Quote Of The Day

"If it's 40 below, it's too cold for the wind to blow. You throw on a layer of polypropylene, some sweats and a windbreaker, and go on out."

- Pat Porter, talking to Kenny Moore back in 1986 when he was in the midst of winning an unprecedented eight straight US cross-country titles. The blue-collar Porter died tragically Thursday in a plane crash at the age of 53.

A Legend Passes Too Young

LRC Eight-Time US Cross-Country Champion Pat Porter Dies In Plane Crash Updated: We've added a great photo of Porter with 3-time world xc champ Lynn Jennings.

We Wish This Was An ApriL Fools Joke But We Believe The Date Is July 27, 2012

LRC Beyond Stupidity: The NCAA Says Its Coaches Can't Coach In The Olympics Please take two minutes to read this article and another two minutes to pick up the phone and contact the NCAA as you are going to be outraged. The bean counters at the NCAA have hit an all-time low and recently told collegiate track and field coaches that they can't coach their athletes in the biggest track meet in the world - the Olympics.

Three Reasons The British Empire Isn't What It Used To Be

1. Has The Result Been Leaked? Betting On Flame Lighter Suspended As Tons Of Money Is Bet On Roger Bannister Just as LRC demanded.

2.
Brits Show S. Korean Flag At North Korea Soccer Match - North Koreans Refuse To Take Pitch For 40 Minutes

3.
Olympic Soccer Program Lists Welsh Star As Being English

Usain Bolt Gets His Own Section As Usual

*Usain Bolt Says Screw The Start - I'm Just Going To Compete "The more I focused on (the start), I think the worse it got" and "(my coach) said stop worrying about the start and compete. So that is the plan (in London). Forget the start and get it (the race) right."
*Bolt To Carry Flag In Opening Ceremony "I would like to inform you that our flag bearer for the Olympic opening ceremony will be doctor, the honourable Usain Bolt." You need to click on this link to take a recommended trip down memory lane so you can watch Bolt's 100, 200 and 4 x 100 brilliance in 2008. Just re-watching it gave us goosebumps.
*Bolt: "I think I am probably 95% fit."
*Bolt - Bad Back Messed Me Up At Jamaican Trials

Morton Games OTB Flash Results *Results

Will Leer Wins Morton Mile As Ten Go Sub-4 David Torrence was initially announced as the winner, but the decision was reversed. Leer ran 3.56.39 to Torrence's 3.56.40 and Ryan Gregson's 3:56.45. Ciarán Ó Lionaird only managed 6th.
*Centro 1:47.69 800m PR To Win
*Symmonds PRs At 47.45 In 400m
*Ben True 7:44 For 3,000 Today, 13:20.53 For 5,000 Just 5 Days Ago

US Team Updates With 2 Recommended Reads

The Boltlympics

Olympic News #2

US Olympic News

Joseph Gray And Brandy Erholtz Win North American/Central American And Caribbean (NACAC) Mountain Running Championships

EPO Cheats Out

LRC 1,500 World Leader Mariem Alaoui Selsouli Of Morocco Tests Positive The former EPO cheat has tested positive a second time. Let's just say people who follow the sport day in and day out are not surprised. Perhaps the bigger question is why would an AAM member represent her and Nike sponsor her? Kudos for drug authorities for targeting her for testing.

Weekend Action

Phil Hersh Justifiably Celebrates: Guor Marial Will Be Allowed To Compete In Olympics He'll have to compete under the Olympic flag instead of S. Sudan since S. Sudan doesn't have an Olympic delegation. Big props to 2008 US Trials qualifier Brad Poore, who befriended Marial and took up his cause. Poore himself was a 2:08 800 guy in HS who made the 2008 Olympic Trials Marathon. *AP Article

Olympic News

US Olympic News: First 2 Are Recommended Reads

Scientist Who Has Studied 100,000 Runners Says Don't Listen To Quacks - Running Is Good For You "It's important to not rush to any conclusions that 10 to 20 miles a week is the optimal dose."

US High School Record/Incredible World Jr. Results (More On Right Column)

LRC Mary Cain Smashes American High School 1,500m Record The 16-year-old sophomore ran 4:11.01 to smash Jordan Hasay's high school record by nearly 3 seconds to finish 6th at the World Junior Championships in Barcelona, Spain.
On The Boards: MARY CAIN 4:10

Half Of Competitors In Olympics And All Medallists Will Be Drug Tested At Olympics Let's hope they test 4th as well, as some medallists will get DQed.
*BALCO Scandal Head Victor Conte Says Anti-Doping System Is Flawed, High-Ranking Officials Have A Vested Interest In NOT Cleaning Up The Olympics

5,639-Word NY Times Front Page Sports Article On The Faith-Coached Ryan Hall Sara Hall: "The Bible is not going to tell you how to be a good runner ... I don't think Ryan is looking at the Bible for a formula, necessarily. There are certain things that God highlights for him that he applies to his training."

Blanka Vlasic Won't Compete In London Due To Injury Issues "I'm not interested in jumping below my usual level."

Anti-Drug News

LRC 2012 Ethiopian Olympic Track & Field Team Named: Mr. Silver Sileshi Sihine Stays At Home - Tirunesh Dibaba Only "Reserve" In Women's 5,000
*Crazy: After Diamond League Win, Swedish Govt. Gives 1,500 Ace Abeba Aregawi Citizenship & Files Suit With IAAF Saying She Should Represent Them, Not Ethiopia, In Olympics The article, which is based off an Ethiopian report, says Aregawi's citizenship request had been going nowhere until her sudden fame and that she wants to represent Ethiopia. Given Ethiopia's press manipulation, this should be interesting to see how it develops.
*Update: Swedes Have Totally Different Story: Aregawi Really Wants To Compete For Sweden But Ethiopians Have Taken Her Cell Phone & Threatened Her (Translated from Swedish)

Amateur Hour II

Update: Nike Responds (Like We Thought They Would) "Gaining entry into the Nike box is an informal process and we plan to review our protocol for access for future events." *MB: Mark Block: Nike Responds

LRC Why Was A Man In The Midst Of A 10-Year Doping Ban Enjoying The 2012 US Olympic Track & Field Trials From The Nike Sky Box?
If you thought the days of looking the other way at doping were totally over, then you need to read this. Supposed former agent/coach Mark Block, who is in the midst of a 10-year doping ban, was seen by LetsRun.com njoying the Trials in the sky box of the #1 sponsor of both USATF and the Olympic Trials - Nike. All we can say is shameful. *MB: Discuss

2012 US Olympic Trials *Results *LRC Trials YouTube Channel *Photos: Day 1 (10ks), Day 2 (Eaton), Day 3 (100, 400), Day 4 (800), Day 7 (5,000s), Day 8 (W Steeple), Day 9 (200, 110H) *LRC Day-By-Day Coverage *Sunday Oregonian Photo Gallery

LRCThree Best Punch Their Tickets To London As Leo Gets US Title #1 Leo Manzano, the man who had been top three every year since 2006, finally got the win he deserved but even he didn't expect. Manzano chased down Centro to get his first national title as Wheating pulled away from Robby Andrews to get third. *Men's Race Video


LRC World #1 Uceny, World Champ Simpson And Medallist Rowbury Get It Done The Big 3 came through as US #1 Morgan Uceny got her second straight US title with Rowbury 2nd and Simpson third. LetsRun.com recap hopefully coming later. *Women's Race Video
*
After Winning The State XC Title As A Freshman, Morgan Uceny Quit Her Junior Year To Focus On Basketball That's what you do when you live in Indiana in a small town of 10,033 that has a high school basketball gym that seats 4,600.

We Aren't Scared Of Rule 40 Even If Everyone Else Is

LRC $200,012 LetsRun.com London Prediction Contest The very future of LetsRun.com may be at stake, but our world-famous prediction contest is back and better than ever as it's up a full week before the 2012 Games. Even though every potential sponsor we approached wouldn't touch it out of fear of Rule 40, we have given you what you've demanded - a fantasy contest that we believe is allowed by the US Supreme Court. But because of the cowardice of everyone else, the prizes have been curtailed a bit. If you aren't good enough to win $200,012 for a perfect ballot or $2,012 for a perfect distance ballot, you will be just like the Olympic athletes themselves - competing solely for pride unless you are lucky enough to get top three.

Olympic News

Non-Olympic News

It's Back: The Week That Was

LRC The Week That Was In Running: July 16-22, 2012 Just so we can remember how to do it, our famed "Week That Was" weekly recap is back after a two month vacation. This week we talk about another third-place tie, how an Olympic champ thinks computers are evil, the declining fortunes of Meb Keflezighi and Deisree Davila and the rising fortunes of Duane Solomon.

Matt Taylor Redefine Running: Time To Ditch The Olympics? For the first time in decades the balance of power is shifting and many bureaucrats are feeling the heat. They're looking for tweaks to a broken system that they hope will appease the peasants. But I'm afraid there's only one way for athletes and fans to permanently tip things in their favor: Move away from the Olympic model. The sport will never progress when every aspect of it revolves around an "amateur" event that takes place every four years and is governed by a legal monopoly granted "perpetual existence."

International Stuff

UK Team Running Into A Lot Of Injury Issues On The Eve Of The Games

Olympic News #1

Jump Start Your Tuesday With 4 Recommended Reads

International Olympic News: Opening Ceremony Is Friday (Track Starts Aug. 3rd)

RecommendedRead: Emil Zatopek Wasn't Just One Of The Greatest Olympic Distance Champions - He Also Was A Great Man Of Principle Who Stood Up To The Soviets (link fixed) As a result, the 4-time gold medallist was forced to work as a laborer in a uranium mine at the age of 45.

Running 3:30 Has Its Advantages After Big PR, Nick Willis Gets High-Speed Police Escort To Take Him To Have Dinner With Prince Albert Of Monaco

More Doping Positives

Tarmoh & Felix Didn't Have To Wait This Long

Antonio Pettigrew Aftermath: Nigeria Wins 4 X 400 Gold From 2000
*Nigerian Gold Comes Too Late For Sunday Bada, Who Died 8 Months Ago

Steve Holman And Carrie Tollefson Chasing The Mayor At Belmar Chase 5k July 28th In New Jersey The mayor's got a chance, as he ran at GTown and gets a head start. 1997 bronze medallist Rich Kenah is the race director.

This Week's Signs Of The Apocalypse I & II

Jill Geer On Marion Jones: "People loved her. Loved her. Housewives, kids, men. I wonder if Marion prevented us from ever loving an athlete like that again."

Doping Corner

LRC Guess Who Was In Monaco On Friday? Banned Agent Mark Block The banned agent Mark Block, who just happened to be hanging out at the Nike hospitality suite for the Olympic Trials, just happened today to be in Monaco, site of the Diamond League meet. Evidence also points to him also being at the Penn Relays, Mt. SAC and the Jamaican Invite. Plus he was in Daegu last year. And a trusted source says Block drank a celebratory beer in "Cap's Corner" at the Trials, where he also watched the women's 100 from the Nike box and not just the 200. Hey, Nike - It's pretty easy; why don't you ask John Capriotti, your Global Director of Athletics, if he knew Block was in the VIP area. If so, fine or suspend him for poor judgement. At a minimum, tell him, "Block's presence is unacceptable." And tell your star athletes Jason Richardson and Carmelita Jeter the same thing.

LRC
8:16 Spanish Steeplechaser Dropped From 2012 Olympic Team Amid EPO/HGH Doping Probe A local Spanish paper has released a reported email exchange between 8:16 steepler Angel Mullera and a doctor from last year's World Champs where the two discuss his required doping for the 2012 season. The Spanish federation was aware of the doping exchange months ago but hadn't acted on it until it was leaked to the press.
*MB: Spanish steeplechaser's leaked EPO discussion / doping plan for 2012

More Doping

THIS Is Why There Should Be Lifetime Bans:
*Hungarian Discus Thrower Robert Fazekas Out Of Games After Tests Positive For Steroids He was stripped of the gold medal in Athens 2004 for doping. He's also "coached" by someone who was stripped of a gold medal. How are these people allowed to stay in the sport?
*French Olympic Steeplechaser Nour-Eddine Gezzar Tests Positive For EPO He also served a 2-year ban back in 2006.

Recommended Read From Cycling: Running Needs A Fan To Do This: Fan Writes "An Open Letter To The Peloton" About Importance Of Anti-Doping Whoever writes it, please CC John Capriotti at Nike and the folks at USATF.

Sad News For Guys Everywhere: LJer Darya Klishina Not Selected For Russian Olympic Team

Pre-Monaco:
LRC A Fan's Guide To Monaco: Steeple Madness, Symmonds & Montano Hope To Get 800 Wins, Evan Jager Goes For The AR?
*Relive Monaco 2011

LRC  Help Pick Ryan Hall's Shoes For The Olympics Asics made 3 pairs of specially-designed shoes for Hall and he wants your input as to what he should wear.

4 Recommended Reads

Ryan Hall Talks To LetsRun.com

LRC Ryan Hall Hoping To Have "Best Stuff Ever" At 2012 London Olympic Marathon On Friday, LetsRun.com spent over 30 minutes talking with Ryan Hall. An optimistic Hall talked about his training has turned around, his goal for London, how he still thinks he's learning a ton, how he thinks his best marathon is ahead of him, and a whole lot more. We got Hall to give us the specifics of his training which has recently been changed to emphasize speed more often. Is he back at altitude? Hint: He gave the interview from the birthplace of LetsRun.com. How much mileage does he do? 20 x 1k? 10 miles of in and out 400s? *Discuss

Saudia Arabia Sends Women To Olympics

LRC Meet Sarah Attar - Saudi Arabia's First Female Track & Field Athlete The woman who will make history in traditional Islamic attire at the Olympics is a Pepperdine sophomore who runs in shorts during the collegiate season. She's never run an 800 in college, but that's what she'll run in London.
*NY Times: Attar's Family Asked School Website To Take Down Photos Of Her Competing In Singlet And Shorts
*Philip Hersh Says Recent Gender News Isn't Quite As Good As It Seems Still needs to generate change at home.

LRC What Does The Paris 5,000 Mean For Galen Rupp's Medal Chances? Before Friday, only 10 men in history had broken 12:50 for 5,000. Now after on amazing race, 16 guys have done it. Surely this is the end of Galen Rupp's medal chances, right? Wrong. We argue that once one gets over the initial shock of the "6 Guys Under 12:50 In Paris" headline, then one realizes there were plenty of encouraging results in Paris for Rupp. *Discuss

Samsung DL Paris *Results *MB Discussion *LRC Winners Photo Gallery

LRC Paris Recap: A Sensational Men's 5,000, A Troubling Women's 1,500, And David Rudisha's 1:41 Highlight Fans of Galen Rupp, Bernard Lagat, Kenenisa Bekele, Jenny Simpson and Morgan Uceny probably had a hard time watching this meet as the results of the men's 5,000 and women's 1,500 were stunning to stay the least. Plus Tyson Gay vs. Justin Gatlin. Read all about it. *Discuss
*Results (video highlights for US visitiors in player on right)
*LRC Winners Photo Gallery

Down Goes Bolt #2: Blake 19.80 Over Bolt 19.83 Bolt had the lead in this one and ran horribly the last 100. Video here.
*Bolt: "It is not like I was blown away. I know what I need to do to get it right."

IAAF Announces 9 Doping Suspensions And The Worldwide Press Eats It Up

Rojo Nine Over-Hyped Doping Suspensions Or A Savvy PR Move Gone Too Far? Headlines across the globe are talking about the 9 doing suspensions announced by the IAAF on Wednesday. Yet LetsRun.com co-founder Robert Johnson finds himself not happy with the way the development was announced and broadcast to the world. *MB: IAAF finds 6 new dopers using biological passport

More Doping News:
*
World Indoor HJ Champ Dimitrios Chondrokoukis Is Busted
*
Mathew Kisorio (58:46 Philly Half Marathon) Busted
*New Test For HGH Available At Olympics

One Olympic Crisis Averted, Another Started

Other News

General Olympic Stuff

2012 Monaco DL *Full Results

Updated
LRC:
Evan Jager Breaks The American Steeplechase Record Evan Jager got the AR in just the 5th steeple of his life. Medalling at London isn't out of the question. Only a steeple recap above, but in other action, Asbel Kiprop made running 3:28.88 look easy as Nick Willis ran a 3:30.35 PR. And in the 800m Duane Solomon is now the fastest active American as he blitzed a 1:43.44 ahead of Nick Symmonds.

*Evan Jager Race Highlight Video
LRC Asbel Kiprop Reasserts Himself As The Olympic Favorite By Running A Sensational 3:28.88 The defending Olympic champ made a statement by running a 53.43 last lap with a 26-flat last 200 to mark himself as the London favorite. At the same time, Nick Willis marked himself as a medal contender with a stellar 3:30. Robby Andrews was a DNF and Centro and Manzano were DNSs. *Race Video
*
Kiprop On His 3:28: "It was a very good race and I felt very, very good. Yes, it gives me confidence."
*
Kenyan Columnist: Thank God Kiprop Didn't Follow Through On His Pledge To Switch To 5,000 Last year, Kiprop famously said, "I will switch to 5,000m if I do not run under 3:30," but thankfully he didn't follow through on that, as while he didn't break 3:30, he did win Worlds.
More Monaco
LRC
Duane Solomon Is Now The 5th-Fastest American Ever At 1:43.44 Americans, it's official - you can dream of your first 800 men's medal since 1992 after Duane Solomon and Nick Symmonds both ran in the 1:43s, but on this night, the hype justifiably belongs to Solomon, who had a massive PR. *MB: DUANE!!!
LRC The Rest Of The Meet: Alysia Montano, Jenny Simpson And Caster Semenya Disappoint In the women's 800, Semenya was awful throughout and Montano didn't look like a medal contender. In the 3k, Simpson was unable to break 70 on her final lap.

Video Highlights Of Evan Jager's American Record (Larger Here)

Asbel Kiprop Makes 3:28 Look Easy, Nick Willis Runs 3:30

From Michigan Roads To Colorado Mountains

LRC Two-Time Olympic Trials Qualifier Sage Canaday Wins The US Mountain Running Championships On His First Time Out We catch up with former Hansons-Brooks marathoner, Sage Canaday, and talk to him about his switch in race focus, decision to leave Hansons-Brooks, and surviving as an unsponsored runner. Runners like Sage embody what could be called the "American running dream," as they put off pursuing what society says is practical or normal, making huge sacrifices to pursue their dreams.

Australian Hurdler's Provocative Pre-Race Dance Generates Thousands Of YouTube Hits
*MB: Michelle Jenneke Warm Up Routine. Oh, My...

Usain Bolt The Video Game Is Out

LRC Usain Bolt The Video Game For Iphone/Ipod - Q & A With Friend Of LRC Matt Taylor Bolt!, the Usain Bolt Iphone/Ipod free video game was released yesterday. We talk to LRC guest columnist Matt Taylor, who was instrumental in the game coming to fruition.
*Can Usain Bolt Create An Olympic-Sized Brand?
*Puma Pinning Hopes On Usain Bolt

More Distance News:
Ciarán Ó Lionáird Returns Home Looking For Spark After Missing Lots Of Time With Achilles Injury - Will Race 14 Sub-4 Guys O Lionaird, who recently took time from his rehab to call LetsRun "gutter press," is racing for the 1st time since World Indoors.

The 12 Best Moments From The World Junior Champs
Mary Cain and Ajee Wilson aren't on it.

London Diamond League Was Friday/Saturday *Day 2 Results *Day 1 Results *Event-By-Event Results

LRC Day 2: Nick Willis Goes For It, The American Mid-D Men Struggle & Molly Beckwith Pulls Upset On Day Full Of Upsets Day 2 was full of a lot of upsets, particularly on the women's side, as Carmelita Jeter, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Sally Pearson, Janeth Jepskosgei, Amantle Montsho and others were upset. The highlight from a LetsRun.com standpoint was wacky men's mile, where Nick Willis had a 3.5-second lead at the bell. It wasn't a good day for Bernard Lagat, an awful day for Leo Manzano, and a day to be remembered for Molly Beckwith, who suffered heartbreak at the US Trials. But the American who had the best day may have been Nick Symmonds - and he didn't even run.

LRC
Day 1:
Mo Farah, Vivian Cheruiyot Win With Ease As Maryam Jamal Shocks Women's 1,500 Field Mo Farah beat a week field that included training partner Dathan Ritzenhein, the American 1,500m women did not impress, Vivian Cheruiyot kept it going, and Aries Merritt stepped up again, as Tyson Gay came from behind to win.

More: Track & Field Athletes' Association Statement On Nick Symmonds & Lolo Jones Being Barred From Meet *MB Thread.

6 Guys Break 12:50

Paris DL Photo Gallery (Click Here Or Below)

Blake Beats Bolt X 2 In 200

Emma Coburn Gets Emotional With Teammate Shalaya Kipp After Making Olympics

The Race Of The Trials: Julia Lucas' Agony Of Defeat (Race Video Here, More 5k W Interviews Here, Men 5k Here, Men Steeple Here)

Alan Webb's 2012 Olympic Dream Is Over (More On This Here (Link Fixed)). More Trials Videos Here

Tyler Mulder Showing The Emotion Of The Trials

BAA 10k 2012 BAA 10k Results

Geoffrey Mutai Runs 27:29 In Boston, Kim Smith Wins
We think Sam Chelanga still has a good chance to win $100,000 despite being crushed by nearly a minute.

Kenyan Trials *Mid-D/Distance Results

LRC Exclusive: Timer Explains The Allyson Felix Tie

Matt Taylor Speaks #2

LRC Redefine Running: Who's In Charge Of "The Sport" (link fixed) Last week Matt Taylor, the guy behind ChasingTradition, ChasingKimbia, ChasingGlory, and an upcoming Usain Bolt video game, told you running was dying. This week he tells you it's thriving. He explains the inconsistency. While the activity of running is thriving, the sport is dead with the mainstream sports fan. In the internet era, diehards get their fix, while Joe Sports-Fan has no idea who Matt Centrowitz is. How do we fix this?

LRC Redefine Running: Who's In Charge Of "The Sport" Last week Matt Taylor, the guy behind ChasingTradition, ChasingKimbia, ChasingGlory, and an upcoming Usain Bolt video game, told you running was dying. This week he tells you it's thriving. He explains the inconsistency. While the activity of running is thriving, the sport is dead with the mainstream sports fan. In the internet era, diehards get their fix, while Joe Sports-Fan has no idea who Matt Centrowitz is. How do we fix this?