October 27, 2015 Homepage Archive

Week That Was

LRCWTW: Chris Solinsky Doesn't Do 26.2, Arne Gabius Does Do 26.2, Remembering When 2:06 Was Really Fast, Meb K Has Run A Lot And Wilson Kipsang Is Psychic

Quick quiz: How many African runners have run sub-2:10 this year in the marathon? Non-Africans? We tell you the answer.

NCAA / HS

World Youth Champion Keshun Reed Commits To LSU Reed (PRs of 45.75 and 21.39) finished 3rd in the 400 at World Youth Champs and was on the US’s gold medal-winning 4 x 400.
NCAA DI Athletes Of The Week Are Grambling’s Hassan Chepkwony And Alabama State’s Paige Rankine Conference season officially started as they each won the Southwestern Athletic Conference Championships.

New York (Marathon) News

Interesting Read:A Walk Through Meb Keflezighi’s NYC Marathon Career Starting With 2002 Through 2015 Assuming he finishes this year, he’ll be tied with Grete Waitz for the most NYC marathon finishes as a pro.
Recently-Graduated NY High Schooler Mikey Brannigan Wins 1,500 Paralympic World Title He ran 3:56.50 to beat Iran’s Peyman Nasiri Bazanjani by .03 at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar.
AP: Fueled By The Running Boom, The NYRR Has Grown Into A Force With Huge Financial Muscle How big and how quickly has the NYRR grown? Well, NYRR events had more than 290,000 finishers in the last 12 months. “That’s the equivalent of staging a Boston Marathon every 5 ½ weeks.”
Fortunte Q&A With NYRR CEO Michael Capiraso And NYC Marathon Race Director Peter Ciaccia There were almost 51,000 starters in last year’s race, but Ciaccia thinks “logistically, the marathon can get bigger.”
At 71 Years Old, Florida Woman Connie Brown Holds The Longest NYC Marathon Streak This year will be her 37th run; she has a best time of 3:37:54 from 1982 and “ran” almost 8 hours last year. Dave Obelkevich has the longest streak overall with 38 consecutive finishes.

Sprint Stuff

Video:Sumo Wrestlers Racing Is The Best Thing Ever These 300+ pound men duke it out over 40 meters.
*Full Video (Article’s Video Cuts Off)
Trayvon Bromell Says He’ll Run 2016 Indoors In His First Season As A Pro USA’s medal chances at Portland 2016 just got that much better.
Nice Tribute To Former US 400H Champ And Record Holder Carl McBain, Who Passed Away At 97 Years Old McBain was ranked #1 in the world in 1940, but never got to go to the Olympics because of WWII. The NR he set that year (51.6) stood for 10 years.

Sprint / Jump News

German Amputee Long Jumper Markus Rehm Smashes Paralympic Long Jump WR With 8.40m Leap To Win IPC Title
MB:One footed German Markus Rehm jumps 8.40m – distance that would have won 2012 Olympic gold!!
Chinese Sprinter Su Bingtian Pleads: “Don’t call me the next Liu Xiang.” “I just want to do my best in sprint events and if one day I find I cannot make any more progress, I will quit.”

Pre-Frankfurt: German Arne Gabius Thinks He’s Got A Good Shot At 27-Year-Old German Record Of 2:08:47 In FrankfurtSisay Lemma, Bazu Worku and Micah Kogo are all in the men’s race. *Watch Live At 5am ET

LetsRunW – Women’s Distance News

Q&A About Coming Back From Pregnancy With Defending NYC Marathon Champ Mary Keitany She says it was easier to come back after baby #2 and her win in NYC was her most thrilling ever.
Q&A With Aussie Milly Clark, Who Shocked Herself By Running 2:29 In Amsterdam She is now #9 in Australia history and her coach was just hoping for a sub-2:35, maybe 2:32.
Lucy Kabuu (2:19:34 PR) To Headline Women’s-Only Saitama Marathon On November 15th Two-time 5,000 world silver medalist Sylvia Kibet (2:26:16) could challenge in her second marathon.
National University Women’s Ekiden Championships Preview – Ritsumeikan Set To Make It Five Straight If they win, it will be 9 of the last 12 years.
*Japan > USA?MB: Brett Larner implies last year’s Mich State women (NCAA champs) might only get 7th or 8th in Japanese championships
In First Race Since Finishing 5th In 1,500 In Beijing, Laura Muir Will Begin Road To Rio With Scottish Cross-Country Relays This Weekend
Free Steeple Drills From The UK’s Top Steepler In 2015, Lennie Waite The former Rice steepler shows you how to get ready for the steeple (pics).

How Low Will He Go?

LRCThe Future Of Luke Puskedra: How Difficult Is It To PR After Career Marathon #3?

Puskedra has run 2:10:24 and Andy Powell says he'll run "a lot faster." We take a look at how much runners normally improve after marathon #3.
*MB:LetsRun, What say you? What will Luke Puskedra's ultimate marathon PB be?

Caribbean Sprint Stuff

Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce

U.S. Olympic Bobsledder Jazmine Fenlator (The Driver For Lolo Jones) Switches Allegiances To Jamaica Jamaica has never sent a women’s bobsled team to the Olympics, but Fenlator is planning on recruiting Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce as a push athlete.
In Honor Of Back To The Future Day, BBC Makes Some 30-Years-From-Now Sporting Predictions Will the 100m WR actually be any faster?
EuroSport Writer Calls Out Usain Bolt’s Sub-19 200 Talk “There is simply nothing to suggest that he can do so. It’s now six years since he ran a personal best at either 100m or 200m … it now seems pretty clear that Bolt’s best days are in the past.”
Carifta 100/200 Champ Mario Burke Now A Freshman At The University Of Houston The 10.21 man is coached by Carl Lewis and is hoping to make the 2016 Olympic team for Barbados.

The 2015 NYC Marathon Is This Weekend

Meb Keflezighi After His Marathon Debut In NYC 2002: “This is my first and last marathon. I never want to do a marathon again.” Talking about the mistakes he made, Meb says, “I tell people I got my PhD that day. I know what to do, what not to do, and New York is where I learned my PhD.”
After A Breakthrough Couple Of Years, US XC Champ Laura Thweatt Is Making Her Marathon Debut In NYC
Legends Haile Gebrselassie, Tegla Loroupe, Paula Radcliffe And Paul Tergat Selected As NYRR HOF Inductees
26 NYC Marathon Facts From Its New Museum Exhibit Some interesting tidbits from the history of the 45-year-old race.
Brand New TCS New York City Marathon Pavilion To Open For Runners And Fans In Central Park On Monday, October 26 The Visitor Center will be located steps from the finish.

Paralympic News

Short Profile On NYC Marathon Wheelchair Athlete Josh George, Who Lost His Legs When He Fell Out A 12th Story Window As A 4-Year-Old
On USATF.tv:USATF Productions Launches New Short Film On Paralympic Sprinter Richard Browne “Tragedy to Triumph: The Richard Browne Story” tells how Browne went from football player to paralympian when he lost his leg in an accident falling through a glass door at a laundromat.
UK Wheelchair Paralympic Champion David Weir Complains That Worlds Is Too Close To The NYC Marathon

RIP Kenyan Olympic Marathon Trials – October 15 – October 27, 2015

LRCBreaking: Kenya Shelves 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials - Will Select Team Based On Marathon Results From 2015-2016

RIP to the Kenyan Trials, which lived a short life - October 15, 2015 to October 27, 2015.
*Sports Illustrated
*MB: Breaking: Kenya Shelves 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials - Will Select Team Based on Marathon Results From 2015-2016

The 2015 NYC Marathon Is Sunday

Recommended Read:Great Profile On 2:11 Marathoner Nick Arciniaga, Who Has Gone From A 4:18 Mile In High School (Finishing 14 Seconds Behind Ryan Hall) To A Contender To Make The Olympics While many elites constantly come and go, Arciniaga is Flagstaff’s “hometown hero” and has thrived on years of high-volume altitude training at 7,000 ft. He’ll run NYC this Sunday and then hopes to be in 2:09:00 shape for the February OT.
Saturay: Defending Champion Donn Cabral Leads Field For Saturday’s NYRR Dash To The Finish Line 5KAlexi Pappas and Ashley Higginson head women’s field.
In Debut, US XC Champ Laura Thweatt Could Be First American In NYC She hopes her strong XC background will help her on the hills of NY. Regardless of the outcome, she will probably stick to the track for the 2016 OT.
Wilson Kipsang Says His Training Has Gone Well Ahead Of NYC He and Mary Keitany will try to defend their titles, while OTC’s Sally Kipyego has been training in Kenya since June preparing for her debut.
After First Major Marathon Win In Boston, Caroline Rotich Is Going Into NYC With A New Sense Of Confidence If she were to win this Sunday, she’d take the lead in the WMM point standings and become the first woman since Ingrid Kristiansen in 1989 to win Boston and New York in the same year.
New York City Sees Significant Economic Impact From TCS New York City Marathon A study found that the marathon and NYRR generated $415 million in economic impact in 2014.

**US Weekend Action – Results: Mayor’s Cup NCAA (D2 Conferences)**

Mayor’s Cup XC In Boston:RRW Back To The Future: Re-Energized Mary Cain Explains Move East Cain declined to be interviewed by LRC but did speak to RRW.
RRW Race Recap Liz Costello And Trevor Dunbar Win Memorable 2015 Boston Mayor’s Cup Cross-Country*Full Results
*MB:Liz Costello & Trevor Dunbar FTW – Mary Cain Third
Buze Diriba Sets Course Record; Tyler Pennel Ties Record At EQT Pittsburgh 10 Miler Diriba won in 52:55 with Tara Welling the top American in 5th. Pennel won in 46:50 with Chris Solinsky running 50:09 for 12th.
*MB:Saw Chris Solinsky Today
Recommended Read:Chris Solinsky Still Hasn’t Given Up On His Olympic Dreams Solinsky gave up on the marathon and is planning on going for it one more time on the track this winter and spring. Good article as he talks about getting past his fear of racing and how he wish he got the chance to take on Mo Farah back in 2011.
*MB:Solinsky Still Has Olympic Dreams
Paul Kimugul (65:24) And Natasha Wodak (1:18:57) Win Rock ‘N’ Roll Oasis Vancouver Half Marathon

Japan Road Results

US Sprinter Richard Browne Leads Slew Of World Records At Paralympic World Champs Brown won the T44 200m in 21.27.

Admin News

We Knew It Was Too Good To Be True: Athletics Kenya Boss Isaiah Kiplagat Does A U-Turn And Says He Won’t Be Stepping Down Early As He Had Said Previously His term is over in 2017.
Lake Placid May Bid To Host The 2026 Winter Olympics It would be the upstate New York town’s third time hosting.

HS News

MB: Iowa superstar Stephanie Jenks (4:42 mile) says she’ll run at Cal-Berkeley The 9-time state champ committed via social media on Thursday.
MB: What happened to Florida HS star who won 7 state titles 100 years ago? No one knows.

Unconventional Free Training Advice

MB:Parents, do you want your kids to be a pro runner (or model)? Don’t give them antibiotics when they are 1 or 2 A large scientific study shows that those that are on antibiotics when they are young end up being about 3 pounds heavier than those that aren’t at age 15.

Shoe/Industry News

LRC The Future Has Arrived – Nike Gives Michael J Fox A Pair Of Self-Lacing Shoes Fox famously wore similar shoes in Back to the Future II way back in 1989.

Marathon & Beyond Magazine To Cease Publication In December Say it ain’t so. We are forever indebted to the magazine for doing the best profile ever on LetsRun.com as shown here.
Newton Running Shoes Sheds 36% Of Its Work Force, But Says It’s Definitely Not Going Out Of Business They now have 25 employees but have been hurt by online sales of close-out shoes at really low costs and the consolidation of specialty running stores.
Have You Never Had A Chance To Visit The Nike Campus? Jeff Benjamin Gives You A Tour (With Pics) A little disappointing to see that doper Mary Slaney‘s plaque is still up.

Hurdle News

Good Q&A With Aries Merritt After His Kidney Transplant – Merritt Reveals He Thought He Won The World Title In Beijing He had lost so much weight he was 100% focused on not hitting any hurdles and didn’t see the two guys on his outside.
After Disappointing 2015, A Remotivated Cornel Fredericks (48.17 400H PR) Is Relocating From SA To England To Get Ready For Olympic Assualt In 2016
A Look Back At The Diamond League Season For Sprints And Hurdles

Good/Bad News From Kenya

The Good Paul Tergat Says Drug Cheats Aren’t Welcome At Kenya’s 2015 Sports Personality Of The Year Awards (SOYA) In the US, we induct dopers into our HOF, as shown here and here.
*Sponsors Pledge More Than $160,000 For SOYA Awards
And Bad Kenya Govt. Fails To Pay Out $78,000 At Last Minute For Paralympic Worlds – Kenya Fails To Show Up As A Result They may miss out on Rio now as a further result.

Not Our Favorite Book

LRCBook Review: "Fast Girl" By Suzy Favor Hamilton Fails To Make The Redemption Podium

If the details of being a high-priced hooker intrigue you, by all means buy this book. If not, we recommend you take a pass.

LetsVault.com

IAAF Interview With Austrian Paralyzed Pole Vaulter Kira Grunberg 10 weeks ago, Grunberg became a paraplegic after a traumatic training accident, but is keeping a positive attitude as she rehabs.
Yelena Isinbayeva Will Retire After 2016 Olympics She’s came close to retirement multiple times now, but we believe her when she says this is actually it.

LRC Talks To The Guy Who Beat Edward Cheserek

LRC Meet Thomas Curtin, The Tea-Drinking, Bandana-Wearing Virginia Tech Senior Who Took Down Edward Cheserek At Pre-Nats We catch up with the Virginia Tech senior after his big win.

International Marathon News

Dennis Kimetto Will Lead Field For The December 6th Fukuoka Marathon Kimetto will face former WR holder Patrick Makau, Bernard Koech (2:04:53), Getu Feleke (2:05:41), Martin Mathathi and Yuki Kawauchi.
IAAF Personal Bests Q&A With Eliud Kipchoge Kipchoge says his greatest rival has been Kenenisa Bekele, but the “best athlete he’s ever seen” is Haile Gebrselassie.
Renato Canova Thinks There Is More To Come From German Record holder Arne Gabius Canova thinks Gabius has a lot of potential, especially in tactical unrabbited races. Gabius says Meb Keflizighi‘s NYC and Boston wins inspire him.
Ethiopia’s Alemu Gemechu (2:14:01) And Ukraine’s Natalia Lehonkova (2:31:08) Win Dublin Marathon
*Results*Photos/Video
Sean Hehir (2:19:47) And 46-Year-Old Pauline Curley Are Irish National Marathon Champions Hehir made a quick turnaround after running Berlin in 2:17:48. Curley becomes the oldest ever Irish national marathon champ.
Irish Great Sonia O’Sullivan Finished In 3:03, Running Dublin For The First Time Since She Won 15 Years Ago She was hoping to break 3 hours.
Quick Interview With Australian Collis Birmingham, Who Says He Wants To Make His Marathon Debut After Rio 2016

Get Your Votes In Today – Voting Open For The First Time In 2015

LRC2015 NCAA Cross-Country Fan Polls: Give Us Your Top 10 And Conference Predictions

Conference and national voting now open in advance of this weekend's conference XC action.

Frankfurt Marathon Highlights International Action *Frankfurt Results

Frankfurt:Sisay Lima (2:06:26) And Gulme Tollesa (2:23:12) Win Close Races At Frankfurt Marathon; Arne Gabius 2:08:33 German Record (link updated) Lima beat out Lani Rutto by 8 seconds while Tollesa just outsprinted Dinknesh Mekash with 2:23:12. Germany’s Arne Gabius took down a 27-year-old national record in 4th with 2:08:33.
*MB:Arne Gabius German Record 2:08:3
*MB: Renato Canova thinks German Arne Gabius can run 2:07:30 this weekend
*Scotland’s Callum Hawkins Achieves Olympic Qualifying Mark In His Marathon Debut He ran 2:12:17 for 12th place.
UK: Vivian Cheruiyot (51:17) And Moses Kipsiro (46:00) Win Over Deep Fields At Great South Run 10 Miler Cheruiyot’s time put her 5th on the all-time list as 42-year-old Jo Pavey was an impressive second (52:44) Kipsiro beat out Emmanuel Bett (3rd), Martin Mathathi (5th) and Japeth Korir (6th).
*Full Results*Video Highlights
Kenya: Joshua Kipkorir (2:13:25) And Elizabeth Rumokoi (2:29:32) Win Stanchart Nairobi Marathon As Runner-Up Gets DQed For Cheating
Kenya Has Course Cutters Too:Kenyan “Extended Frame” Runner Nailed For Cheating At The Nairobi Marathon After It Was Discovered He Only Ran The Last 1KJulius Njogu finished 2nd for a $6,400 payday, but was quickly found out as a cheat.
*Man Arrested After Cheating His Way To 2nd In Kenya Marathon
China: Kenyan Marius Kipserem (2:09:23) And Ethiopia’s Melesech Tsegaye Beyene (2:33:21) Win Hefei Marathon
Italy: Kenya’s Julius Chepkwony (2:11:08) And Ethiopia’s Ehite Bizuayehu (2:35:19) Win Venice Marathon
France: Edwin Kipyego And Peres Jepchirchir Win Marseille-Cassis 20K
Ireland: A Groom And His Best Man Will Duke It Out For An Irish Title At Monday’s Dublin MarathonSean Hehir and Barry Minnock both have PRs in the 2:17-mid range and are working towards Olympic qualification (2:17:00).

Sorry, Luke P Fans – This American Had The Most Amazing Race In Chicago

LRCFor The Love Of Running: How Elkanah Kibet Went From A Deployment In Iraq To 2:11:31 At The Chicago Marathon In Less Than A Year

In March, this man was finishing up a 9-month US Army deployment to Iraq and Kuwait. While overseas, he never gave up on his dream. Now after a sensational and bold marathon debut in Chicago, where he went out in 65:13 - just 1:12 off of his PR, he's a top contender for Team USA for the 2016 Olympics.
*MB: LetsRun, meet US Army solider and Olympic marathon contender Elkanah Kibet.

NCAA News

Good Read:RunningTimes Q&A With Syracuse Coach Chirs Fox Fox talks about bringing the program from not having made nationals in 31 years to becoming national contenders, but admits that it’ll take a lot to challenge Colorado. He also says none of his guys run 100 miles a week (they’re 50 to 90).
Video:Runner Tackles And Punches Another Runner In The Face At GLVC Champs Wow. At a DII conference champs.
If Syracuse Wins NCAAs, It’d Be The First Time Since 1951 And Second Time Ever; They Haven’t Been Top 4 Since 1957 The team’s motto this year is TCB: “Take Care of Business.”
Nice Profile: Dominique Scott Trying To Become The Third Woman To Win Three SEC XC Titles Talking about her first XC race, Scott says she was in first grade and ran in the back with jellybeans in her pocket so she could “stop and kind of have a little picnic halfway through.”
Australian 1:50 800 Guy Jonas Aranda Blogs About His First Year At Harvard

High School Action On The Boards*Mt. SAC HS Results

Arcadia Kid Fails To Take Down Austin Tamagno’s Mt. SAC Record … And Blabs About How Soft It IsPhillip Rocha ran 14:24 to miss the record by 1 second. Brooke Starn was the top girl of the day (16:55).
So Austin Tamagno Skipped Mt. SAC Today And Took The ACT This Morning – Anyone Know Where He’s Looking For College? He ran on Friday instead of Saturday and ran 14:36.
Iowa Winner DQed For Helping Collapsed Runner After He Finished – Thoughts
When Should A High School Runner Be DQed For Cutting A Corner? (Mt SAC Girls Team Sweeps)
TAMAGNO VS. HUNTER

Come On, Great Britain – You Can Do Better Than This

UK Govt. May Cut Funding To UK Anti-Doping By 25% – UK Anti-Doping Says Its Existence Will Be “In Jeopardy” If True

Meet High Point Runner Chernet SisayOrphaned at age 9, he roamed the streets of Addis Ababa until he got adopted by a Boston family, where he led Brookline to two state titles in XC.

Disordered Eating, A Huge Silent Problem

LRC Huge Thumbs Up To Crystal Nelson For Discussing Her Eating Disorder And A Call To Hear From Those Who Have Overcome Eating Disorders Eating disorders are a hidden plague in our sport. We praise Crystal Nelson for being willing to talk about hers and call for other people to keep talking.
*Discuss:Finding The Proper Way To Discuss Eating Disorders/Women’s Weight Issues On LetsRun.com

Great Outside Read:The Silent Sports Health Crisis, Female Athlete TriadEveryone talks about concussions, but no one talks about the female athlete triad (disordered eating, low bone density, and amenorrhea – the absence of menstruation).