Symmonds Talks About His Move To Brooks

LRCNick Symmonds Is Thrilled To Have Say At Brooks – “Just sitting in Eugene twiddling my thumbs waiting for Nike to call me – that was not satisfying for me” In an exclusive chat with LetsRun, Symmonds reveals the financial the deals offered to him by Nike and Brooks were similar, but at Brooks he’s got input. Symmonds also talks about training without Mark Rowland, how fortunate he is as compared to Leo Manzano, and the high quality of journalism one can find on LetsRun.com each day.

Say It Aint So

1,500 Star Asbel Kiprop To Be Charged For Beating Up Security Guard That Wouldn’t Let Him Drink After Hours At Bar “Kiprop punched me several times on the mouth and kicked me on my private parts saying that he is a police inspector and cannot be questioned by anyone or taken anywhere.”
MB:Asbel Kiprop Might Be Going To Jail
*Assuming he’s not in jail in a week, Asbel Kiprop will try to defend Great Edinburgh Cross Country crown next Saturday
*Blog from Kenya: Someone please advise Asbel Kiprop before he loses his career

New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Week Races

• Thursday: Mare Dibaba Sets Course Record At Xiamen Marathon (2:21:36)In her first marathon in 17 months, Mare Dibaba, who has a 2:19:52 PR, went out fast and was on 2:19:29 pace at 30km before fading. 38-year-old Mariko Kiplagat won a tactical men’s race in 2:08:06.
• 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 Marathon champ Priscah Jeptoo returned to racing with a win in 32:10.
• Konica Minolta Repeats As New Year Ekiden Champs In Japan The new year ekiden is the one that matters for the Japanese corporations.
• 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 won 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.
• 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.

Renaud Lavillenie Pole Vault Diary: Says He’s Just Had One Of Best Training Cycles Of His Career, Getting Ready For World Indoors Last year, Lavillenie was struggling with injuries this time 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.