– Julia Lucas in a blog post talking about her unforgettable 4th place 5,000 finish at the 2012 Olympic Trials and her recent retirement from track and field. *Discuss
Next week, the USATF Board has the opportunity to do the right thing and honor the wishes of 85% of USATF delegates and nominate Bob Hersh to the IAAF Council. The track and field community that the Board is supposed to serve could not have made it more clear - Bob Hersh, not Stephanie Hightower, should be the USA nominee to the IAAF Council.
Nate Houle had it all: a beautiful wife, wonderful son, and his dream job coaching track at his alma mater Southern Utah University (Cam Levins' school, Nate was Cam's teammate). Then, in the span of five months, he lost his job, and was diagnosed with a rare cancer. Rather than make Nate bitter, the cancer has given Nate a new appreciation for life and God's plan for him. That makes him our Runner of the Month.
Emma Coburn, Read This: Milcah Chemos’ Hamstring “Snapped” At CGs, But After Surgery In October, She’s Ready To Begin Training And Hopes To Defend Her World Title
LRCWhy Was Drug Cheat Hamza Driouch Training (With Mo Farah) In Ethiopia? Who Supplied The 17-Year-Old Doper? Social media photos of Mo Farah training with now drug cheat Hamza Driouch of Qatar have the British press asking, “What is Farah doing training with a drug cheat in Ethiopia?” Our more immediate focus is, “What the hell is drug cheat Driouch doing training period?”
*MB: Mo Farah training with Driouch after his suspension started (but before it was announced)
Update: British Athletics Responds: Say They Relied On Jama Aden To “Facilitate” Farah’s Trip Aden provided Driouch as an athlete to train with Farah. Aden says he didn’t know about his ban.
*Mo Farah In Twitter Pic With Gamze Bulut And Taoufik Makhloufi
LRC Remembering LRCer Van TownsendThe running world lost one of its bright lights this week with the death of Van Townsend.
*MB: RIP Van Townsend: Share Your Respects Here
Recommended Read:Julia Lucas Blogs About The 2012 Olympic Trials 5,000 And Her Retirement From Professional Track And Field “And so, as I emerge from a career that ended not as I would have liked, disappointed with what could have been and almost was, I still look to running. … A race is just a race, but running can be anything.”
*MB:Julia Lucas wrote an article about losing out in the 2012 Olympic Trials 5,000
*LRC Archives:The Women’s 5,000 Final – The Olympic Trials At Its Absolute Best
*“It Should Be Mathematical: One Couple, Two Dreams, .04 Seconds” Popular piece by Michael Heald.
*Official Julia Lucas Appreciation Thread!!!
Recommend Read:A Look Back At The Story Of Javelin Thrower Reg Spiers, Who In 1964 Mailed Himself Home To Australia From London Spiers was stuck in the UK with no money for a ticket, and desperate to make it home in time for his daughter’s birthday, he mailed himself home in a crate. A great story and a must read.
IAAF Recap Opening Days Of African Junior Championships In Ethiopia Highlights included a close 3-way battle in the 10,000 where Uganda’s world junior champ Joshua Cheptegei won in 29:58.70 over Kenya’s Davis Kiplongat (29:59.32). Other winners included Kenya’s Anthony Kiptoo in the 1,500 (3:43.98) and Abrahm Kibiwot‘s 8:47.43 steeple. *Full Results
Bernard Lagat And Deena Kastor Highlight March 29th Carlsbad 5K Kastor set the women’s US road 5K record here in 2002 and Lagat would have got the US record here last year if it wasn’t for a small 13.5-foot course setup error.
San Diego Union Tribune: “NFL Combine’s 40-Yard Dash Makes No Sense” Writer Nick Canepa calls the NFL’s 40-yard times “lies,” saying they’re unrealistically fast.
Day 5: LRC Coe On The 2-Hour Marathon: “It’s a tall order but it’s certainly within the scope of a man.”
*Day 4: LRCCoe On Marketing The Sport: One Size Doesn’t Fit All Coe advocates moving money from Monaco to the member federations who will know what works best locally. “We have to put the member federations in the best possible position to deliver the sport in the way they know there is a local interest. …We’ve got to find the key drivers of growth for the sport and we’ve got to be able deliver that sport in a much more flexible way.”
*Day 3: LRC Seb Coe’s Growth Plans: “We’ve got a sport, I think we’ve got to create a movement.”
*Day 2: LRCSeb Coe On Trust/Doping
*Day 1: LRCIntro And Summary “I take great exception to people from outside our sport trying to redesign our sport because they don’t fundamentally understand the nature, the history and the philosophy of it.”
Snow Unlikely To Affect Boston Marathon, But BAA Is Prepared The snow should all be melted by April 20th, but organizers are concerned about the fields that host the “athletes’ village.”
Europe, We Love You: LRC A Fan’s Guide To The 2015 European Indoor Championships 2014 world outdoor and 2015 world indoor 1,500 leader Sifan Hassan is going for the double but the event of the meet is the women’s 800. Lots of Iona Gaels in action – one who is skipping NCAAs (Kate Avery) and one who isn’t (Rosie Clarke)
*More Previews: *Athletics Weekly Preview *M Track *M Field*W Track*W Field
WTW Hyping Montaño, Rowbury And Andrews; Tapping The Brakes On Loxsom’s AR; Don’t Ever Leave Lane 1; Plus A Collegiate Record For Emily Sisson And The Oregon Ducks Are Insanely Good (Corrected) Cas Loxsom and Emily Sisson had the performances of the weekend. We break them down and take another look at all the USA winners. We ponder if Alysia Montaño and Shannon Rowbury may soon be on the 2012 Olympic podium, and tell you how incredibly good the Oregon Ducks distance men are. Plus 300 Olympic Trials qualifiers from Japan. Note: Our stagger info was incorrect.
LRC The Story Behind The Alaskan Flip-Off: The 2013 LRC Photo Of The Year
LRC What’s Your 2014 Running Photo Of The Year? Have you taken a photo or seen a photo that could be the running photo of the year (2014 until now)*. Submit or tweet your entries to us. Winner and/or person who tells us of winner wins $100.
Want a Better Running Shoe?
Beta Better Running Shoe Site
It’s Time to Change How We Find Running Shoes