Archived Homepage For May 20, 2020
Archived Homepage For May 20, 2020

Who Needs An Official Meet? Just Get Out Your Phone And Make History

LRC High Schooler Brynn Brown Runs Second-Best 3,200 In US HS Girls’ History Running with a male pacer, the junior from Denton, Tex. clocked 9:39.67 (ht) in a time trial on Tuesday. That’s equal to 8:59.9 for 3k. Watch it here.
*MB: BRYNN BROWN RUNS 9:39 3200M!!!
*Q&A with Brynn Brown after her 9:39

Entertaining Reads

Anniversary Time

Seb Coe Making News

Links We Highly Recommend

Throwback Thursday #6

LRC I Was Bored, So I Watched The Men’s Steeple Final At The 2003 World Championships One week before the 2003 Worlds, the planet’s best runner, Stephen Cherono, changed his name to Saif Saaeed Shaheen and switched nationality from Kenya to Qatar. The steeplechase final pit Shaheen against his brother Abraham (still angry over the move) and a young Ezekiel Kemboi and culminated with a thrilling home-straight duel.
*TBT #1: 1998 NCAA XC*TBT #2: 2000 Foot Locker XC*TBT #3: 2007 World XC*TBT #4: 2003 Foot Locker XC*TBT #5: 1983 World XC

Willis And Cain Get Signed

MB: Nick Willis And Mary Cain Sign With Tracksmith The high-end apparel company founded by Wejo‘s old Yale teammate Matt Taylor is getting into the sponsorship game in a brilliant way as they got the NY Times to break the story with Cain. “The company is exploring a new kind of sponsorship in which professional athletes are treated like full-time employees. In addition to competing as a professional runner as soon as it is safe to do so, Cain will take on a role as community manager for Tracksmith in New York City, where she will be tasked with building the brand’s presence in a city chock-full of running clubs.”

The American GOATs Answered Your Questions Right Here On LetsRun.com

MB: Got a question for our American GOATs Jim Ryun & Deena Kastor? Deena Kastor and Jim Ryun have been answering them this week on LRC.

Tired of Staring at A Screen? Listen To This

LRCPodcast: Brynn Brown, the return of the Major Marathons, everyone is an All-American, bus-only NCAA XC and track and field’s Grand Slams In this week’s pod, we propose a simple plan that should result in the major big-city marathons returning to action this fall. We also talk about Brynn Brown‘s amazing 9:39 3,200 meter run, get you ready for this weekend’s high school sub-4 mile attempt, and rip the NCAA coaches for declaring every one who qualified for NCAAs at the DIII level an All-American. Along the way, we talk about Ben Rosario‘s idea to create 4 Grand Slams for track and field and wonder how the NCAA xc season will look if teams only travel by bus.

The Latest Distance News Of Note

You Have One Month To Get in Shape To Earn Some Money

RRW A Virtual Race With Prize Money – Welcome To The Brooklyn Mile, Where The Prize Money Is Age Graded And Based On VDOT Scores You run any time between June 19-21. Anyone recording a VDOT score of 8, 9 or 10 will get paid. 100% of the $15 entry fee goes to prize money (20%) or charity (80%).

Free Coaching Advice

US News

Last Weekend’s Action

Olympic Pole Vault Champ Katerina Stefanidi Wins Garden Pole Vault Challenge With 34 Clearances Over 4.00m In 30 Minutes And she did it in over 100F temps (39c). Katie Nageotte of the USA had 30 clearances while Canadian Alysha Newman had 21.
*Sandi Morris Says She Didn’t Do Garden Pole Vault Challenge As She Can’t Run For 2 Weeks Due To An Injection She Had For Irritating Cartilage Damage
*MB: Official Watch/Discussion Thread

MB: Zach Bitter Sets New 12 Hour (98.64 miles) and 100 mile treadmill (12:09:15) WR The old 100 mile treadmill record was 12:32:26, so slightly faster than 7:32 per mile (4:41 per kilometer).

This Debate Will Never End

LRC Ritz Vs. Webb Vs. Hall – Who Was Better? A Pseudo-Scientific Breakdown It’s one of the great running debates: which one of the Big Three had the best career? With Dathan RitzenheinAlan Webb and Ryan Hall all retired, Jonathan Gault breaks it down and picks a winner.
*MB: Now that they are all retired, who had the better career – Dathan Ritz, Alan Webb or Ryan Hall?

US News

Depressing NCAA News

Our Normal Podcast Returns

LRC Podcast: Who Had The Better Career – Ritz, Webb Or Hall? Our normal podcast returns but this was far from a normal podcast as podcasting history was made as for the first time in world history a six-day-old baby appeared on a podcast. Once we adjusted to our new female co-host, we spent most of the show debating who had the better career – Dathan Ritzenhein, Alan Webb or Ryan Hall? Along the way, Rojo ranted about the need for colleges to open up this fall, Tedd Ginn Jr. was exposed as a liar, we wondered if World Athletics deserves more props for its anti-doping effectiveness, and much more.

Bonus Podcast LRC The Deena Kastor Podcast LRC visitors recently voted Kastor, the US marathon record holder at 2:19:36, as the greatest women’s US distance runner in history. Kastor talks about her amazing career that saw her go from being a pro on a gear-only contract, to one thrilled to be making $12,000 a year, to an Olympic medalist and US record holder.

Yet Another LRC Exclusive

LRC Q&A: Anti-Doping Expert Sergei Iljukov Discusses Doping In Kenya & Russia, What World Athletics Is Doing Right – And How The Global Anti-Doping System Can Still Improve Iljukov recently conducted a study that indirectly suggested the effects of doping were between 2.0% and 3.4% in distance events and points out that 68% of the Russian 1,500 women that ran an elite time at the Russian champs were eventually banned.

10 Years Ago, Chris Solinsky Ran 26:59.60 To SHOCK THE WORLD

LRC 26:59! How Chris Solinsky Transformed A “Glorified Tempo” Into An All-Time Upset And Performance 10 years ago today, Chris Solinsky shocked the world by running 26:59 in his 10,000-meter debut. Get the inside story from Jonathan Gault and learn how the date of Solinsky’s wedding played a key role in his preparations and why his victory led to a decade-long feud between coaches Alberto Salazar and Jerry Schumacher.
*MB:Chris Solinsky’s 26:59 turns 10 years old today. Share your memories here.z
*MB:  Jonathan Gault’s new story makes Alberto Salazar look totally cringe
*MB: Does anyone have access to a recording of the live broadcast by Stanford of Chris Solinksy’s 26:59?

Speaking of Anniversaries

Bored? Buy A Book – We Enjoyed This One

LRC Book Review: A 46-Year-Old Spends A Summer Training Like A Pro In Flagstaff In “Running the Dream” Matt Fitzgerald joined Ben Rosario‘s HOKA NAZ Elite team for three months in the summer of 2017 as he chased a personal best at the Chicago Marathon. From workouts on Lake Mary Road to strength sessions to a visit to John Ball, he lived the full professional experience.  “[The book] newfound appreciation for one of the privileges of life as a professional runner. Not the chance to travel the world racing in cool locations or the freedom to nap copiously, but the ability to dedicate all of one’s energies to becoming the best one can be – and the opportunity to make memories doing it alongside friends and teammates.” Five out of five stars. Purchase here.

Distance News

Sprint News

Administrative News

US News Of Note

LRC Q&A: Nick Willis On Signing With Tracksmith, Skateboarding, & Why The Olympic Standard Freeze Helps Him Nick reveals that he only got his new contract after successfully acing his first job interview in more than 20 years. “[My last job interview was when I was] 15, applying for a job as a dishwasher and salad and food prep person at a restaurant, like TGI Fridays. … It’s not a traditional nine-to-five. It’s project-based and they’ll give myself flexibility to also focus on my training. But I want to prove myself. I want to show that I’m worthy of this…It’s fun starting at the bottom again.”

He Will Be Missed

LRC Dathan Ritzenhein Hangs ‘Em Up: We Pick Our 5 Favorite Moments From His Career Between a 12:56 American record in Zurich, bronze at World Half and World Jr. XC, two dominant Foot Locker wins, and an NCAA XC title over Ryan Hall, there were plenty of highlights during Ritz’s lengthy career.
*MB: Breaking: Dathan Ritzenhein Retires at 37