2017 World XC Is Going To Be Awesome

Kenya’s Team Is Loaded Leonard Barsoton stuns favorites Bedan Karoki and Geoffrey Kamworor at 2017 Kenyan XC Championships Barsoton stormed from 3rd to 1st in the final 500 but the Kenyan team is loaded as Kamworor and Karoki both made it. The women’s race was won by 14:43 5ker Irene Cheptai and the team includes reigning world xc champ Agnes Tirop and Olympic 1500 champ Faith Kipyegon.
*Asbel Kiprop is named to Kenya’s World XC team For the 1st time, the IAAF is haivng a mixed-gender 4 x 2k mixed gender relay at World XC.

2020 Olympics May Be Stifling Hot Shocking Study: Tokyo 2020 will be the hottest Olympics in history – athletes face risk of stroke And you can thank NBC for this fact as in 1964 heat wasn’t an issue as they were held in October.
*MB: Press Report: 2020 Olympics will be the hottest in history

Interesting Reads

• Recommended Read Millrose 3000 winner Kate Van Buskirk was so sick for the last two years with spondyloarthropathy that she couldn’t even turn over in bed at times “One of the hardest parts was that I was in so much pain just in my regular life that I was just in survival mode. I thought: I don’t even care if I can never run again, I just want to be able to walk or move without pain at some point. Because it was so severe.”
• This Is Getting Ridiculous It’s Almost March and Nike Still Hasn’t Released Details Of Sub-2 Project, Still Continues To Work Runner’s World For Free Publicity The idea that a sub-2 is going to happen in any shape or fashion that is close to legitimate is a joke.
• Len Johnson reviews the Nitro Athletics Series: Did you see engagement, fun and laughter? A good read on what it all meant. The key thing is the meet was free to watch on TV in Australia and got good ratings as 1.4 million watched the first broadcast.
• Vice Sports: Does the US just cheat differently than the Russians?
  *MB: Interesting Vice Sports article on US doping history – Article mentions Al Sal and Nike Oregon Project
• World XC Is Coming Up – Craig Virgin Recalls His Two World Titles From 1980 and 1981
• 17-year old Ciara Neville of Ireland heavily favored to win national title at Irish Nationals For good reason, she’s the co-Irish national record holder at 7.30.
  *MB: Move over Candace Hill: 17 yr old Irish white girl Ciara Neville runs 7.30 for 60m
• Ryan Crouser says he’s ‘light years’ ahead of where he was at this time last year, is ready for Sunday’s Big Shot event in New Zealand He’ll face Tom Walsh, Jacko Gil, Ryan Whiting and others.
  *Walsh is super motivated after not winning last two years.
• Former prep-phenom, now masters USA XC champ, Melody Fairchild, gives out her 6 keys to running Fairchild was the first US prep to break 10:00 for 2 miles.
• Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett, Steve Cram, Sergei Bubka, Daley Thompson, Carl Lewis, Michael Johnson, Flo-Jo, JJK  Saïd Aouita Was Pat Butcher’s Favorite Athlete To Write About And Watch Aouita was before our time but we imagine he was amazing to watch if you put your blinders on.
• 11 months after being declared non-compliant by WADA, Spanish govt is finally working on new legislation to make its doping agency compliant

Podcast Central

• Carrie Tollefson Does Podcast Q&A With Emma Coburn Coburn talks about her coaching change from Mark Wetmore to her fiance, her 2016 season and her photo shoot for the ESPN Body Issue.
• Podcast With Former Decathlon WR Holder And 1996 Olympic Champ Dan O’Brien Some interesting stuff as O’Brien talks about his no height at the ’92 Trials, rivalry with Dave Johnson, setting the WR and a lot more.
• Podcast With Tyler Mulder: “The Fastest Man In Iowa” Mulder talks about the Drake relays, Olympic trials, the OTC and training with Nick Symmonds.
• Carrie Tollefson Podcast Interview With Gabriele Grunewald Grunewald, now a 3-time cancer survivor, talks about her recent surgery for liver cancer, training with her husband and 2017 racing schedule.

Mo Farah Headlines

• Mo Farah Attends Renaming Of St. Mary’s University Track In His Honor Farah trained at St. Mary’s from 2001 to 2011 before moving to the US.
• Mo Farah Stars In Dubai Tourism Video Farah takes viewers on a 360-degree virtual running tour.
• Arsenal Soccer Team Manager Gets Support From Mo Farah After He’s Bashed In The Press And By Fans For Crushing Loss

Olympic News

• Recommended Read: NY Times: “Legacy Of Rio Olympics So Far Is Series Of Unkept Promises” Less than 6-months after the Games, many sites have been abandoned despite government promises there would be “no white elephants” left behind.
• Swiss IOC Member And Ski Federation President Doesn’t Think Donald Trump Will Hurt LA 2024’s Bid Chances Gian Franco Kasper: “I don’t let myself be influenced by Mr. Trump. For me it’s about the concept and what the organizers offer.”
• Olympic Discus Champ Christoph Harding Calls For Resignation Of Thomas Bach And Says The Olympics Will “Slowly Die By 2040” Unless Major Changes Are Made Harting is still angry that his countryman Bach didn’t ban all Russian athletes from Rio.
• Olympic Columnist Neil Wilson Asks “Are The Days Of The Olympics Numbered?” Wilson thinks the greater danger to the Olympics is the rising costs and lack of interest in hosting.

In Case You Are Feeling Overly Hot And Steamy On Valentine’s Day

LRC Could A Cooling Wristband Be The Key To Athletes Who Struggle In The Heat? For years, scientists have been working on solutions to keep athletes cool before, during and after competition. We took a look at the dhamaSPORT, a new cooling wristband used by multiple U.S. Olympians in Rio which will also be used by several members of Team USA at the upcoming World Cross Country Championships in Uganda.

UK News

• Former Olympic 400 Champ Christine Ohuruogu Blogs About The Challenges She’s Faced In Her Career Talking retirement she says, “I don’t know whether I’ve made the right decision to carry on (with the sport), but I’ve just got to roll with it.”
• GB Weekend Round-Up: Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake Ran The Fastest Indoor 200 By A Brit In 19 Years He won the Tyson Invy 200m in 20.49.
• Video: GB Sprinter James Ellington Does His First Interview Since His Motorcycle Crash Ellington talks about the crash and recovery since.

Japan Distance News

• Yuki Kawauchi Takes Almost 7 Minutes Of The CR To Win Ehime Marathon In 2:09:54 The previous CR dated all the way back in 1965.
• Yuki Kawauchi Joins Elite Group Of Men Who Have Broken 2:10 In The Marathon 11 Or More Times Kawauchi is one of only three non-Africans on the list of 15 men and has the slowest PR by about a minute.
• Japanese Media Headline: “Japanese Men Stuck Behind The 2:09 Wall Seven Minutes Behind The Rest of the World” The article laments that Japanese marathoners struggle to hit to 2:09 while the “world standard is at the 2:02 level.”
• Abiyot Abinet (61:21) And Ai Utsunomiya (70:47) Win Japan National Corporate Half Marathon Titles At the Karatsu 10-Miler, 19-year-old Shota Onizuka got an upset win in 46:36 over a field that included Japan #2 all-time 5,000/10,000 runner Tetsuya Yoroizaka.

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