Running News Daily

50 Motivational Running Quotes About Racing

Find Inspiration from Running Icons and Legends

Even the most motivated among us occasionally has a challenging time wanting to lace up our shoes and hit the pavement running. Bookmark this page for the next time motivation is waning for you. Read on for inspirational race quotes to pump you up before your next run.

"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start." —John Bingham, running speaker and writer

"Fear is gradually replaced by excitement and a simple desire to see what you can do on the day." —Lauren Fleshman, American distance runner

"It doesn't matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say, 'I have finished.' There is a lot of satisfaction in that." —Fred Lebow, co-founder of the New York City Marathon

"When you put yourself on the line in a race and expose yourself to the unknown, you learn things about yourself that are very exciting." —Doris Brown Heritage, women's distance running pioneer

"Good health, peace of mind, being outdoors, camaraderie: those are all wonderful things that come to you when running. But for me, the real pull of running—the proverbial icing on the cake—has always been racing." —Bill Rodgers, winner of four Boston Marathons

"Big occasions and races which have been eagerly anticipated almost to the point of dread, are where great deeds can be accomplished." —Jack Lovelock, environmentalist and futurist

"I also realize that winning doesn't always mean getting first place; it means getting the best out of yourself." —Meb Keflezighi, 2004 Olympic Marathon silver medalist

"Why race? The need to be tested, perhaps; the need to take risks; and the chance to be number one." —George Sheehan, running columnist and writer

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"Everyone in life is looking for a certain rush. Racing is where I get mine." —John Trautmann, Olympic runner

"I'm always nervous. If I wasn't nervous, it would be weird. I get the same feeling at all

"My thoughts before a big race are usually pretty simple. I tell myself: 'Get out of the blocks, run your race, stay relaxed. If you run your race, you'll win.'" —Carl Lewis, nine-time Olympic gold champion

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"I love controlling a race, chewing up an opponent. Let's get down and dirty. Let's fight it out. It's raw, animalistic, with no one to rely on but yourself. There's no better feeling than that." —Adam Goucher, U.S. Nationals 5K race champion

"I'm going to work so that it's a pure guts race at the end, and if it is, I am the only one who can win it." —Steve Prefontaine, legendary American long-distance runner

"Let's just say it and be done with it. Racing hurts. But here's another truth: having put in the effort to prepare for a race and then not giving it your all hurts even more. The first kind of hurt goes away in hours or a day. The second kind of hurt can last a lifetime." —Larry Shapiro, author of Zen and the Art of Running

"Different people have different reasons for racing, but

"Running is in my blood—the adrenaline flows before the races, the love/hate of butterflies in your stomach." —Marcus O'Sullivan, Irish middle-distance runner

"It's just as important to remember that each footstrike carries you forward, not backward. And every time you put on your running shoes you are different in come way than you were the day before. This is all good news." —John Bingham, American marathon runner 

"Racing teaches us to challenge ourselves. It teaches us to push beyond where we thought we could go. It helps us to find out what we are made of. This is what we do. This is what it's all about." —PattiSue Plumer, U.S. Olympian

"You didn't beat me. You merely finished in front of me." —Hal Higdon, American writer and runner

"Fast running isn't forced. You have to relax and let the run come out of you." —Desiree Linden

"No marathon gets easier later. The halfway point only marks the end of the beginning." —Joe Henderson, famed running coach

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"No matter how old I get, the race remains one of life's most rewarding experiences." —George Sheehan

"If you feel bad at

"What distinguishes those of us at the starting line from those of us on the couch is that we learn through running to take what the days gives us, what our body will allow us, and what our will can tolerate." —John Bingham, running writer and speaker

"For me, races are the celebration of my training." —Dan Browne, National Champion 5K and 20K runner

"Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up." —Dean Karnazes, ultramarathon runner

"Every race is a question, and I never know until the last yards what the answer will be. That's the lure of racing." —Joe Henderson

"It's amazing how the same pace in practice can feel so much harder than on race day. Stay confident. Trust the process." —Sara Hall, American long-distance runner

"Winning has nothing to do with racing. Most days don't have races anyway. Winning is about struggle and effort and optimism, and never, ever, ever giving up." —Amby Burfoot, American marathon runner

"Your goal is simple: Finish. Experience your first race, don’t race it." —Bob Glover, author of The Runner's Handbook

"Don't dream of winning, train for it!" —Mo Farah, Olympic long

"Nothing, not even pain, lasts forever. If I can just keep putting one foot in front of the other, I will eventually get to the end." —Kim Cowart, runner and journalist

"The real purpose of running isn't to win a race. It's to test the limits of the human heart." —Bill Bowerman, co-founder of Nike

"Our running shoes have magic in them. The power to transform a bad day into a good day; frustration into speed; self-doubt into confidence; chocolate cake into muscle." —Mina Samuels, author of Run Like a Girl 

"There is magic in misery. Just ask any runner." —Dean Karnazes

"Run often. Run long. But never outrun your joy of running." —Julie Isphording, American Olympic runner

Bix 7 Notebook: Samuelson, Keflezighi collect more Bix hardware

The four legendary runners who appeared at various Quad-City Times Bix 7 events this week all made it through the grand 50th-anniversary race just fine.

In fact, two of them came away with awards.

Joan Samuelson, who has won four Bix 7 women’s championships and 15 masters titles, was the winner of the women’s 65-69 age group and she did it in record time — 50 minutes, 47 seconds. She now holds the women’s course record in four age groups — 50-54, 55-59, 60-64 and 65-69.

Meanwhile, two-time Bix 7 champion Meb Keflezighi added the men’s 45-49 age group championship to his resume on Saturday.

Keflezighi said he wasn’t really sure he was going to push himself in the race, but with the crowd cheering and urging him on, he couldn’t help himself. He covered the course in 41:37.

At one point, Keflezighi encountered a man who told him he’d had dreams of running the race with him.

“Then he took off, but I caught up with him and said ‘Let’s make your dreams come true,’’’ Keflezighi said.

Bill Rodgers, who won the Bix in 1980 and 1981 and has run it every year since, finished Saturday's run in a time of 1:19:46.

Two-time Olympic medalist Frank Shorter, who like Rodgers is 76, did the two-mile Quick Bix. But he said he still had a great time, marveling at how many times little kids breezed past him along the way.

At one point, a mother with a small daughter who Shorter estimated to be 5 or 6, came up alongside him. The mom told the girl to just go ahead and take off if she wanted. She’d see her at the finish line. The girl turned on the jets and took off.

“You could almost see the vapor trail,’’ Shorter joked.

Age-group records: Samuelson wasn’t the only person to set a course record for their age group.

It also was accomplished by Lucas Hollingshead of Elkhart, Ind., in the men’s 15-under division (37:41) and Richard Kutzner of Clear Lake, Iowa, in the men’s 80-84 (1:04:10).

And for the first time, the Bix 7 had 85-over divisions so the winners there obviously established records. The winners were Dave Zimmer of Long Grove, Iowa, and Norma Mullins of Moline.

Another Hird win: The first runner across the finish line in the Prairie Farms Quick Bix was a familiar face.

Zach Hird, a former Alleman High School runner who now lives in Naperville, Ill., won the Bix 7’s two-mile alternative in a time of 9 minutes, 48 seconds.

Hird won the Gregg Newell Trophy as the top local finisher in the seven-mile race in both 2018 and 2019.

The first female finisher in the Quick Bix on Saturday was Jennifer Douglass of Assumption, Ill.

Unbreakable Glass: Bryan Glass knows his Bix history well. Already a five-time master's champion, Glass put his name in the same breath as one of the Bix legends with a strong race Saturday.

At the age of 50, Glass finished the seven miles in 38 minutes, 21 seconds, becoming just the second runner 50 or older to run the race in under 40 minutes. The first? Bill Rodgers.

Glass was only 11 seconds off the 50+ record set by Rodgers — who ran 38:10 back in 1998.

"It was my goal for the last year, knowing that I could do it, I knew I could. Now, I ran faster than I ever thought I could do today, but I think it was just God giving me the ability to be prepared today, and I went for it."

Glass has a long history of running. He was a state champ at Geneseo and went to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. He's also a member of the Springfield Road Runners Club Hall of Fame.

This is another accolade Glass has to be proud of.

"It's emotional because you work so hard for so many years," Glass said. "I never thought I'd get to the point where I'd have a chance to put my name up with Bill Rodgers. Now I know he's above anything I would ever beat, but to know that I'm in that same class in some sense in my home area, makes me so proud."

A rare Bix triple: Credit to recent Bettendorf High School graduate Maya Williams for giving it her all during the 50th QCT Bix 7 week. The standout sprinter pulled off a rare double on Thursday, running two races in the Brady Street Sprints — winning the open women's race and anchoring the Bulldogs' relay team to the high school girls' title.

Just for good measure, she figured she would jump into Saturday's 7-miler. Making that decision Friday evening didn't give her much recovery time. She posted a 1:18.21 clocking on Saturday.

RRCA honors: The Bix 7 served as the national championship race for the Road Runners Club of America on Saturday, which meant a little additional hardware for some runners.

In addition to men’s champion Wesley Kiptoo and women’s champion Raechel Chebet, Samuelson was honored as the women’s 60-over champion and Glass as the men’s 50-over champ.

Other honorees were Artur Mueller of Davenport, men 40-over; Jess Hruska of Dubuque, women 40-over; Kate Maurer of Urbandale, Iowa, women 50-over; and Rick Torres of Elizabethtown, Ky., men 60-64.

Weather vane: Saturday's weather for the race was nearly perfect. At race time, it was 68 degrees with a manageable 81% humidity. It was just the 18th time in 50 events that the race started with a temperature under 70 degrees.

Making her mark: Paityn Noe, last year’s Bix 7 high school girls’ top finisher, came back this year and had another solid race.

The University of Arkansas freshman from Huxley, Iowa (Ballard High School), was the seventh women’s finisher, clocking a time of 38 minutes, 34 seconds, just 2:13 behind winner Rachael Chebet.

In May, she finished second in the SEC Championships 10,000-meter run, clocking a 33:57.35. She also finished fifth last fall in the SEC cross country meet, running 19:43.7 for the 6,000-meter race.

Enjoy the day: Maggie Montoya, who was the third female overall finisher in Saturday’s Bix 7, enjoyed her first run through the streets of Davenport with 16,586 other people.

“When you’re surrounded by this mass of people, it brings you back to racing a marathon and being around people,” she said after finishing in 37:13. “It was nice to be back in that atmosphere.

“… There’s something about being surrounded by so many people that really adds to the event. It was fun being back out on the roads again.”

13-minute start: How long does it take for 16,587 to cross the starting line? The group of runners dressed as Elvis Presley, who almost always bring up the rear of the pack, finally got to the starting line when the race was 13 minutes old.

Defending champions return to Bix

Kellyn Taylor and Biya Simbassa each ran the Quad-City Times Bix 7 for the first time last year.

They clearly loved the course, the atmosphere and just about everything about the annual race through the streets of Davenport.

Both Taylor and Simbassa held off late challenges from other runners, both ran the sixth best Bix 7 times ever by a U.S. athlete of their gender and both plan to return to defend their championships when the race is held for the 50th time on July 27.

It marks the first time in 12 years that both the men’s and women’s champions are returning to defend their Bix titles.

Simbassa admitted he wasn’t really sure how he felt about the Bix 7 course last year when he first saw the endless array of ups and downs in the course. But after holding off Olympian Clayton Young to win, he liked it.

“I mean, now I do,’’ he said after his victory. “It’s a course that’s all about strength and I train for this."

Taylor went through a similar transformation.

“When I saw the course, I was like, ‘Oh, no. What did I get myself into?’ ” she said. “That’s a super substantial hill right at the beginning and then it rolls all the way through. It’s certainly not easy by any means. I think that works to my favor since I’m more of a strength runner.”

Taylor appreciated more than just the hills.

“The crowds were amazing,” she said. “It’s not what I expected at all — the streets were completely lined, and a race that isn’t a huge marathon, I don’t feel like you see that that often. The crowds were incredible.”

Taylor and Simbassa will be bidding to repeat as Bix 7 champions, something that has been done only seven times in the race’s history, four times by men, three times by women.

Both runners failed to land berths on the U.S. Olympic team, which would have precluded a return to Bix, but they’ve still used their 2023 victories as a springboard to additional success.

Taylor briefly led the New York City Marathon last November before placing eighth, making her the top American finisher in the race. It was the third time she has been in the top eight at New York.

The Wisconsin native, who will turn 38 a few days before the Bix 7, then focused her attention on making the U.S. Olympic team and made a respectable showing in the trials in the marathon, finishing 15th, and the 10,000 meters, placing sixth.

Simbassa, a 31-year-old native of Ethiopia who now lives in Flagstaff, Arizona, attempted to earn an Olympic spot in the marathon but placed 11th in the trials.

However, he has followed that with an ambitious schedule on the U.S. road racing circuit, recording top-five finishes in the Bolder Boulder 10k (5th), Cherry Blossom 10-miler (5th), Gate River 15k (4th), Amway River Bank 25k (3rd) and Houston Half-marathon (4th).

Also included in the field are four former Olympians and nine other runners who have placed in the top 10 at the Bix 7 in the past. Elite athlete coordinator John Tope said even more top runners could be added between now and race day.

Among the top men’s entries are two former Iowa State University standouts.

Wesley Kiptoo of Kenya was the 2021 NCAA indoor 5,000-meter champion and a seven-time All-American for the Cyclones. He was seventh in the Bix 7 two years ago and won the Cherry Blossom 10-miler earlier this year.

Hillary Bor, a Kenya native who is now an American citizen, also attended Iowa State before representing the U.S. in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Olympics in both 2016 and 2021. He also is the U.S. record-holder in the 10-mile run.

Other former Olympians in the field are Morocco’s Mohamed El Aaraby and Americans Jake Riley and Shadrack Kipchirchir. Riley and Araby both competed in the marathon in Tokyo in 2021 and Kipchirchir ran the 10,000 meters in 2016.

Riley also is a Bix 7 veteran along with Kenya’s Reuben Mosip and Americans Frank Lara, Andrew Colley and Isai Rodriguez. Lara was second in the Bix 7 in 2021 and eighth a year ago.

Rounding out the men’s field are Raymond Magut of Kenya; Tsegay Tuemay and Tesfu Tewelde of Eritrea; and Americans Nathan Martin, Ryan Ford, JP Trojan, Merga Gemeda and Titus Winders.

The most recognizable name in the women’s field is 41-year-old Sara Hall, the wife of two-time Olympian, U.S. half-marathon record-holder and 2010 Bix champion Ryan Hall. Sara Hall was fifth in the U.S. Olympic marathon trials earlier this year and has two strong Bix 7 efforts on her resume, placing second in 2014 and third in 2017.

She and Taylor will be challenged by three up-and-coming runners from Kenya — Emmaculate Anyango Achol, Grace Loibach Nawowuna and Sarah Naibei. Achol has run the second fastest women’s 10k ever (28:57) and Naibei won the Lilac Bloomsday 12k in May.

Also in the field are Bix 7 veterans Kassie Parker, Jessa Hanson, Carrie Verdon and Tristin Van Ord along with Americans Annmarie Tuxbury and Stephanie Sherman, Ethiopia’s Mahlet Mulugeta and Kenya's Veronicah Wanjiru.

The elite field also includes four legendary runners who have helped build the Bix 7 into the international event that it is. Two-time champion Bill Rodgers, who has run the Bix 7 43 times, will be joined by four-time women’s champion and 1984 Olympic gold medalist Joan Samuelson, two-time Olympic medalist Frank Shorter and Meb Keflezighi, who has two Bix titles and an Olympic silver medal on his resume.

How Many Carbs Are in Spring Energy, Really?

This fruit-based energy gel, once touted for its high-carb intake and low volume, contains about a third of calories than advertised, multiple independent nutritional analyses suggest

For the past 10 years, Spring Energy has provided endurance athletes with energy gels, and more recently drink mixes, made from “real” foods. Athletes looking for wholesome alternatives to more traditional sugar-based gels made in a lab have flocked to Spring’s smoothie-like gels made with fruit and basmati rice.

While Spring products are more expensive than many gels, many athletes have found the tradeoff for high-quality, real food fuel that goes down easily on the run to be worth it. Until now.

After skepticism about the actual contents of Spring’s gels began brewing late last year, it turned into a full-blown controversy this week.

In January 2021, Spring Energy released a game-changing gel, Awesome Sauce. In collaboration with coaches and runners Megan and David Roche (who taste-tested and named the flavor), the applesauce, basmati rice, and sweet potato-based gel was designed to provide endurance athletes with a whopping 180 calories per 54 gram packet.

This high-carb alternative became especially enticing when a study was published in April 2022 reporting that ultrarunners should consume 240 to 360 calories (60-90 grams of carbohydrates) per hour. It’s no surprise that Awesome Sauce (sold at $5 a gel), with its small but surprisingly mighty nutritional content, initially flew off the shelves. It seemed too good to be true.

After several third-party lab tests, that appears to be the case.

In late 2023, runners took to Reddit to discuss their doubts in Awesome Sauce’s nutritional facts, which were printed on the packaging and stated on Spring Energy’s website. Though it’s unclear who first performed a concrete test on the gel, two months ago, Liza Ershova, a Reddit user who uses the username “sriirachamayo”, posted in a thread called “False nutritional info on Spring Energy gels.” Ershova allegedly performed a test “in an environmental chemistry lab” and found that the dry weight of Awesome Sauce is 16g instead of the stated 45. She hypothesized that, “If all of those grams are carbs, that corresponds to about 60 calories, not 180.”

On May 17, German endurance sport speciality shop Sports Hunger released a video stating that they, too, had Awesome Sauce gels tested by a third party, and allegedly found that each packet contains 16g of carbs instead of the 45g that Spring Energy claimed.

“The maker of Spring Energy assures us that they will rework their manufacturing process to ensure that they will again reliably achieve their high numbers that they declare to have,” a Sports Hunger representative says in the video. “We hope that this is really going to happen because we believe that natural food for many of our customers is a great alternative to the regular gels.”

On May 28, ultrarunning coach Jason Koop, who coaches elite athletes sponsored by Spring Energy, posted an Instagram Reel saying that he’d paid for Spring Energy Awesome Sauce to be tested by a third party, RL Food Laboratory Testing in Ferndale, Washington. The results showed that the gels tested contained 76 calories and 18g of carbs. The lab results can be found on Koop’s website. Koop declined to be interviewed for this article.

Other runners have also come forward after attempting to replicate the gels with varying degrees of Awesome Sauce’s ingredients: organic basmati rice, organic apple sauce, apple juice, yams, maple syrup, lemon juice, vanilla, sea salt, and cinnamon—and could not achieve the gel’s original volume of 54g. Their experiments suggest that it’s impossible to fit all of those ingredients into the small Awesome Sauce package while achieving the stated nutritional content.

On May 22, the Ershova shared Spring Energy’s response to their experiment on Reddit: “Our analysis supports the accuracy of our product labeling. However, we will reevaluate to make sure our data is accurate. Although we hoped your experience with our products would have been wholly satisfactory, we recognize that individual needs can vary. Given the wide variety of options available across different brands, we are confident you will find the right product that suits your specific requirements.”

Four days later, on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, Spring Energy sent out an email to newsletter subscribers stating:

“In early May we submitted Awesome Sauce for third-party caloric and biomolecular analysis. Although the results indicated that on average our products deliver the designed nutrition value, we have recognized weaknesses in our processes and ingredients which can introduce unwanted variations in some batches.To mitigate those variations in our small batch production, we decided to modify some of the formulations, revise and innovate processes, and re-evaluate ingredient sources. These changes will bring higher quality and more consistency to our products. Enhancements of our products aimed to stabilize their nutrition values are on the horizon, and within the next few weeks, you’ll see the results of our efforts. A new and improved version of Awesome Sauce will soon be available.”

The internet outrage ballooned swiftly.

“‘On average’ – if someone has a beat on where I can grab packets of Awesome Sauce at 75g of carb per pack to allow for the average of their product to be 45g overall, hit my inbox,” @aidstationfireball posted on X. “Excited to taste the new, re-formulated, $7 gels they’ll replace these with.”

David and Megan Roche, the Boulder, Colorado-based running coach couple who collaborated with Spring Energy on Awesome Sauce, discussed the backlash on their podcast. They weren’t involved in the chemical composition and makeup of the gel, they claimed. Rather, they simply proposed the concept of a high-carb gel to their friend Rafal Nazarewicz, the founder and CEO of Spring Energy. They stated they understand the public’s outrage, and Megan added that they “didn’t really use it” during their runs because she didn’t feel that her body was responding to the energy it was supposed to provide.

In addition, the Roches stated on their podcast that they have quietly harbored concerns about Awesome Sauce for years, and while they did not explicitly tell their athletes not to use it, they made a point of promoting other gels instead. (The Roches currently have a financial partnership with The Feed, the online warehouse that sells a wide variety of sports fuel, including Spring Energy.)

David elaborated in a lengthy Instagram post on May 29: “It’s sad and infuriating that the nutrition was wrong, and we are thankful to the really smart people who figured it out on Reddit (including an athlete we coach who started the initial thread). When we described concerns to Spring, we were assured that the nutrition was correct and they followed all FDA regulations. We left the Spring sponsorship years ago, and we never received compensation for proposing the name/doing taste testing (outside of the $200 per month that we both received during the sponsorship). Since then, we have publicly directed athletes to other options for high-carb fueling, while hoping to be a source of love and support in the community. Our podcast covered our concerns as soon as the German lab testing indicated that we wouldn’t be risking making defamatory statements about a business without substantial evidence.”

While concerns around Awesome Sauce instigated this investigation, it’s not the only flavor under scrutiny. Koop sent additional Spring Energy gels, Canaberry (named after professional ultrarunner Sage Canaday) and Hill Aid, to the lab for testing. The results indicated that both of these flavors also contain fewer calories than stated on their nutrition labels.

The lab results showed that the batch of Canaberry that was tested contains 10g of carbs (versus the stated 17g), and the Hill Aid sample contains 10g of carbs (versus the stated 20g).

Koop also paid for Gu Chocolate Outrage to be tested. The results were consistent with the nutrition facts. All three of these reports can also be found on Koop’s website.

These vast discrepancies between Spring Energy’s reported nutrition facts and the lab results raise the question: which gels can be trusted?

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Association (FDA), most running gels fall under the category of “dietary supplements”, which don’t have to be approved before being sold. However, the FDA requires that all dietary supplements have nutrition information clearly marked on a product’s packaging (including serving size, number of servings, and ingredients) and periodically inspects manufacturing facilities to confirm that products meet the labeling requirements. The FDA also reviews product labels for accuracy.

“Dietary supplements are regulated by the FDA, but much of our role begins after products enter the marketplace. In fact, in many cases, companies can produce and sell dietary supplements without even notifying the FDA,” the FDA states on their website.

The FDA allows nutrition labels to have an inaccuracy margin of up to 20 percent—for reference, based on multiple lab results, Awesome Sauce’s caloric content is about 57 percent less than what the label says.

Sports psychologist and ultrarunning coach Krista Austin works with some of the top endurance athletes in the world, and is best known for training Meb Keflezighi to  his 2009 New York City Marathon win. She recommends several products out on the market to her ultrarunner athletes, as well as suggestions that might work with a person’s individual plan. Typically, she suggests that athletes rotate gel flavors to avoid flavor fatigue, which can impact an athlete mentally and derail performance. So if a certain brand is proven to work well for an athlete, she says, use a variety of flavors.

“I usually use high molecular weight carbohydrates, but the thing is, they’re not as sweet as other sports nutrition products out there,” says Austin, who owns a consulting business providing sport performance services to Olympic and professional athletes as well as military and industry personnel. “So what we’ll do is we might throw in another gel like the Awesome Sauce to help give them that sweet component. It’s just in their arsenal.”

She says, in general, her athletes who have consumed Awesome Sauce have had positive experiences, but that because these gels were just one part of the fuel plan, that muddies the waters a bit. In addition, the potential lower calorie count of this gel may make it easier to digest. However, Austin recalls that one of her clients was taking in one Spring Energy gel (multiple flavors) every hour in her ultra, but found herself so hungry that she needed to eat a lot of the food provided at aid stations on the course, too.

“She was a smaller ultrarunner, and I thought it was interesting that she was taking in all these calories,” Austin says. “She was using Spring Energy gels, and I now I’m thinking, ‘Maybe this is why she needed all the additional food on the course, too, because she wasn’t getting what we thought she was.’”

Ultramarathon dietician Julie Shobe is surprised and disappointed in the news about Awesome Sauce. “My clients and myself bank on the efficiency of the gel being easy and light to carry,” she says. “Underfueling within a long run can create acute symptoms like low energy, nausea, or brain fog. Ultrarunners find themselves in dangerous situations on long runs and races, and are often in remote areas, so unintentionally underfueling could have negative consequences.”

Austin says runners can still rely on information they’re receiving about endurance fuel, but that it’s always possible there are, as Spring Energy suggests, bad batches. She’s leaning toward this being the reason for the nutritional inaccuracies (keeping an open mind that more information can come out) because she’s had experiences with bad batches of gels in the past, where the product tasted off and she brought it to the attention of the brand, who confirmed it was an error on their part.

By May 30, Spring Energy had removed Awesome Sauce from its website, although it can still be purchased in the All Inclusive and Vegan Spring sampler packs. There, Awesome Sauce is described as, “our best-seller, has been created for all carb lovers who want to fuel in a healthy way, with wholesome products free of added sugars!”

Nashville Running Company owner Lee Wilson has made the decision to take Awesome Sauce,  Canaberry, and Hill Aid off store shelves. “It came down to the integrity of it,” Wilson says. “After the other flavors came out with the test results, we decided we can’t sell it.”

Nashville Running Company crew member Eric May added that this whole ordeal is disappointing, especially because the gel was so popular in the community.

“We used to have people come in when we got shipments and walk out with boxes of them,” May says. “It’s a bummer.”

He adds that a few customers have remarked that they still really enjoy Awesome Sauce and will keep using it.

“How a company reacts to the issue tells you a lot about them, and the fact that they’ve taken down their product, it means they’re probably doing their homework to see what’s going on,” Austin says. “I would say, give them a chance to rectify the situation.”

Sabrina Stanley, a pro ultrarunner from Silverton, Colorado, has used Awesome Sauce frequently in the past, but says she stopped eating it when she felt she was taking in three times what she should be consuming to keep hunger at bay. She adds that though it’s a huge disappointment that athletes thought they were buying a gel under the impression it was a different product, the company is the only party at fault.

“Professional athletes aren’t responsible for making sure the nutrition label is correct,” Stanley says. “They are often sub-contracted to give opinions and help promote a product in hopes of making a few extra dollar to continue doing what they love. They aren’t in the lab developing the product and writing the nutrition label, like the consumers, they are trusting the hired them to do their due diligence.”

On May 29, Spring Energy released an official statement on its Instagram, with Nazarewicz saying they’ve identified weaknesses in the manufacturing process, and that only some batches were accidentally made with varying nutritional values. Nazarewicz apologized and stated Spring Energy is introducing changes to its process and hopes to continue its mission toward making real food performance products.

“Spring Energy has admitted to inconsistencies in their product and also said in a recent IG post this was not intentional or malicious,” Shobe says. “However, to be this far off from your stated nutrition label deserves some major inspection. The whole thing made me question not only the integrity of their products but the nutritional labels of other products. Why, as a dietician, didn’t I become more suspicious of Awesome Sauce in the first place?”

Controversy Arises Over Boston’s Moving 6-Hour Results Cutoff

For back of the packer, heartbreak is learning their finishes are not official, even though they have times.

Laura Caster wants to be clear: She knew what the Boston Marathon rule was about official finishers. 

She was aware she had 6 hours from the time the last finisher crossed the starting line to finish the race in order to be considered official. 

Her problem? She didn’t know what time the last finisher crossed the starting line. 

Caster, 52, from Idlewild, California, was in corral 7 of Boston’s final wave, wave 4. And she crossed the starting line at 11:25 a.m. So for how many more minutes were runners crossing the starting line behind her? “Are they a minute behind me? Five minutes?” she wondered. 

Every minute would count for her. 

As it turned out, the final starter crossed the line at 11:28 a.m., so Caster needed to finish by 5:28 p.m. to be considered official.

Caster typically runs about 5:40 for a marathon. She finished Tokyo on March 3 in 5:41:50. Tokyo was her fifth of the World Marathon Majors six-star challenge. Boston was to be her sixth. 

To gain entry to Boston, she had run for a charity, Team for Kids. She raised more than $5,000—part of the more than $40 million Boston Marathon organizers say the race raises through charity runners every year. And she treated Tokyo as a long run for Boston. 

But the weather was warm on Marathon Monday, April 15. The slower runners start later in the day. And from early on, Caster knew she was in trouble. Her stomach was upset. She couldn’t take in all the fluids she needed. She was grabbing ice every time a spectator offered it. 

Still, she plugged along, hitting every timing mat—even though the mats are rolled up along the course on pace with the 6-hour finish time. She passed halfway in 2:58:40.

At numerous points, Caster became aware of a vehicle trailing runners like her, who were going at about 6-hour pace. And she asked a volunteer at one timing mat, “How do I know if I’m going to be official?” Caster said he pointed at the car and told her she needed to finish in front of it. 

“I was like, okay. That’s a definite answer,” she said. “I’m not going to look at my watch. I’m going to focus on not throwing up and being in front of that car.” 

Caster was well ahead of the car on Commonwealth Avenue when she turned right onto Hereford Street. Just to be safe, as she approached the finish line on Boylston, Caster took a final look behind her. No sign of the official car. She crossed at 5:31 p.m., in 6:05:59. Volunteers put her in a wheelchair and sent her to the medical tent. From there, she was transported to a hospital with low blood potassium levels. She was released later that evening. 

At the hospital, she looked at the results and realized she was not official. She had a gun time and a net time, but no place. 

Caster was devastated. All the training, all the time and expense of pursuing the six stars, and she wasn’t really done. “I’ve worked for years, was so excited to have gotten to this point,” she said of her progress. “I was just leveled.” 

Caster’s coach is Meb Keflezighi, an Olympic silver medalist and the 2014 Boston Marathon champion. On the phone with him, she broke down. 

He told her, “I couldn’t be prouder of you. You missed it. We both know that you completed all six. You’re not official. But you showed grit, you showed determination.” 

Allowing roads to reopen

Caster was not alone. Chris Lotsbom, a BAA spokesman, wrote in an email to Runner’s World that 497 people appeared to have crossed the Boston finish line this year after it officially closed. Volunteers staffed the area and handed out medals for approximately 4 hours, or until 9:45 p.m., longer than the race has ever continued to note times before. 

Of those 497, many were within a few minutes or seconds of 5:28 p.m. 

Cortney Blackburn, also in pursuit of her sixth star at Boston, missed by 37 seconds. 

In an email exchange after the race with BAA officials, she asked how she was to know what the cutoff time was after she had started running. She, too, was told about the car, with flashing lights on the top, going at 6-hour pace and alerting runners if they were falling behind. Blackburn never saw the car—she finished well ahead of it—and she, too, recorded a split at every finish line mat along the way. 

Lotsbom confirmed the car was there—a “road reopening vehicle”—he called it, meant to inform runners that roads were reopening and aid stations were shutting down. 

“Without knowing specifics, I can’t comment on the individual instances referenced,” he wrote. “I can say that we are reviewing our processes and procedures in regards to final finishers for future Boston Marathons.”

Blackburn crossed the finish line and picked up two medals: the Boston Marathon medal and the World Marathon Majors six-star medal. Only later did she realize she wasn’t official in Boston’s results and therefore isn’t official in the WMM results, either. She has the medals, but no online record of her achievement.

But if the finish line remains open, and the timing continues, why not allow runners to be official? Or at least communicate a time—for example, 5:30 p.m.—that is consistent from year to year? Why use a moving target? 

Boston’s strict cutoff is part of the agreement the race has with the cities and towns along the route. The 6-hour time limit is in place “to support the communities throughout which the race runs, to allow their road reopening program to commence as planned,” Lotsbom wrote. 

“We understand we could do even more in communicating the closing time on race day and we are looking to enhance that messaging to all runners for next year to ensure everyone is clear [on] the time limit and time that the finish line will officially close on race day,” Lotsbom wrote. 

A grace period

A few runners who are much slower than 6 hours get to start in earlier waves, which gives them more time to finish. For some runners close to the 5:28 p.m. cutoff, starting in an earlier corral of wave 4 would have meant the difference between an official and unofficial finish. 

In 2015, some members of Boston’s Quarter Century Club, people with 25 or more consecutive Boston finishes, were concerned about the 6-hour limit, which was imposed for the 2016 race. So race officials moved them to Wave 2. Problem solved. 

For others, the problem remains. And the moving cutoff appears to affect more women than men, older runners more than younger ones, and many runners of color.

Hector Espinal, like Blackburn, only discovered well after the race that he wasn’t official. He wrote on Instagram on April 18, “Despite crossing the finish line, finishing the race and receiving my medals, this morning I was informed that I did not complete the Boston Marathon in the time allotted to be considered an official finisher and @wmmajors 6 Star Marathoner.” 

The post has more than 10,000 likes, and 1,000 comments, the majority of them supportive. Elite runner Mary Ngugi of Kenya, who was sixth in 2:24:24, wrote, “No no, you are a 6 time world major marathoner and a hero.”

Boston is a race that has at times struggled with its image, which critics call elitist. Spectators last year accused the race of over-policing enthusiastic fans, most of whom were people of color, at a mile 21 cheer zone, which prompted a lawsuit. Runner’s World reported in 2022 about the B.A.A.’s obscure, largely white, invitation-only membership group, which is involved with governance of the organization. 

To many observers in the running community, setting a fixed finish time would be an easy way to help the race’s image as concerned about runners of varying abilities, not just the front of the pack.

Other races in the World Marathon Majors are much more lax about their finishing times, with the exception of Tokyo, which has nine cutoff points along the route, and runners are stopped if they lag behind. There are no questions, however, about where they stand. 

But finishers of London, New York, and Chicago appear in results with times hours slower than the races’ published cutoff times. Berlin, which has a posted cutoff time of 6:15, stays open for an extra 15 to 20 minutes before the Brandenburg Gate closes, according to previous finishers. 

Blackburn won’t be back to Boston anytime soon. “I don’t know honestly if I would do it again without major changes to actually be inclusive of non-qualifying athletes,” she wrote in a message to Runner’s World. “I think [B.A.A. officials] are putting out ‘we are trying’ vibes without actually trying.”

Caster, on the other hand, plans to try again. The uncertainty while she was on the course—and the wrong information she was given about the official vehicle—were what upset her. She doesn’t know if it would have made a difference for her had she been aware of the time she had to beat. 

“But I would have liked to the opportunity to have tried,” she said. “That’s the part that I’m sore about.” 

Here Are the Celebrities Running the 2024 Boston Marathon

Zdeno Chara and Meb are a few of the big names toeing the line in Hopkinton this year.Every year, the Boston Marathon attracts celebrities from various fields, from athletes to actors, and this year is no different. Last year, former Boston Red Sox players Brock Holt and Ryan Dempster took to the streets alongside legendary quarterback Doug Flutie, who won the Heisman while at Boston College.

This year, things kick off with former Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski serving as grandmaster for the race. Gronkowski will also receive the Patriots' Award from the Boston Athletic Association, which honors a “patriotic, philanthropic, and inspirational” individual who “fosters goodwill and sportsmanship.”

This year, spectators will see not only a few returning faces in the streets but also a few first-timers. So, what notable names can we expect to see lining up in Hopkinton this year for the Boston Marathon? 1

Meb KeflezighiMeb Keflezighi, now with New Balance, announced his return to the race earlier this year. In 2014, Keflezighi became the first American to win the men’s race since 1983.

Keflezighi, 48, will run the race to support his MEB Foundation, which supports “health, education, and fitness worldwide.”

“I will be returning to the streets of Boston, taking on the prestigious race and celebrating my victory from 2014,” Keflezighi said on Instagram. “Together, we can light the path for those in need and show the world the power of compassion and community. Let’s run with purpose and inspire others to join us in spreading kindness and hope.”2

Zdeno CharaChara, the legendary Bruins hockey player who stands a mighty six feet, nine inches and helped bring the Stanley Cup to Boston in 2011, is again running in support of the Thomas E. Smith Foundation and the Hoyt Foundation.

“I’m excited to be running the 2024 Boston Marathon to raise money and awareness for @thomasesmithfoundation & @teamhoytofficial!,” Chara said on Instagram. “These two amazing foundations impact the lives of those living with disabilities through financial and emotional support.”3

Nicolas KieferKiefer’s Boston Marathon run will see the former tennis pro complete the last of the big six, having previously run Berlin, Chicago, London, New York, and Tokyo.

Kiefer, who won silver in the 2004 Olympics, wrote on Instagram that he felt “extremely good” during his final training run before the marathon.4

Chris NikicAt 22, Chris Nikic completed his first Boston Marathon in 2021. He is the first person with Down Syndrome to finish the Hawaii Ironman and all Big Six marathons. Nikic aims to improve his Boston time to 5:35 in 2024, his third time running the race.

“Last long run (20 miles) before @bostonmarathon next weekend and @londonmarathon in 2 weeks,” Nikic said on Instagram on Sunday. “Looking to see if I can do better each marathon.”5

Daniel HummDaniel Humm, the chef behind NYC’s three-Michelin star restaurant Eleven Madison Park, hoped to run the New York Marathon but had to drop out due to an Achilles injury. Instead, he will be running in Boston, hoping to beat his time in the same race last year when he ran a 2:58:53.6

Matt WilpersFamed Peloton instructor Matt Wilpers will be running the marathon as a long-time personal goal and as a way to inspire others as he does during his popular workouts.

“My success is when my athletes are successful, so if I can push them to be stronger, better versions of themselves by going out and leading by example, like, I love this stuff,” Wilpers told Boston.com. “I’ll have fun racing a marathon, I’ll have fun racing a 5K. Whatever it is, this is what I do for fun. And so if this is going to get people excited, let’s go do it.”

Edwin Kurgat, Laura Galvan defend Carlsbad 5000 championships on race’s new course

Reigning champions Edwin Kurgat of Kenya and Laura Galvan of Mexico successfully defended their titles in the Men’s Elite and Women’s Elite races to cap Sunday’s Carlsbad 5000.

The annual road race in Carlsbad Village, with events throughout the day for runners of different ages and skill levels, featured an updated course that benefited from the picturesque weather.

Under blue skies with only wispy clouds, competitors ran parallel to the coastline on Carlsbad Boulevard. They were cheered on both by spectators there to take in the “World’s Fastest 5K” and the beachgoers who became impromptu fans.“The new course is way fun,” said Kurgat. “You don’t have to think about much, so I like it better than last (year’s) course.”

Kurgat’s appreciation for the course manifested in a final time of 13:46.11. His 4:26 pace edged him ahead of New Zealand’s Matt Baxter, who finished second at 13:47.74.

“I felt surprisingly good throughout the entire race,” said Baxter, who ran a 4:27 pace. “I just couldn’t quite hold onto Edwin as we came up that last hill … When I saw him in sights coming through his home stretch, I was giving it everything, because I knew if I was even close to Edwin, it was going to be a day I could be happy with.”

With a mile remaining and the runners coming up the slope, the 2019 NCAA cross-country champion from Iowa State Kurgat gained separation.

Kurgat and Baxter pulled away from American Ben Veatch — who, at Indiana University set the USATF American Junior indoor 5K record with a since-broken 13:57.27. Veatch finished third on Sunday with a time of 14:09.39.

His repeat first-place performance at the Carlsbad 5000 continued an impressive 2024 for Kurgat, who in January ran a 12:57.52 in the indoor 5,000 meters at the John Thomas Terrier Classic in Boston.

An Olympic-qualifying time to his credit, Kurgat’s attention for 2024 turns to Paris and the Oymmpics. 

“It’s a big year, Olympic year. I wanted to come here, have some fun, take a quick break and I wanted to use (Carlsbad) as part of my training,” Kurgat said.Likewise, fellow repeat Carlsbad 5000 champion Galvan ran an Olympic-qualifying time during the World Championships last August in Budapest, Hungary.

A native of La Sauceda, Guanajuato, Galvan will represent Mexico in Paris for the 5,000 meters. She has designs on qualifying for the 10,000, as well.

Ahead of competing for the nation this summer, onlookers at the Carlsbad 5000 waved Mexican flags for Galvan on Sunday.

“I really like the atmosphere,” she said. “It was crazier than last year because last year, we had many turns (on the course) ... The crowd was really, really amazing.”An enthusiastic crowd made for a welcoming environment to Galvan amid the intensity of Olympic preparations.

“Stress builds up. Coming here to a race like this makes it fun,” Galvan said. “I said, ‘If I win, great. If I don’t, it’s fine.’ Because what I wanted to do as much as winning was having a good race.”Galvan accomplished her goal of running a strong race, and winning again came with that.

She finished with a time of 15:19, 20 seconds ahead of second-place finisher, Marissa Howard. Carrie Verdon came in third at 15:49.

Each champion’s successful defense ahead of their respective pursuits of Olympic success provided fitting punctuation to an all-around idyllic spring North County day.

San Diego running legend Meb Keflezighi, a part-owner of the race, summed it up this way: 

“Great turnout from the crowd, great turnout from the participants and perfect weather.” 

He’s Back! Meb Keflezighi Announces Return to Boston Marathon

Meb will line up to mark the 10th anniversary of his 2014 victory.

After a decade of one of the most famous wins in the Boston Marathon, Meb Keflezighi is returning.

On Wednesday, the two-time World Marathon Major winner and 2004 Olympic silver medalist confirmed that he will compete at the Boston Marathon in April. He is returning to mark the 10th anniversary of his 2014 win, where he became the first American man to win since 1983. It was an emotional year for many, as it was also the first running of Boston since the 2013 bombings.Keflezighi, 48, announced via X that he’ll run the marathon in support of his MEB Foundation, which supports health, education, and fitness worldwide.

“I am lacing my shoes in Hopkinton and running the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2024,” Keflezighi said in the announcement, to a fitting soundtrack. “10 years ago I had the great honor to put the victory for all of us among the 36,000 others who want to make a difference at the streets of Boston. Boston strong.”

Keflezighi has been absent from the race since he ran his last professional Boston Marathon in 2017 before finishing his competitive career at the 2017 New York City Marathon. Along with his Boston win, Keflezighi won New York in 2009 and earned a silver medal at the 2004 Olympic games in Athens, making him the only man to win the Boston and New York marathons and an Olympic medal in the marathon.

Since his big win in 2014, no American has run a time faster than his 2:08:37 effort.

MORE FROM RUNNER'S WORLD ON APPLE NEWS

Mumbai Marathon 2024: Olympic medalist Meb Keflezighi named brand ambassador

Celebrated long distance runner Meb Keflezighi, who won a silver medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics, has been named brand ambassador of the 19th Tata Mumbai Marathon scheduled to be held on Sunday.

The race is a World Athletics Gold Label event and Procam International is the promoter of the event.

Celebrated long distance runner Meb Keflezighi, who won a silver medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics, has been named brand ambassador of the 19th Tata Mumbai Marathon scheduled to be held on Sunday.

The race is a World Athletics Gold Label event and Procam International is the promoter of the event.

“The Tata Mumbai Marathon has been on my bucket list for the longest time, and finally being able to witness Mumbai’s indomitable spirit, is indeed exciting,” Keflezighi, an Eritrea-born American, was quoted as saying in a press release.

“This event inspired a country to run and changed mindsets, that is the true legacy of a sporting event. Mumbai’s incredible energy and enthusiasm, combined with the dedication of its runners, embodies the universal language of endurance. I will only say this… remember to run with purpose, embrace the journey, and move ahead together. In every stride, find the strength to go the distance and make a difference to what you believe in.”

Keflezighi has several record-breaking accolades in his career.

He scripted history when he became the only runner to win an Olympic medal (2004), the New York City Marathon (2009) and the Boston Marathon (2014).

In 2009, Keflezighi became the first American since 1982 to win the New York City Marathon. He has achieved the feat of being in the top 10 in the New York Marathon for a total of eight times in his career.

In 2015, he set a TCS New York City Marathon masters event record with a timing of 2:13:32sec.

In 2014 he won the Boston Marathon (2:08:37), the first American male to do so since 1983, and the first American since 1985.

Since 1930, Keflezighi has held the record for being the oldest winner of the Boston Marathon as he triumphed there when he was 39 years old.

He is also a former USA National 10,000m track record holder.

The Tata Mumbai Marathon will flag off from the iconic Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus on Sunday.

2023 NYC Marathon Men’s Preview

This year’s TCS New York City Marathon fields are very different. The women’s race is absolutely stacked — the best in race history and one of the greatest assembled in the history of the sport. If you haven’t read our women’s preview yet, go ahead and do it right now. The men’s race is more of a typical NYC field — a large diversity of nationalities with some premium East African talent at the top.

Initially, the headline showdown on the men’s side was going to be the battle betweeen 2022 champ Evans Chebet and 2017/2019 champ Geoffrey Kamworor, but both withdrew last month. Instead, the field is led by Ethiopians Tamirat Tola (the 2022 world champ) and Shura Kitata, who has twice finished as runner-up in NYC but never won. Throw in a rising Cam Levins and the debut of Edward Cheserek, and there will still be some intrigue on the men’s side, but this is without a doubt the shallowest men’s major of 2023. Here are the men to watch in Sunday’s field.

The Three Guys Who Have Won Majors Before

Tamirat Tola, Ethiopia, 2:03:39 pb (2021 Amsterdam), 32 years oldSignficant wins: 2017 Dubai, 2021 Amsterdam, 2022 Worlds

Shura Kitata, Ethiopia, 2:04:49 pb (2018 London), 27 years oldSignificant wins: 2017 Frankfurt, 2020 London

Albert Korir, Kenya, 2:08:03 pb (2019 Ottawa), 29 years oldSignificant wins: 2019 Houston, 2021 New York

When looking for a winner, the first place to start is the runners who have won a major before. Seven of the last 10 NYC men’s winners had already won a major when they won New York. Tola, Kitata, and Korir all fit that criteria, with Tola and Kitata particularly worth of note (though Korir is the only one of the trio to have won NYC before).

The world champion last year, Tola ran 2:03:40 in Valencia in December, then finished 3rd in London in April. He did drop out of his most recent marathon at Worlds in August, but it’s worth noting he was in 3rd at 37k and dropped out in the final 5k once he was no longer in medal position. He quickly rebounded to win the Great North Run on September 10 by more than a minute in 59:58. Tola has some experience in NYC, but has had the least success of the trio in New York — Tolas was 4th in his two previous appearances in 2018 and 2019.  Tola has won 3 of his career 16 marathons.

Kitata was second in NYC a year ago and was also second in 2018, when he ran 2:06:01 — the third-fastest time ever in NYC. When he’s on his game, he’s one of the best in the world — he broke Eliud Kipchoge‘s long win streak by winning the 2020 London Marathon. But Kitata is coming off one of the worst marathons of his career as he was only 14th in Boston in April. Kitata has won 3 of his 18 career marathons.

Korir won NYC in 2021 — granted, against a very watered-down field that included just one man with a pb under 2:07– and was 2nd in 2019, beating both Tola and Kitata in the process. A grinder, he most recently finished a solid 4th in Boston in 2:08:01 and will be a contender again on Sunday. Korir has won 5 of his career 15 marathons.

In my mind, there’s a roughly a 65% chance one of these guys is your winner on Sunday, with the remaining 35% split between a few slightly longer shots. Let’s get to them.

The Global Medalists

Abdi Nageeye, Netherlands, 2:04:56 pb (2022 Rotterdam), 34 years old

Maru Teferi, Israel, 2:06:43 pb (2022 Fukuoka), 31 years old 

Nageeye and Teferi have a lot in common. Both moved from East Africa to Europe as children (Nageeye from Somalia to the Netherlands when he was 6, Teferi from Ethiopia to Israel when he was 14). Both have earned global medals (2021 Olympic silver for Nageeye, 2023 World silver for Teferi). Both won a famous marathon in 2022 (Rotterdam for Nageeye, Fukuoka for Teferi). One more similarity: neither has won a World Marathon Major.

But if you’ve medalled at the Olympics/Worlds and won Rotterdam/Fukuoka, you’re pretty damn close to winning a major. Both are coming off the World Championship marathon in August, where Teferi took silver and Nageeye dropped out after 25k.

It would be a pretty cool story if either man won as it took both of them a while to reach their current level: Nageeye did not break 2:10 until his sixth marathon; Teferi did not do it until marathon #10! New York will be career marathon #20 for Nageeye (and he’s only won 1 of them) and #19 for Teferi (and he’s only won 2 of them), and runners almost never win their first major that deep into their careers. But Nageeye and Teferi have also continued to improve throughout their careers. They have a shot.

The Former NCAA Stars

Cam Levins, Canada, 2:05:36 pb (2023 Tokyo)

Edward Cheserek, Kenya, debut.

Though Levins was an NCAA champion on the track at Southern Utah — he actually beat out future Olympic medalist Paul Chelimo to win the 5,000 in 2012 — his triple sessions and mega-miles (170+ per week) suggested his body was built to withstand the pounding of the marathon. It took a few years, but Levins is now world-class, running a 2+ minute pb of 2:07:09 to finish 4th at Worlds last year, and following that up with another huge pb, 2:05:36 in Tokyo in March. He’s run faster than any North American athlete in history.

No Canadian has ever won New York, and Levins will need an off day or two by the big guns if he is to break that drought. But Levins was only 14 seconds off the win in Tokyo in March, and he may not be done improving. Of the three men seeded above him in NYC, two are coming off DNFs (Tola and Nageeye) and the other is coming off a poor showing in Boston (Kitata). If Sharon Lokedi can win NY, why can’t Levins?

Speaking of Loked, her partner Edward Cheserek is making his marathon debut on Sunday — something that is suddenly much more exciting after Cheserek took down 2:04 marathoner Bernard Koech to win the Copenhagen Half on September 17 in 59:11. While Cheserek has had a few standout performances since graduating from the University of Oregon since 2017 (3:49 mile, 27:23 10k), his professional career has largely been one of frustration following 17 NCAA titles in Eugene. In six pro seasons, Cheserek has competed in just two Diamond Leagues (finishing 15th and 7th) and never run at a global championship.

Throughout that time, Cheserek’s desire had been to stay on the track, which was one of the reasons he split with coach Stephen Haas to reunite with his college coach Andy Powell. Based on what he had seen in training, Haas believed Cheserek was better suited for the marathon and told him as much. Now, after spending time training in Kenya — 2022 NYC champ Evans Chebet is a friend and occasional training partner — Cheserek has decided to make the leap.

“A lot of people have probably got in his ear and said, look you can be really good at this if you commited to it and trained for it,” said Haas, who remains Cheserek’s agent. “…He’s going really, really well. I was super impressed with him when I was over in Kenya, his long runs, his ability to up his volume…I really think this is where he’s gonna find himself as a pro runner and I think he’s got a lot of years, a lot of races to come as a marathoner.”

What is he capable of his first time out? New York is a tough course on which to debut, but Cheserek is an intriguing wild card. In the last two years, we’ve seen unheralded former NCAA stars hang around far longer than anyone expected on the women’s side, with Viola Cheptoo almost stealing the race in 2021 and Lokedi winning it last year. The men’s races have played out somewhat differently, but if this race goes slower and Cheserek is able to weather with the surges of the lead pack, he could be dangerous over the final miles.

Promising Talents that Would Need a Breakthrough to Win

Zouhair Talbi, Morocco, 2:08:35 pb (2023 Boston), 28 years old

Jemal Yimer, Ethiopia, 2:08:58 pb (2022 Boston), 27 years old

Based on what they’ve done in the marathon so far, both of these guys need to step up a level to actually win a major. But both have intriguing potential with Yimer being the much more likely winner.

Yimer formerly held the Ethiopian half marathon record at 58:33 and just finished 4th at the World Half. He’s only finished 2 of his 4 career marathons, however. But he’s in good form. Earlier in the year, he racked up good showings on the US road scene – winning Bloomsday in May,  finishing 4th at Peachtree and winning the Utica Boilermaker in July before running 58:38 in the half in August. Most recently he was fourth  (59:22) at the World half a month ago.

Talbi, the former NAIA star for Oklahoma City who has run 13:18 and 27:20 on the track, was 5th in his debut in Boston in April, running 2:08:35 in against a strong field.

The Americans

Elkanah Kibet, USA, 2:09:07 pb (2022 Boston), 40 years old

Futsum Zienasellassie, USA, 2:09:40 pb (2023 Rotterdam), 30 years old.

There are a few other US men in New York, including 2:10 guys Nathan Martin and Reed Fischer, but Kibet and Zienasellassie are the most intriguing. Kibet is 40 years old but has churned out a number of solid results recently — 4th at ’21 NYC, 2:09:07 pb at ’22 Boston, 2:10:43 at ’23 Prague. Zienasellassie, meanwhile, has run two strong races to open his marathon career: 2:11:01 to win 2022 CIM, then 2:09:40 in April to finish 11th in Rotterdam.

Ben Rosario, executive director of Zienasellassie’s NAZ Elite team, told LetsRun Zienasellassie is running New York in part because his idol, fellow Eritrean-American Meb Keflezighi, has a deep connection to the race, winning it in 2009. The other reason? To challenge himself in terms of his in-race decision making and get some reps in an unpaced race before the Olympic Trials.

Scott Fauble Is Aiming for the Olympic Standard at Berlin Marathon

Fauble will hope to become first American man to hit 2:08:10 Olympic standard in Sunday’s race

Scott Fauble was not planning on running a fall marathon in 2023. On April 17, he finished 7th at the Boston Marathon to earn top American honors — just as he did in Boston and New York in 2022. His time of 2:09:44 represented the fourth sub-2:10 of his career, making him just the seventh American to accomplish that feat after Ryan Hall, Galen Rupp, Meb Keflezighi, Khalid Khannouchi, Alberto Salazar, and Mbarak Hussein. In previous years, a top-10 finish at a World Marathon Major counted as an automatic qualifying standard for the Olympic marathon; Fauble, with three straight top-10 finishes on his resume, figured he was in good position for Paris and could shift his focus to the US Olympic Trials in February 2024.

But the Olympic qualifying system for 2024 is far more complicated than in previous years, with ever-shifting world rankings and things like “quota reallocation places” creating confusion among fans and athletes alike. Any athlete ranked in the top 65 of the filtered “Road to Paris” list on January 30, 2024, is considered qualified…except the “Road to Paris” list does not currently exist. After Boston, Fauble, who is currently ranked 122nd* — that’s in the world rankings, which is a different list than “Road to Paris” — tried to take a closer look at where he stood, creating spreadsheets and projecting where he might rank after accounting for time qualifiers, the three-athlete-per-country limit, and potential changes after the 2023 fall marathon season. After a while, his brain began to hurt.

“I felt like the Pepe Silvia meme from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” Fauble said. “…It was like, this is complicated and stressful and I can just get the standard. This doesn’t need to be an issue.”

That is why Fauble, begrudgingly, made the decision to run the Berlin Marathon. He was not initially looking forward to the race, but with a strong training block in Boulder behind him and the race just four days away, he has changed his tune.

“I’m very excited,” Fauble said. “I wasn’t planning on doing a fall marathon after Boston and I had to figure out ways to get excited for it and I think that’s one of the things that has fired me up, actually seeing how fast I can go and pushing for a PR as opposed to letting the race play out and seeing what I can do.”

Chasing a time is a dramatically different approach to Fauble’s typical marathon M.O. Of the nine marathons he has run, only two have featured pacemakers: his debut in Frankfurt in 2017, and the Marathon Project in 2020. When Fauble runs Boston and New York, the hilly courses where he has found the greatest success, he does not enter with a goal time in mind. Instead, Fauble will wait until the race begins and assess a number of factors — the weather, how he’s feeling, how fast the other runners are going — before deciding which pace to run. Typically, that has led to Fauble letting the leaders go early and picking off stragglers as they fade over the second half of the race.

Berlin will be different. There are no hills to account for, and while Fauble will still fight for every place, he is not hiding the fact that the primary goal of this race is to hit a time. Specifically, the Olympic standard of 2:08:10. Only five Americans have ever bettered that time in history, but Fauble, who ran his personal best of 2:08:52 in Boston in 2022, believes he is capable of doing it.

“I don’t think that me running in the 2:07s is a huge stretch of the imagination,” said Fauble, who has removed some of the hillier routes from his training under coach Joe Bosshard but has otherwise prepared similarly for Berlin as he would Boston or New York. “I think I’ve been in that kind of shape a bunch of times.”

Every American marathoner will be rooting for Fauble

Currently, no male American marathoner has earned the 2024 Olympic standard — either by hitting the time standard of 2:08:10 or by finishing in the top five of a Platinum Label Marathon (which includes Berlin). It’s pvery likely someone such as Fauble or Conner Mantz will be ranked in the top 65 of the “Road to Paris” list at the end of January, but with the Olympic Trials less than five months away, US marathoners are getting antsy.

American pros rarely run the Berlin Marathon, typically opting for Chicago or New York in the fall — both of which pay much bigger appearance fees to American runners. But this fall, many are bypassing New York because of the date (just 13 weeks before the Trials) and the course (too slow for a shot at the Olympic standard). A sizeable crew, led by Mantz and Galen Rupp, will be in Chicago, while a far larger number than usual have opted for Berlin.

Berlin’s course is just as fast as Chicago’s, if not faster. It’s also two weeks before Chicago — an extra two weeks to prepare for the Trials — and the weather is typically a little better in Berlin than Chicago. That’s why Keira D’Amato opted for Berlin over Chicago for her American record attempt last year. It’s also why 60:02 half marathoner Teshome Mekonen — another American targeting the Olympic standard this fall — chose Berlin over Chicago.

In addition to Fauble and Mekonen, the 2023 Berlin field also includes 2016 Olympian Jared Ward, 2021 Olympian Jake Riley, and Tyler Pennel, who has finished 5th and 11th at the last two Olympic Marathon Trials. All of them will be looking to run fast. And every other American marathoner will be hoping they do the same.

That’s because of a new provision in the Olympic qualification system which states that any country with three qualified athletes may choose to send any three athletes it wants to Paris — as long as they have run at least 2:11:30 (men) or 2:29:30 (women) within the qualifying window. That’s why every American will be rooting for Fauble and others to run fast this fall: if the US has three athletes with the standard, then anyone who has run under 2:11:30 has the opportunity to make the team by finishing in the top three at the Trials.

The above provision, which World Athletics is referring to as “quota reallocation” means that someone such as Fauble could run the Olympic standard and open up a spot in Paris for an American athlete who ends up beating him at the Trials — thus taking a spot that would not otherwise be available had Fauble not run the standard. Fauble, obviously, is hoping such a scenario does not come to pass. But he is aware of the possibility and has accepted it as part of his reality.

“I don’t mind it,” Fauble said. “Sports have never really been about identifying the best team or the best athlete. They’re an entertainment product and they overemphasize very specific days on the calendar. Even if I was the only one with the standard and I get beat at the Trials, the 73-9 Warriors didn’t win the NBA title that year. You’ve gotta do it on the big days. That’s what being a professional athlete is about.”

Ice Plunges/Cold Baths for Muscle Recovery

The old adage goes “no pain, no gain,” and no crowd knows that better than long distance runners do. It’s the philosophy their entire sport is predicated on, pushing through the pain for hundreds of miles each month over hills and on concrete in the pursuit of athletic success. 

With grueling training methods comes a pressing need for improved methods of recovery. If you don’t give your muscles time to repair the microscopic tears that develop during strenuous exercise, you aren’t going to become a better athlete. Instead, you’ll end up with strained muscles and time away from sport that could otherwise be devoted to making gains. 

Sensitive tissues like tendons and ligaments are similarly important to safeguard, as repetitive stress injuries are a massive concern in a sport where you’re going to be covering long distances.

One way of recovering after a workout that’s gaining increasing popularity is the use of cold plunges to spur muscle repair. This can take a number of different forms, from soaking in a cold bath replete with ice water for five to ten minutes after a workout to the expensive cryotherapy technologies used by high profile athletes (although as this is becoming more popular, it will likely be more accessible to the general public in the near figure as demand increases and technology improves).

Many former Boston Marathon winners have incorporated cold plunges into their daily routines. Two-time Boston Marathon winner Meb Keflezighi, Desiree Linden who won the Boston Marathon in 2018, and Kara Goucher who has competed in the Boston Marathon ten times. These runners all say that ice baths help them to reduce muscle soreness and inflammation, and to feel more refreshed and ready to train the next day. They typically do ice baths for 10-15 minutes after their hardest workouts or after the marathon itself. A BetMGM Massachusetts bonus code will come in handy for anyone looking to get in on the action in the next Boston Marathon. The 2023 New York City Marathon will be held on Sunday, November 5, 2023, and you can bet many runners are using ice plunges ahead of the big race (and most certainly after they’re done running) for muscle recovery.

Here’s a look at why cold plunges are all the rage these days, including how to take one for maximum effect and the numerous advantages of exposing sore muscles to chilly temperatures.

Part of the beauty of ice water therapy is that you don’t have to be rich to have access: anyone with a shower or bath can turn the tap to the lowest temperature setting and sit in the water for up to ten minutes following a workout. 

What’s the benefit, though? It comes down to basic science. Exposure to (relatively) freezing temperatures makes your blood vessels contract as your body pulls in heat to your core to keep you warm. This could reduce swelling and inflammation, and doing so immediately after a workout could give you a jumpstart on post exercise soreness because of that. 

Once you step out of the ice bath, the reverse process happens as your muscles warm up in the outside air and your blood vessels begin to dilate again. This circulatory rush kick starts the process of muscle repair, bringing vital nutrients to where they’re needed most.

One thing that’s important to note, though, is that the advantages of an ice bath can change quite a bit depending on the type of exercise you’re pursuing. Endurance runners have a much different set of goals than a powerlifter or anaerobic sprinter does, so this article doesn’t apply to everyone. Endurance runners engage in aerobic activity, plateauing at 80 to 90 percent of their maximum output for extended periods of time (although they may need a quick burst to finish a race or pass a competitor).

Sprinters and lifters deploy massive bursts of all their energy in one go, and as such they have different recovery needs: it’s critical to cool down properly after engaging in strenuous exercise so that you don’t expose yourself to cold temperatures before you’re ready, causing muscles to tense up.

Kara Goucher’s Book Offers Rare Insight Into Elite Athlete Contracts

Confidentiality clauses usually stop runners from talking about their endorsement deals.Kara Goucher’s memoir about her career in professional running, The Longest Race, alleges shocking behavior by her longtime coach, Alberto Salazar, and how she overcame it. But a subplot throughout the book is how much money she was earning in the sport along the way.

Goucher is open about her contract with Nike and appearance fees at races, including the New York City Marathon, the Boston Marathon, and the Great North Run in the U.K. (Nike did not respond to an email from Runner’s World seeking comment.) Even though the deals are from 10 to 20 years ago, they provide an interesting look at the business side of professional running. It’s a rare peek, too, because sponsor contracts are bound by confidentiality clauses and, in many cases, those clauses extend beyond the term of the contract. 

Goucher’s did, but she decided to reveal the information anyway—to be helpful to other athletes. “I just felt like it was very important to have those numbers in there,” she said in a phone call with Runner’s World. “How do you know what to ask for if you have no idea what anyone else is getting paid?” Here’s what we learned about Goucher’s pay and that of her husband, Adam Goucher, from the book:

In 2000, Adam Goucher was making a base payment of $50,000 from Fila, his first sponsor. In his first year, he ran so well that he earned $185,000 with bonuses. Goucher writes that the pay was a “welcome windfall that helped him pay off student loans.” 

In 2001, Kara Goucher signed a four-year deal with Nike for $35,000 per year. This was her first professional contract after she graduated from the University of Colorado. 

In 2003, Adam Goucher signed with Nike with a base pay of $90,000 per year. The Longest Race: Inside the Secret World of Abuse, Doping, and Deception on Nike's Elite Running TeamIn the fall of 2007, she ran the Great North Run, a half marathon in Newcastle, England. The race director paid her an appearance fee of $13,000 and made a deal with Goucher’s agent at the time, Peter Stubbs, to pay her $30,000 if she won. The money was “not far off the annual salary I had lived on for years,” Goucher wrote. She won the race.

In February 2008, Goucher signed a new Nike deal that paid her $325,000 per year for four years, with an option for Nike to extend to a fifth year. The contract included performance bonuses ranging from $10,000 to $500,000 for an Olympic gold medal. There were also reductions, which could cut her pay. She had to race 10 USATF-sanctioned events per year, and if she ended the year ranked lower than third in her event in the U.S. or out of the top 10 in the world, Nike could dock her pay. 

Goucher told Runner’s World that, for her second shoe deal, she asked her agent to accept a commission of 8 percent for each year of the deal. The industry standard is 15 percent. He agreed. She continued to pay him 15 percent on her appearance fees and prize money. She also made sure that she was paid directly by Nike and then she paid her agent. (In most cases these days, the shoe company pays the agent, who then pays the athletes, because it’s less paperwork for the shoe company, having to deal with individual athletes.)

In November 2008, Goucher made her marathon debut at the New York City Marathon. She earned an appearance fee of $175,000. Nike also paid her bonuses paid on based on her place and time, but Goucher didn’t disclose those. She wrote, “One good marathon and I could easily walk away with more than my yearly contract salary.” In April 2009, Goucher ran the Boston Marathon, which, at the time, traditionally paid less in appearance fees to athletes than New York. (It is also the only major marathon in the U.S. in the spring.) Her appearance fee was $80,000, but when she learned another American, a male runner, was making $85,000, she asked the BAA to match that. Race organizers agreed.

In early 2010, Goucher learned she was pregnant with her son, Colt. Salazar confirmed with Nike executive John Capriotti on Goucher’s behalf that Goucher wouldn’t suffer a reduction in her pay as long as she remained “relevant,” she wrote. Her first of four quarterly payments from Nike arrived on time in January, as did her second in April. But in July, her accountant told her that her payment hadn’t arrived. Nor did her October payment. 

This set off a lengthy battle between Goucher and Nike over money during her pregnancy. Ultimately, Nike docked her pay for six months and extended her contract to the end of 2013. 

At the end of 2010, Adam Goucher’s contract with Nike ended. 

In 2011, USA Track & Field (USATF) said it would be dropping the Gouchers’ health insurance, because her marathon ranking had dropped while she was pregnant. She appealed the decision, and the U.S. Olympic Committee stepped in and reinstated the health insurance. This rule has subsequently been changed—pregnant athletes can keep their health insurance—and today’s runners laud that change. 

At the end of September 2011, Goucher left the Nike Oregon Project. She remained under contract with Nike and stayed in Portland, Oregon. Jerry Schumacher coached her, and she trained with Shalane Flanagan.

At the end of 2013, Goucher scrambled to race 10 times so Nike wouldn’t suspend her pay again. She ran a turkey trot to fulfill her obligations (and won a pie). Her contract with Nike ended at the end of the year, and she and Adam sold their house in Portland and moved to Boulder, Colorado. 

In 2014, Goucher entertained contract offers from other companies, although Nike still had the option to match any offers. Saucony offered her $1 million total over 5 years, with bonuses and no reductions. Ultimately, she chose to sign with women’s clothing brand Oiselle for $20,000 per year, and a 2 percent stake in the company. She signed a separate deal for footwear with Skechers. 

Today, Goucher encourages athletes to speak up and not be afraid to rock the boat, especially those who are lower-paid. She faults the secrecy around pay in track and field with creating difficult situations. It’s required to agree to the confidentiality clause in contracts in order to secure the deal, she said, and in some cases, that gives cover to companies that underpay talented athletes. The confidentiality clause “only harms the athlete and protects the brand,” she said. “Because then they can continue to pay you the least amount possible.” 

Agent Hawi Keflezighi, who has never worked with Goucher, agreed with her assessment. “I think there are a lot of very bad contracts out there that footwear brands would probably be embarrassed to admit to,” he said. “There are some really bad deals out there that would probably create a backlash.”

Who Will Run the World Championships Marathon for the U.S. This Summer?

The three men and three women are selected by a descending order time list. But not everyone accepts their spot. Over 9 days in August, the World Athletics Championships will take place in Budapest, Hungary. The women’s marathon is scheduled for August 26, and the men’s is August 27, the last day of competition. 

USA Track and Field (USATF) uses different selection procedures for this event than it does for the Olympic Games. Instead of using a Trials race, as it does for the Olympics, USATF offers spots to athletes using a descending order time list for certain marathons run between December 1, 2021, and May 30, 2023, as long as those athletes have met the qualifying criteria set by World Athletics. (The rules are complicated. For instance, the Boston Marathon is not on the list of “World Athletics approved” courses, but USATF is allowing times run at Boston in 2022 and 2023 for the descending order list.)

Not every American athlete will accept a spot, if offered. Some instead will choose to focus on a fall marathon, where they can earn substantial appearance fees and prize money that aren’t offered at worlds. Others won’t race at all this summer or fall, and instead they’ll train for the Olympic Marathon Trials in February 2024. How is it likely to shake out? Runner’s World reached out to the top seven men and women currently on the list or their coaches or agents to inquire about their plans. The window to run a qualifying time, however, remains open until the end of May. So a top performance in the next month could shake up the list. 

Here’s what they said: 

Women

Emily Sisson, 2:18:29, 2022 Chicago Marathon: Not likely, per her agent, Ray Flynn

Keira D’Amato, 2:19:12, 2022 Houston Marathon: Yes, if offered a spot 

Betsy Saina, 2:21:40, 2023 Tokyo Marathon: No, she is focusing on a fall marathon 

Sara Hall, 2:22:10, 2022 World Championships marathon: Has not yet decided

Emma Bates, 2:22:10, 2023 Boston Marathon: Not likely, per her agent, Ray Flynn

Susanna Sullivan, 2:24:27, 2023 London Marathon: Yes, if offered a spot 

Aliphine Tuliamuk, 2:24:37, 2023 Boston Marathon: Will consider if offered a spot, per her agent, Hawi Keflezighi

Wild card: Will Molly Seidel run a May marathon? 

Men

Conner Mantz, 2:08:16, 2022 Chicago Marathon: Not likely, per his agent, Ray Flynn

Scott Fauble, 2:08:52, 2022 Boston Marathon: No Elkanah Kibet, 2:09:07, 2022 Boston Marathon: Yes, currently deployed with the U.S. Army in Poland but will accept a spot if offered 

Zachery Panning, 2:09:28, 2022 Chicago Marathon: Yes, per coach Kevin Hanson

Leonard Korir, 2:09:31, 2023 Paris Marathon: Did not immediately respond to a message from Runner’s World 

Galen Rupp, 2:09:36, 2022 World Championships marathon: No, will run a fall marathon, per his agent, Ricky Simms

Futsum Zeinasellassie, 2:09:40, 2023 Rotterdam Marathon: Will consider if offered a spot, per his agent, Hawi Keflezighi 

Wild card: Biya Simbassa runs the Prague Marathon, his debut, on May 7. 

Documentaries every runner should watch

If you’re tired of wasting time scrolling through Netflix searching for the right movie or show to watch, we’ve got you covered. There are plenty of movies out there on running, but we’ve selected five of the best documentaries for you to watch. Before you get started on these films, though, be warned: sudden bursts of inspiration are highly likely while watching these flicks, so be ready to feel the need to go for a run after viewing.

The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young

This film was released in 2014, and it tells the story of the Barkley Marathons, race founder Laz Lake and the runners who dream of finishing the event. Producers followed the 2012 event, before which only 10 people had completed the Barkley Marathons, but that number is up to 15 today. The documentary brought this race into the mainstream, and although viewership was likely primarily runners, it captivated non-running audiences as well. 

Boston: The Documentary

This 2017 documentary covers the history of the Boston Marathon, from its humble beginnings in 1897 right up to modern times. The film, which is narrated by Boston native Matt Damon, follows legends of the race (like the event’s first official female participant, Kathrine Switzer), 2014 winner Meb Keflezighi and four-time winner Bill Rodgers, as well as other past champions. In addition to the race’s history, the documentary looks to the future as organizers worked past the tragic events of 2013 and towards the Boston Marathons yet to come. 

The Runner

In Oct. 2022, The New Yorker released a short, 17-minute documentary called The Runner that follows an Indigenous Canadian ultrarunner named Darius Sam. The film documents a 100-mile run in 2020 that Sam set out to complete to raise money and awareness for mental health. Since then, Sam has continued with ultrarunning, and in 2021 he became the youngest male to run the Moab 240, a behemoth of a race through Utah. Sam’s efforts have also led to a whopping $150,000 raised for mental health charities. 

Breaking2

This documentary was produced by National Geographic and Nike, and it followed the build-up to the first-ever sub-two-hour marathon attempt, Nike’s Breaking2 project, in Italy in 2017. The film dives into the lives of the three Breaking2 athletes (Eliud Kipchoge, Zersenay Tadese and Lelisa Desisa), the months of planning that went into the attempt and the run itself. Although it ended up being unsuccessful (Kipchoge ran 2:00:25), it was still thrilling to watch, and the documentary is just as exciting. 

Icarus

Although this Oscar-winning documentary is not a running-specific film, it should still be at the top of every runner’s must-watch list. The Netflix film intended to focus on doping and how difficult (or easy) it is to get away with cheating in elite sports, but it quickly turned into a story about doping in Russia, which ultimately led to the downfall of a years-long program that involved countless Russian athletes and sports officials.

Track legend Jenny Simpson puts her most challenging year behind her as she turns to the roads in 2023

After a year in which her world was turned upside down, the track legend has a new sponsor and new event as she makes her half marathon debut in Houston on Sunday.

As the Marshall Fire approached her house on December 30, 2021, there was a brief moment where Jenny Simpson thought to herself, I can’t believe I’m doing this. The house Simpson shares with her husband Jason was formerly a schoolhouse, built in 1900 and located in Marshall, Colo., 15 minutes southeast of Boulder. And on that day, it was under threat from what would eventually become the most destructive fire in state history.

The fire, spread by wind gusts of over 100 miles per hour, was moving quickly. As thick smoke enveloped their property, choking their lungs and blocking their vision, the Simpsons prepared for the worst. Trying to limit the burn, they watered down the yard with hoses, inadvertently soaking their clothes as the wind blew the spray everywhere. Then, as the flames moved in, Simpson took one last lap around the house, grabbing their laptops, their Jack Russell terrier Truman, and a bag containing her running medals and memorabilia — one she had assembled a month earlier while being interviewed for a documentary and fortunately had yet to unpack.

Simpson, like many of us, had previously had that conversation about the one thing you would grab if your house was burning down. She had always answered with her Bible, handed down to her from her great-grandmother Genevieve Schermerhorn (“Grandma Jenny”), for whom she was named. So, as she grabbed the Bible from her office and dashed out of the house, it hit her: I think I’m grabbing the thing that you get because we might lose everything.

By the time Simpson made it to her car, she no longer knew where Jason was or whether he would make it back to the car — the smoke was so dense, it was difficult to see. He eventually made it and they sped away from their house, not knowing when they would return — or if the house would still be there when they did.

Over the course of two days, Marshall Fire would ultimately burn over 6,000 acres, destroy over 1,000 buildings, and cause over $500 million in property damage, making it the most destructive fire in Colorado history. It was a traumatic event for Simpson and her community.

Though the Simpsons’ home survived the fire, it sustained damage, forcing them to live elsewhere while it was repaired. They bounced around from a hotel to the spare bedroom of some friends from church to, eventually, a sparse apartment near the University of Colorado campus, living out of a backpack with the few things they had managed to grab from their home before the fire hit.

“It’s hard to describe how stressful that time was,” Simpson says.

On top of that, Simpson was working through a sports hernia and stress reaction in her right hip — the most significant injury of her career — and her professional future was less certain than ever. During the 2010s, few athletes were more consistent and dependable than Simpson. From 2007 through 2019, Simpson made all nine World/Olympic teams for the United States, piling up 11 national titles, three World Championship medals, and an Olympic bronze in 2016. That success led to a series of lucrative contracts from her sponsor, New Balance, and, as a highly-ranked athlete, health insurance from USOPC.

But Simpson’s New Balance contract expired at the end of 2021 — just two days after the fire that displaced her from her home. On January 1, she lost her health insurance coverage from USOPC (to qualify for coverage, an athlete had to have medalled at either the 2019 Worlds or 2021 Olympics, finished in the top 12 at the 2021 Olympics, or finished the season ranked in the top 15 in the world in their event; Simpson no longer met any of the criteria). As 2022 began, she still had Jason, and she still had the support of her longtime coaches, Mark Wetmore and Heather Burroughs. But the other constants in her life suddenly weren’t so constant.

“This last year, I felt more vulnerable than ever,” Simpson says. “The major safety nets in my life have been being a top-performing athlete and being in the tier system and in the USATF system, being a New Balance athlete and knowing I have a future there and my security at home. And my health. All of those things were really wobbly and testy and some of them fell apart in the last year.”

Rebuilding and replacing

One year has passed since the fire that upended Simpson’s world. Some elements of her life have been rebuilt, others replaced. The Simpsons moved back into their house in Marshall on April 1, and after months of work, she says it is 100% back to normal. Her body is also back to full health. That too required months of work.

Simpson had felt pain in her hip area during the fall of 2021 and though she didn’t give it much thought initially, it grew into something that significantly disrupted her training. Even as 2022 began, she remained in denial. After her streak of making teams ended at the 2021 Olympic Trials, Simpson knew she couldn’t afford to miss time if she was to return to her best.

“Pushing through cross training, pushing through the life challenges that we were going through, I definitely made my circumstances a lot worse,” Simpson says. “And I don’t think that’s unusual for runners. That’s kind of in our nature.”

Simpson was determined to avoid surgery, but realized such a path would require a more conservative approach. As winter turned to spring, Simpson, reluctantly, began to back off the intensity to allow her body to heal.

“The toughest thing about having a sports hernia injury and choosing to rehab and go that route and not jump straight into surgery is that it’s just slow,” Simpson says. “And none of us that are athletes, I think in particular runners, want to take anything slow.”

Simpson did not race at all last spring or summer, missing USAs for the first time since 2006 and missing the chance to represent the US at the first World Championships held on American soil. Simpson is now healthy again, but she’s still rebuilding the fitness she lost in 2022.

Another pillar of Simpson’s life — her New Balance contract — had to be replaced rather than rebuilt. Simpson did not want to go into specifics, but says that while New Balance verbally offered her a deal at a reduced level from her previous contract, the two sides ultimately could not reach an agreement. Eventually, Simpson, who had not used an agent since 2014, hired Hawi Keflezighi to negotiate a new deal and announced a sponsorship agreement with Puma in October.

Leaving New Balance behind was painful. Simpson signed with the company coming out of the University of Colorado in 2010, and after 12 years together had envisioned staying with the brand in some fashion for the rest of her life. Seconds after crossing the finish line in 10th in the 2021 Olympic Trials 1500, Simpson looked at the scoreboard and saw that Elle St. Pierre, Cory McGee, and Heather MacLean — all New Balance athletes — had gone 1-2-3 to make the team; Simpson was the first to congratulate them. She figured that, even once her racing days were over, there would still be some sort of role for her at New Balance.

“My whole future in sport and beyond was about how can I take what I’m learning in my career and make that in any possible way benefit the women’s team in the future,” Simpson says. “So seeing that [1-2-3 at the Trials] and knowing there was a strong middle distance future here and how can I continue to pour into that, that’s what I thought my future was.”

A move to the roads and a new beginning

For the first decade of her professional career, Simpson’s running life was fairly straightforward. She was consistently one of the best in the world in her event, meaning she could enter any race she wanted and was always in-demand from her sponsor (two of the reasons she went without an agent for so long). Every year since rejoining Wetmore and Burroughs in 2013 (she was coached by Juli Benson from 2010-12), she would sit down with them and figure out how to be at her best in the biggest race of the year, either the World Championship or Olympic final. More often than not, she succeeded.

But after failing to make the Olympic team in 2021, Simpson began to ponder her athletic mortality. She was nearing her 35th birthday and had a few options if she wanted to stay in the sport.

“The biggest consideration was, do I move up to the 5k, do I try to run a great 10k, or do we do something totally different?” Simpson says.

(LetsRun founder Robert Johnson will be devastated to learn Simpson did not mention the steeplechase, the event in which she won two US titles and set the American record in 2009).

Simpson dipped her toes into Option C by running the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler in September 2021 (she finished 2nd in 52:16). Midway through 2022, she had fully committed to the roads.

“It’s always been part of the plan that I would give the roads some good years of my career,” says Simpson. “And I think I just saw those really good years becoming fewer and fewer and I realistically wanted to make the transition before I was so, not just physically tired, but also just emotionally drained and psychologically drained from the intensity of it.”

The last few years, Simpson carved out a niche as a mentor to some of the up-and-coming athletes in the Colorado program. As a volunteer assistant at CU, Simpson was able to watch runners like Dani Jones and Sage Hurta at practice, then aid their transition to the professional ranks by traversing the circuit alongside them as a competitor/friend. With Simpson’s move to the roads, that period of her career is over.

“I think that’s what I’ll miss the most, is feeling like I get to be a little bit of a mother hen for the [Colorado] women that are doing really well and have a future as a pro in the sport,” Simpson says.

Now, Simpson is heading into the unknown. The training, obviously, is different. Though Simpson ran relatively high mileage for a 1500 runner — it was not uncommon for her to hit 80 miles in a week — she is now running 80+ regularly, doubling up to five times per week. During her track career, a long workout for Simpson would consist of 12 or 14 by 400m. Now she’s running 2k and 3k repeats on the track.

“That’s a long way to go for someone like me,” Simpson says. “…You go out on the first lap or two and you think, Are you kidding me? This is it? But it doesn’t stay easy for very long.”

Simpson has also had to educate herself about the road races themselves. When we first spoke for this story in November, Simpson admitted that, outside of the World Marathon Majors, she didn’t know many of the major road races and was still learning about how they stacked up against each other in terms of prestige.

Part of that is due to how the sport is structured. Track is simple: Worlds or the Olympics is the end goal and the rest of the season is built around that. The roads are different — people reach top fitness at different times. For marathoners, it’s fairly intuitive — pick one race to peak for in the spring and one in the fall. But Simpson isn’t a marathoner (yet). For road racers at shorter distances, it’s more choose-your-own-adventure.

Simpson’s plan: sit down with Wetmore and Burroughs, pick a race to gear that year’s training around, and attack it like they would a World Championship or Olympics.

“Even though it’s not to the world a big World Championships, it will be Mark and Heather and Jenny’s World Championships,” Simpson says.

As for the marathon, Simpson would not commit to running one eventually, but did not rule it out either. She watched Jason, after years of grinding, finally qualify for the Olympic Marathon Trials at CIM in 2018 and knows how difficult the event is. She has no desire to rush into one.

“It is really freaking hard,” Simpson says. “You don’t know for sure that your body is suited for it just because you’ve been a good runner…What it will take for me to run a marathon? If I have a great half and I feel like my body’s handling that workload really well, we’ll absolutely do a marathon. Because at that point, you’ve gotta find out, right?”

Next stop: Houston

The big question hanging over all this: will Jenny Simpson be any good on the roads? It’s no certainty that prime Simpson, the one who won a record eight Fifth Avenue Miles, would have been a force over 10k and beyond, much less the 36-year-old version coming off the most disruptive injury of her career.

Thirty-six is not necessarily old by distance standards, though. Last year, Keira D’Amato broke the American marathon record at 37 and Sara Hall broke the American half marathon record at 38. Like Simpson, both were for a time milers on the track before moving up — though it took each several years before their big breakthrough.

After down years in 2021 and 2022, logic says Simpson could have a tough go of things. The bar for success, certainly, will have to be recalibrated. At her best on the track, Simpson was one of the top three women in the world in her event. That level of accomplishment is virtually impossible for her on the roads, but could she become one of the best in the US in the 10k, half, or marathon?

Her road debut at Cherry Blossom in 2021 was auspicious (2nd place, 52:16), her appearance at last fall’s USATF 5K champs in New York less so (she was 17th in 16:07, 39 seconds behind winner Weini Kelati) — though Simpson wasn’t fully fit in New York and knew that going in.

2023 will be the real test of whether Simpson has anything left to give on the roads. And for Simpson, 2023 begins in Houston, where she will make her half marathon debut on Sunday. There is a lot riding on the outcome, which is how Simpson likes it. She has yet to pick that one race that she will plan her 2023 season around; Houston will help her make that decision.

“This will kind of chart my course of whether we stick with the half marathon, whether I start dreaming about a marathon, or whether I say maybe it’s better for me to get back on the track, spike up, and do some faster stuff over the next year,” Simpson says.

Simpson says that while her training has gone well, the adjustment to training for the half marathon has been more challenging than she expected.

“When I ran Cherry Blossom and I ran 5:14/mile pace the whole way, the idea of running 5:10’s for a half marathon (67:43 pace) seemed right around the corner,” Simpson says. “Now having gone through a year of injury and a lot of other life challenges, I’m having to adjust what I think my half marathon debut is going to look like.”

Simpson will have Jason with her as a pacer on Sunday and said they will plan to go out faster than her pace at the Army 10-Miler in October, a race she won in 54:16 (71:08 half marathon pace). She says she has a time goal in mind but elected not to share it. Her main hope is that she can finish the race well. During her track career, Simpson was famous for her strength in the final 100 meters, but in her last two road races, she felt as if she was holding on for dear life at the end.

Simpson will step to the line on Sunday with an uncertainty that did not exist during her track career. When Simpson started a 1500-meter race, she came armed with knowledge gleaned from years of experience. She knew exactly what sort of time she could expect her workouts to translate to and how to respond tactically to every race scenario. In the half marathon, she’s starting over.

“That’s one of the trepidations of going into the race in Houston is that I’m so used to having such a clear idea of what I am capable of,” Simpson says. “My race in Houston will be as much of a discovery as the training has been.”

Even Simpson admits she doesn’t know how many more years she’ll continue to race professionally. A few years ago, she had scripted out a storybook ending for herself: a fourth Olympic team in Tokyo and a home World Championships in front of friends and family in Eugene. Make those two teams, she thought, and she would have total freedom to do whatever she wanted afterwards, whether it was continuing to race on the roads, pursuing a coaching career, or starting a family.

That, of course, did not happen. In professional sports, endings rarely go according to plan. But Simpson is embracing the adventure that comes with her new path, wherever it leads.

“The idea I had in mind was kind of cool, but there are some things that we’re now looking forward to that I couldn’t have even imagined,” Simpson says. “And if it turns out that way, it will end even better.”

Questions Arise About Selection of 2024 Olympic Marathon Trials Site

The USATF national office overrode a recommendation from its board of directors that Chattanooga host the Trials.

Despite a recommendation from the USA Track & Field (USATF) board of directors that Chattanooga be named the host city for the 2024 Olympic Marathon Trials, the city will not host the event. Instead, Orlando, the only other city to bid on the Trials, was named as the host city. 

According to minutes from the October 9 USATF board meeting held in Miami Beach, recently posted to USATF’s website, the board issued “an advisory vote of approval for the 2024 USATF U.S. Olympic Trials - Marathon bid to be awarded to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Final approval still remains with the USATF National Office.” 

The vote was unanimously carried with one abstention. But the national office announced on November 8 that Orlando would be getting the nod. 

Runner’s World asked USATF spokesperson Natalie Uhl and CEO Max Siegel for clarification on why the national office overrode the board of directors. Uhl referred questions on the matter to Mike Conley, the chairman of the board of directors. 

Conley wrote in an email to Runner’s World, “The [United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee] is looking into the matter and until I hear back from them I have no comment.”

The USOPC was unable to provide comment to Runner’s World immediately, but a spokesman said he would do so at a later time. 

Multiple sources told Runner’s World both Orlando and Chattanooga performed well at site visits. But late in the selection process, after the board vote, Chattanooga’s bid was disqualified.

Neither USATF nor Conley would confirm that Chattanooga was disqualified nor explain why. 

A board member, Jim Estes, had been involved as an advisor on Chattanooga’s bid. Estes had disclosed the relationship from the beginning—board members and other volunteers with USATF are required to file conflict of interest forms and keep them up to date—and Estes recused himself from voting on anything related to the Olympic Marathon Trials. His recusal is noted in the meeting minutes. 

According to his LinkedIn profile, Estes previously worked in the USATF national office in Indianapolis for almost 12 years, from 2005 to 2016. For the last four, he was the director of events. He is now a consultant for events in the running industry. 

Estes declined to comment to Runner’s World. The chief sports officer at the Chattanooga Sports Commission, Tim Morgan, was directing Chattanooga’s bid for the Trials. He did not return multiple calls and messages requesting comment. 

The board bases its vote on recommendations from members of the men’s and women’s long distance running committees, volunteers who visit potential sites and evaluate the bids for what will help produce the strongest Olympic team and be best for the athletes. 

At a November virtual meeting of USATF’s board of directors, the topic of the bid for the Olympic Marathon Trials came up again. But the discussion was held in executive session, meaning that what was discussed remains private. The executive session lasted for 15 minutes. Again, Estes recused himself from the session. 

A similar disagreement marred the selection of the 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials. For that event, the men’s and women’s long distance running committees recommended that the Trials return to Houston, which had staged a successful Trials in 2012. Siegel overrode that decision and decided the Trials should be in Los Angeles, a larger media market. 

That race in Los Angeles went off in warm conditions. February temperatures reached into the mid-70s, and several athletes struggled in the heat, with many claiming inadequate fluids on the course. For the men, Galen Rupp, Meb Keflezighi, and Jared Ward made the team. On the women’s side, Amy Cragg and Des Linden finished first and second, and Shalane Flanagan collapsed at the finish line in third place. 

USATF is facing scrutiny about other administrative matters. In November, when the nonprofit organization’s most recent tax forms were made public, it showed Siegel had a total compensation package of $3.8 million in 2021. The chief operating officer, Renee Washington, made more than $1.6 million. Together, those two salaries represented more than 16 percent of the organization’s revenues. 

Earlier this month, heptathlete Taliyah Brooks filed a lawsuit against USATF for failing to reschedule the heptathlon during extreme heat at the 2021 Olympic Track and Field Trials.

Did You Know the Boston Athletic Association Has a Membership?

Joining isn’t as simple as you might think.

The 1983 Boston Marathon champion Greg Meyer is a member of the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.). So is Bobbi Gibb, women’s champion during the “pioneer era” of the marathon in 1966, ’67, and ’68. 

But Kathrine Switzer, who made headlines in Boston in 1967, is not. Nor is Meb Keflezighi, the 2014 champion. 

Tom Grilk, the CEO who retired in April, has been a member since 1987. The new CEO, Jack Fleming, is not. 

Michael O’Leary, M.D., a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and chairman of the B.A.A.’s Board of Governors (which is essentially the same as a board of directors) has been a member of the B.A.A. since 1989. All 13 Governors (10 men, three women) are members—they have to be, in order to be picked to serve on the board. 

Scott Peterson, a Miami-area corporate finance professional, is a member, and he has his membership listed prominently on his LinkedIn profile. When asked by Runner’s World about it, Peterson, a marathon veteran, called the group “like-minded people who support the running community.” He said, “It’s a real honor for me and anyone to be part of the membership of B.A.A.” 

But what is this selective group, exactly? Who are they? And how are they chosen? 

A local mystery

Information about membership on the B.A.A. website is scant, which cloaks the group—intentionally or not—in secrecy. Several people who are deeply involved in the Boston-area running community told Runner’s World they did not know such a group existed. (There is also a B.A.A. Running Club, which is open to runners in the Boston area, but it is different from the membership.) 

Chris Lotsbom, a B.A.A. spokesperson, answered multiple questions from Runner’s World about the membership via email. He said the group currently has 174 people. 

He also explained that the membership model goes back to the B.A.A.’s founding in 1887. The marathon started 10 years later, in 1897. 

The organization had, in its earliest days, a building with a pool, indoor track, bowling alley, and boxing room, among other amenities, like a golf club, for its dues-paying members. The B.A.A. was similar to other athletic clubs across the country, most notably the New York Athletic Club, which still exists. 

In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, the B.A.A. lost its headquarters building and its other properties. All that remained was the marathon, the bylaws of the organization, and a small group of members. 

The members kept the B.A.A. and the marathon going. And they remain to this day, written into the organization’s bylaws to promote “the common good and the health and welfare of the general public and the encouragement of the general public to improve their physical condition.” 

Tom Derderian, executive producer of Boston: The Documentary and author of Boston Marathon: Year-by-Year Stories of the World’s Premier Running Event, takes a skeptical view of the leadership back in the day. 

“The B.A.A. expected that their investments in the 1920s would continue to grow,” he wrote to Runner’s World. “The stock market crash and Depression and World War II removed all B.A.A. assets, leaving the Association with only its name, an indoor track meet, the Boston Marathon—and the founding attitude that only B.A.A. members could know what was best.” 

The modern-day membership 

Today, as with any group, some members are actively engaged in day-to-day matters of the organization, attending meetings, voting, lending expertise, or volunteering at B.A.A. events. Others are not involved at all. 

“For us today, membership is a valuable asset when tapped into,” Fleming said in a call with Runner’s World. “There’s still work to be done, but leadership and staff rely on the members for a variety of things. They serve on committees. They provide guidance in areas, their expertise. So finance, real estate, of course, running, community, the professional side, technology.” 

For example, when the B.A.A. wanted to buy a building in Hopkinton near the marathon starting line, the organization got real estate advice from some of the members during the process. 

They have also helped with recent diversity initiatives. 

“Several B.A.A. members were significant in the establishment of the Boston Running Collaborative, which seeks to increase the fitness and participation of minorities in running,” Lotsbom wrote. “In this respect, membership is a resource which complements the staff’s day-to-day work.”

The way the bylaws are written, the Board of Governors are nominated from the membership. So the 174 members influence the direction of the B.A.A. through the Governors, who oversee the CEO. 

The B.A.A. doesn’t track the demographic makeup of the membership, but Lotsbom wrote that, since 2010, the group has attempted to improve its diversity. 

Thaddeus Miles, who founded the Run to Wellness 5K in Roxbury several years ago, was invited to join the membership two years ago by Tom Grilk. Miles recently showed up at his first in-person membership meeting post-pandemic. He counted only one other Black member among what he estimates were 50 attendees, plus Adrienne Benton and Keith McDermott, who are on the Board of Governors. 

Three people who are familiar with the membership said that many members work in the medical professions or financial services industry in the Boston area. 

There is a family component as well, according to the B.A.A. O’Leary’s father, also a physician, was a member of the B.A.A. who was responsible for the physicals administered to marathon runners in Hopkinton during the race’s earlier years. A descendant of Walter Brown, who founded the Boston Celtics and was the B.A.A. president from 1941–64, still starts a division of the marathon to this day.

Members pay a nominal fee—$50—each year to belong. In exchange, they get one waiver each year into the marathon. They still have to pay the entry fee ($375), but they can run themselves without qualifying, transfer the waiver to a friend or family member, or donate the number to a charity. 

Miles, who is on the steering committee of the Boston Running Collaborative, gives his waiver for a marathon entry every year to a runner of color who otherwise wouldn’t be able to qualify for the race. 

For the thousands of runners every year who try to qualify but fail, or who fundraise for one of the charity teams as a way of gaining entry to Boston, the existence of a small membership group might rankle. Lotsbom said fewer than 180 entries are allocated for members annually (out of a field size of 30,000) and less than half are ultimately used.

“The B.A.A. gets to choose whom they want to invite to run the race, and the B.A.A. decides the terms by which it will invite people to participate in its iconic annual event,” said Robert Wang, the founder of the World Marathon Majors Challenge group on Facebook. (The group’s 18,000 runners are seeking to run all six of the Abbott World Marathon Majors, but they have no official affiliation with that organization.)

“If the B.A.A. wanted to invite everyone whose last name starts with ‘Y’ to run the Boston Marathon, that would absolutely be the organization’s prerogative,” Wang said. 

I’d love to be a member. How do I sign up? 

There’s the rub. Right now, no such sign-up mechanism exists. You have to know a current member or someone on the Board of Governors. 

“Potential members are traditionally nominated by a board member or another current member, and apply with a résumé along with specific comments as to why they wish to join the B.A.A.,” Lotsbom wrote. “From there, the nominees are seconded by a Governor, and voted on by the board. The membership is made up of those who have expressed an interest in the B.A.A., B.A.A. activities, and its mission.” 

Fleming acknowledged that the relative obscurity of the membership and the lack of clear guidelines for becoming a member could be improved. 

“We should make it known more,” he said. “And we should have more public ways of making it easier to have their interest become known. Raise your hand. We should make it easier for that to occur.” 

In an era when running’s leaders are trying to make the sport more inclusive, how does the B.A.A.’s membership fit into the landscape? Is it a quirky echo of the organization’s past? Or an impediment to diversity in today’s world? Does a quiet group of invitation-only members pass the sniff test in 2022? 

Tiffany Chenault, a sociology professor at Salem State University who is an ambassador for the Boston chapter of Black Girls Run and part of the Boston Running Collaborative, said in a call that she didn’t recall hearing about the membership, and she wondered how much influence the group holds. 

“I’m curious,” she said. “I have questions.”

John Hanc, a longtime Runner’s World contributing editor and author of The B.A.A. at 125: The Official History of the Boston Athletic Association 1887-2012, knew of the group’s role in the B.A.A.’s founding, but he didn’t realize it still existed. 

“Today we know the B.A.A. for the marathon and its other major running events,” Hanc said.

“But we have to remember that its history is rooted in the 19th century. Back then, it was very much an athletic club, with all of the exclusivity and, by 21st century standards, perhaps unnecessary and stuffy protocol that came with institutions like it at the time. Over the decades, the organization has morphed into a powerful force in the modern running movement. But some vestiges of that past still remain. While we of course want to see greater diversity in every aspect of the sport, this remnant of the old B.A.A. strikes me as fairly harmless.”

The B.A.A. in 2022 is facing very modern challenges, however. John Hancock, the longtime marathon sponsor, announced that 2023 would be its final year. Will a company want to replace Hancock? And critics have said the B.A.A. has been slow to embrace diversity in its ranks and events. Where does the membership group fit into that? 

Does a leadership structure that evolved from the 19th century, and with a Board derived from a membership group, still serve the organization? 

Derderian isn’t certain. 

“It is a human tendency for those in charge to conclude that only they know enough to be in charge, since they have always been in charge,” he wrote, “and to keep things from changing, they have to continue to exclude control from outside.”

Is Top Miler Jenny Simpson About to Become a Marathoner?

The Olympic medalist signs with Puma and moves to the roads—although she still hits the track in spikes. 

Jenny Simpson refuses to come out and say she’s training for a marathon. But all signs point to her training for a marathon. 

She’s consistently running the highest mileage of her life (85 miles per week). And she has a new sponsor, Puma. 

“It’s correct that my emphasis is on the roads,” she said on an October 6 call with Runner’s World. “These next few years is an exploration in the distances and some of the challenges in running that I haven’t tried yet. That’s what I’m most excited about.” 

Simpson, 36, has been a stalwart on the track since she was in college at the University of Colorado, going to Europe every summer and building her training around Olympics and World Championships cycles. Between 2011 and 2017, she won four global medals: a gold and two silvers in the World Championships 1500 meters, and Olympic bronze in the same event. 

Through 2019, she made every U.S. team going back to 2007. But the pandemic put a sudden halt to that streak. In 2021, she made the finals of the 1500 meters at the Olympic Trials for the postponed Games in Tokyo, but she finished 10th.

“I had such an incredible run on the track,” Simpson said. “And then, just like a lot of people starting in 2020, the vision that I had for those next few years of my career got derailed.” 

That fall, she began her transition to the roads, racing the Cherry Blossom 10-miler and finishing second in a sprint finish to Nell Rojas. But at the end of the year, Simpson’s life was upended.

Simpson suffered a stress reaction in her right hip, which took a long time to heal. She was diagnosed with a sports hernia in one of her adductor muscles, which pulled tissue away from one of the pubic bones. “A lovely place to be injured and have people poking and prodding,” Simpson said.

It was by far the most serious injury of her career, but she was able to avoid surgery with hours of physical therapy, working on her adductors, hamstrings, core, and glutes—anything near the hips. When she returned to running, she had several months of stopping and starting until she was finally pain-free. 

At the same time, she learned that her future with New Balance—the company that had sponsored her since the beginning of 2010—was not secure.

And then on December 30, 2021, a wildfire broke out close to Simpson’s home, an old schoolhouse in South Boulder, Colorado, that she shares with her husband, Jason, and their dog. They had to flee with little warning. Most of the Simpsons’ immediate neighbors lost their homes, and entire neighborhoods in the bordering towns of Louisville and Superior were destroyed. The couple was displaced for three months while damage was repaired. 

“So many things in my life were disrupted at the same time,” she said. “Between the fire and no longer having a sponsor and an injury, all those things swallowed up the first half of my 2022.” 

By late spring, things were starting to come around. The Simpsons were back in their home. Her injury was healing. And sponsors were still interested. Simpson, who had represented herself for years, enlisted an agent, Hawi Keflezighi, to help her with a new shoe deal. 

“Parting ways with New Balance will be one of the great heartbreaks of my life,” she said. “It was really hard. I didn’t want to make a change. But life is full of surprises. The change to doing a different event felt like this is going to give me some new energy and a new scene. Now that I’m on the other side of a contract with a new brand, I feel very much the same way. Puma believed in what I want to do. That’s really invigorating.” 

Puma has made a substantial investment in American women’s distance running over the past two years. The company has added marathoners Molly Seidel, Annie Frisbie, and Dakotah Lindwurm to its roster, and funds a Puma training group with Fiona O’Keeffe and others in North Carolina. But it’s not just 20-somethings. They’ve also signed track runner turned marathoner Sara Vaughn, and now Simpson. 

To be clear, Simpson doesn’t intend to just dabble in the roads. She wants to be excellent. And that’s the only thing that’s keeping her from saying “yes,” she’s doing a marathon. 

“I will do one if I believe I can be competitive at it,” she said. “We don’t have enough information yet to know if I’ll be really good at it. I have the desire to do it, if my body and mind can handle it.” 

Simpson is relishing the chance to reimagine what the end of her career might look like. For a long time, she said, she laser focused on the 1500 meters (and yes, she still spikes up for track workouts). “I’ve been one thing, a very good one thing, for a long time,” she said. 

But now it’s time to try something different. She sees American marathoners running well into their late 30s, and doing it after having children, and she realizes she has to adjust her own thinking about what’s possible. 

“This new wave of women racing later and having families and racing competitively at the same time, I feel like people just don’t remember how much of a zero option that was when I was younger,” she said. “And it’s not just the world is progressing. I have to progress. I don’t have to just pack it in.” 

Simpson said she wants to show that she can try to be good at something else. 

“I don’t know if I’m going to be great at the marathon,” she said, “but I really want to try.” 

MORE FROM RUNNER'S WORLD ON APPLE NEWS

Galen Rupp will headline New York City Marathon

One of the best distance runners in U.S. history will make his debut at the 2022 TCS New York City Marathon. 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Galen Rupp will headline the men’s professional field, which is one of the strongest in recent history with 13 Olympians and six national record holders on Sunday, Nov. 6.

Rupp has competed at every Olympics since 2008, winning silver in the 10,000m in London 2012 and a bronze in the marathon in Rio 2016. He also won the 2017 Chicago Marathon and was the runner-up there last year.

“I am looking forward to making my debut in the 2022 TCS New York City Marathon,” Rupp said in a press release. “This will be my 12th marathon, so I have a lot of experience on my resume. I know a win at the TCS New York City Marathon would be right up there.”

An American man has not won the race since Meb Keflezighi in 2009. 

The reigning champion, Albert Korir of Kenya, will return to defend his TCS New York City Marathon title after taking the tape last year in 2:08:22 to finish one spot better and 14 seconds faster than his runner-up performance in 2019. His victory marked his first Abbott World Marathon Majors win. Korir had previous marathon wins at Elite-label races in Houston, Ottawa, and Vienna City.

Last year’s runner-up, Morocco’s Mohammed El Aaraby, and the 2020 London Marathon champion, Ethiopia’s Shura Kitata, will join Korir and Rupp at the start line. Kenya’s Evans Chebet will also be in the mix, looking to add another world marathon title. The defending Boston Marathon champion and has top five in Berlin, London, and Tokyo, and will be making his first start in New York. Tokyo Olympic silver medalist and Dutch national record holder Abdi Nageeye will also return to New York to better his fifth-place finish in 2021.

Other international stars include Brazilian Olympian and South American marathon record-holder Daniel Do Nascimento, who was eighth at the 2022 World Athletics Championships, and Japan’s Suguru Osako, who was third at the 2018 Chicago Marathon and fourth at the 2020 Tokyo Marathon. Both will be making their TCS New York City Marathon debuts.

Five-time U.S. Olympian Abdi Abdirahman, who has six career top-10 NYC finishes to his name, will make his final start at the 2022 marathon. The 45-year-old distance runner has announced he will retire from professional competition at the end of 2022. Abdirahman finished third in the NYC marathon in 2016. 

Reigning Champ Ed Cheserek defends his title winning again at the Carlsbad 5000

More than 6,000 runners and joggers raced along a traffic-free Pacific Coast Highway 101 Sunday for the Carlsbad 5000, returning after its pandemic pause.

Reigning champion Ed Cheserek of Kenya won again – just barely – with a time of 13:44.

“I’m excited to return to the Carlsbad 5000,” Cheserek said before the race. “Last time in 2019 was a lot of fun and after everything our running community has been through since then, I’m really looking forward to being back at the beach in sunny Southern California.”

Reid Buchanan of San Diego trailed Cheserek by just one second, in the men’s elite, in 13:45, followed by Jack Bruce of Australia.

In the women’s elite, Biruktayit Degefa of Ethiopia won with a time of 15:29. Dominique Scott of South Africa followed in 15:48, with Carina Viljoen, also of South Africa, taking third in 16:00.

The Carlsbad 5000 is renowned as “The World’s Fastest 5K,” with 16 world records having been set there, plus a slew of national records and age group bests.

Olympic gold medalists Tirunesh Dibaba, Meseret Defar and Eliud Kipchoge have run Carlsbad, along with U.S. Olympic medalists Deena Kastor and Meb Keflezighi.

Keflezighi, the San Diego High product and only male runner in history to win both the Boston and New York City marathons, plus an Olympic medal, now co-owns the event.

The race was first held in 1986; this was the 36th edition. Another plus – the race fits well on runners’ calendars, with the elite athletes being in peak fitness after running the World Cross Country Championships.

It may have been three years since the Carlsbad 5000 was held live (there was a virtual race in 2020), but the elements that characterize the race were back – the left-hand, downhill turn onto Carlsbad Village Drive, the sprint to the finish, and the ocean views along the way.

2022 Carlsbad 5000 Announces Its Elite Field

eigning champion and 17-time NCAA All-American Edward Cheserek headlines men’s race; Olympians Kim Conley and Dom Scott lead women’s elite fields

36-Year Southern California Running Tradition Returns with over 6,000 runners on Sunday, May 22

One by one, America’s most famous road races have returned after being waylaid by COVID. The Boston Marathon, Peachtree Road Race, New York City Marathon.

Familiar images unfolded. Runners excitedly talked to friends and strangers in corrals. Spectators delivering high-fives. Medals draped around necks.

Bolder Boulder, Bay to Breakers, the Los Angeles Marathon.

Come Sunday, the last of the United States’ iconic road races returns after a three-year pandemic hiatus when the Carlsbad 5000 presented by National University celebrates its 36th running. Over 6,000 runners and joggers will enjoy the splash of the surf and clean salt air along the traffic-free Pacific Coast Highway 101, then sipping brews in the Pizza Port Beer Garden.

“I’m excited to return to the Carlsbad 5000,” said reigning champion Ed Cheserek of Kenya. “Last time in 2019 was a lot of fun and after everything our running community has been through since then, I’m really looking forward to being back at the beach in sunny Southern California.”

The Carlsbad 5000 is renowned as “The World’s Fastest 5K” and the moniker was earned.

Sixteen world records have been set on the seaside course, plus a slew of national records and age group bests. Olympic gold medalists Tirunesh Dibaba, Meseret Defar and Eliud Kipchoge have run Carlsbad.

So have U.S. Olympic medalists Deena Kastor and Meb Keflezighi. Keflezighi, the San Diego High product and only male runner in history to win the Boston and New York City marathons, plus an Olympic medal, is now co-owner of the race.

“The San Diego community is very proud of the fact that Carlsbad hosts the world’s most famous 5k race,” said San Diego Track Club coach Paul Greer, a former sub-4-minute miler. “We’re proud of the race. And local runners are endeared by the fact that Meb is involved in the event because he’s one of our own.”

Many people deserve credit for the Carlsbad 5000’s success. Chief among them are Tim Murphy, the race’s creator, Steve Scott, the former American mile record holder who designed the course, and the late Mike Long, the beloved man who built relationships with African athletes and recruited them.

When the race was first held in 1986, the 10K and marathon were road racing’s popular distances. The 5K was considered a casual fun run.

“That’s how innovative Tim was,” said Scott. “He was going to start something when there wasn’t anything there.”

Scott not only designed the course. He won the first three races.

Another plus for The ’Bad: the race fell perfectly on the calendar, with the elite runners being in peak fitness after running the World Cross Country Championships.

“The world records were produced by the quality of the fields and the expectations of running fast,” said road racing historian and announcer Toni Reavis.

It may have been three years since the Carlsbad 5000 was held live (there was a virtual race in 2020), but all the charms will be back Sunday. The custom beer garden IPAs, the ocean views, the left-hand, downhill turn onto Carlsbad Village Drive, and the sprint to the finish.

The race’s official charity is the Lucky Duck Foundation, a local non-profit dedicated to fighting homelessness in San Diego County.

“Homelessness is San Diego’s number one social issue right now, and I couldn’t be prouder to partner with Lucky Duck Foundation as an official charity of the Carlsbad 5000,” said Keflezighi.

As in the past, the Carlsbad 5000 will feature a series of age-group races, starting with the Men’s Masters at 6:55 am, the Women’s Masters at 8:00 am, Open Men at 9:15 am, Open Women at 10:08 am, Junior Carlsbad Kids Mile at 11:20 am, Junior Carlsbad Kids Half-Mile at 12:13 pm, Elite Men at 1:20 pm and Elite Women at 1:23 pm.

The morning-long races create a cheering audience for the pros.

“That’s the other thing that made the elites run fast,” said Reavis. “The crowds.”

So after a three-year pause, the Carlsbad 5000 is back. For why the race continues to maintain its iconic appeal, Reavis said, “It’s those ocean breezes, the lapping waves, the laid-back lifestyle. It is perfect for this little Southern California town which gets transformed into a race course.”

For a complete race day schedule and more, visit Carsbad5000.com.

— Elite Rosters Follow —

Elite Men

Bib Number , Name, Country, Career Highlight, Birthday

1. Edward Cheserek, KENYA, Defending Champion . 17x NCAA Champion, 02/02/1994

2. Kasey Knevelbaad, USA – Flagstaff, 13:24.98 5000M(i) Personal Best,  09/02/1996

3. Reid Buchanan, USA – Mammoth, 2019 Pan American Games 10,000m Silver, 02/03/1993

4. Jose Santana Marin, MEXICO, 2019 Pan American Marathon Silver Medal, 09/03/1989

5. Eben Mosip, KENYA, Road 5k Debut, 12/31/2002

6. James Hunt, GREAT BRITAIN, 4-time Welsh Champion, 04/28/1996

7. Dennis Kipkosgei, Kenya, 2021 Philadelphia Broad Street 10 Miler Champion, 12/20/1994

8. Sean Robertson, USA, Butler University Athlete, 09/16/2001

9. Tate Schienbein, USA – Portland, 2013 U.S. Junior Steeplechase Champion, 04/04/1994

10. Hosava Kretzmann, USA – Flagstaff, AZ, 14:15 5000m PB, 09/02/1994

11. Dylan Belles, USA – Flagstaff, AZ, 2X Olympic Trials Qualifier, 05/16/1993

12. Dylan Marx, USA, San Diego’s Fastest Marathoner, 01/14/1992

13. Steven Martinez, USA – Chula Vista, 2x U.S. Olympic Trials Qualifier, 09/15/1994

14. Spencer Johnson, USA – San Diego,  14:39.09 (2022 Oxy Distance Carnival), 03/20/1995

15. August Pappas, USA – San Diego, 14:05 PB, Big Ten Indoor Track Champs, 04/10/1993

16. Dillon Breen, USA – San Diego, 14:43 Virtual Carlsbad 2020, 09/01/1992

17. Dante Capone, USA – San Diego, Phd Student at Scripps Institute, 11/07/1996

18. Jack Bruce, AUSTRALIA, 13:28.57 5000m Best on Track, 08/31/1994

Elite Women

Bib Number , Name, Country, Career, Highlight, Birthday

20. Kim Conley, USA, One of America’s best 5000m runners, 03/14/1986

21. Dominique Scott, SOUTH AFRICA, Two-time Olympian, 05/24/1992

22. Grace Barnett, USA – Mammoth, Silver at 2021 USATF 5k Championships, 05/29/1995

23. Carina Viljoen SOUTH AFRICA, 5k Road Racing Debut, 04/15/1997

24. Ayla Granados, USA – Castro Valley, 15:53 Personal best, 09/18/1991

25. Biruktayit Degefa, ETHIOPIA, 2022 Crescent City 10k Champion, 09/09/1990

26. Andrea Ramirez Limon, MEXICO, 2021 National 10000m Champion, 11/05/1992

27. Claire Green, USA – San Francisco, NCAA All-American, 05/12/1996

28. Caren Maiyo, KENYA, 5k Road Debut. 7th At 2022 Houston Half Marathon, 04/17/1997

29. Nina Zarina, RUSSIA, California resident, 3rd at the 2021 LA Marathon, 03/17/1987

30. Emily Gallin, USA – Malibu, Finished 4th 2022 LA Marathon, 10/30/1984

31. Lauren Floris, – USA – Oak Park, 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials Qualifier, 07/07/1990

32. Sara Mostatabi, USA – Los Angeles, 09/27/1993

33. Ashley Maton, – USA – Toledo,    16.37 PR at U.S. Road 5k Championships, 11/20/1993

34. Judy Cherotich. KENYA, 16:50 PR

35. Lindsey Sickler, USA – Reno, 16:59 PR, 09/05/1997

36. Megan Cunningham, USA – Flagstaff, 15:53 Track Best 5000M, 03/01/1995

37. Jeannette Mathieu, USA – San Francisco, 2020 Olympic Trials Qualifier, 04/19/1990

38. Bre Guzman, USA – San Diego, 17:37 5k/ 36:00 Road 10k PR, 10/30/1992

39. Aubrey Martin, USA – San Diego, 17:33 5k /1:19 Half Personal Best, 10/10/1997

40. Chloe Gustafson, USA – San Diego, Division II – NCAA All-American, 11/10/1992

41. Sammi Groce, USA – San Diego, 2021 Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Winner, 04/29/1994

42. Kristi Gayagoy, USA – San Diego, 17:06 PR

43. Annie Roberts, USA – San Diego, 16:58 5k, 07/10/1996

44. Alexa Yatauro, USA – San Diego, 17:40 5k, 10/18/1995

45. Jessica Watychowicz, USA – Colorado Springs, 15:47.51 5000m Track PB, 02/27/1991

About the Carlsbad 5000

The Carlsbad 5000 annually attracts amateur, competitive and professional runners from around the world. The 36th running of the iconic race will take place on the weekend of May 21-22, 2021. The inaugural 1986 event helped establish the 5K as a standard road running distance, and today, the 5K is the most popular distance in the United States. Throughout its history, the Carlsbad 5000 has seen 16 World records and eight U.S. records, as well as numerous national and age group marks.  Race day begins at 7:00 am with the Masters Men (40 years old and over), the first of seven races to take place on Sunday. The “Party by the Sea” gets started as soon as the first runners cross the finish line with participants 21 and older celebrating in the Pizza Port beer garden with two complimentary craft brews and runners of all ages rocking out to live music on the streets of the Carlsbad Village. Further information about the Carlsbad 5000 can be found online at Carlsbad5000.com and on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Who is Ready? Who is Not? What the Pros Said at Boston Marathon Media Day

2022 Boston Marathon and it’s time to get excited. The weather is nice, the trees are starting to bloom (well, some of them), and two dozen of the world’s best distance runners have descended upon the Hub for the most loaded Boston Marathon in race history.

LetsRun.com will have boots on the ground all weekend, and we had a chance to talk to a number of top athletes, agents, and coaches at this morning’s media availability ahead of Monday’s race. The B.A.A. announced two race updates, with 2017 champ Geoffrey Kirui scratching from the marathon and US 10,000m champ Emily Sisson scratching from Saturday’s B.A.A. 5K. Here are the other things we learned on Friday from speaking to Molly Seidel, Peres Jepchirchir, Geoffrey Kamworor, CJ Albertson, and many more.

Molly Seidel says she has had some privacy concerns with her Strava account but is feeling excited and fit for Boston

Seidel will run two marathons in the first seven months of 2022, with Boston on Monday and the World Championship marathon in Eugene in July, and she and coach Jon Green have built their strategy for the year around those two races.

“We were looking [at] Boston as coming into this with a lot of strength and using this to try and carry through and hone the speed for Worlds,” Seidel said. “Right now I feel like we’ve set it up really well like that, and I’m hoping that the speed’s gonna be there. Fingers crossed.”

Seidel will likely need that speed over the final, mostly downhill 10k in Boston, as that is where the race is often broken open. And with two top half marathoners leading the field – World Half champ Peres Jepchirchir and former HM world record holder Joyciline Jepkosgei – the pace could get very hot at the end of the race.

Challenging for the overall win will be tough, but Seidel said she is excited to race the best in the world on Boston’s hallowed course.

“Obviously intimidated, they’re incredible, and I’ve gotten my ass kicked by Peres the two times I’ve raced her,” Seidel said. “But getting to be in a race with a huge amount of competition like that, women with incredible credentials, that fires me up like nothing else.”

Seidel’s buildup wasn’t perfect, as she dealt with a hip impingement about a month ago and had to miss the NYC Half as a result. But she’s logged multiple 130+ mile weeks since then, which you can tell by visiting her Strava page. And while it’s great for most of the running community to be able to see what an Olympic medalist does for training – transparency that Seidel says she values – recently, she has met with some of the Strava staff out of concerns that some people have been using the data to figure out where she lives.

“It can be a lot sometimes, realizing you’ve got 60,000 people following your every move and a little bit scary sometimes when people start tracking that,”’ Seidel said. “So it’s something that I’m still figuring out, honestly. And I’ve wavered back and forth on getting off the platform, mainly because of that.”

Geoffrey Kamworor (photo) is all-in on the marathon and ready to go in his Boston debut

For the first decade of his professional career, Kamworor developed a reputation as a man for all seasons. He ran 12:58 and 26:52 on the track and earned a silver in the 10,000 at Worlds, won World XC twice, and won the World Half three times. He also mixed in two NYC Marathon titles during that span, but the marathon was never his full focus.

That, says his agent Valentijn Trouw, has now changed. Boston will be Kamworor’s first spring marathon since 2014, and he has already committed to the World Championship marathon in July. At this point, he is all-in on the marathon.

And that could be a scary prospect for the rest of the field. Kamworor’s 2:05:23 pb may only be 10th-best in the field, but he ran that in Valencia in December in a race Kamworor had barely been able to train for due to an ankle injury. For this buildup, Trouw said, Kamworor did not miss a step.

While the deep men’s field is pretty wide-open on paper, one prominent agent we spoke to (not Trouw) said he views Kamworor as the favorite due to his two NYC wins and his killer speed in the half marathon – two assets that should help significantly in Boston.

Defending champ Benson Kipruto ready to take on some big names

Kipruto was a surprise winner last year, but will not be able to sneak under anyone’s radar this year. He gave the platitudes about being “happy to be back” this year. But he said his training has gone well and the goal is the same as last year — to win, despite the field being stronger this year. “There are some strong guys, but I don’t care…my preparation was good.”

CJ Albertson isn’t a 2:06 guy yet, but he’s trying to think of himself that way

Albertson has run some insane efforts in practice, including a 2:09 marathon on a treadmill in 2020 and a 2:10:28 “split” three weeks ago at the Modesto Marathon (his result is listed officially as 2:11:56, but the lead bike led Albertson the wrong way, causing him to run extra distance). Yet Albertson’s official marathon personal best is still 2:11:18 from the Marathon Project in 2020. Is he leaving his best efforts in practice? Albertson doesn’t view it that way.

“At some point, I’m gonna run fast,” he said. “Hopefully it’s on Monday.”

Albertson also had an interesting perspective when we asked about all those hard efforts in practice. They might seem crazy for a guy whose official pb is 2:11, but Albertson said his goal is to run 2:06 one day and that he tries to think of his training in that context.

“Whatever you want to be, you have to mentally be there first before you’re actually there,” Albertson said. “I want to work out and train like I am an American record holder. Because one day I’m going to be or I’ll have a shot to be in that position and those two weeks before aren’t gonna matter, it’s gonna be what I did the five years leading up to it…The workouts that I’m doing, if you look at me like an American record holder and it’s like, he’s going out and running 5:00 pace on the weekends, it’s no big deal.”

He had one of those workouts on Sunday, running 4:50 pace (2:06:43 marathon pace) for 15 miles and feeling great doing it.

As for Monday, Albertson, who led for the first 20 miles last year and ultimately finished 10th, said he will likely go out hard again but expects he will have more company this time given the strength of the field and great conditions in the forecast.

Colin Bennie is running Monday’s race for the Play Ball Foundation while his contract situation with Reebok is sorted out

Bennie was the top American at last year’s Boston Marathon, finishing 7th in 2:11:26. It is a bit of a surprise, then, that he will not be racing on Monday in the colors of the Reebok Boston Track Club. The reason why is a bit complicated. Reebok has been undergoing an ownership change, and in March was officially sold by adidas to Authentic Brands Group. Bennie’s Reebok contract was up at the end of 2021, and as a result he’s in limbo as Reebok did not want to offer a new contract in the midst of an ownership change. The new owners are still figuring out what to do with the Reebok Boston Track Club, but Bennie is hopeful that the group’s strong recent performances, such as Josette Norris’ 5th-place finish in the 1500 at World Indoors, are proof that the team is still worth supporting (he is still training with the team and coach Chris Fox in Virginia).

“There’s been good support throughout,” Bennie said. “These things just do take time.”

With no sponsor for the moment, Bennie, a Massachusetts native, will be running Monday’s race for the Play Ball Foundation, a local charity dedicated to providing sports opportunities to middle schoolers in underserved communities. Play Ball’s logo is the letters PB in large, blue font – good letters for a marathoner.

“It’s a very good thing to have on you on race day,” Bennie said.

Jake Riley and Jared Ward are hoping things turn a corner for them in Boston

Riley and Ward are both US Olympians, but both have hit some rough patches recently. They’re hoping Boston is a first step back in the right direction.

Riley, 34, had been struggling in practice and had an awful tuneup race for Boston, running 46:27 at the US 15K champs on March 5 to finish in 35th place. After searching for answers, Riley finally determined, with the help of his nutritionist, that he was underfueling between runs, which meant that he struggled to finish workouts and races strong. 

Riley pointed out that he was able to go out with the pack at the 15K but just could not get his body to go faster over the final 5k when the racing picked up.

But Riley said that he has made some changes to his diet and that the last four weeks of training have gone very well.

“Since I’ve tried to fix that, things have finally started to come around,” Riley said. “My energy levels are better, I’ve been able to close out workouts better.

”Four weeks may not be enough to turn things around for a big race in Boston, though. Riley admitted that there is a wide range of outcomes for him on Monday.

As for the 33-year-old Ward, he was wondering, after a rough 2020 season, whether he might be nearing the end of his marathon career. Now a father of five, Ward was feeling more tired in practice and daily live and simply chalked it up to getting older

“I just kind of thought, this is just, I guess, how you feel,” Ward said.

But in marathon years, 33 really isn’t that old. So Ward endeavored to find out what was wrong. Ultimately, he was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and prescribed Levothyroxine, a thyroid-replacement drug, by his doctor. But Ward is well aware of the stigma around thyroid medication in the running world, and for two weeks, the medication sat untouched in his cupboard. Ultimately, however, he decided that he would take the supplement – which is legal under the WADA Code and does not require a TUE – but that he would be open and honest about exactly what he was taking and why ( this Instagram post has more details). So far, Ward says, the reaction has been positive from fellow athletes, who are grateful that Ward has addressed the issue in an honest manner.

“It’s around us a lot more than you might think, and for people that need it, it’s important,” Ward says.

Ward says that since taking the medication, his energy levels feel back to normal, which have made it easier for him to train – and to play with his kids. But he also said that his fatigue issues before that meant that he was not able to push as hard in practice as he would have liked, meaning he probably doesn’t have the base quite yet to get back to his best marathoning.

“I think it might take a year or two to climb back to where I’d like to be,” Ward says.

Jared Ward starting new pro group in Utah: the Run Elite Program

Utah has produced a lot of really good runners, but up until now it was not known for its pro training groups, despite being at altitude and a good place to train. Jared Ward and Isaac Wood (of the Wood Report) wanted to change that and set out to get funding for a pro running group in Utah. Mike McKell, a state senator in Utah and a big runner, said they should try to get state funding, which they did to the tune of multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Wood talks about the foundation of the group below, which is designed to be shoe brand agnostic.

Peres Jepchirchir and Joyciline Jepkosgei ready to battle

Jepchirchir and Jepkosgei will battle for the title of World’s #1 marathoner on Monday.  They sat next to each other in the media room and were both confident they would handle the Boston course on their first try.

Both said their preparations have gone well. While neither has run Boston, they both are New York City Marathon champions and have shown they can win non-rabbited hilly marathons.

Viola Cheptoo Lagat has found her event

Viola is the sister of 1500m star Bernard Lagat. So she naturally thought she was a 1500m runner and made the Olympic team for Kenya. But she never ran faster than 4:04. Turns out her event really was the marathon. Coming off her 2nd place finish at the New York City Marathon where she battled Jepchirchir nearly to the line, Lagat’s goal is to win on Monday, but with this tough field knows a top 3 finish would be a good accomplishment.

Ageless Edna Kiplagat discusses longevity: “This year the field is so strong, but I have no fear”

Kiplagat was born in the 1970s and she’s still a force in the pro running ranks, getting 2nd at 2021 Boston in the fall. Winning may be out of the question but it’s a strong bet Kiplagat will have a good race on Monday.  She said the key to her longevity has been staying focused and not over racing. As for this year, “This year the field is so strong, but I have no fear.”

Scott Fauble doesn’t mind flying under the radar in 2022

Since Meb Keflezighi’s win in Boston in 2014, no American man has run faster in Boston than Scott Fauble’s 2:09:09 in 2019. That led to a lot of attention and expectations over the next couple of years, but also pressure. 

“I sort of was the belle of the ball and I put a lot of pressure on myself,” Fauble said.

The spotlight on Fauble has faded recently, however, as he was only 16th in Boston last year and is currently unsponsored (he will race Monday’s race in a Lululemon singlet he bought himself). But it would be a mistake to sleep on him: Fauble, now working with coach Joe Bosshard, ran 61:11 in the Houston Half and knows what it takes to succeed on this course.

You Know You Have to Get Comfortable With the Uncomfortable on Tough Runs—Here's How

All runners can benefit from learning these simple thought techniques.

Olympic medalist and champion marathoner Meb Keflezighi thought about dropping out of every marathon he ran—even the three he won.

So if you’ve had those thoughts, it’s certainly not just you. All runners have rough patches when pushing themselves, whether in a race, during a hard workout, or on a long run. Experts use the phrase “psychological crisis” to describe when your body’s signals dominate your attention and you think about slowing or stopping.

These moments often occur two-thirds to three-quarters of the way through a workout or race. Speaking about the Ursuline Academy runners she coaches in Dallas, elite runner Becky Wade says: “They’re deep enough into the race that they’re hurting, but not close enough to the finish line yet to get excited or start kicking. It’s easy to doubt whether they’ll be able to hang on, and they back off a bit as a protective mechanism.”

What separates Keflezighi, Wade, and other successful runners from some of us is that they know these rough patches will come, and they have mental strength techniques for dealing with them.

These techniques are quite simple. Even better, they can be learned, and then honed, so that you persevere despite the internal voice telling you to back off or drop out. Here are six elite-endorsed ways to build mental strength when the going gets tough.

1. Know Why You’re Doing This

Good goals not only guide your training. They can also fortify you during difficult stretches.

Know the purpose of a given workout or race, and how it will help you meet a personally meaningful goal, says Olympian Roisin McGettigan, a sport psychology coach who holds the Irish record in the steeplechase.

For example, “if it was a long workout, I would remind myself that this is the time to work on my strength and endurance,” McGettigan says. “If it was an early-season race, the purpose might be ‘to see where I’m at’ or ‘blow off the cobwebs.’”

These why-am-I-doing-this thoughts can occur not just when you’re acutely suffering, but also when you’re bored or apathetic. McGettigan says to remind yourself why you’re out there in those situations as well. Think of how easy running will help you recover for your next key workout, or how an hour alone on the roads provides a calming antidote to the message-a-minute pace of modern life.

If thoughts alone don’t do the job for you, McGettigan recommends using visual cues. “I often drew a smiley face or heart on my hand to remind me that I really loved what I was doing and I was saying ‘yes’ to this experience,” she says.

2. Enlist Family and Friends

Telling a few key people about your race or hard workout adds accountability. When a moment of crisis occurs, picture yourself recounting the run to them. Will you be proud to tell them how you handled the challenge?

Keflezighi was in 21st place halfway through the 2012 Olympic Marathon. Bothered by stomach and foot pain, he pondered dropping out. Then he thought about his family, who were waiting for him at the finish line. What kind of example would dropping out set for his daughters, he asked himself. He committed to finishing no matter what, and wound up crossing the line in fourth place.

You can also enlist others in practical terms. As McGettigan notes, most elite runners train with others, in part to be pulled through hard efforts when they’re struggling and might otherwise slack off. Wade tells the high schoolers she coaches to latch on to a teammate or competitor if their resolve falters during a race. Doing so can shift your attention from how much you’re hurting to the more straightforward task of maintaining contact.

3. Visualize Success

To reiterate: Successful racers know one or more psychological crises are likely to occur when they’re pushing themselves. One way they prepare for the challenge is to play the race through their head before they get to the starting line. As Wade, a 2:30 marathoner, puts it, “I envision myself in a race atmosphere, down to the course, competition, and atmosphere.”

A key benefit of doing so is that, when the urge to slow or stop strikes, you have a counter-narrative ready—that vision you implanted and watched several times of yourself rising to the challenge and continuing to run strong.

“I think having visualized the race going well in my head many times allowed me to stay engaged, because I had already told myself I was going to have a good race,” says Mark Coogan, whose long elite career was highlighted by a spot on the 1996 Olympic marathon team. “Knowing what I was going to do in the race allowed me to be more aware of how I was running physically, so I could stay loose and smooth.”

Coogan is now the coach of New Balance Boston, which includes on its roster Olympians Elle Purrier St. Pierre and Heather MacLean. He encourages his athletes to spend 10 to 15 minutes a day visualizing in the week leading up to a big race.

“I tell them to visualize seeing themselves running well,” Coogan says. “Visualize the race you want to happen.”

4. Focus on Your Body—But Not Excessively

Experts used to believe that experienced runners focus on bodily sensations (known as associating) and that less experienced runners focus on anything but their body (known as dissociating). Thanks in part to research by Noel Brick, Ph.D., a psychology professor at the University of Ulster and co-author of The Genius of Athletes, it’s now known that that old dichotomy is too simplistic.

Brick has shown that a Goldilocks-level of bodily awareness leads to lower perceived exertion. “Focusing excessively on bodily sensations, like breathing or feelings of discomfort, can be harmful to our performance,” Brick says. Focusing solely on these sensations can negatively affect performance by increasing how hard the work feels and making the run feel more unpleasant. This then leads to slowing down.

A better approach? Check in periodically, notice what your body is telling you, and then focus elsewhere. When racing a 10K, for example, Coogan would do a body check about once a mile. He’d make sure his shoulders were low and level, that his hands were cupped loosely, that he wasn’t overstriding, and so on. Now as a coach, he periodically yells “body check” to his runners to remind them to do a quick scan.

Consider running form cues when doing your own body scan, making sure you’re running relaxed but strong—after you make adjustments, take your thoughts elsewhere.

5. Chunk Your Miles

If, a few strides into a marathon you think, “Oof, 26.2 miles to go,” you likely have a long day ahead of you.

Successful runners avoid getting overwhelmed by what they’re attempting with a technique known as chunking. “I mentally break the effort down into manageable bites, and focus only on getting through the bit I’m in,” Wade says. “This often means completing a loop, making it to my water bottle, or getting through a specific stretch of road or distance.” Or, as U.S. half marathon record-holder Ryan Hall put it in his book title, run the mile you’re in.

Notice that Wade’s examples of chunking are specific tasks. Psychologists call these process goals—step-by-step actions that contribute to performing well in the short term. Focusing on process goals has two key payoffs. First, they keep you from overthinking the run’s outcome, such as what your time will be. Research has shown that thinking too much about outcome goals can induce anxiety and cause distraction.

Chunking via process goals also encourages actions that directly improve your performance. One of Coogan’s main focuses when marathoning was making sure he got his bottle every 5K, and then taking the time to drink adequately from the bottle. Doing so ensured that he stayed hydrated and fueled, and therefore didn’t falter in the final miles. Similarly, Wade’s focus on the next stretch of a road race, or her next split in a track race, leads to running that section of the race as well as possible.

Chunking is also helpful during interval workouts. Wade encourages the high schoolers she coaches to focus on just the current repeat or set, and reminds them that a recovery jog and chance to regroup is never more than a few minutes away.

6. Talk to Yourself Like You’re Your Coach

We all talk to ourselves when we run. (If you doubt that, monitor your mind on your next outing.) What matters here is the nature of that talk.

A study published in Psychophysiology found that people rated running at a given speed harder when they talked to themselves negatively compared to when their self-talk was positive. The runners also produced more cortisol, a hormone associated with emotional stress, when their self-talk was negative.

During a tough patch, Brick advises, “you might say to yourself, ‘my legs feel tired, but I can push through this.’ Research has shown that using simple statements like this can help us maintain our performance, despite how tired we feel.”

Coogan would repeat a few go-to phrases to himself, such as “you’re okay, Mark,” during races and hard workouts. And research supports Coogan’s tendency to speak to himself in the second person—using “you” rather than “I.”

In a study with cyclists, the participants did separate 10K time trials in which they used two versions of positive self-talk phrases. The phrases were identical except that in one they addressed themselves as “I,” and in the other they addressed themselves as “you.” Although the cyclists rated the time trials as feeling equally hard, when they spoke to themselves in the second person, they rode 2.2 percent faster. If that seems like an insignificant difference, consider that a 24:30 5K is 2 percent faster than a 25:00 5K. Which would you rather run?

Psychologists say this distinction works because addressing yourself as “you” provides emotional distance from the duress you’re under. In this set-up, you’re talking to yourself more like a coach would talk to you. And a good coach would never say, “you stink—drop out.” They would find a simple phrase or two that would help you weather the crisis and push through for a strong finish. With this simple switch in your thinking, you can provide that mental push for yourself.

Olympic medalist and champion marathoner Meb Keflezighi thought about dropping out of every marathon he ran—even the three he won.

So if you’ve had those thoughts, it’s certainly not just you. All runners have rough patches when pushing themselves, whether in a race, during a hard workout, or on a long run. Experts use the phrase “psychological crisis” to describe when your body’s signals dominate your attention and you think about slowing or stopping.

These moments often occur two-thirds to three-quarters of the way through a workout or race. Speaking about the Ursuline Academy runners she coaches in Dallas, elite runner Becky Wade says:

“They’re deep enough into the race that they’re hurting, but not close enough to the finish line yet to get excited or start kicking. It’s easy to doubt whether they’ll be able to hang on, and they back off a bit as a protective mechanism.”

What separates Keflezighi, Wade, and other successful runners from some of us is that they know these rough patches will come, and they have mental strength techniques for dealing with them.

These techniques are quite simple. Even better, they can be learned, and then honed, so that you persevere despite the internal voice telling you to back off or drop out. Here are six elite-endorsed ways to build mental strength when the going gets tough.

1. Know Why You’re Doing This

Good goals not only guide your training. They can also fortify you during difficult stretches.

Know the purpose of a given workout or race, and how it will help you meet a personally meaningful goal, says Olympian Roisin McGettigan, a sport psychology coach who holds the Irish record in the steeplechase.

For example, “if it was a long workout, I would remind myself that this is the time to work on my strength and endurance,” McGettigan says. “If it was an early-season race, the purpose might be ‘to see where I’m at’ or ‘blow off the cobwebs.’”

These why-am-I-doing-this thoughts can occur not just when you’re acutely suffering, but also when you’re bored or apathetic. McGettigan says to remind yourself why you’re out there in those situations as well. Think of how easy running will help you recover for your next key workout, or how an hour alone on the roads provides a calming antidote to the message-a-minute pace of modern life.

If thoughts alone don’t do the job for you, McGettigan recommends using visual cues. “I often drew a smiley face or heart on my hand to remind me that I really loved what I was doing and I was saying ‘yes’ to this experience,” she says.

2. Enlist Family and Friends

Telling a few key people about your race or hard workout adds accountability. When a moment of crisis occurs, picture yourself recounting the run to them. Will you be proud to tell them how you handled the challenge?

Meb Keflezighi was in 21st place halfway through the 2012 Olympic Marathon. Bothered by stomach and foot pain, he pondered dropping out. Then he thought about his family, who were waiting for him at the finish line. What kind of example would dropping out set for his daughters, he asked himself. He committed to finishing no matter what, and wound up crossing the line in fourth place.

You can also enlist others in practical terms. As McGettigan notes, most elite runners train with others, in part to be pulled through hard efforts when they’re struggling and might otherwise slack off. Wade tells the high schoolers she coaches to latch on to a teammate or competitor if their resolve falters during a race. Doing so can shift your attention from how much you’re hurting to the more straightforward task of maintaining contact.

3. Visualize Success

To reiterate: Successful racers know one or more psychological crises are likely to occur when they’re pushing themselves. One way they prepare for the challenge is to play the race through their head before they get to the starting line. As Wade, a 2:30 marathoner, puts it, “I envision myself in a race atmosphere, down to the course, competition, and atmosphere.”

A key benefit of doing so is that, when the urge to slow or stop strikes, you have a counter-narrative ready—that vision you implanted and watched several times of yourself rising to the challenge and continuing to run strong.

“I think having visualized the race going well in my head many times allowed me to stay engaged, because I had already told myself I was going to have a good race,” says Mark Coogan, whose long elite career was highlighted by a spot on the 1996 Olympic marathon team. “Knowing what I was going to do in the race allowed me to be more aware of how I was running physically, so I could stay loose and smooth.”

Coogan is now the coach of New Balance Boston, which includes on its roster Olympians Elle Purrier St. Pierre and Heather MacLean. He encourages his athletes to spend 10 to 15 minutes a day visualizing in the week leading up to a big race.

“I tell them to visualize seeing themselves running well,” Coogan says. “Visualize the race you want to happen.”

4. Focus on Your Body—But Not Excessively

Experts used to believe that experienced runners focus on bodily sensations (known as associating) and that less experienced runners focus on anything but their body (known as dissociating). Thanks in part to research by Noel Brick, Ph.D., a psychology professor at the University of Ulster and co-author of The Genius of Athletes, it’s now known that that old dichotomy is too simplistic.

Brick has shown that a Goldilocks-level of bodily awareness leads to lower perceived exertion. “Focusing excessively on bodily sensations, like breathing or feelings of discomfort, can be harmful to our performance,” Brick says.

Focusing solely on these sensations can negatively affect performance by increasing how hard the work feels and making the run feel more unpleasant. This then leads to slowing down.

Best Simple Ways to Make Running Feel Easier

Let’s be honest, running isn’t known for being easy. Even professional athletes who run for a living admit that yeah, sometimes it can be really hard. Of course, the more you do it and the more conditioned your body becomes, the easier running feels. But no two runs are ever the same, and some days, it can be really tough to get through a few miles.

The good news? There are things you can do—other than just calling it a day and texting a friend to meet for happy hour (though we definitely recommend doing that after your run, because, balance)—to make it easier on yourself.

Next time you're about to lace up, try these expert-approved tricks for before and during your run to make it feel a little bit easier.

1. Use your core.

Making a few small tweaks to your running form can make things feel easier, Corrine Fitzgerald, coach at Mile High Run Club in New York City, tells SELF. "Focusing on running tall, being light on your feet, relaxing, and finding your rhythm will help," she says. Also, engage your core. "If your chest is going side to side, your energy is going that way. Pulling the core in and minimizing any side-to-side movement will keep all the energy moving forward," she explains.

2. Set mini distance goals.

If a set mileage or time goal feels daunting, set mini goals throughout your run. “There are so many different variations you can do. You can go by time, distance, or as you’re running you can say, ‘I’ll run to that building and then walk,’” Katie Bottini, a NASM-certified physical trainer and running and triathlon coach, tells SELF. You’ll feel a renewed sense of accomplishment each time you hit one.

3. Try a new route.

Sometimes running feels hard because you've fallen into a routine and it's become boring. "Find a different way or go on new roads that are more visually stimulating," Bottini suggests. "It may go by a little faster if you’re running and seeing new spots."

4. Warm up.

This sounds so simple, but it's surprising how many runners skip the warm-up because they think they don't need it. "To make a run feel easier, every runner should start with a 5- to 15-minute dynamic warm-up,” says Fitzgerald. “Getting your blood pumping, loosening up your muscles and heating up your core will make the first few miles easier on your body and also reduce the risk for injury.” A dynamic warm-up includes movements such as high-knee marches that stretch your muscles as you move. And don’t forget to cool down after, too!

5. Be flexible.

Sometimes, you go out planning to run 6 miles and end up really only feeling like you can do 4. That’s OK. “You need to be flexible in races and in your workouts,” Skechers Performance athlete Meb Keflezighi tells SELF. If you force yourself to get the mileage in, then it just becomes a chore. “I try to have fun as much as I can with it and try to be flexible once I get out the door and start running. Whether it’s a short or long run, focus on the exhilaration and excitement that you did it,” he adds.

6. Drink coffee.

“Caffeine can give you an energy boost and make your perceived effort go down,” ASICS elite athlete Sara Hall tells SELF. Research has shown that coffee can improve sprint performance and can also improve endurance because it delays the onset of muscle fatigue and central nervous system fatigue. Sip on a cup an hour to 30 minutes before your run so that the effects are in full force by the time you hit the pavement.

7. Breathe.

Of course you’re breathing. But Hall says that when a run starts to feel really tough, she likes to take “deep, cleansing breaths, to become more controlled.” Sometimes simply controlling your breath can make running easier.

8. Think about how cool it is that you can do this.

“Think about the people less fortunate than you who aren’t able to physically do what you can do,” Keflezighi says. A trainer I know ends every class by saying, “Take a moment to be thankful and grateful for the ability to move your body as you did today, because it is a gift.” I think about that when I’m running, and it always puts some extra pep in my step.

9. Slow down.

If you come out of the gates at full speed, it's going to be really hard to maintain. "Slowing down and adjusting your pace as you go is part of the art of running—you have to learn to listen to your body," Hall says. There's nothing wrong with slowing down when you need to and running at a pace that's comfortable. Over time, your comfortable pace will get faster.

10. Keep chafe in check.

“There's nothing worse than running with uncomfortable clothes,” Fitzgerald says. “The dreaded chafing can occur from having clothes loose in a certain area. When we're uncomfortable, we make adjustments to prevent that painful feeling. This is compensation, and can result in you running differently, with bad form.” Ditch clothes that rub or squeeze too tightly. You can also carry an anti-chafe stick (like Body Glide) or a small tube of Aquaphor.

11. Switch to strength.

If you're really not feeling a run, mix it up by adding some strength intervals throughout. "Run five minutes and then stop and do squats and push-ups," Bottini suggests. "Or even, if you're running at a track, run the stadium stairs. Not that it will make running easier, but it makes the run more fun." Running up and down stairs might not be your idea of fun, but it'll break up the monotony if that's what you need.

12. Think about literally anything else.

"Running is great because you can think about whatever serves you in the moment," Deena Kastor, ASICS elite athlete and American record holder in the marathon and half marathon, tells SELF. "Sometimes it’s my to-do list, other times I’m focused on my upcoming race goal or what craft I’ll do with my daughter when she comes home from school." Focus on whatever occupies your mind, but just make sure it's positive so you don't ruin your momentum.

If you’re having a tough time keeping your head in the game, think about why you’re running. What are your goals? Is it race related? Is it health related? Are you trying to PR, or just finish the race? “Whatever that goal is, keep it in mind throughout the run to stay present," Fitzgerald says. "For example, if you are training for a race, visualize yourself succeeding in that race. If you run for fun, then just get lost in your run and have fun with it. Enjoy the process and the journey of becoming and staying a healthy, strong runner."

Next up is the Boston Marathon and here is everything you need to know

Wow,  so many big time marathons being held over just a few weeks.  Next up is the Boston Marathon.

This year’s race on October 11 will be the first fall edition of the Boston Marathon, and first time the race is held outside of its traditional Patriots’ Day date in April. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the race was postponed from its usual third-Monday-in-April date to October 11. This will be the first in-person Boston Marathon in 910 days, as the 2020 edition was held as a virtual experience in September, 2020. This year’s race falls on October 11, which is International Day of the Girl and also increasingly recognized as Indigenous Peoples’ Day in cities and towns along the marathon route.

Here is everything you need to know:

COMPOSITION OF THE FIELD

18,252 total entrants of the in-person 125th Boston Marathon

3,492 entrants from Massachusetts 

16,441 entrants residing in the United States of America 

104 countries represented by participants in the Boston Marathon

All 50 U.S. states represented by participants in the Boston Marathon

Youngest entrants: 18 years old, Enchee Xu, Conor Beswick, Rachel Calderone, and Angel Robles, all of Massachusetts

Oldest entrant: 84 years old, Volkert Bobeldijk of Canada

28,612 total entrants of the Virtual 125th Boston Marathon (October 8-10)

HEALTH & SAFETY

This year’s field size has been reduced by 36% compared to recent years (from 31,500 entrants to 20,000) 

In an effort to enhance social distancing and minimize wait times, Athletes’ Village has been eliminated in Hopkinton this year and a rolling start has been introduced for the first time in race history.

95% of all Boston Marathon volunteers are vaccinated.

100% of Boston Marathon medical volunteers are vaccinated. 

All participants are required to provide proof of a WHO-recognized vaccination OR a produce a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of bus loading. 

A health and safety bracelet will be provided after proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 test results are verified. The bracelet must be worn throughout race weekend and through the finish line. 

Masks are required indoors, on event transportation, and within the start area until participants cross the starting line. 

BY THE NUMBERS 

$876,500 in prize money will be awarded to top finishers by principal sponsor John Hancock. Included among the prize awards is $27,500 for Para Athletes. 

8,500 B.A.A. volunteers will contribute to this year’s Boston Marathon and race related events

26.2 miles (26 miles and 385 yards; 42.195 kilometers) will be run through eight cities and towns (Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton, Brookline, and Boston)

An estimated $20 million (USD) will be raised through the 125th Boston Marathon for charities as part of the B.A.A.’s Boston Marathon Official Charity Program and the John Hancock Non-Profit Program

FACES IN THE FIELD

13 Boston Marathon champions will be competing as part of the John Hancock Professional Athlete Team: Des Linden (USA/MI), Geoffrey Kirui (KEN), Edna Kiplagat (KEN), Lemi Berhanu (ETH), Lelisa Desisa (ETH), Atsede Baysa (ETH), Caroline Rotich (KEN), Daniel Romanchuk (USA/IL/Won the Chicago Marathon on Sunday), Manuela Schär (SUI), Marcel Hug (SUI), Tatyana McFadden (USA/MD/Won the Chicago Marathon on Sunday), Ernst van Dyk (RSA), and Joshua Cassidy (CAN). Additionally, 1968 winner Amby Burfoot will be running and serving as an official starter in Hopkinton.

Five 2020 Tokyo Paralympic gold medalists will be competing in Boston: reigning men’s wheelchair champion Daniel Romanchuk (gold in the 400m); two-time Boston winner and wheelchair course record holder Marcel Hug (800m, 1500m, 5000m, marathon); reigning women’s wheelchair champion and course record holder Manuela Schär (400m, 800m); five-time winner Tatyana McFadden (4x100m Universal Relay); and Japan’s Misato Michishita (T12 marathon).

Danica Patrick, NASCAR and Indy Car driver, will run for the Matt Light Foundation

James Develin, former New England Patriots fullback and Super Bowl champion, will run as part of the Joe Andruzzi Foundation 

Chris Nikic, the ESPY-award winning Ironman triathlete who in 2020 became the first person with Down syndrome to finish an Ironman triathlon, will race his first Boston Marathon.

Brian d’Arcy James, Broadway star in Shrek the Musical and Hamilton and actor in Spotlight, will race his first Boston Marathon. 

Ceremonial 125th Boston Marathon Grand Marshals include Boston Marathon champions Sara Mae Berman, Bill Rodgers, Joan Benoit Samuelson, Jack Fultz, and Meb Keflezighi, as well as healthcare workers from members of the Boston Marathon Official Charity Program and John Hancock Non-Profit Program. Frontline workers being honored include Meg Femino of Beth Israel Lahey Health; Martha Kaniaru of Spaulding Rehabilitation; Loren Aiello of Boston Children’s Hospital; Eric Goralnick of Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Christopher S. Lathan of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Mark Mullins of Tufts Medical Center; Anely Lopes of Boston Medical Center; and Susan Wilcox of Massachusetts General Hospital. The Grand Marshals will be driven the entire 26.2 miles in two Boston DUCK Boats, Back Bay Bertha and Catie Copley.

Some Veteran Pro Runners Are Making Less This Year, and They're Ditching the Sport

Many athletes are confronting a bleak financial reality. Some are quitting the sport entirely.

What do Noah Droddy, Ben True, and Andy Bayer have in common?

They’re all ranked among the top 10 Americans of all time in their events—Droddy in the marathon, True in the 10,000 meters, Bayer in the steeplechase.

How Much Do Pro Runners Make? For Some Veterans, It’s Less This Year

And they were all dropped by their sponsors at the end of 2020.

This news took a while to seep out—after all, athletes don’t tend to publicize it when their sponsors reduce their pay or stop supporting them altogether. But Droddy, 30, and True, 35, have been open about their status and confirmed it in calls with Runner’s World (both had been sponsored by Saucony), and Bayer told the Indy Star that Nike dropped him and he has left the sport, at age 31, for a job in software engineering.

Droddy—one of running’s most recognizable figures in races with his long hair, backward baseball cap, and habit of losing his lunch at marathon finish lines—summed up his situation in a tweet on February 19.

Is he right? Is it typical for top runners, at the height of their careers, to lose financial backing from shoe companies? Or is this an anomaly at the end of an unusual, pandemic-marred 15 months?

Runner’s World had conversations with eight athletes, four agents, two marketing employees at brands, and three coaches to get a sense of the current economics for athletes. They painted a complex picture.

Are most pro runners broke?

Many are just getting by. For years, America’s pro runners have been on shaky financial footing. With the exception of those who win global medals or major marathons, distance runners often struggle to earn enough money to pay for their essentials (rent and food), plus cover all their running-related expenses, such as coaching, travel to races and altitude camps, health care, gym membership, and massage.

Over the past year, the pandemic has erased lucrative racing opportunities. Additionally, shoe companies have been reevaluating their sports marketing budgets, from which runners are paid. Experts say that the result has been an increasing bifurcation between the sport’s haves and have nots.

The most successful, those destined for the Olympic team or starring on the roads, are earning generous base payments and bonuses for setting records or winning. Many of the rest are scraping by, with smaller contracts, if any, and they’re supplementing their shoe company earnings with jobs.

Running’s middle class, much like America’s, is shrinking.

The exception is runners who belong to a single-sponsor training group, like those in Flagstaff, Arizona (Hoka); Boston (New Balance); and Portland, Oregon (Nike). In those cases, coaching, travel, and training camp costs are absorbed by the club, easing the financial pressure on athletes and making it possible for them to pursue the dream.

Brands these days appear to be more eager to devote dollars to groups and the athletes who train with them, rather than individual athletes training on their own in different locations. That presents a quandary for midcareer runners who have achieved a level of success. Faced with the loss of a sponsorship, they aren’t always willing to pick up and move to a new town and a new coach.

What do contracts look like?

If you’re a top runner in the college ranks, and you’ve won multiple NCAA titles at the Division I level, shoe companies—Nike, Adidas, Brooks, Saucony, Hoka, and others—will usually come calling, offering more than $100,000 a year for multiple years, with a spot in a group or a stipend to pay your coach. Those companies are betting on those NCAA champions to be Olympians of the future.

Dani Jones, for instance, won three individual NCAA titles at the University of Colorado, and she signed with New Balance at the end of last year. Her agent, Hawi Keflezighi, said she entertained competing offers from other companies.

A midcareer athlete with a breakthrough performance—hitting the podium at a major marathon or making an Olympic team, for instance—might also be rewarded with a base contract worth $50,000 to $100,000.

The top sprinters earn even more (although their careers are typically shorter). Usain Bolt famously made millions, and Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse was 21 when he signed a deal worth $11.25 million—before bonuses—from Puma in 2015, the Toronto Star reported.

The payouts drop significantly after that. Let’s say you’re a distance runner, but you haven’t been able to get a big win in college, although you’ve come close. The lucky ones are looking at deals for about $30,000 to $75,000 per year.

Your agent takes a 15 percent cut of that. And this base salary most often comes without benefits: no health insurance, no 401(k). As independent contractors, pro runners are paying all their own taxes. (In contrast, traditional full-time employees have half of their Social Security and Medicare taxes paid by the employer.)

Many young runners out of college join pro groups, and they’re not making anything beyond free gear and coaching. Others might get a stipend worth $10,000 or $12,000 a year.

The contracts typically sync with the Olympic calendar. At the end of 2020, many athletes’ contracts were expiring—even though the Olympics didn’t happen. That’s how Droddy, True, and Bayer were dropped. Shannon Rowbury, a three-time Olympian, told Track & Field News her deal with Nike was extended for one year, two if she makes the Olympic team this summer.

If an athlete has a good Olympics, the sponsoring company often has an option to extend the deal for an additional year, which includes the world track & field championships. It’s at the company’s discretion—not the athlete’s.

Parts of the sponsorship model appear to be changing, but slowly. When NAZ Elite announced a new deal with Hoka last fall, it included health insurance for the runners. Similarly, members of Hansons-Brooks in Rochester, Michigan, get health insurance if they work in the Hansons running specialty stores. And last May, Tracksmith brought Mary Cain and Nick Willis on as employees at the company—Cain in community engagement, Willis as athlete experience manager—with the plan that both would continue to train and race at an elite level.

Why doesn’t anyone know exactly how much runners are making?

As part of these deals, athletes have to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), promising to keep the terms quiet. If an athlete violates the NDA, the sponsor can void the contract—or sue for breach of contract.

This is, in fact, similar to other sports. In basketball, LeBron James is being paid $39.2 million this season by the Los Angeles Lakers. But he also has an endorsement deal with Nike, and the exact structure of that is unknown.

In running, prize purses are publicized—$150,000 for winning the Boston Marathon, $25,000 for being the top American at New York in 2019, $75,000 for winning the Olympic Marathon Trials.

But as in other sports, the terms of the sponsor deals are kept mum. And appearance fees at major races, as well as time bonuses within those appearance fees, which represent a major source of income for road runners (mainly marathoners), are also mostly unknown.

Athletes feel that the silence around sponsor contracts and appearance fees puts them at a disadvantage—it’s hard to know their market value. Yes, they can—and do—have quiet conversations with peers about it. But lacking broad knowledge, they lack power.

And as a result, the industry is rife with rumors and assumptions. Athletes’ values are often inflated through the grapevine.

“I think it is very similar to the dynamic that would occur if no one knew the price of home sales,” Ian Dobson—a 2008 Olympian who ran for Adidas and Nike during his pro career, which ended in 2012—told Runner’s World. “How could you ever be confident in a sale price if you didn’t know what any other homes in your neighborhood were selling for? Granted, we don’t know every detail of every home sale in the neighborhood, but it’s certainly helpful to know in general terms the dollar amount that these are going for so that we can all understand what value our home might have.”

Also, athletes keep quiet when their circumstances change. They feel embarrassed. One athlete told Runner’s World, “No one in track wants to be the one to say, ‘I got dropped,’ or ‘I got reduced.’ It's all taboo.”

Even so, $30,000 is nothing to sneeze at—especially for a job that’s about pursuing individual goals.

No, it’s not. But not every contract is structured the same way.

Some pay that base amount, no matter what. Other contracts penalize athletes with reductions if, for instance, they don’t finish in the top three in the country in Track & Field News rankings, or if they get injured and can’t race a certain number of times per year.

That’s why numerous Nike athletes seemed to be eagerly seeking racing opportunities of any kind last summer amid the pandemic. Marathoner Amy Cragg raced a 400 meters at an intrasquad meet on July 31, and finished in 90.15 seconds—6:00 pace—presumably to check a box on her contract. On August 7, she ran 800 meters in 3:03.85. The record of those races are in her World Athletics profile.

A Nike spokeswoman, when asked about athletes racing in 2020 to meet contractual obligations, responded: “We do not comment on athlete contracts.”

Time bonuses, once seen as a reliable way to beef up athletes’ base payments, are also becoming less frequent or harder to hit, as shoe technology improves and fast times become more common, according to one agent.

What role do agents play?

For athletes who have never previously had a sponsorship deal, it’s almost impossible to secure one without the help of an agent, who can get in the door at all the major brands.

For American distance runners, there are nine main agents—all men—negotiating the deals (Keflezighi, Josh Cox, Paul Doyle, Ray Flynn, Chris Layne, Dan Lilot, Tom Ratcliffe, Ricky Simms, and Mark Wetmore). Karen Locke, one of the few female agents in track and field, represents a few distance runners among her roster of clients in field events.

Of course, all the prominent agents—who have multiple clients across multiple brands and at various stages of their athletic careers—have data about what athletes are worth. But they have a duty to each one to maintain confidentiality about the specifics of that deal.

Agents bring to their athletes a broad picture of the market and what each might command, providing advice to those considering offers: Yes, this a fair offer, a solid deal. Or no, you can do better.

They also help get athletes into competitive track races like the Diamond League and elsewhere, or into the World Marathon Majors. They can handle travel arrangements to meets and help to make sure records get ratified. Generally, their role is to go to bat for athletes, no matter what they need.

For their services, they take 15 percent of everything an athlete earns: sponsor deals, appearance fees, and prize money, no matter how small the race or winnings.

Agents are supposed to negotiate on behalf of each client individually, but athletes have no idea if that’s happening. Are they being used as part of a package deal? Thrown in at a minimal rate as a thank you to a brand for giving a generous deal to a superstar? Or, on the upside, getting a small appearance fee from a major marathon that they wouldn’t be able to get into on their own, because they have the same agent as a mega-star?

“Agents want to bring in the most money for their combined athletes—if they manage 20 athletes, they’re trying to bring in the maximum money they can across 20 athletes,” one athlete told Runner’s World. “That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re trying to maximize for each individual. The difference between earning $20,000 a year and $30,000 a year is profound in terms of your ability to actually train as a professional. But it translates into a small amount [$1,500] for the agent.”

Why is the market tricky right now?

The pandemic caused upheaval in marketing budgets. Also, the people who work in marketing at shoe brands can be inexperienced in the running industry, and turnover often runs high at those positions, jeopardizing relationships between athletes and brands that have lasted years.

The marketing budget questions are not limited to running, said Matt Powell, a sports business analyst and vice president for NPD.

“I think brands are taking a more circumspect view of endorsement contracts in general—whether it’s teams, leagues, or individual athletes,” he said. “They’re [questioning whether] they’re getting the return on that investment.”

Nike is rumored to have cut its marketing budget for running, amid layoffs at the company. Nike did not return an email from Runner’s World seeking clarification on the budget or the numbers of runners it currently sponsors.

Although Nike’s superstars are said to be fine and not facing any reductions in their deals, one Nike athlete, a 2016 Olympian, told Runner’s World, “It’s pretty much assumed that everyone is getting less.”

And it’s believed that several of these contracts are for shorter periods of time than they might have otherwise been: through the world championships in 2022 in Eugene, Oregon, instead of through the next Olympics in 2024.

In answer to questions from Runner’s World about True and Droddy—as well as rumors about a new Saucony-sponsored training group—Saucony responded with an emailed statement from Fábio Tambosi, Saucony’s chief marketing officer:

“At Saucony we believe you cannot have a sports brand without the inclusion and authentic connection with athletes. We are excited about the evolution of Sports Marketing as a brand pillar for years to come, and remain committed to building an athlete strategy that aligns with this goal.” 


Good news abounds, too

On the positive side for distance runners, Puma has re-entered the distance running market. Molly Seidel was lured from Saucony to Puma, and Aisha Praught Leer told Women’s Running she signed a “big girl contract” with Puma. Additionally, the company started a group in North Carolina, coached by Alistair Cragg and with three athletes so far.

The shoe company On has also invested heavily, starting a new team in Boulder, Colorado, coached by Dathan Ritzenhein and with athletes like Joe Klecker and Leah Falland.

Keira D’Amato, 36, signed her first pro contract, with Nike, after a string of impressive performances during the pandemic on the track and roads. She has kept her job as a realtor.

Keflezighi sees an opening for apparel brands that don’t have footwear to sponsor more athletes. Women’s apparel company Oiselle has done this for years, and Athleta is now sponsoring Allyson Felix. Could a menswear company be far behind? These arrangements leave athletes free to choose their own running shoes, which can be advantageous as shoe technology advances so quickly.

Why do brands have pro runners anyway?

Beyond the individual dollar amounts in contracts, brands seem to be rethinking what the role of a professional athlete is. Is it to inspire with performances, and hope those performances translate into shoe sales? Or is it to connect with fans on social media and promote product sales that way?

“You have to kind of look at it big picture,” True told Runner’s World. “These companies aren’t giving athletes money for charity; they’re doing it for a marketing investment and they’re looking for a return on their investment. And currently—and this is not ideal, in my mind—you look at the rise of social media and influencers. They are very inexpensive for marketers to go after and they get their products in front of a lot of eyeballs.”

A 2:20 male marathoner who also has a drone and a great Instagram account or YouTube channel might be gaining followers, True said, while a 2:05 marathoner is training hard and devoting his craft toward the next race.

“The average person, they don’t understand that 15-minute difference,” he said. “One historically will cost that company a lot of money. The other does not cost much at all and will get a whole lot more eyeballs on the product. You have to understand that.”

In his nine years with Saucony, True, training on his own in Hanover, New Hampshire, was part of only one ad campaign the company ran. The company preferred to use models for its ads and catalogs.

In February, True ran 27:14 for 10,000 meters, a personal best and faster than the Olympic standard. He wore Nike spikes and a plain yellow singlet. If all goes according to plan, he’ll race the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in June and try to make his first team. His wife, professional triathlete Sarah True, is pregnant and due in July. And after that, he’ll run a fall marathon. True intended to debut at the marathon last fall, before the pandemic canceled all the races.

He’s moving ahead and training hard, despite the financial uncertainty. “I would have loved to have spent my entire career with Saucony,” he said. “I very much enjoyed working with them. I’ve been fortunate enough that I have had probably a lot more support than many other people in my position. That’s been nice.”

At this point, he is hoping another company will pick him up to take him through the next few years. “If a company just gave me a bonus structure that is fair for the result, I’d be happy with that,” he said. “It’s not like we’re looking for huge amounts of money. I’m very pragmatic and very realistic. I don’t think you should be paid for potential; I think you should be paid for results.”

Run with 4x U.S. Olympian Meb Keflezighi on Global Running Day

Imagine arriving at the starting line of your race and getting some last minute advice from running legend Meb Keflezighi before the race begins.

Better yet, imagine Meb in your ear coaching you the entire way.

UCAN and Charge Running are partnering to create a one-of-a-kind virtual experience for runners with The Global Running Day 5K, poised to be the largest virtual 5k during this year’s annual celebration of running. The live event takes place Wednesday, June 2nd from 7-8 PM ET.

Meb will be featured on the mic alongside podcaster Ali Feller to motivate and entertain runners throughout their virtual 5K route.

“Running has given me so much opportunity in my life,” says Meb, a pastwinner of the Boston and NYC Marathons. “It’s an honor to be able to inspire others to get out there and chase their personal best or just enjoy being active on Global Running Day.”

The Global Running Day 5K will be hosted on the Charge Running app, which gives runners the feeling of an in-person road race with a live leaderboard, chat rooms and a live race announcer. 

The entire experience is virtual which encourages participation from people all over the word.

“Partnering with UCAN on Global Running Day is an opportunity for Charge Running to do what it does best - Bring runners together from all over the world, in an engaging way and celebrate the love of running,” Said Julie Wallock, co-founder of the Charge Running App.

As part of the experience, a number of Olympic Trials qualifiers on Team UCAN will also be running the virtual race, so participants can test themselves against some of the fastest runners in the country.

“Our passion as a company is to enhance everyone’s pursuit of fitness,” says Shoba Murali, CEO of UCAN. “Combining the engaging technology of Charge Running with the innovative nutrition offered by UCAN is a great way for runners to take control of their fitness and health.”

For more information and to register for “The Global Running Day 5K, visit ucan.co/charge

About UCAN

Based in the US, UCAN is a company obsessed with the science of health and performance. UCAN enables athletes to gain confidence in their inherent abilities to surpass their performance by unlocking their body’s full potential through smart nutrition. UCAN products utilize SuperStarch®, a patented, slow-releasing complex carbohydrate that delivers steady, long-lasting energy without triggering an insulin response. Originally created for a child with a rare metabolic disorder, UCAN Energy Pouches, Powders, Energy Mix and Energy Bars are trusted by over 80 colleges, 40 pro teams, Olympic marathoners, elite triathletes, cyclists, group fitness coaches, thought leaders in health and performance, boxers, and recreational athletes for foundational nutrition to unlock performance. Learn more at ucan.co, and get the latest news in the UCAN world by following @GenUCAN on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

UCAN nutrition products are currently available in powder, pre-mixed, energy mix, and bar formats, in a variety of flavors, at 350+ specialty run, bike and tri stores around the country, Lifetime gyms, and can be purchased online at ucan.co or on Amazon.

About Charge Running

Charge Running is a mobile fitness app that provides LIVE coach-guided runs and races. With real-time coaches taking you through your workout, runners get updates on their current pace, average pace, distance, and more all while being ranked on a live leaderboard with other runners from all over the world.

Former top tennis pro runs David Goggins's 4 x 4 x 48 ultra challenge

James Blake, an American retired professional tennis player who climbed as high as fourth in the world rankings in his career, recently completed ultrarunner David Goggins‘s 4 x 4 x 48 Challenge. Blake has been running for a few years, and since retiring from professional tennis, he has competed in a few races. The 4 x 4 x 48 was unlike any running event the former tennis pro had ever attempted before, though, and he was understandably exhausted after the two-day challenge.

4 x 4 x 48

The 4 x 4 x 48 Challenge is simple to explain, but far from easy to complete. Participants run four miles (6.4K) every four hours for 48 hours. This works out to 48 miles (77K) and a lot of short naps (or very little sleep at all) in two days. Goggins has turned this into an official event, and the 2021 edition ran from March 5 to 7.

“Goggins, thank you. I just finished my 4 x 4 x 48,” Blake said in a video he posted to Twitter. “Thank you for coming up with this challenge and putting me to the test. I dug deep plenty in my career to win tennis matches, but nothing like this.”

Blake said he had “no real rest, no real sleep” over the course of the 48-hour event. He added that he questioned himself during each of the 12 four-mile legs, but he pushed through those tough moments and and eventually made it to the finish two days after he started.

Not a new runner

While this was Blake’s first time running the 4 x 4 x 48 Challenge, it wasn’t his first time completing a running event of any kind. After retiring from tennis in 2013, he got into running, and in 2015, he ran the New York City Marathon. He crossed the finish line in 3:51:19.

In 2020, Blake ran 21.1K in the virtual NYC Marathon as part of a relay with running legend Meb Keflezighi. The pair of former professional athletes teamed up to raise funds for a couple of charities. Blake ran to support his own charity, the James Blake Foundation, which raises money for cancer research, while Keflezighi ran for the NYRR Team for Kids.

Atlanta Track Club will be hosting this year’s Running of the AJC Peachtree Road Race virtually for the first time in its 51-year history

With a long and respected legacy of hosting Atlanta's most prestigious endurance events, Atlanta Track Club will be hosting this year’s Running of the AJC Peachtree Road Race virtually for the first time in its 51-year history. Despite not running or walking down Peachtree Road with 60,000 other participants in 2020, race organizers are building a virtual experience that will deliver an unforgettable and authentic Peachtree.

To launch this premier virtual event to participants in all 50 states and 31 countries, Atlanta Track Club looked to their partner haku for fully unique and completely customized technology solutions. haku, the Miami-based technology company, has become the industry leader in bringing the world’s most prestigious endurance events to life, such as the recent 124th Boston Marathon Virtual Experience.

"While we all will miss the sights and sounds of the Peachtree, we are confident haku will help us keep the storied Peachtree tradition going another year," said Rich Kenah, Atlanta Track Club’s Executive Director and Race Director of the AJC Peachtree Road Race. "We saw it through haku's work with the Boston Marathon that they understand the deep-seeded rituals associated with this race and have the ability to build unique and successful virtual events for thousands of runners at a time."

Creating an immersive event app for the Virtual Running of the AJC Peachtree Road Race with haku was an important focus in bringing this event to thousands of participants around the world. The app will have many innovative features to drive a memorable and engaging experience. Participants will be able to track their progress on the course, upload and compare results, engage with their community, and much more. To stay true to tradition, the Club also worked with haku to incorporate audio cues into the app’s race day experience to simulate the sounds that a runner would typically hear during the annual road race and provide encouraging messages from Olympian Meb Keflezighi, 2017 Peachtree Champion and U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Marathon Champion Aliphine Tuliamuk and World Record Holder Daniel Romanchuk.

"Building the app with haku was a collaborative process. There were no rigid set of features that we had to adhere to. The app is fully customized for the AJC Peachtree Road Race participants," said Kenah. "haku has been great about meeting our particular needs and the whole process couldn't have been easier."

Atlanta Track Club and haku are excited to kick off this spectacular event at the end of November, which will deliver a unique Atlanta-centric experience rooted in tradition.

"The passion and dedication that the Atlanta Track Club has shown for this event are immeasurable," said haku Founder and CEO, Carlos Escobar. "The Virtual Running of the AJC Peachtree Road Race will make every participant and spectator feel like they're truly still a part of this 50-year long tradition."

After an extensive search, ATC chose to move forward with haku as its new technology partner in late 2019 after seeing haku’s unique capability of providing truly bespoke technology for its partners. Through their partnership, the organizations are looking forward to introducing new innovative event technology that will drive significant participant engagement, streamline operations, and provide extraordinary experiences for Running City USA.

"We're excited to be able to provide a more user-friendly, clean, and elevated experience for our members and volunteers," said Kenah. "In working with haku, we’re now able to have a better understanding of the people who interact with the Club, which will enable us to deliver more unique and personalized experiences."

The Virtual Running of the AJC Peachtree Road Race will begin on Thanksgiving Day, November 26. Participants can submit their results between 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, November 26 and 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, November 29.

Runners sponsored by smaller companies might be in a better position than those who are signed by major brands

Earlier this week, the Swiss running shoe company On announced that it was starting an elite training group in Boulder, Colorado, called the On Athletics Club. It’s safe to say that this doesn’t seem like the most auspicious time to invest in professional running. Even though the Diamond League—the world’s premier track and field competition circuit—is scheduled to begin an abridged summer season on Friday, this year has seen an unprecedented number of race cancellations and it’s difficult to predict when the bleeding will stop.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach has already gone on record saying that the Tokyo Games, which have been postponed to summer 2021, will not be delayed a second time. If they can’t be staged next August, the Olympics will be canceled outright, thus depriving track athletes of their quadrennial moment in the sun.

According to Steve DeKoker, On’s Global Sports Marketing Manager, the company has long been looking to develop an elite running team and the Boulder-based group represents the most significant move in that direction to date. For now, the On Athletics Club consists of eight runners, all of whom are in their 20s and were standout NCAA athletes (the University of Colorado’s Joe Klecker and the University of Wisconsin’s Alicia Monson are the headliners).

Recently retired Olympian Dathan Ritzenhein will act as coach. It has been disclosed that these athletes will be signing multi-year deals with no reduction clauses (i.e. performance quotas)—a risky move, perhaps, but one that On might currently be well-positioned to make thanks to a potential pandemic-inspired uptick in recreational running.

“Running is kind of experiencing this second boom,” DeKoker told Letsrun.com. “We’ve got all these folks at home who are struggling with different issues, but running is a viable activity for them. Whereas if you’re Nike, and you’re in 50 different verticals, running might be a positive one, but you’ve got a bunch of other sports that are hemorrhaging right now.”

There has been some evidence to bear this out. Nike has reported a 38 percent decline in total revenue through May 31. More specifically, last week, the market research company NPD published an article noting that prominent brands (Nike, Adidas, Under Armour) had an overall sales decline in athletic footwear in the first half of 2020, while several running-focused shoe companies had fared conspicuously well.

Hoka One One and On, in particular, saw year-over-year sales increases of 75 and over 50 percent, respectively. (An On representative has confirmed this, and added that the brand had recorded its highest ever sales month in June 2020.) Matt Taylor, the co-founder and CEO of the independent running apparel brand Tracksmith, told me that “there’s been a noticeable uptick in people running over the last few months,” and that Tracksmith was “seeing this trend reflected” in its business.

While the running industry will never be entirely insulated from the state of the overall economy, there is some logic to the notion that the sport is well-suited to weather a financial downturn. To use DeKoker’s term, running is a “viable activity” for many people because it is relatively cheap, accessible, and offers both physical and mental health benefits during times of uncertainty.

The most recent running boom occurred during the years immediately following the Great Recession; starting around 2008, there was a continual increase in running event participation, culminating in 2013, when a record 19 million runners took part in U.S. road races.

Of course, from a running perspective, one of the uniquely cruel aspects of the COVID-19 recession is that the pandemic has precluded the staging of most mass participation events. The New York Road Runners, the largest non-profit running events company in the United States, laid off eleven percent of its employees and furloughed an additional 28 percent in July. Hence, any discussion about how the pandemic might end up “benefiting” the running industry in shoe or apparel sales must be weighed against this freeze of running events.

For professional runners, meanwhile, the cancellation of big-ticket races signifies a loss in prospective appearance fees and prize money. Some athletes might also be contractually obligated to run a pre-set number of races, which, needless to say, has not been so easy in 2020. That’s why this has been the summer of intrasquad competitions, in which training partners take part in de facto time trials that have been spruced up just enough to qualify as official meets. While some of these events have yielded impressive performances—most notably Shelby Houlihan, of the Bowerman Track Club, breaking her own American record in the 5,000-meters—there have also been farcical scenarios where world-class athletes phoned it in, presumably so that they can reach their race quotas. (Last week, reigning Olympic 1,500-meter champion Matthew Centrowitz “raced” an 800... and ran 3:08. His personal best in the event is 1:44.)

It’s not a coincidence that the most prominent examples of these sham races have involved Nike athletes. After all, the Oregon-based company sponsors far more runners than any other brand. They have the funds to do it, but casting a wide net might also make it more difficult for Nike to offer elite runners the contractual perks of smaller, running-focused companies like Oiselle, On, and, recently, Tracksmith. For now, reduction clauses still seem to be the norm for the typical Nike track athlete. (A Nike spokesperson told me that the company does not comment on athlete contracts.)

Hawi Keflezighi, an agent whose clients include his brother Meb Keflezighi and recent U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon champion Aliphine Tuliamuk, agreed that this was likely to be the case. “I think Nike deserves credit for all the athletes and events that they sponsor, but at the same time, within that business model, if you have a lot of athletes, you can’t be as flexible as when you only have five or ten athletes on your roster,” Keflezighi, whose brother was a Nike athlete for years before signing with Skechers in 2011, told me. He added that, while it’s typical for companies to reassess which athletes they want to sponsor at the end of an Olympic cycle, the current uncertainty surrounding the fate of the Games, and looming recession, mean that conditions for athletes are even more cutthroat than usual.

“I think the bigger brands definitely have tougher decisions to make, just because they have a bigger investment overall,” Keflezighi says. “The athletes with those brands, especially if they are not medal contenders or in a great position to make the US Olympic team—under this environment, those athletes’ contracts are a little bit more vulnerable. If you have a smaller roster of athletes, you might be able to say, ‘Hey, you know what? Let me give that athlete an extra year or two.”

DeKoker echoed this sentiment. “Obviously, performance is going to be a key element, but it’s not the only element with On,” he says. “I do think that, at some of these other companies, it’s much more of a numbers game and unfortunately some athletes are going to be on the losing end of that.”

What will the “numbers game” look like in a worst case scenario where next year’s Olympics ultimately do get canceled? With any luck, we won’t get to find out.

2020 Virtual TCS New York City Marathon will be Featuring Elite and Celebrity Athletes

Although the long-planned 50th edition of the TCS New York City Marathon cannot take place this year due to the COVID pandemic, the virtual version will still offer some of the usual star power of the in-person race. Race founders and organizers New York Road Runners announced today that national champions Steph Bruce (Hoka Northern Arizona Elite) and Emily Sisson (Team New Balance) will among those running their own 42.195-kilometer race during the October 17 to November 1 Virtual TCS New York City Marathon event window.

"New York is a dream goal of mine," said Bruce in a video message from her home in Flagstaff, Ariz. "And even though 2020 looks different I still need a reason to get out there to train and race."

Bruce, the 36 year-old mother of two boys, finished sixth at the 2020 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Atlanta last February. She has a personal best of 2:27:47 and has won national road running titles at 10 km (2018) and the half-marathon (2019). She has run the TCS New York City Marathon twice, finishing 10th in 2017 and 11th in 2018. Despite the pandemic, she's done a pair of 5000-meter track races this year, running 15:29.95 and 15:19.21. She has run 11 career marathons.

"At every level we all need something tangible to train for," Bruce recently wrote on Twitter. "Something that gets us out the door and fired up. I've been training for some big opportunities coming up. I'm not gonna waste them."

Sisson, 28, made an excellent marathon debut in London in April, 2019, clocking 2:23:08, despite falling during her warm-up and banging her knee. In her second marathon, the 2020 USA Olympic Trials, she failed to finish. The hilly course left her legs trashed, she said.

"It sounds dramatic, but that was probably the most disappointing race I've had in my career," she told NBC Sports recently.

Sisson had planned to run the 2020 TCS New York City Marathon before it was cancelled on June 24. She's hoping that the virtual race --which does not offer any prize money-- will fill some of the void in her training and racing schedule.

"Nothing gets me as fit as marathon training," Sisson said in a video statement today. "I'm hoping to use this as a springboard into the new Olympic year of 2021."

New York Road Runners also announced that 17-time Paralympic medalist Tatyana McFadden would be competing as a wheelchair racer. McFadden, 31, has won the women's wheelchair division of the TCS New York City Marathon five times.

"I'm so excited to be running the virtual TCS New York City Marathon this fall," McFadden said through a video statement.

Other noteworthy participants include American Olympic marathon medalists Deena Kastor and Meb Keflezighi, former pro tennis player James Blake, reigning TCS New York City Marathon men's wheelchair division champion Daniel Romanchuk, and former New York Giants running back Tiki Barber.

"Virtual racing continues to redefine the runner experience by creating an innovative and safe way to participate during these challenging times while also providing an opportunity for runners from all over the world to stay connected through running," said New York Road Runners president and CEO Michael Capiraso through a statement. "We are excited to welcome an inspiring group of prominent runners to our third-annual Virtual TCS New York City Marathon."

Dathan Ritzenhein Retires at Age 37

Dathan Ritzenhein, a high school prodigy who went on to become a two-time global medalist, three-time Olympian, five-time national champion and a 2:07 marathoner, has decided to retire after 16 years of professional running. 

The 37 year-old, who grew up in Rockford, Mich., and competed for the University of Colorado during his collegiate career, decided that he had accomplished all of his main goals and the time was right to shift his focus away from competitive running.

“I guess I’m not necessarily 25 and retiring in my prime,” Ritzenhein told Race Results Weekly by telephone from his Michigan home yesterday just after finishing a hard 10-mile run.  He continued: “I have things that I wish that I have done in my career, but I’m also very satisfied, too.  I think right now it’s something that I thought a lot about the last year. 

I’ve had a lot of nostalgic moments, looking back a lot more than looking forward.  So, I don’t know that I had a lot more goals that I was looking to accomplish.”

While still competing for Colorado, Ritzenhein made his first of three Olympic teams in 2004, despite finishing only 22nd at the USA Olympic Trials in the 10,000m.  Ritzenhein made the team because he was one of only five athletes entered who had the Olympic “A” standard of 27:49.00 (he had run 27:38.50 in his debut at the distance in April, then a U.S. collegiate record).  Trials winner Meb Keflezighi opted for the marathon (where he would win the silver medal) and Bob Kennedy dropped out.  That left Abdi Abdirahman, Dan Browne (who would also compete in the Marathon) and Ritzenhein to run the 10,000m in Athens, the three remaining finishers who had the standard.  Running on a badly injured foot in Athens, Ritzenhein failed to finish.

“My first one was a miserable experience where I hobbled my way on,” Ritzenhein said of making his first Olympic team.  He continued: “I made the standard, and just not many people had it.  Bob Kennedy had it and Meb, and Dan Browne and Abdi.  Meb ended up running the marathon and Bob Kennedy dropped out of the 10-K, and I knew I just had to finish the race.”

Ritzenhein made his professional racing debut at the Boclassic 10-K in Bolzano, Italy, on December 31, 2004, the day after his 22nd birthday.  He pushed the pace with two laps to go in the 8-lap race and finished third behind Sergey Lebed of Ukraine and Stefano Baldini of Italy (Baldini was the reigning Olympic Marathon champion).  Ritzenhein had signed with Nike just prior to the Athens Olympics, and Brad Hudson became his coach.  He won both the USATF cross country and 10-K road running titles in 2005, and under Hudson’s coaching jumped right to the marathon in 2006, making his debut at the New York City Marathon.  It was a controversial decision, and after a 1:05:35 first half he finished 11th in 2:14:01, calling the discomfort he endured in the last four miles “undescribable.”

Almost exactly a year later, Ritzenhein returned to New York for the 2008 USA Olympic Trials Marathon (which were held in November, 2007), and he finished second to Ryan Hall in 2:11:07, a personal best.  He would go on to finish ninth in the Olympic Marathon the following year in Beijing, and it looked like Ritzenhein was going to focus mainly on the marathon.

But unlike other track runners who moved up, Ritzenhein wasn’t so quick to abandon the track, cross country or road races below the marathon distance.  He used his marathon strength to great effect in training, and his track running was never better.  In one of his best years, 2009, he set the American record for 5000m of 12:56.27 (since broken), ran a 10,000m personal best of 27:22.28 when he finished sixth at the IAAF World Championships 10,000m, and won a bronze medal at the IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships, running 1:00:00.  He was also the runner-up at the USATF championships for both the 10,000m and half-marathon, and finished 10th at the London Marathon.

“That’s what always drove me,” said Ritzenhein.  “I would always have these goals and you’d have these valleys between them.  Really high moments, like the American record, bronze medal at the world junior championships (in cross country), or the world half-marathon championships.  Those are the races where you just feel invincible.”

But he was not invincible.  Ritzenhein suffered numerous injuries throughout his career (he recalled having over 40 MRI’s), and had to have surgeries three times.  He missed most of 2011 due to a surgery to his right Achilles tendon, but his long recovery (made even longer by a lingering infection) set him up for his most dramatic year, 2012.

“After three years away from the track I had doubts,” Ritzenhein said.  “I poured it all out there.  At the Olympic Trials it was an epic day.  I didn’t have the standard and quite a few people in the race did.”  He added: “It seemed like an impossible task.”

Ritzenhein said that he will always be a runner, and that he’ll still run hard sometimes (he averaged a six-minute pace on yesterday’s 10-miler, he said).  He already coaches a few athletes, including marathoner Parker Stinson.

“This isn’t the end for sure,” he said.  “This is all I know.  The sport of running is my passion and my love.”  He added: “I’m looking forward to continuing to give back to the sport; coaching is a passion of mine.  I love writing, to talk to people, and give people advice.  It’s in my DNA.  I’ll always run.  It’s just something I can’t go without.”

Remembering Boston 2014, when Meb Keflezighi ran all the way to one of the defining victories in the race’s 123-year history, becoming the first U.S. male runner to win in 31 years

Before starting the 2014 Boston Marathon, Meb Keflezighi had four names scribbled in marker on his race bib corners: Martin, Krystle, Lingzi and Sean.

Martin Richard, Krystle Campbell and Lingzi Lu died as a result of the twin bombings near the Boylston Street finish line during the 2013 Boston Marathon. Three days later, Sean Collier, a policeman, was shot and killed in a confrontation with the attackers.

Keflezighi ran in 2014 in their memory and with his own remembrance. All the way to one of the defining victories in the race’s 123-year history, becoming the first U.S. male runner to win in 31 years.

A year earlier, Keflezighi left an observer grandstand near the finish line of the Boston Marathon about five minutes before the bombs went off.

“The four victims that died in the explosion were spectators just like me,” he said.

It marked a career turnaround at age 38 for Keflezighi, who had been dropped by Nike three years earlier. He considered retirement. The 2004 Olympic silver medalist and 2009 New York City Marathon champion had placed 23rd at his previous marathon and withdrew before the 2013 Boston race with a calf injury.

Keflezighi went out hard from the start, keen on meeting his minimum pre-race goal: to set a personal best. At the halfway point, he and little-known American Josphat Boit led the field by 30 seconds.

In the chase pack, other Americans conversed and strategized not to push the pace in pursuit.

“We needed to give Meb as much space as possible,” Ryan Hall, the fastest American marathoner in history, texted Tim Layden, then of Sports Illustrated and now of NBC Sports. “If the African guys were going to try to catch him, we weren’t going to do the work to help them. It wasn’t my day to win, as much as I wanted to. Meb winning was the next best thing and what the US needed.”

Keflezighi pulled away from Boit between the 15th and 19th miles, opening a one-minute lead. The margin dropped to about eight seconds at the 25-mile mark, but Keflezighi held off Kenyan Wilson Chebet by 11 seconds on Boylston.

“This is beyond running,” Keflezighi, whose full first name, Mebrahtom, means “let there be light” in the Eritrean language, said in a finish-area TV interview. “This is for the people, for the Boston Strong. We’re resilient as runners.”

Keflezighi, born in Eritrea, moved to the U.S. at age 12. His first time running seriously was in San Diego in junior high school, when PE students were given a grade for how much effort they put into a mile. He eventually earned a scholarship to UCLA and made his first Olympic team at age 25 in 2000.

Keflezighi retired from elite running in 2017 after 26 marathons, but he felt complete after Boston in 2014.

“99.9 of my career was fulfilled,” Keflezighi said after winning Boston. “Today, 110 percent.”

Groundwork Endurance has announced its partnership with Skechers for the 35th annual Carlsbad 5000 presented by National University

The global footwear company will serve as official footwear partner as well as title sponsor of the Skechers Performance Elite Invitational, the event’s iconic professional races, set to take place on Sunday, March 22, 2020.

“I am extremely excited that Skechers has officially joined forces with the Carlsbad 5000. Their dedication and commitment to the running community is unmatched and we look forward to working with their talented team to ensure that our 35th year is the best yet,” said Meb Keflezighi, co-owner of Carlsbad 5000 and longtime Skechers-sponsored athlete.

“We’re pleased to again join Meb and the Carlsbad 5000 organization as title sponsor of the iconic Elite Invitational race—especially since Edward Cheserek will attempt a repeat win,” said Michael Greenberg, president of Skechers. “This event is known as the world’s fastest 5K, so it’s a great opportunity to illustrate how our award-winning and innovative Skechers GO RUN footwear can help runners get their speed on.”

The event also announced that headlining the 2020 Skechers Performance Elite Invitational will be Kenya’s Edward Cheserek and Dejen Gebremeskel of Ethiopia. Cheserek, the defending Carlsbad 5000 champion and Skechers elite athlete, matched what was then the IAAF 5km road world record in a winning time of 13:29 at the 2019 Carlsbad 5000. The 17-time NCAA National Champion holds personal bests of 3:49.44 for the mile and 13:04.44 for 5,000 meters on the track. He recently ran a sub-4:00 mile, finishing second at the Camel City Elite Races with a time of 3:59.84.

“Winning the Carlsbad 5000 last year was an incredible experience and I am looking forward to racing again in March,” said Cheserek. “This event has everything you could want in a road race. The course is beautiful and the huge crowds make the atmosphere very special.”

Gebremeskel was a virtual unknown before arriving in Carlsbad for the first time in 2010, when he finished second to Eliud Kipchoge. His victory the following year sparked a four-year run of dominance at the event – the longest winning streak in its event history. He would also add a fifth win in 2017. In addition to his impressive success at the Carlsbad 5000, Gebremeskel has earned two world championship medals over 5000 meters, taking silver at the 2012 London Olympics and a bronze medal at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics.

“It’s fantastic that King Ches will be returning to Carlsbad after his record run last year. Defending his title won’t be easy with Dejen Gebremeskel in the field and we expect a battle for the ages at this year’s race!” said Keflezighi.

As the official footwear partner, Skechers will maintain a strong digital presence in the lead up to race week festivities and will host an interactive experience for participants and spectators at the Health & Wellness Expo over event weekend.

The Carlsbad 5000 will celebrate its 35th edition the weekend of March 21-22, 2020. Since 1986, the prestigious event has seen 17 World records and eight U.S. records, as well as numerous national and age group marks. The famous seaside course starts and finishes in downtown Carlsbad, taking runners past some of Southern California’s most scenic coastal views along the way. The full day of racing begins at 6:55am on Sunday, March 22 with events for all ages and abilities. At 12:00pm, the Skechers Performance Elite Invitational takes center stage as the world’s fastest pros compete for a substantial prize purse and pursue new records.

New team in town: Under Armour runs into Flagstaff

Living here, up where the air is rare and trails snake through mountains and traverse verdant valleys, means that you are as liable to see as many elite runners donning corporate-logoed singlets and compression socks around town as you are to spot locals wearing fleece and Birkenstock's.

Yeah, ho-hum, that’s Mo Farah doing squats at your gym. And isn’t that Sara Hall pounding out miles of the FUTS, and Edward Cheserek reeling off sub-50-second 400s at the end of a workout on NAU’s track? Then there’s that thundering herd of Hoka NAZ Elite runners, always striding down Lake Mary Road like so many sleek big cats roaming the savanna.

Flagstaff’s stable of professional runners, some full-time residents but many parachuting in for elevation training, now has grown even more robust — and not just because it soon will be an Olympic year. There’s a new team in town, a corporate-sponsored training group that is fast filling its ranks with numbers challenging NAZ Elite’s civic running hegemony.

The as-yet unnamed group — expect an official "branding" sometime soon — is funded and sponsored by the apparel and shoe company Under Armour. It is headed not by interlopers, but by two track and field veterans who have histories in Flagstaff.

Noted running agent Stephen Haas, who also coaches the likes of 17-time NCAA champ Cheserek, is the driving force behind the team’s formation. He’s been a Flagstaff regular for nearly a decade, first as a distance runner who came here to train, then as a sort of Sherpa for athletes represented by his agency, Total Sports US, and later for several years as executive director of Team Run Flagstaff.

Now Haas has ascended to running his own training group, under Under Armour’s auspices, while still looking after the approximately 45 athletes he represents worldwide, some of whom swoop in here for high-altitude camps and some, like Cheserek, who make Flagstaff home.

Haas is aided in this new venture by former UC Berkeley cross country and track coach Shayla Houlihan, who left Cal after seven seasons last spring. Houlihan, too, has a Flagstaff connection, having trained here earlier in the decade as a pro steeplechaser and then working for two years as a Team Run Flagstaff coach.

So, it’s something of a homecoming for the pair, though you will see a few new faces on the roads, trails and track no doubt wearing the UA logo. They include 2018 NCAA 10,000-meter champion Sharon Lokedi, 5,000-meter elite Rachael Schneider, miler Patrick Casey, 800-meter runner Baylee Mires, Irish marathoner Stephen Scullion and two promising middle-distance recruits fresh out of college, Blake Haney (Oregon) and Taryn Rawlings (Portland).

This new team, perhaps not yet boasting the championship pedigree of NAZ Elite, raises two questions: Is this town big enough for two year-round sponsored training groups, and, is Flagstaff reaching a saturation point when it comes to infrastructure for so many elite runners hitting town to train?

Haas doesn’t hesitate in answering.

“No,” he said. “The five minutes that we cross over in the gym with NAZ Elite is the only time we see NAZ Elite. We’re more track-based, so we’re on the track more than them. They’re on the road more than us. For whatever reason, we have different schedules.

“People ask me this all the time. Yes, there’s a lot of athletes who come to Flag, but if you’re not making the effort to connect with people, well, this is a place where you can be lost in the woods every day. You need to make connections.”

As a former elite runner and now agent, Haas is all about networking and building relationships. His career as an agent soared after being named Total Sports US’s client services coordinator. His stable of athletes include notable pros such as Cheserek, Olympians Shelby Houlihan (Shayla’s younger sister) and Hassan Mead, Olympic silver medalist Sally Kipyego and Rachel Cliff, Canada’s marathon and half-marathon record holder. Just recently, he has signed four-time NCAA champ Morgan McDonald and three-time NCAA titlist Jessica Hull, both Aussies, in addition to two-time NCAA 1,500-meter runner-up Justine Kiprotich, who runs for Hoka (though not NAZ Elite) and trains in Flagstaff.

Perhaps more important, at least to the success of the new team sponsored by Under Armour, is Haas’ connections in Flagstaff.

In his days as a distance runner, Haas shared a house with NAU cross country and track coach Michael Smith and the two remain friends. His tenure as executive director of Team Run Flagstaff, in Haas’ words, “gave me a community of people, friends, right away, a social circle.” His duties with TRF dealt with a lot of financial issues, such as gaining sponsorship, but he left the organization because his career as an agent and burgeoning coach was ascending.

“Team Run Flagstaff was great, but it wasn’t a great fit for me,” he said. “I liked more of the elite side of the running world.”

Even before heading TRF, Haas was spending enough time in Flagstaff to be considered a regular in the running community. Total Sports US eventually tasked him to make Flagstaff his home base, because “it seemed a lot of the work we were doing was helping athletes get settled in Flagstaff, get housing, get track access and physio (therapy).

Now that his role has widened, Haas finds himself in a potentially conflicting position. Unlike other top agents in the U.S. — say, Ray Flynn, Hawi Keflezighi or Josh Cox — who solely represent athletes, Haas is negotiating deals for clients with companies sponsoring teams that are direct competitors to the newly-formed Under Armour group.

“Now I’m dual recruiting for the agency, obviously, but also for the group, too,” he said. “It’s a unique situation. We could be interested in a (graduating college) kid who signs with another agency and that’s OK, too. It’s nice to have Shayla here because we can kind of separate a little bit. She can focus on recruiting for the group, and I can focus on recruiting for the agency. That gives the athlete a little more clarity as well. But I’m not closed off …I can work alongside as a coach (with) another agent that represents a kid that I want to recruit. I guess it could be counter-intuitive for the group, but my first and foremost job for any athlete we sign to Total Sports is to try to get them the best contract as possible. Justine is a perfect example.”

Kiprotich, who lost the NCAA 1,500-meter title last year by one one-thousands of a second, is a Haas client. Haas was negotiating an endorsement deal with Under Armour, the sponsor of the new Flagstaff team, for Kiprotich. But Hoka came in with a better offer and he signed with that brand. But instead of joining NAZ Elite or other Hoka teams, Kiprotich was allowed to move to Flagstaff and train under Haas.

“We’re lucky enough that Under Armour still allowed him to come here and train with us,” Haas said.

There’s a similar situation concerning Cheserek, who signed with Skechers. He trains in Flagstaff and jumps in occasionally to work out with the Under Armour athletes as well as other elites who hit town.

Houlihan’s role with the new training group is essential, Haas said, especially since he travels more than 200 days a year. Though a veteran Division 1 coach of both men and women, Houlihan is trying something new coaching pros. Then again, many of the athletes signed by Under Armour are in the early stages of their professional careers.

New York and Boston Marathon winner says everyone should run at least one marathon

When Meb Keflezighi ran his first competitive race in the seventh grade, his motivation was simple: to get a t-shirt for his school’s running club that his older brothers also wore.

Yet after running a mile in 5 minutes, 20 seconds, he discovered he had a unique talent. His teacher at the time told him, “You’re going to go to the Olympics.” And word in school quickly spread.

“I didn’t speak English at the time, but my picture by the gym made history,” said Keflezighi, who immigrated to the U.S. from Eritrea.

“They said, ‘Hey, here’s the fastest kid,’ and people started giving me high-fives,” he added. “And that was how my running started.”

Today, Keflezighi, 44, is the only runner to have won an Olympic medal, the Boston Marathon and the New York City Marathon. 

Before winning the New York City Marathon, Keflezighi faced a number of setbacks that led him to question whether he would ever be able to run again. That included a stress fracture in his hip that left him crawling on his hands and knees just to get around.

“I couldn’t stand up to bear weight, and I remember looking over the window of the city, because I couldn’t stand up,” Keflezighi said.

Around that time, his friend and fellow professional runner Ryan Shay died of a heart attack.

“You can’t compare when the guy you were sitting next to on the bus to the starting line passed away,” Keflezighi said. “That kind of puts life in perspective.”

Keflezighi, who was already an Olympic silver medalist, considered retiring. But something internally told him he was not done.

“What it taught me was to celebrate every personal best,” Keflezighi said. “Just to be able to run, you’re grateful when it’s not taken away from you.”

He set his sights on winning the New York City Marathon. In 2009, with a time of 2:09:15, he became the first American to win the race since 1982.

The challenges did not end there. In 2011, Nike declined to renew his contract. Though Keflezighi still had other sponsors, he relied on the shoe brand for the bulk of his financial support.

He went without a shoe contract until August of that year, when Skechers stepped up.

“They took a risk,” Keflezighi said. “They gave me a one-year contract.

“I said, I need more than that, but let’s see how it goes,” he added. “And it went really well.”

In 2012, Keflezighi made the U.S. Olympic team and placed fourth in the summer Olympics marathon. “Finishing fourth, that kind of sparked a little light in me to say, ’Hey, I can still win,” he said.

In 2014, he did win, coming in first in the Boston Marathon, with a time of 2:08:37. At the time, he was the first American man to come in first since 1983. The race was one year after the notorious bombing. To pay tribute to victims of that terror attack, Keflezighi wrote their names with marker in small letters on his bib.

“As a lead athlete, they tell you not to tamper with your bib, but I took a risk,” Keflezighi said. “I just wrote it with a Sharpie to give them respect and to draw inspiration from them.”

In 2017, Keflezighi retired at the New York City Marathon after running 26 marathons.

Today, he works to inspire other runners through the Meb Foundation, which works to help promote children’s health, education and fitness.

Last week, he was inducted into the New York Road Runners Hall of Fame, 10 years after his New York City Marathon win. And the lessons he has learned along the way inform his advice for other runners.

When Nike pulled their contract, Keflezighi still had the support of other sponsors. However, the loss of that income prompted the athlete and his wife to scale back financially.

They rented their home in San Diego and moved to Mammoth Lakes, California, to cut down on commuting costs. And for a long time, they had one car for the family.

“It’s not how much you make, it’s what you do with that money,” Keflezighi said. “You have to be a saver, and that’s what we try to do.”

Participating in races is a great way to increase your motivation. But nothing compares to running a full marathon, according to Keflezighi.

“I tell people you should do one marathon in your lifetime,” Keflezighi said. “After that, it’s optional.”

That’s because running that 26.2-mile distance can teach you things that running a half marathon or 10K or 5K race can’t, he said.

“If you can overcome those challenges to get ready for a marathon and get to that finish line, it changes your life,” Keflezighi said. “You are going to find something you never thought you were capable of doing.”

It’s important to stay focused on your goals, even when you are faced with setbacks.

“You go through ups and downs in life, and you go through ups and downs in training,” Keflezighi said.

With the sport often come injuries. The beauty of running, Keflezighi said, is you can scale down your efforts or cross train with another activity, such as swimming or biking.

“If you’re hurting, get healthy, refocus and set a new goal,” Keflezighi said.

The same goes for long-term achievements that you look to accomplish in life, he said. For those goals, it’s important to remember that one setback does not have to interfere with your progress over months or even years.

“Don’t give up on your dreams,” Keflezighi said.

Legendary Marathoner Meb Keflezighi will return for the 48th running of the Yuengling Shamrock Marathon Weekend

J&A Racing announced today that Meb Keflezighi will return for the 48th running of the Yuengling Shamrock Marathon Weekend. This will be Keflezighi’s second consecutive appearance at the iconic running event in Virginia Beach over St. Paddy’s Day weekend.

“Virginia Beach and J&A Racing is the best,” said Keflezighi. “The community is genuine. You can see the heartbeat of the people that are there and this entire community.”

Keflezighi, the only athlete ever to have won an Olympic medal, the Boston Marathon, and the New York City Marathon, has remained active in the running community since his retirement in 2017. As part of Keflezighi’s 2020 visit to Virginia Beach, he will once again pace the 1:35 time group of runners at the Anthem Shamrock Half Marathon providing participants the chance to run with one of America’s greatest distance runners.

“This was a run of a lifetime. It was so fun. I never imagined being able to run an entire half marathon with a legend. I ran a personal best by four minutes with Meb,” said Lauren, a participant in the 2019 Anthem Shamrock Half Marathon.

In addition to pacing on the half marathon course, Keflezighi will make appearances at the Virginia Eye Consultants Shamrock Sports and Fitness Expo, serve as the official starter for all of the races throughout Yuengling Shamrock Marathon Weekend, and visit select local elementary schools participating in the Operation Smile Shamrock Final Mile.

“We are ecstatic that Meb will be attending the 48th running of the Yuengling Shamrock Marathon weekend.  The four-time Olympian is very personable and inspiring.” said Amy Frostick, co-owner of J&A Racing. “Meb has such a great story of success to share with our runners.”

The 2020 Yuengling Shamrock Marathon Weekend takes place March 20-22. 

Three-time Bix 7 men’s champion Silas Kipruto is coming back to the Quad-City Times Bix 7 in hopes of making a little more history

The three-time Bix 7 men’s champion will be joined in the 45th annual race through the streets of Davenport by a deep women’s field that includes two former champions, the second fastest female runner in the race’s history and a world record-holder in two events.

Kipruto already is among the most successful runners in the history of the race, which is scheduled this year for July 27. The 34-year-old native of Kenya not only won the Bix 7 in 2011, 2012 and 2016, but he has finished in the top five on three other occasions.

His half dozen top-five finishes equal the most ever by a male runner in the race, tying Meb Keflezighi, Bill Rodgers, John Korir and Lazarus Nyakeraka.

Kipruto is one of 17 African runners in the preliminary men’s elite field assembled by elite athlete coordinator John Tope — 13 from Kenya and two each from Eritrea and Tanzania.

Besides Kipruto, male runners to watch include Tanzania’s Gabriel Geay, who won both the Lilac Bloomsday 12k and the Bay to Breakers 12k in May; Kenya’s Edwin Mokua, a top-three finisher at both Bloomsday and Bay to Breakers; Kenya’s Leonard Barsoton, who was first in the African Cross Country championships in 2014 and second in the African Games 10,000 meters in 2015; and Emmanuel Kiprono, Kenya’s 10,000-meter champ in 2013.

Bernard Lagat sets new Master American marathon record clocking 2:12:10 in Australia

44-year-old Bernard Lagat ran 2:12:10 in the Gold Coast Marathon in Australia, which averages out to 5:02.5 per mile for 26.2 miles on Sunday. The result placed him 7th overall and more importantly broke Meb Keflezighi‘s US masters record (40+) of 2:12:20 in the men’s marathon. 2:12:10 represented a massive personal best of more than 5 minutes for Lagat as the two-time Olympic medalist in the 1,500 ran 2:17:20 in his only other marathon last November in New York.

He was happy to share this moment with his son (first photo).  He wrote that he was pleased to be able to finish strong.  

The only negative about the race was Lagat came up 40 seconds short of the Olympic qualifying standard of 2:11:30 for the men’s marathon (if he’d placed the top 5, he also would have been credited with the standard but 5th was 2:10:29).

He has been training in Colorado (photo). 

Happy Global Running Day! Be sure to run, walk or jog at least one mile today!

Global Running Day is a worldwide celebration of running that encourages everyone to get moving. It doesn’t matter how fast you run or how far you go—what’s important is that you take part, and how you do it is up to you.

Run a lap around your block, take your dog for a long walk, or call your friends for a pick-up game in the park. The important thing is that you have fun being active—and you inspire others to join you.

Global Running Day is a day that celebrates the sport of running. It is held annually on the first Wednesday of June. 

Participants of all ages and abilities pledge to take part in some type of running activity by submitting their names through the Global Running Day website. 

Global Running Day was formerly known as National Running Day and began in the United States. The first event was in 2009.

The inaugural Global Running Day was held on June 1, 2016. More than 2.5 million people from 177 countries pledged to run more than 9.2 million miles. 

New York City Mayor, Bill de Blasio, declared June 1, 2016 to be Global Running Day in the City of New York. 2014 Boston Marathon winner Meb Keflezighi led a group run from the Boston Run Base, and the Atlanta Track Club organized a “run around the clock” event, where at least one person from the Atlanta metro area would be running every hour of Global Running Day.

More than 100 organizations support Global Running Day and the Million Kid Run.

As part of Global Running Day, the Million Kid Run aims to get young people excited about fitness. By moving and having fun, kids discover that living an active lifestyle can be fun and easy.

The 2018 Global Running Day inspired Bob Anderson to start the Run The World Challenge.  It launched July 4, 2018.  Since then 289 people all over the world have run and logged over 110,000 miles.  This program encourages people to run and or walk everyday.

”If you are a runner already,” says My Best Runs founder Bob Anderson, “be sure to run at least a mile today.  For everyone else, there is no better time than today to get started.”  71-year-old Bob Anderson is a lifetime runner who ran his first mile Feb 16, 1962.  He is on track to hit 1820 miles over the last 12 months ending July 3.  

“I just love to run and programs like Global Running Day and Run The World challenge motivate me to do more,” says Bob Anderson.  “So get in your mile today.  Run, walk, jog it all counts.” 

Two defending champions Risper Gesabwa and Brendan Gregg, are returning for the 43rd annual Bellin Run

Risper Gesabwa and Brendan Gregg have signed on to the 10K on June 8.

Gesabwa broke the tape last year, setting a record sixth Bellin Run title, followed closely by 2017 champ Kaitlin Gregg Goodman.

Goodman and Gesabwa have history. Goodman also finished a close second to Gesabwa in 2016, meaning their 2019 rematch will be one to watch.

Kaitlin's brother, Brendan will try to get a second consecutive Bellin Run victory after winning last year's run. He will be up against former Bellin Run champ, Meb Keflezighi and 2016 Olympic marathoner, Jared Ward.

Other notable veteran athletes to participate this year are Uta Pippig, Joan Samuelson and Bill Rodgers.

The last of the 12,050 Bellin Run entrants had barely crossed the South Webster Avenue starting line Saturday morning when Brendan Gregg arrived at the finish.

Gregg finished the 42nd annual 10-kilometer race through Green Bay and Allouez in an impressive 29 minutes, 52 seconds. Meb Keflezighi, the 2016 Bellin winner, finished second with a time of 31:06. Jared Ward, at 31:19, was third for the second straight year.

Risper Gesabwa won a record sixth women's elite division title, finishing in 33:24; 2017 champ Kaitlin Goodman — Gregg's sister — was second at 33:30. Dawn Grunnagle was third at 35:29.

Saturday's event began under partly-cloudy skies, with a temperature of 62. More than 12,000 runners registered; 13,892 took part a year earlier.

The first Bellin Run, in 1977, had 881 participants. It grew to 1,100 in year two.

"I remember the days where you could stand on Greene Avenue and see groups of runners, and see the street in-between," said Green Bay resident Bob Cramer, who began running the Bellin in 1984. "Now, it's wall-to-wall people."

Joseph Kimani retains the men’s course record of 27:46, set in 1997. Tegla Loroupe holds the women’s course record of 31:48, set in 1999.

Gene Dykes, 71, is looking to break the Big Sur International Marathon record for his age group this weekend

For someone who has done two marathons 24 hours apart, two weeks between Boston and Big Sur may seem like an eternity for Gene Dykes.

Unlike others that have challenged themselves by doing the two marathons in a short time span, it’s not the reason Dykes is running in Sunday’s 34th Big Sur International Marathon.

Instead, the Philadelphia resident is calling it unfinished business from his last trip out west to run the world-renowned course.

“They took my record away when I was 65,” Dykes said. “I owned the course record in my age class for about two months. Then it was discovered on paper that someone ran faster years earlier.”

Ray Piva set the record in the 65-69 age division in 1992 at 3 hours, 10 minutes. Dykes ran 3:26.44 in 2013.

Dykes, 71, can’t get that record back. But he’s looked at the record in the 70-older division — 3:46.36 by Heinrich Gutbier in 1997. His eyes are set on rewriting the mark, adding to his mantel of record-setting accomplishments of late.

“I shouldn’t have trouble beating that mark,” said Dykes, who broke the Boston Marathon record in his age group on April 15, clocking 2 hours, 58 minutes, 50 seconds. “It’s how fast do I want to go.”

What could derail Dykes from shattering the record is he will run the race with his daughter, who is roughly 30 minutes slower than him in a marathon.

“It will depend on how long we run together,” Dykes said. “I’m going to try and get her to run a little harder in the first half. Then I’ll do a negative split the last half of the race.”

While Dykes is six years older than during his last appearance on the Monterey Peninsula, he’s gotten faster covering marathons of all kinds. Most of his personal bests have come in the last year.

“I hired a coach a few years back,” Dykes said. “I just keep dropping time. It’s more of a retirement achievement.”

This will be Dykes’ third crack at Big Sur, but the first time he’s running it after tackling Boston in the same year.

“I guess I’ve always wanted to do Boston-Big Sur,” Dykes said. “Running marathons close together is nothing new to me. It seemed like a good time to do it. Two weeks is plenty of time to recover.”

Dykes’ accomplishments as an ultra distance runner have gained nationwide attention. Last year, the Wall Street Journal labeled him “Earth’s fastest 70-year-old distance runner.”

After setting the record at Boston, men’s winner Meb Keflezighi tweeted “Special shout out to 71-year-old Gene Dykes, who ran an outstanding 2:58.50.”

For someone who didn’t run his first road race until 12 years ago, Dykes has become one of the top ultramarathon runners in his age class in the world.

“I was a jogger my whole life,” Dykes said. “I wasn’t very good in track in high school or college. I was a mediocre runner at best. So I golfed and bowled a lot. I jogged for fun.”

That is until Dykes got in with what he now jokes as a bad crowd — a group of runners, who talked him into his first road race, a half marathon in 2006.

From that point, running became an addiction. Dykes ran well enough that his time allowed him to bypass the lottery for the New York Marathon.

“I could not pass that up,” Dykes said. “So I ran my first marathon. I ended up earning a qualifying time for Boston. So I had to do that.”

By his estimation, Dykes will do 10 to 20 road races a year ranging from 200 miles to the regular 26-mile, 385-yard marathon.

“I race longer and more frequent,” Dykes said. “I’ve done five 200 milers. It’s an endurance race. The clock is running. You run when you can and sleep when you have to. I’ve done them in four days.”

Six weeks before Boston, Dykes completed a 200-mile race, a 100-mile event and two 50-mile races in 2019.

“Every year I try and stretch the boundaries,” Dykes said. “I don’t know if I can do it. So there’s only one way to find out. The hardest part is finding time to sleep. Four hours over four days isn’t much.”

Dykes comes into each race with a plan. After completing his ultra road races — totaling 400 miles — he began preparing for Boston with the mindset of breaking the record in his age division.

“I told my coach you’ve got six weeks to get me under three hours at Boston,” Dykes said

The US Men's Marathon scene over the last few years was all about one runner Galen Rupp until now, enter Scott Fauble and Jared Ward

The America's men marathon scene over the last few years has not been very impressive not includng some steller performances by one Galen Rupp. There were no sub 2:10 performances (not including Ruff) since Meb keflezighi won the Boston Marathon in 2014 clocking 2:08:37.  Things changed on April 15 in Boston.

Former University of Portland cross country and track star Scott Fauble was the top U.S. finisher and placed seventh overall in the 123rd Boston Marathon. Fauble’s time of 2:09:09 is the fastest time from a U.S. runner since 2014 besides Galen 2:06:07 at the 2018 Prague Marathon, 2:06:21 in Chicago the same year and two other sub 2:10 performances. 

After the race Soctt Fauble posted, "I don’t have the words to explain yesterday yet. Until those words come, I want to say thank you to so many people, but mostly to Boston. You guys were perfect out there. Thank you."

America's 25-year-old Jared Ward too had a steller day clocking 2:09:25 for eighth place. “I’ve been waiting on this 2:09 race for a long time. I think I’ve had it in me a little bit, but conditions today were good enough for running fast,” said Ward, now 30.

Fauble ran the 11th fastest time from a United States born marathon runner in history and the eight fastest time by an American in Boston Marathon history.

“When I was leading, I was thinking, ‘Holy bleep, I can’t believe I’m leading the bleeping Boston Marathon,’” Fauble said. “It was just a surreal experience to be leading a race I grew up watching on TV — not even just growing up, I watched it on TV the last four years and kind of idolized the race and the experience.”   

Fauble had a stellar career as a runner for the Pilots. A former University of Portland male student athlete of the year winner, he led the Pilots’ cross country team to a third place finish in 2014, their first ever podium finish. He earned All-American honors for three straight years in cross-country from 2013 to 2015 and earned similar honors in the 10,000 meter race in track.

“Scott’s success surprises nobody,” Portland men’s cross country and track & field head coach Rob Conner said in a press release. “He was always the hardest working guy on our team and he has taken it to a new level as a professional. We are extremely excited for him and proud of his accomplishments.”

A review of the US all-time marathon scene looks like this.  In 2011 Ryan Hall clocked 2:04:58 in Boston under perfect conditions and 2:06:07 in 2008 (London).  This ranks Ryan Hall 77th on the all-time world list.  America's Khalid Khannouchi clocked four times 2:07:04 or under in 2000, 2002 and 2006.  Plus Galen's performances noted above. 

Is this maybe the beginnings of American men moving up in the rankings? 

John Hancock today announced its Elite Athlete Ambassador Team for the 2019 Boston Marathon

Boston Marathon champions Meb Keflezighi, Tatyana McFadden, Bill Rodgers, Joan Benoit Samuelson, Greg Meyer and Uta Pippig will join Shalane Flanagan, Ryan Hall, Deena Kastor, Becca Pizzi and Team Hoyt as ambassadors for this year’s race.

“As Patriots’ Day nears, we welcome our 2019 Elite Ambassador Team for the Boston Marathon,” said John Hancock Chief Marketing Officer Barbara Goose.

“Through their mentorship and inclusiveness, these accomplished athletes inspire runners of all ages and abilities during race week and throughout the year at John Hancock sponsored events.

The team has become an integral part of our community.”

Ambassadors will cheer on the 30,000 participants racing from Hopkinton to Boston on Patriots’ Day and attend media, community and race week events, including making appearances at the Runner’s Seminar at the Expo, surprise “meet and greets” near the finish line, and at the John Hancock Elite Athlete press conference on April 12 at 10 a.m. at the Fairmont Copley.

Skechers Performance returns as title sponsor for the 2019 Skechers Performance Los Angeles Marathon

Skechers Performance returns as title sponsor for the 2019 Skechers Performance Los Angeles Marathon on Sunday, March 24. Throughout race weekend, Skechers will offer exclusive race-branded merchandise.

Los Angeles Marathon winner Weldon Kirui (2016 and 2918) returns to compete for a record-breaking third victory at the race.

“Now in our fourth year as title sponsor, we are proud to host more than 24,000 runners from across the United States and more than 60 countries, who will join us in bringing this monumental event to life,” said Michael Greenberg, president of Skechers. “From first-time marathoners to seasoned runners and elite athletes to all the fans and supporters, we look forward to the camaraderie and enthusiasm that this race creates for Southern California. And we’ll be watching Skechers elite athlete Weldon Kirui when he runs Sunday to attempt a record third victory on this iconic course.”

Visitors to the Skechers Performance booth at the Health & Fitness EXPO in the Los Angeles Convention Center will have the opportunity to meet Weldon, as well as four-time Olympian Meb Keflezighi on Saturday, March 23 at 11AM. Meb will also be signing his new inspirational book, 26 Marathons: What I’ve Learned About Faith, Identity, Running, and Life From Each Marathon I’ve Run (Rodale Books), which will be available for purchase.

A collection of exclusive race-themed and inspired footwear and apparel will be offered at the EXPO. Influenced by the colors of LA’s top sports teams, the collection includes limited edition pairs of Skechers GO RUN Forza 3™ and Skechers GO RUN Ride 7™. Additionally, a new color of the Skechers GO RUN Razor 3 Hyper™ will debut and be available for purchase at the EXPO—this new training and racing style features an innovative Hyper Burst™ midsole and was recently named Editors’ Choice by Runner’s World. The collection is currently available on Skechers.com and at select Skechers retail stores in the Los Angeles area.

Olympian Leonard Korir is aiming to become only the fourth man to win the Gate River Run three years in a row

The two-time defending champion headlines the elite men’s field entering Saturday’s 42nd annual Gate River Run through downtown Jacksonville, the national 15-kilometer championship for USA Track and Field.

With one more victory, the 32-year-old Leonard Korir can join a select club as winners of three straight men’s titles. Only Todd Williams (1994-96), Meb Keflezighi (2001-04) and Ben True (2013-15) have previously accomplished the feat.

Race director Doug Alred said he’s hoping to see a tight contest, and he feels the odds this year are good.

“It’s not that exciting when one person just runs away with it,” he said. “If the leaders can just stay together onto the Hart Bridge, that would be great.”

So far, that’s been the case in Korir’s past two victories. His 2017 win was the event’s closest finish ever, edging Shadrack Kipchirchir to the finish line by a fraction of a second.

Despite his record in Jacksonville and his international achievements at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, there’s reason to believe that Korir is far from a lock to repeat Saturday.

Unlike 2017 and 2018, he did not win the USATF cross country championships, held this time in Tallahassee on Feb. 2. Instead, he took third, while Kipchirchir beat him out by five seconds.

In addition to Kipchirchir, 2016 champion Stanley Kebenei returns, coming off a fifth-place finish in the cross country finals.

Meb Keflezighi became the first American male to win the Boston Marathon in 31 years in 2014

Two nights before the 2014 Boston Marathon, I was walking from the Harvard Club with race director Dave McGillivray after a meeting with the Martin Richard Foundation.

Dave asked me, “What’s your goal for Monday?” I said, “To win. I’m going to go for it.”

Of course I always ran to win, in the sense of getting the best out of myself on race day. But this time was different — I meant it literally.

Boston 2014 was a special focus long before I broke the tape on Boylston Street.

I had watched the 2013 Boston Marathon from a grandstand by the finish with my good friend from San Diego, Rob Hill. Injury had scuttled my plan to be there as a competitor.

While I would have liked to be racing, watching thousands of runners finish amid the palpable positive energy was a great experience. I was taking photos and notes on the positive humanity and camaraderie the marathon embraces. It had been 30 years since an American man won Boston.

As soon as Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia broke the tape in 2:10:22, I texted my friend and fellow US Olympian Ryan Hall, who also missed the race because of injury. “WE CAN DO THIS,” I wrote. Ryan texted back almost immediately, “We’ll get after it.” Already fired up for 2014, I left the stands.

Olympian Meb Keflezighi will participate in Tallahassee Half Marathon this weekend

On its merit, the Tallahassee Marathon, Half Marathon and relay race are noteworthy events that attract competitors. 

This year, the 45th edition of the city's marquee long-distance meet elevates its status with the participation of Olympian Meb Keflezighi. 

The San Diego native will participate in the half marathon Sunday morning.

Keflezighi has traveled across the globe throughout his athletic career.

He competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics (silver medalists) and 2012 Summer Olympics. Keflezighi also raced in the New York City Marathon in 2004 (second place), 2005 (third place) and 2009 (first place). The famed runner ran the Boston Marathon twice. He took third in 2006 and first in 2014.

This weekend marks his first-ever trip to Tallahassee.

"I'm excited to partake in the Tallahassee half marathon and run through the city," Keflezighi said.

"People will be surprised to see me next to them. I will tell them stories about New York, Boston and the Olympic games. It's going to be fun. It's all about accomplishing your goals and I'm there to support them. The people here love the sport and I'm happy to be here and enjoy the journey with them."