Introducing the Daily Relay

I'd like to introduce a new site that I am involved in, the Daily Relay.

What is it?
The Daily Relay will provide similar content to what has been here at Writing About Running, but it will be more consistent (daily posts) and will have a great group of writers involved.

Who is involved?
Jim McDannald of Track Focus
Kevin Sully of the House of Run podcast
Jesse Squire aka the Track Superfan

What will I be writing?
I'll be the contributing editor to The Mixed Zone, which will be a take on the entertainment side of Track and Field. I'll also be the contributing editor to 5 Questions, a section similar to the 5QW here at WAR.

Want a link to my first post?
Sure, why not. It's entitled "5 Reasons the Boston Marathon is similar to The Masters (and 5 reasons it’s different)"

If you have any questions, feel free to email or tweet at me!

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Guest host on the House of Run Podcast

The best shirt in Track & Field podcast history!

With Jason Halpin recovering from knee surgery, I channeled my inner Colin Kaepernick and joined Kevin Sully on this week's episode of the House of Run podcast. I've raved here about the House of Run before, but it's worth repeating; the House of Run is an excellent weekly podcast that any Track & Field fan should have in their rotation.

Tune into this week's pod here, or better yet, subscribe via iTunes here and listen to Kevin and I chat about the IAAF Athletes of the Year, the Ekiden Relay, World Cross, the Olympic Trials format,  Adam Nelson's potential 2004 Gold Medal, the Usain Bolt/Yohan Blake rivalry, the London bottle thrower, Fukuoka, the Drake Relays, NXN, Foot Locker, and of course, Oscar Pistorius "allegedly" threatening to break a man's legs.

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Talking Trials Final Report: Tarmoh-geddon, A Tale of Two Fourths and that Men's 1500

Jeneba Tarmoh hugs Allyson Felix after the 200
(all photos: TrackAndFieldPhoto)

What a week (and a half)! The 2012 Olympic Track and Field Trials have now come and gone and were filled with highs for some and lows for others, but an overabundance of excitement for all; on and off the track. Here are my final thoughts in eleventh and final edition of "Talking Trials." Full results for the trials are here.

Tarmoh-geddon
When I woke up this morning, I heard ESPN's Mike and Mike (and again at lunch on the Jim Rome Show) discussing the Jeneba Tarmoh forfeit to Allyson Felix, and how could someone give up the once-in-every-four-years opportunity to be an Olympian. I'm not quite sure, but I respect Ato Boldon and his explanation that Tarmoh was just too exhausted physically and mentally to go through with it. Seems plausible, but I'll always think there is something else there. As I mentioned on Twitter last night, I believe Tim Layden of Sports Illustrated's final article on the topic is where we should leave it. And then I watched Tarmoh's interview on SportsCenter. Mind boggling. Watch that race again.

A Tale of Two Fourths
Aside from my coverage here at writing about running, I covered local athletes for the Charlotte Observer, the Greensboro News & Record and the Raleigh News & Observer at the trials. Two of those athletes finished in the first spot that you don't want to finish at the trials, fourth.

Calesio Newman starts his run
towards the 200 final

For Greensboro's Calesio Newman, fourth was a huge jump in his career. He had failed to make the 100 meter final earlier in the week and would bounce back and look excellent through the rounds. When the 200 meter final came, he looked great. He would have a tough road ahead, starting out of lane eight, with eventual champion, Wallace Spearmon and 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist, Shawn Crawford, starting in lanes six and seven, respectively, using him as a personal rabbit. He would run the race of his life. That race would prove to be a mere .01 seconds off of his first Olympic team. He was the slowest out of the blocks and looked over about 10 meters too early at the finish. A tough day, but no one expected him to compete for the spot, so he had something to smile about. Read my final piece in the Greensboro News & Record on him here and watch part of my interview with him here. Watch the Men's 200 meter final here. 

For former Charlottean and NC State standout Julia Lucas, fourth was a bit tougher. In the Women's 5000 meter final Monday night, Lucase mad a strong move with three laps to go and looked to have the win in the bag. That changed with a lap to go. She slowed and would be passed by Julie Culley and American Record Holder, Molly Huddle, with 200 meters to go. It looked like she would hang onto the third and final Olympic spot. Unfortunately, that wouldn't be the case, as a hard charging Kim Conley would nip her at the line by .04 seconds. Despite the tough loss, Lucas answered questions for over ten minutes and faced her disappointment head on. It was incredible to watch and I take my hat off to anyone with that kind of toughness that makes a move like she did, have it backfire, and then standby it. Watch the agonizing race here.

Leo Manzano outkicks Centro down the stretch

That Men's 1500
The toughest team to make had to be the Men's 1500 meters. From the gun, it was exciting. The Jordan McNamara-Will Leer-John Mickowski plan of attack to try and get the Olympic A Standard almost worked, but they would have had to beat an excellent crowd to make the team; standard or no standard. In the end, the cream rose to the top with the year in, year out, world team lock, Leo Manzano, pushing by Matt Centrowitz in the last 50 meters to take the title and Andrew Wheating doing the same to Robby Andrews for that third final spot. It was a sea of carnage at the finish and Andrews was the face to pure exhaustion as he had to be helped off the track and then back to the warm up area. David Torrence was in second with 100 meters to go and would fade to sixth. That was just a very hard team to make. I wonder how many will drop down to the 800 or move up to the Steeplechase or the 5000 for next year's World Championships in Moscow. Watch the 1500 Final here.

Amy "Hasty" Hastings

The Eugene Scene
The town was electric for the trials. I met so many great people that it would be impossible to list them all. The people inside, outside and around the sport are some of the most interesting and introspective people I've ever met. I had the fun of meeting lots of great writers, athletes, shoe company employees and of course, the two groups that have helped every track and field fan see more of sport in real time, Flotrack and RunnerSpace. Both of these groups work relentlessly and quite frankly, I don't know how they have the energy to do it. I'm happy they do. Some highlights from talks with athletes were speaking to Lauren Fleshman and Matt Scherer late Saturday night about the sponsor game, speaking with Amy Hastings about her breakthrough and of course, hanging with my old friend Steve Edwards and the 3 Non Joggers, while his wife, Shalane Flanagan, ran the 10,000. 

I truly hope that the trials come back to Eugene, as it was easy to navigate everywhere and was very reasonable financially. Not to mention, a packed house of knowledgeable track and field fans every day. I was unsure if I'd understand all of the field events, but Kevin Sully of the House of Run podcast, educated me on them and I thoroughly enjoyed the nuances the exciting atomosphere that the fans loved. I fully expect this team to well in London and can't wait to watch them try.

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Bookworm: "Running with the Kenyans" by Adharanand Finn

If you had the opportunity to take 6 months off of work to be able to head to Iten, Kenya to train and learn about the workings of the Kenyan runners, would you? Most of us would jump at it, and this is precisely what author Adharanand Finn did. Luckily, he documented this travels and learnings in his new book, "Running with the Kenyans." Finn is an assistant production editor for the British national daily newspaper, The Guardian and was given this special opportunity; one he took full advantage of and delivered an excellent read for fans of distance running worldwide.

Finn's book is filled in fact that while very fascinating, is also is filled with unearthed and often times, sad truths that tell of the not so wonderful tale of the magical Kenyans. Finn finds a friend in Toby Tanser (of the excellent book, "More Fire: How to Run the Kenyan Way") who quickly answers the question of why do Kenyan children run to school. "Are they hoping to become athletes?" asks Finn. "No, they're running because if they're late, they get caned." He also digs into the "age old" question of why many Kenyans official ages are less than their real age. "Each person has a different story, although it usually involves someone else, such as a manager, getting the date wrong at some point." That's one thing that is very evident. The managers are the ones in control of the Kenyan runners, as they operate the running camps, that are essentially tryouts to earn chances to compete internationally. Some run in the camps for years and never make more than a few hundred dollars, relying on the kindness and hospitality of family to help them along.

Finn runs through the Kenyan landscape
Photograph: Marietta d'Erlanger

The most rewarding thing about Finn's 6 month journey to Kenya is his personal journey from 38 minute 10k runner to a very competent "mzungu (foreigner)," who is given incredible access to the who's who of the then and now of the storied Kenyan running scene. The people he met and ran with will any distance running fan's mind.

Read the blog that Finn kept while writing the book here (and then here) and be sure to follow him on Twitter @adharanand Finally, be sure to listen to his interview on the House of Run podcast.

Order your copy of "Running with the Kenyans" at Amazon.com here

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Thanks to our sponsor (the above book), Adharanand Finn's new book "Running with the Kenyans" for sponsoring the blog this week. If you're interested in sponsoring writing about running (and other great sites like TrackFocus, Track Superfan, Paul Merca and the House of Run podcast) in the future, check out The Relay Network. You can also support the site by buying something on Amazon.com through this link

Road to Houston: Final Trials Thoughts and Fantasy Recap

This will be the final article in the "Road to Houston" series. I hope you enjoyed them!

Final Trials Thoughts
The weekend in Houston was incredible. The trials were staged well and it was fun to watch. Aside from the streaming debacle, I think it was a success. I hope NBC remedies that for 2016. It was exciting to see Meb prevail after his disappointment in 2008, followed by the roller coaster that began with his win in NYC, his move from Nike to Skechers and his PR at NYC just two months ago.

It was also exciting to see fellow Tar Heel, Shalane Flanagan, take the win. Her past year and a half (or so) has been truly amazing and I believe it's safe to say now that her move from John Cook to Jerry Schumacher has been a complete success. It was also inspiring watching Amy Hastings throw down a power move when it looked like she was out of it. (Click here to check out the TwitVids that I recorded while on course)

Myself and Blaine Moore from RunToWin.com
at the Post-Trials After Party

Beyond the racing, it was nice to meet a lot of the athletes and the other kind folks in the running business. The sport of running has some nice people in it, and I'd especially like to the Richard Fannin from the Gate River Run for hosting an excellent after party at the Flying Saucer. Good times were had by all!

Fantasy Recap
The first fantasy draft was this fall for the NCAA Cross Country Championships and the league was stocked full of some of the most knowledgeable minds in track and field (that are readily available on Twitter). The field consisted of Jesse Squire, aka the Track Superfan, Kevin Liao from Spiked Up, Psyched Up, Chris Nickinson from Runnerspace, Ryan Fenton from Flotrack, Kevin Sully from the House of Run podcast, Jim McDannald from TrackFocus and myself. Liao won the Men's (and overall) and McDannald won the Women's. For the Olympic Trials, the tables would turn.

In the NCAA draft, we had seven rounds (of snake drafting) and five scored. For the trials, we also had seven rounds, but only four scored, due to excessive DNF's. For the next trials, we may need to draft eight, as there were even more DNF's than predicted.

Two smart fellows: Fenton was second and
Nickinson took the win

The winner on the Men's side was Chris Nickinson. He had a solid squad whose scorers were Andrew Carlson (picked 6th, finished 6th), Abdi (picked 9th, finished 3rd), Josh Cox (picked 20th, finished 14th) and Drew Polley (picked 37th, finished 21st). Nickinson also took the overall win this year with a strong Women's performance. This was a strong comeback from his sixth place finish for NCAA XC. It should also be noted that Nickinson had prior obligations with Runnerspace the night of the draft, so he emailed me a depth chart. The depth chart delivered. I finished tied for second on the Men's side with the Track Superfan and my scoring squad was Meb (picked 2nd, won), Cabada (picked 13th, finished 7th), Max King (picked 27th, finished 19th) and Zach Hine (picked 41st, finished 31st).

The winner on the Women's side was Kevin Sully (with help from  Jason Halpin). That's correct, the two headed monster that is the House of Run went from seventh overall at NCAA XC to a Women's win at the Trials. Their scoring four were Amy Hastings (picked 4th, finished 4th), Katie McGregor (picked 11th, finished 11th), Linda Somers-Smith (picked 25th, finished 28th) and Camille Herron (picked 39th, finished 26th). I finished fifth on the Women's side with a scoring team of Magda, Zoila Gomez, Jen Houck and Alisha Williams, my steal, who I picked 37th and finished 14th. The Women's side was close though, and I took the overall bronze, two steps down from Nickinson, and one from runner-up, Ryan Fenton. Fenton is the only league member to podium in both competitions. I like forward to the next!

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Things I Like: Runner's High coffee from JustCoffee.coop

I'm a big podcast guy. In terms of running podcasts, my favorite is the House of Run podcast, and on the comedy front, I love Sklarbro Country, featuring the Sklar Brothers, Mohr Stories, featuring Jay Mohr, and the WTF podcast, featuring Marc Maron. WTF is where I found out about JustCoffee.coop. Thanks Maron!

JustCoffee.coop (aka Just Coffee) is a 100% fair trade coffee roaster out of Madison, WI that has some of the best coffee I've ever tasted (and at excellent prices for the quality of bean). Shockingly, my favorite blend is the "Runner's High" blend, which is a medium roasted blend of beans from Mexico, Columbia and Ethiopia. A 12 ounce bag of this excellent coffee is only $11.05 (and the nice folks at Just Coffee gave me a promo code below that will get you another 10% off).

You can get the coffee in whole bean form or ground course, medium, or fine. Personally, I like the whole bean, so I can grind them myself for optimal freshness (and it makes my house smell awesome). Here's a link to a great $20 coffee grinder on Amazon.com if you don't have one already. The coffee comes shipped via UPS and are in vacuum-sealed bags to lock in the flavor.

Vacuum-sealed beans are the way to go!

Aside from the "Runner's High" blend, Just Coffee has plenty of other great blends and even offers their customers the opportunity to go on international trips to meet with other coops. I highly suggest checking out their site as it's very informative about the coffee trade in general.

And use the coupon code: writingaboutrunning (sorry folks, the code has expired) when checking out to get 10% off your next order at JustCoffee.coop! An excellent holiday gift for running friends and family alike!

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Web Runner: Some Thanksgiving week articles worth a read

Turkey Trot Clip Art is always good

It's been an exciting week in the running world, and judging by the increased traffic to the site, there are some bored people out there. Sitting around at work, waiting to go home for the Thanksgiving holiday or waiting for NFL games to get cranked up?

Personally, there will be no turkey trotting for me this year, but I will get to run by the North Fork Reservoir in Black Mountain, NC, where the Hunger Games was recently filmed.

Whethere you're running or not tomorrow, here are a few articles I've tweeted out over the past few days, with a few more new ones, for good measure. If there's a good running story, please email it to me or tweet it at me! I'll be adding stuff all week long...

• Coach Jason Vigilante has left the University of Virginia. Former Cavalier, Ryan Collins, who transferred to Wisconsin (and won the NCAA team title Monday), has a very poignant quote, possibly about the situation. "I was planning on staying but then a bunch of different stuff happened, and I was able to graduate," Collins told a Madison reporter. "I just kind of needed a new place, new environment (and) some new experiences." While nothing has been set straight yet, the situation is extremely intriguing, as Vig currenly coaches Alan Webb, as well as Robby Andrews, and UVA is in the process of getting a brand new track facility. (Richmond Time-Dispatch link / Let's Run thread)

• UPDATE: Per Track and Field News, via Webb's agent, Ray Flynn, "Vigilante will likely continue to coach Webb." (link)

• Alan Webb talking about his training and future. Says he's ready to compete and is fascinated with longer distances, but has no immediate plans to move up, as he's not 30 yet. Says Bernard Lagat is his template (of sorts) and that he was inspired this summer by Jenny Simpson's and Matt Centrowitz's performances at Worlds. Nothing on the Vig situation though (Running Maryland link). Webb will also be the Nike Running athlete at NXN Southeast this Saturday in Cary, NC.

• Kenya won the 2011 International Chiba Ekiden. The Athlete's Foot Cameron Village's Bobby Mack led Team USA to a 5th place finish with a 28:55 10k split. (Full results and splits)

• Oh yeah, the NCAA Cross Country Championships were Monday. The Wisconsin Men and the Georgetown Women took the team titles, while Arizona's Lawi Lalang and Villanova's Sheila Reid took the individual crowns (Men's Race Video / Women's Race Video / Mens' Individual Results / Men's Team Results / Women's Individual Results / Women's Team Results). Meanwhile, I took third in the men, fifth in the women, and fourth overall in our fantasy challenge.

• House of Run recapped said NCAA Championships as well as the rest of the week in running. (link)

• Dathan Ritzenhein continues his Olympic build up tomorrow at the very popular Silicon Valley Turkey Trot. (Silicon Valley Mercury News link)

• Sadly, doctors had to amputate the frostbitten feet of Marko Cheseto, the All-American runner from the University of Alaska Anchorage, who suffered severe frostbite during a two-day disappearance earlier this month. (Anchorage Daily News link)

• Toni Reavis thinks distance racing has hit the wall. Outside Magazine's Peter Vigneron thinks otherwise. Both make some salient points and Reavis in particular takes The Competitor Group to task for running a race series that's anything but competitive. I couldn't agree more. (Reavis link / Vigneron link)

• Have you seen "Marathon Boy" yet on HBO? My review is all spoilers (link)

• Tim Jeffreys is following the McMillan Elite team as they train for the Olympic Trials Marathon. He is posting a documentary series of videos on Vimeo. The second episode just dropped. (Jeffreys' Vimeo page)

I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving! Happy Turkey Trotting!

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Things I Like: Flotrack's new show, Run Junkie

There's a new running show on the block from the excellent team over at Flotrack. My twitter account was greeted to a tweet (from Flotrack) this morning, introducing their new show, Run Junkie. Hosts Ryan Fenton and Alex Lohr do an excellent job of keeping the news brief and exciting and interject some true track dork comedy. While there are other excellent recap shows like Runnerspace Live and the House of Run podcast, in my opinion, there's always room for more. Here's to the newcomer! Check out the first episode below:

Watch more video of Run Junkie on flotrack.org

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Things I Like: The Track & Field Superfan Blog

In my opinion, the best blog about the sport of Track & Field out there right now is Jesse Squire's "Track & Field Superfan" blog. I first heard some of Jesse's takes on the House of Run podcast and quickly added him on the Twitter machine and soon after traveled over to his blog to read many of his great posts. One you will want to read every week is his "Monday Morning Decathlete" offering where he recaps the weeks events and any hot buttons topics, like the Doug Logan situation, Stephanie Hightower's possible desire to be CEO and Dick Ebersol's departure from NBC so very close to the Olympics. His Track on TV and the Web section is an excellent place to find when the Diamond League meets are or the latest showing of Endurance. So if you're interested in the latest T&F news, stop on over the the newly branded http://tracksuperfan.com You won't regret it!

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Things I Like: The House of Run Podcast

There are a few podcasts that I enjoy listening to every week. My favorite being the comedy podcast, "Sklarbro Country," which is the Sklar Brothers' (Randy and Jason) hourly show that drops every Friday. On the Track & Field front, the newest entry into my podcast rotation has been the House of Run podcast. Being a certified track dork, I'm not really interested in running podcasts that will tell me how to conquer the 5k or how to ace hill running. My interests in mind, hosts Jason and Kevin do a great job of mixing in the latest news of the running world with a fair share of self deprecating runner humor that only the true has-been distance runner that still enjoys the oval will appreciate. Shows range from recaps of the latest marathon major to thoughts on a recent Diamond League meet to a fun segment call "Answers to rhetorical questions athletes ask on Twitter."

So head on over to their website and check it out or just go ahead and subscribe for free to the podcast on iTunes. It's a great 45 minutes to get you to and from work at minimum!

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