Seventeen days and counting. I got my Olympic Trials tickets in the mail today.
They are bright, shiny, colorful and artistic. They are also literally irreplaceable because the meet has sold out. For a brief moment I thought about going to the bank and putting them in the safe deposit box. Then I decided that would be a bit too much … or would it?
The ticket package, among other things, told me what could and could not be brought in to Hayward Field. You wouldn’t think they’d have to say that prohibited items include illegal drugs, explosives and guns, but I guess we do live in a litigious society. Absent from both the “OK” and “Not OK” lists were computers. What’s an online journalist to do?
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Today on Episode 136 of TheFinalSprint.com Podcast, the most listened to running podcast in North America, I participated in the USATF-hosted, Drake Relays Media Teleconference which featured 110m hurdler Allen Johnson. In his distinguished career, Johnson has won a gold medal in the 1996 Olympic Games, 4 golds and 1 bronze in the World Outdoor championships and 3 gold and two silvers in the Indoor world championships, including his 2nd place finish this year in Valencia, Spain.
I joined Mike Mahon, the media coordinator for the Drake Relays, Peter Gambaccini from Runner’s World and reporters from the Associated Press, Oakland Tribune and Reuters in the teleconference. We asked Allen questions that covered a wide range of topics, including his career, doping, promotion of track and field, the athletes’ ability to speak out at the Olympics, how much longer he plans to compete, and much, much more.
TO DOWNLOAD: Right click here and select “Save As”
Host: USATF | Guest: Allen Johnson
Producers: Greg Cherniet, Adam Jacobs
Music: Ryan Ahlwardt & Darnell Perkins
File size: 23.6 MB | Length: 00:34:24
Episode Sponsored By: U.S. Army Special Forces
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While I was in London I wrote a special story on Ryan Hall’s race for RunnersWorld.com.
You can read it at the shortened link, below. Just scroll down slightly and you’ll see my byline.
IAAF’s Preview Of Melbourne Grand Prix
At the Melbourne Grand Prix, a highly fit Craig Mottram will take on teen Ethiopian sensation Abreham Cherkos Feleke in the 5000m in front of a home crowd. Jeremy Wariner will run his first 400m of the 2008 season. Asafa Powell is still questionable for the 100m.
Read more at: [IAAF]
New Bookshop at Runner’s World
The Runner’s World website has a new feature: the Runner’s World Bookshop. Included among the offering is Runner’s World Guide To Road Racing, which offers “advice from the pros on training for and competing in the four most popular road races–5K, 10K, half-marathon, and marathon.”
Read more at: [Runner’s World]
No Indoor Championshipss For Bekele
Kenenisa Bekele will miss the IAAF World Indoor Athletic Championships. Instead, he will focus on the World Cross-Country Championships where he hopes to redeem himself after a disastrous 2007 race in Mombasa, Kenya. In that race he succumbed to the heat and the humidity and was forced to drop out.
Read more at: [Guardian Unlimited, UK]
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More Bad News For Runners In Kenya
The death toll due to the upheaval in Kenya has now surpassed 1,000 and shows no signs of abating. That’s more bad news for world-class runners who are still in the country.
Read more at: [MetroWest Daily News, MA][NY Times]
Palmiero-Winters Trying To Qualify for US Marathon Trials
Amy Palmiero-Winters, winner of the 2007 Runners World Peoples Choice Heroes of Running award, is trying to qualify for the US Olympic Marathon Trials. Oh, yeah: she’s an amputee.
Read more at: [Press of Atlantic City]
Keflezighi Aims for Flora London & 10,000m Olympic Trial
Meb Keflezighi, still disappointed about his 8th place finish at the US men’s marathon Olympic Trials last year, is gunning for a spot on the 10000m team. He will also run a fall marathon. He is also thinking about the 2012 marathon in London.
Read more at: [Washington Times]
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TheFinalSprint.com, TFS Media Network and I would like to applaud Brooks on their commitment to environmental sustainability and for the innovation, as described below, of a new biodegradable midsole in running shoes.
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Brooks Sports, Inc., a leading performance running company, today introduced from its sales meeting BioMoGo, the world’s first biodegradable midsole.
Blazing a new trail in the athletic industry by offering runners more environmentally friendly footwear, Brooks designed its new BioMoGo midsole to biodegrade 50 times faster than conventional athletic shoes.
BioMoGo midsoles include a non-toxic, natural additive that exponentially increases the rate of biodegradation by encouraging anaerobic microbes to biodegrade nutrients into reusable byproducts. While Traditional Ethylene Vinyl Acetate™ (EVA) midsoles can last up to 1,000 years in an enclosed landfill, extensive tests have proven that BioMoGo can biodegrade in roughly 20 years when placed in the same environment. By using BioMoGo in its shoes, Brooks will save nearly 30 million pounds of landfill waste over a 20-year period.
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In a running interview with Runner’s World Editor-in-Chief David Willey, Lance Armstrong said he is aiming for a 2:50 finish time this year. Although he trained more this year, Armstrong didn’t sound too confident (despite looking far more comfortable this year than last).
It should be noted that Armstrong does not have what Willey called a “entourage”, or pacers, this year. Last year celebrity pacers like Alberto Salazar ran portions of the race with Armstrong; Undoubtedly helpful for a first time marathoner but also something that drew a plethora of criticism.
This year, with no marathoning legends of Hall of Fame runners in sight, Armstrong is all by himself this year - well other than the runner with green hair who is currently beside him. Ya’ gotta’ love NYC.
Best of Luck Lance.
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Follow along with TheFinalSprint.com’s LIVE coverage of the 2007 ING New York City Marathon, listen to interviews, watch press conference videos, and much more at:
http://newyork.thefinalsprint.com
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New York Road Runners today announced an unprecedented level of broadcast and webstreaming coverage for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men’s Marathon on November 3 and the ING New York City Marathon 2007 on November 4. The two events will be broadcast and streamed around the world via NBC, WNBC-4HD, NBCSports.com, NBCOlympics.com and WCSN.com.
“We are pleased to have such extensive coverage of this unprecedented weekend of marathon running,” said Mary Wittenberg, president and CEO of New York Road Runners and race director of both events. “By providing local, national and international options on both television and broadband of each race, we are better serving our sport’s fan base worldwide. Expanding broadcast options is a continued priority for New York Road Runners.”
On Saturday, November 3, the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men’s Marathon will be streamed worldwide for free on NBCsports.com, the first time an Olympic Trials event has been streamed live online. NBC’s “TODAY” will cut in live to broadcast the start of the race nationally at 7:35 a.m. EDT, and NBC will air a national half-hour highlights show from 2:00 to 2:30 p.m.
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Amy Palmiero-Winters, of Hicksville, New York, single mother of two, world class marathon runner and triathlete has won the 2007 Runners World Peoples Choice Heroes of Running award. This award is given out in recognition of a runner chosen by the public as a hero of running. Since 2004, Runners World, the leading magazine for the running community annually presents awards to inspirational elite and citizen runners. Ms. Palmiero-Winters was also nominated this year for the 2006 ESPY (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly) award for best female athlete with a disability.
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I recently came across this interesting article in the New York Times. It talks about mind over matter, how personal training sessions actually train your mind more than your body.
Mr. Fitzgerald, a 36-year-old running coach and racer who has written seven training books in the last four years, three for Runner’s World, gives unconventional advice. That is because his exercises are not meant to train your body. They are aimed at training your brain.
Read the rest of this entry at our partner site: HesFit.com
From time to time TFS will try and highlight other stories, usually news related, that you might find of interest:
‘06 Chicago Marathon raises $9.2 million for charity — Press Release
Maxed out! When exercisers go overboard — MSNBC
Running Times Celebrates Thirty Years of Rivalry – RunAthena.com
Seven Diet Sins — WebMD
Great Gift Ideas for Trail Runners - […]
This year Runner’s World selected running legend Frank Shorter as one of it’s “Heroes of Running”. We don’t disagree with this designation; Shorter was an incredible runner and continues to be an inspiration to athletes around the world.
However, Shorter’s selection highlights a real injustice, but not because Shorter is in anyway undeserving of the […]
American running pioneer Frank Shorter, an Olympic gold and silver medalist in the marathon who has also helped enact important policy changes in the sport of distance running, and Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, whose personal battle against obesity led him to take up running, lose 110 pounds and become a passionate national advocate for proper […]
Jim Fortner is a weekly, guest contributor to TFS. Make sure to also check out his own personal running and advice site: “Jim2’s Running Page”.
A couple of weeks ago, I was going through a cabinet where I store books that I have owned for as long as 35 years. I have the complete works of […]
Wish that you could have all the advantages of a Nike+iPod Sportkit +, Garmin Forerunner, MP3 player, Google maps and even your cell phone with you on your run? Well now . . . YOU CAN with a “Wireless Run Tracker”-enabled mobile phone.
Runner’s World, Bones in Motion (an application development company) and […]
Lance Armstrong has already won the Tour de France (A record setting seven times in a row), beat testicular cancer, raised millions of dollars for cancer research and started a fashion craze with his “LIVESTRONG” bracelets.
So after all that - what is good ol’ Lance doing to enjoy his well deserved retirement? […]
Reebok’s exponential growth and strong emergence in the running market is hard to miss. Their advertisements are everywhere - their shoe line has exploded - and their apparel can hold its own against Nike, New Balance, Under Armour and even Brooks.
For all you skeptics out there - guess which shoe was just designated as […]
The Belmar 5-Mile Race is a fantastic and fun race that is 1 of the 5 races within the Jersey Shore Golden Grand Prix series. Having participated in several Belmar 5’s, I can say that Runners World Magazine made a smart choice by including it as one of its “six favorite firecrackers”.
Taking […]
Below is the press release from POLAR. For more information on their alliance, please visit www.adidas-polar.com
The Polar adidas cooperation has been awarded the “Running Accessory of the Year” Award at ISPO winter 06 by Runner’s World, the world’s leading running magazine. The award honors the cooperation with the two leading companies of their industries, […]
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