Road Rage: Ben True seals 2011 USA Running Circuit victory in Minneapolis

True wins in Providence

It's been quite a 2011 for Ben True. In 2010, True left Oregon Track Club Elite and headed back east, closer to home, to train with Tim Broe's new group, In The Arena. It has proved to be an excellent move, with True finishing second today at the USATF 10-Mile Championship in Minneapolis, MN, and more importantly, securing the overall 2011 Mens's USA Running Circuit Championship.

In 2011, True qualified for the USA World Cross Country team, was runner-up at the Gate River Run (15k Championship), won the BAA 5k, ran a 10,000 PR of 28:16 on the track (qualifying him for 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials and 2012 Track Trials), ran a 5,000 PR of 13:24, won the USATF 10k Road Championship at Peachtree, won the USATF 5k Road Championship in Providence and capped it off by securing the 2011 USA Running Circuit Championship today with the runner-up finish in the 10-Mile Championship to Mo Trafeh.

True ran a smart race, staying with his main competition, Aaron Braun, and then kicked when he needed to. For his efforts, True will pick up $20,000; $12,500 for the USA Running Circuit Championship and an additional $7,500 for his runner-up finish today. 

True's win also brings more attention to Tim Broe's "In the Arena" team. Broe spoke with Let's Run in June 2010 about the formation of the group (iTunes link here). True's success this year should bring even more talent into an already expanding group of talented male runners. They've got a nice, well-kept blog as well!

On the Women's side, Janet Cherobon-Bawcom ran away from the field early, and didn't see anyone else until about mile nine, when Mo Trafeh passed her to earn the $10,000 equalizer bonus. Cherobon-Bawcom's win makes her the front runner for the 2011 USA Running Circuit Championship, with the Women's finale in 8 days. New York New Jersey Track Club's Julie Culley ran a strong race for second, and former North Carolina Tar Heel, Blake Russell, rounded out the podium with a strong run in 54:44.

The Women's Championship will wrap up next Monday (October 10) in Boston with the 10k Championship, hosted by the Tuft's Health Plan 10k for Women. As usual, Runnerspace will provide live coverage.

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Film Major: "Hood to Coast"

The Hood to Coast Relay is something that I had heard about for years in passing, but being from the east coast, the only relay near us worth competing in was the Blue Ridge Relay. The release of the Hood to Coast Movie has changed that and has truly propelled the relay to a worldwide destination event.

If you are unaware of the Hood to Coast Relay, in short, it is a 12-person, 197 mile relay that starts at Mt. Hood in Oregon, and ends in Seaside, OR (not the one where Jersey Shore is filmed). There are 36 legs, so each runner generally will run three legs each, with each leg spanning 3.5 to 7.8 miles. 1250 teams are allowed to compete and are started slowest to fastest (based on self reported 10k times). Each team is allowed two 12-person vans and must support themselves with food, etc.

In the fashion of "Spirit of the Marathon," Hood to Coast's storyline is based on four teams competing. Team Heart N' Sole is based around Kathy Ryan, a competitor who was pronounced dead at the previous year's event and is on a quest to complete a marathon in every state. Dead Jocks in a Box are a group of aging Masters runners who have been doing the event for 25+ years and are still quite competitive. Team R.Bowe is a group of family and friends running in honor of Ryan Bowe, a guy about my age who died far too young of a heart condition. The final team was Thunder and Laikaning, which is a group of artsy beer drinkers, who enjoy life and just wanted to do the event for the challenge. These are probably a pretty good sample of the types of teams you would see competing at Hood to Coast each year.

Runners have the most fun

All in all, it's fun to watch how the different groups navigate through the course and overcome their own personal demons (or lack there of). Personally, I would have liked to see the film focus a little more on the course, the race and it's history and the more competitive groups up front, but I realize that story wouldn't translate to the masses and the "marathon craze" that we've been experiencing over the past few years in America. The film does have some excellent shots of the breathtaking Pacific Northwest that will make any runner consider the event and does take about the wild expansion that started as eight teams who wondered if anyone would want to do it the following year. Runners of all ages and competitive divisions will find something to like about Hood to Coast, and if you're like me, you'll want to compete in the event after seeing the documentary.

For those of you interested in competing, the registration period for the 2012 Hood to Coast Relay opens October 12 (here's the entry form). And if you need another person to complete your team, email me!

Some extras that you will get with the DVD that you wouldn't see in the theatre are tons of deleted scenes, running tips, a "Making of Hood to Coast" piece and my favorite segment of any documentary DVD about groups of people; the "Where are they now?" featurette. Since this was filmed at Hood to Coast 2008, it's fun to see the changes in the lives of some of the members of the four teams that were followed three years ago.

Pick up a copy of the 2-Disc Special Edition DVD (or Blu-Ray) from the Hood to Coast Movie website or from Amazon.com (DVD / Blu-Ray).

Check out the "Hood to Coast" trailer here:



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The Run Down: Patrick Makau sets new Marathon World Record of 2:03:38 in Berlin

2011 has been the year of the Marathon. First, Geoffrey Mutai lays down an astounding 2:03:02 at ("aided") Boston. Now, Patrick Makau has repeated his 2010 win in Berlin with a new World Record of 2:03:38, breaking Haile Gebrselassie's mark on the same course.

What was exciting about Makau's run is that he ran the last 30 minutes by himself. As the last pacer fell off, Makau didn't have the luxury of having Moses Mosop push him, as Mutai did in Boston. He also nearly missed the finish line, as he had to hop the curb (see above photo) with 20 yards to go to break the tape, nearly avoiding a marathon blunder.

Former World Record holder, Haile Gebrselassie, did not finish. He said post-race that he aims to run a fast time at the Dubai Marathon (January 27, 2012).

On the Women's side, Kenya's Florence Kiplagat broke the gold standard 2:20 barrier with an excellent win in 2:19:44. England's Paula Radcliffe ran her first marathon in nearly two years, finishing third in 2:23:46, an excellent litmus test to see where she is with the 2012 London Olympics looming (in her home country).

The only question to ask now is, who will be the first to 2:02?

The event will be rebroadcast at 8pm eastern tonight (Sunday, Sept 25) on Universal Sports.

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Road Rage: David Torrence takes on the big boys at the 5th Avenue Mile

Road Warrior, David Torrence

David Torrence is as close to the king of the road mile as you're gonna get. The three-time consecutive USATF Road Mile Champ will have his hands full this weekend at the season ending Fifth Avenue Mile in New York, NY. Torrence rose to cult fame with his now famous downhill sub-4 attempt thread on LetsRun.com that he took video of (see video below).

Just last weekend, Torrence won the Front Street Mile in Maui, in a course record of 3:57, but didn't have to face Bernard Lagat and the boys. He will Saturday at 1:05pm eastern. Along with Lagat, there's a huge field that will fight for the win down on one of Manhattan's biggest streets. Joining the fun on the American side is new pro, AJ Acosta, Steepler/Jack of All Distances, Ben Bruce, Saucony's Garrett Heath, 32-year old Sub-4 man, Christian Hesch, the sometimes mustachioed Will Leer, New Balance's Craig Miller, Nike's Kyle Miller, former Buckeye Jeff See, US 800 champ Nick Symmonds and the resurging Fam, Anthony Famiglietti. Defending champ, Amine Laalou, leads the international competition, with Australia's Jeff Riseley throwing his hat in the ring.

Let's get physical

Morgan Uceny will be the favorite on the Women's side, as she looks to be the first #1 World ranked American Woman in the 1500 in many, many years. The Women's race will go off at 12:50pm and also includes Brooks' Gabrielle Anderson, Road Mile Champ, Sara Hall, multiple time US 1500 Champ, Shannon Rowbury, 2011 World Champ Jenny Simpson and 800 meter specialists, Alysia Montano and Maggie Vessey. World Championship Silver Medalist, Hannah England, leads the international challengers. Somewhere in the middle is OTC's Sally Kipyego, who took Silver for Kenya at 10,000 in Daegu. She, along with a large field of other international competitors, will make for an exciting race.

New York Road Runners TV will show highlights at 8pm. Full race schedules are available here.

Experience Torrence's 3:46 Downhill Road Mile:



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Hobby Jogging: 9/18/11 - Raleigh, NC - The Magnificent Mile

With the last three weeks of my training being 24.5 miles, 17.5 miles and 16.5 miles, I wasn't expecting much today at The Magnificent Mile. The past eight months in general have been a drag due to severe shin splints. When will it end? Hopefully soon. Anyways, enough with the sob stories. The Mag Mile is a great race and as much as I knew today would not be a PR day, or anything close to it for that matter, I still wanted to hop in. How often do you get a chance to run a mile road race?

The Mag Mile also serves as the USATF State Road Mile Championship and is the first race of the Second Empire Grand-Prix Fall series. Maybe my shins will heal miraculously and I'll be ready to run strong the rest of the series. Hey, stranger things have happened!

Warming up the "kick"

Got in a good two mile jog of the course (forwards and in reverse) with John Simons beforehand and did some hard strides. I was as ready as I was gonna be. After announcing what seemed like half the field, we were off. The legs were moving, just not that fast. I got out good, but spent the entire race reeling people in. When I circled the capital and hit the halfway mark in 2:35-6, I thought the A-goal of 5:10 was within reason, but when I hit the 3/4 of the way marker in 3:58, I figured that was likely out of the picture. My legs just weren't ready to run that pace. I kicked home the last 400 as best as I could and saved one more sprint in the last 50 yards, to pass a local high schooler, to finish in 5:16, 4 seconds faster than my B-goal of 5:20.

What can I take from the race? Reassurance that it takes consistent training to perform and a good rust busting performance. Nothing exciting, but a good way to go through the motions of a pre-race warmup and all the things that come with that. Hopefully that'll help in the near future!

Charlie's Angels 2, Full Throttle

My friends and teammates faired great and it was fun to watch. John was a bit up on me in 5:03 (1 second off my 5:02 from 2009), Joe had a big breakthrough in 5:38 (20 seconds faster than he ran in '09) and Erin came in an impressive sixth overall in the Women's race in 5:23. All star blogger, Shelby Van Pelt, ran a strong 6:00 as well (although I know she wanted that 5:59). Performance of the day went to my friend from Winston, Molly Nunn, who ran 5:19 for fourth, one day after winning the Run for Green Half Marathon in Davidson, NC, as she prepares for the Wineglass Marathon (and an attempt at the Olympic Trials Qualifying Standard of 2:46:00).

After the races, we all got together and did a nice three mile cool down through Raleigh. The shins felt better here. Hopefully a sign of what's to come! Until then, it's run when I can, soccer on Tuesday and hopefully get to Winston early enough tomorrow to register for the Boston Marathon!

Also, congrats go out to The Athlete's Foot Racing's Joe Moore, who won in 4:20 and to TAF-ers on the road, Bobby Mack (14:03) and Sandy Roberts (14:13), who finished sixth and eleventh respectively at the USATF Road 5k National Championships in Providence, RI.

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Road Rage: Anthony Famiglietti is back for the USATF Road 5k Champs in Providence

Have you seen this man?

It's been a while since Anthony Famiglietti has competed. What better place to return than one where he has won before? Fam won the 2008 USATF Road 5k Championships and will start his drive towards qualifying for a third consecutive Olympic team with another run through the streets of Providence, RI tomorrow, in search of another National Championship at the CVS Caremark Downtown 5k. He's written a blog post about his return as well.

Fam's recently been training in Davidson, NC (right outside of Charlotte) and recently returned to the roads with a tune-up win at the Sunset 5k in Salisbury. Fam also attended Appalachian State for two years (before transferring to Tennessee) and leads a charge of runners with NC ties at Providence. USATF 8k Champion, Bobby Mack, will be among the favorites as he continues to have a breakout season. My friend, Sandy Roberts, will be making his USA Running Circuit debut. Both Mack and Roberts run for The Athlete's Foot Racing, out of Raleigh, NC (my team). Also out of Raleigh is Duke Law student, Lauren Bonds. Bonds has had a great past few years and will be representing Adidas Raleigh TC. All will be skipping out on the Mag Mile tomorrow (NC USATF Road Mile Championship in which Mack is a multiple time winner). Finaly, Stephanie "Pezz" Pezzullo, trained in Charlotte for a while, before relocating to Flagstaff, AZ.

Robert Cheseret, who is Bernard Lagat's brother, will be defending on the Men's side, as he kicked down Ben Bruce last year in the final steps to take the National Championship. An excellent field will challenge for the win, as many have traveled to Providence for the shot at the $30,000 purse. Aaron Braun and Ben True will be favorites, along with Fam, Mack and Cheseret, as Braun is currently 1st in the overall USA Running Circuit standings with True a close second.

Conquering one barrier at a time
(TrackAndFieldPhoto)

Sara Hall will look to improve on her second place performance from 2010 on the Women's side, and has a Fam connection as well, as she's spent some time with him working on her steeplechase technique. She'll likely choose that event to try to qualify for the 2012 London team. Hall is currently ranked fifth in the USA Running Circuit standings and could make a big jump with a win in Providence. An injured Molly Huddle won't be defending her title, but Hall will get plenty of competition from the likes of Julie Culley, Emily Brown, Pezz, Bonds and a strong field from all over. If the Runnerspace race coverage team team remains the same, Chris Nickinson will have the call on the Women's side.

Runnerspace will be streaming the race live tomorrow at 11:05am eastern and more information and interviews are available at http://www.runnerspace.com/USA-5km

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Galen Rupp gets American 10,000 Record of 26:48.00 in Brussels!

Rupp follows closely behind Kenenisa Bekele

Galen Rupp came to play today. He looked strong the entire run and held with the rejuvenated master, Kenenisa Bekele, until about 600 meters to go. Luckily, mid race someone posted the stream of the race and I got to see Rupp run the last 7 laps. He surged, ran with poise and hung on strong when Bekele put the hammer down for a strong third place finish behind Bekele and Lucas Rotich. He was rewarded with a new American 10,000 Record of 26:48.00! Full results are here.

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