January 01, 2014 Homepage Archive

Week In Review

WTWDistance Runners Can't Dance, Run Over The Summer, Don't Set Goals, The Joys Of Being Called A Steroid-Using Hermaphrodite And Words Of Wisdom From Janet Bawcom

In the final week of 2013, Janet Bawcom reflects on Christmas and how far she's come, Phoebe Wright gets cult status on LetsRun.com after giving out some dating advice, Haile G can't dance, free goal setting advice, free healthy living advice, and a flash mob from India.

Athletes Of The Year

In Tightest Voting Ever, HJer Bohdan Bondarenko Wins Track & Field News Athlete Of Year Award The 23-year-old HJer, who went 7-10¾ this year, edged Usain Bolt by a single point as Mo Farah was third and Mo Aman fourth.

LaShawn Merritt & Brianna Rollins Are TFN’s US Athletes Of The YearJenny Simpson (#5)and Brenda Martinez (#7) and Nick Symmonds (#5) and Galen Rupp (#10) were the only mid-d/distance women/men in the top 10.

More End-Of-Year News

Bernard Lagat And Shalane Flanagan Are Running Times US Runners Of YearNot sure how Lagat is ranked ahead of Galen Rupp when Rupp ran 3:50/7:30 indoors and was 4th in 10,000 at Worlds versus Lagat’s sixth. Ben True was third. Canadian winners were Cam Levins and Andrea Seccafien, which again shows the flaw in the rankings, as how a 16:05 5,000 runner is ranked ahead of a national record holder in the marathon is bizarre. For international runners, Mo Farah and Meseret Defar were the winners.
2013 IAAF End-Of-Year Reviews Of Road Running The IAAF spends a lot of time looking at Kipsang’s world record, and has some good 13.1 stats showing how the 13.1 is dominated by half marathon specialists, not marathoners or 10,000 men. On the year, 13 men broke 2:06:00.
Usain Bolt Named AIPS Athlete Of The Year Again AIPS is the International Sports Press Association (AIPS). Tennis star Serena Williams won the women’s award as Russian pole vault queen Yelena Isinbayevaand Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce were second and third.
Ben True Reflects On His “Almost Season” – 4th In 5k And 10k At USAs We don’t think of it as an “almost” year as he does have a silver from World XC.
Toni Reavis 2013 Year In Review
Athletics Weekly’s Month-By-Month Review Of 2013
Q&A With Moscow LJ Bronze Medallist Ivana Spanovic – The First Serbian Medallist In WC History

Sunday Action

MB: Bernard Kipyego has won 2013 Cochin Half Marathon in 62:56 over Emmanuel Mutai in 62:56 The winner of the women’s race was Helah Kiprop.
19-Year-Old Cornelius Kangogo Upsets Micah Kogo In France With 27:57 Win Kangogo ran 13:15 earlier this year and turns 20 on the 31st (meaning his B-Day was likely made up). Kogo ran 28:06. Ethiopia’s Afera Godfay won the women’s race (32:06) over Worknesh Degafa (32:12).
UK: Jonny Mellor Wins Ribble Valley 10k In UK In 29:12 The Brit ran 28:42 in Stanford this year.
*Triathlete Georgia Taylor-Brown Wins Women’s In 10k Debut In 33:34
Australia: Australia’s 18-Year-Old Jake Birtwhistle Beats Kenyans To Win Mile At The Silverdome In Tasmania
The Year 2013 In Photos According To Australia’s Athletics Illustrated

Sprint/Jump News

UK Sprints Coach Says Adam Gemili Still Has A Long Way To Go Despite Finishing 5th In MoscowLloyd Cowan: “At the Commonwealth Games I think it will be different because the Jamaicans can put out a B-string team and they’d still be good enough to get a winning time.”
Jamaica Gleaner: An Athlete Ranked 15th In The World Now Makes Less Than Half (Just 15-20k) Of What He Or She Did A Few Years Ago
IAAF End-Of-Year Reviews Of Hurdles Action

Another Slow Weekend

Track & Field News Female Athlete Of The Year Is Valerie Adams(link fixed)Abebe Aregawi (5th), Meseret Defar (7th) and Tirunesh Dibaba (10th) were the only distance runners in the top 10.
Led by unbeaten Adams and shot putters, it was a great year for NZealand in track & field Adams has won 42 in a row and many of NZealand’s other top WC performers are young so “the future of New Zealand track and field looks bright.”
“What Determines A Runner’s Natural Running Pace?” Matt Fitzgerald Has The Answers Short answer – your brain.
Before Boston Bombing, College Dropout Was Living At Home With His Mom Working At Costco. Now He’s Traveling The Globe, Got $3 Million And A Book Deal But Is Legless
Japan Running News: The Top Ten Japanese Women Of 2013 It was a pretty good year for Japanese women as one got third in London, one got third in Moscow and the third fastest 10,000 also was run.
Prime Minister Medvedev Is “Not Sure That Everything Will Be Ideal And Smooth” For 2014 Winter Games*More From Medvedev
Micah Kogo To End Successful 2013 With 10kmRace In Paris On Sunday Kogo has had a nice year in 2013 – his first in the marathon – as he was 2nd in Boston and 4th in Chicago. He’s seeking his fourth victory in Corrida Pedestre Internationale de Houilles outside Paris.
*AFP: Except For 2 Marathons, Kogo Is Undefeated On Year With Wins At Falmouth And Beach To Beacon
Where Weather’s Always Fine For A Run – The NYTimes.com Guide To Working Out On An Indoor Track

Yearly Review

Memorable Moments 2013: A Look Back At Mo Farah’s Double-Double At Moscow Worlds Some inside info that we hadn’t read before. Historically, Mo has gone into the call room at the last minute – this year, he went there early.
Memorable Moments Of 2013: A Look Back At Christine Ohuruogu Winning Worlds Gold With Late Dip

Doping

Coach Of UK 400 World Champ Christine Ohuruogu Feels Her Best Years Are Bet To Come Even Though She’s Almost 30 He says “she is a 29-year-old in a 26-year-old’s body” and they are planning on her being at the peak of her career in Beijing 2015 and Rio 2016.

What A Difference A Decade Makes

10 Years Ago, The US Sucked In The Mid-Distances, Now The US Is A World Power – Why?David Monti reminds us just how much things have changed from 2003 to 2013 as 10 years ago no one from the US made the final of Worlds in the 800 or 1500 and only six men and women broke 3:40/4:10.

New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Races Have Begun

2:05:12 marathoner Stanely Biwott beats 12:48 5ker Yenew Alamirew to win in Luanda – Priscah Jeptoo wins women’s title The time (28:31) may not seem fast but it was 90 degrees with 50+% humidity. In the women’s race, 2013 NY Marahton champ Priscah Jeptoo returned to racing with a win in 32:10.
Amanda Winslow and Cole Atkins Celebrate New Year with Wins at NYRR Midnight Run

Edward Rotich Repeats At Brazil’s Historic São Silvestre Road Race As Kenyans Go 1-2-3 Rotich won close to $25,000 in the 89th edition of the race in 43:48 (last year he won in 44:04). Nancy Kipron of Kenya won the women’s title in 51:58. Gionavi dos Santos was the top Brazilian finisher (4th,44:50) as Moroccan Abderrahime Elasri was fifth. It will be interesting to see if Rotich now goes to defend his title in Cuiabra, where he was infamously tackled mid-race last year.
Translated Recap From O Globo – Brazil’s #1 Paper

LRC Imane Merga Edges Wilson Kiprop To Capture 2013 BOClassic In Italy (28:43.8 Vs. 28:43.9) The 2011 world XC champion barely got the best of the 2010 world half marathon champion. 2008 Olympic 5,000 bronze medallist Edwin Soi was seventh (30:00.5) just ahead of American Chris Barnicle (30:01.1). 2007 and 2009 world 1,500 champ Maryam Jamal of Bahrain in 16:00.6 as 2013 Moscow 10,000 silver medallist Gladys Cherono was second in 16:01.8. *IAAF Recap
Leonard Komon And Linet Masai Come Through As Favorites and Win Madrid’s 49th San Silvestre Vallecana Spain’s Chema Martinez was 10th in his last race. Yuki Kawauchi came up short in his attempt to break 29:00 for the first time in his life:MB: Yuki Kawauchi says if he finally breaks 29 (yes 29) for 1st time today (12/31), he’ll never run 10,000 again on track.

Japan Running News Preview Of The 90th Hakone Ekiden On Jan. 2-3 It’s the biggest sporting event in Japan each year and is the top ekiden for collegians.
Preview Of 2014 New Year Ekiden In Japan – The #1 Event Of The Season For Japanese Pro Men Imagine a 100km race being live on TV in the US. Truly amazing. And the Japanese limit foreigners to the shortest 8.3 km leg.
Jan 2: Ethiopia’s Negari Terfa Aims To Defend Crown At Xiamen Marathon, Mare Dibaba Races For 1st Time Since London Games Terfa, who also won in Rome last year, will face stiff competition from Endeshaw Negesse, who ran 2:04:52 last year in Dubai. 2:19:52 woman Mare Dibaba races a marathon for the first time since the 2012 Olympics.
*2014 Xiamen Int’l Marathon To See Record 77,080 Runners For All Events (5k, 10k, 13.1, 26.2)
World Champ Japhet Korir To Run In Antrim XC On Saturday
End Of January: Ethiopian National 13.1 Record Holder Atsedu Tsegay Will Be Looking To Be 3rd Straight Ethiopian Debutant To Win Dubai Marathon In 3 Weeks After nearly a year away from with an ankle injury, the 22-year-old, who was running just 13:54 at World Juniors in 2010, will be hoping to run 2:04 in Dubai.

Renaud Lavillenie Pole Vault Diary: Says he’s just had one of best training cycles of her career, getting ready for World Indoors Last year, Lavillenie was struggling with injuries this times of year.

Not Your Normal Races

40 Finish Half Marathon On Indoor Track In Massachusetts For the record, it was 207 meters long. 102 laps, 13.1 miles. If you missed the race, they are doing a full marathon next month.
Runners At San Fran’s Resolution Dash 5k Made New Year’s Resolutions Before Start Of Race

Or Normal News

Olympic Writer Alan Abrahamson Slams Dennis Rodman For Going To N. Korea Next Month “Former NBA star Dennis Rodman is not engaging in ‘sports diplomacy’ by going to North Korea and hanging out, or not, with the dictator Kim Jong Un. All he’s doing is creating publicity for Dennis Rodman.” Kim Jong Un is a bad, bad man. “On his birthday last year, Kim reportedly handed out copies of’ Mein Kampf‘ as gifts.”

Looking Ahead To 2014

Spikesmag’s 11 Things To Get You Pumped For 2014 They mention Mo Farah‘s marathon debut (they forget Kenenisa Bekele‘s) and the comebacks of Jessica Ennis-Hill, David Rudisha,Sanya Richards-Ross and Yohan Blake.
Scott Douglas’s 5 Wishes For The Marathon In 2014 He’s hoping Mo Farah races Kenny B in London. We don’t see that one happening.
Competitor: What Running Retailers Say About Shoe Trends For 2014 – Minimalism Is Fading; Maximalism Is In For every action, there is a reaction. Minimalism is fading and high cushioning category (aka “maximalism”) is in.
MB: Shoe nerds help me out – what the hell is Hoka and is it worth $170?

Blog It Up

Foot Locker Champ Tessa Barrett Blogs About Her Amazing Foot Locker Win The trip to San Diego started with the first plane trip of her life and ended with her first national title. As for mileage, she reveals it’s 40-45 mpw on six days and also reveals her favorite workout.
Dave McGillivray Gives The Inside Story On His Battle Against Heart Disease: Staying Alive (Healthy Vs. Fit) “For the better part of my entire life, I thought I was as close to invincible as was humanly possible. With all the running I have done, I thought no physical challenge was insurmountable,” says Dave McGillivray. “The biggest lesson I have learned from all of this is that being fit does not necessarily mean being healthy … I totally changed my diet (no meat, no fat, no soda, no beer, no anything that is bad for you) and have lost 21 lbs in these short two months””
*Previous: Boston Herald: Boston Marathon Director And Big-Time Runner Dave McGillivray Has Big-Time Heart Disease

Check Out The Message Boards During The Holiday Lull

Be Inspired

Oklahoma HS State Runner-Up In XC, Cody Jones, Was Within Hours Of Death This Spring (And In Hospital For 3 Months) He had a rare bone infection that was caused by micro muscle tears he got from overuse – one of only 2 people in the US to get it that way.
Life Of Arizona Wildcat Lezo Urreiztieta, Who Died This Month At Age 20, Was More Than Just Hurdles The 20-year-old died during brain surgery earlier this month. Here, he is remembered as a great person.
MB:Hurdler from U of Arizona Lezo Urreiztieta dies during surgery
American Elites’ New Year’s Resolutions – Both Running And Non-Running
MB:Ryan Hall’s NYear’s resolution for 2014 – “To run a 400 in 53 seconds in practice”.
Athlete New Year’s resolutions from the UK List includes Chris O’Hare who wants to enjoy the little things.

Doping

New WADA Head Says They May Start Doing Hair Testing To Identify Drug Cheats Cycling has been doing hair testing for a long time as Lance Armstrongcomplained about it via twitter in 2009.

The Latest Year-End News

IAAF End-Of-Year Reviews of Steeple, 5k And 10k 2013 looked a lot like 2012 as the same men won the steeple, 5k and 10k as amazingly, no one even tried anything against Mo Farah. The women’s side was ruined by the collusion of the Ethiopians in the 5,000 and 10,000.
Eurosport’s 3 Biggest Shocks Of Year: #1 Oscar P Kills Someone, #2 Boston Bombing, #3 Lance Comes Clean
The Sport Literally Is Dying: 3 Of 20 Most-Read Stories On Athletics Weekly Were Obituaries
IAAF’s Look Back At The Mountain Running Year
Donald Thomas Is Nassau Guardian’s Bahamas Athelte Of The Year He was 5th at Worlds in the HJ. Oral Roberts Jeffery Gibson (5th 400H at NCAAs) was 2nd.
Cold? Embrace It: 10 Snowshoe Races To Try In 2014

News From The Commonwealth

Its A Boy! Canadian Olympian Hilary Stellingwerff Expecting First Baby In June The former Badger Stellingwerff, who ran a 4:05 1,500 PR this summer, is still running six days a week right now.
Australia’s Steeple National Champ, James Nipperess, Blogs ABout Life At Lornah Kiplagat’s High Altitude Training Center Some good insight in this piece.
Dave Bedford Named Officer Of The Most Excellent Order (OBE) By Queen Athletics Weekly‘s long-time photographer Mark Shearman was named a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE).
New Zealand’s Dick Tayler, 1974 Commonwealth Games 10,000 Champ, Named Member Of The New Zealand Order Of Merit Tayler was a 27:46 guy back in the 1970s.
Jessica Ennis-Hill Thinks Rising Star Katarina Johnson-Thompson Will Eventually Get Her British Record

News From Japan

Brett Larner’s Ranking Of The Top 10 Japanese Men Of 2013 The ranking system is numerical in nature and seems flawed as somehow Yuki Kawauchi is just #9.
MB: Really? Brett Larner ranks Yuki Kawauchi #9 for Japanese men – ranks Alberto’s 13:20 guy #1?
1964 Olympic Cauldron Will Be Used In 2020 Tokyo Stadium They’ll also save “a plate bearing the names of gold medalists” from the 1964 Games.

Doping News

2013 Daegu And Istanbul Marathon Winner Abraham Kiprotich Of France (Via Kenya) Tests Positive For EPO (Translated From French)
*MB Thread: Twitter rumour about Marathon EPO positive
Simon Hart: 2013 The Year Of Doping For Track And Field? The women’s Olympic 1,500 champ was involved in a drug scandal as were Tyson Gay, Asafa Powell, Sherone Simpson and VCB.
Jamaican Editorial: Despite Successes Of Usain Bolt And SAFP In 2013, Let’s Remember The Harsh Lessons Of 2013 Harsh indeed as Asafa Powell, VCB and Sherone Simpson all tested positive.

Pole Vault / Jumps / Walking News

MB: British men’s walking takes huge hit – first male Olympian/World Champ walker since 1996 defects to Ireland
After Injuries Cost Her Much Of Outdoor Season, Holly Bleasdale Thinks She’s Back Better Than Ever “I’m hungrier for training. I feel like the break did me good psychologically … I feel like I’m in a much better place now.”
IAAF 2013 End-Of-Year Reviews – Jumps

Distance News

Phoebe Wright Blogs About Why Professional Distance Runners Are Fun To Date – They Are Excellent Binge Drinkers And TV Watchers And Are Good At Spending No Money (‘Cause They Don’t Have Any) A funny read to say the least.
Free Coaching Advice To All US Marathoners: Bill Rodgers Broke 2:10 And Won Boston For 1st Time – One Month After Running At World Cross
What Happens To Items Left At Pre’s Rock? They get thrown away.
Boston Marathon Director And Big-Time Runner Dave McGillivray Has Big-Time Heart Disease Just because you run a lot and don’t gain weight doesn’t mean you don’t have heart disease.
Emmanuel Mutai Is Running Half Marathon In India This Weekend – Says Berlin Is Faster Than Chicago As Weather Is Constant All Day Long
After Hosting Worlds, Moscow Hopes To Host IAAF Diamond League Meet At Luzhniki Stadium They also are hoping to get 2016 World Juniors.

Field Event/Sprint News

Distance News

Good Read:Janet Cherobon-Bawcom Blogs About Spending Her Christmas In Kenya, About How She Never Thought She’d Be A Runner When She Was Younger And About Not Setting Goals She includes this picture of her when she was in high school before she became a runner.
RunnersTribe Q&A With Mid-D Runner Zoe Buckman On Her 2013 She was 7th in the 1,500 at Worlds.
MileSplit Weekend HS Coverage: Some Decent Indoor Meets In NY

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.

LetsRun.com Founders Named as Two of “The 50 Most Influential People in Running”