron Houston Marathon & Aramco Half Marathon Includes quotes from Biwott, Carlson, Uhl.

More Weekend Action - Mostly XC Action

Pre-Houston News

RRW Often Ignored, Aaron Braun Is Now Amongst The Top Americans He went to a DII school and thus isn't very well known despite his 27:41.

Windy, Rainy Forecast Looms Over Houston Marathon But Cancellation Isn't A Possibility


Meb Keflizighi Pulls Out Of Houston Half Marathon Due To Having The Flu Earlier In The Week
*Video Interview With Meb
*Good Preview Of Houston Marathon And Half: Elites Looking To Still Run Fast Despite The Weather 4th fastest half runner Atsedu Tsegay Tesfaye (58:47), chasing $50,000 bonus for breaking 58:23 WR, is up against last year's champ Feyisa Lilesa (2:04:52/59:22), 2:05 man Wilson Erupe, and Americans LukePuskedra, Ben True, Aaron Braunand Patrick Rizzo. In the men's full, 2:05 Man Bazu Worku leads against Debebe Tolossa, Andrew Carlsonand Fernando Cabada. For the women's full, 2011 NYC runner-up Buzunesh Deba leads against 2:23 woman Merima Mohammed and US's Tera Moody. The women half runners are led by Caroline Kilel, last year's full marathon champ Mamitu Daska and Lisa Uhl. We liked Puskedra's quote: "I'm glad [the race] is in the rain - anything to make it tougher. If the course could grow grass, that would be even better."

More On Iten's 1st Tartan Tark
Lornah Kiplagat's Tartan Track In Kenya Will Be Part Of Lornah Kiplagat Sports Academy For Underprivileged Girls The Academy will be a bridge between form four and university for talented girls from disadvantaged families.

Getting Ready For Oprah (She Let Marion Jones Off With A Pass, Hopefully We Can Pre-Empt It)

Recommended Read: The Guardian: Ten Questions That Oprah Winfrey Should Ask Lance (link fixed) #2 is key in our book. Cycling became rife with drugs in large part because of Lance. Don't believe us? Then we guess you don't realize that Lance's 1st Tour win came right after the Festina affair and Lance once attacked the one clean guy on Festina as he had the gall to say he was "shocked" by Armstrong's performance.
*The Guaridan: Ten Questions That Oprah Winfrey Likely Will Ask Lance
*A Good Read: Bicycling's Joe Lindsey Analyzes Why Lance Is Going On Oprah
*Great Read: WSJ's Jason Gay: "What Lance Wants From Oprah"

News From The UK

Non-Distance News

Big Races Set For This Weekend And Indoor Season

Racing And Admin News In Kenya

Previous Houston/Indoor Meet Previews

Jamaican Sprint News

Indoor Season Is Starting Up: Rupp Vs. Top Two 5,000m Runners Of 2012

Galen Rupp Will Battle With Olympic 5,000 Silver Medalist And 2012 WLer Dejen Gebremeskel In New Balance Indoor Grand Prix 3,000 On February 2nd The field will also include World Junior 5,000 champ and the second fastest man in 2012, Hagos Gebrhiwet. Jenn Suhr will highlight the pole vault.
*Indoor Season Kicks Off In Russia: 2004 Olympic 800 Champ Yuriy Borzakovskiy Wins 1,000m In 2:24.27 Olympic 800m bronze medallist Yekaterina Poistogova dominated the women's 1,000m, winning in 2:39.61.
*Outdoors: Olympic LJ Silver Medallist Mitchell Watt Competing In Australia's Hunter Classic Feb. 2nd

Good Read: Adam Nelson Speaks On What Needs To Change In Track And Field In Order For The Sport To Survive And Grow "Maybe we should focus on the smaller fixes, but it delays the inevitable. We're going to have to address the issue of truly professionalising our sport or we will have to accept that our sport only survives on the Olympic coattails."

Random Distance News

Other Random News: Asafa Powell Gives Some Tips For The Ladies

Non-Edinburgh Weekend Results: Kim Conley Runs Well In Italy

18-Year-Old Ethiopian Muktar Edris Gets The Win Over A Deep Field In Campaccio XC Race As Kim Conley Gets 4th For The Women He beat out John Kipkoech (12:49 5,000) and sub-27 man Geoffrey Kirui by less than a second as Moses Kipsiro was 4th, Leonard Komon 8th, Euro XC Champ Andrea Lalli 9th and Scott Bauhs 10th. Debele Degefa won the women's race in a close sprint with Afera Godfay as Conley was 4th and two-time WC steeplechase bronze medallist Milcah Chemos 6th.

*Joseph Ebuya Comeback?
Ugandan Runner Soyekwo Kibet Cleans Up At Eldoret XC Meet Over A Deep Field Of Kenyans Former half marathon World champ Wilson Kiprop was 3rd and 2010 World XC champ Joseph Ebuya was 4th. Africa Games steeplechase champ Hyvin Kiyeng won over Linet Chepkirui and World junior champ Faith Chepng'etich won the junior race. *IAAF Recap
 

*African 5,000 Champ Mark Kiptoo Wins XC Meet In Amorebieta, Spain Over Vincent Kiprop Chepkok In 3rd Magdalene Masai (younger sister of Linet Masai) dominated winning by 5 seconds.

*Xiamen Marathon:
Negari Terfa Wins With A CR 2:07:32 As The Former Record Holder Peter Kamais Was 5th (2:09:53) Fatuma Sado won the women's race in 2:27:35 as 2:21 woman Eunice Jepkirui was 2nd in 2:30:00.
*NCAA:
University of Akron Freshman PVer Shawn Barber Vaults 18-00.5 To Beat Out Two-Time US Champ Mark Hollis And 2010 NCAA Champ Jordan Scott
*HS:
MileSplit Weekend Coverage: Hispanic Games And Texas A&M Classic

Recommended Read: An Look At The Routine And Level Of Dedication Used By Meb Keflezighi To Keep Him Running PRs Even At 37 Years Old His routine: Wake up. Stretch. Eat. Run. Drink recovery shake. Complete drills. Stretch. Ice. Eat. Return messages. Nap. Snack. Run. Go to the gym. Do core and strength training. Stretch. Eat. Massage. Compression. Stretch. Sleep. Repeat. Meb says, "I like routine. There are no shortcuts to getting to the starting line healthy."

Sprint Stuff: Bond > Bolt?

Other US Distance News

Men's 100m / Heineken Bottle Throw Trial Has Begun

Reuters: Deranged Bottle Thrower Snuck In Without A Ticket And Wanted Bolt To Lose The judo medallist who grabbed him was right on when she said, "Dude, are you crazy?" The answer is yes - the question is, "Does that make him not guilty?"

BBC:
Bottle thrower also allegedly said, "Bolt, I want you to lose ... Believe in Blake, no Usain."
*Story Which Includes Photo Of The Man Who Threw The Bottle
*The Guardian

Sprint News: Asafa Powell Believes Key For 2013 Is "Not Training Much"

WSJ: "Is Adrian Peterson Nuts To Want To Beat Bolt? In A Word, Yes" In high school, he rain a wind-aided 10.33, but more recently in 2007, he ran a 4.38 40-yard dash, which the WSJ roughly converts to about 11.98 seconds for 100m. We think the conversion is ludicrous as do others.
*MB: Does the WSJ not do any research?
*MB: WSJ article on AP vs. Bolt

He Can't Get Much Worse Than His Olympic Final:
Asafa Powell: "I know that my best race is yet to come." "When I ran the world record, I wasn't training much. When I don't train much, I stay healthy, and this year I was training a lot, that's why I got hurt."

2012 Women's Top 10

TFN's Women's Top 10 Rankings For 2012 Are Out Shannon Rowbury at #5 is the highest ranked US woman in the mid-d or distance events. Somehow Jenny Simpson, who bowed out in the Olympic semis and was the 35th-fastest woman on the year, was ranked #10.
MB: Jenny Simpson World Ranked #10 for 2012? Really?
*A Look At The Jamaican Women Ranked In The Top 10 In The World By TFN

2000 Sydney Racewalking Silver Medallist Shot At Night Club In Mexico

US News

The Media Reacts To Suzy Favor Hamilton

Mid-Saturday Update:
Definitely Not Politcally Correct:
Chicago Sun-Times Columnist: SFH isn't alone - lots of female distance runners are total nut jobs SFH had "a glint of ferocity in her eyes, of suppressed danger. I saw the look in many of the Wisconsin middle-distance and long-distance female runners. In my book, I made special note of them, of their lapses into near insanity, of their successes and crashes and eating disorders and dependence on their controlling German head coach, Peter Tegen."
*Foot Locker Midwest Head Says Hamilton Can't Even Work As Volunteer At Its Event - Doubts She'll Keep Any Running Jobs "There is not a person in my opinion who has given more back to the sport of distance running than she has. That's why it's so tragic. We're losing Suzy." The UW-Madison School of Education, and the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association also are re-considering.
*FBI Might Be Interested
*The Daily Beast Examines How Escort Services Work (link fixed)

Usain Bolt Gets Dumped

Previous SFH News

*Husband Reacts With Compassion "Yes, I knew. We were essentially separated the past year. We are trying, with help, to see if we can make it work. Suzy is a good person who went down the wrong path, obviously."
*AP Knocks On Hamilton Door Gets No Answer, Finds Psychologist Who's Not Surprised "She needed to have some way to express some other side of herself that didn't feel as clean or wonderful or upstanding as she appeared to be."
*Seduction Author Not Surprised Either "I believe at least fifty to sixty percent of all single women are Wholesome Pretenders. ... The vast majority of women are taught and brainwashed to behave as 'innocent, wholesome good girls.' For most women, that is not the reality of their inner sexuality."
*Fox Sports.com: Sex scandal not funny, just sad.
*Colin Cowherd (Chris Lear And Rojo's Favorite Sports Radio Guy) Leads ESPN Show With SFH Talk - *Listen As He Says Her Actions Probably Aren't As Rare As You Think
*SFH Lands On Cover Of Daily News
*SFH Banned From All Disney Sporting Events
*runDisney Drops SFH As Event Speaker
*Competitor Group Drops Her As Well
*Bleacher Report: Former Olympian Deserves Privacy To Handle Personal Issues

Unbelievable

The Smoking Gun.com: Suzy Favor Hamilton Has Been Working As $600/Hour Escort For Last Year SFH, the 3-time Olympian, has been one of the hottest commodities in the escort business over the last year as she jumped up to a #3 ranking and got rave reviews for her runner's body and for providing the "full GFE (girlfriend experience)." One client raved, "I would do anything to protect her. ... She is worth every penny. I will go bankrupt before I stop seeing her. I hope no one else goes to see her, because I want her all to myself. ... I never thought I would find anyone in this hobby like her."
*Suzy Favor Hamilton Issues A Statement
*MB: Suzy Favor-Hamilton: Vegas Escort

Reaction From Across The Globe:
*NY Times: 1,176 Words On SFH: Former Olympian Cites Depression For Taking Job As Escort
*
NY Daily News On Hamilton
*RRW: Suzy Favor Hamilton Admits To Double Life As $600 Per Hour Escort (link fixed)

*Hometown Reaction: Wisconsin State Journal: Suzy Favor Hamilton cites depression as reason she led "double life" as high-priced prostitute
*Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: Olympian Suzy Favor Hamilton admits she worked as escort
*Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Profile On Hamilton In July Where She Talked About Battling Depression

Suzy Favor Hamilton TV Report In Chicago

US Collegiate Athletes Of The Year Are Announced

The Bowerman: LSU's Kimberly Duncan And S. Utah's Cam Levins Win The 5k and 10k champ Levins won on the men's side over the 100 and 110H champ, but there was even more intrigue on the women's side. Duncan had an incredible season as she won two individual NCAA crowns in the 200, was runner-up in the 100 and was on LSU's winning 4 x 100 and runner-up 4 x 400 teams, but one LRC visitor at a minimum is irate that Arizona's Brigetta Barrett didn't win. How do you top being being undefeated for the collegiate season and then winning an Olympic silver?
*MB: So an undefeated collegiate woman who won an Olympic silver medal isn't the NCAA track AOY - a non Olympian is?

The BBC Interviews Alberto Salazar & He Doesn't Hold Back In His Assessment Of Mo Farah's Place In History

A MUST Read - One Of The Greatest Races Ever Run - The US Women's Version Of The Billy Mills 10,000 Win

RWorld Reintroduces The World To Debbie Heald, Who 40 Years Ago Incredibly Ran The US HS Indoor Mile Record Of 4:38.5 Steve Friedman's piece on Heald is moving to say the least. Heald, whose father had committed suicide, who had been molested and who was always battling injury (13 different running-related surgeries), somehow at the US vs. USSR meet at age 16 in 1972 beat the greatest runners in the world, including the indoor 1,500 record holder and that year's eventual Olympic 1,500 champion, by running an a 8.5-second PR of 4:38.5. She came from way back to win thanks to a ferocious kick and she was known for having no kick. Her life since then has been full of struggles with schizophrenia but her HS indoor record still stands.
MB:
Debbie Heald article in RW

Heald's Incredible 1972 Race

More On Heald:
*2002 LA Times Feature
*1972 Sports Illustrated
*1967 Faces In The Crowd At Age 11
 From The MB:

*16-year-old Debbie Heald takes down the Russians, sets AR in 1972
*No Wikipedia entry for Debbie Heald ...
*1972 USA vs. USSR: 16-year-old wins the women's mile in a national record. (still standing)
*1972 Video Of Debbie Heald

Sad News: Two-Time Foot Locker Finalist Arrested For Murder Eric Kweder, who has popped up in a number of threads over the years, was 9th in 1995 as an 11th grader - one spot ahead of eventual Olympian Jonathan Riley.

Foot Locker Finals *Results *Boys Photo Gallery *Legends Pre-Race Photo Gallery

Boys: Edward Cheserek Repeats After Battle With Sean McGorty McGorty, the South champ, and Jake Leingang, the Midwest champ, didn't make it easy for Cheserek, but there is a reason Cheserek doesn't lose - he's the best in the US high school ranks. The four Regional winners went 1-2-3-4. *Results *Milesplit Recap *Edward Cheserek Interview

Girls: Anna Rohrer Overcomes Fall To Win
Rohrer pulled away for the win after falling after the start. Her Midwest teammates dominated the race with 6 in the top 10. Catarina Rocha of the Northeast was the runner-up, with both runner-ups having a least one Foot Locker finalist parent. *Results *Steve U's Recap *Anna Rohrer Interview
*OTB: Sarah Baxter 2016 Olympics? *wow footlocker, get your cameras fixed. learn how to cover a national race *Has Foot Locker gone too far?

Kenenisa Bekele Finishes His Track

Kenenisa Bekele Builds His Own Track/Runner's Paradise In Ethiopia And Hotel For Athletes Wishing To Use It It is in an area with 20 miles of forest trails in the mountains as well as flat woods right behind the hotel. He says he spent $1.5 million on the track, which currently has 6 lanes, but he plans on adding 2 more and adding seating so they can host elite track meets.

He May Fool Oprah But He Won't Fool Us (& Maybe The Feds)!!

A Must Read
If you thought Lance was arrogant before, this will put you over the top Behind Lance Armstrong's Decision to Talk The WSJ has exclusive insight into why Lance is going on Oprah. He is doing so because he had a secret meeting with USADA head Travis Tygart last month in Denver where Lance pathetically grovelled and made excuses in attempt to get Tygart to let him do triathlons - which Lance feels is his only way to make money. Tygart was having none of it and Lance threw a hissy and stormed out after yelling the QOD.
*Justice Department Takes Aim at Armstrong Justice Department officials have recommended joining a federal whistleblower lawsuit aimed at clawing back sponsorship money from former professional cyclist Lance Armstrong.

*Mike Lupica agrees with us - Lance is an arrogant SOB "To the end this guy thinks he can play the whole world for suckers." "Once Lance Armstrong was willing to say anything, hurt anybody, call people bitter or call them whores, who got in his way. Now he is willing to say anything to still make himself the hero of his own drama, the mythology he created and others helped create for him. That doesn't make you a saint or an icon or a hero. It makes you a cornered rat."
*Science of Sport Guest Column on what we might expect form Lance "The beefs many have with Lance are related to his dishonesty rather than his drug-taking, and far more about his bullying than his breaking of the rules.
*Britain's greatest female cyclists gives retirement speech and rips Lance and Tyler Hamilton "Tyler Hamilton will make more money from a book describing how he cheated than I will make in all my years of honest labour."
*
Before Oprah Interview, Lance Apologizes To Livestrong Foundation Staff How about an apology to Betsy Andreu before an apology to a foundation that helped enrich him by millions by boosting his image?

Two Races We Missed

Olympic 1,500 Champ Tawfiq Makhloufi Wins Big Arab Sports Awards & Says He Wants Double Gold In 2013

Who Says It's Just January? *Full UW Results

LRC Mary Cain Runs 9:02.10 For 3,000 - Arguably The Greatest Distance Performance In High School History
MB: *Cain 9:02!!!
*Mary Cain 9:02!!!
*How many boys state 3200/2 mile can mary cain win?
*NOW what do you think about a Baxter-Cain face-off at 3200 / 2-mile? Hmmmm?

Olympic Silver Medallist Galen Rupp Opens Up With 3:57 Mile Rupp tied up big time over the last 400.

HS Recaps: Sean McGorty Runs 4:11 & 9:07
MB: *Thread On McGorty

NCAA Action Starts To Heat Up *All NCAA Results

LRC Cas Loxsom Is Back!!! - 1:46.98 Opener The 2010 World Junior silver medallist opened up his senior campaign in fine form.
*Race Video

*Loxsom's Old Rival Robby Andrews "Only" Runs 1:51.41
*Post-Race: An Upbeat Andrews Says Training Has Bbeen "Going Well" And He'll Go For American 1k Record On Feb. 2nd
*Dual Meet Men: #1 Arkansas 85, #3 Texas 78 3:35 1,500 runner Kyle Merber was only third in the 1k. *Results
*2:02 HSer Amy Weissenbach Wins Mile In 4:52.01

National Women's Ekiden In Japan

Upset About Treatment On A "Human, Personal Level" By Cuban Officials, Dayron Robles Will Sit Out All Of 2013 In Protest Last week, we heard he was lacking motivation.

Random News

Olympic 100m Bottle Thrower Convicted

Guilty: Men's 100m Bottle Thrower Is Convicted Sounds like due to his mental illness, he'll get a slap on the wrist, but the judge's reasoning was sound: "The video, in my view, quite clearly shows Mr Gill-Webb checking to see if he is under observation before taking the risk of throwing the bottle. I am sure that he was at that point weighing up the chances of being caught before throwing the bottle in an effort to disrupt the start of the race and put off Usain Bolt. I am sure, therefore, that he was at that point acting rationally and wrongly."
*MB: OJ Simpson may have gotten off but the Olympic bottle thrower is convicted!!

Today's Weird News: Runner Mistaken For Gunman Leads To Pennsylvanian Elementary School Lockdown Some 4th graders saw a man in a black sweater and black-hooded mask running near the school.

Random Admin News

Recommended Read On Why We Run: 42-Year-Old Mechanic, One Of Few Runners In Haiti, Keeps Running After Earthquake "Running is a continuation of life." This 2:42 marathoner should have been in the Olympic marathon in our minds as he represents the Olympic ideal.
AP Video Story On Mechanic

27:41 Man Aaron Braun Is Pumped For Houston Half After Setting CR At Manchester

Whom To Believe? New Study Of Daasanach Tribe In Kenya Shows They Land On Their Rearfoot, Which Contrasts With Study Of Kalenjin, Who Forefoot Strike

Japanese News

Assorted US News

Random International

Kenyan Attacked

Video: Kenyan Runner Edwin Kipsang Rotich Was Attacked During Brazil's New Year's Eve Kings Run 10k, But Still Went On To Win Police said the attacker has a history of mental problems and doing stunts like this. Rotich was unfazed at the finish as he didn't even mention the attack in his post-race interview. *Longer Video

US Pro And Collegiate News: Clemson Head Coach Resigns

Marathon News: Houston Is This Sunday

Weekend Action - 2013 BUPA XC Was Saturday *Full Results *Discuss *Start Lists *Race Website

Good Read: CNN Piece On Tirunesh Dibaba, Who Says Her Main Focus In The Coming Years Will Be On The Marathon "I want to do something special, that is historic and unforgettable. Especially in the Olympic marathon, I want to compete there. I believe that is what is left for me to achieve."

Lots Of New Year's Day Action:

US: Delilah DiCrescenzo And Christian Thompson Win 2013 Emerald Nuts Midnight Run In Central Park The former CU Buff Thompson edged Tim Ritchie while DiCrescenzo dominated. *MB: Emerald Nuts Midnight Run Top Results
*Emerald Nuts Midnight Run Video

Worldwide: LRC Other End-Of-Year / New Year's Day Action Of Note That No One Wrote An Article About (Kogo, Soi, Lalli, Kipsiro, Etc.)

Angola: 59:47 Half Man Atsedu Tsegay (28:17) & Olympic Marathon Silver Medalist Priscah Jeptoo (32:31) Win 57th Sao Silvestre de Luanda Race In Front Of More Than A Million Spectators The race offers $145,000 in prize money and the men's title went to the guy we talked about recently in the WTW. The weather was HOT (86/30 WITH 72% humidity).

Spain: Tariku Bekele (28:29) And Gelete Burka (30:59) Dominate 48th San Silvestre Vallecana The women's race was expected to be a battle between Burka and Linet Masai but Masai was WAY back in 2nd in 32:13.
*Article On Race Translated From Spanish

Japan: After Slow Start, Konica Minolta Comfortably Beats Toyota Kyushu To Win 1st Title Since 2008 At Japan's New Year's Corporate Ekiden *IAAF Recap
*Nittai University Wins First Hakone Ekiden Title In 30 Years
*Hakone Ekiden Day 1 Recap *Full Results

Brazil:
Kenya's Edwin Kipsang Rotich (44:05) And Maurine Jelagat Kipchumba (51:42) Win São Silvestre 15km In São Paulo

Italy: Imane Merga (29:12) Barely Wins As Syliva (16:21) Kibet 3-Peats At Boclassic Sylverlauf In Bolzano American Scott Bauhs was 5th in 29:32 just behind Sergiy Lebid.

Austria: Leonard Komon Shatters Course Record In Peuerbach New Year's Eve Run Komon, the 10k road WR holder, edged junior 10k bronze medallist and 26:55 guy Geoffrey Kirui. In the women's race, European junior XC champ Amela Terzic edged 2:19 marathoner Irina Mikitenko.

Random US News: Lauren Fleshman Responds To You

The Christmas Holiday Wasn't Real Kind To Mo Farah

Ridiculous Claim: 37-Year-Old 2:14 Marathoner Luke Kipkosgei Says He Would Have Won Olympic Gold Had He Not Been Injured Kipkosgei, who did win a world indoor 3k bronze in 2003, is hoping to run the Moscow WCs. Good luck with that.

End-Of-Year News

Say It Ain't So
Desiree Davila Pulls Out Of 2013 Boston Marathon As She's Still Recovering From Her Stress Fracture

Christmas/End Of The Year News

Patrick Makau Reveals That He Ran Frankfurt Instead Of Berlin This Year Because Race Organizers Weren't Willing To Pay Him Enough Makau: "For someone to attempt a world record is not easy. Last year, I used a lot of effort to make the world record but in this case, we could not agree with them on what I was to get."

After Justin Gatlin Says He Wants To Beat Usain Bolt In 2013, Jamaican Website Uses Headline: "Keep On Dreaming!"

Merry Christmas:

Oregon Thought He Didn't Recruit Distance Studs - Others Thought He Only Got Them To Transfer
Who Says Martin Smith Can't Recruit Distance Runners? 4:02 HS Miler J. Burcham Commits To Oklahoma Burcham is a beast who ran 4:33 in 8th grade.

Sunday Results: Both Euro XC Champs Lose And Show The Best Europeans Are Still Not As Good As Mid-Level Africans

Justin Gatlin Says He Still Hasn't Given Up On Beating Usain Bolt "I've got world champion blood in me. It's not about times but about running to the line, being the first across it. ... I've got the Gatlin guns to throw at the Lightning Bolt and the Beast (Yohan Blake) and Tyson Gay."

Kenyan News: Peter Mateelong Wins And Asbel Kiprop Is Healthy Again *Photos

Spikes Magazine: "The Rise Of The Jager Meister" Jager says he got his start in soccer where he "used to run the entire game without needing a sub and I usually did it faster than everyone else too."

Stop Complaining: NYC Marathon Announced Cancellation Policy And You Can Get A Refund Get a refund or pay again for next year and run next year (while paying for this year as well).
On The Boards: NYC Marathon Resolution
*WSJ: NYRR Reach Multi-Million Dollar Settlment With Insurance Company After Cancellation Of NYC Marathon

New Year's: World XC Champ Imane Merga Will Take On Olympic 5,000m Bronze Medalist Thomas Longosiwa In New Year's Eve 10k Race In Bolzano, Italy Scott Bauhs is also in the field as two-time World 5,000m silver medallist Sylvia Kibet headlines women's 5k.

Good Read: Brett Larner Explains "How I Learned To Love The Ekiden And Why You Should Too" "When you put on that soaking wet, stinking piece of cloth and your own sweat mingles with it there is a physical bond formed between your life and theirs, your own years of work becoming part of something bigger, and others are waiting to join you. Giving anything less than your best is not sacrificing your gift, it is sacrificing everybody else's gifts."

Sports Science: Viagra Improves Performance In More Ways Than One

US News: Adam Nelson On His Way To Becoming An Olympic Champion

Lolo Jones Has Survived Her First Bobsled Crash And she even jokes about it: "God is real. I saw him today and he said come back later."

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

The Running Event Is In The Books *Photos

LRC The 2012 Running Event Is In The Books: Five Takeaways On The Industry Shark Tank's Daymond John Speaks The trade show for specialty running shops was last week in Austin, Texas and LRC's Wejo was there plus Ryan Hall, Meb Keflezighi, and most of Saucony's top athletes. The running industry should be renamed the "how to not get injured" industry. Some take-aways from the convention.
*Press Release: The Running Event 2012 Attracts 2,100 To Austin

A Great Guest Column

PJ Browne A Woman I Used To Know - Suzy Favor Hamilton Guest columnist PJ Browne reflects on Suzy Favor Hamilton and depression in a Recommended Read. "What I can now say about depression is that the irrational and the bizarre become the norm. There is no blueprint in a hit and miss mixture of drugs, incarceration and therapy. In my case, Zoloft turned me into a daring, brazen individual much to the embarrassment of my family."

Ryan Hall Speaks

LRC Ryan Hall Talks About Cam Levins' 190-Mile Weeks And Is Impressed Hall: "It's working for him. My hat's off to him. He inspires me. That's why I started following him on Twitter. I feel like I'm training hard and I'm not doing nearly that kind of training."
LRC Ryan Hall Talks About His Running Shoes Hall says he has different shoes for every speed he runs and that he has an "unhealthy attachment" to the Asics Gel Hyper Speed.

LetsRun.com's 2012 Year In Review

LRC We Say To You The Visitor, "Thanks A Million" For Making 2012 A Record Year For Us Now that the college football bowl season is over, the year is over in our mind and it's time to recap the special year we had in 2012. No matter how you look at it, 2012 was a record year for LetsRun. Unique visitors were up 38.55% and for the first time we surpassed a million unique visitors in a given month. Read the article to find out what our 5 busiest days were, what our 5 least busy days were, our most popular articles, most popular threads and more. Guess what day generated the most page views. Hint: it wasn't even a day during the Olympics or US Olympic Trials.

The Weekly Recap Of Last Week's Action
LRC
Overcoming A Mid-Race Tackle, Runners Are Weird, Ashton Eaton, Jacob Hernandez, Lance Armstrong And The "Future Of Ethiopian Distance Running" This week we start off with three things that should prove to you that runners are officiallyweird eccentric as we try to make a Flotrack video go viral. We then introduce you to "the future of Ethiopian distance running" before introducing you to Edwan Rotich - who got tackled mid-race and still won $25,000 + a car last week. Plus our hatred for Lance Armstrong continues and we wonder if Ashton Eaton would be nothing more than a D3 football star had he stuck with the gridiron. And Jacob Hernandez calls it quits.

Track This Weekend And Upcoming

A Former Star Retires

Felix Limo Hangs 'Em Up Limo, who famously ran 41:29 for 15km (4:27 pace) to set the WR and beat Haile G in 2001 and then went on to win the Rotterdam (2004), Berlin (2004), Chicago (2005) and London (2006) marathons, is calling it quits at 32 due to back problems. His 2:06:14 was the fastest marathon in 2004. He'll now focus on his farms and business interests.
*Interesting: Toni Reavis Remembers Having Dinner With A 20-Year-Old Limo And Limo Telling Him What He'd Do When He Retired "When I retire, I will open Felix Limo's House of Ugali."

Armstrong Corner (More Armstrong News)

2013 Boston - The Americans Will Be There

BAA: Meb, Ryan Hall And Abdi Added To 2013 Boston Field - A Slew Of Americans Will Take On The World At The 2013 Boston Marathon Shalane and Kara were already announced, so all five of the healthy US Olympians from 2012 will be there. Lots of other Americans will be there as well. The international elite field will be announced mid-Feb.
RRW:  The Three 2012 US Men's Olympians - Meb, Ryan Hall And Abdi Abdirahman - Will Race The 2013 Boston Marathon
*MB: Hall, Meb and Abdi to run 2013 Boston Marathon

Lance Armstrong Going On Oprah

After Resignation, Bev Kearney Lashes Out, Goes On CNN Seeking Justice & Hints At Lawsuit
Conspiracy Theory Or Crazy Enough To Be True?
Bev Kearney's Lawyer Suggests That Her Affair Was Exposed In Order To Block Her Pay Raise "We can't say what evidence there is of that. But we can say it seems remarkable, let's say coincidental, the exact timing this report came out of the blue [was] when the athletic council was recommending that Bev be promoted, and offered a raise."

Texas Coach And USATFCCCA Half Of Famer Bev Kearney Resigns

Will He Confess? WP Say They Also Have A Source Confirming Armstrong Went To USADA To Talk About Confessing But Claim Talks Have Stalled Now "The dialogue that was launched and has since halted appears to be part of a three-way chess match among Armstrong; USADA."

Lance Armstrong Might Confess?

Ryan Gregson

LRC Aussie 1,500 Record Holder Ryan Gregson Enters 2013 Having "Never Been This Aerobically Fit Before" The man who ran 3:31-flat two years ago as a 20-year-old is feeling good after a high altitude training stint in Fall Creek.

Weekly Recap

LRC Predictions For 2013 - Bolt & RudishaAre Done? The Muslim Mo Farah's 1st Xmas, The Case For Aries Merritt For AOY & Paralympic Whining We kick off the New Year by wondering if Aries Merritt should have been Athlete of the Year before wondering if 2013 will be the beginning of the end for both of the men who dominated 2012 - Usain Bolt and David Rudisha. We then dare to tell you that in reality, the Paralympics and wheelchair racing are over-publicized (not under-publicized as many claim) and tell you about the most insensitive interview ever involving Mo Farah. Plus crazy races in Alaska and yet another gratuitous slam of Lance Armstrong.

2013 World Champs Standards

A Review Of Duncan Larkin's "Run Simple"

LRC Review By A LRCer Of Duncan Larkin's Book, "Run Simple: A Minimalist Approach To Fitness And Well Being" Has running become too complicated and gotten away from it's blue collar roots? Larkin seems to think so and gives advice to try and make things simpler.

Seb Coe News

Last Week's Weekly Recap

LRC Biomechanics Are The Key? 2012 The Year Of The 800? Mo Farah The GOAT? SFH > Galen Rupp & Leo? Usain Bolt's Love Life, Wisdom From Pfaff & Salazar, And More This week we spend a lot of time wondering, "Was Mo Farah's double win really by far the greatest Olympic distance double" as Alberto Salazar claimed? (No). We also wonder if biomechanics are the key to success in T&F, wonder if this was the greatest year ever in the men's 800, compare the amount of pub generated by Suzy Favor Hamilton as compared to Galen Rupp, give you great coaching insight from Dan Pfaff (and Salazar), tell you how some coaches are never satisfied, and remind you to yawn before your next race. Plus Usain Bolt's ex-girlfriend kisses and tells, and why the best thing about altitude training may have nothing to do with altitude.

D-Day For Lance Armstrong

Japan's Top Collegiate Runner Joins Salazar And The Oregon Project

Japan's #1 Male Collegiate Runner Suguru Osako (13:31 5k, 27:56 10k, 1:01:47 Half) Will Be Joining Alberto Salazar And The Oregon Project He'll be running for the corporate Nissin Shokuhin team following his graduation in 2014, but live in Oregon and train under Salazar for the OP.

Run, Recover, Run More

LRC Runners Recover Better And Hopefully Stay Injury Free With These Two Products From The 2012 Running Event Wejo talks about some of the injury prevention products he saw at the The Running Event, which include better methods for massage, icing, and compression.

Meb And The Mental Side Of Running

LRC Meb Keflezighi Talks About Getting His Start In Running, The Mental/Physical Breakdown Of The Sport Meb: "I really believe during preparation it's 90% physical, 10% mental. When the gun goes off it's 90% mental and 10% being healthy."

Christmas Has Us Emotional - Is The Meaning Of Life Love?
Read This Article & Then Watch This Video

Dubai Marathon Is January 25th

Maggie Vessey Tests Positive And Gets A Warning

Maggie Vessey Tests Positive For Diuretic And Accepts Public Warning
The American 800m star was taking a prescription medicine that had a banned substance. She won't have to serve a suspension of any kind.
On The Boards:
Maggie Vessey tests positive

The Week That Was In Running: December 10 - December 16, 2012

LRC Jenny Simpson's About Face, Sally Jenkins' Embarrassing Defense Of Lance, Fast Rugby Players, A Mea Culpa And More Not a lot happened last week on the track but there is A TON to talk about. We break down world champion Jenny Simpson's about face and return to Mark Wetmore by comparing her positively to Charles Barkely and Dan Marino, but remind people that a return home didn't resurrect the career of Jeremy Wariner. We absolutely rip Sally Jenkins for defending Lance Armstrong and for using the "rape card" to support her argument as we compare Lance to Bernie Madoff. Along the way, we tell you why legalized PED use = the end of women's sports and introduce you to the fastest rugby player in the world. Plus we fess up to a rare, rare mistake.

TodaysMiles.com Launches On LetsRun.com

Today's Miles Launches The running world has got 3.1*, 13.1 and 26.2 stickers. Todaymiles.com takes that concept to running apparel. Want to celebrate that 26.2 you did? Do it. Want to run 20 minutes and wear a 20 mile shirt? You can do that, too. More info here.

Wetmore-Simpson Round II

LRC Jenny Simpson Coaching Switch Update Former CU Buff Stephen Kasica has some details on Simpson training in Boulder last week. Plus there is a cool multimedia timeline on Simpson's career and some perspective. Simpson won Worlds under Juli Benson, yet never ran within 3.5 seconds of her 1,500m PR. Fascinating.

2012 Foot Locker Boys Photo Gallery (Updated)

2012 Foot Locker Legends Pre-Race Photo Gallery

IAAF Gala Photos: The Stars Of Track And Field Are Beautiful People

NCAA Cross Photo Galleries (Captions Now Added)

Beautiful People: NCAA Banquet Photos (Click On Photo)

Back To Top18-Yr Old Ethiopian Muktar Edris Gets The Win Over A Deep Field In Campaccio XC Race As Kim Conley Gets 4th For The Women He beat out John Kipkoech (12:49 5000) and sub-27 man Geoffrey Kirui by less than a second as Moses Kipsiro was 4th, Leonard Komon 8th, Euro XC Champ Andrea Lalli 9th and Scott Bauhs 10th. Debele Degefa won the women's race in a close sprint with Afera Godfay as Conley was 4th and two-time World steeplechase bronze medallist Milcah Chemos 6th.