Lance Armstrong In The News

• Despite Lifetime Ban, Lance Armstrong Won A 35K Ultra Trail Race In California This Weekend Armstrong’s ban doesn’t apply to unsanctioned trail races which aren’t under the WADA code. The race director says he paid an entry fee and got no special treatment.
• Competitor.com Article With Quotes From US Trail/Ultra Runners Sage Canaday And Joe Gray
  *MB: Lance Armstrong Wins 35K Trail Run
  *MB: Ryan Hall vs Lance Armstrong in a 50 mile trail race…. Who wins?
• Good Read: Betsy Andreu Interview: “Doping Problems In Track Even Worse Than They Were In Cycling”

Apparently Serena Williams Did Not Cheat At Her Own 5K She was photographed stopping to take a cab, but it was planned so she could be at the finish line to greet runners.
*MB: Serena Williams pulls a Rossi. Gets into a taxi at 2k mark to finish a 5k!

Studies Find Running Can Help Slow Progression Of Alzheimer’s Disease Apparently “no currently approved drug has had the same effect” as running in the pre-dementia phase.

Popular UK Track Is Under Water After Area Was Hit By Floods

NCAA: Vote Yes For The Mile

• Bring Back The Mile: The Mile Could Be Coming Back To NCAA Outdoors Coaches at the USTFCCCA Convention this week will vote on replacing the 1,500 with the mile at NCAA Outdoors. A similar proposal by Texas A&M’s Pat Henry was shot down in 2011, but that was before the IAAF started accepting mile times as qualifying standards.
  *Full PDF Proposal Put Forward By Southern Utah University Coach Eric Houle
• After A Torn ACL And Surgery Last Year Oregon Star Hurdler And Football Player Devon Allen Still Has Olympic Dreams Allen has been playing football this year and will return to track when the season is over with the goal of making Rio 2016.
• College Runner Blogs About Her Ongoing Struggle With Eating Disorders Hannah Crist writes that she’s been improving since confessing her problem to her coach 6 weeks ago, but it’s a “constant battle.”
  *LRC Eating Disorders Archive
• Before They Were NCAA Stars: SPIKES Talks To The High School Coaches Of The 2015 Bowerman Award Finalists Marty Hannon knew Edward Cheserek had room to improve because they held him back after he got a stress fracture when he first came over from Kenya.

Maybe Running Won’t Kill You: Recommended Read: Q&A With Doctor About Recent Finnish Study Which Found Lower Cancer Rates Among Distance Runners Oncologist and runner Dr. Kenneth Kunz explains how being healthy is actually a public service.

Free Coaching Advice: Strava Users Beware – Don’t Get In The Habit Of Racing Your “Easy” Days The online app used by pros and hobby joggers alike tracks your runs through GPS and lets runners compete for the fastest times on certain routes.

Will Rupp Run The Trials?

MB: Galen Rupp solo 1:01:20 half marathon in Portland
*Rupp Says He Hasn’t Made A Decision About The 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials “I’m keeping my options open … I’m not sure what I’ll do.”
*LRC Will Galen Rupp Do The Olympic Marathon Trials?

Sunday Dallas Marathon Duo To Rio Relay Presented by AT&T

LRC The Greatest American Starting Line Of 2015 Was In Dallas For The Marathon Relays: Meb, Deena, Ryan Hall, Leo, Centro, Molly And More, Video And Recap What a star-studded field in Dallas. Interviews with Ryan Hall, Abdi, Chelanga, Ward, Puskedra, Leo, Centro, Robby, Ryan Hill, and Deena, Bersagel, and Becky Wade.
More LRC: Leo, Centro, Ryan Hill, And Robby Andrews Talk Mid-D, Pro Sports And World Indoors After Dallas Relays Good news for track fans as all 4 want to do World Indoors.
*Becky Wade TV Profile Her mom says, “If you had asked me the most athletic of my children, Becky would not be at the top of that list.”

Distance News

• Mo Farah: “I know that some people will always think I have cheated.”
• Good Read: Ethiopia In Search Of The Next Haile Gebrselassie Or Kenenisa Bekele Bekele: “At this time I can’t see anyone, nobody. It is difficult. Maybe in the future we can expect another in the next generation but I what I see now, I can’t see anyone running like me or like Haile. I can’t see that.”
• Asbel Kiprop Speaks On Athletes Leaving Dr. Rosa And Associati Management; Says He Won’t Be Running Indoors Rosa fired Claudio Berardelli (Rita Jeptoo‘s coach), and several athletes, including Janeth Jepkosgei and Eunice Sum, are moving to the new management company that hired him.
• Luke Puskedra Running Better Now That He’s Quit Being A Perfectionist And Living A “Real Life” “Let’s say I have a great race on February 13 and everything goes well and I make the team. Is it worth going away to altitude camp and maybe missing my daughter’s first word, or her first tooth coming in?”

Allyson Felix Still Hoping The Olympic Schedule Changes So She Can Do The 200-400 Double Her coach Bob Kersee says they will double at the Trials and train for the double. He’s working with USATF to get the IAAF to make the change.

Galen Rupp Told Larry Eder Last Weekend He Had Not Really Spoken To Alberto About Next Season Yet

Kudos To USATF For Acting Quickly

LRCUSATF Acts Swiftly And Relaxes Standards For 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials To 2:19 For Men And 2:45 For Women To Match Olympic Standards

Previous73 Americans Pick Up Olympic Standards As IAAF Eases Standards In 17 Events; Should USATF Change The Marathon Trials Standard Accordingly?

Good (Although Depressing) Read: Toni Reavis Gives A State Of The Sport Summary To End 2015 Reavis says, “… we find a sport existing, barely, on life-support, reeling from the toxic shock of massive corruption” and drug scandals. He calls on athletes to take ownership and unite into a “player’s union.”

Seb Coe, Doping, Eugene 2021

• Seb Coe Insists Eugene 2021 Vote Was Fair And Honest Here he defends the process, however, previously he was reported admitting that the bid process “wasn’t correct.”
• Sweden’s Bjorn Erikkson Claims Lack Of Bid Process Was “Bad Ethics At Least” And “In The Worst Of Cases Maybe Also Criminal”
• Seb Coe Says He Will Double IAAF Anti-Doping Budget Also said, “countries that are serial offenders will be sanctioned, athletes will be penalised financially.”
• Independent: What Seb Coe Said And What He Didn’t Say … Does His Defence Add Up? An analysis of some of Coe’s recent statements on doping, scandal and corruption.
• IOC Wants A New Independent Global Anti Doping Body By 2018 Winter Games WADA director general David Howman explains why putting that place in such a short amount of time would be very difficult and cost a lot of money.
• IOC To Start Audits For Sports Body Over Olympic Money They want to make sure the billions of dollars of cash given for the development of sport is being used appropriately.
• Seb Coe Says The IAAF Scandal Isn’t Bigger Than Fifa’s … not that it’s anything to be proud of.
  *IOC President Thomas Bach Says IAAF And FIFA Scandals Not The Same

Our Weekly Recap

LRCWTW: Kara Goucher Improves, A Pro Runs A 2+ Minute 10,000 PR, Odell Beckham Jr.'s Mom Was A Mega Track Star, And Might The Recent Scandals Be Good For Track And Field?

Say It Ain’t So

LRCDid Mike Rossi - The Viral Marathon Dad - Try To Cheat LetsRun.com Out Of $10,000 On Saturday?

Book Review – The Animal Keepers Is Certainly A Keeper

LRC Book Review"The Animal Keepers" By Donn Behnke - A Terrific Tale Of What It Means To Be A Team