World Indoors Start Friday *Live Stream Starts Fri. At 2:30AM ET; 8PM On TV
- IAAF Women's Preview
- IAAF Men's Preview
- 3k Preview Bernard Lagat will defend his title against Mo Farah and 7:29 runners Augustine Choge and Edwin Soi.
- 25-Yr Old Dayron Robles Says He May Retire After London 2012 Due To A Recurring Leg Injury "At the last competition, I was practically race walking because I couldn't do anything."
- Ashton Eaton Will Go After His Own Heptathlon WR He recently ran a 1:52 800 in a time trial where he was paced by Russell Brown.
- Dwain Chambers Set To Defend His 60m Title Against Jamaicans Lerone Clarke And Nesta Carter Chambers' agent talking about BOA ban: "Redemption is recognised in every walk of life: the family, religion, law and politics. It is an integral foundation at the heart of the makeup of any democratic society. It is not recognised in dictatorships, Greek mythology and the British Olympic Association bylaw."
- USATF On US Team: Brittney Reese Sanya Richards-Ross Favorites To Win Gold
- After Recent WR Vault, Yelena Isinbayeva Favorite Over US's Jenn Suhr And UK's Holly Bleasdale
*Isinbaeva: "I Was Close To Quitting" - Prize Money Breakdown: $2.5 Million Up For Grabs
- Mo Farah And Jessica Ennis Lead GB Team
- AP Preview
The Fast Guys of LRC
LRC The Fastest Puma Faas Winners - Mark Wieczorek, David McNeill And Ricky Flynn LetsRun.com is made up of the most passionate and fastest runners on the planet. The three guys above entered the Puma Faas Challenge just like you even though they are total studs. Mark is a 1:46.00
800m
runner, David an NCAA 5,000m runner-up and an Australian national champion, and Ricky was a breakthough performer at the Olympic Trials Marathon. Read all about them. Thanks to Ricky's run at the Trials, he may be getting a sponsor soon, so he's giving his shoes to his roommate.
Previous: Get Inspired With The Final 20+ Winners In The Puma Faas Challenge A guy with incurable cancer who wants to run 16-minute miles, a guy who want to break 4 despite getting hit by a car going 35mph, a woman who has a 5-year running streak going that includes two pregnancies, much more.
CAS Case On BOA Bylaw To Start Monday Sports lawyer who helped LeShawn Merrit overturn his Olympic ban predicts BOA will lose.
YouTube to Live-Stream the London 2012 Olympics for NBC
Previous World Indoor News
Kenya Enters Largest World Indoor Squad Ever - Coach Says All 9 Can Medal
*Jelimo's Agent Says Watch Out - She's Hungry Again "After sitting out and seeing her career degenerate she has found the hunger to win again.
It was all in her eyes, even though she did not win in Lievin on Tuesday, you could see that she gave it all. A clear sign that she is back in the frame to compete. I tell you she will be in her best form when we head to May."
*A Look At The Ethiopian Women's Chances Genzebe Dibaba and Meseret Defar are the favorites at 1,500 and 3k as Defar goes for a record 5th straight gold.
*Preview Of Men's Distances From Ethiopian Perspectve - Ethiopian Team Lacking
Sprint News: Veronica Campbell-Brown Declares, "I'm ready!"
*Veronica Campbell-Brown Running World Indoors, Has Linsanity
*Dayron Robles Hurts Back, Pulls Out Of World Indoors Nothing too serious, a pulled muscle of some sort and says he should resume training next week.
Craig Mottram Says He'll Have To Go Sub-13 To Make World Indoor 5,000 Final We're not sure if the author was sloppy or what, but there is no 5,000m at World Indoors. Mottram will have to run the 3,000m.
Olympic Administrative News
- Whatever Happened To The Olympic Ideals?
BOA Orders Team GB Athletes Not To Shake Hands Before The Games British athletes are being told not to shake hands at the Olympics as as they might get sick, but an expert on British etiquette is irate: "It is the normal English greeting," etiquette adviser Liz Wyse said. "It is a bid of a sad thing if people are worried about shaking hands in case it spreads disease. It's not very sociable." As Americans, we can't be hypocrites, though, as we doubt Rupp will shake hands. - IOC Rejects "Lowball" CBC Bid For 2014 And 2016 Olympic Games - Yahoo May Now Step In & Try To Steal Them CBC bid about half of what they did last time.
- Sponsor Naming Right For Key London 2012 Venues, Including The Olympic Stadium, Will Not Simply Be Awarded To The Highest Bidder, Says OPLC
- British Columnists Ask Why IOC Bans Anyone From Using Olympic Rings On Anything - Even A Cake
- "No ticket in the history of tickets has been as popular as London 2012," Claims Coe Sebastian Coe is tomorrow set to launch a robust and passionate defence of the ticketing system put in place for the Olympics when he appears before the London Assembly, who last month published a damning report criticising organisers for unneccesary secrecy, claiming it was damaging public confidence.
A Brief Chat With Wesley Korir - The Man Who Trains In Canada, Flagstaff, Canada And Kenya "My wife once told me, 'It's not about the place, it's about the people.'" Korir is now building a home in his native Kenya.
News From Japan
- 2004 Olympic Champ Mizuki Noguchi Needs To Race Well This Weekend To Make Japanese Olympic Team, Where She Thinks She Can Contend
- Brett Larner: After 4 Olympic Marathon Qualifying Races, Japanese Men's Marathon Team Still Isn't Set Who they pick for spot #3 (and in our minds #2 and #3) is still up in the air.
Last Weekend's NCAA News
- Update Noon Monday: Can't Believe Rojo Didn't Plug This Earlier: Cornell Men And Women Win Eastern Champs (IC4As/ECACs), Rojo's 4 X 800 Runs Top Time In The Nation (women's recap here) Rojo's Boys bounced back from a disappointing close team loss to Princeton at Heps to post the top time in the country in the 4 x 800 with 2 of their top 3 runners (who have gone sub-1:50 open this season) not running.
- A Bunch Of NCAA Autos At Alex Wilson Invitational Molly Beckwith wins 800 (2:02.61) as Oklahoma's Natalja Piliusina runs fastest collegiate time of year with 2:03.46. Kirubel Erassa (3:58.84) beats Robby Creese in the mile as 4 go sub-4, but no one gets the auto (video). Minnesota's
Travis Burkstrand beats Ciaran O'Lionaird in the 800. Nebraska women's DMR runs 10:58.74 NCAA auto. Pro Nicole Sifuentes won 3k in 8:56.80. Four teams get the auto in the men's 4 x 4, as did Notre Dame (9:29.72) and Wisconsin (9:30.86) in the DMR. 6 other teams ran 9:31.xx and just missed!
*MB: Alex Wilson DMR's *Videos/Interviews From Flotrack - UW Final Qualifier Results: Andrew Bumbalough (7:44.45) Over Evan Jager (7:46.42) In 3k In the women's 3k, Stanford's Aisling Cuffe (9:07), and Loyola Marymount's Tara Erdmann (9:08) got the auto. John Mickowski won the mile in 3:57 and leads 4 more under 4 minutes. Jordan Hasay was supposed to race the mile but is not in results. *3k Video
- Columbia Last Chance Results Sheila Reid wins the 3k in 9:01 over Providence's Emily Sisson (9:06) and Princeton alum Ashley Higginson (9:11). Kyle Merber wins in 3:59.44 as 4 more go sub-4. *MB: Sheila Reid: Shots Fired *Race Videos
Final Japanese Selection Race - 2012 Lake Biwa Marathon *Photos
Kenya's Samuel Ndungu Debuts With 2:07:04 For The Win as Japan's Ryo Yamamoto Has Huge 3+ Minute PR To Grab Olympic Spot Henryk Szost got the Polish NR with 2:07:39 and Ryo Yamamoto was the first Japanese in 2:08:44. The Japanese had 2 sub-2:09s, 5 sub-2:10s, and 7 at sub-2:10:06 in this race.
- IAAF Lake Biwa Recap - Japanese Olympic Spot Decided On Track In the last 5km, 3 different people possessed the all-important "first Japanese" title and Ryo Yamamoto didn't pass Hiroyuki Horibata (7th at 2011 WCs) until they were on the track in the stadium. "I was just chasing and chasing," Yamamoto said. "I was not ready to run with the leaders when the real racing started at 25Km, so I decided to run my race and was just hoping that the leaders would come back to me. When I was getting closer (to the Japanese in front of me) I kept on chanting 'Olympics, Olympics' in my heart and kept on pushing."
- Szost Runs Fastest European Marathon In Four Years
- Takehiro Deki - A Junior In College - Ran 2:10:02 Marathon Debut At Lake Biwa: "For a Second There I Thought About the Olympics"
*Pre-Race: Recommended Read: Interesting Read On 21-Year-Old Japanese College Student Takehiro Deki, Who Is Running Lake Biwa Marathon "University runners these days are strong, but the corporate runners suck."
More News From Japan: 200+ Sub-1:06s At Japanese National University Half Championships
Caster Semnya Opens Up
- Catster Semenya Opens Season With 53.62 400m Win
*Caster Semenya Praises Her New Coach Maria Mutola
*Semenya Says She'll Have An Easy Olympic Buildup With Only 3-4 Races Seems happy with her fitness and new coach.
HS News
*Mary Cain Wins 1,500 At NY State Meet With 4:24.25 To Set Sophomore USR And #4 All-Time Saratoga HS/Oregon alum Nicole Blood had the previous record at 4:27.57.
*MB: MARY CAIN is easily the greatest running prodigy in the US since Mary Decker Slaney
*Futsum Zeinasellasie Opens Season With 9:00 3,200 At MIC Invy
*Top HS Marks From Weekend
*Cain: "I was just like, 'Kill it.' Once I took the lead, I was like, 'I'm not letting this up.'"
Dreams Don't Become Reality?
LRC Haile Gebrselassie Tweets "My Olympic Marathon Dream Is Over" And Ethiopia Announces A Preliminary Olympic Marathon Team Missing A Few Stars Geb's tweet is big news as we'd like to see him make one final attempt to compete in the Olympics. Just as big news
may be that neither Gebre Gebremariam, Tsegaye Kebede nor Fiyesa Lilesa
were on the preliminary
team. Their men's team is the top 4 Ethiopians from Dubai.
More Geb: Associated Press Column: Should Gebrselassie Say Goodbye? His agent seems to think so.
Discuss:
- Ethiopian OG Marathon Selection
- HAILE FROM TWITTER - "It looks like my Olympic Marathon dream is over."
Worth A Look
- Plan For Kenyan Trials In US Is To Only Have 5 Kenyan Athletes In Each Event We overlooked this fact yesterday. Paul Tergat is upset and so are we. Five athletes in a race is not a Trials race, it's an invitational. Most Diamond League meets have more than 5 Kenyan athletes in them, so why should the Trials race have less? Bad move.
- Excellent: Asafa Powell And Usain Bolt To Race Twice In A Week At 100m First in Rome on May 31, then on Oslo June 7. Thank you, sport.
- Roger Bannister Takes A Lengthy Look Back At His Career And First Sub-4 Minute Mile Lengthy profile by the AP.
- Brenda Martinez Brief Chat: "Jenny didn't beat you; you beat yourself."
Andrews Going Pro?!
LRC Robby Andrews Leaves UVA Track Team LetsRun.com has learned that the two-time NCAA champ's incredible NCAA career at the University of Virginia has come to an
end. What a career
it was - bookended
by
NCAA titles. It started with an epic .01 win over
Andrew Wheating and ended with an epic 1:44.71 - .04 win over Charles Jock. Andrews has not officially gone pro, but that seems to be the likely next step.
*UVA Release
*Humorous: Robby Andrews Career Decision Flowchart
MB: Robby Andrews No Longer Running for UVA *Is There Any Chance Robby Andrews Transfers? *Robby Andrews to Oregon Project?
Do You Like Underdogs? - Please Read These Two Recommended Reads
- This Is The Guy Who Should Be LRC's 1st Sponsored Athlete
A Brief Chat With 2012 US XC Champ Bobby Mack The 28:11 performer still runs for the local running store as the shoe companies only go for guys who were great in college. Wejo can relate. When you break his 28:06 PR, we'll sponsor you. - A Brief Chat With US Indoor 800 Champ Erica Moore The former multi athlete wanted to go to grad school in CO but thankfully her funding fell through and she ended up at Tennessee where, with the help of JJ Clark, she has turned into a star even though she can't break 12:00 for 2 miles.
- This Guy Has Always Been Very, Very Good But Isn't Very Well Known
5 Minutes With US Collegiate 3k Record Holder - NC State's Ryan Hill Hill, who is officially the fastest guy many of you have never heard of, praises 100 mile weeks plus lifting real, actual weights (hopefully JK isn't reading this).
USA And World Indoor News
USA Team Announced For World Indoors And It's Led By Bernard Lagat - And Galen Rupp Is On It Rupp is running the 1,500m as Leo Manzano is skipping World Indoors. Three cheers for Rupp going to race the 1,500. Anyone remember 2008 when Rupp still
couldn't break 4:00 in the mile? He has never been afraid to race and that racing experience has made him a much better
runner. *World Indoor Roster Full Of OTC/Oregon Project Athletes
The Athletes Win Round 1: USATF Not To Have Logo Restrictions At National Championships Last week, the athletes were proposing 3 logos on uniforms, and USATF was proposing 2. Now we have no restrictions, except at the Olympic Trials, which are under USOC rules.
More World Indoor News
Tokyo Marathon *Top Tokyo/Geb Results *Updated LRC Tokyo Photos
LRC Geb Goes For It ... Fades To 2:08:17 4th Well-paced, good weather, perfectly positioned, Haile G had the lead and a gap on the field at 36k but surprisingly faded and was passed
one-by-one until he was off the
podium in the final kilometer. It was a strange marathon, as both Geb and last year's defending champ Hailu Mekonnen, who were the two leaders, both faded after surging ahead. Michael Kipyego (2:07:37) brother of women's star Sally Kipyego, took the win while Arata Fujiwara stamped his ticket to London with a 2:07:48 PR. 38 y/o Geb complained of back pain afterwards. Geb is now known for his post-race excuses, but for once we tend to believe him (he also dropped a water bottle
at
35k and stopped to get it before not picking it up - wonder if that affected his back).
*LRC OFFICIAL Tokyo Marathon Haile Geb Thread
*Brett Larner's JRN Race Recap
*Haile Says "I could run another marathon in two weeks."
*LRC Favorite Yuki Kawauchi Disappointed With 14th Place/2:12:51 Showing Kawauchi: "If you're not good enough to be internationally competitive then you don't need to go to the Olympics. I tried, and it's over. Selection is based on results, and I do not think I will be picked."
*IAAF Recap
*Tokyo Photo Gallery
Birmingham - Aviva Indoor Grand Prix *Results
Top Indoor Meet Of Year
Eliud Kipchoge 8:07.4 2-Mile Defeats Mo Farah This was a tremendous race with 4 guys, Kipchoge and Farah plus Uganda's Moses Kipsiro and Tariku Bekele, battling on the final lap. Kipchoge, the 2003 World 5,000m champ, got the win and World Leader. If you think this makes him the best Kenyan right now, think again. Kipchoge
was 4th in the 3,000m in Germany last weekend.
In other action, Genzebe Dibaba blasted another fast 1,500 (4:01, Anna Pierce 4:11), Liu Xiang ran a PR to beat Dayron Robles, Jamaica's 8th-fastest 100m man last year, Lerone Clarke, ran a national record in the 60 ahead of Asafa Powell, Meseret Defar ran 8:31.56, Jessica Ennis had 2 PRs and a world best in the hurdles, and Bernard Lagat was well beaten at 1,500m. 8,000 fans in attendance. This is what track and field needs.
2012 RAK Half Is In The Books *Photo Gallery Of Winners *Top Results
LRC Mary Keitany & 17-Year-Old Dennis Koech Win 2012 RAK Half Marathon Windy conditions slowed down the winning times considerably (60:34 and 66:42), but Mary Keitany did still produce the 8th-fastest 13.1 in women's history as a 17-year-old Kenyan dispatched the 2012 world leader and a 2:03 marathoner in the men's race.
*IAAF Recap Geoffrey Mutai Withdraws With Sore Foot And Then Fast Times Are Blown Off Course The IAAF is saying that Koech is 18.
*Pre-Race Photos *Race Previews
Week That Was
LRC Rupp's Record Vs. Lagat's Record, Down Goes Rono, Miles Batty, Chris Derrick And Ryan Hill?, Plus Katie Flood, Marathoning, White Dudes In The 4 X 400, Some Canadian Coaching Advice And More Just in time for Valentine's Day, the track and field world came afire with some sizzling action and records galore. We got the meat (what you expect) and the potatoes (what you wouldn't expect) of the track and field world covered. We guarantee you won't be disappointed. If you are, complain here.
Interesting Read: Patrick Makau Speaks On Being Self Coached, His Half Marathon Loss In Spain, And His Two Newborn Twin Sons He gives great training advice, as he talks about listening to his body and says that he could have won in Spain, but he decided to save himself for other things ahead. Good read from Mutwiri Mutuota.
*10-Minute Video Interview With Makau From Same Story
Sprint News
Recommended Read: The Telegraph's Ian Chadband Catches Up With Yohan Blake After His 2012 Season Opener - Blake Still Plays Cricket Every Sunday With Glen Mills' Blessing Can anyone in America imagine a college coach letting a sprint star play pickup games on the weekend? Yet Blake, who comes from a tough background, is super-fast. "I wasn't born with a golden spoon in my mouth; it was a really tough life. So many times, we had no money to even get to school. I'd have to find empty beer bottles to sell and spent hours carrying water on my head because we had no water at home. It gave me strength which helps me today."
USATF Classic *Results *Photo Gallery
LRC Galen Rupp's American 2-Mile Record Is Highlight Among 5 World Leaders Pre-race, we pondered if this was the best men's indoor mile in the US since LetsRun.com was founded and it lived up to the hype, as Silas Kiplagat edged Caleb Ndiku in a world-leading time, but it was Galen Rupp, running to honor the late Geoff Hollister, who stole the show with an impressive American record at 2 miles. In other action, Brenda Martinez took on some of the world's best in the mile, Jamaica's 8th best sprinter beat all the Americans, and Tianna Madison (a long jump world champion most of you have forgotten) shocked VCB and Allyson Felix in the 60m.
USATF XC *XC Results *Men's Photos *Women's Photos
Molly Huddle Celebrates Too Soon, Sara Hall Wins XC On Lean, Bobby Mack Beats Aaron Braun Great races in the chill of St. Louis, as Molly Huddle and Sara Hall battled to the line. Huddle put up her hands thinking she won, but Hall leaned and got the win. Photos here. On the men's side, Mack pulled away from Braun the final 600m. More coverage here. Photo finish photo here.
London Marathon Goes To Iten
Virgin London Marathon, Which Made 2012 Athlete Announcements In Kenya, Is Giving Back To Iten, Eldoret Communities
LRC Photo Of The Day: Virgin London Marathon Fields Announced From Iten, Kenya We didn't realize London was in Iten to announce its 2012 fields. Very cool.
Bring Back The Mile Officially Launches For years, we (and many in the sport) have wondered why the mile isn't the #1 distance event in the land and why it's not run instead of the 1,500 or 1,600. Finally, someone has decided to do something about it.
*Bringing Buzz Back To The Mile *Discuss *Like On Facebook
US Men's Olympic Trials Marathon News *LRC Vote Totals *Men's Results *Women's Results *Mile-By-Mile Splits *Yahoo Flash Photos
LRC Men's
Marathon Trials Analysis And Reaction The 2012 Trials race was a classic. We throw some love to the top 3, ponder Ritz's future in the marathon, tell you who had the best debut, and tell you who that guy you never heard of was. Plus we talk about Meb's 74-year-old badass dad and look at the fortune of some old timers who didn't make the team, Josh Cox and Dan Browne, in addition to the ones who did (Meb and Abdi).
Race Recap: Meb Keflezighi Captures 2012 Olympic Trials Marathon Title
NY Times Recap: Meb Over Hall, Abdi Grabs 3rd Spot The race lived up to the billing as the top four all broke 2:10, whereas previously there had only been one sub-2:10 in OTM history. After a blistering first half (63:25), Meb
Keflezighi got his 2nd PR in 69 days, as he ran 2:09:08 to
win over Hall (2:09:30). A resurgent Abdirahman (2:09:47) hung on for the final Olympic spot in 2:09:47 over Ritzenhein, who broke 2:10:00 for the first time (2:09:55). In the process, Meb became the first American to make an Olympic marathon team 8 years after making it previously. Abdi had no idea until we talked to him that Martin Fagan, whom he trained with some this winter, had reportedly tested positive
for EPO.
LRC Trials Live Thread Here
Trials On The Boards:
2011 ING NYC Marathon *Men's Results *Women's Results *Viewing Info *Flash Yahoo Photos
LRC 2:05:06!!! Geoffrey Mutai Caps Year In Style An unbelievable year in men's marathoning had an appropriate finish, as the Kenyan man who had the most unbelievable of all years, Geoffrey Mutai, smashed the previous NYC Marathon record by a stunning 2:38 - that's two minutes and 38 seconds. If it wasn't the greatest 2nd-greatest men's marathon performance
ever, you'll have to tell us what was. American Meb Keflezighi hung with the leaders for 20 miles after a blistering 63:16 1st half and ended up with a much-deserved PR. Mutai picked up $200,000 by winning, but the big financial winner was runner-up Emmanuel Mutai, who won $635,000 ($500,000 for the WMM title).
LRC Mary Keitany Beats
Herself The women's race was full of gut-wrenching
drama, as Mary Keitany went out in a crazy 67:56. The problem was she came back in 74:42, as unheralded Firehiwot Dado (Rome
Marathon champ) got the win.
LRC Post-Race Interviews: Meb And His Coach Bob Larsen Talks About His PR Despite Throwing Up Plus the winners - Geoffrey Mutai, Firehiwot Dado, men's and women's top 3, Ed Moran, Molly Pritz, Lauren Fleshman and Bobby Curtis.
Week In Review
LRC Week That Was: Melbourne Track Classic & Ryan Gregson & Nick Symmonds, The Sub-4 Guys Not Going To NCAAs, Japanese Marathoners Vs. US, And We Defend LaShawn Merritt We span the globe to tell you what's going on in the world of running. We look at the action in Australia and talk about Nick Symmonds and the young 1,500m crop, including Gregson, Asbel Kiprop, Silas Kiplagat and Matt Centrowitz. We compare Japanese marathoning depth to American and once and for all tell you in a LetsRun.com first why LaShawn Merritt is not a drug cheat. Plus what program may have the best 800m runners in America?
NYC Half Is Next Weekend *Full Elite Field
- Bobby Curtis, Ben St. Lawrence And UK's Chris Thompson Added To NYC Half
- Good Interview With Dathan Ritzenhein Ahead Of NYC Half On the marathon trials he said, "Even with 200 meters to go, I really was still thinking that (I could get him) ...The distance was shrinking so fast that I didn't really ever give up hope until after the finish line."
Ryan Hall Interview On His Recent MRI: Says It Confirmed His Foot Issues Are Plantar Fasciitis Says it's improving and hasn't hindered his training. *MB thread
Aussie Olympic Team
- Ben St Lawrence Blogs On Being Selected For Aussie Olympic Team In The 10k Talks about his subdued celebration after getting the 10k NR last year, comparing it to his "former party-boy days when I would have celebrated winning a game of Mario Kart with a streak through campus and a week-long bender."
- Ryan Gregson Blogs On His 1500m Win Last Weekend On his post race dance: "I'll admit that I didn't nail it properly as I had too much lactic in my legs ... hopefully it will act as a subtle audition tape for Dancing With The Stars."
- Athletics Australia Adds Seventeen To Olympic Nomination List
WP: Marine Corps Marathon Sells Out In 2 Hours And 41 Minutes
News From Jamaica
- Prince Harry False Starts In Run With Bolt, Does Bolt Pose, Tells Jamaican Athletes Not To Come To America
- Yohan Blake To Race Sparingly Leading Up To Olympics
- After Great Winter Training, Yohan Blake Is Dreaming Of Upstaging Usain Bolt And Winning 4 Golds Himself Both Jamaicans are dreaming of 4 golds, but Blake has been hot in training, whereas Bolt is MIA. Blake: "My 4 x 400m training is going really well. I've been really encouraged by my performances."
2012 NCAAs *Men's Accepted Entries *Women's Accepted Entries *Schedule
- Coming Back For 5th Year, Oregon's Brianne Theisen Is The Favorite To Defend Her Pentathlon Title
- Oregonian: On paper, Oregon wins the NCAA women's indoor title again, but there is no margin for error The Ducks are going conservative this year as Lananna claims he's trying to make sure they win PAC-12s outdoors. Last year, they won 67 to 38. This year it will be much closer.
- Lawi Lalang Is Marked Man, But Will It Even Matter As He's So Dominant? We loved the author's description of the MPSF champs, "On a rainy night in Seattle, Arizona sophomore Lawi Lalang was among 17 distance runners squeezed behind the starting line in a race so obscure that it was captured on video only by Flotrack.org."
- 2012 NCAA Indoor Track And Field Men's Field Is Released It took 1:48.56, 3:59.08, 7:52.92 and 13:50.03 to get in as a slew of sub-4s were left home.
- 2012 NCAA Indoor Track And Field Women's Field Is Released It took 2:05.32, 4:38.87, 9:11.49 and 16:03.66 to get in.
- Former Top NCAA Freshmen Like Eric Jenkins (Who Was Only True Frosh At NCAAs Last Year In 1,500) Tells How To Make Transition to College Jenkins twice has gone sub-4 this winter but isn't going to NCAAs this year. Katie Flood: "In high school you can get by on talent, but in college everyone is talented, hard-working, and willing to do the little things. It's a whole new standard."
Fashion Blogger Declares 5 Of 6 Hottest Female Athletes In World Are Track Athletes He uses some retired ones like Amy Acuff.
Olympic Hopeful In The News
After Losing Lottery Funding, British HJer Robbie Grabarz Was Willing To Make An Olympic "Sacrifice" And Live Off His Credit Card "You're prepared to make any sacrifice possible. I had a credit card I was happy to live off until the games," said Grabarz who probably won't need it now that he's gone 2.34 indoors.
Distance News Of Note
Athletics Kenya Releases Probable List Of 64 Names for Olympics 5,000m, 10,000m Teams, Denies It's About The Money Moving Kenyan Trials To Prefontaine Classic If someone says it's not about the money, that usually means it is about the money. The Kenyan officials can't keep their stories straight. Kenyan Athletics General Secretary David Okeyo says the Kenyan athletes will race against the international stars at Pre, while his Kenyan Athletics Chairman Isaiah Kiplagat said they'd race in their own race. And did you see this report that said only 5 Kenyans in each event would be invited to Pre? This currently is one giant mess.
- Kenyan Olympic Team Could Have 3 Masai Family Members On It Dennis, Moses and Linet are all brothers and sisters.
- Runners Tribe Looks At Probable Australian Olympic Team
- Ryo Yamamoto's Mom And Coach Surprised He Likely Made Japanese Olympic Marathon Team Before Sunday, he was only a 2:12 marathoner. Now he's a 2:08 guy (it sure seems like in America most of our 2:12 guys remain 2:12 guys).
- Steve Magness (Asst. Coach Of Galen And Mo) Talks About Measuring Galvanic Skin Response And You LetsRun.com Message Boarders
Bring Back The Mile Getting More News
Bring Back The Mile: Ritz Still Wants A Sub-4 Mile Ritz reveals that he NEVER has run a mile in his life. Shocking. The 1,600m should be abolished. We can see some rationale people have for running 1,500 but none for 1,600m. And Meb Keflezighi also does not have a sub-4 mile.
Leo Manzano Brief Chat: Bring Back The Mile, Winning USAs, The Manzano Mile And More He's running his own Manzano mile later this month. We wish Nike icentivized him to run World Indoors, but London is what matters.
Husband And Coach Of Lucy Kabuu (2:19:34) Is Hoping That A World Record Or At Least A Kenyan Record In London Will Result In Athletics Kenya Changing Course And Naming Kabuu To The Olympic Team Kabuu wasn't on the original list of 6 potential Olympians for Kenya as she'd never run a marathon before her stunning 2:19:34 debut. Husband: "We are currently training to beat either Paula Radcliffe's world record or the Kenya national record held by Catherine Ndereba (2:18:47)."
Random But Interesting Links
- College Runners, We're Sure You'll Ignore This Link
4 Reasons Why Drinking Booze Makes You A Worse Runner 1. Slows recovery 2. Makes you fat 3. Disrupts your sleep 4. Depletes water and nutrients - Kiwi Race Horse Jockey Is Hoping To Make Olympics In Marathon
- Cowtown Marathon "Winner" Who Was DQed For Using Friend's Bib Explains Himself
*MB: Cowtown Marathon Winner DQ'd - 70-Year-Old Japanese Man Qualified For Olympics In equestrian, not marathoning. We do have one question - how old is the horse?
- 60-Year-Old Woman Kathy Martin Tells How She Ran US Record Of 3:10 In Marathon
- A woman is in hospital with serious head injuries after being hit by a competitor's bike at the Abu Dhabi International Triathlon
Aussie Olympic Trials/Melbourne Track Classic Was Friday/Saturday *Results *Gregson's Finish Line Dance
Day 2: Mottram Is Back, Wins 5k; Rudisha Cruises In 800 (Symmonds Struggles), Pearson Impresses Craig Mottram ran away from Collis Birmingham to win the 5,000m in 13:18, David Rudisha crushed the 800m field to win in 1:44 (Nick Symmonds ran 1:48), and world hurdles champ Sally Pearson got a PR in the 200m and her fourth-best
time in the 100m hurdles. Ben True (13:26) and Will Leer ran in the 5km. More From IAAF
*Australian High Performance Manager Is Full Of praise For Mottram "What he did in the race against Collis was tantamount to Mottram re-establishing himself in our psyche that he is the No.1 man over 5,000m.
And once he has that confidence behind him, we then know with the right
training and the right progress he's one of the rare distance athletes that can shake it up with the Africans."
*2-Time
world champion at 400h, Jana Pittman, will start running on Monday but is quickly running out of time to qualify for London 2012
*17-Year-Old Aussie Liz Parnov Likely To Be On Olympic Team
*Sally Pearson After Winning 100m Hurdles In 12.49 Seconds: "Holy crap! I know I can't swear, what can I say? It's really fantastic." *AP Article
*Runner's Tribe Recap
On The Boards: *Symmonds ran 1:48 in Melbourne, Sure, it's March Nick, not August!
*Mottram wins 5000m
Day 1: Ryan Gregson Wins And Does A Dance As Kiprop Falters For 3rd Year In A Row -
Torrence
2nd, Willis Third On a windy day, Asbel Kiprop
had the lead
in the middle but faded to 5th (3:42.52)
as Aussie record holder Ryan Gregson got the win (3:38.51) to prove he's at least temporarily over last year's injury problems. He was followed by Torrence (3:39.32), Willis (3:39.77), Riseley and Kiprop. Kiprop: "I don't know exactly what happened. It was not my day
today ... I did 10 seconds slower than what I was expecting. It
doesn't disappoint me at all."
*AP: Pearson Wins, Frayne Gets TJ Qualifier
IAAF Recap Afterwards, Gregson did a dance at the finish (video embedded to your right or here). Was it because of this tweet?
OTB: Gregson is back!!! (def. Kiprop, etc)
*Gregson's Finishline Dance
*LEER 13:36!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
More:
- Ryan Gregson Has Big Finish In Melbourne
- Interesting: Sally Pearson Has Had One Coach Ever In Her Career The Australian
- Photos From Melbourne Track Classic
Stanley Biwott (59:44) Becomes 1st Man To Break 1 Hr At Paris Half
10.74 Wins Jamaica's Under-20 100m Title As Race Was Run Into 4.4 Headwind
News From Europe
- Then Let's Hope That He's Already Done The Same To His Teammate Christine Ohuruogu - If Not, He's A Hypocrite
Dai Greene Says He'll Happily Tell LaShawn Merritt He's A Cheat To His Face "If I'm in the relay team and we reach the final then there's every chance we'll be lining up against Merritt. I'll tell you now, I'll happily go and find him at the start and tell him to his face: 'You're a cheat and you shouldn't be here.'" - Seb Coe's Anti-Doping Quote Is Quote Of Week For Irish Independent "I broke 12 world records and won two Olympic titles and would no more have taken any supplement than jumped off Beachy Head."
- An Interview With European Jr. 100 Champ Jimmy Vicaut, Who Recently Got Hurt It's hard to believe that a guy with a 10.07 PR was 6th at the World Champs last summer, but that's exactly where Vicaut finished.
- 2-Time World Champion And 2-Time Olympic Silver Medallist Fiona May, Who Switched Allegiances From Britain To Italy, Defends Shara Proctor She says the Brits need to leave "plastic Brit" and new UK LJ record holder Shara Proctor alone.
Also From Last Weekend
A Current & Future Marathoner In The News
Meet The Triathlon Coach Who Taught Ryan Hall He Needed To Recover More No, the name of "Mr. Recovery" isn't God - it's Matt Dixon. Dixon seems to be a smart guy who had one triathlete cut his "volume by 30
percent, added
easier workouts and had
him eat more." We'd say that would help 90% of all distance runners if only instead of cutting their volume by 30%, they increased it by 30%.
"Our goal is not to train as hard as we can, but to perform well."
Salazar Says "Mea Culpa" And Takes Blame For Aggressive Race Plan That Blew Up And Cost Galen Rupp 3k Spot In Albuquerque They knew sitting and kicking would result in a Lagat slaughter, so they tried to take it out hard but they underestimated Lopez Lomong. "(Lomong's) always been a great runner," Salazar said. "We totally
respect him. But he hadn't run a distance race in a while. We
underestimated what he could do. It was a mistake."
More Tokyo Marathon News *Tokyo Photos
- Gebrselassie Has Some Words Of Encouragement For Kawauchi Kawauchi is an amateur runner with a real job who ran 2:08 marathon in Tokyo last year to become a letsrun.com cult hero. This year at Tokyo, he was 14th and shaved his head bald in penitence afterwards. Gebrselassie saw a picture of him and said, "You cannot give up. If today was a bad day then you must look to tomorrow, and then to think of next year. There is no other choice." Kawauchi has plans to run the Düsseldorf Marathon April 29.
- Group Training Isn't Always Better: 2:07:48 Guy Arata Fujiwara Quit His Corporate Team To Train On His Own Believe in yourself.
Distance News
- Pamela Jelimo Is Back From Injury And Ridicule And Wants To Run 1:55, 1:56 Again She got three profiles Tuesday in Kenya. The others are here and here. Plus we're trying to figure out if she is now coached by former ASU runner Ben Engelhardt.
- Good Read: Nice Recap Of Andy Bayer's Triple At Big 10s From friend of LRC Brett Hess.
- Decision On Whether Olympic Trials Of Some Kenyan Distance Races Will Be Held At Pre Classic To Be Decided At World Indoors
- Bekele To Run SPAR Great Ireland Run April 15
- Olympic Silver Medallist Hezekiel Sepeng Trying To Find Olympic 800m Champ For S. Africa "Our 400m runners are actually 800m runners - they're just lazy." We wonder what Oscar P could run for 800.
- Alan Culpepper: "What we've shown in the last five or six years is that we're developing a lot runners who can run fast times and run at a high level, but we need is a next phase of runners who know how to compete at a high level."
- UC Riverside To Dedicate New Track On Friday After Chancellor Discovered How Bad It Was On "Undercover Boss"
More On US Champs
- Chaunte Lowe Sets American HJ Record At 6' 71/2"
- Interview With Galen Rupp On His 3k And 1,500 Losses At US Indoor Champs On the 3k, he says, "I just died. It was pretty simple. I just died at the end ... no need to over think it or over complicate it; I just ran out of gas."
- Sanya Richards-Ross Celebrated Her Birthday By Getting 400m WL With 50.71 At US Champs Article also mentions (and it's worth noting) that neither David Oliver nor Terrence Trammell made the 60m hurdles final.
- IAAF Recap Day 2: 4 New World Leads Highlight Along with Sanya Richards-Ross' time, Trell Kimmons got the WL in the 60m in 6.41, Tianna Madison in the women’s 60m at 7.02 and Kristi Castlin in the women's 60m hurdles at 7.84.
USATF Indoors *Results *LRC Day 1 Photo Gallery *LRC Day 2 Photo Gallery *Race Videos
Sunday: LRC Manzano Outkicks Centrowitz And Rupp To Win 1,500, Simpson Holds Off Martinez (Updated) Two weeks ago, Manzano ran 3:57 in his opener but was last place
in a super-stacked mile in Arkansas. In the women's 1,500m, Jenny Simpson edged Brenda Martinez, showing Martinez is the real deal (Martinez had by FAR the best finish as she got boxed and was 6-7 meters back with 100m to go and barely lost), and Sanya Richards-Ross ran a 50.71 meet record. Chaunte Lowe set an American record in the women's high jump, showing she is more than back from maternity leave. Distance recaps, results, and videos with winners.
*Ashton Eaton Wins LJ With A New PR
On The Boards: Manzano outkicks Centrowitz and Rupp!
Really, what
happened Rupp in the last two laps tonight?
LRC USATF Indoor Men's 3k: Lagat, Lomong Crush Rupp (Updated w/ video interviews) Galen Rupp pushed the pace early, hoping his 12th attempt at beating powerhouse Lagat would be the charm, but was badly dropped before the
bell, unable to challenge Lagat, who then crushed Lopez Lomong with a 25-second
last lap. On to Worlds
for Lagat, where he may be the favorite to
defend his title. Like Lagat, Jenny
Simpson ran away with the women's 3,000m title. Find out why she won't be running in Istanbul.
*IAAF Recap Day 1 Will Claye jumped 17.63m in the TJ for the furthest mark by an American in 23 years.
*Jennifer Suhr Overcomes Aching Achilles To Win PV At US Champs She only had to clear two heights and then made 3 attempts to break her own AR, but missed.
*Results *LRC Official USA Indoor TNF Champs ABQ Thread
*Lagat: "I just wanted to show these guys that Daddy can still kick." RRW Recap
*USATF Recap
Stockholm - *Results *Video Of PV WR *More Yahoo Photos Of Record
World Record For Yelena Isinbayeva (Updated) In case you wondered, Yelena Isinbayeva is fully back as she went 5.01 for the world record. Asked whether anyone could beat her this year, she said, "I think you can answer that question yourself," in reference to her 29cm winning margin. Isiah Koech won the 3k over Dejen Gebremeskel, Caleb Ndiku
and 7:29.94
man from earlier this year Augustine Choge. Morgan Uceny ran 4:08 to get a close 3rd in the 1,500m as Anna Pierce struggled again.
*Dayron Robles Wins Stockholm 60m Hurdles As Liu Xiang Is DQed For A False Start
*"Yelena Isinbayeva Is At Her Best When Challenged"
Week That Was
LRC Pamela Jelimo, Nick Symmonds Medal Chances Go Down, Good News For Ritz, Coaching Advice Of The Week And Photos Of The Week We catch you up on the goings-on of the running world in LetsRun.com fashion. The biggest news of the week was at a race you probably didn't even know took place.
A Definite Recommended Read & Discuss
Sports Illustrated & Tim Layden Profile Mo Farah & Galen Rupp: A Bond Born At Speed The two training partners clearly will have vastly different amounts of pressure on them at the London Games and it's clear that Rupp is happy to not be in the spotlight: "I don't envy Mo. He's going to have a bunch of people cheering for
him, but all that stress. It's nice sometimes to just train
and not have all that external stuff."
MB: Rupp 10.9 and Farah 11.3 for the 100m *Do you believe the rest of the SI article about Rupp & Farah? 8 x 1200 at 4,551 Ft Altitude in 3:09/2min rest? *Alberto Salazar's coaching pre-Galen Rupp *Does
Rupp have any
realistic chance of beating Lagat this weekend?
Sydney Track Classic *Results
Kiprop 1:45.9, Rudisha 45.61, David Torrence 3:35.6 Wins The Australian season got underway in full force with the two best mid-distance runners, Olympic and World 1,500m champ Asbel Kiprop and World 800m champ David Rudisha, both dropping down in distance. Rudisha ran 45.61 at 400, while Kiprop got the 800m win in 1:45.9. Kiprop dropping down let American David Torrence win the 1,500 in 3:35.6. World hurdles champ Sally Pearson did the hurdles/200m double. Nick Symmonds did not have his kick and was a well-beaten 6th in 1:47.44, which is a pretty good opener.
Kenyan XC Champs
Bedan Karoki, Joyce Chepkirui Win The Toughest XC Race On The Planet Karoki is the Japanese-based athlete who won the Stanford 10,000m last year. Chepkirui had a breakout year in 2011, running 30:38 on the roads (prior to last
year, she had never broken 33 minutes) and ran 31:26 to win the Zatopek 10k. World and NYC Marathon champ Edna Kiplagat was 3rd, while former World XC Champ Joseph Ebuya was 49th.
*Bedan Karoki Says Kenyan XC Was Part Of Buildup For Fukuoka Marathon (Which Is In December)
LRC Track Talk Live From Kenya Employee #1 has been in Kenya for 2 weeks, meeting with many of the sport's stars. In this 45-minute broadcast, get the inside scoop.
Upcoming
Meb, Ritz, Kara And Desi To Run 2012 NYC Half Also sponsorless man Scott Bauhs will run as will a bunch of other Americans, including 2009 WChamps 5,000 team member Julie Culley in her
13.1 debut.
*AP
*Transcript Of Meb, Bob Larsen & Mary Wittenberg Teleconference (Word document) Meb reveals that his wife ran a 5k in 26:05,
officially eliminating their children as #1 prospects for the class of 2030.
*Denver
Post Catches Up With Ritz, Who Is Excited To Get Back To The Track - Ritz: "I still think I'm one of the best runners in the world."
*Ritz Blogs About His Recent Training: "I got out my spikes for the first time in two and a half years."
2012 Millrose Games *Results *Lagat, Wanamaker Mile Video
- LRC: Lagat Smashes American Record, Collegiate Record Books Rewritten Bernard Lagat ran 13:07.15 and smashed Galen Rupp's American indoor record, but the most impressive achievements may have been the rewriting of the collegiate record books. Lawi Lalang (13:08) not only obliterated the old indoor record but he ran faster than Henry Rono's nearly 34-year-old outdoor record. Chris Derrick got beaten badly but becomes the 5th-fastest collegian in the US indoors or outdoors. In the Wanamaker mile, Matt Centrowitz reminded us why he won the bronze medal at Worlds and Miles Batty broke the collegiate record.
Dubai *LRC Recap *Results
LRC Hello World, Meet Ayele Abshero (2:04:23 Debut!) The 21-year-old former Jr. World XC champ's marathon debut was super-special, as his surge with just over 3km remaining decimated
the deepest
marathon field in history, as four
men broke 2:05 in the race, eight broke 2:06, 10 broke 2:07, and 17 broke 2:10 - all records as fastest-ever times for places were recorded in spots three through
17. 2011 belonged to the Kenyan men, will 2012 belong to Ethiopia? The women's race was super-fast and super-deep as well, as 3 women broke 2:20 in the same race for the 1st time, as Aselefech Mergia ran 2:19:31 to win and a record 9 women broken 2:25. Martin Lel was a DNF, Ramaala 2:12. *AP
*Butcher: Ethiopians Strike Back
*MB: 4 guys I've never heard of go sub 2:05 in Dubai
US Women's Olympic Trials Marathon News *LRC Vote Totals *Men's Results *Women's Results *Yahoo Flash Photos
Flanagan Over Davila, Goucher Gets Third As Top 4 All Break Old OTrials Record Flanagan (2:25:38) pulled away from Davila (2:25:55) and Goucher was third in 2:26:06. Amy Hastings broke the old Trials record at 2:27:17 but didn't make the team. Deena Kastor was 6th in 2:30:40.
- New: Amy Hastings Reacts To Fourth Place Finish Obviously disappointed, but a good run for Amy.
- Post-Race Reaction None of the four former Olympic marathoners in the race made the team. Hear from the top 3 and them.
- Women's Results
- Goucher: "I never imagined myself winning this race based on the short period of time I had to train." Oregonian
New Balance HS Nationals Are Also This Weekend
*Start Lists Edward Cheserek listed in the mile, 2 mile, SMR, and DMR.
*NBIN Preview: Girls 5k
*NBIN Who To Watch: Boys Distance
*17-8 Outdoor PV For HSer Shawn Barber (#11 All-Time)
Prince Harry Over Usain Bolt
Ryan Gregson Talks About His Post-Race Dance Inspired By NFL Football And Trying To Party In New York, Miami, Bahamas, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Cancun, Las Vegas In 3 Weeks
Assorted News
- Punk Rock British 800m Runner Joe Thomas, With His Piercings And Tattoos, Lives At Home With His Parents The guy doesn't follow the sport much and was upset he had to give up concert tickets to run the Aviva Grand Prix.
- Worth A Look: NY Times: Iraqi Athletes Face Many Challenges While Pursuing Their Olympic Dreams
- Science Of The Sport Debates Talent Vs. Training Against Father Of "10,000 Hour Rule"
- After Beating Galen Rupp Over 3k At US Champs, Might Lopez Lomong Move Up From The 1,500 To The 5k?
Can You Do The Gregson? Ryan Gregon's Dance After Winning 1,500m In Melbourne (We Know He Loves Whitney Houston)
The Votes Are In ... Final Puma Faas Winners
LRC The Amazing People Who Are The Final Winners Of The LRC Puma Faas Challenge The final winners in the LRC Puma Faas Challenge whom you helped us select are simply amazing. We've got Olympic Trials runners, a guy with incurable cancer who just
wants to run 16-minute miles, a guy who hit by car going 35mph while running and still wants to break 4:00 in the mile, Nick Symmonds' college teammate, a guy who has run 50,000
miles and never run in Pumas, a 69-year-old who won marathons in the '60s, '70s, and '80s and made
the 1980 Olympic Marathon Trials, a former LetsRun.com cult hero, and a woman who has a 5-year running streak going that includes two pregnancies and two births. Crazy Unbelievable people. Puma wanted to prove its Faas line is for hard-core runners and what better way to do it than give away 100 pairs of shoes to put to the test.
The Weekly Review
LRC Week That Was: USA Indoors, Your Top 50 Hopefuls For The Olympic Trials, Geb, Geb And Geb, Kawauchi, Peter Rono's Son, And Some New 800m Talent We span the globe to give you insight into the running world. If you want to know what is going on, click through. If you want to be uninformed, don't. Plus learn about the proprietor of Johnsonrunning.com.
International News Of Note
- Canadian Runners Sheila Reid, Megan Brown And Kate Van Buskirk In Video With "Women's Perspective On Competitive Running" Van Buskirk: "You've got five to eight years left in this (sport) for yourself, and after that you'll have another 60 years to do whatever you want with your life."
- Former All-American Sammy Nyamongo Back In Kenya Coaching And Working To "Expose More Kenyans To The American Circuit"
- Ridiculous: Japanese HSers Barred From Competition For 6 Months After Transferring No special consideration was given even though they transferred due to effects from last year's earthquake disaster.
Non-World Indoor Sprint News
- Oscar P Runs 22.03 200m In S. Africa After Giving Up Last 50
- Irish Record Holder David Gillick Has Switched Back To His Old Coach, Ready To Qualify For London
Abel Kirui Victory Dance - Barcelona Half Marathon
Day 2 USATF Indoor Photos (Tokyo Marathon Photos Here)
Day 1 USATF Indoor Photos
Fabulous Read:
San Diego Tribune On Eamonn Coghlan's World Record In Indoor Mile 31 Years Ago We can give this the attention it deserves after this weekend's action.
Leo Wins And Talks About How Hard It Is To Stay On Top (More Mile/800 Coverage Here, 3,000m Here)
Brenda Martinez On (Almost) Running Down Jenny (More Mile/800 Coverage Here, 3,000m Here)
Spend 10 Minutes To Get To Know The World's Best(?) Marathoner Patrick Makau (Also Has Footage Of Him Training In Kenya)
Race Of The Week: Kipchoge Outkicks Farah In 2-Mile (Final 500 Or Full Race)
LetsRun.com Track Talk Live From Kenya: Friday's Live Show Is Now Available On Demand In The Player Below (Or Download It Here)
Rupp's 2-Mile American Record From Arkansas (Last 2:20 Or The Full Race)
Final 400 (Or Full Race) Of Lagat's American Record (Wanamaker Mile Video Here)
Photo Gallery: Rupp Makes History (Interview Below Or Here)
USA XC Photo Galleries *Women Here *Men Here
Trailer For "ITEN - The Town Of RED Dust"
NCAA Women's Photo Gallery
NCAA Men's Photo Gallery (500+ Photos)
Training Corner (More In The Training Forum)
Universal Sports Back To Top