Boston Is In Less Than Two Weeks

• Sara Hall Says She Feels Like She’s “In The Best Cardiovascular Shape” Of Her Life As She Prepares To Make Her Boston Marathon Debut Hall never thought she’d still be running professionally at 36 as her dream was “to do development work in Africa [living] in a mud hut.” But she says she’s enjoying it more than ever and set PBs in the full and half last year.
• Two-Time World Marathon Champ Edna Kiplagat Looking To Reclaim Her Boston Marathon Title Kiplagat won Boston in 2017, but lost last year to Des Linden.
• RW Looks Back At Five Of The Worst Weather Days In Boston Marathon History
• Brooks Puts Out A Boston Shoe With A Map Of Boston’s Public Transit Line (“The T”)
• AP:No Known Threats To The Boston Marathon, But Police Still Urge Caution Six years on from the Boston bombing, some security measures used include surveillance cameras, helicopters and “plainclothes officers” mingling in the crowds.

Sprint Stuff

• After Ending His 2018 Outdoor Season Early With Injury, Andre De Grasse Was Back In Action At Last Weekend’s Florida Relays De Grasse anchored Canada to wins in the 4 x 100 and 4 x 200. Their 38.34 was a 4 x 100 world lead and beat the USA team with Justin Gatlin and Tyson Gay, who were only 4th in 39.07.
• Jamaican Journalist Argues That The False Start Rules Should Be Less Harsh For Young Athletes Among the reasons they’d like to see this is that the noise in the stadium during Jamaican Boys & Girls Champs is so loud that kids have a hard time hearing the starter’s instructions.
• Video:Usain Bolt Briefly Comes Out Of Retirement To Race A Motorcycle Taxi In Lima Spoiler alert: Bolt won.
• Aries Merritt Donates The Spikes He Wore Setting The World Record To The IAAF Heritage Exhibition In Doha Merritt wore the spikes at the 2012 Brussels Diamond League when he ran 12.80 seconds.
• RIP:Olympic Hurdler And Former UNC Coach Charles Foster Passes Away At 65

Ultra / Trail News

• MB:Ultra discussion: thoughts on the Georgia Death Race controversy? Race officials marked the course wrong, sending 10 to 15 runners off course. They ended up running an extra half mile, but subtracting 200-400 feet elevation, so the RD gave them a 60-minute time penalty!
• GB 100k Champ Sophie Mullins Designed Her Own App To Calculate Her Nutrition For The Race She explained there is a balance between eating enough, but not too much. “You couldn’t eat too much or you’d be sick, which defeats the purpose when you’re getting the food in for fuel.”
• New Zealand’s Greig Hamilton Was The Second Last To “Tap Out” (DNF) At The Barkley Marathon There were no finishers this year. John Kelly, one of only 15 who have ever finished the race, only did two of the five laps saying he was “no longer having fun.”
  *MB: The 2019 Barkley Marathons – Zero Finishers
• Runner Still Missing After Starting Malaysian Trail Race 10 Days Ago He was last seen around 20k into the 25k race.

More From The Weekend

• Cleveland Browns Linebacker Joe Schobert Makes Fun Of LSU 4 X 100 Celebration He tweeted, “Love it when people act tough in non contact sports” in reaction to LSU anchor’s animated celebration after beating rivals Houston.
• Mississippi State’s Anderson Peters And Washington’s Olivia Gruver Are NCAA DI Athletes Of The Week Gruver broke the NCAA PV record with 4.73m while Peters threw the #3 all-time NCAA 86.07m in the javelin.
• AW Weekly Round-Up:Charlotte Arter And Adam Clarke Win Cardiff Bay Run In Wales
• Team USATF Masters Surge To Second-Place Finish At 2019 WMA Indoor Championships; Set 11 World And 9 American Records Germany came out on top with the most medals (over 100 more than the US).
  *Team USATF Wins Some Medals In Non-Stadia XC/Road Races At World Masters Indoor Champs

Post-Weekend NCAA News

• More Weekend US Track Highlights World leads from North Carolina A&T’s Trevor Stewart (45.18 in the 400m), Florida’s Sharrika Barnett (50.96 in the 400m), Ohio State’s Anavia Battle (22.54 in the 200m), LSU’s Tonea Marshall (12.96 in the 100H) and Jenn Suhr (4.91m in the PV). Also, LSU freshman Sha’Carri Richardson ran the fastest US junior 100m in any conditions with 10.91 (4.3 wind).
• Texas Tech And Texas A&M Men Remain 1-2 In Updated NCAA Rankings Florida moved up to 3rd and BYU to 4th.
• Southern California Women Remain #1 In Updated NCAA Rankings Arkansas moved up from 4th to 2nd while Texas A&M and LSU moved down to 3-4. Oregon is ranked 5th.
• Event-By-Event Top 10 Marks From The Collegiate Weekend

2019 World XC*Results

LRC Redemption: Joshua Cheptegei Conquers Kiplimo, Kamworor And The Course To Become World Champion 2 years ago, Cheptegei wilted in the heat while leading before the home Ugandan crowd. Today, he conquered the tough, magnificent Aarhus course that broke the US men’s team that finished 11th. Kirubel Erassa ran a good first leg for the US relay team that finished 4th.

LRC Won And Done: Hellen Obiri Wins Her First (And Last) World Cross-Country Title Obiri is not a 10k runner or a cross-country runner, but she showed why she is one of the best runners on the planet by winning on the tough course. Stephanie Bruce was the top American woman as the Bowerman women really struggled.

• Having Conquered Cross-Country, Hellen Obiri Turns Focus Back To The Track Obiri, the world 5,000m champ, isn’t interested in doing more XC and is in no hurry to move to the roads full-time. She still plans to keep her focus on the track.
• IAAF: Kenya’s World U20 5,000m Champ Beatrice Chebet Prevails In Dramatic Finish In Women’s U20 Race Chebet and Ethiopians Alemitu Tariku and Tsigie Gebreselama all crossed the line together at 20:50 with Tariku initially being announced the winner. However a photo finish showed that Chebet had crossed first.
• IAAF: Milkesa Mengesha Leads Ethiopian 1-2 In Men’s U20 Race With Uganda’s Oscar Chelimo taking bronze, it was the first time since 1984 that Kenya didn’t win an individual medal in the men’s U20 race.
  *MB: Congrats to Jakob Ingebrigtsen for finishing 12th at World Jr XC. He’s not afraid to lay it on the line.
• IAAF:Ethiopia Gains Revenge On Kenya In Mixed Relay Kenya and Ethiopia were neck-and-neck for the first three legs, but a strong finish from former world U20 1,500 champ Fantu Worku gave Ethiopia the win.
  *MB: Should the US give back its Mixed Relay bronze medal at World XC since it only got it because of this DQ (video)?
• RRW:Joshua Cheptegei Rebounds From Kampala Meltdown To Take World Cross-Country Gold
• Former NCAA Champ Kate Avery Leads British Women To Fourth With 30th-Place Finish
• Athletics Weekly Staff Member Shares His Experience Running Mass Participation Race At World XC
• JRN: Japanese U20 Women Win Team Bronze at World Cross-Country Championships

Assorted Distance News

• Callum Hawkins Is Excited For London Thinks He Has “Point To Prove” After Commonwealth Games Collapse “I don’t want to be known as the guy who fell over on a bridge; I want to be known as the guy who wins medals and runs quick times.”
• IAAF And Athletics Kenya Reach Understanding On New Diamond League Format Seb Coe and IAAF CEO Jon Ridgeon claim that the changes won’t disadvantage East African athletes, explaining that the 5,000 was removed since athletes won’t run that many 5,000s over a season, but they can race the 3000 more often. *InsideTheGames Article
• Podcast Interview With Kara Goucher Carrie Tollefson talks to Goucher about her plans to race her first trail marathon this summer at Leadville, her new book, and running memories.

HS News Of Note

• White Men Can Jump:Matthew Boling Currently Leads The US HS List In Both The Long Jump (8.03 – 26’10”) And 100 (10.22) The LJ mark is the longest HS mark in the US in nearly a decade.
• Kingston College Men Win 1st Boys ChampsTitle In A Decade As Edwin Allen Girls Win 6th-Straight
• IAAF Jamaica Boys & Girls Champs Recap Mid-distance got some attention as Calabar’s Kimar Farquharson ran 1:48.67 to break a 31-year-old meet record.
• Fast 100m Times Get Spotlight At Champs Oblique Seville of Calabar just missed Zharnel Hughes’s record as he won in 10.13 as Kevona Davis of Edwin Allen won the girls 100 in 11.19. 14-year-old Tina Clayton ran a 11.27 100m as 13-year-old Christopher Scott ran 10.73. 
• Double World Junior Gold Medalist Briana Williams, Who Lives In Florida But Competes For Jamaica, Attends Champs And Wishes She Competed In Them We don’t think anything is stopping her from going to HS in Jamaica.
• Steve Cram Says Health And Safety In Schools Is Hobbling British Athletics Cram thinks the schools are too risk averse to teach hurdles, long jump and pole vault.

Previous Non-World XC News

• Toni Reavis:Can Distance Running Pull Itself Back From The Brink? “Like baseball, athletics (track & field) is a 19th-century pastoral sport, perfect for the settings and pace of the 19th century, but too loosely configured and time-consuming for the 21st.”
• Barkley Marathons 2019 Is Coming Up – Everything You Need To Know About The World’s Craziest Race
• Medical Expert Says Solution To Semenya-Type Cases Might Be To Have A “Third Sex” Competition That will be the only solution if there isn’t an testosterone cap.
• Q&A With Athing Mu, Who Is Keeping Everything In Perspective
• Valerie Adams Gives Birth To Second Child Several Weeks Early, But Baby And Mom Seem To Be Doing Pretty Well
• Competitor Agrees With LetsRun.com: New Boston Marathon Rules Will Kill Off The Underdog Story Why they aren’t starting the elite men with everyone else is beyond stupid.
• Ken Goe: It’s Time For The Sport To Put Spectators First “The entirety of track and field has been run too long by participants for participants.”
• Looking To Race And Learn At The Same Time?Last Week, The Selma-To-Montgomery Relay Was Held Not sure why it’s 51 miles when Dr. Martin Luther King‘s march was 54 miles.
• How To Boost Your Metabolism As You Get Older Guys in particular need to watch out as theirs slows more than it does for women.

Masters WRs

• Virginia Mitchell Breaks W55 800 World Record With 2:22.34
• 71-Year-Old Charles Allie Runs 26.11 200m!

Meet Team LetsRun.com, Which Just Doubled In Number

LRCFrom 15:40 In College To 13:57 At Age 28, Meet Matt Crowe, The LetsRun.com Men’s Entrant To 2019 World Cross-CountryCrowe is 28-year-old American with a 13:57 PR who is currently living in London. The story of how he got there, going from 15:40 in college to 13:57, is incredible.
*MB:Team LetsRun.com just doubled in size – Meet Matt Crowe – We’re sending him to 2019 World XC as well

Previous Non-World XC News

• Toni Reavis:Can Distance Running Pull Itself Back From The Brink? “Like baseball, athletics (track & field) is a 19th-century pastoral sport, perfect for the settings and pace of the 19th century, but too loosely configured and time-consuming for the 21st.”
• Barkley Marathons 2019 Is Coming Up – Everything You Need To Know About The World’s Craziest Race
• Medical Expert Says Solution To Semenya-Type Cases Might Be To Have A “Third Sex” Competition That will be the only solution if there isn’t an testosterone cap.
• Q&A With Athing Mu, Who Is Keeping Everything In Perspective
• Valerie Adams Gives Birth To Second Child Several Weeks Early, But Baby And Mom Seem To Be Doing Pretty Well
• Competitor Agrees With LetsRun.com: New Boston Marathon Rules Will Kill Off The Underdog Story Why they aren’t starting the elite men with everyone else is beyond stupid.
• Ken Goe: It’s Time For The Sport To Put Spectators First “The entirety of track and field has been run too long by participants for participants.”
• Looking To Race And Learn At The Same Time?Last Week, The Selma-To-Montgomery Relay Was Held Not sure why it’s 51 miles when Dr. Martin Luther King‘s march was 54 miles.
• How To Boost Your Metabolism As You Get Older Guys in particular need to watch out as theirs slows more than it does for women.

Masters WRs

• Virginia Mitchell Breaks W55 800 World Record With 2:22.34
• 71-Year-Old Charles Allie Runs 26.11 200m!

Meet Team LetsRun.com, Which Just Doubled In Number

LRCFrom 15:40 In College To 13:57 At Age 28, Meet Matt Crowe, The LetsRun.com Men’s Entrant To 2019 World Cross-CountryCrowe is 28-year-old American with a 13:57 PR who is currently living in London. The story of how he got there, going from 15:40 in college to 13:57, is incredible.
*MB:Team LetsRun.com just doubled in size – Meet Matt Crowe – We’re sending him to 2019 World XC as well

LRC Meet Kelsey Bruce, The LetsRun.com Entrant At The 2019 World Cross-Country Championships This week, we’re doing something that the athletics federations of Belgium, Finland, and the Netherlands couldn’t manage. We’re sending an athlete to the World Cross Country Championships. Meet Kelsey Bruce. The former DII runner has chopped her marathon PR from 2:48 to 2:31 in less than three years, and is pumped to race the world’s best.
*MB: Meet Kelsey Bruce: We’re sending the former DII runner, who has improved from 2:48 to 2:31 in the marathon, to 2019 World XC

LRC Meet Kelsey Bruce, The LetsRun.com Entrant At The 2019 World Cross-Country Championships This week, we’re doing something that the athletics federations of Belgium, Finland, and the Netherlands couldn’t manage. We’re sending an athlete to the World Cross Country Championships. Meet Kelsey Bruce. The former DII runner has chopped her marathon PR from 2:48 to 2:31 in less than three years, and is pumped to race the world’s best.
*MB: Meet Kelsey Bruce: We’re sending the former DII runner, who has improved from 2:48 to 2:31 in the marathon, to 2019 World XC

An Update On The Confusion / Controversy Surrounding The 2020 Olympic Selection System

LRC One Week Later: How Will USATF Select The 2020 Olympic Team? No One Really Seems To Know We have a little good news to report. Amid confusion, USA Track and Field is refusing to confirm the statement they gave us last week that put US distance fans into a tizzy. And USATF tells us they are appealing to the IAAF to give the top 5 at the US Olympic Marathon Trials the marathon standard.
*MB: A Little Good News: USATF is appealing to get top 5 at US Olympic Marathon Trials the standard.