Quote Of The Day
– Jon Gugala, bemoaning the state of journalism in running these days. Because the sport is so small and insular, he says the journalists rarely do their job as they are afraid to rock the boat and lose access. Gugala says he shut down his The Trailer site after a co-founder refused to publish an interview Ryan Hall didn’t want published.
- LRC Deal of the Day: 20% Off From Shoes.com + FREE Guaranteed XMas Delivery
- Does anyone in California want to race me this Saturday, December 21st?
- I'm in my mid-20s and I'm very slim. Does society view this in a negative way?
- Worst runner with an Olympic gold medal?
- Wow: Didn't see this coming: Turks clear 2012 Olympic 1500 Champ Aslı Çakır Alptekin of Doping - Will IAAF appeal?
Will The IAAF Appeal?
LRCAslı Çakır Alptekin Of Turkey - The 2012 Olympic Women's 1,500 Champ - Is Cleared Of Doping By The Turkish Federation
The Turks apparently don’t believe there was anything wrong with the Biological Passport of the already convicted doper, who dropped from 4:02 to 3:56 last year. The question now becomes – will the IAAF appeal? We wonder – was American Shannon Rowbury really the third-best clean person in the race?
Might Asafa Powell Be Next? Incoming New Head Of WADA Says Asafa Powell Doping Case Needs To Speed Up “He has been under a cloud and if he has broken the rules then sport wants the case finalised, if he hasn’t then he wants the cloud lifted.”
Year In Review/Awards
- IAAF Editor Jon Mulkeen Shares His 10 Best Track And Field Moments For 2013
- Valerie Adams Wins Prestigious New Zealand Olympic Committee’s Lonsdale Cup For An Unprecedented Fourth Time The award goes to the athlete or team who made the most outstanding contribution to Olympic or Commonwealth sport in the preceding year.
- AFP Year Review Of Track And Field: Bolt Continues Golden Form As Farah Confirms Bolt has won every sprint gold since 2008 except for his Daegu FS.
US Distance News
Good Read:Ryan Hall Blogs About Dealing With His Past Couple Years Of Injury Woes And About Being Self Coached He says “I wouldn’t want to live this last year over again,” but through it “I have grown in perseverance.”- Athletics Illustrated: “Kara Goucher And Ryan Hall: Coaches And Comebacks”
- Stage Adaptation Of “The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner” Will Make US Premiere In January An interesting fact: in the British version, the lead actor ran on a 25-foot-long treadmill and estimated he covered about 5K during the course of the show.
- “Boston Marathon” The Top Google Search Of 2013
- Video Interview With Foot Locker Boys Champ Grant Fisher
- Man Crutches 5K In 1:04:50, Setting WR There was no previous WR for that event.
Doping News
Former Olympic Coach Brooks Johnson Blogs: “Why Do Good People Do Bad Things?” Johnson talks about Tyson Gay and Marion Jones and says he thinks Gay was clean before 2013 as he noticed big physical changes in Gay last season.- International University Sports Federation President Says He’s “Embarrassed” By WUG Doping Issue And Hopes Russia Will Do The Right Thing The issue is over whether to award Russian drug cheat Olga Golovkina the women’s 5,000 gold medal since she tested positive 5 days after the championships. She initially finished 2nd to Romania’s Roxana Birca, but Birca tested positive at the meet.
- Ben Johnson Says He Wouldn’t Have Been Busted For Doping If He Hadn’t Changed Sponsors From adidas Before Seoul Olympics He contends that if he had stuck with the more powerful and influential adidas, they would have protected him from being DQed when he tested positive.
- Lab Develops Successful Test For Banned Substance AICAR
- Jamaican Playwright’s Drama Centers Based On Jamaica’s Recent Doping Woes
IOC Sets Up $10 Million Doping Fund
2013 Foot Locker CC Produced Two Thrilling Races *Results *LRCPhoto Galleries*Full Race Video Replay*More Foot Locker Coverage Here
LRCGrant Fisher Wins Epic Battle With John Dressel - Becomes Just 2nd American 11th Grade Foot Locker Champ!
Wow. What a race. This was one amazing and in the end America has just the second ever 11th grade Foot Locker winner as 3:50 stud Grant Fisher is your winner.
LRCPennsylvania's Tessa Barrett Goes Out Hard, Gets Caught, Kicks Away Late To Win 2013 FLers
Barrett, who didn't even make her state meet last year after a disaster at Districts, capped off an unbelievable win by finding a response after getting walked down late.
America’s And Kenya’s Leading Ladies Getting Some Publicity
Great Profile By Peter Gambaccini: Meet Becky Wade, America’s Best Young Marathoner Earlier this month, Wade ran 2:30:41 and only two American women have gone faster before age 25. Gambicini tells you all you need to know about the Dallas, TX native who went to Rice and just got back from a year-long trip around the world – 22 countries, including a stop for a party at Haile G‘s house where she has video of him dancing.
*Becky’s Blog About Her Year-Long Trip: Becky Runs Away – A Year-Long Exploration Of Running Cultures Around The World- 5 Minutes With The Fastest American Marathoner Of 2013 (Records-Eligible), Serena Burla The cancer survivor and mom of a five-year-old has twice run 2:28 – but both were overseas so few have noticed.
- Mary Keitany Says She Doesn’t Think She’ll Be Ready For A Marathon Until Fall 2014, Says Radcliffe’s 2:17:42 Women’s-Only WR Is Her Goal, Not The 2:15 Untouchable Mark She also reveals that her 5-year-old son will be taking the bus to school next year, not walking or running the 1.2 miles.
And A US Man
- Ryan Hill Has Accepted He’s A 5k Guy: “There is no denying that I am a 5K guy now.” Hill, like Pre, wanted to be a miler but making WCs in the 5,000 has convinced him his college coach Rollie Geiger was right – the 5k is his best event.
Get Faster
Athletics Illustrated Explains What The “Mono” (Steve Monaghetti) And “Jono Fartlek” Are The Mono is 2 x 90 seconds, 4 x 60 seconds, 4 x 30-second efforts. 4 x 15-second efforts, all with the same amount of recovery to match the effort – a cut-down ladder-fartlek workout.
Random
Debate – President Obama Names Winter Olympic Delegation – “Genius” Move Or Big Blunder? You Decide
Alan Abrahamson: A Big Blunder By Obama In an open letter to the president, Abrahamson respectfully criticizes President Obama for naming an Olympic delegation with no first lady, VP or Cabinet members on it. He says the decision is insulting to Putin and the IOC and has jeopardized US’s 2024 bid. Abrahamson say it’s wrong to play politics with the Olympics in Russia just like Jimmy Carter did in 1980.- Christine Brennan: Inclusion Of Lesbian Icon Billie Jean King Is A “Genius” Move By ObamaBrennan is thrilled the US is expressing disapproval for Russia’s anti-gay propaganda law.
- Chicago Tribune‘s Phil Hersh:Olympic delegation sends just the right message, “Intolerance is not acceptable.”
- ESPN’s Bonnie Ford:Make no mistake, Billie Jean King’s Olympic inclusion is a protest
- MB:2014 US Sochi Delegation – A genius move or a blunder? How about both?
2 More Pieces of Good Journalism
RR #1 Former World Record Holder Marathoner Khalid Khannouchi Talks About The New Era Of Marathoning And How Quickly Things Have Gone From 2:05 To 2:03 “It’s not a mystery event anymore. … It’s a different world, you can’t compare. Kenyans and Ethiopians don’t have anything to lose. They can take risks. Americans are afraid to take a risk.”- RR#2: 5th And Final Series On Oklahoma State’s 2013 XC Season By Running Times/Noah Gallagher Shannon: Losing Sucks And “Still Feels Like A Nightmare” Farrell: “Could we call ourselves a cross country powerhouse if we could only win when it’s flat and firm?” Lockhart: “We had an average day, across the board.”
Doping News
- 2005 And 2007 US World Championships Team Marathoner Mary Akor Gets 2-Year Doping Ban For ClenbuterolWhen you are PRing at age 37 and racing a lot, that’s a red flag. Akor had won Pittsburgh in May.
MB:Marathoner Mary Akor fails test – gets 2 yr sanction - WADA Announces Names Of Members Of 2014 Expert Groups There are expert groups for the following subjects – the Prohibited List, laboratories, ethical issues and the hot topic of late – therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) and the hot topic of the future – gene doping.
European Stuff
Paula Radcliffe Is Now 40 She says, “Currently I am still training and progressing. Some days I run twice and some days I throw in cross training to supplement” but also says she doesn’t plan to ever focus on masters records.- Fionnuala Britton Looking To Bounce Back From Disappointing Euro Champs At The 2014 Great Edinburgh XC Race On January 11th she will try to win the race for the 3rd year straight, but will be up against the woman who denied her a hat trick at Euros, France’s Sophie Duarte. This article also names the UK team led by Gemma Steel.
*Team Europe Finalizes Its Team For The 2014 Great Edinburgh XC Race Against The US And UK - German Sprint Champion Julian Reus Challenges Soccer Player Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang To 100m Race Apparently Aubameyang claimed in an interview he was faster than Usain Bolt and 10.08 sprinter Reus said, “What Aubameyang claimed on television really annoyed me. I want to restore athletics’ honour.”
- A Bad Year For Irish Sports?Race Walker Rob Heffernan’s World Gold Medal Named Greatest Irish Sporting Achievement Of 2013
- France’s Kevin Mayer Hopes To Be A Title Contender In The Decathlon At This Summer’s European Champs
Upcoming Action (Nothing Like The First Time)
58:47 Man Atsedu Tsegay And 13:00/26:52 Aan Abera Kuma Of Ethiopia To Make Marathon Debuts In Dubai Next Month
Just two days ago, we wondered when the super-hot Ethiopian 13.1 record holder Tsegay would make his debut (he did turn 22 this week after all) and now we have our answer. An Ethiopian making his debut has won Dubai each of the last two years (Ayele Abshero2:04:23 in 2012, Lelisa Desisa 2:04:45 last year).- 3 Of Top 4 From 2013 Worlds XC (Korir, Merga, Kipsiro) Plus Steeple Star Conseslus Kipruto Will Race At 2014 Campaccio XC In Italy On Jan. 6th Women’s world steeple champ Milcah Chemos leads the women’s field.
Olympic News
- Early Blow For Tokyo 2020 As Tokyo Governor Forced To Resign Following Corruption Scandal He didn’t report receiving a $485,000 loan from a local hospital.
- Putin Marks 50 Days To Go Until Sochi 2014 With Release Of Political Prisoners For 2nd Straight Day The Pussy Riot band members and Russia’s formerly richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, will soon be free.
The Weekly Recap – The Week That Was
LRCHow Good Is Grant Fisher, Wow Colorado Really Was Good, Back Handed Praise For Regina Jacobs, And Does Donovan Bailey Read LetsRun?
We also take take a look at a different type of track club that made headlines at the USATF Club Nats, give one last shout out in 2013 to Japanese marathoner Yuki Kawauchi, who ran his second sub 2:10 marathon in 2 weeks, take another look back Mark Wetmore‘s Colorado Buffaloes, and have recommended reads, a video of the week, a song of the week and more.
MB:Brett Larner responds to LetsRun’s criticism of Japanese mid-running: Mid-d running in Japan doesn’t exist
The Most Innovative Product Wejo Saw While at The Running Event 2013
LRC Bia Multi Sport GPS: The Only GPS With A Cellular Modem, SOS Alert And Live Tracking
LRC's Wejo travelled to the annual running specialty conference, The Running Event, in Austin earlier this month and he left being most impressed with a product that officially wasn't part of the conference. It's called Bia and it's the only GPS watch with a cellular modem, SOS Alert, and live tracking. If a loved one wants to know where you are when you're running and you don't want to carry a phone, this is the product for you. Read all about it.
Award Season Is Upon US
Brianna Rollins & Derek Drouin Win 2013 Bowerman The Bowerman is the coaches association’s version of The Heisman. Of course Rollins won as she was undefeated on the year and a world champion. Drouin beat Lawi Lalang, who was pretty special himself.- Moscow Gold Medallists Aleksandr Menkov And Yelena Isinbayeva Named Russia’s Sportsman And Woman Of The Year
- Daily Relay Hands Out Their 2013 Awards – Names Brianna Rollins Their Athlete Of The Year Their breakout performance was “US middle distance running” over “US cross country.”
- Fans Vote Ukranian Marathoner Oleksandr Sitkovskiy And Hungarian 10ker Zsofia Erdelyi European Athletes Of The Month Sikovskiy ran 2:09:14 for the marathon and was a worthy choice but is a 33:16 10k really worthy of the award on the women’s side?
- Club XC Champ Joseph Gray Is Named USATF Athlete Of The Week
Move Over, Edward Cheserek And Abbey D …
LRC's ChampionsThe Winners Of The LRC NCs XC Prediction Contest Powered By RunFanShop.com
Let us proudly announced the real winners of NCAAs - our prediction contest winners, who highlight the best of LRC. We've got a repeat winner who can really crunch numbers, an Asics Aggie who ran Club Nats with some legends, and a guy who used to train with Bob Kennedy and has a proposal to fix the NCAA XC meet. Read all about them. Thanks to RunFanShop.com for sponsoring the contest.
Exercise Science
- Study: Exercise Can Help Libido In Women Taking Anti-Depressants
- Some Experts Say Vitamin Supplements Don’t Improve Health And Are A Waste Of Money
- Study Reaffirms Older Athletes Struggle More In The Heat The decline in ability to handle the heat can start as early as age 40, and gets more significant with age.
LetsRun.com Founders Named as Two of “The 50 Most Influential People in Running”
Runners World Honors You and the Brojos
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American Strong: The Untold Story of How American Teamwork Helped Meb Keflezighi Win Boston
28,000+ Likes on Facebook
A Real Running Hero:
The Flo Groberg Story
Flo Has Now Won the Medal of Honor
