TheFinalSprint.com | Premier Running Destination for Marathons, Track and Field, Race News, Podcasts, Training Advice and More! - TheFinalSprint.com is the Premier Running Destination for Marathons, Track and Field, Race News, Podcasts, Training Advice and More!

Lead Stories: Saturday, May 17, 2008

Quote of the Day: 5/9/08

Posted May 9th, 2008 at 9:00 AM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: Motivation, Famous Quotes

“You must have faith to succeed.”

- Anonymous

Comment on this post | Permalink

Sara Hall: In Definition
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #8)

Posted May 2nd, 2008 at 12:58 PM by Sara Hall

Section: News & Results, 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/

Recently I came across some comments on a video of Ryan where people seemed confused as to what he means by “glorifying God”. I don’t normally look at people’s comments because I don’t really like criticism, but for whatever reason I started to read some this day.

Some people were vehemently anti-religion, some people held a strong in-your-face religious stance, and everything in between, debating what Ryan was talking about. It made me realize the ambiguity of this term, “glorifying God”, and so this blog is an attempt to extrapolate on what we mean when we say
we strive to glorify God when we run.
Read the rest of this entry »

20 comments, add yours | Permalink

Josh Cox:
Forgotten Number Four
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #7)

Posted April 17th, 2008 at 12:00 PM by Josh Cox

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Elite Athlete Blogs, Josh Cox

Welcome to the official blog of U.S. marathon runner Josh Cox. Every other Wednesday visit http://joshcox.thefinalsprint.com for Cox’s latest blog entry and for more information, also please visit: www.joshcox.com

“Friendships born on the field of athletic strife are the real gold of competition. Awards become corroded, friends gather no dust.”
–Jesse Owens, 4 time Track and Field Gold Medalist at the 1936 Olympic Games

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.”
–C. S. Lewis

“You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing. I wove my webs for you because I liked you. After all, what’s a life, anyway? We’re born, we live a little while, we die. A spider’s life can’t help being something of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone’s life can stand a little of that.”
–Charlotte the spider in EB White’s “Charlotte’s Web”

I get loads of email from strangers. When you write blogs, have Myspaces, Facebooks and a contact button on your website, it comes with the territory. My latest “Miracles” installment solicited a Santa sized bag of digital mail. For every public comment I receive, another five appear in the inbox. If a common theme arises I address it in the comments of the blog – years of blogging tells me this is the best course of action. This way the popular, pertinent issues get addressed. If I’m busy this doesn’t always happen. So before diving into this entry I’ll let the mail senders know I’ll be answering their questions and keeping the comment section of the last blog alive and kicking.
Read the rest of this entry »

11 comments, add yours | Permalink

2008 Olympian Ryan Hall’s Introspective and London Marathon Workout Video

Posted April 9th, 2008 at 1:30 PM by Adam Jacobs

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Motivation, Movies, Olympics

The video documentary embedded below was released on GodTube and sent to us late last night by producer and elite American distance runner Josh Cox. It features 2008 U.S. Olympic marathoner Ryan Hall as he embarks on a nearly 24 mile marathon simulation run around Big Bear Lake; the most challenging training run in his preparation for this Sunday’s Flora London Marathon.

In the inspiring and profoundly spiritual documentary, Hall expresses heart-felt sentiments about the purpose of his running, World Vision, what fuels his inner drive, his intense devotion to faith and the desire to encourage and motivate others. There are also a few lighter moments, such as Hall’s conversations with his wife, Sara, about “finally cutting his hair” after London, as well as, several deeply personal dialogues, including a scene where Hall tells his supporters:

“I would really appreciate any of you guys who want to be praying for me to strive together with me as it talks about in Romans 15:30. Strive together with me in your prayers … It’s the way that you can not only watch this video but you can also participate in the race with me.”

Read the rest of this entry »

4 comments, add yours | Permalink

Josh Cox: Miracles . . . A Runner’s Case for Theism (Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #6)

Posted April 3rd, 2008 at 12:45 PM by Josh Cox

Section: Elite Athlete Blogs, Josh Cox

Welcome to the official blog of U.S. marathon runner Josh Cox. Every other Wednesday visit http://joshcox.thefinalsprint.com for Cox’s latest blog entry and for more information, also please visit: www.joshcox.com

“If people think God is interesting, the onus is on them to show that there is anything there to talk about. Otherwise they should just shut up about it.” -Richard Dawkins, Evolutionary Biologist, Oxford scholar, author of “The God Delusion”

“Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.”
-CS Lewis, author, teacher, former atheist, and Oxford Scholar

“It is, of course, true that your success would be open to a variety of interpretations-perhaps such a miracle says nothing about the existence of God but demonstrates that clairvoyance is an actual power of the human mind and that you possess it in spades.” -Sam Harris, atheist evangelist and author, explaining away the miraculous

“Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature, and you will find that, behind all the discernible concatenations, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable.” --Albert Einstein, German-born theoretical physicist

I wasn’t planning on writing this. Honest. I pondered the idea during my long run with Dan [Browne] last week, again during my 15 miler over the weekend and a final time as I responded to nearly half of the 17 emails asking what I believed and why I believed it – but not even those served as this blog’s impetus. Nope. The tipping point came when I stumbled across the poem I wrote for my dad’s funeral nearly two years ago. I didn’t read it all; I couldn’t read it all – didn’t want to. Tears, therapeutic as they may be, don’t lend themselves to productivity; and because I am busier than a one legged man in a butt kicking contest I figured I would spare my wife the Dick Vermeil impression.
Read the rest of this entry »

29 comments, add yours | Permalink

Jon Rankin: Life’s Certainties
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #9)

Posted March 27th, 2008 at 10:30 AM by Jon Rankin

Section: News & Results, Cross Country, Track & Field, Olympics, Elite Athlete Blogs, Jon Rankin

Welcome to the official blog of rising U.S. track & field star Jon Rankin; the inaugural member of The Final Sprint’s Elite Athlete Blog Series. Be sure to check back every other Wednesday for Jon’s latest entry at http://jonrankin.thefinalsprint.com/

“Certainty? In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.”

- Benjamin Franklin

I really don’t know how to interpret the above quote from Benjamin Franklin. Without a doubt it’s tax time. Yikes!! Honestly, I think that it’s kind of funny because it would be a very dreary life if death and taxes were the only things truly certain in life. What about love? What about running? What about the sweet smell of freshly cut grass in the early morning hours prior to a cross country race? If death and taxes are the only things certain I thank God for every day that I do get to run because I’ve been injured way too many times not to realize how lucky I am to be where I’m at today, just a few months away from make one of my biggest dreams a more certain part of my reality.
Read the rest of this entry »

5 comments, add yours | Permalink

TFS Running Podcast 131:
Andrew Carlson

Posted March 23rd, 2008 at 12:15 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics, Special Features, Interviews, Podcasts

Today on Episode 131 of The Final Sprint Running Podcast I am joined by Andrew Carlson, the 2008 15k US National Champion who runs for Team USA Minnesota. Andrew has embarked on a career-defining season in 2008, kicking it off on New Year’s Eve with a course record in the New York Midnight 4-mile Run, then winning his 1st national championship in the Gate River Run 15k, then placing second in the 8k national championship in the Central Park Challenge.

In the interview, Andrew talks about his expectations for the 2008 season and his place within the resurgence in American distance running. He discusses his favorite events and what his plans are for the rest of the season. He also talks about Team USA Minnesota and the types of community outreach activities he does with them, what he meant when he said he revamped his training in 2008, how he got his start in running, when he plans to tackle his first marathon and much, much more!

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: Jimmie Markham
Guest: Andrew Carlson
Producers: Greg Cherniet, Adam Jacobs
Music: Ryan Ahlwardt & Darnell Perkins
File size: 15.0 MB | Length: 00:21:55

Interested in featuring The Final Sprint Podcast on your site, blog or My Space page? Click here to learn how!

Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

Ryan Hall: Keeping Perspective
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #4)

Posted March 4th, 2008 at 4:56 PM by Ryan Hall

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Cross Country, Elite Athlete Blogs, Ryan Hall

Welcome to the official blog of top U.S. distance runner Ryan Hall as he begins his quest for Olympic gold! Check back every other Friday for Ryan’s latest entry at http://ryanhall.thefinalsprint.com/

To be completely honest, I was bummed after XC Nationals. I was in good shape and ready to go, or so I thought. My expectations were high and I was hoping to kick off 2008 with a bang, so I was naturally a little bent when things didn’t turn out how I had hoped. Finishing fifth wasn’t a terrible performance and my hat goes off to Dathan and the rest of the guys on the team (I am sure we will all be proud of how they represent the US at Worlds), but it just wasn’t building the momentum I was looking for heading into London. Afterwards, there were lots of reasons, of which I constantly kept reminding myself, for why I didn’t perform well, but that didn’t keep me from getting a little bummed. Even so, I welcome these humbling experiences because they get me fired up. I had humbling experiences that preceded all of my best races.
Read the rest of this entry »

12 comments, add yours | Permalink

Ryan Hall: Confidence
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #3)

Posted February 16th, 2008 at 1:15 PM by Ryan Hall

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Track & Field, Olympics, Elite Athlete Blogs, Ryan Hall

Welcome to the official blog of top U.S. distance runner Ryan Hall as he begins his quest for Olympic gold! Check back every other Friday for Ryan’s latest entry.

Something that has been on my mind a lot lately is the importance of confidence. When I am in Mammoth training I sometimes like to shoot hoops after our evening weight lifting is complete. When I am shooting around I like to work on my visualization skills. Just moments before releasing the ball I see the ball going in.

In my mind I become border-line cocky with each passing shot. If I miss I instantly shake it off and visualize the next shot going in, swish. I tell myself there is no way I will miss, swish. I see the ball crisply cutting through the net, swish. It amazing how much better I shoot when I am overly confident. I know this is kind of a ghetto experiment but it has definitely shown me that I am a lot more likely to perform better when I am confident than when I am unsure.
Read the rest of this entry »

19 comments, add yours | Permalink

Josh Cox: Carpe Diem
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #2)

Posted February 6th, 2008 at 3:15 PM by Josh Cox

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Motivation, Olympics, Elite Athlete Blogs, Josh Cox

Check back every other Wednesday for his latest entry and for more information about Cox, also please visit: www.joshcox.com

In ‘97 Cox ran and won a 50-mile ultra, in ’99 he ran his first marathon making him the youngest Trials qualifier. The following year he clocked 2:13, which opened the door for him to train with the world’s best in Kenya. Cox has tried his hand at Reality TV, been all over magazine covers and is a fixture in the sport.

CARPE DIEM

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven played music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Baptist minister and civil rights leader

“It is a sad fate for a man to die too well known to everybody else, and still unknown to himself.”
- Francis Bacon, English philosopher and statesman

“Never, never, never quit.”
- Winston Churchill, Author, soldier and Prime Minister

October 1980, Paul David Hewson and his band - formally known as “Feedback” and “The Hype” - had just released their first full-length album, Boy. Their single “I Will Follow” climbed the UK charts and their star was born. Around that time, the band joined a religious group in Dublin, the Shalom Fellowship. Time passed and some of Shalom’s leaders began criticizing the bands “involvement in the world.” The leaders told the band that in order to please God they would have to give up rock ‘n’ roll.
Read the rest of this entry »

10 comments, add yours | Permalink