The Big Debate – Olympic Hero Or Zero In Tokyo?

LRC The Big Debate: Olympic Hero Or Zero: Gwen Jorgensen Moves To The Marathon, How Will She Do? The LRC team, including a triathlete, debate Gwen’s move to the marathon. We all agree it’s cool she’s taking on this challenge.

Interesting Distance News

• Paul Chelimo Says It’d Be Easier To Make The Kenyan Team Than Team USA Chelimo says Kenyans may be faster, but they  lack tactical ability. Um, does he remember how he made the Worlds team?
• Mo Farah Receives Knighthood From The Queen At Buckingham Palace You’ll have to call him “Sir” Mo Farah now.
• Only CAS Can Stop Her Now: Caster Semenya To Attempt The 800/1,500 Double Again At The Commonwealth Games Her coach also said that Semenya would go for the 35-year-old 1:53.28 WR after the CWG.
• Runner’s World: Goulash, Fried Rice, And 57 Miles A Day: How Sandra Villines Set A New Trans-American Record A nice inside look at Villines’ journey, which included averaging 6,000 calories per day (10,000+ while ascending the Rocky Mountains) and days where she was too sore to run so had to walk 55 miles.

Reads That We Enjoyed

• After Completing A Night Shift To Finish Off A 70-Hour Work Week, Laura Muir Wins Scottish XC Crown “I managed to complete the whole rotation without getting kicked by a horse,” said a happy Muir.
• Hellen Obiri Says She’ll Go For 14:11.15 5,000 WR In 2018 We hope Ayana is in the race as it will make it must-watch drama.
• Yet Another Creative Excuse Yumiko Hara – Who Was 6th At The 2005 Worlds In Marathon – Avoids Prison For Shoplifting Charge After Saying Bulimia Turned Her Into A Thief She said that bulimia – caused by her running job – turned her into a shoplifter.
• Aries Merritt Remembers When He Broke The 110H WR – It Was A Total Surprise As It Was His Last Race Of The Year And He’d Given Up On The WR “The funny thing was Brussels was the one race that season where I didn’t try to break the world record. It just happened on its own.”
• Meet The People Who Like To Run All Over Their State Some guy in Vermont has done a run in all 251 town/cities. Sounds like a neat idea.

More LRC Exclusives

LRC Not Done Yet: Mary Cain Has Been Injured In 2017, Planning On Racing Again in 2018 Cain hasn’t raced or been heard from in almost exactly one year, but LRC has learned she’s planning on racing in 2018. The question now becomes, “How good will she be when she returns?” *Discuss

WTW Flanagan’s Close In NY Was Historically Fast, Jenny Simpson’s Roommate Gets 5th In NY And More What a week. In our weekly recap, we take one last week at the 2017 NYC Marathon and also have an update on new American citizen Sally Kipyego.

Kenyan Marathon Men: Watch Out, Kamworor Says He’s Just Getting Going

• Geoffrey Kamworor Now Sets His Sights On Winning His Third Straight World Half Marathon Title Normally there is a big celebration at the Kenyan airport when a champion returns, but Kamworor wanted to keep it quiet. “I didn’t want a lot of fanfare because I believe I have just started doing well in marathon and there is more to come. When that time comes, we shall celebrate.”
• Sports Illustrated Q&A With Eliud Kipchoge, Who Talks Breaking2, His Coach Patrick Sang And Other Random Stuff Kipchoge 14 notebooks of workouts for the last 14 years and he’s a big Roger Federer fan.

More On Shalane Flanagan’s Historic NYC Win

• Q&A: Shaking, Yelling, Bawling: Shalane Flanagan’s Parents Relive Their Daughter’s Historic Victory Flanagan’s parents, two former running greats themselves, give some interesting insight on her training and younger days.
• Mario Fraioli: Significance of Flanagan’s NYC Win Extends Far Beyond The Finish Line “Unlike two-time Olympic medalist and recently crowned Chicago Marathon champion Galen Rupp, Flanagan is empathetic and easy to root for, isn’t continually mired in controversy, and has made herself relatable…”
• Athletics Illustrated‘s Chris Kelsall Calls Shalane Flanagan’s NYC Finish Line Celebration An “Indelible Moment”
• RunBlogRun: Bill Rodgers Celebrates Shalane Flanagan’s Historic NYC Win

Doping News

• Jemima Sumgong Tried To Get A Reduced Ban After Admitting To EPO Use WADA will offer a reduced 2-year ban to athletes who immediately admit to their doping, but Sumgong did not do that at all. She had a whole court case trying to blame a hospital that says they never even treated her.
• Good Riddance: US Track Coach Kenta Bell Accepts Lifetime Ban For Encouraging And Administering The Doping Of At Least Six Athletes Bell, the coach of the Thinking Feet TC, also tried to cover up an athlete’s positive test, provided false info to USADA and has a previous doping violation from when he was an athlete himself.
• How Convenient: Internal Russian Investigation Tries To Put The Sole Blame On Whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov For Doping Scandal They claim they found no proof of the institutional doping laid out in the McLaren report.
  *Russia Wants US To Extradite Whistleblower Rodchenkov This is unlikely to happen, though, as Rodchenkov is in a witness protection program. Russia and the US have no extradition treaty.
• Shot Put Queen Valerie Adams Could Have Her Winning Streak Of 56 Meets Extended To 95 This thanks to a possible extra backdated ban of disgraced Belarusian shot putter Nadzeya Ostapchuk.
• GPS Technology Among Ideas To Improve Anti-Doping Suggested At iNADO Symposium There were also calls for convicted drugs cheats to be barred from the medals podium, prize money and setting records … essentially a lifetime ban.
• Russia Loses Two More 2014 Winter Olympic Medals After Two Cross Country Skiers Found Guilty Of Doping