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

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

• Why is B-Mart Hanging out with Suzy Favor Hamilton???

• Anyone been to Guy Fieri's restaurant in Times Square?

• Can I get super ripped in 8 weeks and what should I do?

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  Ryan Hall's NYear's' resolution for 2014 - "To run a 400 in 53 seconds in practice"

• USA roster for Bupa Great Edinburgh Cross Country?????

• Cain didn't get 1000m In record?

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

• Top 100 Sports Stories Of The Year: #30 Is Spanish Courts Throwing Out 200+ Doping Positives, #22 Was Christine Ohuruogu Winning Gold
• Athletics Illustrated Takes A Look At The Major Banned Drugs That Athletes Tested Positive For In 2013
• Banned Aussie 10.23 Sprinter Matt Davies Says He Never Got A Trial Before His Doping Ban And Says He Was Banned For 2 Years For Substances Not Even Outlawed By WADA
• Davies’ Banned Substances Aren’t On WADA List But They’ve Been Used To Ban 4 Others As Well