Houston Half & Full Is Sunday

LRC Men’s Half Preview: Leonard Korir Takes On Olympic Silver Medalist Feyisa Lilesa & 59:48 Man Yigrem Demelash In addition to Korir, in our preview, we focus much of our attention on American hopefuls Scott Fauble and Luke Puskedra, both of whom took fourth at the Olympic Trials last year.
*LRC The Rise Of Scott Fauble A year ago, he was a 14:00/28:43 no-name. Now he’s a 28:00 4th-placer at the Olympic Trials.

LRC Women’s Half Preview: World Half Bronze Medalist Mary Wacera Takes On Fellow Sub-67:00 Woman Mamitu Daska Two-time World Half Champs medalist Mary Wacera headlines the field, which also includes Kellyn Taylor, Aliphine Tuliamuk, Sara Hall and Jordan Hasay.

LRC Preview of Marathon: Elkanah Kibet Chases a Spot on the 2017 World Championship Team As Becky Wade Runs At Home Ethiopians should get the win but there are several interesting American story lines. 27:54 man Jason Witt is also in the field.

Say It Ain’t So: LRC Galen Rupp Pulls Out Of Sunday’s Houston Half Marathon With Plantar Fasciitis Galen was slated to take on the two men who beat him in Rio by one spot, Olympic silver medalist Feyisa Lilesa and Yigrem Demelash. The Aramco Houston Half still has a great field.
Discuss: Galen Rupp OUT of Houston Half Marathon with plantar fasciitis 

European Athletics Head Says Change Is Needed

• European Athletics – President Svein Arne Hansen Publishes “Delivering Change” Report
• Svein Arne Hansen Relishing Challenge Of Repairing Athletics
• European Athletics Has Created A Task Force That Includes Paula Radcliffe To Examine Which European Records Should Be Erased Due To Doping Concerns

News From Overseas

• Thousands Of Japanese Compete In 230-Meter “Lucky Man Run” Road Race We must admit it looks like great fun.
  *MB: Why doesn’t the US have a road race like this? Thousands of Japanese compete in 230m road race!!
• Kip Keino Says He’ll Quit Being Involved With Sports If He’s Voted Out In March Elections And That He’ll Retire To Farming
• Kenya Tourism Board Gives Nearly $15,000 To Help Fund Next Week’s Sports Personality Of The Year Awards (SOYA)

Big NYRR News

NYRR Opens NYRR RUNCENTER On West 57th St. – NYRR RUNCENTER Is Home Away From Home For Runners The welcome center for area runners is also the primary bib number pick-up location for NYRR races and also a retail store featuring New Balance merchandise. Jenny Simpson and Brenda Martinez were on hand to promote it.

• New Balance Athletes Jenny Simpson And Brenda Martinez Help Launch RunCenter Simpson revealed that before Rio she listened to “Me Too” with the lyrics, “If I was you, I’d wanna be me, too.”
• Press Release: New York Road Runners Launches NYRR RUNCENTER Featuring The New Balance Run Hub

Tracksters Past And Present In The News

• Former UTexas Sprinter Trevante Rhodes Is Star Of Moonlight, Which Just Won Golden Globe Award For Best Picture-Drama
• Mutaz Barshim Wins Esquire Middle East’s Sportsman Of The Year Award

Catching Up On Japanese News

• Aoyama Gakuin University Wins Third-Straight Hakone Ekiden To Complete Triple Crown Aoyama Gakuin University became the fourth school in history to win all three university men’s ekidens in a single season and the sixth to win Japan’s most prestigious and popular race three years in a row as it held off rival Waseda University to take the 2017 Hakone Ekiden title.
• Runner Nearly Hit By Truck During Hakone Ekiden: “I thought I was gonna die.”
  *MB: Japanese runner is nearly crushed by truck in Hakone Ekiden (video)
• 28% Of All TVs In Japan Were Turned To The  2017 Hakone Ekiden It peaked at 32% at one point in the broadcast.
• Yuki Kawauchi Returns From “Extremely Productive” Test Run Of London World Championships Course “I thought it was going to be flat, but there were more slopes and sharp curves than I expected,” said Kawauchi, who also figured out where a Japanese curry shop was and where he can rent a bicycle to get around town.
• Four Major Half Marathons Were Held In Japan This Week

2016 Was A Record Year For Us In Terms Of Traffic – Thanks For Visiting

An Inside Look At How LRC Operates How a Ragtag Crew Of Almost Journalists Created Running’s Most Controversial Website Author Charles Bethea embedded himself with us during the US Olympic trials and got a behind-the-scenes look at how we operate. His article in Outside magazine includes some really nice quotes from Tim Layden, “… their best quality is that they don’t give a shit about offending people,” and Nick Willis, “It gave me a ton of inspiration. LetsRun is one of the primary reasons high-quality coaching and training have improved in ­America.”
*MB: Long Article on Letsrun… in Outside Magazine

Enjoyed The Article Above? Then Check This Article On LRC’s Founding From Marathon And Beyond In 2009 The LetsRun Phenomenon

LetsRun.com’s World And US Rankings

*Men’s Marathon: Eliud Kipchoge Caps A Historic Year As World #1 As Breakout Marathon Star Galen Rupp Leads The Americans
*Women’s Marathon: London/Olympic Champ Jemima Sumgong Tops The List; Shalane Flanagan Top American
*Men’s 3,000/5,000: Mo Farah Is #1 Again; Paul Chelimo Tops U.S. List After Shock Silver In Rio
*Women’s 3,000/5,000: Almaz Ayana Is World #1; Shannon Rowbury Or Molly Huddle For U.S. #1?
*Men’s Steeple: Men’s Steeple: Conseslus Kipruto Ascends To #1 After A Year To Remember; Evan Jager (#2) Leads Americans Again
*Women’s Steeple: Ruth Jebet Leads The Way; Olympic Medallist Emma Coburn Tops U.S. List For Third Straight Year
*Men’s 1,500: Olympic Champion Matthew Centrowitz Is Our World #1
*Women’s 1,500: Faith Kipyegon Unseats Genzebe Dibaba As World #1; Jenny Simpson Back On Top Of U.S. Rankings
*Women’s 800: Caster Semenya Is the Clear World #1; Kate Grace Finishes A Shocking Year As U.S. #1
*Men’s 800 David Rudisha Is On Top For 2nd Year In A Row; Olympic Bronze Medalist Clayton Murphy Leads The Americans