2015 NCAA XC Action Heats Up – A Great Weekend Of Action *Paul Short Results *All Results

LRCNCAA Weekend XC Preview: No. 1s Colorado And New Mexico To Debut, Stanford Vs. Oregon, And Much More

Shoe Brand/Store News

• Interesting Read: GQ: Sneaker Wars: Inside The Battle Between Nike And Adidas Stealing battling for endorsers, stealing employees and filing lawsuits, this rivalry puts the one between Jenny Simpson and Shannon Rowbury to shame.
• Turf War Between Nike And Under Armour Gets Political In Portland Nike irate that Under Armour will pay for and sponsor new soccer fields in two Portland parks. Portland mayor even stepped in to try and stop the parks & recreation commissioner from going through with it.
• Running Store Owner And Employee Chase Down Vandal Who Had Been Shooting At Windows Afterwards they acknowledged that they were lucky the 6-foot-2 and 265-pound criminal decided to run first and fight second.
• Boulder Running Company Stores To Be Re-Branded JackRabbit The Running Specialty Group wants its stores unified under one brand rather than 20 different names as they’ve acquired local stores around the country. If they want to be tottally honest, Finish Line might be a better name as that’s who owns them.

Big City Marathon News

• Recommended Read: WSJ Article On The Everyday Non-Pros Who Fight For A Spot At The Olympic Marathon Trials Despite Knowing They Have No Shot At The Games Those interviewed say their careers would be complete if they achieved their dream of qualifying. As USATF’s Jill Greer said, for many the OT are “their version of the Olympic Games.”
• Black Lives Matter Leader Sounds Pretty Adamant About Disrupting Twin Cities Marathon Finish Rashad Turner: “I don’t think that us allowing them to finish the race would make them wake up enough. I think that life has to be disrupted.”
  *Twin Cities Marathon Organizers Respond To BLM Plans BLM head Turner said he hopes “runners realized they’re not going to be able to finish this race and instead of being angry and complaining, that they join in in the protest …”
  *MB: Black Lives Matter plans to disrupt Twin Cities Marathon
• The Numbers Are In: You Had To Be 2:28 Faster Than The Standard To Qualify For The 2016 Boston Marathon 4,562 runners had their applications rejected despite having the time standard. As an 18-34 man, you had to run 3:02:32 and as a woman you needed 3:32:32.
• Cool Photo Essay From The Berlin Marathon You can check out pics of the elites here, but this essay shows what the everyday marathoner experiences.

UK Anti-Doping Chiefs Disappointed By WADA Ruling To Not Ban Thyroid Medication This is the third year UKAD has fought to get thyroid drugs banned and said they will continue to push for it because they feel it is “contrary to the spirit of sport.”

Berlin Marathon Photo Gallery

Pro Distance News

• Marathoner Stephen Shay Is Living The Dream, Living In A Vintage 1960s Motor Home And Training For The Olympic Trials Shay spends most nights sleeping in various LA beach towns, living the life of a beach bum – except he runs 90 miles a week.
  *MB: US OT marathon qualifer Stephan Shay lives in a van down the beach
• Ed Caesar, Author Of Two Hours: The Quest To Run The Impossible Marathon,” Shares Some Insights From His Time In Kenya Caesar: “The first thing to say about them is that no matter how quietly they speak or how often they refer to God and so forth, they’re all tough as old boots. They have to be.”
• Lizzie Lee Becomes 5th-Fastest Irish Woman Ever After Running 2:32:51 In Berlin The 35-year-old took more than five minutes off her PR after taking time off last year to give birth.
• In Honor Of Eliud Kipchoge, SPIKES Looks At Some Famous Instances Where Athletes Decided To Forgo Shoes Altogether And Go Barefoot Includes video of a decathlete trying and failing to HJ barefoot.

Upcoming Road Action: Chicago Is Next Weekend

• Updates Chicago Marathon Elite Field: Tsegay Kebede Out With Injury, Luke Puskedra Added Ethiopia’s Tokyo Marathon champ Berhane Dibaba (2:22:30) and Yebrqual Melese (2:23:23) have been added to the women’s field. *Discuss
• Kara Goucher Racing TC 10 Mile (USATF 10 Mile Champs) This Sunday
• Elite Field Announced For This Weekend’s Cardiff Half Marathon / UK Half Champs Kenya’s Boniface Kongin (62:02) defends his title while Merci Jemutai-Tanui (68:42) leads women’s race.

More International News

• Former Olympic 110H Champion Dayron Robles Could Return To Compete For Cuba There has been a long standing feud between Robles and the Cuban federation.
• IAAF Personal Bests Q&A With Canada’s World HJ Champion Derek Drouin Drouin says he still regrets not listening to his instincts and taking a third attempt at a bar which caused him to fracture his foot back in 2011.

Brojos And LRC Get Some Praise

LRC LetsRun.com Founders Robert And Weldon Johnson Named As Two Of “The 50 Most Influential People In Running” By Runner’s World LRC’s founders Robert Johnson and Weldon Johnson (Brojos) are among the 50 most influential people in running according to Runner’s World thanks to you. RW had high praise for the LRC audience, saying the Brojos are the “masterminds behind perhaps the most engaged online community of runners.”
*MB: The 50 Most Influential People in Running – wejo and rojo made the list!

Sprint News: The Drink Of Your Enemy Is Your Enemy

• Apparently There Was A Bit Of A Dispute Between US And Jamaican Sprinters In Beijing During Worlds A JAAA media officer says the Americans complained about Jamaicans celebrating too loud and refused to drink Gatorade that had Usain Bolt‘s picture printed on it.
• After Stellar Year, Andre De Grasse Had The Opportunity To Go Pro But Said “I Felt It Wasn’t My Time” “There was a lot of pressure, there was a lot of numbers. I thought to myself, ‘wow are they really offering this?’ But nothing was guaranteed … College is only a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I want to enjoy it. There’s only so far you can go in the sport … a degree is the most important thing.”

Recommended Read: Washington Post: “Running For Their Lives, Ethiopians Seek A Safer Track In Washington DC” Article follows story of Ethiopian refugees such as 18-year-old 400 NR holder Genet Lire, who used running as a means to escape political persecution in Ethiopia. They left behind their families and promising running careers to avoid jail and torture and now are struggling to survive in the US.

Pro News

• Q&A With World 800 Silver Medalist Melissa Bishop Bishop says that adrenaline got her through the rounds in Beijing as she could barely sleep after breaking the Canadian NR in the semifinal.
• Flashback To The 1996 Atlanta Games 200: “Michael Johnson, The Olympic Sprinter With An Inner Greek God” Today Johnson is known more for his still-standing 400 mark, but in this race he ran 19.32 to dominate the rest of the world in a new WR.
• Jamaican-Trained British Sprinter Delano Williams Keeping His Options Over After A Season Of Injuries Forced Him Into The 400 His preferred event is the 200, but he missed the British Trials and ended up running on their bronze medal winning 4 x 400 at Worlds.
• IAAF Profile On World Heptathlon 8th Placer Nadine Visser The 20-year-old World Junior bronze medalist was thrilled with her transition to the senior ranks in 2015.

More College XC

LRC 2015 NCAA Men’s Individual Top 10 Preview: Can Anyone Beat King Cheserek? There is a heavy, heavy favorite but behind him it’s wide open. How many can Colorado put in the top 10? Does anyone have a chance Edward Cheserek? We’ve found a potential upset winner (pics included on the right) whom we bet you’ve never heard of.

LRC 2015 NCAA Women’s Individual Top 10 Preview: Who Takes Over For Kate Avery? With no Kate Avery, the championship picture is wide open.
MB: What is your Early Season Individual NCAA Top 15

• Roy Griak Minnesota Hall Of Fame Feature: Garry Bjorklund And Others Share Their Memories Bjorklund: “When I think back to my greatest memories as a runner, it is not the conference titles as an individual, nor is it the being an All-American or an Olympian … my greatest achievement is I was a part of a team coached by Roy Griak.”
• Podcast Q&A With Syracuse’s 13:34 Man Justyn Knight He had a bad 2014 NCAA race, but made up for it with top 25 at World Jr. XC.
• Q&A With NCAA 1,500 Champ Chad Noelle, Who Is Running XC For 1st Time Since 2013 And Hoping To Be Top 20

Be Inspired As Runners Overcome Age, Disease And Their Past

• Recommended Read: For Inmates At The Oregon State Penitentiary (OSP), “The Wall” Has A Totally Different Meaning And Running Is Much “More Than Just A Race” Dedicated runners can be found everywhere, even in prison. At OSP, a 40+ year-old running club started by Steve Prefontaine and with ties to Bill Dellinger and former Athletics West coach, Dick Brown, gives new life to inmates serving long sentences for violent crimes. They train daily, run monthly races (open to the public) and help rehabilitate themselves and completely change their lives. A definite must read by Michael Heald.
• Recommended Watch: Former Sub-2:30 Marathoner Michael Westphal Uses Running To Battle His Parkinson’s Disease Sometimes Westphal can barely walk, but when he runs he almost feels normal and recently qualified for Boston with a 3:32 marathon.
• Centenarian Don Pellmann Breaks Five Age Group World Masters Records At The Senior Olympics Among his records, he broke the 100m record by 3 seconds with 26.99 and became the first man over 100 years old to clear a height in the high jump.

Olympic Stuff

• Ooh, Burn! USOC Compares Failed Boston Olympic Bid To Seahawks’ Decision To Pass Instead Of Run The Ball At The Super Bowl USOC CEO Scott Blackmun: “But here’s the thing. Unlike the Seahawks, we have not lost the game.”
• IOC Accused Of “Astonishing Omission” Of Human Rights Clause In 2024 Host City Contract The Agenda 2020 reform process called for host city contracts to have a human rights clause, but there was apparently no mention in the 2024 contract.
• LA To Declare $100 Million State Of Emergency On Homelessness To Help 2024 Olympic Bid Councilman Gilbert Cedillo: “If we want to be a great city that hosts the Olympics and shows itself off to the world, we shouldn’t have 25,000 to 50,000 people sleeping on the streets.”
• Video: Rome Says They’re 70 Percent Ready To Host 2024 Games
• Rome’s Summer Olympics Bid Could Include Events At Colosseum, St. Peter’s Square
• Boston The Sequel? Hungary Says There Are No Plans For Referendum On 2024 Olympic Bid
• Japan Sports Minister To Resign Over Tokyo 2020 Stadium Fiasco

Pro News

• Seb Coe Agrees With LetsRun.com – Farah Isn’t The GOAT “He is a wonderful, wonderful athlete. I’ll leave the greatest ever tag to other athletes. Mo’s progress through the ranks has been spectacular, but there are other things you need to throw into the balance: world records, times, speeds, all those things.”
• Matt Llano Has Been Living At Shalane Flanagan’s House For Weeks As He Gets Ready For This Weekend’s Berlin Marathon The two became friends as both are “foodies.”
  *MB: Good article on Matt Llano living and training with Shalane Flanagan as he prepares for Sunday’s Berlin Marathon
• Vin Lananna Is Surprised World Indoors Hasn’t Already Sold Out “I don’t think there is enough understanding of what indoor track actually is,” Lananna says.
  *MB: Vin Lananna is surprised World Indoors isn’t sold out – isn’t sure if Salazar/Rupp doping allegations are to blame
• Stephen Kiprotich Says His Body Didn’t Respond To Training For Worlds But He’s Going For Repeat Gold In Rio
• Sprints/Jumps Blanka Vlasic Talks About Her Amazing Silver Medal At Worlds: The Silver Medal That Felt Like Gold To Vlasic She’d only competed twice all summer due to injury and some days couldn’t even walk.
• Kemar Bailey-Cole Says He Would Have Been Third At Worlds Had Hamstring Injury Not Kept Him Out He had run a 9.92 PR early in the year on LetsRun.com’s “Founders Day.”
• Bob Beamon’s Words Of Wisdom Beamon talks about the need to be fully committed to your craft and be patient. In college, Beamon lost to a HSer.

Jumps And Throws

• After Placing 4th At Worlds, New Zealand Shot Putter Tom Walsh Is Back To Working 8 Hours A Day As A Construction Worker Walsh: “It’s good to just kind of get away and stop thinking about training and the gym, just living like a normal guy for a while and enjoying a little bit of a break away from all the training and the pressures of travel.”
• Video: Hilarious HJ Fail
• IAAF Profile On Javelin Thrower Ihab Abdelrahman El Sayed, Who Won Egypt’s First-Ever World Championships Medal (Silver) Like Kenya’s Julius Yego, El Sayed beat the odds by excelling in a country with no tradition or coaching knowledge in his event.
• UK Writer Argues Triple Jump Isn’t A Real Sport Because It Is “Too Contrived”
• Graphic Comparison Of Christian Taylor’s 18.21m American Record Vs. Jonathan Edwards’ 18.29m WR
• World Class Javelin Experts Meeting In Finland To Discus Training Methods And Need For Change

Terrible News

• Recommended Read: RIP: Tribute To Former UC Davis All-American Sarah “Stump” Sumpter, Who Lost Her 5-Year Battle With Cancer Sumpter’s story was extremely inspirational as even after she was diagnosed with brain cancer and underwent surgery, she fought back to have an impressive collegiate career including multiple conference titles and All-American finish. After college, she was still training to qualify for the 2016 Marathon OT.
  *MB: 25 year old former CA state champ and UC Davis standout Sarah Sumpter loses battle with cancer
• Blog Post By Team USA Minnesota Runner Jon Peterson “You simply did. You led Your life in a way that exemplified what it meant to be a star athlete, a scholar, a loving friend, a fighter, a tougher than nails woman that let nothing stand in your way.”
• 8:32 US Steepler Cameron Bean Is Killed By Car While Running The ZAP Fitness member was hit while on a run Saturday. The driver of the car who crossed traffic to hit Cameron from behind said the sun was in her eyes and she didn’t see him.