Quote Of The Day

"Coach might be mad at me I was supposed to wait five laps and then take off. I could just tell that everyone was putting on the breaks (sic) and I thought screw it I'm going to go ... In a race situation you don't always know what to do so I just went with my gut ... I didn't know what was going to happen but you have to be confident in yourself whether you win or lose."

- Renee Metivier Baillie, USA women's 3,000m indoor champion. RMB surged out to a big lead in front of race favorite Shannon Rowbury before losing the lead in the last 2 laps and then sprinting for the win. She can't go to Worlds as she hasn't run under 9:03 and can't chase the time. Message Boards: POOR RENEE METIVIER  

Mardi Gras Half Marathon *Results

Lel (61:07) Returns To Defeat Sub-Par Wanjiru, Adere (67:52) Wins Close Race Over Kim Smith (67:55)

It's Not Fair Anymore

IAAF World Athletics Final - Day 2Bolt 400m! 43.58 Relay Split In February Michael Johnson is somewhere weeping.

*LRC Message Boards: Bolt 400!

Tokyo Marathon - Cold, Rainy and Windy

Recap Of Tokyo Marathon - Fujiwara Wins In Tough Conditions Brett Larner recaps from Tokyo where the weather was horrible. Men's race was still won in 2:12.

Dathan Ritzenhein Out Due To Injury and Virus

Ritz Pulls Out Of World XC! A nagging foot injury and a stomach virus are the problems. Oregonian article above. Ritz is also out of San Juan's World's Best 10k.
*Message board thread here.

Sydney Classic A Ray Of Outdoor Track Sunshine

Sydney Athletics Grand Prix Ryan Gregson 3:35 19-year-old Ryan Gregson took his 1,500m PR down 2 seconds thanks to a 53 second final 400m.

David Rudisha 45.5 400m. Making The 400/800 Man Stylish Again
Kenyan phenom David Rudisha ran 1:42.01 last year and is exciting fans with his work in the 400m.

*Gregson On The Race And His Training:
Aussie Phenom Continues Romp: Ryan Gregson Wins Sydney 1,500 In PR 3:35.42
*Recap Of Entire Sydney Classic - Hooker, Vili And Samuels Impress In Field Events

World's Best 10k - Sunday In San Juan

*IAAF Preview Contrary to earlier reports from the IAAF website, Dathan Ritzenhein is not running according to Alberto Salazar. Talk about a letdown. Although Ritz was clearly was entered in the race at one point.

*
Elvan Abeylegesse Will Shoot For Paula Radcliffe's 30:21 Road 10k WR In San Juan This Weekend The women's race might actually make a run at the WR with a very fit Abeylegesse, world 5k champ Viv Cheruiyot and virtually unbeatable half marathon sensation Mary Keitany.

Tokyo Marathon Sunday, Fukuoka XC Saturday

Veteran Kobayashi Plans For First Sub-2:10 At Age 33 Adam Goucher might get some inspiration from this article.

4-Time Champion Catherine Ndereba Excited To Return To Boston For Try At #5 Last year, there were conflicting reports about why she didn't run Boston.

HGH Test Success May Send Shivers Through Many Athletes Many people don't know that there had never been a positive test for HGH until last week despite insiders saying it has been a widely-used drug by athletes.

LRC Stronger 2010 Boston Marathon Fields Finalized We've spent years ripping the lack of quality in the Boston fields but are actually fairly impressed for 2010. Boston is expecting more sub-2:07 guys than London this year and Meb Keflezighi has only the 17th-best PRof those expected to race.

Absolutely Great And Absolutely Atrocious NCAA Track News

Seton Hall Shock: We're Cutting Track Completely 38-year coach John Moon and his team were asked to attend a meeting where they were told Seton Hall would be cutting men's and women's track and field at the end of this season, in order to save money. "The Hall" has been known for excellent 4 x 400m and 4 x 800m teams and Moon has coached 71 All-Americans and 19 Olympians along with helping coach the US Olympic track team.
*Poignant: Junior Chris Cox Is Big East Athlete Of The Week

NCAA And PAC-10 Make Gutsy Decision And Allow Oregon State Athletes To Compete At League And NCAA Championships! We applaud all involved in this situation for doing the right thing and allowing kids at a school without a program to compete at the big championship meets if they meet the qualifying marks.
*Recommended Read: Oregon State Football Players Ask School If They Can Do Track

A Good Sign: No More American Exceptionalism

USA Will Give Back 2004 Athens Olympics Women's 4 x 400 Medals
USOC CEO Scott Blackmun: "At some point you have to stand up and do the right thing - and [act] in a way you expect other nations to act. We are not going to fight it just for the sake of fighting it. We support doing the right thing."

Recommended Read: Wesley Korir Profile If you are having a bad day at work, read this and realize what life is really about.

AVIVA Grand Prix
LetsRun.com's
The Week That Was In Running This week, our weekly recap of the last week of the world in running gives out praise to Jeff Demps, Deresse Mekonnen, Will Leer and Japanese coaches as we break down the Kenyan and Ethiopian XC Trials and along the way introduce you to Paul Tanui.

We're Thinking Of You

Serena Burla Knee Pain Diagnosed As Malignant Tumor - Let's Give Her Our Support Burla, a mother, recently finished 2nd at the Houston Half Marathon and is one of the top US road runners. She will undergo surgery Friday at Memorial Sloan Kettering Center in New York City.
LRC Boards: Serena Burla support

USA Indoors Saturday & Sunday In Albuquerque
*
Results *Live Blog *Sunday Startlists Sunday TV Coverage 7-9pm EST -  ESPN2.

Major Conference Championships *All NCAA Results

Track and Field: 103rd Millrose Games ACC: *Results
*FSU Men Win 8th Straight In Nail Biter

*Clemson Women In Blowout
*Frosh Robby Andrews wins open 800m & anchors UVA men to DMR win.

Big XII
*Results Oklahoma Takes Men's Title, NCAA #1 Texas A&M 3rd, Colorado Scores 1 Point As A Team XC NCAA team champs Ok State finished next-to-last.
*Message Boards: Lisa Koll 8:56.09
*Saturday: German DNFs Mile
According to a message board poster, Fernandez was in control halfway through and just stepped off the track and took off his shoe and was limping.
*Friday: Baylor Men DMR, Lisa Koll (15:41) set Big XII Meet Records.

U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials - Day Eight MPSF Indoor version of PAC-10.
*Results
*Boards: Wheating 3:58, Hasay 4:35!

SEC @Arkansas, Fri/Sat/Sun
*Saturday: Torrin Lawrence and Calvin Smith go 45.88 in PRELIMS!
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Live Results
*Championship Central
Track and Field: NCAA Championships
Big Ten At 2 Different Locales
*Big Ten Women NCAA XC Champ Angela Bizzarri (9:10) barely holds off PSU's Bridget Franek in 3,000m - Minnesota leads after day 1 in Happy Valley.
*Big Ten Men Home team Golden Gophers have 1st day men's lead, too.

Heps
*Results: Men  Women
Coach Rojo goes for Cornell's 13th conference track championship in 15 tries. Princeton men out to huge Day 1 lead.

Get Your Inspiration Here

Track and Field: Nike Coaches Clinic LRC Employee #1 - A Night With Joe Newton
Wandering around the country, LetsRun.com's Employee #1 infiltrated the Nike West HQ Tuesday in suburban Los Angeles to join a gathering of 300 SoCal high school track and XC coaches for a clinic. The centerpiece of the evening was a speech from long-time York cross-country coach Joe Newton. Newton was incredible, and we try to explain why.
*Recommended Read: Interview With Wesley Korir Louisville's Wesley Korir is "The L.A. man". This might be the best of the Korir articles.
*Hendrick Ramaala Wants To Be President Of Tattered Athletics South Africa Ramaala says the leaders of the sport should know the sport well and have time to meet and improve the sport - not just have business or political interests.

Kenyan XC Runners Head To Mandatory Pre-Worlds Camp

Strange Running News - Think Before You Flip The Bird

Runner In South Africa Abducted By President's Security Forces For Giving A Middle Finger This runner got picked up by a black Beamer and had a bag put over his head while detained and questioned for 24 hours. The offense? An obscene gesture (scroll to the bottom of the article).

LRC: USATF's Decision To Not Offer Altitude Adjustments For Performances At USA Indoors Is Raising Ire In Mid-D And Distance Circles US distance runners are getting screwed by Doug Logan's refusal to take Albuquerque's 5,000-foot altitude into consideration for distance runners in the 2010 Visa Championship Series standings. We talked with Shannon Rowbury's coach John Cook about the USATF decision and got input from other top coaches/agents who also question why the Visa "Series" money goes to the individual who has the single best performance at only one meet.

LetsRun.com Readers Furthering Sports Psychology

STATE CROSS COUNTRY UO Grad Student Curtis Suver Uses LetsRun Reader Surveys To Study Team Dynamics Of XC Teams Hundreds of LetsRun.com readers responded to Suver's survey back in August and September of 2009 and helped him complete research that shows a strong correlation in male distance runners between individual performance and connection with their team.

Runners Creating Inspiring Races

Recommended Read: Pat Butcher Writes About The Sahara Marathon

This Saturday: War Ravaged Congolese Women To Run A Race Organized By American Woman Avid LetsRun.com reader Michelle Hamilton alerted us from Kenya of this amazing race that will take place in the Congo. According to estimates, more than 5 million have died in wars in the Congo, the most lethal conflict since WWII.
Run For Congo Women Website

We Wonder If He'll Scream Racism On This One
Former South African Track Boss Leonard Chuene Bought A Mercerdes Benz For 12.8 Cents
It may be hard to put this guy behind bars, as earlier computer files were deleted and documents shredded.

Mid-D & Distance Heavy Bay Area Track Club Led By Shannon Rowbury Is Formed