LetsRun.com

Are People Insane? Usain Bolt Offered $100,000,000 Contract By Chinese Firm We're speechless.  
*UK Guardian: Usain Bolt And Skepticism Go Hand In Hand

NCAA Track Regional System Scrapped And New Super Regional Locales Announced 200 schools in the east, 100 schools in the west. *MBoard Thread

Jim Hage Asks "Is Haile Still Great?" After He Won His 4th Straight Berlin Marathon In 2:06:08 After going out in 1:01:44 and breaking the world 30k world record en route to the 26th fastest marathon of all-time (of which he has run a whopping 6), Employee #1 is shaking his head at the question in disbelief.

Dathan Ritzenhein And Amy Yoder Begley Lead Recently Announced Team USA Half Marathoners Buzz: US fans will be really interested to see how Ritz does in this race.

After Berlin 10k Snub, Japan-Based Kenyan Gideon Ngatuny Turns Down Athletics Kenya The paper tries to make it seem like Ngatuny snubbed Athletics Kenya after they invited him to run the world half marathon but really his sponsors won't let him run as the Chiba Ekiden is more important to them.

LRC: The Week That Was Last week was quite a week, as Ryan Hall got ready for New York, the #1 and #2 marathoners in history squared off in Berlin and some sprinters ran really fast in Shanghai. We break it all down for you and tell you why Ryan Hall most certainly is NOT the favorite for NYC and tell you how 9.69 is not as fast as 9.71.

Recommended Read: Candid And Unbelievably Interesting Interview With Brad Hudson Really, there are about 20 quotes of the day in this interview alone, as Hudson talks about not wanting to coach Dathan Ritzenhein, predicts Alan Webb will run 12:50 and may win Olympic 5k gold, opines on why Americans are good at running again and offers excellent training advice to anyone looking for the "key" to running fast.

Recommended Read: Fascinating Article On How Harder Aerobic Running Makes Mice Smarter Mice forced to run at faster aerobic paces on mini mouse treadmills performed better in cognitive tests than mice allowed to run at their own pace on a rodent wheel. Maybe we should all be running light tempo runs before big mental tests.

Abnormal Fare And Fodder

• 2 Super-Fast New British Trains To Be Named After Seb Coe And Kelly Holmes Is the Dwain Chambers Express next?
• Inspiring: Cross-Dressing British Comedian Eddie Izzard Completes 43 Marathons In 52 Days It goes to show where there is a will, there is a way.
• Is The Bee's Waggle Dance Too Good To Be True? New Evidence Upends What Was Previously Seen As Fact
• Why Not? Some Great Photos From Leadville 100 Ultra Race

For Wild Weekend's Results, See This Column

WOW: Tyson Gay Ties Bolt's Beijing 100m WR With AR 9.69 And Carmelita Jeter Hops Marion Jones With PR 10.64
*Shanghai Track Meet Results
*Video Embedded To The Right
We know we're a distance-oriented site, but since there weren't any records on the roads, we have to give a headline to the most underappreciated sprinters of all-time: Tyson Gay and Carmelita Jeter. Both are the 2nd-fastest of all time.

LRC: Ryan Hall Looking Good For New York *Photo Of Ryan Hall Crossing The Finish Line Ryan Hall hammered a 4:27 13th mile to win the 2009 ING Philadelphia Distance Run in 61:52.
*Ryan Hall Wins His 1st And Catherine Ndereba Her 7th Philadelphia Distance Run Race Press Release
*Ndereba Sibs Almost Pull Off Double Win Philadelphia Inquirer
Olympic Marathon champion Constantina Dita finished 10th on the women's side while Josh Cox nabbed 6th for the men.
*Mboard Thread On Race

Matt Tegenkamp And Amy Yoder-Begley Win US Road 5k Crowns In Providence Matt Tegenkamp won over Bolota Asmerom and Anthony Famiglietti, while Amy Yoder-Begley won the women's race over 2nd-place Rebecca Donaghue and Jen Rhines. Tegenkamp's winning time was 59 seconds slower than his track PR, but he'll take the win!
*LRC MBoards: US 5k Champs - Providence, RI
*Women Now Make Up 55% Of Providence Field, Run For Variety Of Reasons Providence Journal
*Fam Praises Teg's Tactics As Oregon Track Club Put Green Jerseys On Top Of Podium Providence Journal

Great North Run - England, Half Marathon
Martin Lel And Portugal's Jessica Augusto Take Great North Run Titles
*Boards: Great North Run Thread
*Great North Run Results - J Torres 62:42

Dam tot Dam - The Netherlands, 10 Miles
*Masai Sibs Linet And Moses Win "Dam tot Dam" 10-mile In The Netherlands World-leading 10-mile times for Masais.
*Post Race Video With Linet And Moses Masai Includes footage of the final 50m of the race.

LRC: Interview With Oklahoma State Coach Dave Smith We talked with Dave Smith about the big-time new additions to the Cowboys team, the expectations of German Fernandez, and his biggest challenge as a coach: holding his runners back in practice. In our LRC Preview Of Ok St., we officially put all the pressure on them and rank them #1 in the country over the 2-time defending champs Oregon thanks to the late addition of transfer All-American Girma Mecheso.

LRC: The Week That Was This week, the 2009 track season came to a close with the World Athletics Final (WAF), where Anna Willard and Kenenisa Bekele impressed us once again and Usain Bolt was upstaged by Carmelita Jeter as everyone paused to ask, "Is she clean?" Plus some fine road racing performances by Brett Gotcher and Colleen De Reuck in New Haven, as well as Sammy Kitwara in Rotterdam. And even though he got crushed, we tell you why it's time to get excited for Sammy Wanjiru's run at the BOA Chicago Marathon in less than a month and prove once and for all that we don't hate the Oregon Ducks.

Weekend In New York City? Catch A Great Road Mile

*Star-Studded Fields Announced For This Weekend's 5th Avenue Mile In NYC Sub-13:00 Americans Bernard Lagat and Matt Tegenkamp battle World Athletics Final medalist Leonel Manzano and many more studs on the men's side. The women's race can be billed as a USA vs. England battle with Hannah England and Lisa Dobriskey facing off with Christin Wurth-Thomas and Shannon Rowbury.
*Long Profile Of 5th Avenue Mile Participant And World Silver Medalist Lisa Dobriskey

LRC Exclusive: Cornell Medical Student And Exercise Physiologist PhD Matthew Goodwin Explains The Caster Semenya Case In A LetsRun.com Exclusive Commentary Dr. Goodwin explains the science behind sex determination, the probable cause of Semenya's sexual ambiguity, and his reasoning for why the IAAF should award two women's 800m gold medals if Semenya is determined to be "too male" to compete as a female in further competitions.
*Science Of Sport: Semenya Timeline Of Lies And Drama 
*London Times: Caster Semenya Is Real Victim She will be a victim if everyone keeps telling her she is one.
*Chuene's Fate May Be Decided Thursday
*Writer Cautions Press And Public To Check Their Semenya Outrage
*Hurst Asks Is Medal Worth Young Girl's Sanity Two more interesting Caster Semenya articles. The first one (from South Africa) sort of bashes Sydney Telegraph writer Mike Hurst (he who published the "leak" from a source close to the IAAF saying Semenya will be banned) and the second one is by Mike Hurst.

Looking Forward And Looking Back

• 98-Year-Old Runner One Of Many Highlights From Toronto's Scotiabank Marathon This Weekend
• Steve Hooker Talks About His Amazing Berlin Gold Performance On Basically One Good Leg His vault performance was one of our favorite moments of Berlin.
• Warm Praise For Van Commenee Thanks To Berlin Medal Haul Amazing what a charismatic leader can do.

LRC Interview With Wisconsin Coach Mick Byrne Wondering if Wisco can contend? Get all your info on the #4 LRC-ranked team in the NCAA straight from the boss. Graduating Stuart Eagon, Matt Withrow and Christian Wagner, Wisconsin looks for some help from the best freshmen and redshirt freshmen in the country and a couple of All-American veterans. Byrne talks about his team, "the best cross-country course in the country" (NOT in Terre Haute, but Madison) and his fundamental training advice. Enjoy.
LRC Season Preview: Young Badgers Earn #4 LRC Ranking

Berlin: Gallant Geb Goes For It But Bonks Beyond 35k!
*LRC: Beautiful Race Photos From PhotoRun

The Great Haile Gebrselassie's Final Words From Berlin Catch Haile's parting words and some final reflections on one of the most congenial sporting personalities in the modern era. Longtime athletics writer Pat Butcher is on assignment in Berlin.

*Video: Post-Race Chat With The Most Happy Competitor Ever The great one went after the WR in a major way, hitting halfway in 1:01:44 and staying on pace until 35k. Even Haile G couldn't keep the pace and he ran the next 5k in 15:57 (5:07/mile) and had to settle for a 2:06:08 win. In hindsight, the heat may have been too much or the pace a little too quick. He did get rewarded with a new 30k WR.
*IAAF Recap With More Haile Quotes
*Science Of Sport Coverage Here See where it all fell apart for Haile G in his 4th, and most daring, Berlin win.

Must-Read: Semenya Uproar Shifts To Lying Officials In Sporting Drama Of The Decade

*SA Paper Shock Headline: "Chuene Is A Liar Who Was Willing To Sacrifice A Young Woman's Future For A Medal."
*Mr. Secretary General, We Agree!!! The secretary-general of the ruling African National Congress, Gwede Mantashe, said all ASA officials "should be gagged before they make matters worse." ASA Boss Leonard Chuene admits he and the rest of ASA have been lying about their ignorance of any pre-Berlin tests on Caster Semenya.
*World War 2.5? Officials Call For Chuene's Head! But not until he undergoes invasive gender testing.
*Too Late: Leonard Chuene Apologizes
*Earlier: Unearthed Emails Show Indisputable Proof South African Athletics Boss Is Lying About Semenya Knowledge
This whole episode demonstrates why good journalists and a free press are so important.

Berlin Post-Race

*Berlin's Live Blog Here
*LRC MBoard Here
*Race Re-Broadcast On Internet Here *Race Will Be Re-Broadcast On Universal Sports TV At 5 pm EST (Now On Directv #604) Let's hope it's rebroadcast then as, like competitor.com, universalsports.com blew it, as the supposed "live" internet stream was more than 45 minutes delayed, leaving LRC fans irate.

Berlin Pre-Race

*Pat Butcher Meets With Haile G In Berlin
*Berlin's Top 5 Men and Women Previewed
*New: Reporting From Berlin: Pat Butcher On Duncan Kibet And His Unusual Running History
*Despite Saying He's In Best Shape Of His Life, Duncan Kibet Downplays His Goals Prior To Berlin The 2nd-fastest man in history says he's not going for the world record, just a PR. But when your PR is 2:04:27, things get interesting ...
*Berlin Is Full of History, As 6 Records Have Fallen In Last 10 Years
*LRC: Employee #1 Predicts New WR - Do The Stats Back Him Up?

New York: 6 Former Champions, Including Marilson Gomes dos Santos & Martin Lel, To Run In 40th ING NYC Marathon The marathon will offer a record and world's marathon best $800,000 in prize money. Ramaala, Tergat, Prokopcuka, Petrova are the other former champs. *Irishman Martin Fagan To Make NYC Debut

Chicago: Irina Mikitenko Announced For Chicago
Commentary: Jim Hage Offers Tidbits On Berlin, Chicago & New York