We've Never Seen This Excuse Before

"This night was not a good night for me. I slept in a wrong position, on my stomach, and when I woke up, I knew I had a problem, it was not good. I called my physiotherapist, and he came and cracked my back, and said, 'what have you done?'"

- Haile Gebrselassie after seeing his world record attempt at the Dubai Marathon go wrong. After getting caught by two runners late in the race, Geb was still able to power home to victory in 2:06:09.
*LRC Photo Sequence - How Race Unfolded Don't worry if you missed the race; fans were irate that the only way to follow the race was with online km splits.

LRC Boards: The REAL story about the Oregon HS XC Situation
Thousands of XC fans from around the country have responded to the OSAA who discussed eliminating or significantly altering the team aspect of Oregon HS XC (there's a facebook group with 3600+ members). An informative article written about the plans and the responses from xc fans implies that people are over-reacting. But the truth is, organizers who don't seem to know a whole lot about cross country are considering altering or dropping team xc at the state level in order to save a few thousand dollars.
*DyeStat article: Oregon's OSAA Hears From XC Fans, Loud and Clear

Almost 1/3rd Of Top 100 At Chinese Marathon DQed For Cheating This isn't some minor scandal. It was a big one because if you're under 2:34 in China, you get extra credit for the incredibly competitive college entrance exams. *LRC: MBoard Thread On Chinese Cheating For College

Interview With America's 2:10 Marathon Debut Surprise Brett Gotcher
Stanford grad Brett Gotcher was on pace for 2:09 or faster until the last couple miles in Houston. Looking back, he "only" ran 28:51 for 10,000m in college but he also ran 28:59 in his sophomore year at the age of 20.

If 600 Is Your Favorite # - You Are In Luck
*Batman Vs. Quow Makes Interesting Matchup At 600y At Millrose A former 400h world champion versus the current 400 bronze medallist.
*Meanwhile, The 600m In Moscow On February 7th Might Be Even Better, As Olympic 800 Meter Champ Wilfred Bungei Will Be Making Comeback From Injury The article is a few weeks old, but LRC has learned Bungei, who is coming back from a torn Achilles, will be in a great 600m race in Moscow on February 7th with Borzakovskiy, Ismail, Belal Mansour and Milkevics.

Kenyan XC Buzz
*Nice Profile Of The Man Who Slayed Bekele - Josesph Ebuya The story starts with the following great opening line: "He left his fellow herdsmen and travelled over 400 kilometres to Eldoret with a dream - to run and earn money to buy land and settle away from cattle rustlers."
*Undefeated In 2010, Linet Masai Returns To Kenya Dreaming Of World XC Gold She ended up with silver last year but wants gold this year.
*A Brief Look At Saturday's Armed Forces Championships

Preview Of Saturday's 6th IAAF XC Meet In The Uk Newly-crowned European XC champ Hayley Yelling, who just turned 36 this week, is one of the biggest headliners of a good field. *Yelling Named European Athlete Of Month

US Race News - The Emperor And The New Chairman Of The Boards

NYC Half Marathon And Mary Wittenberg Land Haile Gebrselassie
The NYC Half is now in late March and Geb is their first major announcement. He ran 59:24 on the NYC course in 2007. Geb's career marks: 9 times sub-2:07, 10 times sub-12:55, 10 times sub-7:30, 9 times sub-27:00.

Bernard Lagat To Race Galen Rupp And Good Ethiopians In Boston Indoor Games 5,000
Rupp will have to rally from his defeat by a college walk-on 400m freshman to take on the world champ.

Millrose Nabs Pole Vault Medalists Jenn Suhr (Stuczynski), Chelsea Johnson, Renaud Lavillenie IAAF
But word is Blanka Vlašić is out.

XC Winter News

This Is For Real - They're Axing Team XC In OREGON
Save Team High School XC In Oregon
Yes, that's right, the Oregon HS Sports people want to eliminate team qualifying for Oregon's state XC meet.
LRC MB:
Oregon High School Cross-Country ...

Poland's World XC Course Is Under 2 Feet Of Snow IAAF

Non-Running-Related But We Don't Care

US Kids Now On Computer, Cell Phones And TV For Average 7.5 Hours Per Day
Five years ago, the number was 6.5 hours and researchers thought for sure they had hit a ceiling.

NY Times On EPO - The Risks Of Moderate-High Doses vs. The Rewards well.blogs.nytimes.com
Now they've figured out doses so that you can cheat without giving yourself a fatal heart attack or stroke.

Man Of The Weekend - USA's Brett Gotcher Runs 2:10 Debut

Houston Chronicle: Gotcher Makes Splash
McMillan Elite's Brett Gotcher credits training partner Paige Higgins with getting him ready for his big first splash. Amazingly, Gotcher only finished 7th with the 4th-fastest US debut of all time.
*Houston Chronicle: How Houston Marathon Was Run It was run fast.

Dubai Marathon
*LRC Photo Sequence - How Race Unfolded *Km-By-Km Splits *Official LRC Dubai Marathon MBoard Thread *Top 24 Male Finishers *Top Female Finishers

Geb Runs 2:06:09 Mamitu Daska Molisa Geb's record attempt came up way short as he got caught in the race by two Ethiopians but was able to obliterate them in the sprint. The women's race also was close as Mametu Daska (2:24:18) ran herself to exhaustion but was able to prevail over Aberu Sheway (2:24:26).
AP:
Geb: "I wasn't feeling very good this morning because I had a back problem but I'm very happy to win the race. I think I slept in a different position, on my stomach, and that caused the problem."
IAAF: Geb Needed Physio Treatment Prior To Race

First They Try To Ban HS XC, Now This
Oregon Students & Parents Are Complaining That NCAA T/F Is Interfering With Graduation Personally, we do think it's absurd that Oregon students will have to graduate on a Monday. We've said all along that Eugene is being saturated with track.

USATF Announces Jenny Crain Mentoring Program Jenny was hit by a car while training for her 4th US Olympic Trials. Donate here.

Pre-Race Stuff From Dubai
LRC Photos:
Aerials From Dubai's Insanely Tall Building With Haile Gebrselassie
We can't tell if the photos are taken from a plane or from the top of the building (even though the photographer wrote us and told us he rode a 40mph elevator to the top).

Good Preview Of Haile's Latest Record Attempt In Dubai IAAF
36-year-old's training was "perfect."
*Women's Preview: Past Champs Margasa & Bekele To Battle

What A Surprise: Haile Tells Gulf News World Record Is Possible gulfnews.com
He gets half a million and a private island just for saying that.

Haile Gebrselassie's Daily Life As He Trains For Marathons And Operates Huge Business

Sammy Korir, First Man To Run Sub-2:09 Ten Times In Career, Will Race Haile In Dubai
Korir is 38, so calling him top competition isn't really being honest.

World Round-Up

Japanese Organize Elite Marathoning Training Camps To Improve Global Performance
The Japanese Rikuren are concerned with their elite marathoners and their training in the Ekiden system, so they're going to have training camps in New Zealand, then Colorado, then Africa.
Worth A Watch (3:00 In): *YouTube Video Of Hakone Ekiden, Where Toyo Univ's Ryuji Kashiwabara Crushes Uphill Stage
This guy was 8:00 better than any other runner on the uphill stage that essentially decides Japan's biggest race.

Commonwealth Games Organizer Blames Western Snobbery For Concerns Over Mumbai Security www.theaustralian.com.au

LRC: Photos From Houston Half And Full Marathon Gotcher, Flanagan and Vega grabbed headlines, but these photos are the best way to see the rest of the elites in action and we tell you how they finished in the photo captions.

Upcoming Races In New York:
The Armory: Erin Donohue And Andy Baddeley Highlight New Balance Games Mile The mile fields are solid if you're in the city looking for a good meet.

IAAF: Preview Of Empire State Building Run-Up Race They need to have a run up that new building in Dubai.

Turkish/Ethiopian Olympic Star Elvan Abeylegesse Given Fair Play Prize For Giving Rival Melkamu Her Extra Spikes Before Worlds 10,000m She helped set up the race of the year, where huge favorite Meseret Defar blew up in the last 50, then it looked like Melkamu had it before she slowed down just before the line allowing Kenyan Linet Masai to win.
LRC Archive: Women's 10,000m: 9,950 Meters According To Form And A Very Bizarre Finish

Dubai Marathon Video

Two Great Causes

Fundraiser For Former NCAA DIII Champ Johanna Olson As She Battles A Brain Tumor Olson is tough. She won an NCAA XC title after her first bout with cancer.

Fundraiser For Jenny Crain February 4th In Wisconsin
There are some great running items up for bid in a silent auction.  2.5 years after her accident, Jenny, a former Olympic hopeful hit by a car on her morning run, needs your help.