2016 BOA Chicago Marathon Is Sunday (8:30 AM ET) *Complete Coverage *Tracking, Leaderboard, TV & Streaming

MB: Official 2016 BOA Chicago Marathon Live Discussion Thread

LRC Great News: Watch Chicago Live On LetsRun.com Tomorrow 8am Eastern Tim Hutchings and Ed Eyestone on call. Also available on NBCSN with Todd Williams and Paul Swangard.

RRW Confident But Cautious, Stephen Sambu Is Ready For Marathon Debut Carey Pinkowski picked Sambu as his first elite due to his “deep intergrity.”

Press Conference LRC Great Weather Is In The Forecast – Will The Men And Women Go For Fast Times Without Rabbits? Conditions ideal for a fast time appear to be in the forecast for Sunday, but will the elite men and women go for a fast one? We give you the inside scoop.
*After Visa Glitch, Dickson Chumba Finally Gets To Chicago And Says He’s Ready To Go “I’m not sure why I was the one whose visa was delayed. I’m yet to meet with the people who are responsible. Whether it was intentional or not, I will not let anyone take the title from me easily. I came here with one purpose and that is to take the title and go home a champion, nothing less.”

LRC Luke Puskedra And Diego Estrada Both Say They Are Ready – Could A Sub-2:10 Be In The Cards? Puskedra: “There’s a resurgence in American distance running and I want to jump on the back end of it.” Estrada says he’s going out between 3:00 and 3:05 per km (2:06-2:10 pace). 

Women’s Preview: LRC It’s A Clash Of The Kiplagats As Florence And Edna Square Off On The Streets Of Chicago

Men’s Preview: LRC Dickson Chumba Goes For The Repeat As Americans Luke Puskedra, Elkanah Kibet & Diego Estrada Do Battle

LRC The Comeback: How Luke Puskedra Bounced Back From 4th Place At The Olympic Trials And His Daughter’s Cancer Diagnosis To Prepare For Sunday’s Chicago Marathon Puskedra’s 14-month-old daughter Penelope, who was diagnosed with neuroblastoma two days after the Trials, is now cancer-free. That’s allowed Puskedra to focus on cranking out 130-mile weeks (in singles!) in preparation for Chicago.

• 6 Chicago Cubs Employees Will Ease Playoff Jitters By Running Chicago
• House Of Run’s Chicago Marathon Preview Podcast
• 12,500 New Marathoners Are Running Chicago This Year
• Hangover Actor Rob Riggle Is Running Chicago – His 1st Marathon In 14 Years
• Good Story On Guy Who Dropped Dead Last Year In Chicago But Was Revived By Two Fellow Runners On The Course
• Dickson Chumba Says Claudio Berardelli Is Innocent Of All Charges
• Florence Kiplagat Says Her Training Has Gone Well Ahead Of Her Title Defense At The Chicago Marathon Kiplagat hopes that running alongside fellow Kenyan Valentine Kipketer will help push her to a faster time than when she ran much of the race alone last year.

More Interesting Reads

• All College Runners, Show This To Your Coaches Column: Requiring Alcohol Abstinence From Runners Is Bad Coaching Advice “A night of intoxication can still yield a net-positive impact across an athlete’s season.”
• Learn All About Percy Cerutty – An Athletics Coaching Legend This is the man that inspires the FM HS powerhouse in upstate New York.
• Profile Of US Hammer Champ Rudy Winkler Of Cornell He got last at HS nationals as a frosh but now is the US champ. *MB: US hammer champ: “No one really preps you for how boring the Olympics can be.”
• Because Of Hurricane Matthew, FSU Invitational XC Meet Will Be Larger Than Normal Lots of other meets in the state have been cancelled, so everyone is going to try to go to FSU.
• Free Coaching Advice From Former European 1,500 Champ Matt Yates, Who Has Been Coaching The Last 2 Years: Buy A Good Mattress It’s critical for recovery.
• Laura Muir Has No Regrets About Going For Broke In Rio “I was gutted with the end result, but that’s how I ran the race and I wouldn’t have run it any other way. I went for it and it just didn’t happen.”
• Runner’s World Feature On The Woman Behind The “Fat Girl Running” Blog The 250 lb. marathoner runs 25-35 mpw.
  *MB: Runners world article today is about a fat female ultra runner 
• VIDEO: Life After T&F For Usain Bolt … Where Does He Keep His Gold Medals?

Sprint / Field News

• DyeStat Feature: High School Sprint Stars Noah And Josephus Lyles Transition To New Life As Pros The brothers and their mother talk about making the decision to turn down their scholarships at Florida to go pro with adidas.
• NY Post: The Rise And Sudden Fall Of “Olympic Sex Symbol” Michelle Jenneke Jenneke has had a lot of sponsorship opportunities (including Coca-Cola and SI Swimsuit) after her viral warmup dance video, but didn’t make the final in Rio and lost her Athletics Australia funding.
• Good Read: IAAF Profile On French Discus Thrower Melina Robert-Michon, Who In Rio Finally Won An Olympic Medal In Her Fifth Olympic Games After getting silver, the 37-year-old says she isn’t ready to retire yet.
• “Did You Know?” Interview With St. Lucia’s Rio High Jump 6th Placer Levern Spencer Spencer isn’t too keen on animals and says, “I pretty much don’t like any living creature touching me.”

2020 & 2024 Games Issues

• Is Tokyo 2020 Really Becoming Japan 2020? It is being proposed that many sports are moved outside the city to save money, with one already having moved 90 miles south.
• Delaying The Inevitable? Rome 2024 Announcement Delayed Following Meeting Between Thomas Bach And Italian Olympic Committee Rome is expected to withdraw after the city mayor refused to support the bid. An official announcement will be made October 11th.
• Officials Reject Referendum On Budapest 2024 Olympic Bid The journalist calling for the referendum will appeal to Hungary’s highest court.

Sprint News: Was Usain Bolt Not Marketed Enough?

• Puma Head Of Marketing Adam Petrick Says They “Could Have Done Better” Marketing Usain Bolt “To be honest with you, [Bolt] does a lot of the heavy lifting himself. He gets so much attention no matter where he goes.”
• Allyson Felix Becomes First Woman To Lead USC Football Team Out Of The Tunnel Felix was one of 10 Rio Olympians honored by USC during the game.
• Aussie 100 Hurdler Michelle Jenneke Dropped From Athletics Australia Funding After Not Making It Out Of The Heats In Rio The Australian head coach questioned whether her many sponsorship distractions away from the track hurt her fitness.
• Jamaican Columnist Is Happy To See Usain Bolt Choosing His Own Time For Retirement Rather Than Being Pressured To Pack It In On the contrary, most are begging Bolt to continue on for another 4 years, but this columnist calls London 2017 a “perfect farewell.”