October 11, 2015 Homepage Archive

Where Your Dreams Become Reality

Archived Homepage For October 11, 2015

Quote Of The Day

“Carey (Pinskowski), the race director, has been after me for a while to do the race. … I was kind of like the high school girlfriend. … Finally I decided that it was right …”

– Luke Puskedra, after his 2:10:24 5th-place finish at the 2015 Bank of America Chicago Marathon, telling NBCChicago about his courtship for the race.

2015 BOA Chicago Was Sunday *Results

LRC: Dickson Chumba & Florence Kiplagat Win, Americans Luke Puskedra And Elkanah Kibet Impress, Deena Gets Masters Record (updated) A great day on the streets of Chicago as two-non rabbited races ended with exciting finishes. Dickson Chumba (2:09:25) and Florence Kiplagat (2:23:33) made it a Kenyan sweep as Americans Luke Puskedra, Elkanah Kibet, Deena Kastor and Sara Hall all cemented themselves as contenders for an Olympic spot come the Trials in February.

RRW Recap:Some Top Kenyan Men Not Thrilled With The Lack Of Pacers Puskedra: “With 10-K to go, just get on the pony and ride. I was all-out, I think. I imagined myself to be Usain Bolt, but probably looked like Luke Puskedra out there.”

Coverage From The Message Board:
MB CHICAGO MARATHON – It’s GO Time! – Official Live Discussion Thread
*MB: It’s official: Salazar can’t coach the marathon. Puskedra gets dumped by AlSal – runs 18 minute pb!!
*MB: Deena does it!!! Breaks Colleen De Reuck‘s U.S. masters record of 2:28:40 with a 2:27:47!!
*MB: Chicago better or worse without pacers?

More Road News

Recommended Read:After Briefly Quitting Running And Gaining 23 Pounds, Luke Puskedra Is Heading To Chicago Looking To PR After a disappointing 2:28 debut in NYC, Puskedra lost his Nike contract and thought about being a car salesman or contractor. Thankfully, Andy Powell convinced him to give running another shot and he ran 2:15 at Grandmas.
Belgian 1,500 Runner Tarik Moukrime Wins His First Race Back After He Was Diagnosed With Testicular Cancer Last Year The 3:35 man won a 10K in Belgium in 30:50.
Many Runners Discouraged After Missing Getting Into Boston By Mere Seconds One said, “I thought I had made it for a full year. I planned my whole life around it.”
Actor Ethan Hawke To Run 2015 TCS New York City Marathon He’s running with his wife for charity.
Chris Derrick And Alexi Pappas To Take Part In Lead Vehicle Program At NYC Marathon Like many US elites have in the past before making their debuts, they ride in the back of the lead car watching the race.

Mary Cain Returns Home

LRCWith Olympic Year Looming, Mary Cain Has Gone "Back To The Basics" And Returned Home - Cain Living At Home, Attending Fordham University And Still Part Of The NOP

*John Henwood On Cain’s 5K XC Race: “It wasn’t amazing but it wasn’t disappointing.”Alberto Salazar still coaches, but Henwood oversees Cain’s workouts. Henwood said, “We like how she’s progressing. She’s lean and mean.”

The Integrity Of Our Sport And The At-Large Process Is At Stake

LRCNCAA XC Weekend Recap: Wisconsin Jeopardized The At-Large Process And Should Be DQed From Louisville + No. 1 Colorado Debuts And The Six-Man XC Team That Beat Everyone At Notre Dame

*MB: NCAA at-large bids are at stake and the NCAA Cross Country Rules Committee needs to remove Wisco from Louisville results

Non-Chicago Weekend Action *Full NCAA Results

Daniel Salel, Mary Wacera Win BAA Half Marathon Crowns And 2015 BAA Distance Medley Crowns $30,000 for both of them for a little over an hour’s work.
Gladys Chesire Runs World Lead In ASICS Grand 10 Berlin, Joshua Cheptegei Breaks Ugandan 10K Record Despite Windy Conditions Chesire won in 30:41 while Cheptegei ran 27:50 to break Moses Kipsiro‘s NR by 2 seconds. Steepler Paul Kipsiele Koech made his road debut with a 6th place finish in 28:25.
World XC Bronze Medalist Muktar Edris Wins Giro Al Sas 10K In Italy Edris ran 28:46 to win over Edwin Soi and Thomas Longosiwa.
Texas A&M Men And Women Sweep Houston Baptist Open
Monday: Molly Huddle Going For Her Fourth Straight Title At The USATF Womens 10K Champs On Monday In Boston She’ll face Kim Conley, Emma Bates, Kellyn Taylor and Juliet Bottoroff.
Oct. 18: 10-Sub 60-Minute Men Will Line Up For The Valencia Half On October 18th World XC silver medalist Bedan Karoki leads field that includes Abraham Cheroben (58:48), doper Matthew Kisorio and Leonard Komon.

Random: Bolt Vs. Powell – Who’s Better Looking?

LRC Video: Usain Bolt And Asafa Powell Argue Over Who Is Better Looking The competition between these two sprinters is taken off track as an online poll settles their debate.
Running For Children: How Far Is Too Far? A lot of cautionary messages about kids running and training for long distances, but no studies have examined long term effects. However, a UK professor of pediatric sport and exercise says that optimal activity for kids is high intensity and sporadic, rather than moderate and chronic.
Haile Gebreselassie Encourages African Sports Stars To Invest Their Money Wisely At Home He’d like athletes to invest in Africa and create jobs to give back to their country.
Nick Symmonds’ Run Gum Company Celebrates Its One-Year Anniversary

More Chicago News

Thursday
LRC What We Learned In Chicago On Thursday: Chicago Cares Deeply About What LetsRun Visitors Think, A Superstar Pulls Out, Joan Benoit’s 30th Anniversary Run May Not Happen, And The Secret To Running A Marathon Every Year For Nearly 40 Years Get the inside scoop from the Windy City.

Recommended Read: Phil Hersh: Chicago Favorite Sammy Kitwara Is A Kenyan Defying All The Stereotypes – “A great talent, with a late start.” 1) He’s from the Rift Valley lowlands 2) He didn’t start running until after HS. “I saw people from Eldoret running on television and I became interested,” Kitwara said. “So I went to Eldoret to try and started training slowly, slowly.”
Recommended Read: Q&A With Sara Hall, Who Is Excited For A Chance At Marathon Redemption In Chicago And Excited To Be A New Mom X 4 During her first week as a mom, she banged out a 115-mile week.
RRW Joan Benoit Samuelson Celebrates 30th Anniversary Of Record Run In Chicago
Joan Benoit Samuelson Reflects On Her Epic 1985 Chicago Marathon Win “It wasn’t until after the marathon that I said to myself, ‘Man, I should’ve gone for a sub-2:20 marathon’ because I was so close given the way I was feeling. I intentionally left something in the tank.”
An Interesting Brief Chat With Kenyan Marathoner Wesley Korir, Who Is Racing Sunday “(Humans) are born to complain.”

USATF Critics – Read This

Important USATF Politics: Take A Look At David Greifinger’s Proposed Changes So USATF Won’t Be Able To Screw The Likes Of Bob Hersh In The Future

Sprint /Jump News

Recommended Read: Aries Merritt Is Recovering Nicely From His Kidney Transplant And Is On The MendDave Hunter catches up with the WR holder who is recovering nicely from his kidney transplant.
Spikes Mag Profiles US Hurdles Sensation – 20-Year-Old Shamier Little Distance fans, we suggest you read this as Little is a stud and will be a star on NBC’s Summer Olympic coverage in 2016.
Parole Board Meets In Oscar P Case, Says It Won’t Announce Anything Until Next Week As It Wants To Hear Back From His Dead Girlfriend’s Family How could they possibly want him out on the streets?
Meet Lesotho 200 NR Holder (20.36) Mosito Lehata

Should The NY DL Be Moved To Philly?

$3 Million Complete Renovation Of UPenn Track Is Complete And Penn Relays Director Dave Johnson Dreams They Someday Will Host A DL Event We think it would be a much better venue for a DL event than Randall’s Island.
Penn Relays Steeple Pit Has Been Moved To The Center Of The Track*Photos Of Penn Renovation

Women’s Distance News

Sarah Brown And Her Husband Talk About Training Through Pregnancy And How They Were Initially Confused Why She Was Running Poorly This Summer Before they knew she was pregnant, her husband thought it was mental and Sarah said, “I thought I needed to woman up.” Turned out she was 6 weeks pregnant
Suzy Favor Hamilton Blogs About How To Deal With Pre-Race Anxiety
GB’s Gemma Steel Undecided Whether She’ll Try To Run The 10K Or Marathon In Rio 2016 Given she hasn’t even run a marathon yet and has no immediate plans to make her debut, she probably should stick to the 10K.
Carrie Tollefson Interviews Molly Huddle On Her Recent Road Racing Season And Hopes For 2016 Huddle has racked up an impressive 17 US titles.
Q&A With Tollefson About Running During Pregnancy As She Prepares To Have Her Third Child She no longer competes as a pro, but still trains and is running 20-30 miles a week during her pregnancy.

General Track Stuff

Very Cool:Interactive Map Shows Where Every World Championships Medal Has Gone Since 1983 Break it down by event and gender.
Voting Process For 2015 IAAF Athlete Of The Year Underway The first list of finalists will have 9 men and women and be announced in November.
*Remember, Past Dopers Like Justin Gatlin Aren’t Eligible This is a new rule after there was an uproar when Gatlin was nominated last year.
Seb Coe Supports Idea For An Athletics League In The Style Of Crikcet’s Indian Premier League There would be inter-city competitions with athletes like Usain Bolt and David Rudisha representing whichever city was willing to pay for them.
Seb Coe Signs Agreement For New Training Center In India

Ryan Hall Fans, Don’t Get Your Hopes Up

Ryan Hall Says He Has “Clinically Low Testosterone” But Wouldn’t Take Synthetic Testosterone Even With A TUE Because It “Crosses A Moral Line” Hall’s outlook for the Trials don’t look too optimistic as despite trying many natural methods, he hasn’t increased his levels and goes back and forth in training between feeling like his “old self” and then being too fatigued to finish an hour run.
*MB:Ryan Hall Q&A: “I’ve had clinically low testosterone levels, which affects everything.”
*MB:Sara Hall piece – weird statement
Recommended Read:King Of Pain: Interview With Marathon Legend Steve Jones The former WR holder shares great insights on his career, old-school training methods, coaching and his problems with the sport today.
*MB: Steve Jones on running today
Q&A: Fernando Cabada Shares His Thoughts And Some Specific Workouts Ahead Of Chicago “I still believe I’m just one performance away from something great. I’m still not done yet. Without a doubt I am in sub-2:11 shape.”
Ten Years After Winning, Deena Kastor Is Back In Chicago To Try To Break The US Masters Record Of 2:28:40 Her fastest since turning 40 was 2:32:38 at the 2013 LA Marathon.
RIP Former Boston And NYC Marathon Winner Miki Gorman Gorman was a pioneer woman marathon runner in the 1970s. She died last month aged 80 after a five-year battle with cancer. This is a good read/tribute on her life and career as a runner.

Brojos And LRC Get Some Praise

LRCLetsRun.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!

Chicago Race Previews

LRC Women’s Preview: Who Wins & Will A 40+ Woman Be The Top American? HM WR holder Florence Kiplagat, Tokyo champ Birhane Dibaba and ’14 Dubai champ Mulu Seboka are the favorites. The battle for top American is wide open as 42-year-old Deena Kastor goes for the US masters record (2:28:40) against 40-year-old US marathon champ Blake Russell and Sara Hall. Then there is ageless wonder, 58-year-old Joan Benoit Samuelson, who will try to run within 30 minutes of her 2:21 winning time 30 years ago.
*MB: Liza Hunter-Galvan running Chicago Marathon
*Ireland’s Fionnuala McCormack (Britton) is also in field

Sammy Kitwara (l), Wesley Korir and Abera Kuma (r). LRC Men’s Preview: Will Sammy Kitwara Arrive As An Abbott World Marathon Major Winner? 2014 2nd and 3rd placers Sammy Kitwara and Dickson Chumba – both of whom set personal bests here a year ago – will be in the field to tackle Tokyo champ Endeshaw Negesse, Rotterdam champ Abera Kuma and ’12 Boston champ Wesley Korir. The U.S. pros are led by 2:11 man Fernando Cabada and former Oregon star Luke Puskedra (61:36 half PR) as the headliners.

USTFCCCA Podcast With Stanford’s Aisling Cuffe

This Weekend’s Other Action *Full NCAA Results (Hardly Any, As Most Teams Will Take Off To Get Ready For Pre-Nats/Wisco Weekend)

Tufts Health Plan 10k For Women Is Monday:RRW Emma Bates “All-In,” Ready To Kick-Off Pro Career On Monday At Tufts Health Plan 10-K For Women
BAA Half Is Sunday: RRW 2015 Boston Marathon Champ Caroline Rotich Savors Return To Boston For Sunday’s B.A.A. Half Marathon
Army 10 Miler: After Injury-Plagued Oregon Career (6 Fractures), Chris Kwiatkowski Is Now Ready To Thrive Under Tutelage Of Centro Sr. Kwiatkowski got a huge profile in the Washington Post as he’s running the Army 10 Miler on Sunday. Centro Sr.: “He’s just a late bloomer. Certain guys, physically and mentally, they just [need] a lot more confidence, certain things to go on in their makeup. He’s that kind of guy.”
Berlin 10K: Steepler Paul Kipsiele Koech Running His First Big Road Race At Sunday’s Asics Grand 10 Berlin Ethiopia’s Sutume Asefa Kebede leads the women’s field.
Preview Of Sunday’s 20km In Paris
Next Weekend:2:05 Man Peter Some Looking For Redemption At The Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon After Finishing 6th Last Year Some was in the lead last year at 30K, but started pushing too early and faded badly in the end. *LRC Full 2015 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfont Marathon Elite Start Lists

Upsets At 2015 World Military Games

Is Usain Bolt A Legend & Will He Compete In 2017?

Usain Bolt: “If I go to the Olympics and win (again), I will feel comfortable saying to anyone I’m a legend.” He says he’s not comfortable saying that now. We disagree.
Usain Bolt Says He Should Do Worlds In 2017 But Doesn’t 100% Commit To It How could he possibly be motivated to go for another year if he wins triple gold (again) at the Olympics? London $$$ is the only answer.
Future Legend?After 60-Mile Weeks This Summer, CA State Champ Austin Tamagno Is Ready To Rock His Senior Year The team XC state title is what the 3:46 guy (5th at Foot Locker) wants most.

Video Of The Week?Czech Hockey Goalie Celebrates Win With On-Ice Track And Field Display He attempted the javelin, shot put and hammer throw using his goalie equipment.

WADA Reports That Positive Tests “Down By 10%” Despite Increased Testing In 2014 Are fewer athletes cheating or just more getting away with it? WADA director general David Howman said even though only 1.36% of samples came back positive, more than 10% of athletes could be doping. *2nd Article

Rio 2016 Cuts Budget By 30 Percent Amid Brazilian Economic Crisis

Our Weekly Recap

LRCWTW: Mary Cain Races Against Men, Molly Huddle Continues To Roll, How Many Women Have A Realistic Shot At The Olympic Marathon Trials, A Runner Steals $1.5 Million, And More

This week, among other things, we talk about the return to action for Mary Cain, break down the 2016 US Olympic Marathon Trials for women, state that "rah-rah" speeches don't work in distance running, try to figure out how much money doper Liliya Shobukhova owes people.

LRCUsain Bolt Gets Beaten By 8-Year-Old On Ellen DeGeneres Show

Video of the upset.

International Sprint News

Thirty Years Ago East German Marita Koch Ran The Still-Standing 400m WR Of 47.60; BBC Asks “Can We Believe It Was Genuine?” About 90% of LetsRunners will tell you, “Hell, no.”
*BBC Audio Discussion There is evidence that Koch cheated, but the IAAF can’t use it because of the WADA 10-year statute of limitations. Even so, the IAAF didn’t have to induct her into the Hall of Fame.
Oscar Pistorius’ Family Criticizes South African Authorities For “Undermining” His Rights By Delaying His Parole Hearing
Former World Champ Kim Collins Says “Politics” Is Hindering Growth Of Track In St. Kitts And Nevis Collins was infamously sent home from the London Olympics for having a conjugal visit with his wife.
GB 400 Hurdler Eilidh Child Getting Married This Month And Then Looking Ahead To 2016 The Commonwealth Games silver medalist was really disappointed to finish 6th at Worlds and wants to medal in Rio.
Ato Boldon Interviews Nambian Legendary Sprinter (And His Former Rival) Frankie Fredericks Fredericks was the 1993 World 200 champ and still has the 200m indoor WR.
Jumps: GB High Jump Record Holder Isobel Pooley More Motivated Than Ever After Raising The Bar In 2015 She was hoping for a top-8 finish at Worlds, but tore a ligament in her ankle in training and didn’t make the final.

The Integrity Of The Sport Is At Stake – Mike Rossi Is A Marathon Cheat And Should Have Been DQed From The 2014 Lehigh Valley Marathon

Lehigh Valley Got It Wrong: The Evidence Is Conclusive: Mike Rossi – The Viral Boston Marathon Dad – Is A Marathon Cheat And Should Never Have Been On The Starting Line In Boston In April, Mike Rossi gained international fame for his snarky response to a letter from his kids’ principal scolding him for taking them out of school for several days to watch Boston. A LetsRun.com investigation has revealed that Rossi’s principal was correct, the kids should never have been in Boston as the evidence is conclusive – their father didn’t legitimately qualify for the 2015 Boston Marathon. How confident are we that Rossi cut the course when he “ran” his 3:11:45 BQ qualifier at Lehigh Valley? Extremely. We’ll pay Mike Rossi $10,000 if he qualifies again in the next 12 months – and the qualifying time is 13+ minutes slower – 3:25.
*MB: Did Mike Rossi (viral marathon dad) cheat his way into Boston?