The brand new “Stadium to the Sea” racecourse introduced for the 25th City of Los Angeles Marathon will take the runners from Dodger Stadium in Echo Park to Santa Monica by the sea via some of the most iconic sections of the Los Angeles area. The event has “sold out” for the first time in history at 25,000, and will include 233 “legacy” runners who have run every L.A. marathon since 1986. That, in itself, is a remarkable number.

What’s most intriguing about the new course isn’t just the point-to-point passing of Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, Brentwood, and on into Santa Monica. This new course has a net elevation drop of 480 feet, with the second half descending a whopping 325 of those feet! Boston, by comparison, drops 430 feet in total and just 120 feet in its second half. Who knows if all the down hills will affect the quads the way Boston does (watch for how many runners walk downstairs backwards on Monday). There is only one significant hill in the entire second half, coming from miles 20-21, same place as Heartbreak Hill does in Boston. The elevation gain is similar, as well, Heartbreak rising 80 feet, and Purple Heart Hill (it’s at the Veteran’s Administration complex) marching 77 feet up. While Boston is a mild series of downhills through Brookline into Boston’s Back Bay, miles 24 - 26 from Brentwood into Santa Monica descend 81’, 103’, and 73’ respectively. Again, on paper that may make it fast, but we will have to see how the runners legs hold up after the previous pounding. 

Defending men’s champion Wesley Korir (2:08:24 in 2009) came to inspect the course a few weeks back, and said it had 2:06-2:07 speed. I spoke with Runner’s World’s Bart Yasso who also thinks it will be fast based on running the last 8 miles several times. This is the first time the course has had a net elevation drop in its history, as all previous L.A. Marathon courses stayed within the city limits, forcing the runners to return uphill into downtown.

If the runners can manage the first eight miles which have a lot of turns, and can negotiate a 90-foot hill in the fourth mile up First Avenue as the course passes the Frank Gehry-designed Disney Concert Hall, there is a chance for L.A.’s first significant world-class finishing time. Field analysis below the break. (more…)

The most popular American sports are episodic in nature, featuring a pitch, a play, a shot every 30 seconds. They are also segmented into quarters, periods, or halves, making for easy television coverage.  So even with tens of millions of self-designated runners bounding about the continent for the last thirty years, Americans have yet to fully embrace a sport which is linear, doesn’t involve a ball or violence, and only pays off on an investment of interest shown over a long, gradual build up.

Beyond the formatting aspect, however, the very ethos of running plays against its success in 21^st century America.  Not only is the sport a holdover from the 19^th century when vast numbers of people moved from small towns to large cities and leisure time was, for the first time, afforded them in relative abundance, but in today’s culture the whole concept of short-term sacrifices in the cause of long-term rewards has become as untethered to the American brain stem as family farming and virgin weddings.  Congressional tribalism in the face of health care and entitlement reform seems only the leading indicator.  There are other sign posts, as well. (more…)

2012 will mark the second time Houston has hosted a Trials marathon.  In 1992 they picked up the Women’s trials after Sacramento, which won the selection, failed to gather the requisite sponsorship support.  The following is from the USATF press release.

The 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials will be held in Houston January 14, 2012, a day prior to the 40^th anniversary of the Chevron Houston Marathon. The races will determine the three men and three women who will represent the United States in the marathon at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

USA Track & Field’s site selection committee, comprised of USATF committee chairs, elite athletes and staff, tapped Houston to host both races. Boston and New Yorkhad each bid to host one Olympic Trials race. The USATF Board of Directors approved the decision at its weekend meeting in Albuquerque, N.M. and the USOC has green-lighted the award. (more…)

                      Ethiopian veteran runs fastest women’s time ever on US soil.

New Orleans, LA - Febuary 28, 2010 - Former World Half-Marathon Champion Berhane Adere of Ethiopia won the inaugural Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Half Marathon in New Orleans Sunday, clocking the fastest time ever run by a woman on American soil.  Her 1:07:52 time bested the mark set by America’s Deena Kastor at the 2005 Philadelphia Distance Run by a single second.  Adere, 36, needed to be at her best to hold off New Zealand’s Kim Smith, who finished a close second in 1:07:55, the third fastest half-marathon ever run in the U.S.  On the men’s side, three-time London Marathon champion Martin Lel of Kenya outpaced his countryman and half-marathon world record holder Sammy Wanjiru by 26-seconds, winning in 1:01:07.

The new Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Marathon and Half Marathon courses were designed not only to provide a comprehensive tour of post-Katrina New Orleans, but also to be fast. The elite performances validated the hype, with five out of the top six women running personal bests. Adere’s winning time was a huge 25-second personal best for the former two-time Chicago Marathon champion. Smith’s second-place time was a New Zealand national record. Both of their efforts were helped by near-perfect weather conditions, as the day dawned sunny, dry, and windless, with a starting-line temperature in the low 50s. (more…)

Headlining the field, and recently announced, are defending champions Deriba Merga and Salina Kosgei, and past champions Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot, Catherine Ndereba, Dire Tune and Lidiya Grigoryeva.

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Sunday’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Marathon & 1/2 Marathon will showcase perhaps the most dynamic half-marathon duel ever staged on American soil. 2008 Olympic Marathon gold medalist and half-marathon world record holder Sammy Wanjiru will battle head-to-head against fellow Kenyan and three-time London Marathon champion Martin Lel as both men set their sites on the April 25th Virgin London Marathon where Wanjiru broke Lel’s course record by five seconds in 2009 after Lel bested Wanjiru in the 2008 race (picture above). Morocco’s  Abderrahim Goumri, third in `08 London, was to have joined Lel and Wanjiru in New Orleans as a tune up for the April 19th Boston Marathon, but has pulled out with an unspecified injury.

“To draw the likes of Sammy and Martin to New Orleans demonstrates our commitment to attract the biggest names in the world of running,” said Matt Turnbull, Elite Athlete Coordinator for the Competitor Group. “We’re excited to have two of the greatest road racers in history at the start line this weekend.”

The first Kenyan to ever win the Olympic Marathon Gold Medal, Wanjiru set the standing half-marathon world record of 58:33 in 2007 at the City-Pier-City Loop in The Hague, The Netherlands. That record marked the third time he had broken the world record at the distance, the first set at age 18.

“The timing of the Mardi Gras Half-Marathon is perfect for athletes like me who are preparing for a spring marathon,” said Wanjiru. “For me it’s a great opportunity to see where I am before London. Really, I am just looking to come and run a solid race and this gives me a great chance to see where I’m at and what condition I am in.”

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 Interesting  choice, and according to Hawi, not a foregone one.  The other viable options included the Gate River 15K in Jacksonville, Florida on March 13th, which doubles as the annual USATF National Road 15K Championship, and the new Rock `n` Roll Dallas 1/2 Marathon the following day in Texas.

Forgetting for a moment the monetary inducements any of the three might generate for Meb, these spring (like the fall) marathon tune up races are more about getting one’s head and body right for the big race down the line, rather than maxing out on that particular day.  So, what may have lured Meb to New York wasn’t just his comfort levels and reception in New York by the N.Y. Road Runners, but the lack of pressure to win the race, what with Haile in the field and all. 

If Meb had gone back to Jacksonville, where he won six times in seven years from 2001 to 2007, the pressure to win would have been great.  Then what if he didn’t? And with the level of competition churning around America these days, though a victory would seem more likely than not, certainly there would be decent money betting the other way. 

As for Rock `n` Roll in Dallas, well, the Competitor Group’s recent modus operandi has been to invite one big name for their event marquee, then let him/her carry the PR weight alone.  Good money in that, but perhaps not the type of atmosphere or competition to best tune up for a marathon major.  

So it is off to New York where Meb can run free and easy, not be expected to win, yet perhaps take a solid shot at a new PR, and who knows, all things fall perfectly…

Most of the time races need racers.  Other times racers need races.  This is one of those times when New York is the perfect stepping stone to Boston for Meb.  Now, where is Ryan Hall prepping for Patriot’s Day?

Bekele’s article didn’t surprise me, except for the fact that over half of his $1.1 million came from appearance fees, which to me is simply ridiculous. It will forever boggle my mind that athletes get paid simply to show up at a meet that they should be competing in anyways. The fact that Bekele gets somewhere around four to five times more just for showing up rather than his winning performance makes me sick, and shows EXACTLY why our sport will never, ever be as big as it could be. (more…)

“We are lucky to have her, ” he told me,”just hope her foot holds up in training.”

It has been a remarkable 20 years for the event and the sport, not the least because of Pinkowski’s efforts.  When he took over Chicago in 1990 it was a sunken ship, having lost its sponsors, its pro runners, and much of the goodwill of the Chicago running community.  But by adhering to the path all runners must take to reach their full potential, starting slowly then proceeding to build up year by year, Carey has raised the great ship, and steered it back to the front ranks of the grand flotilla of world marathons. (more…)

If USATF ex. dir. Doug Logan wanted to witness the floor in the recession of this sport, all he had to do was pay attention to that presentation.  With the NBA Finals game four coming up next, the two Sportcenter anchors couldn’t have found a more entertaining or comical interlude if they’d switched on The Comedy Channel.

“Note to self,” mocked one after the first of two false starts.  “Never schedule a live cut-in with a false start.”

His partner was already in hysterics.

“It was the smilling guy in lane eight,” he said referring to the inimitable Bernard Williams, the Nathan Lane of sprinting.  Of course the smug ESPN boys had no idea who any of the sprinters in the race were except Bolt.  Not that that didn’t keep them from ridiculing the entire offering.  (more…)