THE NIGHT OF FLANDERS TRAILER from Michele Cinque on Vimeo.
Check out the movie "Top Runner" about ultra runner Giorgio Calcaterra.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
mzungo midweek movie: The Night of Flanders
Check out the movie "Top Runner" about ultra runner Giorgio Calcaterra.
The Truth
"Here someone complains about the Kenyans winning the Azalea Trail Run. That's enough of that bellyaching and crying. If you want to be the best, you beat the best. Until we start putting runners in that can whoop the Kenyans, let them keep winning. If you take the Kenyans out of the race, it will be a watered-down piece of garbage. You'd just be giving titles to people. You have to win on your own merits, talent and skill. We always want something in America given to us for nothing. Work for it for a change and stop crying, whining and bellyaching about every little thing."
mzungo says: who is that guy? We're your fans! And while we're at it: can we please scratch AG awards for people younger than - say - 50? Just STFU and run. Happy Wednesday all!
We're sure you noticed: some Kenyans running barefoot at WXC
And their national newspaper finds it worthy enough to have an article on it.
Here come the Kenyans part 2: WXC welcome party at Jomo Kenyatta
Daily Nation reportsNumerous honking cars and matatus full of exuberant relatives, decorated with an explosion of colours were at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on Tuesday evening in time to receive the triumphant kings and queens of open country running.
They came a few carloads at a time, some tailgating in the JKIA parking lot, others simply whooping and high-fiving and laughing the hours away.
By the time the conquering national Cross Country team landed at JKIA at around 6:31pm from Bydgoszcz where they won a clean sweep of the races on offer - senior men and women, junior men and women together with the team title - about 3, 000 well-wishers and relatives had assembled.
“I’m happy to be back home. It was a fruitful trip and I’m delighted with this win,” said a joyous Joseph Ebuya, winner of the men’s senior title, after a 10-year hiatus.
“I’m now focusing on the World Championships and the next World Cross Country.”
Everyone jostled to have a glimpse of the champions.
“We are extremely happy to have these kinds of results and this is a great day for Kenya,” remarked Youth and Sports Minister Hellen Sambili. “There’s need to revise (upwards) the bonuses these athletes are getting.”
I couldn’t agree more with the minister: These world conquerors certainly deserve more.
“I couldn’t believe it. Linet (Masai) was pushing me really hard but when I saw the finishing line, I knew this was my chance and went ahead to grab it,” said Emily Chebet, the senior women’s gold medalist. “The Ethiopians couldn’t believe it, they were very sad and shocked. But we were happy.”
Vantage position
The juniour men’s champion, Caleb Mwangangi, was equally elated. “The best I had ever done was a silver medal last year during the World Youth Championships in Italy,” Mwangangi said. “The party has just started in Mwala (his birthplace in Machakos).”
The junior women’s team returned their first perfect score in 10 years after the class of Villamoura 2000, comprising among others, Vivian Cheruiyot and Alice Timbilil, swept the boards in the junior contest in Portugal.
Mercy Cherono, the 2010 junior women’s champion, knew it was ‘war’ from the gun.
“The moment the gun went, I knew this was going to be a tough race. The Ethiopians had given us trouble for a long time. But one can’t keep on winning all days. Our time had come,” said Cherono.
On Sunday, she shook off the challenge of Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba to win the gold, the only medal missing in her collection as a junior. In Amman last year, Cherono had to watch as Dibaba came from behind in the final 200 metres to win the gold.
This year, it was Cherono who did the pace and running to claim gold as she romped home in 18 minutes and 47 seconds leading a 1-2-3-4 finish for Kenya.
But head coach David Letting remains humble. Rather than bask in the glory, he has already set his sights on the next event.
“We need to start to prepare early for our next event. Preparations must start tomorrow. I’m confident that a bulk of this team will be in top gear before the next championships,” Letting said.
Maintain the tempo
When the team landed, joyous shouts rent the air as everyone squeezed for a vantage position to welcome the champions like many would do with Usain Bolt or the world Cup trophy, with every single step of every athlete being captured Live on NTV.
“How can I miss this chance to welcome my friend back home? He’s done us proud and the party won’t stop in our village in Mwala,” said Benson Mutuku, a close friend to junior men gold medalist, Mwangangi.
“This is a very rare chance for our national athletics team. We need to maintain the tempo and claim more races in future,” said Bob Cheruiyot, a Satellite Academy student at the airport. “It gives us the morale to work even harder in our races. They are true role models.”
Security men at the usually busy airport had a difficult time controlling the crowd and not even the evening downpour was to deny them the chance to dance and sing their hearts out; after all, their brothers and sisters were back home.
After emerging from the glass door at the International Arrivals, the athletes and management acknowledged the adulation channeled in their direction by hundreds of flag-waving fans.
Journalists would be seen gate-crashing into ‘small family re-unions’ for interviews from family members, friends and even the junior school teachers.
There would be no denying of a Kenyan festival for a long time.
President Kibaki will host the team on Wednesday at State House from 10.30am before they leave for lunch at Panari Centre from 1pm.
Here come the Kenyans part 1: Crescent City Classic 10k in New Orleans this weekend
Bob Marshall, The Times-PicayuneImagine you're a football player taking the field against Florida, or a basketball player going up against Duke or Connecticut, or a major leaguer facing the Yankees.
Now you know how American distance runners feel when they look at an entry sheet and see "Kenya" listed next to "country."
They know when they approach the starting line and see that group of wraith-like Africans who seem to be just skin, bones and running shoes that winning isn't in the cards.
And placing probably isn't, either.
"The thing about the Kenyans is the depth of talent. It's just insane, " said Nate Jenkins, a veteran American road racer who is preparing for The Times-Picayune Crescent City Classic on Saturday. The field that will include at least a dozen Kenyans capable of winning the 10K test.
"There are probably five Americans who can compete with the top five from Kenya on a good day, " Jenkins said. "But the thing is, the 20th guy from Kenya might be just as good as their No. 5 guy. Every race I enter, I know there will be five or six guys from Kenya, and they might even be guys I've never heard anything about, but I know they are going to be tough. There just seems to be no end to the talent."
There's been no end to it at the CCC, where it seems the only way an American runner can win is if Kenyans are banned.
Kenyan men have won the past 12 events and 17 of the 31 events in the Classic's history. They were not allowed to compete for the title in 1995 through 1997 because the race was the United States Championships. Runners from African nations have won 20 of the 28 CCC titles open to them. Kenyan women have been only slightly less dominant, winning 11 of the past 15.
The domination is not reflective of the relative profiles of the two nations.
The United States has a population of 308 million producing the world's largest economy, with an average family income of $50,000, a poverty level of 16 percent and a life expectancy of 74 years for men and 80 for women.
Kenya has 38 million people, 50 percent of whom live in poverty, an annual family income of about $300 and a life expectancy of about 57 for men and 58 for women.
So why does poverty-stricken, malnourished Kenya dominate distance running?
Jenkins said it's the perfect marriage of genetics, economic environment and great work ethic.
A population that has evolved over eons in high altitudes (the average altitude in the country's Western Highlands is more than 6,000 feet) has become efficient at using oxygen, a key to excelling at distance running.
And experience has shown Kenyans that success at running can be a quick route out of poverty for themselves and their families.
"Genetics certainly play a part. There's an aspect to growing up at high altitudes that I think is a real benefit for a runner, especially if he comes from generations that have grown up there, " Jenkins said. "But I think a bigger factor would be the same one for why so many great basketball players in the U.S. come from the inner cities. Basketball is the culture in our inner cities, and running is the culture in Kenya.
"There are really only two sports in Kenya -- soccer and running. Soccer requires resources -- balls, fields, goals -- and most people are too poor to even afford that. But to be a runner, all you need is a pair of shoes, a lot of hard work and talent. And it seems everyone there has those three things, so everybody trains as a runner at some point."
The result is an almost assembly line of new world-class distance runners hitting the American road race circuit every year. And since what they can earn just placing on the circuit is many times more than their entire family will bring home in a year, most Kenyans work at staying competitive well into their 30s. It has produced a backlog that makes the start at the CCC now look like a Kenyan national championship.
Although the sight can be intimidating, Jenkins said it should also serve as a challenge to the American running community.
"It gives us something to aim for, " He said. "Competing against that kind of quality athlete can only makes us better.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
The Mayor of Central Park
Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times
Relatively few runners ventured out in the cold, gray drizzle to circle the Central Park Reservoir on Sunday, but many of those who did stopped, some in tears, to pay tribute to one of the reservoir’s most colorful and enduring figures.
A memorial at the South Gate House of the Central Park Reservoir for Alberto Arroyo, who died on Thursday at 94. He used to preside over the running track from a bench there.
An improvised memorial had been assembled at the South Gate House, where Alberto Arroyo, who had been called the mayor of Central Park, held court from a bench each day, waving and offering advice to friends and strangers alike, massaging the feet of fellow runners and even standing on his head.
Mr. Arroyo, 94, a retired clerk, died at a Manhattan nursing home on Thursday, but some runners on Sunday learned of his death only by reading the obituary that had been taped on a gate house window, next to photographs of him and a few flowers.
One of those runners, Patty Karbowski, 37, said through tears that “anyone who has run around the reservoir for years has met him, has run with him.”
Ms. Karbowski said she met Mr. Arroyo seven years ago and last saw him in January at the nursing home.
“He’d been sick for a while,” she added. “I just knew the day was coming soon.”
Mr. Arroyo had been a presence at the reservoir for decades and even claimed to have been the first person to jog around it — using what was then a maintenance footpath. He said he first took the footpath in 1937, after a policeman told him to stop running on the bridle path just below the footpath because he was disturbing the horses.
When he was not running the 1.6-mile oval several times daily, he sat on the bench, spending up to 10 hours in the park every day. Eventually, a plaque was put on the bench with his name on it.
“We always questioned, ‘Who was this guy?’ ” said Keith Lite, 51, who was walking around the reservoir on Sunday with his son, Zack, 17. “He was almost a beacon. You’d run and see him and think, I can’t be that tired if he’s still here.”
Judith Clements, 66, who had known Mr. Arroyo for 20 years and received foot massages that she described as “spiritual,” called him an inspiration. “The reservoir was his whole life. He was a fixture here,” she said.
After a stroke in 2008, Mr. Arroyo was no longer able to make it around the reservoir on foot, so friends volunteered to push him in a wheelchair. Marty Barolsky, 64, said he was one of the 15 or so volunteers who took turns wheeling him clockwise around the reservoir so that he could greet the runners going in the other direction.
“Everybody waved, ‘Hey, Alberto! You’re looking great!’ ” Mr. Barolsky said of their last circuit together in February. “He was the grand guru of jogging, and when you pushed him into Central Park, he went from a regular guy in a wheelchair to a celebrity.”
Paul Tergat happy after WXC
Daily Nation reportsNo one knows better how agonising it has been watching the Belgian, Ethiopian and Eritrean rivals devour Kenyans in cross country running over the last 11 years than John Ngugi and Paul Tergat.
However, the two legends can now lie back and relax after what they described as a long-over due victory in the senior men’s 12 kilometre race by compatriot Joseph Ebuya at Sunday’s 38th IAAF World Cross Country Championships.
But they regret that they were not part of those historic moments in Bydgoszcz, Poland, when Ebuya finally reclaimed the title Kenya last won in 1999 through the 39-year-old Tergat at the end of a record-setting five straight wins in Belfast, Ireland.
Clean sweep
Tergat could not hold back his joy as he watched Sunday’s race from Cape Town as the Kenyan team obliterated its opponents for a clean sweep of both the individual and team titles.
Interestingly, both Tergat and Ngugi expected the clean sweep considering the high morale and intensive but well coordinated pre-competition training at Kigari, Embu.
For Tergat, it was double joy as on Monday, he was conferred with a Honorary Doctorate at the University of the Western Cape.
“It (Kenya’s victory) was spectacular and historic,” said Tergat by telephone. “That is the way to go although it was long over due.”
“I am really happy that, at least, I will be a happy man even if God is to decide to call me now since someone has taken the cross country baton from me,” the ecstatic Tergat said.
1999 memories
Tergat said it has been hard and difficult not only for him but the country as a whole. Tergat reminisces that Ebuya’s win brought back the 1999 memories from Belfast.
Ngugi said he was proud of the team for erasing the pain.
“I told the team during a dinner party that myself, Tergat and (another previous winner) William Sigei were never born champions. It’s hard work and easy fight that produce conquerors,” Ngugi said.
Ngugi, 48, said the fear for Ethiopians, especially six-time champion Kenenisa Bekele, is what caused the 11-year dry spell.
“During my time, rivals feared my presence and that gave me the philological advantage. That is what Bekele instilled in his rivals,” explained Ngugi.
Ngugi said that now that the 12km title is back in the country, it is a high time another Kenyan won the 5,000m Olympic Gold medal on the track.
Ngugi is the last Kenyan to win the race at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.
Tergat and Ngugi read malice in the IAAF’s decision to transform the World Cross Country Championships to a biennial event after the 2011 competition.
“It’s unfortunate since countries like Kenya and Ethiopia use the event as a build up to many other world events. I hope it will in future revert to an annual festival,” said Tergat.
Ngugi alleged pure jealousy, saying some countries, especially from Europe, were not happy with the Kenyan and Ethiopian dominance.
“They scrapped the short course (four-kilometre) race and brought it back thinking that one of their own will win but that never happened,” Ngugi said.
Ngugi is the first Kenyan to win senior men’s 12km race in 1986 in Switzerland and was to make a clean sweep for the following three years.
Khalid Skah of Morocco interrupted to win in 1990 and 1991 but Ngugi reclaimed the title for his fifth crown in 1992. Then William Sigei won the 1993 and 1994 championships before Tergat ascended to the throne for an unprecedented five straight wins from 1995-1999.
He became the first man in history to win the race five times in a row.
Since then, no Kenyan had won the race with Mohammed Mourhit of Belgium going for the 2000 and 2001 honours before Bekele made a sweep from 2002 to 2006 to even Tergat’s record.
Eritrea’s Zersenay Tadese was to break the Ethiopian’s dominance in Mombasa in 2007 but Bekele recaptured the title the following year in Edinburgh before another Ethiopian, Gebre-egziabher Gebremariam, won it last year in Amman.
However, the two legends can now lie back and relax after what they described as a long-over due victory in the senior men’s 12 kilometre race by compatriot Joseph Ebuya at Sunday’s 38th IAAF World Cross Country Championships.
But they regret that they were not part of those historic moments in Bydgoszcz, Poland, when Ebuya finally reclaimed the title Kenya last won in 1999 through the 39-year-old Tergat at the end of a record-setting five straight wins in Belfast, Ireland.
Clean sweep
Tergat could not hold back his joy as he watched Sunday’s race from Cape Town as the Kenyan team obliterated its opponents for a clean sweep of both the individual and team titles.
Interestingly, both Tergat and Ngugi expected the clean sweep considering the high morale and intensive but well coordinated pre-competition training at Kigari, Embu.
For Tergat, it was double joy as on Monday, he was conferred with a Honorary Doctorate at the University of the Western Cape.
“It (Kenya’s victory) was spectacular and historic,” said Tergat by telephone. “That is the way to go although it was long over due.”
“I am really happy that, at least, I will be a happy man even if God is to decide to call me now since someone has taken the cross country baton from me,” the ecstatic Tergat said.
1999 memories
Tergat said it has been hard and difficult not only for him but the country as a whole. Tergat reminisces that Ebuya’s win brought back the 1999 memories from Belfast.
Ngugi said he was proud of the team for erasing the pain.
“I told the team during a dinner party that myself, Tergat and (another previous winner) William Sigei were never born champions. It’s hard work and easy fight that produce conquerors,” Ngugi said.
Ngugi, 48, said the fear for Ethiopians, especially six-time champion Kenenisa Bekele, is what caused the 11-year dry spell.
“During my time, rivals feared my presence and that gave me the philological advantage. That is what Bekele instilled in his rivals,” explained Ngugi.
Ngugi said that now that the 12km title is back in the country, it is a high time another Kenyan won the 5,000m Olympic Gold medal on the track.
Ngugi is the last Kenyan to win the race at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.
Tergat and Ngugi read malice in the IAAF’s decision to transform the World Cross Country Championships to a biennial event after the 2011 competition.
“It’s unfortunate since countries like Kenya and Ethiopia use the event as a build up to many other world events. I hope it will in future revert to an annual festival,” said Tergat.
Ngugi alleged pure jealousy, saying some countries, especially from Europe, were not happy with the Kenyan and Ethiopian dominance.
“They scrapped the short course (four-kilometre) race and brought it back thinking that one of their own will win but that never happened,” Ngugi said.
Ngugi is the first Kenyan to win senior men’s 12km race in 1986 in Switzerland and was to make a clean sweep for the following three years.
Khalid Skah of Morocco interrupted to win in 1990 and 1991 but Ngugi reclaimed the title for his fifth crown in 1992. Then William Sigei won the 1993 and 1994 championships before Tergat ascended to the throne for an unprecedented five straight wins from 1995-1999.
He became the first man in history to win the race five times in a row.
Since then, no Kenyan had won the race with Mohammed Mourhit of Belgium going for the 2000 and 2001 honours before Bekele made a sweep from 2002 to 2006 to even Tergat’s record.
Eritrea’s Zersenay Tadese was to break the Ethiopian’s dominance in Mombasa in 2007 but Bekele recaptured the title the following year in Edinburgh before another Ethiopian, Gebre-egziabher Gebremariam, won it last year in Amman.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Lake Sonoma 50 Mile Endurance Run
Healdsburg, California, March 27. Hal Koerner and Devon Crosby-Helms set course records in winning the third annual Lake Sonoma 50 Mile Endurance Run. The race features more than 10,000 feet of climbing in the rugged wine country of northern Sonoma County. The runners enjoyed perfect weather, sunny and crisp at the dawn start, warming to a high of 72 degrees by mid-afternoon. A total of 144 runners finished, with many finishing well after dark.Men
1. Hal Koerner, 34, Ashland, OR, 7:08:20 (new course record, old record 7:30: 58 by Jonathan Olsen, 2009)
2. Nathan Yanko, 28, San Francisco, CA, 7:24:15
3. Bob Shebest, 35, Santa Rosa, CA, 7:40:45
4. Tim Olson, 25, Ashland, OR, 7:41:42
5. Joel Lanz, 37, San Francisco, CA 7:47:56
Women
1. Devon Crosby-Helms, 27, San Francisco, CA, 8:26:53 (new course record, old record 8:43:30 by Suzanna Bon, 2009)
2. Caren Spore, 42, Davis, CA, 8:41:51
3. Darla Askew, 37, Bend, OR, 9:06:29
4. Kelly Ridgway, 51, Santa Rosa, CA, 9:08:48
5. Heather Mastrianni, 39, Healdsburg, CA, 9:22:00
1. Devon Crosby-Helms, 27, San Francisco, CA, 8:26:53 (new course record, old record 8:43:30 by Suzanna Bon, 2009)
2. Caren Spore, 42, Davis, CA, 8:41:51
3. Darla Askew, 37, Bend, OR, 9:06:29
4. Kelly Ridgway, 51, Santa Rosa, CA, 9:08:48
5. Heather Mastrianni, 39, Healdsburg, CA, 9:22:00
Freiburg Marathon: Serem Kipketer
1 Kipketer, Serem Philemon (KEN)02:25:17
2 Schallner, Nils (DE)02:27:24
3 Keinath, Peter (DE)02:34:05
4 Ruopp, Markus (DE)02:34:45
5 Saier, Matthias (DE)02:35:4
Knoxville Marathon: Kiprotich
Dave Link reports for KnoxNewsIt was a good day to be a frontrunner Sunday morning.
Knoxville's Kathy Wolski and Geoffrey Kiprotich led from start to finish and won marathon titles in the sixth annual Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon.
Wolski, 44, defended her 2009 Knoxville Marathon title, after which she suffered a number of injuries that nagged her into the start of this year.
"It never ceases to amaze me how your body can overcome so many things," Wolski said. "God has designed our bodies to overcome anything."
Kiprotich, 30, a native of Kenya who is living in Atlanta, won his third marathon in the United States. He won in Green Bay, Wis., last year and won in Des Moines, Iowa, in 2008.
Like Wolski, Kiprotich led from the start until the finish line inside the University of Tennessee's Neyland Stadium.
"I was (running) with the winner of the half-marathon," said Kiprotich, who runs for a living and never went to college in the U.S. "When he got to the finish line, I went my way."
Kiprotich covered the 26.2-mile course in 2 hours, 23 minutes and 22 seconds.
Knoxville's Andy Baksa was second (2:23.58) ahead of Alan Horton of Knoxville (2:26.26), Michael Wardian of Arlington, Va., (2:29.28) and Stewart Ellington of Knoxville (2:29.33).
Ellington, who has been bothered by chronic sinus problems the past two weeks, was two-time defending champion.
"Much better than I anticipated," Ellington said of his race. "The past couple of weeks I haven't been feeling very good. I'm taking two weeks off starting today."
Ellington's time was within a second of his winning time of 2:29.01 last year.
"Even my time today was right around the time I was the last two years," Ellington said. "It shows you how deep the field was this year."
Baksa, a 2002 graduate of Farragut High School who ran for Belmont and UT, was running his first marathon.
It went better than Baksa expected.
"I was pumped," Baksa said. "I thought 2:25 on a good day, 2:26 I'd probably be happy, and I was a shade under 2:24. I exceeded all my time expectations and I felt really good and ran real patient. I was really, really pleased with how everything went."
Baksa's strategy was to run a slower pace early but be fast enough to stay in contention.
"I think I was two minutes behind the leader at the half-marathon and then started making up ground and got within 30 seconds of the leader," Baksa said. "I thought I had him with about three miles to go but I just couldn't change gears enough to roll him up."
Wolski's winning time was 3:02.11, which beat her time last year (3:03.20).
Erica Tedford of Maryville was second (3:06.54) and Tammy Slusser of Monroeville, Pa., was third (3:12.19).
The top women's marathoners finished shortly before heavy rains hit the area. By then, Wolski was savoring her victory.
"It's really nice to come out on top," she said.
Wolski knew she was gambling by taking the early lead and trying to hold it.
"Everybody knows that's taking a risk, she said. "I just felt like I needed to run on the edge and see what I had."
Sunday, March 28, 2010
WXC in pictures
Big, big thanks to the Annadale Striders for these awesome pictures! Make sure you check out their website!
Kenya sweeps WXC
Mzungo says: make sure you check out IAAF for a full coverage of the races!
Top Men (Senior Race)
1. Joseph EBUYA KEN 33:00
2. Teklemariam MEDHIN ERI 33:06
3. Moses Ndiema KIPSIRO UGA 33:10
4. Leonard Patrick KOMON KEN 33:10
5. Samuel TSEGAY ERI 33:27
6. Hasan MAHBOOB BRN 33:28
7. Richard Kipkemboi MATEELONG KEN 33:29
8. Paul Kipngetich TANUI KEN 33:30
9. Hosea Mwok MACHARINYANG KEN 33:31
10.Gebregziabher GEBREMARIAM ETH 33:35
Top Women (Senior Race)
1. Emily CHEBET KEN 24:19
2. Linet Chepkwemoi MASAI KEN 24:20
3. Meselech MELKAMU ETH 24:26
4. Tirunesh DIBABA ETH 24:38
5. Lineth CHEPKURUI KEN 24:40
6. Margaret Wangari MURIUKI KEN 24:42
7. Feyse TADESE ETH 25:03
8. Mamitu DASKA ETH 25:03
9. Werknesh KIDANE ETH 25:07
10. Hilda KIBET NED 25:17
1. Joseph EBUYA KEN 33:00
2. Teklemariam MEDHIN ERI 33:06
3. Moses Ndiema KIPSIRO UGA 33:10
4. Leonard Patrick KOMON KEN 33:10
5. Samuel TSEGAY ERI 33:27
6. Hasan MAHBOOB BRN 33:28
7. Richard Kipkemboi MATEELONG KEN 33:29
8. Paul Kipngetich TANUI KEN 33:30
9. Hosea Mwok MACHARINYANG KEN 33:31
10.Gebregziabher GEBREMARIAM ETH 33:35
Top Women (Senior Race)
1. Emily CHEBET KEN 24:19
2. Linet Chepkwemoi MASAI KEN 24:20
3. Meselech MELKAMU ETH 24:26
4. Tirunesh DIBABA ETH 24:38
5. Lineth CHEPKURUI KEN 24:40
6. Margaret Wangari MURIUKI KEN 24:42
7. Feyse TADESE ETH 25:03
8. Mamitu DASKA ETH 25:03
9. Werknesh KIDANE ETH 25:07
10. Hilda KIBET NED 25:17
Berlin Half
“When I saw that the weather wasn’t so good this morning, I knew it would be tough to run under the hour. But I was sure that I would run well because I like Berlin and the race a lot. So I’d love to come back and run the real, - Berlin Marathon on September 26,” said Wondimu.1» Wondimu, Eshetu (ETH) MH Äthiopien 01:00:16
2» Kirui, Peter (KEN) MH Kenia 01:00:17
3» Zewdie, Maregu (ETH) MH 01:00:24
4» Kamzee, Josphat (KEN) MH Kenia 01:00:55
5» Kosgei, Fred (KEN) M30 Kenia 01:00:59
6» Korir, Laban (KEN) MH 01:01:03
7 Tidony, Alexander (KEN) MH Kenia 01:01:13
8» Chebor, William (KEN) MH Kenia 01:01:22
9» Kiplagat, Eliud (KEN) MH Kenia 01:01:29
10» Kiprotich, John (KEN) MH 01:01:30
11» Langat, Leonard (KEN) MH 01:01:40
12» Salil, Stanley (KEN) MH 01:01:52
13» Nthiwa, Patrick (KEN) MH Kenia 01:02:39
14» Mbithi, Robert (KEN) MH Kenia 01:02:47
15» Ndusu, David (KEN) MH 01:03:41
16» Kreisinger, Jan (CZE) MH Tschechien 01:03:42
17» Schmid, Michael (AUT) MH Österreich 01:03:43
18» Yego, Hillary (KEN) MH 01:03:54
19» Beckmann, Martin (GER) M30 01:03:56
20» Brosius, Hagen (GER) MH SCC Berlin 01:06:3
2» Kirui, Peter (KEN) MH Kenia 01:00:17
3» Zewdie, Maregu (ETH) MH 01:00:24
4» Kamzee, Josphat (KEN) MH Kenia 01:00:55
5» Kosgei, Fred (KEN) M30 Kenia 01:00:59
6» Korir, Laban (KEN) MH 01:01:03
7 Tidony, Alexander (KEN) MH Kenia 01:01:13
8» Chebor, William (KEN) MH Kenia 01:01:22
9» Kiplagat, Eliud (KEN) MH Kenia 01:01:29
10» Kiprotich, John (KEN) MH 01:01:30
11» Langat, Leonard (KEN) MH 01:01:40
12» Salil, Stanley (KEN) MH 01:01:52
13» Nthiwa, Patrick (KEN) MH Kenia 01:02:39
14» Mbithi, Robert (KEN) MH Kenia 01:02:47
15» Ndusu, David (KEN) MH 01:03:41
16» Kreisinger, Jan (CZE) MH Tschechien 01:03:42
17» Schmid, Michael (AUT) MH Österreich 01:03:43
18» Yego, Hillary (KEN) MH 01:03:54
19» Beckmann, Martin (GER) M30 01:03:56
20» Brosius, Hagen (GER) MH SCC Berlin 01:06:3
Saturday, March 27, 2010
mzungo exclusive: Nate Pennington post L.A.
Recently, Nate Pennington gave our readers great insight about his training and preparation for last week's L.A. Marathon. We caught up with him after the race.Nate, you had a rough day in LA. What happened?
That is a great question. My teammate (SSG Troy Harrison who took 18th in 2:26:50) and I were aiming to earn the 2:19:00 2012 Trials qualifying time. I thought Troy running that fast after what we went throug was monumental. There really was no doubt we had done the work but our day certainly did not start off well.
We were not put into the elite field despite having a 2:19:35 PR and Troy having run a very strong 2:22:56 at the 2009 Cal International Marathon. There were 3 men coming in with 2:19's and one with a 2:21:34 PR yet our times were not sufficient for the LA race staff. We will certainly not be going back to Los Angeles.
Due to this we left our hotel 2 hours before the race was to start, got on a shuttle that was extremely late due to traffic and a wreck on the interstate, than sat in traffic for over nearly missing the start of the marathon. The race was fortunately delayed due to so many runners still stuck in traffic. We actually asked the bus driver to let us off in hopes of getting to the finish in time but were not allowed.
It was an extremely uncomfortable time as we didnt know what was the best route to take, not run at all or run the race and spend the first 10 miles bobbing and weaving through thousands of people. We arrived to the start line with 3 minutes before the gun fired. We had no warm up, no time to stretch. Just enough time to sprint off the line.
It was an aweful way to start a race. I don't like to make excuses. You either accomplish the mission or you don't but as high level runners this was certainly a problem. Our coach termed what we went through prior to the start 'like running a marathon before you even started the race', that our cortizol levels were probably shot as well. It was a dissapointing day as I do not train this hard to perform as badly as I did. Troy and I did not have the option as a few of the other elites did to not finish the race. WCAP funded us to get to Los Angeles and we had to finish the race no matter what. A DNF was out of the question.
We're suprised you still finished. What was going through your head during your jog/walk and why did you decide to finish?
I was most frustrated with how the day started and with the support level we recieved going into the race. I had done the best workouts of my life leading into the marathon. Far better than I had ever done prior to running 2:19:35.
I have felt for months now that I am only one step away from running a world class marathon time.
Of course, that being said, there are so many things that go into running a great marathon time. I have been running for 18 years, since I was 15 years old. I was walking and jogging the last 8 miles of the race. To hobble to the finish in 2:55:34 put me at a total loss for words. I have an enormous opportunity competing for the Army, something that I take very seriously. To not be able to perform and give back was hard to swallow. They were totally supportive and understood what happened in LA but I still wanted to get the time there.
I did not regret how I prepared but my past couple marathons have been the same problem, falling apart around mile 18. I ran the 2009 Cal International Marathon last December in 2:36:33 after having gone out in 1:08:33 at the half and like LA, was walking/jogging the last 7-8 miles of the race. Coach and I do agree that being away from the sport for 18 months due to my officer training had something to do with that but these are things the public do not know of.
Is this due to overtraining? Psychological? Hard to say but I do believe it was a combination of both which is making me feel so flat in marathon races.
It's certainly tough for you to stay motivated right now but we hope you give it another shot soon and don't waste your fitness. Any plans already?
I will certainly not be hanging my shoes up anytime soon. I was offered to run the Eindhoven Marathon in the Netherlands next month from the Dutch but after talking with my wife and Lisa (my coach) it would not have been the best thing to do. I thought that since I really only ran about 16 miles of the LA Marathon that I could jump in another marathon and get the 2:19:00 time.
I am taking a break and will begin training for the Grandmas Marathon 1 April. The race staff at Grandmas are terrific. They have been extremely supportive of American runners for years and I cannot say enough about them. Coach and I have agreed that working with a sport psychologist may aid me in bringing out the best in my ability. I know other elites use them so I have no issues in adding this to my training.
I will be lowering my mileage slightly maxing out at about 100-110 miles per week. I was suffering from overtraining symptoms for weeks prior to LA. I could only manage about 4-5 hours a night of sleep per night. When I ran 1:07:06 and 2:19 after going through the half at 1:07:09 (only 3 seconds off my Half PR) I was not thinking about being 'conservative' or 'I have to hit this mile in this time'. I didnt consider that I was only a 1:07 half-marathoner and 2:40:02 marathoner going into that race. I had done the work and went for it, mind and body were working as one.
I was running with a large group of Kenyans including Laban Kipkemboi who ran 2:14+ to win the 2007 CIM to my 2:19+). Kipkemboi took 4th in LA in 2:10+.
I will not be wearing a watch at Grandmas this year and am going to get back that frame of mind I had. I was still on 2:16:15 marathon pace through 20 miles (1:44:05). I was on new territory but I certainly can say that I would not have run 2:19 had I been worried that I was running under 5 minute miles for many of the first 20 miles of the 2007 Cal International Marathon. I think with a small break, a renewed training approach and keeping in mind of what Im capable of I will run a special race, one that I have been working so hard for. I will run the Colfax Half-Marathon in Denver 16 May as a tune up.
Many thanks Nate for taking time to answer our question despite a disappointing race. Best of luck at Grandma's!
Follow Nate on his new blog here.
Prague Half a Kenyan affair
Prague, Czech Republic, Pat Butcher for the IAAF - Only a chill wind on the Vltava River prevented Joel Kemboi clocking a superlative time in the Hervis Prague Half Marathon today (27), nevertheless the young Kenyan won in 60:09, just two seconds outside the course record set by his colleague Nicholas Koech last year.The Hervis Prague Half-Marathon is an IAAF Gold Label Road Race.
A better measure of Kemboi’s excellence is that he beat pre-race favourite, another colleague Wilson Chebet by over a minute, and Chebet has broken the one hour mark four times in the last two years. Today he could do no better than 61:26 for second place.
“I knew I had a good chance to win,” said Kemboi immediately after the victory. “My training has been going so well, the only person I was afraid of was Chebet, but when I went ahead before 10k, he did not come with me.”
With the leaders aiming for a sub-one hour time, no one expected a break so early in the race, but the 22 year old Kemboi kept forging further ahead, and managed to stay on even-time until 18k, and the final stretch into a headwind downriver. “The last 5k was so windy, and it really slowed me down. Without it, I think I would have broken the record.”
Chebet ran with compatriot Joseph Maregu and Ethiopian marathoner, Yemane Tsegay until well past 15km, when he took off the finish second, while Tsegay, fourth in the World Championships marathon in Berlin last summer got the better of Maregu in the sprint, the Ethiopian clocking 61:37, one second ahead of Maregu. Tsegay, who won the Lake Biwa (Japan) marathon last month should have more success when he comes back to Prague on May 9, to run the full marathon.
With a 61:00 half marathon in Italy a year ago, Kemboi was easily the slowest of the contenders coming into the race, but having won the Discovery Kenya cross country in Eldoret last month - an event which always throws up major talent – an upset was always on the cards.
So it proved. Zane Branson, an athlete manager who was following the race on a bike said, “that wind was really strong, but he never gave up. If it hadn’t been so windy, he’d have been close to 59 minutes.”
Kemboi, who says he will not move up to the marathon for at least two years, concurred. “I’ll talk to my manager tomorrow and ask him to find me another race in the next month or so. I think I can do something like 59:20, or below.” And that would really put him in the world’s elite.
The women’s race was a successful defence for Rose Kosgei, whose time of 69:57 again showed the strength of the wind, since she won last year in 69:03. Kosgei too showed her hand early, taking the lead around 10km, and beating two of her colleagues, Florence Jepkosgei and Monica Wangari by half a minute. Jepkosgei clocked 70.28 for second, with Wangari five seconds behind.
The mayor of Prague, Pavel Bem got the better of soccer superstar (retired) Pavel Nedvěd. The mayor, who is a renowned mountaineer, ran 1:36:52, while Nedvěd clocked 1:49:44.
RESULTS
MEN
1 Joel KEMBOI KEN 60:09
2 Wilson CHEBET KEN 61:26
3 Yemane TSEGAY ETH 61:37
4 Joseph MAREGU KEN 61:38
5 Dennis MUSEMBI KEN 61:41
6 Dejere DEBELE ETH 61:43
7 Henry CHIRCHIR KEN 63:12
8 ERNEST KIPRUTO KEN 64:08
WOMEN
1 Rose KOSGEI KEN 69:57
2 Florence JEPKOSGEI KEN 70:28
3 Monica WANGARI KEN 70:33
4 Irene KIPCHUMBA KEN 71.52
5 Halima HASSEN ETH 71.59
6 Alena SAMOKHVALOVA RUS 72.10
Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot not racing Boston
The guy we most wanted to see racing Boston is out due to a hip injury.
Mzungo wishes a speedy recovery!
Mzungo wishes a speedy recovery!
Friday, March 26, 2010
Blog Roll: Koen Raymaekers in Iten pre Rotterdam
THIS POST WAS TRANSLATED FROM DUTCH BY GOOGLE TRANSLATORThursday, March 18
Today a somewhat longer endurance in the program. Because I have a little bit tired and this week a recovery week, I walk today eighty minutes once a nice and quiet.
We have for the second consecutive day eleven people at work and missing some material. Because we do not have cars in Kenya and a shopping time-consuming and energy-guzzling company, Florence almost always does the shopping. Another reason is that often the Florence building materials for a lower price than if I get offered, as white, the price would ask. Result is that Florence was often away and so I must make tea for the morning and afternoon for eleven people to cook. Kenyans have used a dash of milk to the tea and add a lot of sugar. I do not drink more Kenyan tea, because in recent years I virtually no longer use sugar. I therefore do not taste the tea, but I feel I briskly scoop with the sugar spoon. I still get the complaint that the tea is not sweet enough! Lunch is without complaints after creating two completely eaten, so I would not have been much wrong with that.
Friday, March 19
Today is the first time some tempo work on the program. But the first rate training after a match is often what Gerard quietly packed it in minutes and runs, so you do not have a lap. On the job meanwhile you see every round and you often want to run a certain time. In minutes you runs this problem and it is easier to feel the pace on walking. Normally I check this feeling still with my heartbeat, but my heart rate band has gone. Last week I thought 't was battery, so I quickly Netherlands have searched for a new battery. But with the new battery he gives no heartbeat and I am sure that my heart still works!
Saturday, March 20
I walk in the morning an hour and this is also the only training that is scheduled for today. Yesterday was a tough day with the best minutes and runs again tomorrow there a solid training planned. In the afternoon I did some time in Florence to see the passion fruit. Florence around here including passion fruit planted, as is more people in this region. The passion fruits are mainly exported, mainly to Uganda to make juice out of it. They are also from the airport in Eldoret flown to Germany and the Netherlands - Netherlands in the purple passion fruit, I sometimes see lying in the store. It takes a little years before the plants are large enough to give fruit. But if the plants stay healthy, you almost every week all year round fruit harvest. As mentioned above, the plants or remain healthy and that's often the problem. We try all kinds of information from books and from the Internet, since local knowledge is still very limited. Thousands of people try to cultivate a passion fruit bread to earn, but they could find no specific information or professional guidance for the use of pesticides or nutrients.
This is a typical example for me again that development must go beyond bringing food. Let's get someone who people can here about the proper use of appropriate pesticides and nutrients. Kenyans are used to copy what they learned from their father or neighbor or seen. As a result, they still reap as much as thirty years ago, while in other parts of the world output per hectare may be doubled or tripled in recent decades.
Tomorrow is the Venloop where many Dutch will run the half marathon. I wonder what my bunnies for Rotterdam, Hugo van de Broek and Emmanuel Biwott, will do and if someone faster than my last week will run from 1.02.48.
Sunday, March 21
At my request, coach Gerard van Lent today a quiet endurance of three hours to put the schedule. The weather has rained a lot, so I start later in the training. I want a big round walk and once I'm out Iten, was suddenly much better weather. It is even a little warm, but I like the nice quiet pace. When I arrive at the hill Moi Ben, I doubt whether I will run for past or around it. It is around this and the endurance run slightly longer than three hours and I finally walk 44 km. Get through the marathon in 2 hours 58 minutes. Not really bad, but about three weeks must surely be a lot faster.
In the afternoon I receive first of Hugo van den Broek a SMS on his race and soon two text messages from the Hannah Veen, working with my management Volare Sports and friend of my other pace maker in Rotterdam, Emmanuel Biwott.
Hugo is not entirely satisfied with his stop and say something too hard to be started. I think he is just his second pr in the half marathon in five weeks time, but he had hoped for an even faster time. Emmanuel has many problems with his lungs rainfall, something which he so often has had to contend. He is thus a disappointing time, but I am not worried Rotterdam. I have trained with him several times and he knows that better than the 1.04.38 he has walked today in the Venloop.
Patrick Stitzinger runs with a personal best 1.02.42 and six seconds faster than last week at the CPC Loop Den Haag did. He is a very strong race where he is second place and also the final marathon team for the European Championships in Barcelona. There are four athletes who have permanently placed on the marathon team and I think that in Rotterdam still one or two athletes would be added.
Monday, March 22
After the long endurance of yesterday is today twice a mockery of the rehabilitation program. I walk 'fifty minutes morning and afternoon sixty.
The construction goes well and I thought they were going to deposit the concrete tomorrow, but it will happen on Wednesday.
Tuesday, March 23
's Morning quiet time I do a mockery, because there one afternoon on the job training program. Our cow is pregnant for a while, but we do not know exactly from where. This we do not know exactly when they like. However, we can see that the last few days it will not last long, and this afternoon it seems that every moment will be.
My job training is good, but it is not only easy to do. I am obviously got used my speed to combine training with Hugo, but that is not in Kenya. Simultaneously, I think it is good to just do some speed work, because the chance is there that I also only get to the marathon run. I also have a number of weeks in good shape and if you train with other athletes, the chance that you are rather hard and train 'yourself on the head is "bigger than when you train alone.
When I return from the training I see a calf standing beside the cow. The first thing I ask is whether the Florence one male or a female and she replied with disappointed voice "one man". She had clearly hoped for a female.
Wednesday, March 24
Last week we had eleven o'clock every day to the garage workers were busy, but today we have the concrete is poured and everyone in the neighborhood summoned to come and help. We finally have 28 people working and it all goes relatively smoothly. We have hired a team of seven people and the foreman does it so well, that I have little to worry about me. I occasionally walk out once because I like to see how it goes and what pictures. Furthermore I just do my time two runs.
In the garage, we now have concrete is poured, that three, four weeks to dry, and then we start after the Rotterdam Marathon in building the dining room above the garage. So far the guests who have stayed with us in our house always eaten, but later in the year it is intended that the guests for their meals in the dining room can be accommodated. At the moment we have two guests staying in the area of where four people can sleep, but if there is enough interest in the future we will expand to eight houses where we sixteen to twenty guests receive.
Promofilm 2010 from Like2Run on Vimeo.
Blog Roll: Jason Pyles
Shamrock Half Marathon (1:10.34/5:23pace)Went in feeling good after a nice easy few days before hand. Really thought I could run a break through race and hit anywhere between 1:06.30-1:07.30 which could have been big PR range. Also though since I was deep into Marathon training I thought that 1:08.30-1:09.30 could be a solid day. Didn’t come close to the first goal and due to not being race tough I let the 2nd goal slip away as well after 9miles.
Was through 5miles 26:25 and 10miles 53:11 which included a very rough 10th mile split. Even though I was slower then I wanted through 10miles I still could have ran to a solid finish. The last 4.1 wasn’t too pretty even though the first 9 wasn’t that tough(just couldn’t seem to wake up and run any faster through 9). The last 4.1 was into a wind so maybe that helped break my mental state of not running up to what I had hoped for.
After being 47:41/5:17pace(potential sub 1:09 with fast finish) through 9 the Last 4miles looked liked this 5:30, 5:30, 5:29, 5:38 and 40 (last 1.1 was the only point in which I did just give up and starting thinking about the upcoming week of training which needs to be very solid now)
Had I been hurting the first 9miles I would have expected the drop off but to be running slower then I think I was capable of right now and still drop off is my only negative of the race.
Really wasn’t real fast up front minus the top 3 so I guess the field was down compared to most years so it would have been a great day for someone like me to have ran really well.
I know I’m far from a elite runner but one of the things I have learned from them is they never really dwell on anything that happens bad, they always take the positive from it and move on to the next one!
Had a great trip, we enjoyed great weather and had a really fun time. The race had us in a hotel right next to the finish line so we were able to keep the balcony door open all day Saturday and enjoy the sounds of 15,000+ plus people who were having a party right in front of us after the 8K race. Such a great weekend to spend with Marian :)
Anyone looking for a early spring 8K/Half/Full sound really do this event. 2 year’s in a row we have went and it is quickly becoming my favorite as far as atmoshpere(one huge Yuengling party)!
4 weeks to go until Boston and the next 2.5-3 weeks is really imprtant for me now to really get the confidence sky high…I plan to shake a few things up with the training in order to toughen me up(race toughness wise more then anything)!!
Can’t end without saying that I’m so thankful for being able to enjoy doing something that is fun. It is the thing I learn the most from good races and from worst then I had hoped for races that God has truely blessed me with so much :)
Meet Alan Horton, favourite for this week's Knoxville Marathon
By Stefan Cooper, BlountTodayBasically, his dad had trained four, long years for this, so Riley Ray Horton decided to go ahead and get on in here and catch the race.
Alan Horton will take the start line for Sunday’s Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon as one of the pre-race favorites. His preparation the last four years could hardly have gone better.
Two years ago, the former William Blount Governor led the field through the first mile of the Boston Marathon, Horton finishing the race as the eighth American to cross the line and 25th overall. There were 25,283 entrants at the start line, with 21,948 finishing the 26.2-mile course.
Two years prior, Horton had made William Blount history, becoming the first athlete from the school to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials. He’d done so at the 2006 Chicago Marathon, Horton beating the qualifying standard by a razor-thin 2 seconds the line.
Horton’s training partners on Knoxville’s Runners Market racing team include defending Knoxville champion Stewart Ellington and fellow pre-race favorite Andy Baska of Farragut, who works at Clayton Homes. The only uncertainty in Horton’s preparation as of a month ago was Riley.
Horton and wife Micelle were expecting the couple’s first child on March 21, less than a week from the Knoxville race. If Riley arrived the week of the race, Horton said he’d decided he would pull his name from the start list. Riley made it a moot point two weeks ago, making his much-anticipated debut on March 7.
Wife and son are doing well, Horton said. With concerns for Michelle and Riley allayed, Alan said he’s returned his focus to the marathon.
“If I get enough sleep here the next few days, I’ll be fine,” he said.
Ellington, Baska and Horton have taken significantly different paths to Sunday’s race. Ellington was a four-time All-American at the University of Tennessee. He won his first Knoxville Marathon two years ago, repeating last spring.
“He’s the four-time All-American,” Baska said. “We’re just scrubs.”
Must be an awfully tough room.
Baska did it all in high school, winning two state cross country titles to go with 1600- and 3200-meter state crowns on the track. A former Vol as well, Baska’s race results the last two years include wins in the Strawberry Plains Half Marathon, the Alcoa Spring Sprint 5K and the Kiawah Half Marathon.
The former Admiral smashed the state record for 15K by 32 seconds two years ago. In 2009, Baska finished second overall in the Knoxville Half Marathon.
“He’s definitely a talented runner,” Horton said. “He’s only 26, and he’s got a lot of raw speed.”
Baska, who likes to cue up the heavy metal band Tool in his iPod when he trains, is also the ultimate, rock-and-roll runner.
“They’re my favorite band, by far,” Baska said. “I’m big into anything where there’s screaming in my face.”
Unlike Ellington and Baska, Horton’s road to Sunday has been decidedly more gradual, albeit sometimes reluctantly. His freshman season at William Blount, Horton couldn’t train enough. He’d already decided distance running would be his ticket to college.
“I didn’t make the golf team,” he said. “I guess I’m thankful for that bunker on No. 9 at Royal Oaks Country Club. Cross country was the next sport (to try).”
The problem in those early years was Horton was training too much, William Blount cross country and track coach Chris Frary said.
“There were times when we had to rein him in a little bit because he wanted to do too much,” he said.
When Horton laid out a 20.5-mile course near his house on which to train, Frary intervened.
“He said, ‘You should never do that again,’” Horton said. “‘Let your body develop for marathons.’”
As a collegiate runner, Horton said he began to see the wisdom of Frary’s advice.
“He trained us well,” Horton said. “He didn’t burn us out. He trained us to our potential so we would keep running.”
Horton ran to sixth in the state cross country championships his senior year at William Blount. After a stopover at UT Martin, Horton finished his collegiate running career at Eastern Kentucky University, a highlight coming when he won the 5000 meters at the 2001 Ohio Valley Conference Championships.
The 2002 OVC Scholar Athlete of the Year was making steady progress, much as Frary had earlier hoped. The Chicago and Boston results were tangible proof Horton was right on track.
“Alan’s one of those young men you hoped would have the successes he’s had,” Frary said. “He’s had a steady progression all through high school and all through college and just keeps getting better and better.”
Horton said he took some time off from running after college, the flame for the sport reigniting during a year abroad in Mexico to perfect the Spanish he’d learned in college.
“I’m thankful, in hindsight, I had a couple of races in college that didn’t go the way I wanted them to,” Horton said. “I didn’t reach my potential. I had some unfinished business.
“I left college feeling empty in a lot of ways. I had a lot left to prove.”
Since 2004, Horton and Baska have been all but inseparable as training partners.
“We know each other’s strengths; we know each other’s weakness,” Horton said. “So it’ll be interesting to see how it goes Sunday.”
Maybe a little too interesting, Baska said.
“It’s scary what great shape he’s gotten into,” he said. “There are five or six guys in the race that can win it. It’s going to be a battle. I just hope a local guy takes it home. I hope it stays in Knoxville.”
A select few, including a certain three-week-old, would like nothing better than to see the trophy move to Blount County for a while.
“It’s going to be an interesting race,” Frary said. “No doubt about it.”
The Horton family relay: Horton, 29, will also take part in a race within the race during Sunday’s Knoxville Marathon. Older brothers Brian, 41, Paul, 38, and Daniel, 35, will team with their baby brother on an unusual relay.
Alan will leave the start line with a relay arm band, passing it Daniel at the 6.2-mile mark. Daniel, 6.2 miles, Paul, 7.9, and Brian, 5.9, will then finish the relay as Alan presses on in hopes of taking the overall.
Ryan Hall on his Boston return
"I have so many memories of Boston, starting at the starting line, just running through the crowd on the way to the starting line, and all the guys in the crowd just going nuts. I started getting so fired up and I think that contributed to me going out so fast for the first mile.Running by Wellesley, where the race broke open... I'll never forget how loud it was there and thinking I'm going to savor this'. Even though the race was breaking up, I ran as close as I could to the girls screaming in my ear, and for about five minutes after that, my ears were just ringing, so that was a good moment....
... Then just being in a lot of pain going up heartbreak. I'd trained at altitude, done tons of hill work, and expected I'd manage those hills pretty well... And maybe, in relation to the other guys, I did pick off quite a few guys in that section, but I was hurting, so those hills got my respect. That's a big reason I'm back here doing my homework....
.... Going by Boston College was another really rowdy place that I wasn't expecting, and that's kind of the start of the crowd carrying me all the way to the finish line. I really felt like I did the best I could with what I had on the day, and I was very proud to finish third my first time here in Boston. But the moment I crossed the finish line, I was like 'I have to come back here, because I know I can do even better next time.'"
SOURCE: WBZ
Gebrselassie's impact extends beyond running
By Joe Battaglia, Universal Sports As Haile Gebrselassie strode through Times Square wearing an adidas polo shirt and black jeans on Friday, he was hardly discernable from the thousands of other people who had come out to enjoy the spring-like afternoon.
Two days later, in his red and powder-blue running shorts and top, the Ethiopian barely had a moment to himself on the start line in the seconds before the horn sounded to begin the New York City Half-Marathon, a race he was the featured athlete in but did not finish.
When in his element, Gebrselassie is recognized by all for his myriad triumphs, two Olympic gold medals, and 27 world records. He is the best distance runner of this generation, and perhaps any generation.
But on the continent of Africa, the 36-year-old is much more than a star runner. In Ethiopia, a country only now rising from decades marked by periodic droughts, famines, and civil conflict, Gebrselassie is a man eager to use the considerable fame, prosperity and influence he has earned through athletic success to empower the less-fortunate and strengthen his homeland.
"We have a problem with public image in Ethiopia," Reta Nega, ambassador for the Permanent Mission to the United Nations, explained. "The media only reports on a lot of our problems. But we have a lot to offer to the world. We have a great country with diverse cultures and a vibrant a developing economy that is being recognized by the world banks. We are one of the leading nations in Africa. We have plans with Haile to build the image of Ethiopia."
Images of poverty
Although it has one of the fastest growing non-petroleum economies in Africa, Ethiopia remains one of the continent's poorest countries. Almost two-thirds of its people are illiterate. It's economy, which revolves around agriculture - approximately one quarter of the population derives income from coffee, the country's chief export - is dependent on rainfall.
Ethiopia's location a high plateau on the Horn of Africa means it has a warm climate. , with two rainy seasons, a shorter one from February to April and a longer one, called kremt, from June to September. When rainfall during kremt is not substantial enough, particularly in the lowlands of the northeast and southeast, the country succumbs to droughts, which wreaks havoc on the agriculture and economy.
The country endured a number of droughts during the 1970s, but Ethiopia was devastated in the mid-1980s by a drought of unseen proportions and the resulting famine.
By 1984, the drought had resulted in almost total crop failure within the country. The Ethiopian government was unable to provide relief and supplies from international organizations were hindered by the country's ongoing border war with Eritrea. The drought and hazardous conditions for relief workers continued into 1985, and by the following year the famine had spread to the southern highlands and the country's problems were exacerbated by locust plagues.
An estimated 8 million people were victims of the Great Famine.
Almost 5.8 million people were dependent on international relief food.
It is widely believed that more than one million people died.
Poverty persists
Although conditions improved, Ethiopia is still susceptible to drought and famine. In 2003, about one fifth of the country's population was left without food and tens of thousands of people died as a result of starvation and malnutrition.
That year, the Ethiopian government and the United Nations launched a joint appeal for 1.46 million metric tons of food aid and $81.1 million non-food assistance to help over 14 million people.
In 2004 the government began a drive to move more than two million people away from the arid highlands of the east in an attempt to provide a lasting solution to food shortages. Today, many Ethiopians depend on food aid from abroad.
Gebrselassie understands the need, but says a free flow of foreign aid the easy way out.
"I always ask (American) journalists, how many years have you been helping this country, how many years have you been sending food to Ethiopia or Africa?" Gebrselassie said. "But if we learn to help ourselves, we help America and Ethiopia. In the future, when you send something, don't send us things that make us lazy. Food, for me, is like a temporary solution. A solution that is long lasting must be something to transfer knowledge, something that shows how to change the situation, how to change the country. I like the saying, ‘Don't give a man a fish, show him how to go fishing.'
"I fight about this a lot. When I started on the Board (of Elders), people would say, ‘Haile, please do it this way. It is humanitarian.' I told them, ‘I understand that, but it is not going to last. How many years have you been trying to do this? How many years have you been begging for these people?' Let's do it my way."
Haile's way
Gebrselassie's approach to helping his fellow Ethiopians is the same that he takes as a father.
"Sometimes, when I am home, I watch my wife with my son and when he falls, she runs, ‘Oh my little baby,'" Gebrselassie said. "I yell at her, ‘Leave him! Leave him! He is going to fall. Let him fall and learn to stand by himself.' That's what I want to see from anybody because when you fall down and pick yourself up, it builds confidence."
Rather than donate money to various charitable causes, Gebrselassie decided to invest in the country's future and that of its people.
When in Ethiopia, Gebrselassie often chooses to wear the shemma - a white cotton shirt draped with a colorful sash, white trousers, apron and sandals - the traditional dress of the Ethiopian male, because by not wearing imported clothes, he can support local manufacturing.
He owns two office buildings in Addis Ababa, the country's capital. One of the buildings houses an Ethiopian Airlines bureau, a United Parcel Service (UPS) branch, a café, a gym, and a construction company. He owns the Olympic Café, which is run by his older brother, Zergaw. He oversees a construction company with the help of another brother, Assefa. He also owns car dealerships.
Gebrselassie's construction company has built two schools, an office building, the most modern movie theater in Addis Ababa, and is about to open the Haile Resort, a hotel in Hawassa, a Rift Valley town about a three-mile drive outside of Addis Ababa.
"It's about three hours drive from Addis and it took two and a half years to build," Gebrselassie said. "There are 120 rooms, with pools, gym, mini-golf, but also a 600-meter running trail. It's a big compound, with wild animals outside, lions, elephants, giraffes, camels, leopard, and cheetah."
It is estimated that Gebrselassie's business empire employees between 750 and 1,000 Ethiopians.
"Everything I have, I invest in Ethiopia," Gebrselassie said.
Ephraim Isaac, a Harvard-educated professor, United Nations consultant, and Chairman of the National Coalition of Ethiopian Elders, said Gebrselassie's patriotic philanthropy is making a tremendous impact.
"In our country there are so many poor people, but taking care of people is not just about giving them food or money," Isaac said. "What we need is for Ethiopians to create their own opportunities. The hotels that Haile builds and his other enterprises are really helping poor people find employment.
"As for the hotel, a place like Hawassa where he is building right now has tremendous potential for tourism, which can enrich the country. Egypt makes billions of dollars from historical tourism. Kenya gets money from animal tourism. Ethiopia has both. We have historical areas in the north and where Haile's hotel is, we have animals for safari there.
"I think it is important that people realize that this man is not just a runner. I used to joke with him. I'd say, ‘I don't know how you run, but I know you have a good mind and a good heart.'"
One of a kind
The list of great Ethiopian athletes is dominated by runners, names like Abebe Bikila, Mamo Wolde and Miruts Yifter, Gebrselassie's childhood idol.
Gebrselassie is most likened in marathon stature to Bikila, who became the first black African athlete to win Olympic gold at the 1960 Games in Rome, and claimed a second gold in Tokyo four years later.
Isaac said that Bikila's impact in Ethiopia was more of a symbolic one than that of Gebrselassie.
"There is no question that Bikila had a tremendous impact because he was the first one to win an international race such as the Olympic marathon," said Isaac, who served as an interpreter for Bikila and Wolde when the two spent time in the U.S. during the late 1960s.
"To have our runner, barefoot, conquer Rome so to speak, made a significant political impact. People always need a spiritual role model. But the world has changed since then and Haile is having a much greater impact politically through his work in commerce, development and industry."
When asked to compare the two, Isaac added, "There is something similar in that they are both people of stamina, patience. But in some ways, Abebe was more arrogant. Haile is a very humble guy, very self-effacing."
Gebrselassie was six months old when Bikila died in 1973 from a cerebral hemorrhage, a complication related to the automobile accident that left him a quadriplegic four years earlier. He said Bikila's aggressive nature probably stems from his employment as an imperial palace bodyguard. The man he takes his cue from was much gentler.
"Nelson Mandela is everything," said Gebrselassie, who met Mandela at the 1996 World Cross-Country Championships in Cape Town, South Africa. "He teaches you patience. He teaches you forgiveness. That's why he is the one I admire a lot. He is not only for Africa. He is for everyone. If we can learn anything from an African, we can learn a lot from this man."
Isaac said that politicians in Ethiopia have a lot to learn from Gebrselassie too.
"Two years ago, we organized a conference in Ethiopia of government officials and this conference was the first time that many of these politicians ever talked to each other," Isaac said. "The highlight of the symposium was going to be Haile speaking to the group. He brought along a video and showed that when he won the 10,000-meter race in Sydney, he was hugging and smiling with his competitor, Paul Tergat, a Kenyan. All of the politicians sitting there were embarrassed.
"I think Ethiopians, particularly young ones, their minds are always on politics and their role models are mostly politicians, kings, lords, emperors. In Ethiopia, there is fighting with the political parties, disagreement, conflicts, and, sometimes, bitterness. We need new role models for young Ethiopians, someone like Haile who is an athlete, a businessman, and someone who creates avenues for peaceful dialogue between people."
Gebrselassie said he has no immediate plans to give up his running or business ventures to enter into the political realm.
"Politics is difficult, he said. "Let me do some other jobs first. If I become a politician, I might feel that I won't do much more things. Maybe where I am working now, I accomplish more. I feel very positive about my country. The money I have from Europe and America, I am trying to invest in Ethiopia.
"I do not want to be selfish. Let me give a job for others. Let me do my part. By supporting of these people, I have the things that I have now. When I am talking about my country it means not talking only for myself. I want to change the life of Ethiopian people and the life of my family. Of course I cannot do things for everybody, but I try to do my part."
Kwambai the favorite in Rotterdam
By Fortis Marathon Rotterdam
Top athlete James Kwambai is returning to the Coolsingel to put something right. The Kenyan doesn't want to be taken by surprise again on Sunday April 11 during the 30th Fortis Marathon Rotterdam.
Last year, his compatriot Duncan Kibet passed him, just before the finish, after an exciting sprint to the end. Both Africans were awarded 2.04.27 to their names. Only the Ethiopian world record holder Haile Gebrselassie has ever run faster.
Kwambai will start the jubilee marathon as the favourite. The 27-year old will not be making the same mistake again. "With the finish in sight I relaxed so that I could throw my arms in the air in triumph," he said to the Kenyan newspaper Daily Nation. The images of the sensational finish were shown all over the world. They can also be seen at www.fortismarathonrotterdam.co.uk.
Compatriot Patrick Makau (personal best: 2.06.14) is one of Kwambai's most important rivals. Makau made an excellent impression at the CPC Run The Hague; he won the half marathon, despite the wind and the cold, in 59.51. Makau had not himself envisaged that he would finish within the hour and spoke of a successful test for the Fortis Marathon Rotterdam.
That also applied to two other Kenyan participants. Robert Kipchumba (fifth in 59.58) and Bernard Kipyego (sixth in 1:00:02) appeared also to be on track for ‘Rotterdam'. "Besides Kwambai, we can expect a lot from Makau, Kipchumba en Kipyego. All of them runners with huge potential," says marathon organiser Mario Kadiks.
Daniel Rono is the fifth elite athlete who will be coming to Rotterdam. The Kenyan's personal best stands at 2.06.58. "He is sure to want to improve on that time," says Kadiks. "Rono ould earn a lot more money at other marathons, but consciously chose our race for, among other things, its fast course."
Rono also knows that the Fortis Marathon Rotterdam dominated last year's world rankings with the three best times. With 2.05.04 Abel Kirui, also from Kenya, takes third place after Duncan Kibet and James Kwambai. It is a confirmation of the fact that ‘Rotterdam' has a fast course and good race management. It also has a ‘nose' for runners who surpass themselves.
Rono frequently trains in Kenya with Koen Raymaekers (2.12.59). The Dutch favourite for the national title proved in the CPC Run The Hague that also his preparation for the Fortis Marathon Rotterdam is coming along well. Raymaekers finished 14th in 1.02.48, just 12 seconds above his personal best. With that achievement he meets the requirements for the forthcoming European Athletic Championships in Barcelona.
Raymaekers preparations for the marathon can be followed via his diary. Merel de Knegt, the favourite among the women in Rotterdam, was one of the many athletes who noted a personal best: 1.13.10.
James Kwambai, the seventh child in a family of nine children and himself a father of two sons, started running at an early age. In 2006 he won the Brescia (2.10.19) and Bejing (2.10.36) marathons.
His breakthrough came in 2008, when he offered his services to Haile Gebrselassie. Kwambai ran as a very reliable pacemaker, enabling Gebrselassie to finish in 2.03.59, the current world record. Kwambai came second in Berlin in 2.05.36. He also came second in the 2007 Boston marathon (2.14.33) and of course also in Rotterdam last year. His training is geared towards winning on the Coolsingel next month in another top time. It will be his eighth marathon.
James Kwambai's seven marathons
2006 Brescia (1) 2.10.20
2006 Bejing (1) 2.10.36
2007 Boston (8) 2.14.33
2007 New York (5) 2.12.25
2008 Boston (8) 2.15.52
2008 Berlin (2) 2.05.36
2009 Rotterdam (2) 2.04.27
The top 10 marathon runners of 2009
2.04.27 (1) Duncan Kibet Kirong Ken Rotterdam 05-04
2.04.27 (2) James Kipsang Kwambai Ken Rotterdam 05-04
2.05.04 (3) Abel Kirui Ken Rotterdam 05-04
2.05.10 (1) Samuel Wanjiru Ken London 26-04
2.05.18 (1) Tsegaye Kebede Eth Fukuoka 06-12
2.05.27 (3) Jaouad Gharib Mor London 26-04
2.05.29 (1) Haile Gebrselassie Eth Dubai 16-01
2.05.47 (1) Vincent Kipruto Ken Parijs 05-04
2.06.04 (2) Abderrahim Goumri Mor Chicago 11-10
2.06.14 (4) Patrick Makau Ken Rotterdam 05-04
Haile Gebrselassie to run in Madrid
Marathon world record-holder Haile Gebrselassie is scheduled to compete in a 10-kilometer road race in Madrid on April 25.
The Ethiopian will run in the first ever Madrid 10K, to be held with the annual Madrid Marathon, organisers said on Tuesday.
The shorter race is expected to have 5 000 runners, with 12 000 competing in the marathon.
Gebrselassie, who has won two 10 000m Olympic golds, pulled out of the NYC Half Marathon in New York on Sunday due to cold and asthma symptoms.
The Ethiopian will run in the first ever Madrid 10K, to be held with the annual Madrid Marathon, organisers said on Tuesday.
The shorter race is expected to have 5 000 runners, with 12 000 competing in the marathon.
Gebrselassie, who has won two 10 000m Olympic golds, pulled out of the NYC Half Marathon in New York on Sunday due to cold and asthma symptoms.
Women Tuning Up Worldwide for London Marathon
by Brett Larner
Looking through results this week from various half marathons around the world I noticed that a number of the top women from next month's London Marathon ran tuneups last Sunday. Here's what I have come across so far. Please send any additions. Both the Jitsugyodan and Matsue half marathons had extremely windy conditions; Japan had such a windy weekend that the 10,000+ runner Arakawa Marathon was cancelled due to the conditions.
2010 London Marathon Elite Women - 3/21/10 Half Marathon Results
Mara Yamauchi (GBR) - 1:09:25 (1st, NYC Half)
Deena Kastor (U.S.A.) - 1:09:43 (2nd, NYC Half)
Yoshimi Ozaki (Team Daiichi Seimei) - 1:10:06 (2nd, Jitsugyodan Half)
Askale Tafa (Ethiopia) - 1:10:46 (2nd, Lisbon Half)
Kim Smith (New Zealand) - 1:10:53 (1st, New Bedford Half)
Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) - 1:11:09 (2nd, Matsue Ladies' Half)
Constantina Dita (Romania) - 1:14:39 (9th, Lisbon Half)
Looking through results this week from various half marathons around the world I noticed that a number of the top women from next month's London Marathon ran tuneups last Sunday. Here's what I have come across so far. Please send any additions. Both the Jitsugyodan and Matsue half marathons had extremely windy conditions; Japan had such a windy weekend that the 10,000+ runner Arakawa Marathon was cancelled due to the conditions.
2010 London Marathon Elite Women - 3/21/10 Half Marathon Results
Mara Yamauchi (GBR) - 1:09:25 (1st, NYC Half)
Deena Kastor (U.S.A.) - 1:09:43 (2nd, NYC Half)
Yoshimi Ozaki (Team Daiichi Seimei) - 1:10:06 (2nd, Jitsugyodan Half)
Askale Tafa (Ethiopia) - 1:10:46 (2nd, Lisbon Half)
Kim Smith (New Zealand) - 1:10:53 (1st, New Bedford Half)
Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) - 1:11:09 (2nd, Matsue Ladies' Half)
Constantina Dita (Romania) - 1:14:39 (9th, Lisbon Half)
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Moses Kibet on XC Worlds
Blog Roll: Robert Chapman reports from XC worlds in Poland
Rob blogs on flotrackAnother beautiful day in Poland. It has to be close to 60 degrees this afternoon, and the athletes are all raving about the weather. Even Ben Bruce, a native Californian, was basking in the glory of doing a track workout today with no shirt.
But a strong chance of rain is in the forecast, and if it does rain, it will likely cause a drastic change in the way the race is run. The course is VERY flat, but is still a little soft from all the snow melt recently. I would compare the footing as being similar to the footing at the Terre Haute course, site of several NCAA Championships. It is a natural grass surface – definitely not a golf course, and if it rains, will be very soft and muddy the way NCAA XC has been in some recent years. There are several places on the course where sand has been trucked in to cover sections where the course was torn up (probably from the Polish championships) or to cover railroad track crossings. These areas are almost like running in beach sand now, and if it rains, will turn to soup. Many of the athletes here are hoping for rain, as the conventional wisdom is that it will slow the race down up front and make it more of a strength race.
You can sense some visible excitement from the senior women’s group about their chances Sunday for a team medal. They all appear quite fit. Metevier, Flannagan, and Lewy-Boulet each did a track session yesterday, and looked very smooth. Brown and Hastings had a session this morning at the track and said they felt good. I think it is very realistic to think they can get a bronze.
This concept of expectations is something that I am preparing to talk about with the junior men tomorrow night. It is an exciting time for US distance running, and these young men are going to a part of the continuing resurgence. But in races like this, there is always that balance between dreaming big and going for it, but also being realistic about what they can accomplish.
I used to talk each year to our incoming college freshmen (and I give a similar talk now to new post-collegiates to our Brooks Team Indiana group) about needing to constantly reset your limits. What you think is fast, is not fast anymore. Nine-flat for 3200m was pretty fast in high school. In both the junior 8k and senior 12k, the first 2 miles will almost certainly be run in under 9 minutes by the leaders, mud or no mud. Nine-flat is dime a dozen at this level. So for these young guys, there is this very delicate balance between knowing their limits and capabilities, but also preparing their mind and body to attempt to go beyond those limits in a championship setting.
Those of you who have read the book Good to Great may remember a section about the “Stockdale Paradox.” Jim Stockdale was the highest ranking US POW in the Hanoi Hilton prison camp during Vietnam. He survived something like 8 years, despite being repeatedly tortured and being singled out because of his rank and the burden of command. In the book, Stockdale talks about what enabled him and many other Americans to survive in truly awful conditions. In the end, what made Stockdale and these other men “great” was a two sided paradox – they had to retain an unwavering faith that they would prevail and get out in the end, regardless of the difficulties they were facing, but at the same time, they had to confront head on the most brutal facts of their current reality, whatever they might be. When asked who didn’t make it out of the camp, Stockdale replied “that’s easy – the optimists.” What he meant was, they guys who said (and believed with all their heart) that they’ll be out by Christmas, then when Christmas came and they were still imprisoned, fell into such despair that they didn’t survive their ordeal. Stockdale said that they “died of a broken heart.”
So what does this have to do with World XC? In many ways, the attitude that US distance running needs to have to progress to the point of being successful at this meet is encapsulated within the Stockdale Paradox. We need to keep a steady faith that we can come to this meet and win at some point in the future. But at the same time, we have to be rational and confront the reality of our situation. We can’t lie to ourselves. We can win this meet at some point, but we can’t put a deadline on it. We’re not getting out by Christmas…..
In the meantime, we have to keep the faith, keep developing the talent base that we have in the US, nurture the junior athletes over here, plus the new young talent like Smyth and Bahus, and we have to do everything we can to enable Flannigan and the big dogs to perform at their best on the day. The lesson I will try to give to the junior men is that being here is about both the process and the outcome. It is a World Championship and (like it or not) they are keeping score, so the outcome of what they do is important. But perhaps more so for them and the future of US distance running, I hope they will give equal weight to the process involved with being here. If they can come back to this meet as a member of a senior team, with the knowledge and experience of how to run with the world’s best, they might just beat the world’s best.
Go USA!
--Robert Chapman
Meanwhile on a track in Arizona...
...Brett Gotcher and Martin Fagan working out!
Thanks to Ian Torrence and McMillian Elite for the picture.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Half marathon, full action: Berlin and Prague this weekend
26,000 at Berlin Half will chase race favourite John Kiprotich, while Wilson Kwambai Chebet (pictured, guy on the left) is labelled the fastest runner lining up in Prague for the same distance. Both are sub60 guys but neither of them will have an easy day with plenty keen fellow Kenyans on their tails.
Stay tuned for news, reviews and results of these pre marathon season hits.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
mzungo.org exclusive interview - Nicholas Arciniaga
Without a doubt he is one of Americas Top Marathon Runners! Placed in the Top 10 in Boston and New York in impressive style and just showed his good form at the NYC Half.Still stoked from his race at last years NYC Marathon we catched up with 26 year old Nick Arciniaga to get some questions out the way.
mzungo.org: How did last years NYC marathon change your perspective on your abilities?
If you count the Olympic Marathon, then that would be the one to win. If not, then either Boston or New York. Both have huge traditions and are known as the best marathons in the world.
mzungo.org: How did last years NYC marathon change your perspective on your abilities?
Nicholas Arciniaga: First it confirmed my thoughts that I am capable of running a fast marathon. Running a 2:13 at New York makes me believe that I can run a 2:10 or better on a faster course.
What did you learn from that race?
I learned how to race under control and set my own pace, regardless of whether I was running minutes behind the leaders, or in front of the chase pack. I learned how to stay in tune with my body for the entire marathon.
Did you train on the course beforehand?
Brian Sell and I came out to New York to preview the course a month beforehand. We ran two long runs over the entire course.
What would could you have done even better? Did you make a mistake during the race? Would you change your tactic for this year?
The only thing I could have done better would be to run a little bit harder during the early stages of the race. Had I gone out a little bit faster, who knows maybe I would have done better overall.
Looking back I don't think I made a mistake. The race played out like I planned, and I ran a 2 1/2 minute personal best, so no I don't think I made a mistake.
If I were to race it again this year I would plan to go out with the leaders and try to race with them as long as I possibly could.
What do you think about the trials being in Houston? Does this make running an early fall marathon impossible? If so, what are the financial consequences for you?
I like that Houston is going to host the next trials, the type of course will be similar to that in London, so the best American marathoners will be selected there with out a doubt. As far as an early fall marathon, for me I would be able to do one if I chose to. I tend to recover from my marathons quickly, so I wouldn't be worried about it.
We heard that you switched to Adidas gear. What shoes are you running in? Thoughts?
I'm running in the Adidas Supernova Glides, and racing in the Adistar Pros. Both shoes feel pretty good, no problems with them yet.
What's the plan for this season? What is the goal race?
This year I plan to run a fall marathon. Whichever one I choose, I plan on running a few races leading up to the marathon, but I haven't decided which ones I'm going to do yet.
What's your favourite workout and why?
What did you learn from that race?
I learned how to race under control and set my own pace, regardless of whether I was running minutes behind the leaders, or in front of the chase pack. I learned how to stay in tune with my body for the entire marathon.
Did you train on the course beforehand?
Brian Sell and I came out to New York to preview the course a month beforehand. We ran two long runs over the entire course.
What would could you have done even better? Did you make a mistake during the race? Would you change your tactic for this year?
The only thing I could have done better would be to run a little bit harder during the early stages of the race. Had I gone out a little bit faster, who knows maybe I would have done better overall.
Looking back I don't think I made a mistake. The race played out like I planned, and I ran a 2 1/2 minute personal best, so no I don't think I made a mistake.
If I were to race it again this year I would plan to go out with the leaders and try to race with them as long as I possibly could.
What do you think about the trials being in Houston? Does this make running an early fall marathon impossible? If so, what are the financial consequences for you?I like that Houston is going to host the next trials, the type of course will be similar to that in London, so the best American marathoners will be selected there with out a doubt. As far as an early fall marathon, for me I would be able to do one if I chose to. I tend to recover from my marathons quickly, so I wouldn't be worried about it.
We heard that you switched to Adidas gear. What shoes are you running in? Thoughts?
I'm running in the Adidas Supernova Glides, and racing in the Adistar Pros. Both shoes feel pretty good, no problems with them yet.
What's the plan for this season? What is the goal race?
This year I plan to run a fall marathon. Whichever one I choose, I plan on running a few races leading up to the marathon, but I haven't decided which ones I'm going to do yet.
What's your favourite workout and why?
I prefer tempo runs, the longer the better. These just feel so easy and smooth for me. They give me a ton of confidence going into my races. I also plan on taking my girlfriend to all of my races because she makes me sooo happy. It's love!
How much can you bench?
How much can you bench?
I have no idea. I haven't done a bench press in about 5 years. Maybe 130-140 max?
How do you like stretching?
Stretching feels good, but I hardly ever do it. After running for hours at a time I just feel too lazy to stretch. When I do stretch though, it's mostly my calves, hamstrings, quads, and hip flexors. And anything I can do while sitting down.
Living in California, you must be surrounded by triathletes. Are you tempted to try one one day or even compete in an Ironman at some stage?
I am definitely intrigued and tempted to do a triathlon one day. Currently with how my running is going, there is not much time to dedicate to biking or swimming. One day I'll do an Ironman.
What is the last record you bought and downloaded?
I don't remember what I last bought, but this is in my car right now - Taylor Swift Fearless. She is my girlfriend's favorite. Maybe I bought it for her. Maybe I bought it for myself.
Whats on the iPod when u work out?
I train iPod free, 100% of the time.
Favourite running route and why?
Aliso Woods Canyon, top of the world and back. It has a great combination of long and rolling uphills, and flat sections. Plus there is an amazing view from the top.
Toughest guy to train with?
The easy answer would be Brian Sell, 2008 Olympic marathoner. I have trained with him consistently over the past 3 year and he is tough to keep pace with on any run.
Which road race would you love to win and why?
How do you like stretching?
Stretching feels good, but I hardly ever do it. After running for hours at a time I just feel too lazy to stretch. When I do stretch though, it's mostly my calves, hamstrings, quads, and hip flexors. And anything I can do while sitting down.
Living in California, you must be surrounded by triathletes. Are you tempted to try one one day or even compete in an Ironman at some stage?
I am definitely intrigued and tempted to do a triathlon one day. Currently with how my running is going, there is not much time to dedicate to biking or swimming. One day I'll do an Ironman.
What is the last record you bought and downloaded?I don't remember what I last bought, but this is in my car right now - Taylor Swift Fearless. She is my girlfriend's favorite. Maybe I bought it for her. Maybe I bought it for myself.
Whats on the iPod when u work out?
I train iPod free, 100% of the time.
Favourite running route and why?
Aliso Woods Canyon, top of the world and back. It has a great combination of long and rolling uphills, and flat sections. Plus there is an amazing view from the top.
Toughest guy to train with?
The easy answer would be Brian Sell, 2008 Olympic marathoner. I have trained with him consistently over the past 3 year and he is tough to keep pace with on any run.
Which road race would you love to win and why?
If you count the Olympic Marathon, then that would be the one to win. If not, then either Boston or New York. Both have huge traditions and are known as the best marathons in the world.
Any running role modells past and present?
My Parents. Brian Sell. Carolyn Lesley Victoria Ellis.
Have you ever been training in Kenya?
Nope, not yet.
How does a usual training day look like?
Wake up. Run. Eat. Take a nap. Eat. Play on the computer. Run again. Eat dinner. Go to sleep.
How often do you change shoes?
Once a month on average. I probably go through 15 pairs a year, which includes racing shoes.
My Parents. Brian Sell. Carolyn Lesley Victoria Ellis.
Have you ever been training in Kenya?
Nope, not yet.
How does a usual training day look like?
Wake up. Run. Eat. Take a nap. Eat. Play on the computer. Run again. Eat dinner. Go to sleep.
How often do you change shoes?
Once a month on average. I probably go through 15 pairs a year, which includes racing shoes.
We thank Nick for the interview and looking forward to another slammin' show over 42,195k!
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