Run to Win

Aussie Ruth Frith recently won quite a few gold medals and set a new world record in the shot put at the World Masters Championships this past weekend. Her throw was 4.07 meters (13 feet 4 inches.) Ruth turned 100 years old earlier this year, and hopes to compete in the next World Masters championship in 2013. She began competing at the tender age of 74.

Here’s a video with her world record toss:

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(More Info: Back Porch Fan House – Hat Tip: Pete Magill)

Dathan Ritzenhein had the race of his life tonight, running what was until tonight only 0.02 seconds behind the world’s leading 5k time of the year.

Cutting 20.3 seconds off of his personal best (set at the USA Outdoor Championships in 2006), he followed right on the heels of Kenenisa Bekele’s 12:52.32 and Edwin Cheruiyot Soi’s 12:55.03 to become only the 3^rd American to run under 13 minutes in the 5k with his new American Record of 12:56.27.

Bob Kennedy’s American record of 12:58.21 had stood for 15 years. Ritzenhein finished 6^th just over a week ago at the world championships in the 10000m, running 27:22.28, and was the first American in 11^th place in the Olympic Marathon last Summer. His 3^rd place finish was his first trip to the podium on the world track stage.

Congratulations, Dathan! Great run tonight!

(More Info: Men’s Results – Photo Credit: Jean-Pierre)

In another wind-aided run of 100 meters, Tyson Gay ran (as I like to put it) not quite slow to finish in 9.75 seconds. That’s the 7^th fastest 100 meters ever run under any conditions, although it is not eligible for the record books given the assist from Mother Nature.

He only ran the first round of the preliminaries and then called it good for the week, as he prepares for a showdown with Usain Bolt at the World Championships.

That’s gonna be a good race, despite being over by the time you could blink.

(More Info: ESPN – Photo Credit: Sky Sports)

Greg Meyer will be speaking at the Maine Running Company this Thursday, April 16^th, 2009. Greg Meyer is the last American man to win the Boston Marathon with his 2:09:00 in 1983. He has formerly held 2 world records (15K and 10 miles) and 10 American records (8K, 10K, 15K, 25K, and 10 miles.)

He will share his experiences with Boston, and along with the Maine Running Company coaches (Mike Gaige, John Rogers, and myself) he will be discussing how you can get ready for your first marathon or half marathon.

If you have some spare time and are in the Portland, Maine area this Thursday evening, I recommend stopping by. The normal training group run will begin at 6:00 and the 1^st Time Marathoner clinic will begin at 7:00 p.m. All are welcome.

The event is free, but if you are planning on attending, please register in advance at the Maine Running Company.

This weekend saw a lot of great racing, with at least 10 runners below 2 hours and 7 minutes in races around the world. Six of them were in Paris alone!

Most impressive, of course, is Duncan Kibet and James Kwambai’s 2:04:27 marathon in Rotterdam, where Kibet just edged Kwambai as both ran a time faster than everything other than the past 2 world records, both set by Haile Gebrselassie over the past year or so (2:04:26 and 2:03:59.)

The finish, with tens of thousands of spectators packed into the city’s Coolsingel center district, was a thriller for the final 500 metres. Kwambai who ran a strong and impressive race was the first to enter the broad central Rotterdam thoroughfare.

He was several metres ahead of his compatriot, the Kalenjin tribesman Kibet, who came back in the last few hundred metres, fell back only to come back again to finally edge Kwambai at the finishline to become Kenya’s new national record holder, surpassing former World record holder Paul Tergat. The distance between the two was nearly not visible.

I would have loved to have seen that race live; it must have been a real treat for the spectators at the finish line. You’ll also note in the photo above that Duncan Kibet is doing his best impression of Shiva (pictured left in a bronze statue from the NY Metropolitan Museum of Art.)

There were 4 people in Rotterdam under 2:07, a race which has produced 3 world records in less than 30 years.

(More Info: IAAF – Runner’s World – Photos: Rotterdam Marathon (Kibet) – Wikipedia (Shiva))

Having broken the world record in the marathon a couple times over the past few years, you had to expect that Haile Gebrselassie was going to be doing something special again in the next few. Who could have expected, though, that after breaking 2 hours and 4 minutes just last September that he would be able to take a whopping 1 minutes and 22 seconds off of the record to run a 2:02:37?!?!

That just boggles my mind.

He ran that amazing time through the Sahara in Morocco, taking advantage of the new marathon option in the Marathon Des Sables ultra-endurance run, which has traditionally been a 6 day, 151 mile race from late March through early April.

“We decided to add a marathon option this year in an effort to increase exposure for the race and to raise more money for Facing Africa, an attempt at elminating NOMA from our lands. NOMA is a vicious and deadly gangrene that eats away the flesh around the mouth and face of children aged mainly up to 6 years and that has a 70-90% mortality rate. Getting Haile here in our first year was a great boon, and we are so proud of his performance on our course,” said Patrick Bauer, the founder and race director of the Marathon Des Sables.

His amazing performance this morning in Morocco more than makes up for slipping back and “only” running 2:05:29 in Dubai 3 months ago.

I can’t think of a better way to start April, although I have to wonder…is sub-2 hours possible? If so, is Gebreselassie going to be the one that breaks that arbitrary but nearly insurmountable time? To do so, he’d need to cut 6 seconds off of his per mile pace to a blazing 4:35/mile pace.

I’d think it was impossible if he hadn’t already shown he could run a 4:41/mile pace. What do you think?

Update: I’m heading for bed, so I’m laying this story to to bed as well. Yes, MdS is 151 miles & not 26.2, yes, it is April 1st, and no, Gebrsellassie was not there. But I did get a lot of good emails, both from folks that didn’t notice the tongue-in-cheekness and from those that did. Hope you all had as much fun as I did.

Jenn Stuczynski set the American Indoor Pole Vault Record at the Boston Indoor Games last night at 15′ 9.75″ and then attempted to set a new world record. Here is the result of each of her jump from the video I shot at the meet:

(Click here to continue reading…)

Despite feeling ill and being unable to keep liquids down for over 1/3 of the race, Josh Cox still managed to set the American mark in the 50k in 2:47:17. That beats Alex Tilson’s 2:51:48 set back in 2002, but was a bit short of Thompson Mugwana’s 1988 world record time of 2:43:38.

Cox ran his record at the Arizona Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon, where he went over the marathon finish line in 2:20:32 only to continue on to a nearby track to run 19 laps and bring his distance up to a full 50 kilometers.

“I felt good at about mile 14, and then for the final two laps,” Cox said. “I had a lot of stomach issues, I don’t know why. Maybe I overcompensated for going the longer distance. Maybe I took on too many fluids early in the race. I just kept throwing down fluids. But I didn’t have any after 20 (miles).”

If you are curious about just what type of training you need to do in order to run an American record in a race like this, just watch this workout that he ran with Ryan Hall last November:

(More Info: USA Today)