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Sara Hall: Success in London for Ryan, Now On To Mt. Sac (Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #7)
Posted April 18th, 2008 at 4:00 PM by Sara Hall
Section: News & Results, Marathons, Track & Field, Olympics, Elite Athlete Blogs, Sara Hall
Welcome to the official blog of U.S. middle-distance runner Sara Hall. Sara’s list of running accolades include being a former NCAA All- American at Stanford, the 2006 USA 5K road champion, and the 2006 champion at the Continental Fifth Avenue Mile. Check back every other Friday for her latest entry at http://sarahall.thefinalsprint.com/
It’s over. I am definitely running a little lighter these days now that London is behind us, successfully completed! There is so much buildup going into marathons, especially for Ryan since he usually doesn’t race too much leading up to it. Just one shot, make or break, all that training and dreaming coming down to one day.
This year, Ryan seemed a lot less nervous than last year and at the Trials, which helped me stay relaxed too. I take Ryan’s races very personally, because we are a team- whether playing Poker with our teammates (much to the frustration of Ian [Dobson] frustration) or cheering each other on in workouts, we are “Team Hall” and try to do it together and support each other to the point where his races seem like my races, his victories my victories, and his failures mine as well. The Bible puts it well when it says, “a man shall leave his father and mother, be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh”. Since we’ve been married, I definitely feel like we are “one”, so it was great to be able to be there the whole trip to London and experience it all together!
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Pavey To Defend Great Manchester Run Title
Posted April 15th, 2008 at 2:45 PM by David Monti
Section: News & Results, Road Racing
Briton Jo Pavey plans to defend her title at the BUPA Great Manchester Run set for Sunday, May 18, in Manchester, England, organizers announced today.
Pavey, fourth over 10,000m at last summer’s IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Osaka, will again face road running specialist Anikó Kálovics of Hungary, whom she beat by just one second at last year’s Great Manchester Run, 31:47 to 31:48. Pavey is currently warm weather training in Dullstroom, South Africa, and will come down from altitude several days before the Manchester race.
Race organizer, Nova International, reported that two-time world marathon champion, Catherine Ndereba, would also compete.
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IAAF Announces Venues for 2009 Half-Marathon Champs, World Athletics Final
Posted April 3rd, 2008 at 9:00 AM by Bob Ramsak
Section: News & Results, Marathons, Track & Field
Birmingham, England, will host the 2009 World Half-Marathon Championships, the IAAF announced yesterday after its two-day Council meeting in London.
The 21.1 km event, the only global championship set aside solely for road running, returns to Great Britain for the third time. In 1992, Tyneside played host before returning in 2001 to Bristol. This year’s edition will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in October.
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2 Mile World Best for Bekele in Birmingham
Posted February 16th, 2008 at 3:09 PM by Bob Ramsak
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
Kenenisa Bekele set a new world best over 2 miles at the Norwich Union Grand Prix in Birmingham, England, today, clocking 8:04.35.
His performance knocked 0.34 seconds from the previous mark of 8:04.69 set by his compatriot Haile Gebrselassie in 2003 on the same track at the National Indoor Arena. Bekele, the world record holder outdoors in the 5000 and 10,000m, now owns the world record or world best indoors at 2000m, 2 miles and 5000m. Only Daniel Komen’s indoor mark of 7:24.90 in the 3000m, considered the strongest of indoor world records on the track, has eluded the 25-year-old Ethiopian.
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Great North Run Poised to Join One Million Entries Club
Posted January 23rd, 2008 at 9:16 AM by David Monti
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Road Racing
The BUPA Great North Run, the world’s largest half-marathon, is poised to join the exclusive one million entries club, the handful of running events which have recorded one million race registrations over the life of the race. The event is easily the largest running race in Great Britain, and is run on a point-to-point course from Newcastle to South Shields. The 2007 edition saw 35,719 runners gather on the starting line.
Founded in 1981, the Great North Run will accept 52,000 entrants this year, putting the event over the 1,000,000 barrier, according to Brendan Foster of Nova International, the race chairman.
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Hall and Wanjiru Added to London Marathon Field
Posted January 7th, 2008 at 12:30 PM by David Monti
Section: News & Results, Marathons
Race director David Bedford has beefed up his already robust field for the 2008 Flora London Marathon by adding two of the sport’s most promising marathon stars: Ryan Hall (Pictured) of Big Bear Lake, Calif., and Samuel Wanjiru of Kenya. The 28th edition of the race is scheduled for Sunday, April 13.
Hall, 25, is coming off of a dramatic victory at the USA Olympic Team Trials - Men’s Marathon held in New York City last November. The former Stanford University star ran a brilliant race, saving his strength during the first half of the hilly, five-loop course in Central Park before unleashing a seemingly effortless 62:45 for the second half. His finish time of 2:09:02 was a Trials record, despite the fact that he lost at least half a minute in the final miles celebrating his victory. Hall also ran 2:08:24 at London in his debut last April, a USA debut record.
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Lel Leads Stacked Elite Field for 2008 London Marathon
Posted December 12th, 2007 at 10:15 AM by David Monti
Section: News & Results, Marathons
Martin Lel, the only man to ever win the Flora London and ING New York City Marathons in the same year, headlines London’s field for next April, race director Dave Bedford announced today.
The 29 year-old Lel, who won both the London and New York races in sprint finishes over Moroccan Abderrahim Goumri, also won London in 2005. He has a personal best time of 2:06:41.
“I am very pleased to be able to defend my title.,” Lel commented through a media release. “I am training hard to make sure I am in top shape for my bid to win a third time. I know it will be tough, but I love running in London and am confident I can win again.”
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Podcast 88: KATHY BUTLER on the 2007 Chicago Marathon
Posted October 4th, 2007 at 3:45 PM by Adam Jacobs
Section: News & Results, Marathons, Cross Country, Olympics, Special Features, Interviews, Podcasts
Episode sponsored by: Bill Rodgers Sportswear
After 21 years BR Sportswear is closing out their line of high -quality running apparel. Visit shopfest.com to take advantage of an unprecedented 50% discount on all in-stock items!
Episode 88 of TheFinalSprint.com Podcast, the most listened to running podcast in North America, features my interview with former University of Wisconsin star KATHY BUTLER (who now competes for Great Britain) just days before she competes in the 2007 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon.
In the interview, Kathy talks about bouncing back from a DNF at last April’s Flora London Marathon, the keys to her success at Sunday’s Chicago Marathon, qualifying for the Beijing Olympics, and which events she’ll focus on in 2008.
Download the podcast to hear Kathy discuss these topics, as well as admiring the work ethic of runners like Bob Kennedy, wanting to compete in the 2008 World XC Champs in her hometown of Edinburgh, and how moving between America, Canada, and Great Britain has helped her to feel at “home” when racing in different countries, but also made her yearn for stability when she decides to eventually retire.
Listen In
[PLAY] (To Download: Right click and select “save as”)[RSS] Add The Final Sprint Podcast RSS feed to your RSS reader to have the show delivered to you
Host: Adam Jacobs | Guest: Kathy Butler
Producers: Greg Cherniet, Adam Jacobs
Musicians: Ryan Ahlwardt, Darnell Perkins
File Size: 12.9 MB | Length: 18:49 MIN
Episode sponsored by: Bill Rodgers Sportswear
After 21 years Bill Rodgers Sportswear is closing out their line of high-quality running apparel. Visit shopfest.com to take advantage of an unprecedented 50% discount on all in-stock items!
Defar Leads Top Women’s Field in London 5-K
Posted September 11th, 2007 at 10:00 AM by David Monti
Section: News & Results
Reigning Olympic and world 5000m champion, Meseret Defar, leads a top-notch field at Sunday’s Hydro Active Women’s Challenge in London’s Hyde Park, a 5 km road race. The 23 year-old Ethiopian is also the world record holder for both 5000m on the track (14:16.63) and 5 km on the road (14:46).
“Naturally we are very pleased to have the world and Olympic 5000m champion Meseret Defar, fresh from her victory in Osaka heading up our elite field in London, the UK’s premier 5-k women’s road running event,” said Dave Bedford who directs the race. Bedford is also the race director of the Flora London Marathon.
Bedford has also invited a strong group of challengers to face Defar, led by Australia’s Benita Johnson, America’s Lauren Fleshman, Russia’s Inge Abitova, and Britain’s Jo Pavey and Liz Yelling.
This will be the tenth edition of the Challenge which organizers said had 20,000 entrants last year. The course record of 14:51 was set by Paula Radcliffe in 2003.
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English marathoner Jane Tomlinson dies after 7-year battle with cancer
Posted September 4th, 2007 at 3:20 PM by Martin Kennedy
Section: News & Results, Marathons
Jane Tomlinson, who defied terminal cancer for seven years by running marathons, entering triathlons and cycling vast distances while raising large sums for charity, has died, her family said Tuesday. Tomlinson, 43, died Monday night at St. Gemma’s Hospice in Leeds, her home town in central England.
She was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1990. Ten years later, she was told the disease had spread and was incurable, and that she would die within six months. She continued to work as a nurse and, despite the effects of chemotherapy and other treatment, she pursued a grueling exercise program.
She ran three times in the London marathon and was said to be the first terminal cancer patient to finish the race. She ran once in the New York Marathon and competed in an Ironman triathlon in Florida completing a 180-kilometer (112-mile) bike ride, a 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) swim and a full marathon within 17 hours.
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Who was America's most-valuable male runner in 2008?
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