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Lead Stories: Friday, December 5, 2008

Train for the Marathon With Olympic Trials Hopeful, Get Colllege Credit

Posted January 7th, 2008 at 10:30 AM by Jamal Walker

Section: News & Results, Marathons

Among the thousands of runners who will participate in running events during Grandma’s Marathon weekend this June, a few dozen will be there to take a final exam. Lake Superior College is offering its unique online marathon training course again this spring, providing an opportunity to train for and run Grandma’s Marathon or the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon for college credit.

The course provides race training and nutritional information in addition to history, etiquette, and basic skills. Course work is presented online through the Lake Superior College Virtual Campus, making it easily accessible to students at a distance. Enrolled students are guaranteed entry into the marathon or half marathon. They may also arrange to compete in a comparable race to meet course requirements.

Native Duluthian Katie Koski will teach the online physical education course. Koski is an elite runner who hopes to qualify for this year’s Olympic trials in Boston. She was asked to teach the online course for Lake Superior College because of her experience competing in Grandma’s Marathon. She has run in the event eight times, finishing in the top ten on several occasions.
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Quote of the Day: 11/17/07

Posted November 17th, 2007 at 7:00 AM by Jeanie Rebb

Section: Motivation, Famous Quotes

“Most marathoners would say that about
mile 20 they pray for any help they can get.”

- Saint Ralph

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Video: Preview the Highly-Anticipated Third Season of chasingKIMbia

Posted September 20th, 2007 at 6:30 AM by Adam Jacobs

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Olympics

40K at Magnolia. Ugali and Chicken. Table Mountain. CNN and Fox News. Trips to Wal*Mart. Yep, it’s that time of year again. Welcome to Season Three of chasingKIMBIA; a video blogumentary detailing the lifestyle and training of some of the world’s best marathoners.

The Chicago and New York City Marathons are fast approaching, and the athletes have been getting fast. Season Three kicks off next Monday from Boulder. You’ll meet some new athletes this season, like Christopher Cheboiboch, who has a PR of 2:08 and has finished second in both New York and Boston. You’ll also see some old faces, like Baba (New York) and James Koskei (Chicago).

But the biggest change this year will be the addition of an American to the group. Fasil Bizuneh is an up-and-coming American marathoner. His half-marathon PR of 1:02:20 came in the US Championships where he finished second to Ryan Hall, and ahead of Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi and he’s been training with the guys in Boulder since the end of August in preparation for the November 3rd US Olympic Marathon Trials in NYC.

Play the video trailer below for a sneak-peak of chasingKIMBIA’s highly-anticipated third season!

Click To Play

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A comparison of performances by American marathoners: 1980 vs. 2005

Posted April 21st, 2007 at 3:29 PM by Jim Fortner

Section: News & Results, Marathons

Jim Fortner is a weekly, guest contributor to TheFinalSprint.com. Make sure to also check out his own personal running and advice site: “Jim2’s Running Page”.

In 1999 I posted two essays titled “The Decline of American Marathoners” & “Why Have They Declined?” on Runner’s World and Merv Competitive forums, which I subsequently updated in 2001.

They generated extensive discussions concerning the deterioration in performance of American marathoners throughout the 1990’s, as compared to the 1970-80’s.

The decline at the elite level was well documented by official records. Not only were U.S. elites no longer competitive on the international racing scene, but they could not even match the performances of their predecessors a decade or two earlier.
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