Steve's Running Page
“Running significantly increases the probability to find a peak experience in life. It’s also a great way to destroy the a$$ hole next to you who’s trying to take away your glory.” ~Unknown.
Friday, November 02, 2007
Monday, October 01, 2007
Amazing Geb Sets New Marathon World Record!
Yesterday Haile Gebrselassie erased any doubt that he is the best middle-distance runner in history. With PRs such as 3:31 at 1500, 12:39 at 5k, 26:22 at 10k and now the new marathon world record [Link 2] of 2:04:26 (uncontested) there is no doubt his range and accomplishments out stride - everyone. At 4:44.758 per mile this is so impressive I can not think of another performance to compare it to. Bekele may change all this some day, but for now…nope. Also, check out Kara Goucher’s defeat of Paula R Radcliffe.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Alan Webb Sets American Mile Record
Alan Webb broke Steve Scott's 25-year-old American mile record this past weekend with a 3:46.91. This is probably the greatest American athletic performance – ever. [Read More | Watch the Race | Results | Post Race Interview Video]
Monday, July 16, 2007
Bekele vs. Mottram
The Bekele vs. Mottram 3k showdown is over – Bekele dominates! At the 07.15.07 British Grand Prix in Sheffield Bekele's blazing time of 7:26.69 (12th best all time & 7th best performer, knocking off 60 second laps) took out the down under star by a crushing 9 seconds. After much talk and debate a 9 second victory in a 3k at that level is a blowout. The two will not be competing against each other at Worlds as Bek is running the 10k and Mott the 5. Kudos to a good showing by US runners: Solinsky, Ritz and Dobson. [Watch video w/ Solinsky interview]
1 Kenenisa BEKELE ETH 7:26.69
2 Craig MOTTRAM AUS 7:35.00
3 Chris SOLINSKY USA 7:36.90
4 Dathan RITZENHEIN USA 7:39.03
5 Edwin KIPKORIR KEN 7:40.88
6 Mo FARAH GBR 7:42.83
7 Ian DOBSON USA 7:48.03
8 Abraham CHEBII KEN 7:53.64
9 Steve SLATTERY USA 8:01.15
10 Jermaine MAYS GBR 8:05.87
Sunday, July 15, 2007
International Success for Hasay
Jordan Hasay (15 yrs old from CA) became just the second
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Changing Tide for American Distance Running?
I don’t pretend to keep up on every detail of the sport but allow me to point out some recent performances by American runners. At the high school level we see recent depth that is astounding. In June the Nike Outdoor National (NON) Championships saw a two mile (not 3200) field that looked like this...1st Matthew Centrowitz in 8:41.55, 2nd Craig Forys in 8:44.53, 3rd Elliott Heath in 8:46.12, 4th Evan Jager in 8:47.59, 5th Hassan Mead in 8:51.23, 6th Paul Springer in 8:52.77, 7th Sean Keveren in 8:55.16, 8th Dan Jackson in 8:55.60, 9th Girma Mecheso in 8:56.58, 10 Mark Amirault 8:56.84, Mike Fout in 8:58.79, 12th Thomas Gruenewald in 8:58.98, 13th Robert Finnerty in 8:59.15, 14th Maxwell, 15th O'Donoghue-McDon in 8:59.19 and 15th Josh Mathis in 9:00.16 [Watch the race]. While Nelson’s 1979 record of 8:36.3 still stands this was the fastest American field in history. Others like Sam Borchers (4:03 mile) and Ben Hubers also strengthen the ranks of our young runners. High school girls are lead by the awe inspiring performances of Jordan Hasay who seems to have been born with wheels.
The story gets better because our collegiate runners seem to be improving too. While the colligate system is often blamed for dampening our talent a crop of burgeoning runners are fortifying the ranks. Galen Rupp has continued to strut the stuff he showed as a prep runner, recently set an American collegiate 10k record with a blazing 27:33.48 performance. A few shallow thinkers belittled his running as a high school athlete, arguing that he had the best of everything; coaching, elite training partners, and oxygen tents. The assumption was that having superior conditions detracted from his performances (frankly, I do count Troutmann’s 8:05 3k record superior to Rupp’s 8:03 but that’s just one race and I’m biased because I ran in that earlier record race) and that it would not last. Do the African runners not have a similar situation of hard core conditions, albeit based on different variables, which help them excel? Anyway, other collegians stand out as well; Lamong and Solinsky to pay lip service. Solinsky ran a 3:37.27 1500 in
Both the younger groups are feeding what we see rising to the top of the mix. The elite professional level guys are turning heads around the world, including
The wave of improvement is not restricted to the
When asked about the dearth of depth over the past decades the ever provocative Gerry Lindgren said in a recent interview, “It is as if we outsourced courage to
Monday, July 09, 2007
A Logo Lemon for the London Olympics?
Logos are difficult to create, especially good ones. No where is this more evident than the logo for the 2012 Olympics in