- Marathon Great Takeyuki Nakayama criticizes boring rabbitted races - "The Marathon is a Drama Without a Script - When it's just the same old script it's boring as hell" Nakamyama, who was 4th at both the 1988 and 1992 Olympic marathons, famously went out in 61:55 in Fukuoka in 1987 when the WR was 2:07:12.
*MB: RR: Japanese marathon legend takes shot at today's rabbited races. "When it's just the same old script it's boring as hell" - A conversation with Canadian icon Bruce Kidd Kidd was once called “a symbol of Canadian manhood” by former Toronto mayor Nathan Phillips. At 18, he ran 13:42 for 5k. At 19, he won CG gold and bronze. He talks about his memoir 'A Runner's Journey'. Purchase here.
Archived Homepage For December 17, 2021
Archived Homepage For December 17, 2021
Past Legends Speak & We Listen
Mboma should be in the intersex division but this is still an interesting read
- Good read: When she was 13, friends started abandoning Christine Mboma, now she's an Olympic medallist and star in Namibia They weren't abandoning her because the intersex athlete was hitting puberty. They were abandoning her because her mother died and she was an orphan and many in Africa "superstitiously believe they carry misfortune."
- Athletics Kenya toured the country to see what the athletes were worried about and many lamented about the "the continuous exploitation of young female athletes by unscrupulous coaches and managers"
- European U20 xc champ Megan Keith: "I was completely certain someone was going to pass on the finish straight so didn’t believe it until I crossed the line”. She has track pbs of 4:19/9:16/16:08.
On The Boards
On The Boards
Did you know their is a 17-yr old Danish guy who might be able to beat the Newbury Park boys as he's run 7:59/13:44?
This Week's Podcast - Nick Willis (Guest)+ Eurocross, Eastbay's, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Allie O Steps Back, Danish Juniors Better than Newbury Park?
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*MB: Axel Vang Christensen
Rojo and French coach Pierre Jean Vazel talk about the impact of Super Shoes
Have you checked out Anna Legnani's new youtube show Love Athletics? Legnani was the former deputy director of communications for the IAAF.
Award Season Is Upon US
- The 2021 Presentation of The Bowerman is Friday at 7 pm ET - Watch it live ESPN's John Anderson will be the emcee. A full list of past winners can be found here.
- Watch the USTFCCCA 2021 Coaches Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Many had great careers, but there are way too many HOFers and All-Americans in our sport.
RIP Matt and Al
Runnerspace/Dyestat Remembers Matt Scherer: Matt Scherer's Passing Leaves A Void In Our Lives Scherer did it all in helping promote our beloved sport. He will be missed. The funeral service is Saturday in Illinois at 10:00 am local and will be live streamed.
*Fundraiser for his 4-year old daughter
*Obituary
Good read: Legends of the sport - including Alberto Juantorena, Dan O'Brien, Francie Larreau-Smith - remember Al Franken A slew of great memories have been compiled by Jeff Benjamin. We loved this quote from Ray Flynn. "There wasn't anyone he didn't know in track field and he didn't take no for an answer. "
Book Review
Wightman, the stadium announcer for the Tokyo Olympics and father/coach of Olympic 1500 finalist Jake Wightman, has written a book full of behind-the-scenes stories in the leadup to last summer's Olympics.
Odds and Ends
- Great news: Diamond League reverses course and says field eventers with best mark will be the winner, not just those with the best 6th round A few changes do remain. Only the top 3 will get a sixth attempt which will take place when all track competition is halted. and the top 3 will throw first in each round.
- World Athletics partner Asics is working hard to reduce its carbon footprint In Tokyo, the Japanese athletes wore clothes "made from recycled clothes donated from around the country."
- You can now call her Dr Thompson-Herah! Elaine Thompson conferred with honorary Doctor of Law degree by the University of Technology
- 5 stretches you can do in your door frame
Week That Was
We recap the week in running from the Euro cross country champs to the USATF Club Nationals to the high school ranks to Bahrain.
Newbury Park Was Great At RunningLane - But How Great?
- The day before RunningLane nationals, a high school coach wheeled the notoriously fast John Hunt Park course in Huntsville and measured it at 4935m. But that doesn't tell the whole story.
- MB: Is the RunningLane Course 5K? Or Is It Short?
Kenyan Distance News
- World Athletics Profile: Mary Keitany - From Shoeless Prodigy To Top Of The World The 4-time NYC Marathon champ Keitany grew up very poor and had to spend months at a time away from her family working as a live-in maid to help support her parents. She says she had no shoes for much of her childhood.
- BBC: What Milestones Are Left For Eliud Kipchoge? Kipchoge: "A lot is still in my bucket list but the main one is to run all six major marathons and win all of them - that's my next challenge." Kipchoge still needs to win Boston, NYC and Tokyo.
*Eliud Kipchoge Says He'd Still Like To Improve His Half-Marathon PB (59:25) And Run An Official Sub-2 Hour Marathon
- Sad News: Kenyan African Games 10,000m Runner Monica Chirchir Dies From Cancer She had been battling colon cancer since last year.
Other News
- Vote For Your Best Diamond League Moments Of 2021
- Olympic Champ Katie Nageotte And Sandi Morris Announced For Millrose Games Pole Vault
- World Athletics: Five Books To Make You Rethink Your Running List includes Christopher McDougall's Born to Run.
- NCAA Athletes Of The Week Are BYU's Aack McWhorter And Kentucky's Abby Steiner McWhorter matched the #8 best PV in NCAA history with 5.82m while Steiner broke the collegiate 300m record with 35.80.
Women's Distance News
- MB: Allie O Leaves Brooks, Takes Step Back from Pro Running "This was an incredibly difficult decision because my passion for running and competition is as strong as ever; however, the string of injuries that I experienced throughout the last year and a half has made it evident that my body cannot currently handle the volume and intensity of training that is necessary to be a professional runner."
- Irish Times: Fionnuala McCormack Showed Her Powers Of Recovery At Euro XC Champs She finished 9th just a week after running her 2:23:58 marathon PB in Valencia.
- GB 800m Runner Alex Bell Explains Why She Was Back Working As A Shoe Salesman A Few Weeks After Making The Final At The Tokyo Olympics “They were quite surprised that I wanted to come back but it was part of my life. I’ve always liked to have a different element to my week." However, now that she's on UK Sport funding, she's stopped working.
Doping News
- WADA President Witold Bańka Writes Open Letter To Athletes "When we are young and dreaming of winning an Olympic or Paralympic medal, we do not think about breaking the rules to do it. Instinctively, we know we want to win the right way."
- Russia Sanctioned By World Triathlon Due To Number Of Doping Cases Among the sanctions is a one-year ban on the Russian Triathlon Federation.
General Olympic News
- It Wouldn't Be The Worst Olympic Sport: Could Cornhole Become An Olympic Sport? Sounds like a joke, but apparently a few years ago cornhole got better TV ratings on a given weekend than MLB and the final stage of the Tour de France.
- Pretty Funny: A 5-Foot Tall Glasgow 2014 Mascot Statue Has Been Found After A 7-Year Police Search It was stolen and has apparently just been chilling in someone's garden since then.
- Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony Will Be Held On Seine River With Free Access For Spectators Athletes will travel down the river in boats on a six kilometer route. *NY Times *USA Today
- USA Gymnastics And USOPC Agree To $380 Million Settlement With Larry Nassar Sexual Harassment Victims
Your latest American stars share their insights.
American Record Holders
American Record Holders
Keira D'Amato, the new American record holder in the marathon, was joined by Deena Kastor, who held the record for 15 years.
Sisson was the guest on the LetsRun.com Track Talk podcast after she became the first American to go sub 67 in the half marathon on a record-eligible course. Podcast highlights above. Full pod here.
Woody Kincaid joined us after he broke the American record indoors at 5000. He talks above why he left the Bowerman Track Club. Podcast highlights and link to full podcast here.
Coogan's New Balance Boston team had 3 Olympians in 2021 and 2022 could be the biggest year yet for the program with 2 new additions and the TRACK at New Balance coming on March 1st.
Danny Mackey has taken the Brooks Beasts from an unproven club to the Olympic podium in its first decade.
Dathan Ritzenhein is the first of the top pro coaches to sit down and talk about his club heading into the 2022 campaign.
Best of Jon Gault
Best of Jon Gault
Take Your Love of LetsRun to the Next Level
Take Your Love of LetsRun to the Next Level
LetsRun Classics
LetsRun Classics
‒ Japanese marathon legend Takeyuki Nakayama, who was twice 4th at the Olympics, talking about why he went out in 61:55 at the 1987 Fukuoka Marathon when the world record was 2:07:12.
*MB: RR: Japanese marathon legend takes shot at today's rabbited races. "When it's just the same old script it's boring as hell"