Running News Daily

Here’s a sweat rate calculator to help you master your hydration game

Have you ever wondered exactly how much fluid you’re losing from sweat when you run? You’ve probably noticed you sweat at a different rate than your running buddies, but it can be tough to know how to hydrate to your specific needs. Enter the Sweat Loss Prediction Calculator, a new tool designed by researchers in Australia that aims to help athletes calculate their expected whole-body sweat rate.

Developed through extensive research conducted across two sites in Australia, this calculator is based on data from 182 outdoor running trials and 158 outdoor cycling trials. The aim was to test sweat rate prediction equations to help athletes during moderate to high-intensity outdoor activities, using monitored activities and environmental conditions.

How it works

The sweat loss calculator uses a prediction model developed from data gathered throughout the exercise trials. Participants’ whole-body sweat rates were measured over 60-minute sessions, with environmental conditions like temperature, wind speed and humidity recorded. These conditions were also rated subjectively by the participants.

Interestingly, the models worked well even when subjective environmental assessments were used instead of precise measurements. For runners, substituting subjective data slightly decreased the model’s accuracy (by less than 25 per cent), while for cyclists, the decrease was minimal, at around two per cent.

Practical benefits for athletes

With this calculator, available here, runners and cyclists can tailor their hydration strategies to their specific needs. The models offer 95 per cent confidence intervals that are within acceptable limits for maintaining body mass over a three-hour period, which is crucial for endurance athletes. By punching in simple activity details and your expected environmental conditions, you’ll receive personalized hydration advice, helping you stay hydrated and perform at your best, no matter the weather conditions.

Chesebe ready to defy odds to make Team Kenya to the Olympics

2011 All-African Games women's 800m bronze medalist, Sylvia Chesebe has warned her competitors not to underestimate her ahead of the Olympic trials.

Eleven athletes will vie for a spot in the women's 800 team at the Nyayo National Stadium this weekend. So far, only four have the Olympic qualification mark of 1:59.30.

Chesebe is yet to qualify as her fastest time this year is 2:03.92— set at last month's National Championships.

Motivated to make her Olympic debut, Chesebe exuded confidence in posting the qualification time at Nyayo Stadium.

“I am confident I will attain the Olympic qualification time and make Team Kenya. Competition will no doubt be tough but winning depends on preparations and I am well prepared,” Chesebe stated.

Chesebe, however, acknowledged her competitors but also warned them not to overlook her.

“I am not underrating anybody and they should not underestimate me either. I am here to push everyone to the limit,” she added.

Headlining the list is world champion Mary Moraa, who already has the qualification mark of 1:56.03 posted in Budapest, Hungary, last year. 

 Vivian Kiprotich is the other athlete to watch having qualified after clocking 1:58.26 during the Kip Keino Classic, where she placed second behind Moraa (1:57.96).

21-year-old Nelly Chepchirchir clocked 1:58.98 for fourth place at the same event while Naomi Korir clocked 1:59.19 during the Grifone meeting in Italy last month.

Others on the list include national champion Lilian Odira, Dorcas Ewoi, Sarah Moraa, Mweni Kalimi, Winnie Kipsang and Naumglorious Chepchumba.

Chesebe emphasised that making the Olympics team would be a dream come true and will be hoping to end Kenya’s 16-year wait for gold in the two-lap race.

"The Olympics are a dream for every athlete. It is the biggest stage to display your talent. It would mean a lot for me to make my first appearance and also win gold for Kenya,” she stated.

Kenya’s only gold medal in the women’s 800m came at the 2008 Beijing Olympics through Pamela Jelimo, who clocked 1:54.87 to clinch the title. She led leading compatriot Janeth Jepkosgei (1:56.07) and Morocco’s Hasna Benhassi (1:56.73) to the podium.

Jelimo won bronze at the 2012 London Olympics in 1:57.59) while  Margaret Wambui (1:56.89) posted the same at the Rio Olympics.

Coached by her husband, Michael Cheren, Chesebe is focusing on fine-tuning her speed to ensure she is in prime condition for the trials.

“I am working on my speed. I already have the endurance, but I need to improve my speed, especially my finishing, to ensure I make the Olympic time at the trials,” she stated.

On Friday, Chesebe took part in the World Masters Athletics Trials at the Ulinzi Sports Complex, winning the 400m W35 category in 54.24 secs.

She hopes that competing in the 400m race will help her in improving her finishing.

“I took part in the 400m at the World Masters trials to work on my finishing. I hope it will pay off come the trials,” she stated.

During the 2011 All-Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique, Chesebe clocked 2:04.16 behind Ethiopia's Fantu Magiso (2:03.22) and Uganda's Annet Negesa (2:01.81).

The 37-year-old is also a silver medallist at the 2014 World Relay Championships in Nassau, Bahamas, in the 4x800m clocking 8:04.28 together with Agatha Jeruto, Janeth Jepkosgei and Eunice Jepkoech.

Why Eliud Kipchoge trains on a gravel track in Eldoret once a week as he gears up for Paris Olympics

Experts have explained why Eliud Kipchoge and his teammates regulary train on a gravel track once a week as preparations for the Paris 2024 Olympics hit top gear.

Eliud Kipchoge's head coach Patrick Sang and training expert Louis Delahaije have explained why the legendary marathoner and his training mates train at the Moi University Law School track in Annex, Eldoret as they gear up for the Olympic games.

Kipchoge will be hoping to claim his third Olympic title in the marathon after securing wins at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the delayed 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.

His management, the NN Running team, is also making sure the five-time Berlin Marathon champion is in the right shape to achieve his goals. One way has been to normalize training athletes on the gravel track.

Sang explained that the track helps in recovery especially when one is going for tougher sessions and it also does not affect the legs a lot.

“We are at Moi University, Law School, a place in Eldoret called Annex. This is where most of the athletes do their training. You can see it’s a big group training here.

“Today, we’ve had athletes run the 800m all the way to the marathon. Of course, they come here to do specific sessions, specific to their event.

“The surface is good, I mean generally when you train on tartan or the road and train here, which is a dirt track, the recovery and the stress on the legs is less and recovery for the next hard session is quicker.

“We train here twice in a week for the track runners and for the marathoners, we do it once a week,” the veteran coach said in a documentary posted by NN Running team.

On his part, Delahaije was also quick to note that Eldoret being closer to the equator is a plus for athletes and insisted that competing on such a track reduced the risk of injury. He marveled at always finding athletes running before the crack of dawn.

“When you arrive on the track, let’s say at 6 o’clock, it’s already dark and one of the nice things is there are people running around the track and slowly by slowly, in let’s say, 10-15 minutes, the lights turn on.

“I think, when you look at injuries, it’s much safer to run at a gravel track, like Annex. Obviously, it’s a 400m track and it’s in Eldoret, so it’s a little bit lower than our grounds in Kaptagat. It’s about 2000m of altitude which I think is also perfect to do some speedwork.

“Well, Eldoret is very close to the Equator which means that there is a very stable climate, first of all. The runners also feel comfortable let’s say around 20 degrees. Well, you have that more or less all year round over there,” he added.

Comrades Marathon: Gerda Steyn Sets Course Record; Piet Wiersma Wins Men’s Race

At the 2024 Comrades Marathon, South African Gerda Steyn sets a course record in her third win while Dutchman Piet Wiersma gets his first victory.

At 5:30 a.m. on Sunday, June 9, in the raucous darkness of Durban, South Africa, more than 20,000 runners, powered by nerves, adrenaline, and the “Chariots of Fire” theme song, crossed the start line of the 2024 Comrades Marathon to take part in the oldest and largest ultramarathon in the world: nearly 86 kilometers of road running throughout the hills of South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province. It was the 97th running of the event, which has only missed four editions since World War I veteran Vic Clapham started it in 1921 to commemorate the lives of South African soldiers.

Two of the runners — Gerda Steyn, of South Africa but who lives in the United Arab Emirates, on the women’s side and Piet Wiersma of The Netherlands on the men’s — cemented their names in race lore by taking home wins, and sizable paydays, in their respective races. The race has a massive prize purse, with a total 4,092,000 Rand ($217,000) on the line.

Steyn, the defending champion, broke her own course record for the Up run direction by more than nine minutes for her third win at Comrades. She also holds the women’s course record for the Down run when the race is held in the opposite direction, which she set in 2023.

Wiersma, meanwhile, backed up his impressive Comrades debut last year — where he finished second only three seconds behind the winner — with his first win at the race.

The Comrades Marathon famously alternates the direction each year, and this year’s race, which was run in relatively ideal conditions with temperatures ranging from the mid-50s to low-70s Fahrenheit, was the 49th Up race, meaning runners began in the lower-altitude Durban and ended in the higher-altitude Pietermaritzburg. The race featured around 1,750 meters of elevation gain, with most of it during the first half of the race, when the course runs through three of its “Big Five” hills. The Up run, therefore, demands a smart, measured racing strategy.

For the race’s first half, Piet Wiersma (The Netherlands) seemed content to stay conservative and save his energy for the back half. A two-man pack of Jobo Khatoane (Lesotho), looking for his first Comrades finish, and Aleksei Beresnev (Russia), back for a second time after debuting inside the top 10 last year, were within a minute of each other at Drummond, around the halfway mark, with the next runner more than five minutes back and Wiersma sitting in 10th, almost nine-and-a-half minutes off the lead.

But then Wiersma dropped the hammer, increasing his pace to 3:37 per kilometer from 3:58 per kilometer to jump into the top five by the Cato Ridge checkpoint at 56.6 kilometers into the race. That seemingly set the tone for big moves for the race’s second half, where Beresnev was still holding the lead and followed by Degefa Yohannese Lafebo (Ethiopia). With this race, Lafebo was moving up in distance following two top-10 finishes at the Two Oceans Marathon, a 50k race.

South Africans Tete Dijana, the two-time defending champion, and Dan Moselakwe, a prior Comrades podium finisher, sat in third and fourth, respectively.

Wiersma continued to run strong and moved into the lead by Umlaas Road, 67.5k, passing Lafebo, and by Mkondeni at 79.1k, he had increased to nearly a minute. Behind him, Beresnev dropped off the pace, while Dijana couldn’t hang on, either. The pair would finish, but outside the top 10 this year.

Moselakwe took advantage of fading runners to move himself into second. Joseph Manyedi (South Africa), meanwhile, methodically moved his way up to finish in fourth, his eighth and best Comrades finish, while Andrew Davies (U.K.) jumped from 12th to fifth over the course of the second half of the race. This was Davies’ first Comrades finish.

At the finish line, Wiersma would stay clear of Moselakwe by 45 seconds and third-place finisher Lafebo by nearly three minutes.

TWENTY-ONE YEARS AGO, HE WAS INCARCERATED FOR LIFE. LAST YEAR, HE RAN THE NYC MARATHON A RADICALLY CHANGED MAN.

RAHSAAN ROUNDED THOMAS A CORNER. Gravel underfoot gave way to pavement, then dirt. Another left turn, and then another. In the distance, beyond the 30-foot wall and barbed wire separating him from the world outside, he could see the 2,500-foot peak of Mount Tamalpais. He completed the 400-meter loop another 11 times for an easy three miles.

Rahsaan wasn’t the only runner circling the Yard that evening in the fall of 2017. Some 30 people had joined San Quentin State Prison’s 1,000 Mile Club by the time Rahsaan arrived at the prison four years prior, and the group had only grown since. Starting in January each year, the club held weekly workouts and monthly races in the Yard, culminating with the San Quentin Marathon—105 laps—in November. The 2017 running would be Rahsaan’s first go at the 26.2 distance. 

For Rahsaan and the other San Quentin runners, Mount Tam, as it’s known, had become a beacon of hope. It’s the site of the legendary Dipsea, a 7.4-mile technical trail from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach. After the 1,000 Mile Club was founded in 2005, it became tradition for club members who got released to run that trail; their stories soon became lore among the runners still inside. “I’ve been hearing about the Dipsea for the longest,” Rahsaan says. 

Given his sentence, he never expected to run it. Rahsaan was serving 55 years to life for second-degree murder. Life outside, let alone running over Mount Tam all the way to the Pacific, felt like a million miles away. But Rahsaan loved to run—it gave him a sense of freedom within the prison walls, and more than that, it connected him to the community of the 1,000 Mile Club. So if the volunteer coaches and other runners wanted to talk about the Dipsea, he was happy to listen. 

We’ll get to the details of Rahsaan’s crime later, but it’s useful to lead with some enduring truths: People can grow in even the harshest environments, and running, whether around a lake or a prison yard, has the power to change lives. In fact, Rahsaan made a lot of changes after he went to prison: He became a mentor to at-risk youth, began facing the reality of his violence, and discovered the power of education and his own pen. Along the way, Rahsaan also prayed for clemency. The odds were never in his favor. 

To be clear, this is not a story about a wrongful conviction. Rahsaan took the life of another human being, and he’s spent more than two decades reckoning with that fact. He doesn’t expect forgiveness. Rather, it’s a story about a man who you could argue was set up to fail, and for more than 30 years that’s exactly what he did. But it’s also a story of navigating the delta between memory and fact and finding peace in the idea that sometimes the most formative things in our lives may not be exactly as they seem. And mostly, it’s a story of transformation—of learning to do good in a world that too often encourages the opposite. 

RAHSAAN “NEW YORK” THOMAS GREW UP IN BROWNSVILLE, A ONE-SQUARE-MILE SECTION OF EASTERN Brooklyn wedged between Crown Heights and East New York. As a kid he’d spend hours on his Commodore 64 computer trying to code his own games. He loved riding his skateboard down the slope of his building’s courtyard. On weekends, he and his friends liked to play roller hockey there, using tree branches for sticks and a crushed soda can for a puck.

Once a working-class Jewish enclave, Brownsville started to change in the 1960s, when many white families relocated to the suburbs, Black families moved in, and city agencies began denying residents basic services like trash pickup and streetlight repairs. John Lindsay, New York’s mayor at the time, once referred to the area as “Bombsville” on account of all the burned-out buildings and rubble-filled empty lots. By 1971, the year after Rahsaan was born, four out of five families in Brownsville were on government assistance. More than 50 years later, Brownsville still has a poverty rate close to 30 percent. The neighborhood’s credo, “Never ran, never will,” is typically interpreted as a vow of resilience in the face of adversity. For some, like Rahsaan, it has always meant something else: Don’t back down. 

The first time Rahsaan didn’t run, he was 5 or 6 years old. He had just moved into Atlantic Towers, a pair of 24-story buildings beset with rotting walls and exposed sewer pipes that housed more than 700 families. Three older kids welcomed him with their fists. Even if Rahsaan had tried to run, he wouldn’t have gotten far. At that age, Rahsaan was skinny, slow, and uncoordinated. He got picked on a lot. Worse, he was light-skinned and frequently taunted as “white boy.” The insult didn’t even make sense to Rahsaan, whose mother is Black and whose father was Puerto Rican. “I feel Black,” he says. “I don’t feel [like] anything else. I feel like myself.” 

Rahsaan hated being called white. It was the mid-1970s; Roots had just aired on ABC, and Rahsaan associated being white with putting people in chains. Five-Percent Nation, a Black nationalist movement founded in Harlem, had risen to prominence and ascribed godlike status to Black men. Plus, all the best athletes were Black: Muhammad Ali. Reggie Jackson. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. In Rahsaan’s world, somebody white was considered physically inferior. 

Raised by his mother, Jacqueline, Rahsaan never really knew his father, Carlos, who spent much of Rahsaan’s childhood in prison. In 1974, Jacqueline had another son, Aikeem, with a different man, and raised her two boys as a single mom. Carlos also had another son, Carl, whom Rahsaan met only once, when Carl was a baby. Still, Rahsaan believed “the myth,” as he puts it now, that one day Carlos would return and relieve him, his mom, and Aikeem of the life they were living. Jacqueline had a bachelor’s degree in sociology and worked three jobs to keep her sons clothed and fed. She nurtured Rahsaan’s interest in computers and sent him to a parochial school that had a gifted program. Rahsaan describes his family as “upper-class poor.” They had more than a lot of families, but never enough to get out of Brownsville, away from the drugs and the violence.

Some traumas are small but are compounded by frequency and volume; others are isolated occurrences but so significant that they define a person for a lifetime. Rahsaan remembers his grandmother telling him that his father had been found dead in an alley, throat slashed, wallet missing. Rahsaan was 12 at the time, and he understood it to mean his father had been murdered for whatever cash he had on him—maybe $200, not even. Now he would never come home. 

Rahsaan felt like something he didn’t even have had been taken from him. “It just made me different, like, angry,” he says. By the time he got to high school, Rahsaan resolved to never let anyone take anything from him or his family again. “I started feeling like, next time somebody tryin’ to rob me, I’m gonna stab him,” he says. He started carrying a knife, a razor, rug cutters—“all kinds of sharp stuff.” Rahsaan never instigated a fight, but he refused to back down when threatened or attacked. It was a matter of survival.

The first time Rahsaan picked up a gun, it was to avenge his brother. Aikeem, who was 14 at the time, had been shot in the leg by a guy in the neighborhood who was trying to rob him and Rahsaan. A few months later, Rahsaan saw the shooter on the street, ran to the apartment of a drug dealer he knew, and demanded a gun. Rahsaan, then 18, went back outside and fired three shots at the guy. Rahsaan was arrested and sent to Rikers Island, then released after three days: The guy he’d shot was wanted for several crimes and refused to testify against Rahsaan. 

By day, Rahsaan tried to lead a straight life. He graduated from high school in 1988 and got a job taking reservations for Pan Am Airways. He lost the job after Flight 103 exploded in a terrorist bombing over Scotland that December, and the company downsized. Rahsaan got a new job in the mailroom at Debevoise & Plimpton, a white-shoe law firm in midtown Manhattan. He could type 70 words a minute and hoped to become a paralegal one day. 

Rahsaan carried a gun to work because he’d been conditioned to expect the worst when he returned to Brownsville at night. “If you constantly being traumatized, you constantly feeling unsafe, it’s really hard to be in a good mind space and be a good person,” he says. “I mean, you have to be extraordinary.”

After high school, some of Rahsaan’s friends went to Old Westbury, a state university on Long Island with a rolling green campus. He would sometimes visit them, and at a Halloween party one night, he got into a scrape with some other guys and fired his gun. Rahsaan spent the next year awaiting trial in county jail, the following year at Cayuga State Prison in upstate New York, and another 22 months after that on work release, living in a halfway house in Queens. He got a job working the merch table for the Blue Man Group at Astor Place Theater, but the pay wasn’t enough to support the two kids he’d had not long after getting out of Cayuga.

He started selling a little crack around 1994, when he was 24. By 27 he was dealing full-time. He didn’t want to be a drug dealer, though. “I just felt desperate,” he says. Rahsaan had learned to cut hair in Cayuga, and he hoped to save enough money to open a barbershop. 

He never got that opportunity. By the summer of 1999, things in New York had gotten too hot for Rahsaan and he fled to California. For the first time in his 28 years, Rahsaan Thomas was on the run. 

EVERY RUNNER HAS AN ORIGIN STORY. SOME START IN SCHOOL, OTHERS TAKE UP RUNNING TO IMPROVE their health or beat addiction. Many stories share common themes, if not exact details. And some, like Rahsaan’s, are absolutely singular. 

Rahsaan drove west with ambitions to break into the music business. He wanted to be a manager, maybe start his own label. His new girlfriend would join him a week later in La Jolla, where they’d found an apartment, so Rahsaan went first to Big Bear, a small town deep in the San Bernardino Mountains 100 miles east of Los Angeles. It’s where Ryan Hall grew up, and where he discovered running at age 13 by circling Big Bear Lake—15 miles—one afternoon on a whim. Hall has recounted that story so many times that it’s likely even better known than the American records he would go on to set in the half and full marathons. 

Rahsaan didn’t know anything about Ryan Hall, who at the time was just about to start his junior year at Big Bear High School and begin a two-year reign as the California state cross-country champion. He didn’t even know there was a lake in Big Bear. Rahsaan went to Big Bear to box with a friend, Shannon Briggs, a two-time World Boxing Organization heavyweight champion. 

Briggs and Rahsaan had grown up together in Atlantic Towers. As kids they liked to ride bikes in the courtyard, and later they went to the same high school in Fort Greene. But Briggs’s mom had become addicted to drugs by his sophomore year, and they were evicted from the Towers. Briggs and Rahsaan lost touch. Briggs began spending time at a boxing gym in East New York; often he’d sleep there. He had talent in the ring. People thought he might even be the next Mike Tyson, another native of Brownsville who was himself a world heavyweight champ from 1986 to 1989. 

Briggs went pro in 1991, and by the end of that decade he was earning seven figures fighting guys like George Foreman and Lennox Lewis. Rahsaan was at those fights. The two had reconnected in 1996, when Rahsaan was trying to rebuild his life after prison and Briggs’s boxing career was on the rise. In August 1999, Briggs was gearing up to fight Francois Botha, a South African known as the White Buffalo, and had decamped to Big Bear to train. “He was like, ‘Yo, come live with me, bro,’” Rahsaan recalls.

Briggs was running three miles a day to increase his stamina. His route was a simple out-and-back on a wooded trail, and on one of Rahsaan’s first days there, he decided to join him. Rahsaan hadn’t done so much as a push-up since getting out of prison, but he wanted to hang with his friend. Briggs and his training partners set off at their usual clip; within a few minutes they’d disappeared from Rahsaan’s view. By the time they were doubling back, he’d barely made it a half mile. 

Rahsaan never liked feeling physically inferior. So back in La Jolla, he started running a few times a week, going to the gym, whatever it took. Before long he was up to five miles. And the next time he ran with Briggs, he could keep up. After that, he says, “Running just became my thing.” 

FOR YEARS, RAHSAAN HAD BUCKED AT TAKING RESPONSIBILITY for the murder that sent him to prison. The other guys had guns, too, he insisted. If he hadn’t shot them, they’d have shot him. It was self-defense. 

In the moment, he had no reason to think otherwise. It was April 2000. A friend had arranged to sell $50,000 worth of weed, and Rahsaan went along to help. They met in the parking lot of a strip mall in L.A., broad daylight. The buyers brought guns instead of cash, things went sideways, and, in a flash of adrenaline, Rahsaan used the 9mm he’d packed for protection, killing one man and putting the other in critical condition. He was 29 and had been in California eight months. 

After awaiting trial for three years in the L.A. County jails, Rahsaan was sentenced to 55 years to life. But for the crushing finality of it, the grim interminability, the prospect of never seeing the outside world again, he was on familiar ground. Even Brownsville had been a kind of prison—one defined, as Rahsaan puts it now, by division and neglect, a world unto itself that societal forces made nearly impossible to escape. He was used to life inside. 

Rahsaan spent the next 10 years shuttling between maximum security facilities, the bulk of those years at Calipatria State Prison, 30 miles from the Mexican border. By the time he got to San Quentin, he was 42. 

As part of the prison’s restorative justice program, Rahsaan met a mother of two young men who’d been shot, one killed and the other critically injured. Her pain, her dignity, her ability to forgive her sons’ shooters prompted Rahsann to reflect on his own crime. “It made me feel like, damn, I did this to his mother,” he says. “I did this to my mother. You don’t do that to Black mothers. They go through so much.” 

ABOUT 2 MILLION PEOPLE ARE INCARCERATED IN THE UNITED States today, roughly eight times as many as in the early 1970s. Nearly half of them are Black, despite Black Americans representing only 13 percent of the U.S. population.

This disparity reflects what the legal scholar and author Michelle Alexander calls “the new Jim Crow,” an invisible system of oppression that has impeded Black men in particular since the days of slavery. In her book of the same title, Alexander unpacks 400 years of policies and social attitudes that have created a society in which one in three Black males will be incarcerated at some point in their lives, and where even those who have been paroled often face a lifetime of discrimination and disenfranchisement, like losing the right to vote. If you hit a wall every time you try to do something, are you really free? More than half of the people released from U.S. jails and prisons return within three years. 

After Rahsaan got out of Cayuga back in 1992, with a felony on his permanent record, he’d had trouble doing just about anything legit: renting an apartment, finding a decent job, securing a loan. Though he’d paid for the Mercedes SUV he drove to California, the lease was in his girlfriend’s name. Selling crack had provided financial solvency, and his success in New York made him feel invincible. One weed deal in California seemed easy enough. But he wasn’t naive. Rahsaan packed a gun, and if he felt he had to use it, he would. 

Today Rahsaan feels deep remorse for what transpired from there. But back then he saw no other way. “When we have a grievance, we hold court in the street,” he says of growing up in the Brownsville projects. “There’s no court of law, there’s no lawsuits.” Even while incarcerated, Rahsaan continued to meet threats with violence. But he also found that in prison, as in Brownsville, respect was temporary. “If you stab somebody, people leave you alone,” he says. “But you gotta keep doing it.” 

Not long after Rahsaan got to Calipatria, around 2003 or 2004, an older man named Samir pulled him aside. “Youngster, there’s nobody that you can beat up that’s gonna get you out of prison,” Rahsaan remembers Samir saying. “In fact, that’s gonna make it worse.” Rahsaan thought about Muhammad Ali, how he would get his opponents angry on purpose so they’d swing until they wore themselves out. He realized that when you’re angry, you’re not thinking clearly or moving effectively. You’re not responding; you’re reacting.

The next time Rahsaan saw Samir was in the yard at Calipatria. They were both doing laps, and the two men started to run together. Rahsaan told Samir about the impact his words had on him, how they helped him see he’d always let “somebody else’s hangup become my hangup, somebody else’s trauma become my trauma.” Each time that happened, he realized, he slid backward. 

Rahsaan began exploring various religions. He liked how the men in the Muslim prayer group at Calipatria encouraged him to think about his past, and the way they talked about God’s plan. He thought back to that day in April 2000 and came to believe that God would have gotten him out of that situation without a gun. “If I was meant to die, I was meant to die,” he says. “If I’m not, I’m not.” He started to see confrontations as tests. “I stopped feeding into the negativity and started passing the test, and I’ve been passing it consistently since,” he says. 

CLAIRE GELBART PLACED HER BELONGINGS IN A PLASTIC TRAY AND WALKED THROUGH THE METAL detectors at the visitors’ entrance at San Quentin. She crossed the Yard to the prison’s newsroom. It was late fall of 2017, and Gelbart had started volunteering with the San Quentin Journalism Guild, an initiative to teach incarcerated people the fundamentals of newswriting and interviewing techniques.

Historically infamous for housing people like Charles Manson and Sirhan Sirhan, the man convicted of killing Robert Kennedy, and for having the only death row for men in California, San Quentin has in recent years instituted reforms. By the time Rahsaan arrived, the facility was offering dozens of programs, had an onsite college, and granted some of the individuals housed there considerable freedom of movement. Hundreds of volunteers pass through its gates every year.

Rahsaan was in the newsroom working on a story for the San Quentin News, where he was a staff writer. Gelbart and Rahsaan started to chat, and within minutes they were bonding over running. They talked about the San Quentin Marathon—in which Rahsaan was proud to have placed 13th out of 13 finishers in 6 hours, 12 minutes, and 23 seconds—and Gelbart’s plans to run her first half marathon that spring. “It was like I lost all sense of place and time,” Gelbart says, “like I could have been in a coffee shop in San Francisco talking to someone.” 

In weekly visits over the next year, Gelbart and Rahsaan talked about their families, their hopes for the future. Gelbart had just graduated from Tufts University with dreams of being a writer. Rahsaan was working toward a college degree, writing for numerous outlets like the Marshall Project and Vice, and learning about podcasting and documentary filmmaking. In 2019, when Gelbart was offered a job in New York, she told Rahsaan she felt torn about leaving—they’d become close friends. They made a pact that if Rahsaan ever got out of prison, they would run the New York City Marathon together. “We couldn’t think of a better thing to celebrate him coming home,” Gelbart says.

When Rahsaan was sentenced, he still had hope for a successful appeal. But when his appeal was denied in 2011, he realized he was never going home. His parole date was set for 2085. 

At the time, though, the political appetite for mass incarceration was starting to shift. Gray Davis, who was governor of California from 1999 to 2003, had never granted a single pardon; and his successor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, granted only 15. Then, between 2011 and 2019, Governor Jerry Brown pardoned or commuted the sentences of more than 1,300 people. Studies show that the recidivism rate among those who had been serving life sentences is less than 5 percent in a number of states, including California. And according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice, 98 percent of people convicted of homicide who are released from prison do not commit another murder. 

In the fall of 2018, Governor Brown approved Rahsaan for commutation, but it was now up to his successor, Gavin Newsom, to follow through. And until a release date was set, there were no guarantees. 

Back at San Quentin, Rahsaan was busier than ever. He was working on his fourth film, Friendly Signs, a documentary funded by the Marshall Project and the Sundance Institute; it was about fellow 1,000 Mile Club member Tommy Lee Wickerd’s efforts to start an ASL program to aid a group of deaf and hard-of-hearing newcomers to the prison. He had recently been named chair of the San Quentin satellite chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and became a cohost and coproducer of Ear Hustle, a popular podcast about life in San Quentin that in 2020 was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize. He was also sketching out plans for a nonprofit, Empowerment Ave, to build connections to the outside world for other incarcerated writers and artists and to advocate for fair compensation. And after five years, he was just one history class away from getting his associate’s degree from Mount Tamalpais College.

In January 2020, Rahsaan began his final semester, eager to don his cap and gown that June. MTC always organized a festive graduation ceremony in the prison’s visiting room, inviting families, friends, students, and staff. Then COVID-19 hit. Lockdown. All classes canceled until further notice. The 1,000 Mile Club suspended workouts and races as well, its 70-plus members scattering throughout the prison, not sure when or if they’d ever get together again. Covid would officially kill 28 people at San Quentin and make many more very ill. College graduation, let alone races in the Yard and parole hearings, would have to wait.

For the first time since arriving at San Quentin, Rahsaan felt claustrophobic in his 4-by-10-foot cell. He couldn’t work on his films or go to the newsroom. All he could do was read and write, alone. After George Floyd was murdered that May, Rahsaan fell into a depression. He remembered something Chadwick Boseman had said in a 2018 commencement speech at Howard University: “Remember, the struggles along the way shape you for your purpose.”

Rahsaan decided his purpose was to write. Outside journalists couldn’t enter the prison during the pandemic, but their publications were thirsty for prison Covid stories. Rahsaan saw an opportunity. Between June 2020 and February 2023, he published 42 articles, and thanks to Empowerment Ave, he knew what those articles were worth. As a writer for the San Quentin News, Rahsaan earned $36 a month; those 42 articles for external publications netted him $30,000.

DOZENS OF PEOPLE GATHERED OUTSIDE SAN QUENTIN’S GATES. IT WAS A FRIGID MORNING IN EARLY February 2023; the sun hadn’t yet risen. Among those assembled were two cofounders of Ear Hustle, Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor, along with executive producer Bruce Wallace, recording equipment in hand. A procession of white vans, each carrying one or two men, arrived one by one. After three or four hours, the air had warmed to a balmy 60 degrees. Another van pulled up, Rahsaan got out, and the crowd erupted. Nearly 23 years after he’d been sentenced to 55 years to life, Rahsaan Thomas had been released. 

Rahsaan got into a Hyundai sedan and was soon headed away from San Quentin. Wallace sat in the back, recording Rahsaan seeing water, mountains, and a highway from the front seat of a car for the first time in decades. “I feel like I’m escaping,” he joked. “Is anybody chasing us? This is amazing. This is crazy.” 

Rahsaan called his mom, who wasn’t able to make it to California for his release.

“Hey, Ma, it’s really real,” he said, breathless with joy. “I’m free. No more handcuffs.”

Jacqueline’s exuberance can be heard in her laughter, her curiosity about what his first meal would be (steak and French toast), and her motherly rebuke of his plan to buy a Tesla.

“You ain’t been drivin’ in a while and I know you ain’t the best driver in the world,” she teased. 

Rahsaan moved into a transitional house in Oakland and wasted no time adjusting to life in the 21st century. He got an iPhone, and a friend gave him a crash course in protecting himself from cyberattacks. He’s almost fallen for a few. “There’s some rough hoods on the internet,” he jokes. Earlonne Woods, who was paroled in 2018, and others taught Rahsaan how to use social media. He opened Instagram and Facebook accounts and worked on his own website, rahsaannewyorkthomas.com, which a friend had built for him while he was in San Quentin to promote his creative projects, Empowerment Ave, and even a line of merch. 

Despite all the excitement and chaos, Rahsaan never forgot about the pact he’d made with Claire Gelbart. He found her on Facebook and sent a simple, two-line message: “Start training. We have a marathon to run.” 

IN LATE MARCH, SIX WEEKS AFTER HIS RELEASE, RAHSAAN FLEW TO NEW YORK CITY. IT WAS THE FIRST time he’d been home in nearly a quarter century, and he hadn’t flown since before 9/11. The security protocols at SFO reminded him more of prison than of the last time he’d been in an airport. Actually, “it was worse than prison,” he jokes. They confiscated his jar of honey.

The changes to his home borough were no less surprising. He’d come to New York to take work meetings, see family, and catch a Nets game at Barclays Center in downtown Brooklyn. Rahsaan barely recognized Barclays; it had been a U-Haul lot the last time he was there, and skyscrapers now towered over Fulton Mall, where he used to buy Starter jackets at Dr. Jay’s and Big Daddy Kane tapes at the Wiz. 

He met up with Gelbart on Flatbush Avenue, where come November they’d be just hitting mile 8 of the New York City Marathon. They hadn’t been allowed to touch at San Quentin and weren’t sure how to greet each other on the outside. “It was weird at first, because I was like, do we hug?” Gelbart recalls. But the awkwardness faded fast, and as they walked, Gelbart saw a different side of Rahsaan. “He seemed so much more relaxed,” she says. “Much happier, much lighter.” 

Back in 1985, just a few blocks from where Rahsaan and Gelbart walked now, Rahsaan, his brother Aikeem, and his friend Troy had been on their way home from the Fulton Mall when out of nowhere, about a dozen guys rolled up on them. They started beating on Troy and, for a minute, left Rahsaan and Aikeem alone. Images of his father, throat slashed, flashed through Rahsaan’s mind. He pulled a rug cutter out of his pocket, ran to the smallest guy in the group, and jabbed it into the back of his head. “They looked at me like they were gonna kill me,” Rahsaan says. He threw the blade to the ground, slid his hand inside his coat, and held it there. “Y’all wanna play? We gonna play,” he said. The bluff worked; the guys ran. It was the first time Rahsaan had ever stabbed someone. 

Change sometimes occurs gradually, and then all at once. That was a different Brooklyn, a different Rahsaan. He began to confront his own violence when he had met Samir some 20 years before, and continued to do so through his studies, his faith, his work in restorative justice, and his own writing. But the origin of his tendency toward violence, the death of his father, remained firmly rooted in his psyche. Then, in 2017, Rahsaan spoke for the first time with his estranged half-brother, Carl. 

Carl had read Rahsaan’s work, and asked why he always said their father had been murdered.

“That’s what grandma told me,” Rahsaan said. 

“But he wasn’t murdered,” Carl told him. “He killed himself.” 

And it wasn’t in 1982, as Rahsaan remembered, but in 1985—the same year Rahsaan started carrying blades. 

Rahsaan didn’t believe it until Carl sent him a copy of the suicide note. Even then he remained in shock. “To think I justified violence, treating robbery like a life-or-death situation, over a lie,” he says. Jacqueline was as surprised as Rahsaan to learn the truth of Carlos’s death. He never seemed troubled or depressed to her when they were together, but, “You can’t really read people,” she says. “You don’t know.” 

Rahsaan still can’t account for why his grandmother told him what she did, nor for the discrepancy between his memory and the facts. Regardless, after more than 30 years, Rahsaan was finally able to let go of the one trauma that had calcified into an instinct to kill or be killed. And he has no intention of dredging it back up. 

THE FASTEST RUNNER IN THE 1,000 MILE CLUB’S HISTORY IS MARKELLE “THE GAZELLE” TAYLOR, WHO was paroled in 2019 and went on to run 2:52 in the 2022 Boston Marathon. Rahsaan is the slowest. At San Quentin, he was often the last one to finish a race, but that wasn’t the point—he liked being out in the Yard with the guys. It gave him a sense of belonging, and not just to the 1,000 Mile Club, but to the running community beyond.   

Like every other 1,000 Miler who gets released from San Quentin, Rahsaan had a rite of passage to conquer. On Sunday morning, May 7, 2023, he met a handful of other runners from the club and a few volunteer coaches in Mill Valley. After a decade of gazing up at Mount Tam from the Yard as he completed one 400-meter loop after another, Rahsaan was finally about to run over the mountain all the way to the Pacific. 

The runners did a few final stretches, wished one another luck, and started to run. Almost immediately they had to climb some 700 stairs, many made of stone, and the course only got more treacherous from there. Uneven footing, singletrack paths, and 2,000-plus feet of elevation all conspire to make the Dipsea notoriously difficult. The giant redwoods and Douglas firs along the course were lost on Rahsaan; he never took his eyes off the ground. 

One of the coaches, Jim Maloney, stayed with Rahsaan as his guide, and to help him if he slipped or fell. Markelle Taylor came too, but said he’d meet them in Stinson Beach. He knew how dangerous the trail was, Rahsaan says, and had vowed to never run it again. After his own initiation, Rahsaan decided that he, too, would never do it again. “I’ve been shot at,” he says. “I’ve been in physical danger. I don’t want to revisit danger.”

Rahsaan now logs most of his miles on a treadmill because of knee issues, but on occasion he ventures out to do the 3.4-mile loop around Lake Merritt, a lagoon in the heart of Oakland. He decided to use the New York City Marathon to raise money for Empowerment Ave, and to accept donations until he crossed the finish line in Central Park. Gelbart wrote a training plan for him and got him a new pair of shoes. In prison, Rahsaan had run in the same pair of Adidas for three years, and he was excited to learn about the maximalist shoe movement. Gelbart tried to interest him in Hokas, but Rahsaan thought they were ugly. He wanted Nikes. 

In June, Gelbart went to the Bay Area to visit family and met Rahsaan for a six-mile run around Lake Merritt. As they looped the lake at a conversational 11:30 pace, they talked about work, relationships, and, of course, the New York City Marathon. Rahsaan was disappointed to learn that he would probably not be the last person to finish. (He still holds the record for the slowest San Quentin Marathon in its 15-year history, and he hopes no one ever beats it.) Besides, the more time he spent on the course in New York, he figured, the longer people would have to donate to Empowerment Ave.

On Sunday, November 5, Gelbart and Rahsaan made their way to Staten Island. Waiting at the base of the Verrazzano Bridge, Gelbart recorded Rahsaan singing along to Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” for Instagram, and captioned the video “back where he belongs.” They documented much of their race as they floated through Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and the Bronx: greeting friends along the course, enjoying a lollipop on the Queensboro Bridge, beaming even as their pace slowed from 11:45 per mile for the first 5K to 16:30 for the last. Rahsaan finished in six hours, 26 minutes, and 21 seconds, placing 48,221 out of 51,290 runners. The next day, he sent me a text: “The marathon was pure love.” What’s more, he received more than $15,000 in donations for Empowerment Ave, enough to start a writing program at a women’s prison in Texas. 

Every runner has an origin story. Every runner finds a reason to keep going. At Calipatria, Rahsaan liked to joke that he ran because if an earthquake ever came along and brought down the prison’s walls, he needed to be in shape so he could escape and run to Mexico. In San Quentin, he ran for the community. Today he has a new reason. “I heard that running extends your life by 10 years,” he says, “and I gave away 22.” Now that he’s out, his motivation has never been higher. He has so much to do. 

Six-Time Cancer Survivor Runs a Marathon on Every Continent

“Don’t let anyone tell you what you’re capable of. That’s for you to determine.”

For the last mile of the Antarctica Marathon, Jonathan Acott played one song on repeat. Trudging through snow and icy winds on the edge of the world, the runner from Surrey, United Kingdom, listened to Tim McGraw’s hit, “Live Like You Were Dying.” It was a fitting anthem for the six-time cancer survivor in his pursuit to run a marathon on all seven continents. 

With 500 yards remaining in the race, Acott took his headphones out. He wanted to be fully present for the homestretch of the seventh marathon. Running downhill toward a small tent with a timer next to the Russian research station, the 48-year-old made his way to the finish line area, where a group of volunteers and fellow competitors cheered him on. 

His legs sore from the descent, Acott took a moment to compose himself before stepping across the finish line, completing a challenge that seemed unimaginable five years ago. “The photographers are there and they say, ‘Put your arms up!’ But I don’t want to put my arms up. That’s not how I want to celebrate,” Acott said. “I needed to stop at that moment. There’ll be other mountains, but right now I just want to stop.”

Amid the devastation caused by multiple cancers and the arduous healing process that followed, Acott transformed his life, becoming a motivational speaker, coach, and avid runner intent on chasing epic goals. For Acott, becoming a member of the Seven Continents Club—645 men and 358 women who have completed 26.2 on all seven continents—is the latest example of the runner choosing to embrace every moment.

‘If I’m moving, I’m not dead.’ 

Acott’s cancer journey began 20 years ago. In 2004, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer at 29 years old. His first relapse occurred in 2007 when doctors discovered a tumor in his chest. He relapsed again in 2013 and 2016 and underwent back-to-back retroperitoneal lymph node dissections, a surgery to remove the lymph nodes in the back of the abdomen. In 2017, he was diagnosed with bowel cancer. The following year, doctors discovered he relapsed again. His final surgery in 2018 involved removing his kidney and spleen. The spleen ruptured during the procedure, which required an emergency blood transfusion on top of chemotherapy post-operation. 

In a span of 14 years, Acott underwent numerous rounds of chemotherapy (he estimates about seven months total) and six surgeries that left his body riddled with lifelong side effects, including permanent nerve damage and hearing loss. The experience also took a heavy toll on his mental health. At his lowest, Acott suffered from suicidal ideation. Working with a psychiatrist helped him cope and reframe his perspective. 

“Life is unfair to everybody. This just happens to be it,” Acott said. “And I can do two things. I can sit there and wallow about how miserable life is, or I can accept that life is difficult and hard and challenging, and you can make the most of it.”

Since 2018, Acott has been cancer free. After the last bout of the disease, his doctors encouraged him to start walking in the recovery process. He also lost his job after being unable to work during treatment. Walking not only gave him time to process his emotions, it also gave him something to work towards. In a few months, Acott was walking up to three hours at a time. 

After spending months building up to long distances, Acott decided he wanted to be more efficient by running. “I push because if I’m moving, I’m not dead,” Acott said. “If I’m moving further each day, I am getting healthier.”

Because Acott is immunocompromised and his body takes longer to heal now, he trains every other day. He’s also battling pain most of the time from scars and neuropathy in his feet, among other ailments, and needs to run a conservative pace most of the time. “My body has been through a lot, but it’s still capable of doing so much," he said. 

Choosing to live in optimism

In the fall of 2019—15 months after his last surgery—Acott raced the Berlin Marathon as a way to celebrate his comeback. He finished his first 26.2 in 4:58:38. Shortly after, he set out to complete the seven continents challenge. 

“I chose to apply myself to making the most of my time because I don’t know how much time I have,” Acott said. “It’s a choice about how you live. You can live in fear, and I am always scared, or I can live in optimism that I’m going to have the best life I possibly can.”

The following year, he ran the Africa leg at the 2020 Marrakech Marathon in 4:45:48. In 2020, he also took up motivational speaking on top of his full-time job as the head of guest experience at a business complex. 

After COVID restrictions were lifted, he finished the 2022 Austin Marathon in 5:15:28. The same year, he completed the South America portion by finishing the Curaçao Marathon in 5:09:16, trudging through flood waters on the course. 

He ran the Asia leg with a 5:15:33 at the 2023 Dubai Marathon along a desert roadway. Last fall, he covered Australia at the 2023 Perth Marathon with a finishing time of 5:01:40. On March 21, he completed the Antarctica Marathon in 5:38:16. 

Looking back on the experience, Acott remembered his surgeon’s warning after the last procedure. The doctor told him he wouldn’t be able to complete the same physical feats he used to do before cancer. Less than two months after completing the global marathon challenge, he’s already training for his next goal—breaking four hours in the marathon. 

“Don’t let anyone tell you what you’re capable of,” Acott said. “That’s for you to determine. Find what the best version of you looks like, and make it happen.”

MORE FROM RUNNER'S WORLD ON APPLE NEWS

American track star Parker Valby wins NCAA 10,000m title in controversial shoes

Valby wore customized Nike Vaporfly Next% 3 track spikes, which are 40 mm high.

There is no doubt University of Florida athlete Parker Valby is one of the best American distance runners on the scene today; on Thursday, she earned her fifth career NCAA track and field title, winning the women’s 10,000m event in a championship record 31:46.09. After the race, Valby told Citius Mag she had a boost from her custom 40 mm stack height Vaporfly Next% 3 track spikes, which, if the NCAA followed World Athletics competition rules, would be illegal. 

Since there are no rules against 40 mm shoes (with or without spikes) or prototypes in the NCAA, Valby was allowed to wear them. In World Athletics-accredited competitions, track spikes with a stack height over 25 mm are not allowed. When Valby was asked about her spikes post-race, she said Nike made them for her and presented several options for this race.

The Nike Vaporfly Next% 3 is typically used for road racing, and features a carbon-fiber plate and a max-cushioning midsole with a 40 mm stack height in the heel. This combination of the carbon-fiber plate and foam on impact increases energy return, meaning more of the runner’s exerted energy is converted into forward motion, improving speed and reducing fatigue. With spike pins added, this shoe would certainly enhance performance significantly on the track. 

Valby will compete again at the 2024 NCAA Track and Field Championships on June 8 in the women’s 5,000m. She has not stated whether she will wear her personal prototype shoe. She is the reigning NCAA champion over the distance.

Valby, 21, was the only athlete in the women’s 10,000m final wearing these max-cushioned custom spikes, and she made it look easy, spending the first few laps of the 10,000m waving to herself on the Hayward Field jumbotron. Since USATF follows World Athletics competition rules, Valby’s winning time from this race would not be eligible for the U.S. Olympic Trials 10,000m qualification (though it doesn’t matter, since she has previously run a qualification time wearing a WA-legal pair of spikes).

World Athletics introduced in-competition stack height rules in 2021 to ensure fairness, maintain the integrity of the sport and address the performance advantages provided by technological advancements in footwear. As things stand in the NCAA, athletes who wear shoes with a heel stack height over the legal 25 mm will not have their times count for anything outside of the NCAA; this makes monitoring the issue extremely complicated, with hundreds of meets condensed over a 3.5-month season.

New York Mini 10k 2024: Senbere Teferi wins third consecutive race

Senbere Teferi, a two-time Olympian and two-time World Championships medalist from Ethiopia, won her third consecutive Mastercard New York Mini 10K in a time of 30:47, just shy of the record she set in 2023 with a time of 30:12.

ABC 7 New York provided live streaming coverage of the New York Road Runners' Mini 10K race in Central Park with more than 9,000 runners expected this year.

Teferi also won 2019 UAE Healthy Kidney 10K in New York and the 2022 United Airlines NYC Half, which was the second-fastest time in the history of the event.

"It is such a special race because there is a bond that exists with thousands of women also running. Even though we are not related, I feel supported like we are all sisters in running," Teferi said prior to today's race.

2022 TCS New York City Marathon champion Sharon Lokedi finished second with a time of 31:04.

Lokedi was also the runner-up at both the 2022 Mastercard New York Mini 10K and the 2024 Boston Marathon.

"Although I have only run the Mini once before, I felt embraced by the many thousands of women who ran the race before me, and hope to inspire the many thousands more who will come after me," Lokedi said prior to today's race. "It's an awesome thing, how women from so many different places and life experiences can come and feel connected to each other through the simple act of running a loop in Central Park."

Sheila Chepkirui finished third (31:09) while American Amanda Vestri finished fourth (31:17).

The 2024 Mastercard New York Mini 10K will feature four past champions, five Paris 2024 Olympians, and seven of the top 10 finishers from the 2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.

The 52nd running of the event also featured members of 2024 U.S. Olympic Women's Marathon Team - Fiona O'Keeffe, Emily Sisson, and Dakotah Lindwurm.

New York Road Runners started the Mini 10K in 1972 as the first women-only road race, known then as the Crazylegs Mini Marathon. Seventy-two women finished the first race, and three weeks later Title IX was signed into law, guaranteeing girls and women the right to participate in school sports and creating new opportunities for generations of female athletes.

The Mastercard New York Mini 10K is now one of nonprofit NYRR's 60 adult and youth races annually and has garnered more than 200,000 total finishers to date.

The 2024 Mastercard New York Mini 10K offered $39,500 in total prize money, including $10,000 to the winner of the open division. Mastercard served as title sponsor of the event for the fourth year, and as part of its ongoing partnership with NYRR will also serve as the presenting sponsor of professional women's athlete field.

Eyewitness News provided live updates from the race and streamed the event live on abc7NY. An all-women team of WABC sports anchor Sam Ryan and meteorologist Dani Beckstrom, along with U.S. Olympian Carrie Tollefson, host of the Ali on the Run Show podcast Ali Feller, and running advocate Jacqui Moore anchored the coverage.

Suriname sprinter blames Gatorade for positive doping test

On Monday morning, Surinamese sprinter and current world U20 100m record holder Issam Asinga was issued a four-year doping ban by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) after testing positive for the metabolites of GW1516 in an out-of-competition test on July 18, 2023. Asinga and his agent claimed the positive test resulted from ingesting Gatorade Recovery Gummies, which were given to him after he won the Gatorade U.S. Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year award last July.

A few weeks later, at the South American Athletics Championships in São Paulo, Brazil, Asinga set a new U20 100m world record of 9.89 seconds, only to be provisionally suspended two weeks later, just before the start of the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

GW1516 was originally developed to treat obesity and diabetes, but is not approved for human use, due to its carcinogenic effects. It is banned both in and out of competition and is not eligible for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE). A USADA bulletin from 2019 states that GW1516, also known as cardarine or endurobol, has been found in some supplements, despite being illegal.

Asinga claimed he took gummies from Gatorade that were supposed to help with recovery. He said two containers of the gummies revealed the presence of the banned substance, but the AIU panel stated he did not show proof that the gummies were the source of the drug found in his sample.

According to the AIU, Asinga claimed he took the Gatorade gummies the week before the positive test, and that subsequent testing of two unsealed containers of Gatorade gummies, provided by the athlete, revealed the presence of GW1516 and GW1516 sulfoxide. “The Disciplinary Tribunal found that Asinga did not satisfy his burden of proof to establish that the Gatorade Recovery Gummies were the source of the GW1516 metabolites detected in his sample.”

In making its decision, the AIU Disciplinary Tribunal stated that the Gatorade recovery gummies provided in unsealed containers by the athlete for testing contained significantly more GW1516 on the outside than on the inside, which practically excludes any contamination by raw ingredients during the manufacturing process. They also noted that the gummies were batch-tested by the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF), and that a sealed jar of the Gatorade recovery gummies, from the same batch taken by Asinga, tested negative for GW1516.

The 19-year-old sprinter plans to appeal the ban, which would take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland.

All of Asinga’s results from July 18 onward will be disqualified, including his two South American Championships gold medals in the 100m and 200m, as well as his world U20 100m record of 9.89 seconds.

Shalane Flanagan Finds Her Sweet Spot With College Coaching

She’s juggling the University of Oregon women’s distance runners, the Bowerman Track Club, and a young family. 

Before she gives a new workout to her University of Oregon athletes, Shalane Flanagan will try it out herself. 

During cross-country season, it was a 5-mile tempo loop. Was it too hilly? Were the turns too sharp? In April, she was “messing around at the track one day,” as she described it, when she attempted a descending ladder of mile-800-600-400 at 10K-5K-3K-1500 pace with a short jog recovery.

“Yeah, that’s really hard,” she thought to herself. “But I think if they did that twice, it would make 10K runners feel really prepared.” Her goal with the experimentation is to make sure a workout is “feasible, but not outlandish” before her runners do it. 

Few distance coaches in the NCAA are doing what she does, testing hard workouts, although Flanagan, 42, is quick to say that she does not hit the same splits her athletes do. Her boss, Oregon head coach Jerry Schumacher, is not so sure. “I see her out running every now and then, holy cow, she’s flying,” he told Runner’s World, quipping that it’s too bad she’s used up her NCAA eligibility. 

Fewer still have the credentials that Flanagan, a four-time Olympian, has. She was the Olympic silver medalist in the 10,000 meters in 2008 and the 2017 New York City Marathon champion. Since she retired in 2019, she stayed on as an assistant coach with the Bowerman Track Club, a Nike pro group also coached by Schumacher that she ran for in the latter stages of her career. 

That experience gives her credibility with her runners. So when she tells her athletes that they’re ready to handle a workout or race a certain time, they believe her. 

“I don’t like to refer back to myself a lot,” she said in an interview at her home, a large 1920s colonial about a half mile from Hayward Field. “But I’ll say, ‘Hey, I’ve had experience with this,’ and I think they know, when I’m giving them advice, it’s not a hypothetical. I’m not projecting or guessing. 

“They know it’s coming from a genuine place, because I’ve lived it,” she added. “I think that can be helpful with their confidence.”

Multiple full-time jobs

Flanagan had been living near Portland, Oregon, with her husband, Steve Edwards, and toddler son, Jack, when Schumacher was hired as the head coach of Oregon in Eugene, two hours south, in the summer of 2022. He brought Flanagan on as an assistant coach, while both kept their responsibilities with the Bowerman team, which also moved to Eugene. It was a lot. 

Those early days for Flanagan—getting to know 11 female distance runners on the team, developing their training, learning the ever-changing NCAA rules, recruiting—were exhausting. And that was before they adopted a second child, Grace, as a newborn, in January 2023. They had only hours notice before Grace’s arrival. 

Flanagan gets childcare help for Jack, almost 4, and Grace, 1, from a variety of babysitters and her parents. Her father, Steve Flanagan, and her stepmother visit often. One time, Flanagan had some team members’ parents visiting, and she turned around to see her dad showing them her Olympic medal. “What are you doing?” she asked him. “Put that away, that’s embarrassing.” 

About three months in, when Schumacher asked her how she was handling the workload, she told him she was overwhelmed. “I’m really tired,” she said, “but this is the most fun I’ve ever had professionally. Like, I really love this job. I really love college athletics.”

Schumacher gave her full autonomy to write the training for Oregon’s women. And unlike with the Bowerman program, which former runners have said did not have much variation depending on the athlete, Flanagan has personalized training at Oregon for each individual. Some athletes on her team run as little as 25 miles per week, others go as high as 75. 

One cornerstone of her training is the weekly long run on Sundays, and most weeks it has some structure to it, with tempo portions or a fartlek. For most of the team, the distance ranges from 12 to 16 miles, depending on the person.

When she first arrived in Eugene, she wrote the training with ranges in mileage. Easy days, for instance, she’d have her runners do 6 to 8 miles, depending on how they felt. They didn’t like that. They wanted an exact number. Getting them to trust themselves, listen to their bodies, and know the difference between muscle soreness and a potential injury has been one of her biggest challenges. 

“I have tried to instill in them that they need to learn their body,” she said. “Like, I’m not in their body—they need to take stock and learn how to read their body. It’s one of the greatest skills and assets I felt like I had [as a runner].” 

Flanagan tries to run with various groups at least one day per week on their easy runs. “It’s fun to run with the coach,” said Klaudia Kazimierska, who was fourth in the 1500 meters at the NCAA outdoor championships in 2023. “She’s a great inspiration, and she was a great athlete. She tries to give us a lot of information—and she tries to show us that running is so fun.” 

Flanagan finds it easier to learn about her athletes when they’re on the run instead of sitting down and looking at one another. She’ll pick up vibes about what’s going on with them and urge them to limit their social media, especially when it comes to training. 

“They devour information about what everyone else is doing,” Flanagan said. “I tell them, ‘You’ve got to be careful what goes in your head.’ I don’t follow any other kids from any other programs or any other coaches. I think it would undermine my intuitiveness. I don’t want to know.”

At the same time, she finds her college athletes much more professional than she was as an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina, when she worked hard, but also focused on her classes and other parts of college life. Not these women. “If anything, I’m like, ‘Yo, you’ve got to chill out. You’ve got to dial this back,’” she said. “They’re really into their running and I don’t have to nudge or push. They are really on top of it. It’s kind of freaky.”

Mixed results

Flanagan’s approach has yielded immediate results, but some athletes have had setbacks as well. 

Last year, four qualified for the NCAA outdoor championships in the distance events, from 800 to 10,000, including three who made the final in the 1500. 

Early in the 2024 outdoor season, the Ducks seemed destined to have more in this year’s championship meet, which started June 5 at Hayward Field. 

At the end of March, Maddy Elmore set a school record in the 5,000 meters, running 15:15.79. Two weeks later, Şilan Ayyildiz, a transfer from the University of South Carolina who had been at Oregon for only about three months, ran 15:15.84.

Ayyildiz lines up at the NCAA championships this weekend, along with Kazimierska and Mia Barnett in the 1500 meters, and a freshman steeplechaser, Katie Clute. But Elmore sustained an injury to her soleus in late April and was unable to run in the qualifying meet for NCAAs. Flanagan’s total is again four athletes at NCAAs. She had hoped to have at least one qualifier in every event distance event. 

In her short tenure, she has seen how college students have to grapple with stress, classes, finals, and in some cases, anxiety. They pick up illnesses. The big result doesn’t always come at the right time—if it comes at all. “I see these things and I see how they move and handle the work, but sometimes in this season, I may not get the performance in a race,” she said. The coach is still learning. 

A busy summer 

Elmore might be back in time to race the Olympic Trials, which begin on June 21. Kazimierska will go home to Poland and hope to make the Polish Olympic team in the 1500 meters. As soon as the season is over, Flanagan will turn more of her attention to the Bowerman team, which currently has three women: Karissa Schweizer, Christina Aragon, and Kaylee Mitchell. The club had several departures from the men’s and women’s side after Shelby Houlihan’s doping ban in 2021 and the move to Eugene in 2022. 

It’s been difficult for Flanagan to watch the turnover, especially as some of the athletes she’d trained alongside for years, like steeplechaser Courtney Frerichs, left. They’re friends.

At the same time, Flanagan understands it. She changed coaches a few times herself during her career. It would be selfish for her to expect them to stay. 

“Especially at the end of a career, to eke out those last big performances, sometimes you need a change of scenery,” she said. “I actually think it’s healthy to get different training, a different stimulus. Sometimes you can fall into this monotony and it feels stale especially if you’ve been doing it for a while.”

When she heard from athletes that they were thinking of leaving Bowerman, Flanagan jumped in with suggestions. 

Her coaching brain took over to help. 

“At the end of the day, I want them to be successful and happy,” she said. “So when they expressed maybe needing a change, I’m like, ‘Okay, let’s work through this. What are your plans? I don’t want you to leave and aimlessly not have a plan. What does that look like, what do you want to do?’ It’s a natural evolution.” 

Canadian ultrarunner Reid Coolsaet weighs in on Awesome Sauce controversy

Carbs, calories and conflicting labels have been the focus of ultra-trail talk on social media over the last few weeks, all circling around Spring Energy’s Awesome Sauce gel. In an Instagram post, Olympic marathoner and ultra-trail runner Reid Coolsaet weighed in on his less-than-ideal experience with the race fuel during the 2023 edition of Pike’s Peak Ascent 21K, in Manitou Springs, Colo.–his last competitive race.

“If I had been consuming Awesome Sauce in the peak of my career or in a race I was gunning for the podium, I’d be super pissed,” he said.

Coolsaet’s post comes on the tail of a controversy about Awesome Sauce that has been steadily gaining steam. In April, an ultrarunner on Reddit shared their doubts about Awesome Sauce’s energy content. The original poster, who stated that they worked as an environmental chemist, noticed that they experienced a “hollowed-out stomach” feeling after consuming an Awesome Sauce gel, which claims to pack 180 calories and 45 grams of carbohydrate. They performed an at-home experiment with a dehydrator and a kitchen scale, concluding that an Awesome Sauce gel provides a runner with only around 60 calories and 17 grams of carbohydrate.

While various elites, amateurs and Internet trolls weighed in on their beliefs around the content of Awesome Sauce, coach and pro ultrarunner Jason Koop purchased some gels and sent them to an independent lab for testing, then shared the results on his website and Instagram. The verdict? Koop reports that an Awesome Sauce gel contains 75 calories (not 180, as labelled), and 18 grams of carbohydrate (as opposed to the 45 grams claimed on the label).

Coolsaet explains the challenges that committing poor fuelling choices (unknowingly) caused him. While he struggled during the final third of Pike’s Peak, he assumed it was due to altitude (the race finishes at over 4,000m). “I didn’t think fueling had anything to do with falling apart because I thought I was consuming about 65 grams of carbs per hour,” said Coolsaet, who was drinking Tailwind and eating Awesome Sauce gels during the race. “Now it sounds like instead of 45 grams of carbs in each Awesome Sauce there are only 18 grams (check out @jasonkoop’s post). So I was really only getting 35 grams of carbs an hour, which isn’t going to cut it when racing for 2-3 hours.”

At the end of April, Spring Energy responded to the Reddit poster, stating that they value constructive criticism and input. “Our analysis supports the accuracy of our product labeling. However, we will reevaluate to make sure our data is accurate,” they wrote.

Why You (Yes, You) Were Born to Run

A new analysis in Nature Human Behaviour bolsters the case that persistence hunting—and, by extension, running itself—is a key part of our collective history.The theory that human endurance evolved out of our need to outrun our prey has intrigued runners for four decades. After all, the idea of “persistence hunting” presents a much more romantic explanation for our otherwise pathological obsession with slogging through the Trial of Miles. According to the original endurance hunting theory laid out in a 1984 paper by David Carrier, modern runners are actually expressing the essential spirit of our species. It is running that, as the cliché goes, made us human—and that’s why so many of us still run.

It’s such a lovely theory that, in the running world at least, we mostly tried not to probe it too closely. In the scientific world, though, there have long been doubters. In particular, the hypothesis has two main weak points. One is that running incinerates calories, which is great if you’re trying to lose weight but highly problematic if you’re trying to eke out a precarious living on the savanna. The other is that, among the hunter-gatherer societies that maintained their traditions into the 20th century and beyond, persistence hunts seem to be rare novelties that only occur in a few special places. No one doubts that we can run down antelopes, but it doesn’t seem to be the kind of core pursuit that would shape our evolution.

Happily, a new analysis in Nature Human Behaviour counters those criticisms with fresh data, bolstering the case that persistence hunting—and, by extension, running itself—is a key part of our collective history. Eugène Morin of Trent University and Bruce Winterhalder of UC Davis bring together several different lines of evidence to argue that persistence hunting was worth the caloric price, and took place in virtually every corner of the globe—not just on the African savanna, but in dense woodlands, on mountain slopes, and across snow-covered wastelands.David Carrier’s original endurance hunting theory was further fleshed out in 2004 by Daniel Lieberman and Dennis Bramble, then made famous in Christopher McDougall’s 2009 bestseller Born to Run. According to the theory, we have a bunch of traits that make us good long-distance runners. Most importantly, we have lots of efficient and fatigue-resistant slow-twitch muscle fibers in our legs, and we can cool ourselves by sweating from our mostly hairless body surfaces. There’s a long list of other potentially advantageous adaptations, from flexible breathing patterns to long Achilles tendons. These features suggest that our bodies were shaped by evolution to be good at endurance running.

There’s no doubt, though, that running burns more calories than walking to cover a given distance. If you’re tracking an antelope, wouldn’t it make more sense to be patient and stick to walking along its trail? Morin and Winterhalder calculate the return rate for various hunting scenarios, taking into account the calories you’ll burn in the pursuit, the chances of success or failure, and the calories you’ll get from the animal to produce an overall estimate of how many calories per hour each hunting method is “worth.”

Surprisingly, the faster you go, the more rewarding the hunt is. Faster speeds burn more calories per unit time but take less time to catch the animal; the time savings outweigh the extra cost of running. The benefits of ending the hunt sooner are so big that it’s still more efficient to run even if you have to cover twice the distance that you would if you walked.Morin and Winterhalder and their colleagues have done similar calculations for other types of hunting—“encounter” and “communal drive”—and find that the return rates are similar, or in some cases even better for persistence hunts, depending on the context. For example, the persistence hunter has an advantage when the terrain impedes the prey: pursuing game through deep or crusty snow is effective if you’ve got snowshoes or skis. Hot weather also favors humans over animals like deer, which cool themselves by panting, though it’s possible to run them to overheating even in moderate conditions.

All this is interesting but theoretical. How do these numbers translate to real-world behavior? The other part of the study is a new examination of old ethnographic sources that have been digitized in recent years, making them easier to search. The researchers assembled 8,000 publicly available “memoirs, travelogs, missionary accounts” and other documents, and used content analysis software to look for passages where words such as “run down,” “tiring,” “game,” and “animal” occurred close together. Amazingly, they turned up 391 descriptions of persistence hunts dating from the 1500s to the 1900s, occurring on every continent except Antarctica and in a wide variety of different environments and societies.

Most of the previously known accounts of persistence hunting came from hot, open plains in Southern African, the American Southwest, and Australia. The new accounts cover a much broader territory: native Hawaiians “jog-trotting” over rocky terrain until wild goats give up in exhaustion; single unaccompanied Beothuks in Newfoundland running down fat stags; Dayaks in Borneo taking advantage of hot, dry days to catch deer. Around 40 percent of the hunts were in forest, taiga, or rainforest, and another 20 percent were in environments with mixed vegetation.There’s a big gap in southern Eurasia, which is probably because hunter-gatherer societies in those regions were replaced by farmers long before there were written records or curious anthropologists. And there’s a big cluster along the west coast of North America, thanks to a massive ethnographic project undertaken by the University of California in the 1930s and 1940s. This Cultural Element Distribution project systematically surveyed 141 societies in the region; 114 of them, or 81 percent, reported persistence hunting, bolstering the claim that this was a widespread activity rather than a rarity. (In the inset, persistence-hunting societies from this survey are shown with black dots; non-persistence-hunting ones are red dots. If you can see the difference, your eyes are better than mine.)

The upshot of all this data-crunching is a much more robust claim that persistence hunting was a widespread human activity that could well have shaped our evolution. “The emergence of endurance running,” Morin and Winterhalder write, “also informs our predilection for recreational running.” In other words, yes, we were born to run. But don’t feel bad if you read these accounts and think, “Oh man, I’ve been training for all these years and there’s still no way I could run down a deer.” That, too, is a tale as old as time.

“In the old days we used to hunt with the bow and spear,” a Gwich’in elder in northwestern North America lamented in the 1850s. “Our young men were strong in those days. We hunted the moose by running him down on snowshoes, and we could run all day, such as wolves. Now our young men are become lazy and feeble. They prefer to hunt the moose in the fall, when he is easy to kill. They ride on their dog-sleds and are afraid to run all day.”

How to prepare for a marathon, according to official Comrades coach

John Perlman speaks with Lindsey Parry, Official Comrades Marathon Coach.

Running a marathon is a massive task, and far more goes into it than just the actual running.

In the final two days of a race, there are a few things a runner needs to do for the best outcome.

Eat at the right time:

Your biggest main meal leading up to the race should be two nights before the race.

The night before you should not eat anything too heavy.

Get your sleep:

The few nights before running a marathon you should get a full night’s sleep.

Many people will not sleep that well the night before, so Parry says you should be sure to rest well two or three nights before.

“Night two and night three, those are really the nights to try and get yourself a good night’s sleep.”

- Lindsey Parry, Official Comrades Marathon Coach

Make a realistic race plan:

Before you start running you should look at what you have done with previous races or training, and plan accordingly.

This year the first 50km have a significant amount of climbing, so you should be conservative in this time.

Stay positive:

It can be easy to get overwhelmed by bad thoughts, especially if you have recently had a bad run.

Parry says you should just enjoy the day for what it is and focus on the run ahead.

Five signs that you need new running shoes

Each year, warm weather brings out many new runners to run clubs or to start the sport. When you’re new to any sport, you work with the equipment you have. Running shoes are more than just footwear; they play a pivotal role in helping you become a better runner and chase your goals. Wearing worn-out shoes can lead to discomfort and injury, and can hurt your performance. Here are five dire signs that indicate it’s time to invest in a new pair of running shoes.

1.- They aren’t running shoes

This one may seem straightforward, but after attending a few run clubs, I’m amazed at how many individuals still run in worn-out skateboarding shoes or cheap trainers. Compared to other sports, running has a low entry cost. Even if you aren’t sure what you’re looking for, ask around or drop in to your local running store. You can tell them your goals, and the staff will recommend a few options for you to try out.

2.- Shin splints

Your running shoes should be the most comfortable pair of shoes you own. If you start experiencing shin splints or any pain or discomfort in your feet, it’s a sign that your shoes aren’t providing adequate support, or they may not be right type of running shoes for you. The foam in running shoes deteriorates over time (even if you aren’t using them for running), leading to less shock absorption and more stress on your joints and muscles.

3.- Worn-out soles

The most obvious sign you need to buy new running shoes is visible wear and tear on the outsole. Examine the soles of your shoes for uneven wear patterns, which can indicate that the cushioning and support are compromised. The outsole is designed to provide grip and stability, but over time it can wear down and become flat, particularly in high-impact areas like the heel and forefoot. A flattened outsole not only reduces traction, but also affects the overall structure and support of the shoe. If your shoe’s outsole is noticeably worn and smooth, it’s a clear indication you need a new pair. On average, a new pair of running shoes should last between 400 and 700 kilometers.

4.- Frequent blisters

If you are getting nonstop blisters every time you run, getting fitted for a new pair of shoes is a quick fix. Blisters indicate that your current shoes do not fit properly, are too old or aren’t meant for your foot type and running style. Shoes that are too tight, too loose or have a shape that doesn’t match your foot can cause friction, which leads to blisters. You need to get fitted at a running specialty store for a new pair of shoes.

5.- Compressed cushioning

A critical function of every running shoe is to provide cushioning for your landings. Over time, the foam in the midsole compresses and loses its ability to rebound and provide adequate support. Even if you aren’t tracking the miles in the shoes, there’s still a way to test if they are worn out. Put your hand inside the shoe and push against the midsole, with your other hand on the bottom of the outsole. If it feels hard or you can feel the force of your hand, it’s a sign that the cushioning is worn out. The pounding of your body weight against the ground is a lot more force than your hand, so if you can feel anything, it’s a clear-cut sign the shoes need to be replaced. Continuing to run on compressed cushioning can lead to increased fatigue and possible injury.

Daniel Mateiko explains why teaming up with Nicholas Kimeli guarantees Kenya an Olympic medal

Daniel Mateiko has given a reason why he believes teaming up with Nicholas Kimeli will earn Kenya the coveted gold medal.

The reigning Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon champion Daniel Mateiko has explained why teaming up with Nicholas Kimeli guarantees Team Kenya an Olympic medal in the men’s 10,000m.

Mateiko and Kimeli got direct Olympic qualification following their impressive runs at the Prefontaine Classic, the Diamond League Meeting in Eugene, which also served as the Kenyan trials for the 10,000m.

The 25-year-old clocked a stunning world leading and personal best time of 26:50.81 to win the race as Kimeli finished second in a personal best time of 26:50.94. The third participant will be selected by a panel of selectors.

The 2022 Antrim Coast Half Marathon champion noted that he trains with Kimeli, something that places them at a greater level of winning the gold medal that was last won during the 1986 Olympic Games by Naftali Temu.

“Firstly, Kimeli and I train together, so I think we make a great team since we have been training together and we are going to Paris together, so we shall do well. It’s all about working on the confidence and believing in yourself that you can win.

“Actually, my journey in athletics has had ups and downs, sometimes you fail sometimes you succeed. Both of them are important in my career because when you fail, you grow,” he said.

The Kenyan also insisted that he will not change any of his training techniques in the build up to the global bonanza. He admitted that training with some of the greatest long-distance runners including Eliud Kipchoge and Geoffrey Kamworor has helped him gain confidence and helped him learn a lot of skills.

“I believe my preparation will be good and I have no plans of changing any program that I have been doing so I go and do my best there. I hope to do my best.

“It’s a great motivation for me to be training with great athletes like Eliud Kipchoge and Geoffrey Kamworor and I have learnt a lot of tactics and resilience from them,” Mateiko said.

Three workouts to rev up any race pace

Whether you’re hoping to maximize your mile pace or prepping for a fall marathon, these speedwork sessions are for you. Dr. Andrew Reheisse, a Salt Lake City-based chiropractor and running coach, suggests adding one of these speed-boosting sessions to your training regime once a week. These workouts are based around your mile pace for your goal race distance—if you calculate your running pace in kilometres, just multiply it by 1.6. For these workouts, you’ll be gearing up to 30 seconds to one minute faster than goal mile pace.

Reheisse explains that as you progress, you can extend the intervals so that you’re comfortably covering longer distances at tempo pace.

1.- 200m repeats

For these intervals, you’re aiming to run a minute or faster than your goal (mile) race pace for the interval. Tweak the number of sets to prep for any distance: for a 5-10K race, run 2-3 sets, for a half-marathon, aim for 3-4 and for a marathon, bump it up to 5 or 6. This workout is easiest on a track, where 4 laps equal 1 mile.

Warm up with a mile of easy jogging and some dynamic drills, like these.

Run 4 x 200m with a 200m jog between reps; take a 400m jog between sets.

Cool down with a mile of easy running.

2.- Speedy fartlek fun

“In this workout we play around with our speed at different intervals of time, says Reheisse. “I outlined a common workout I do, but it can really be any amount of short bursts.”

Warm up with 1 mile of easy running and 5 minutes of dynamic drills. Start with 3 sets of this workout at 1 minute faster than race pace to get a feel for it—add more sets when you feel ready.

Run 3 sets of 40 seconds, 30 seconds and 20 seconds, with recovery time equalling interval time (40 seconds of speed work followed by 40 seconds of recovery, 30 seconds fast running followed by 30 seconds recovery, etc.).Take 2 minutes of easy recovery running.Run 1 minute, 1 minute 30 seconds, 1 minute, with recovery time equalling interval time (1 minute interval followed by 1 minute of easy running).Take 2 minutes of very easy running to recover.Run 3 sets of 40 seconds, 30 seconds and 20 seconds, with recovery time equalling interval time.

Cool down with a mile of easy running.

3.- Yo-yo intervals

“These are necessary to turn your newfound speed into a sustainable pace during a race, explains Reheisse. “Performing repeat miles or 800s, or yo-yo-ing back and forth in this workout, you will still be running faster than your goal pace.” Reheisse suggests aiming for 15-30 seconds faster than goal pace on the mile repeats, and 45 seconds to 1 minute faster in the 800s. “As you progress, it will be the rest period that gets shorter, so that it becomes more race-like.

Warm up with a one-mile jog and 5 minutes of dynamic drills. This example workout is designed for a 8:00/mile goal race pace. Take 2-3 minutes of recovery running between each interval to start; lower to 1-1.5 minutes as your fitness progresses.

Run 800m with a goal time of 3:30.Run 1 mile with a goal time of 7:30-7:40.Run 800m with a goal time of 3:30.Run 1 mile with a goal time of 7:30-7:40.Run 800m with a goal time of 3:30.Cool down with an easy one-mile run.

Remember to hydrate well during speedwork sessions (and all training sessions) and follow a harder training day with a day of very easy running or complete rest.

David Rudisha explains why he never switched to a longer distance in his prime years

David Rudisha has explained why he could never dare to compete in a longer distance than the 800m.

World 800m record holder David Rudisha has disclosed why he could never dare to run a longer distance than the 800m.

Most 800m runners love blending the two-lap race with the 1500m but Rudisha opted to scale down to the 400m and he admitted that it worked perfectly for him.

In Kenya, Emmanuel Wanyonyi is one of the athletes who does the 800m and combines it with longer distances but reigning world 800m champion Mary Moraa is more of Rudisha’s type. Moraa is always known to compete in the 400m and 600m and she rarely makes appearances in the longer distances.

“If you see 800m runners, you find that some are doing 800m and others can move to 1500m and 5000m. However, others can only move to the 400m and I believe I’m the one who could only do the 400m.

“Even during my training days, I wasn’t doing so well with the endurance and I would struggle a lot. I wasn’t kind of a longer-distance athlete and at some point, at the beginning of the season, my coach would tell me to do 800m and 600m races.

“However, I never liked that because it was tough. During training, I would usually do maybe one 600m race and then go down to 200m or 400m and then the 300m, the one that I loved,” Rudisha said in an interview with World Athletics.

Speaking about his world record at the 2012 London Olympics, Rudisha disclosed that he had worked towards achieving that goal for years.

The two-time Olympic champion was only making his debut at the Olympics and deep down, he knew there was no chance of making mistakes. He explained that his team had worked around the clock and refined the finer things in his training and he was confident of running something special.

However, the two-time world champion noted that it was not an easy thing but he knew if he missed that chance, he would have to wait for four more years to make history.

“London 2012 was my first Olympic Games and as I was training, way back, my coach used to emphasise and he would say we would be in the Olympics and that got into my mind. Over five, six, seven, or eight years, I was focusing on the Olympics.

“Going there was very special and we did very good preparation to make it happen since you can’t make mistakes at the Olympics. I knew that I had a better chance and I was still in the peak of my career and we did very good training.

“At the beginning of the season, I did like two races in New York and Paris and I did 1:41, and going to London, I knew it wasn’t easy. I made my plans and knew that if I executed the race well, I would win the 800m and because I was a front runner, it would be easier for me,” Rudisha said.

Netflix’s track and field series, Sprint, to be released on July 2

We are 50 days from the start of the 2024 Paris Olympics, and if you aren’t excited about it yet, maybe this news will help. On Wednesday, Box To Box Films announced that their documentary series Sprint, focused on following the world’s top 100m and 200m sprinters, will be coming to Netflix on July 2.

Sprint will follow the journey of several elite sprinters, including world champions Noah Lyles, Sha’Carri Richardson, Fred Kerley and Dina Asher-Smith, providing a behind-the-scenes glimpse into their world of track and field.

The series takes place over the summer 2023 season and captures the thrilling moments from the Diamond League and Continental Tour, with the final episodes taking place at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, where Lyles won double gold in the 100m and 200m–the first athlete to do so at a world championship since Jamaica’s Usain Bolt in 2015.

Despite being the only track and field athlete to win six sprint medals at the last two Olympic Games, Canada’s Andre De Grasse is not one of the athletes featured in the series.

Box To Box Films is the same company behind the Formula One racing series Drive To Survive, the golf series Full Swing and the pro tennis series Break Point.

These series have resonated with existing fans and attracted new audiences to the respective sports. World Athletics hopes Sprint will have the same effect in the lead-up to the Paris Olympics.

If you are a Netflix account holder, you can search for Sprint now on the app, set a reminder and add it to your watch list. This is a series we will most definitely be bingeing, come July 2.

Timothy Cheruiyot reveals struggles with injuries and overcoming challenges as he chases Olympic glory

Former world 1500m champion Timothy Cheruiyot has opened up on his struggles with injuries and his comeback plan to the top of the men's 1500m.

Olympic silver medallist Timothy Cheruiyot has opened up about his injury bout that saw him struggle to produce great results since the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

Cheruiyot, a former world champion, explained that he had been through a tough time with his injury and explained that he had a torn knee which cost him a lot in terms of training and performing well.

He was a favourite at the 2022 World Championships but failed to live up to the billing, finishing sixth in the final of the 1500m before proceeding to a second-place finish at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Last season, Cheruiyot had a bitter exit from the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, where he was eliminated in the semifinal of the race. He explained that the injury has been a nightmare to him but appreciated his management and coach Bernard Ouma for walking with him during the difficult period.

“It was a bit hard because sometimes when an athlete has an injury, it’s a bit of a problem but for me, I thank my management and my coach for coming together and finding a good physiotherapist and a great rehab.

“At the moment I’m very happy to be back…it was hard because I had a torn knee and I’m happy to have come back and I’m training well now,” Cheruiyot said.

This season, the 28-year-old has been in great shape, and has competed in Diamond League Meetings and local races as he eyes the Olympic trials.

He was in action at the Diamond League Meeting in Doha, finishing second behind Brian Komen before almost upsetting Jakob Ingebrigtsen on home soil, at the Diamond League Meeting in Oslo.

Cheruiyot was also in action at the trials for the Africa Senior Athletics Championships, where he doubled in the 800m and 1500m and finished third and fifth respectively.

He has assured his fans of being fully back and will be keen to go back and take his rightful position as one of the greatest 1500m runners the world has ever known.

Treadmill desks are becoming more popular—but do they help your running performance?

We all know that exercise has a multitude of benefits, and sitting at a desk all day can take a toll on our mental and physical health. It can be hard to get out for a run sometimes, let alone get in our daily step count. Could a treadmill desk be the answer?

Prolonged inactivity is known to increase the risk of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and other health issues, with the adage “sitting is the new smoking” underscoring the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle. Conversely, walking as few as 4,000 steps a day has been shown to benefit both mind and body. Treadmill desks, which combine a standing desk with a treadmill, offer a potential solution to counteract sedentary office environments, The New York Times recently reported. But are they a worthwhile investment for runners?

Are they effective?

As treadmill desks become more popular, researchers are examining their efficacy. Studies, though sometimes limited in scope, indicate that treadmill desks can help people stay active, potentially adding an average of two extra miles of walking per day. A 2023 study even found that regular use of treadmill desks increased energy levels, improved mood, and in some cases, enhanced job productivity.

Akinkunle Oye-Somefun, a doctoral candidate at Toronto’s York University and lead author of a recent meta-analysis on treadmill-desk research, says that adding small amounts of activity throughout the day can accumulate. He cautions: “walking on a treadmill desk is a supplement, not a replacement for your regular exercise routine.” In other words—while a treadmill desk may boost training by enhancing your mood and adding to time spent on your feet, it’s not a replacement for your regular running routine.

Be mindful of cost

While treadmill desks can increase daily movement, they come with potential drawbacks. Noise is a significant issue, especially with standard running treadmills—the motor and the sound of footsteps can make it difficult to concentrate, both for the user and their co-workers. Quieter models tend to be more expensive, with treadmills and walking pads running from $280 to $1,400.

Taking those Zoom meetings can be a little challenging if you’re trying to speedwalk, and fine motor skills take a hit: Jenna Scisco, an associate professor of psychology at Eastern Connecticut State University and lead author of a 2023 study on treadmill desks, found that typing becomes more challenging while walking. Despite this, she noted that the health benefits often outweigh these drawbacks.

Build a consistent routine

Let’s face it—a walking desk won’t help you race to your next PB… directly. However, building a daily routine of getting more consistent exercise will make you fitter, and you may find yourself pushing through distance and effort barriers with more ease. While adding a lunchtime walk is still a good option if you’re limited by cost or office dynamics, establishing a regular routine on a treadmill desk can be an effective way to add more movement to your day. Experts suggest starting small, with 30-minute increments, before spending longer periods of your work day moving your legs.

Husband and wife Mudzinganyama, Tshuma aim to ‘Givemore’ at Comrades Marathon

While the Comrades Marathon has produced sibling champions in the past, there is yet to be husband-and-wife winners of the Ultimate Human Race.

Russian twin sisters Elena and Olesya Nurgalieva dominated the race in the early 2000s, with the former winning the race eight times, while the latter was victorious just once.

South African brothers Andrew (2001) and Gift Kelehe (2015) are the other siblings to have conquered the about-90km race run between Durban and Pietermaritzburg.

This year’s race will see a married couple making their debut, with the husband and wife sure to start among the contenders.

Last year’s Two Oceans Marathon champion Givemore Mudzinganyama, who was third in this year’s edition, and his wife Nobuhle Tshuma – fourth in the Two Oceans in 2023 – will line up at the Durban City Hall on Sunday morning intent on making history.

The couple that runs for Entsika Athletics Club are confident of getting into the top-10 gold medal positions.

But being the ambitious athletes they are, they will have victory in mind when the starting gun sends the runners off towards Scottsville Racecourse.

Somewhat opposites, as most couples tend to be, Tshuma is very extroverted and outspoken, while Mudzinganyama is somewhat shy – although not on the road.

Boston Athletic Association unveils revised unicorn logo for Boston Marathon

On the occasion of Global Running Day, the Boston Athletic Association is unveiling a revised version of its iconic unicorn logo.

B.A.A. officials said the new logo is intended to be a forward-facing and athletic symbol of the organization's future.

"Between our mass participatory events and our support of philanthropic organizations, we aim to spearhead continued growth and enthusiasm around the sport of running while supporting those around us," said Jack Fleming, B.A.A. President and CEO.

Elements of the new logo include:

Facing forward, the emblem eyes the future and many miles ahead.

Spike’s jawline is enhanced, demonstrating the athletic and gritty nature of Boston.

With alert and focused eyes, Spike is determined to conquer the challenging Boston Marathon course.

Pointing northeast, Spike’s horn represents the direction of the Marathon route on a compass from start to finish.

The flowing mane shows swift movement on the pursuit of a healthy and active lifestyle – directly tied to the B.A.A.’s mission.

The new base of the unicorn showcases two sides coming together, the merging of the B.A.A.’s history and future.

Within Spike’s neck is a gap between two lines, symbolic of breaking the champion’s tape at the finish line.

13 points are on the mane, one for each decade of B.A.A. heritage.

B.A.A. officials said the finish line on Boylston Street is being repainted Wednesday to feature the updated logo.

WCVB is the official broadcast partner of the B.A.A. and the Boston Marathon.

World 10km record holder Rhonex Kipruto handed six-year doping ban

Rhonex Kipruto is the latest Kenyan athlete to be disgraced over doping as he has been handed a six-year suspension with his big achievements quashed.

Kenya's Rhonex Kipruto has been banned for six years over a doping offence, adding to the grim statistics for the country.

Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) handed the punishment to the 24-year-old on Wednesday, meaning he will lose his 10 kilometres road race world record and a World Championships bronze medal.

Kipruto, who won the 10,000 metres bronze in the 2019 World Championships in Doha, had been provisionally suspended for an anti-doping violation in May last year and is now banned until May 2029.

Kipruto broke the 10km road race world record in 2020 in Valencia and won the 10,000 metres at the 2019 Stockholm Diamond League, achievements that are now null and void.

A Disciplinary Tribunal ruled that there were irregularities in Kipruto's Athlete Biological Passport (ABP), which shows discrepancies that can reveal the effects of doping.

"The Tribunal rejected Kipruto's defence, concluding the 'cause for the abnormalities in the ABP is more likely to be due to blood manipulation' such as through the use of recombinant human erythropoietin (rEPO)," AIU said its ruling, adding that there was no other plausible explanation for the abnormal values.

Kipruto had denied the Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) charge but the panel said it was "comfortably satisfied" that the Kenyan was involved in a "deliberate and sophisticated doping regime over a long period of time".

Kipruto can still appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The disgraced long-distance athlete joins a long list of Kenyan runners who have been suspended over various doping offences.

His suspension comes just a day after the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya suspended 33 sportsmen and women for failing doping tests.

What is the meaning of Global Running Day? Inspirational quotes for runners

At its core, Global Running Day is about community and solidarity. It's a day when runners from all corners of the world come together

Global Running Day, celebrated annually on the first Wednesday of June, is a worldwide celebration of running that encouragespeople of all ages and abilities to get moving. It is a day to recognize the positive impact running has on physical and mental health, as well as the sense of community it fosters.

The initiative, led by the New York Road Runners (NYRR), aims to inspire people to lace up their shoes and experience the joy of running. Whether it’s a short jog around the block or a longer distance, Global Running Day welcomes everyone to participate and embrace a healthier lifestyle.

The day serves as a reminder of the many benefits associated with running, including improved cardiovascular health, increased energy levels, stress reduction, and enhanced mood. It also promotes the social aspect of running, encouraging people to connect with others through group runs, races, or virtual challenges.

The Spirit of Togetherness

At its core, Global Running Day is about community and solidarity. It’s a day when runners from all corners of the world come together, not just to run but to share their stories, goals, and experiences.

Whether you’re a seasoned marathoner or a beginner taking your first steps into the world of running, Global Running Day welcomes you. The inclusive nature of this celebration fosters a sense of belonging, reminding us that running is a universal language that transcends borders and cultures.

Promoting Health and Wellness

Running is one of the simplest yet most effective ways to maintain physical and mental health. Global Running Day serves as a reminder of the numerous benefits of running, from improved cardiovascular health and stronger muscles to reduced stress and enhanced mood. By encouraging people to participate in this activity, the event aims to inspire healthier lifestyles and promote the importance of regular exercise.

Inspiring Future Generations

Global Running Day is much more than a date on the calendar; it’s a movement that encapsulates the joy, community, and benefits of running.

It’s a day to celebrate the collective love for running, inspire new runners, and promote health and wellness across the globe. As we lace up our shoes and hit the road, we’re reminded that every step we take brings us closer together, creating a healthier, happier world. So, whether you’re running alone, with friends, or as part of a larger event, take a moment to appreciate what Global Running Day means to you and the global community of runners.

The best quotes from Eliud Kipchoge

Eliud Kipchoge is an inspiration for runners. The double Olympic champion in the Marathon (Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020) is also the only human to have run the 42.195 kilometers in less than two hours. He also holds the world record for the Marathon with a time of 2:01:39, which he achieved in Berlin.

Kipchoge is an athlete born in Kenya. Running comes naturally to him; he has been doing it since he was a child when he had to run 8 kilometers to get to school and another 8 kilometers to return home.

Besides having a technique that can be considered perfect, Eliud Kipchoge has managed to convey to runners around the world the joy of running and the importance of the mental factor.

Here are some phrases from Kipchoge and some other runners, which are an inspiration to celebrate this Runner’s Day 2022 together.

“Humans have no limits; they can achieve whatever they set their minds to. You must think beyond your own limits, run against the unthinkable.” – Eliud Kipchoge

“Athletics is not so much about the legs. It’s about the heart and mind.” – Eliud Kipchoge

“Only the disciplined in life are free. If you are undisciplined, you are a slave to your moods and passions.” – Eliud Kipchoge

“There are no secrets in my training. What is truly crucial is believing that progress is possible… believing that you can do anything.” – Eliud Kipchoge

“The ability to achieve your goals is not possible without hard work and self-confidence.” – Eliud Kipchoge

“I always aim to give my best until I reach the finish line.” – Eliud Kipchoge

“Never stop running for fun.” – Eliud Kipchoge

“Passion is a choice. You have to choose to be great. It’s not an opportunity; it’s a choice.” – Eliud Kipchoge

“When you feel pain, try to forget that pain. The only way to achieve this is by smiling, being happy, and enjoying running.” – Eliud Kipchoge

“Marathon is life. And life is where you progress.” – Eliud Kipchoge.

World Athletics Adds Ranking Spots to Olympic Men’s Marathon Field — American Leonard Korir Will Run in Paris

The United States will have three men in the 2024 Olympic marathon after all. Following months of uncertainty, World Athletics added one universality place and four rankings places to the Olympic marathon field on Tuesday. The four ranking spots were awarded to athletes from Chile, South Africa, the United States, and Australia, meaning that Leonard Korir will join Americans Conner Mantz and Clayton Young on the Olympic marathon start line on August 10.

Korir’s spot had been in jeopardy after World Athletics added 11 universality places on May 8, but the Road to Paris list of qualifed athletes has been updated and American CJ Albertson is now listed as qualified at spot #84. Per USATF selection procedures, Albertson’s place will pass to Korir, the third-placer at February’s US Olympic Marathon Trials. Korir’s coach Scott Simmons confirmed to LetsRun.com that Korir is now qualified and will compete in the Olympic marathon on August 10.

Australia’s Wide World of Sports reported that in recent weeks, World Athletics had been working on a solution to fit some highly-ranked athletes into the Olympic marathon while respecting Olympic sport quota limits set by the International Olympic Committee.

It was not immediately clear why World Athletics added four ranking places on Tuesday; this story will be updated as LetsRun.com learns more.

ADAK suspends highest number of Kenyan athletes since January last year

The Anti-doping Agency of Kenya has unveiled the highest number of athletes banned for violating various doping rules.

The Anti-doping Agency of Kenya has banned 33 Kenyan athletes for violating the various doping rules as per the Athletics Integrity Unit.

The list includes 26 runners with the remaining coming from basketball, rugby and handball. In road running, one of the most shocking athletes to have made the list of shame is Joshua Belet, the 2023 TCS Amsterdam Marathon champion.

According to reports, this marks the highest number of suspended athletes since January last year, when Kenya was on the verge of being banned by World Athletics. However, it is a move that was anticipated since there has been increased testing.

Belet, a 26-year-old long distance runner, has been suspended for the presence of Anabolic Androgenic Steroids, Testosterone, Adiol, Pregnanediol, Androsterone and Etiocholanolone. Belet was a promising talent who even made his national team debut at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary but did not finish the race.

Dorcas Kimeli has also been suspended and she was also a promising athlete who had represented Kenya in a couple of events including the 2020 World Half Marathon championships where she finished 11th. As reported by Nation Sport, Jepchumba has been suspended for tampering with any part of the doping control.

Meanwhile, upcoming sprinters Duke Osoro and Joan Jeruto have also been added to the list of shame with the 2012 World Under-20 5000m champion David Bett also making the list.

Brian Wahinya, a former Kenya Sevens player has also found himself in hot soup alongside fellow players Charlton Mokua and Zeden Lutomia. The trio has been suspended for the presence of Cannabinoids, linked to cannabis sativa.

The basketball players who have gotten themselves in the list of shame include Alex Ramazani, Albert Onyango and James Mwangi Maina.

David Rudisha names 3 key athletes to shape 800m race this Olympic season

World 800m record holder David Rudisha has revealed the three key athletes who will shape the two-lap race this Olympic season and might even threaten his world record.

World 800m record holder David Rudisha has singled out three athletes that could shape the 800m at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and beyond.

Rudisha was an 800m maestro and defined the two-lap race in his prime and he believes other athletes are coming up and have the ability to change the quality of the 800m race.

The two-time Olympic champion set his first 800m World Record of 1:41.09 on August 22, 2010 in Berlin, Germany before lowering his time to clock another world record of 1:40.91 set during the 2012 London Olympic Games.

No athlete has gotten near to the world record but the two-time world champion believes the trio of Emmanuel Wanyonyi, Marco Arop and Djamel Sedjati have the ability to redefine that.

“From Kenya, we have Emmanuel Wanyonyi. Marco Arop from Canada. And I saw also a young kid Djamel Sedjati from Algeria running the world-leading time in Ostrava,” Rudisha told AFP.

“This is really amazing. We are looking forward to seeing how they are going to perform. In the Olympics, anything can happen. It's always very competitive and everybody goes there to win. So, there's a lot of expectation.”

Wanyonyi, the youngest of the three, has been in great form this season, and he will certainly be an athlete to watch in the city of love.

The world 800m silver medallist has been unbeaten in the 800m this season, winning the Kip Keino Classic and the Diamond League Meeting in Rabat, Morocco. He also set the road mile world record at the Adizero road to records event.

Meanwhile, Arop, the reigning world champion, has only raced once in the 800m outdoor and won in the Diamond League Meeting in Xiamen. He has been in great form, however, in his indoor events and will certainly be out to give his competitors a run for their money one more time.

Sedjati, 25, has also proven to be a strong athlete, striking with a world leading time of 1:43.51 in Ostrava in his season opener. He will also be looking to impress at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, following his silver medal at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

Registration dates for the 129th Boston Marathon announced

The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) announced Monday that registration for the 129th Boston Marathon will take place over five days, from Sept. 9–13 at www.baa.org

The field size for the 129th Boston Marathon, to be run on Monday, April 21, 2025, will be 30,000 participants.

Qualifier registration will open on Sept. 9 at 10 a.m. and will close on Sept. 13, at 5 p.m. Any athlete who has achieved a currently valid Boston Marathon qualifying time may submit a registration application during registration week.

Applications will be accepted until 5 p.m. on Sept. 13. The 2025 Boston Marathon qualifying window began on Sept. 1, 2023, and will close at 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 13. If space is still available after the conclusion of registration week, registration will re-open on Sept. 16.

Qualifying standards across all divisions will remain the same as they were for the 2024 Boston Marathon.

World Athletics announces new ultimate championship event in 2026

"We want to feature the biggest stars and make it a must-watch global sporting event," said World Athletics president Sebastian Coe.

On Monday, World Athletics unveiled plans for a new biennial event to take place during non-world championship/Olympic years, and serving as a lucrative end-of-season finale. The World Ultimate Championships will be a revolutionary global event designed to redefine the athletics calendar and crown the best of the best in athletics. This ultimate championship will bring together world champions, Olympic champions, Diamond League winners and the year’s top-performing athletes to compete for the top prize of USD $150,000.

In Sept. 2026, Budapest will play host to the inaugural World Ultimate Championships, a three-day event boasting a $10 million prize purse. This “best vs. best” competition will feature the top 16 athletes from the 2026 season competing in a track semi-finals and finals format, while the top eight athletes in field events (throwing and jumping) will battle it out in the field finals. Each event winner will pocket USD $150,000—the highest amount of prize money offered at a track and field championship—with additional prize money distributed to the eight finalists. This substantial financial incentive aims to elevate the sport and attract the world’s top athletes.

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said in a press release: “This is about the best of the best; only 400 athletes from about 70 countries. We want this to look different, we want this to feel different (than a World Championships).” Coe’s vision for the World Athletics Ultimate Championship is to deliver high action and excitement for fans. “We want to feature the biggest stars and make it a must-watch global sporting event.”

Designed to captivate millions of television viewers worldwide, the championship will feature a compact three-day athletics schedule, with each evening session lasting under three hours. The format includes semi-finals and finals for track events, and straight finals for field events, ensuring a thrilling and fast-paced competition. According to World Athletics, athletes will not compete for their sponsors, but instead for their national teams, adding an extra layer of pride and excitement to the competition.

The press release reveals that the ultimate event will include the traditional sprint disciplines, middle and long-distance races, relays, jumps and throws. The future hosts beyond the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest have not been announced.

Former Milano Marathon champion provisionally suspended by AIU for whereabout failures

The 2019 Abu Dhabi Marathon champion has gotten himself in bad books with the Athletics Integrity Unit following his recent charge.

The 2019 Abu Dhabi Marathon champion Reuben Kipyego has been provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit for whereabout failures.

The AIU, in an announcement on Tuesday, June 4, noted that Kipyego has been suspended temporarily from participating in any competition or activity in athletics prior to a final decision at a hearing conducted under the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules or the Integrity Code of Conduct.

Kipyego’s final race was the NN Rotterdam Marathon in 2022 where he finished an impressive third. He has also competed in three races in 2021 where he struck with a win at the Milano Marathon and later finished eighth at the Chicago Marathon before finishing second at the Abu Dhabi Marathon.

He has been competing sparingly and launched his career with the marathon, hence no record of him competing on the track. He started off his career with the full marathon at the 2019 Maratón de Buenos Aires Ñandú where he finished second.

Meanwhile, for a provisional suspension, the AIU further noted that some of the cases remain under investigation, while others are the subject of a notice of charge and so will also appear on the list of Pending First Instance cases.

AIU further noted that a provisional suspension is mandatory under the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules following an adverse analytical finding for any non-specified substance on the Prohibited List.

A Provisional Suspension may be imposed in other doping cases depending on the nature and circumstances of the case in question. It is imposed in a non-doping case does not in any way abrogate the presumption of innocence and it is not an early determination of guilt. Rather, it is an order made on a precautionary basis to safeguard the interests of the sport.

Why world 10km record holder Agnes Jebet prefers running against male athletes

Record breaker Agnes Jebet has opened up on the unique reason why she loves training and competing against male athletes.

World 10km record holder Agnes Jebet has revealed the unique reason why she loves training and racing against male athletes.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Maurten, the Kenyan noted that she is a strong athlete and most of the time, it’s hard to find women who can match her energy levels. The 23-year-old added that some men also find it difficult to compete against her during training with some always begging her to reduce the pace.

Maurten also observed some men struggling and were unable to match her prowess during training. “You saw them…behind me, asking to reduce the pace. Running is like food for me — you don’t miss food, I don’t miss running,” Jebet added.

Meanwhile, Jebet has managed to maintain her status as one of the greatest road runners, being crowned the world record holder in the 10km road race, at her young age.

During the 2023 Transylvania 10km, Jebet set a new World Record but her result was not recognised after World Athletics re-measured the course and found it to be 25 metres short. She officially became the first woman to run under 29 minutes for 10,000 metres — ratified, at the race in Valencia earlier this year.

Podiums and victories have been her portion, but this season, after her world record and threatening the late Agnes Tirop’s women-only world record, she has not been in her greatest shape.

However, she remains strong despite the hurdles and she has managed to always brush off moments of disappointment.

"I fought for this record. When the course was short, maybe I was not ready for it. When the weather is bad, I understand. I had to make my mind strong and not let it discourage me," she added.

"Patience and discipline... you train hard and then you go and win easy. Let it be painful today and then the fruits come next week."an say, I’m a fighter. It’s hard to find strong women who can go with me, so I train with the guys. I like to try and go with their speed,” Jebet said.

Cross-country guru Lucy Mawia slapped with a three-year doping ban

Lucy Mawia has been banned for three years by the Athletics Integrity Unity for the presence of three banned substances in her body.

The 2022 Belgrade Half Marathon Lucy Mawia has been slapped with a three-year ban by the Athletics Integrity Unit for an anti-doping rule violation.

Mawia, popularly known for her cross-country prowess, will be eligible to compete once again from March 27, 2027. Her results from March 10 this year, will also be disqualified.

As per World Athletics, athletes representing a foreign Member Federation or other Areas are regarded as out of competition participants (OC).

Earlier this year, the Italian Anti-doping tribunal suspended Mawia following a violation of an anti-doping rule.

As per the Italian anti-doping agency, Mawia’s sample was found positive for the presence of Efedrina, Oxycodone, and its metabolite Oxymorphone. The substance is an active metabolite of oxycodone produced via CYP2D6-mediated metabolism.

Her career was taking shape and in 2022, she won the 2022 World Cross Country Tour. In 2022, Mawia dominated the races at the start of the tour, winning in Bydgoszcz in October and in Soria and Alcobendas in November.

Mawia kicked off the 2023 cross-country campaign with a third-place finish in Amorebieta and sixth place in Atapuerca. The 2023 15K Nocturna Valencia Banco Mediolanum champion was also third in Atapuerca in November and second in San Vittore Olona in January in 2023.

This means her results from the 5km Route de Lille and the Italian Cross-Country Championships have been disqualified. In France, she finished fifth in the road race before clocking 27:50 to cross the finish line in her cross-country race in Italy, competing as an out of competition participant.

Rath and Vinuelas take top honors in 2024 Fontana Days Half Marathon

Nathan Rath came all the way from Chandler, Arizona to participate in the Fontana Days Half Marathon, and he was certainly pleased with the outcome of his journey.

The 42-year-old Rath took first place with a time of 1:10:16 on the pleasantly cool morning of June 1.

“The day was beautiful,” he said. “Great weather, great course — it was a good experience.”

Traversing the 13.1 miles down Sierra Avenue from Lytle Creek, Rath was able to pull away from tough competitors Helio Carrillo (who came in second place in 1:10:29) and his friend Erik Chazin (who was third in 1:10:51) and cross the finish line at Fontana City Hall.

“I had a good push at the end,” he said. “I was here with my friend Erik and we pushed each other. Without that, it would have been a lot tougher.”

The first-place female finisher (and 13th place overall) was Abbey Vinuelas, a 38-year-old resident of the Northern California city of Fairfield.

Vinuelas was all smiles after receiving her award.

“What a beautiful course,” she said. “It really energized me all the way down, and I absolutely loved it.”

It was the third half marathon that Vineulas had entered in the past two months, and she took top honors each time.

More than 1,000 runners took part in the Fontana Days Half Marathon this year.

German Hendel dominated the Mattoni Ceske Budejovice Half Marathon

This year’s half marathon in České Budějovice was newly held under the brand Mattoni Running Festival. The winner was German Sebastian Hendel. Among the women, Ukraine’s Maryna Nemchenko triumphed, improving the European record. Patrik Vebr and Hana Homolkova were the best Czech runners, which carries the World Athletic Road Race Label.

The race

The winner in the České Budějovice Half Marathon was Sebastian Hendel from Germany. From the start he was in a large lead pack, but before the halfway point he was running alone. Hendel ran the South Bohemia half marathon well and on pace to break the European record. However, he missed it by half a minute, finishing in the time of 1:03:38.

“I’m really happy that my winning streak in RunCzech races continues. I tried to break the time under one hour and three minutes. It was good at the tenth kilometre, but as time went on it got worse and my legs were hurting. It was a great experience, I enjoyed my first start in České Budějovice,” said Hendel. “When I was running back to the square, many people were cheering my name. It was a really great atmosphere,” added Hendel.

The second place went to Italian Daniele D’Onofrio, and third was Ukrainian Mykola Mevsha, who improved his personal best significantly. The best Czech runner was Patrik Vebr (1:08:38), bettered Petr Pechek and Tomáš Křivohlávek.

“Although I don’t really like to run races in training pace, I chose this strategy for today. My coach and I decided to do it mainly for health reasons and also because of the upcoming track races. But the overall assessment is positive and I am glad that especially my health is holding up,”  Vebr summed up.

The fastest woman was Maryna Nemchenko from Ukraine, who ran a significant part of the race alone trying to catch some men to help her pace. “If I had run with another female competitor, it would have been easier, running alone is hard. I always tried to catch up with whoever was ahead of me, I’m satisfied,” Nemchenko assessed after the race.

The Ukrainian surpassed the best European race time of Tereza Hrochova from 2022 by half a minute. Her compatriot Nataliya Semenovych finished second, while Moldova’s Lilia Fisikovici finished third. Hana Homolkova succeeded in a close battle between the Czech competitors, beating Aneta Císařová. Tereza Jagošová finished third.

The Research on Beetroot Supplements and Exercise Is Kind of Awesome

Beetroot powder is available as a standalone product, though it also pops up in a bunch of other supplements, such as pre-workout energy boosters and heart health chews, as an added ingredient.

Supplement companies claim beetroot powder boosts energy, increases athletic performance, and promotes heart health by improving blood pressure and circulation. Often, these companies will cite beets’ ability to boost nitric oxide, a molecule that helps blood vessels expand and contract. 

Let's get to the root of those claims.

What Is Beetroot Powder?

IT'S BEETS, BUT in powder form.

And know that beets, as in the root vegetable, are good for you—no debate there. “Beetroot contains two types of bioactive constituents, betalains (which give the purple color) and nitrate (which also occurs in similar amounts in some other common vegetables, like celery and lettuce),” says Kirsten Brandt, Ph.D., senior lecturer at the Human Nutrition & Exercise Research Centre at the UK’s Newcastle University. Betalains have heart-protecting properties, and your body converts nitrate into nitric oxide to help regulate your circulatory system and reduce inflammation. 

More good news: These compounds stay mostly intact when beets undergo processing into powder or even juice. Concentrations vary by beet variety and processing method, but research suggests both powders and juices can both hold onto in those beneficial compounds. (Fun fact: Often, beetroot powder is just freeze-dried beet juice). 

What Is Beetroot Powder Good For?

IN SUPPLEMENT FORM, beets might:

Moderately Reduce Blood Pressure

A study review published in Frontiers in Nutrition showed that people who consumed beetroot juice daily for anywhere from three to 60 days reduced their systolic blood pressure by five more points than the control group. The reason: Nitric oxide helps blood vessels relax.

Make Hard Workouts Easier

A study review in the Journal of the International Society of Sports and Nutrition suggests that beetroot juice supplements might boost power and improve performance during high-intensity exercise. Again, nitric oxide comes into play by helping your muscles maintain phosphocreatine, a building block that otherwise depletes during a hard workout. Beets also improve the release and use of cellular calcium to help you contract muscles faster.

Improve Muscle Recovery

A study review published in Sports Health suggests that a few days of beetroot supplementation can speed recovery from post-workout muscle soreness. One theory is that nitric oxide reduces muscle inflammation and aids regeneration.

Assist Your Memory

In a recent study in the European Journal of Nutrition, people who consumed three grams of chewable beetroot powder tablets 90 minutes before taking memory tests scored 21 percent higher on a test of short-term memory than they did after taking a placebo. A beet-induced boost in nitric oxide might increase cerebral blood flow, temporarily boosting brain power, the researchers say.

So the benefits of beets are promising, but don’t get too excited yet: Beet supplement studies have small numbers of participants (just five to 80 in the studies cited above) and lack the rigor of drug trials, says Brandt. (A phase III drug trial would likely have 1,000+ participants.)

That means it’s hard to generalize the results and conclude whether the benefits shown in these supplement studies would apply to all or most of the population, including you.

And don’t count on beetroot supplements to save your heart in the long run. There’s no evidence that the acute benefits of beetroot powder, for your heart or elsewhere, add up over time.

Without high-quality long-term studies, any claims implying long-term benefits can’t be verified. And since the good-for-you compounds in beets can’t be patented, “there is little economic incentive for the industry to carry out large well-controlled trials,” says Brandt.

Should You Take Beetroot Supplements?

YOUR BEST BET is eating more beets in their whole vegetable form, says Brandt. 

Whole beets contain beneficial fiber, which some supplements lack. Now if you hate the taste or can’t bear the chore of peeling beets, the powder can be an easy substitute–just make sure you consume other foods rich in fiber, like whole grains, says Brandt.

What Should You Look for in a Good Beetroot Supplement?

WHEN SHOPPING FOR beet powder, avoid capsules and opt for a loose powder or chewable option instead. The process of converting nitrate to nitric oxide begins in your mouth, thanks to an assist from bacteria on your tongue, says Brandt. Capsules bypass this process and land further down in your digestive tract. And skip antibacterial mouthwash before you take your beets—it can interfere with nitrate’s conversion to nitric oxide, she says.

Who Should Not Take Beetroot Supplements?

AVOID BEETROOT SUPPLEMENTS if you already have hypotension and don’t need your BP to go any lower. And steer clear of beetroot powder if you know you have a high risk of kidney stones, because beets contain a lot of stone-forming oxalate.

If you have high BP and already take medication for it, talk to your doctor before buying a beet supplement. If it works, your doctor might need to adjust your medication, says Brandt. 

Check your balance-Improve your stability with this simple, equipment-free test

01/ Stand on a hard surface, your hands crossed on your shoulders.

02/ Lift one leg off the ground and don’t touch the other leg.

03/ Hold for up to 45 seconds, or until loss of balance and the raised foot hits the ground.

04/Compare your time to the averages below. Aim to get to at least the average time. To make it harder, close your eyes.

BALANCE, LIKE MUSCLE MASS, NATURALLY DECREASES WITH AGE. That’s something that can lead to less efficient running and, more worryingly, injury. Fortunately, older runners can arrest the decline with some targeted exercises. Test and improve your balance with this simple move. 

The thighs have it

Strong quad muscles can do more than power you uphill. Keeping your quads in top condition with squats and lunges can also prevent the need for a knee replacement in later life. And that’s some serious motivation, as knee osteoarthritis – which is often a precursor to a knee replacement – affects some 5 million people in the UK. A recent study* found that people who regularly do exercise that strengthens their quads were less likely to need knee replacement surgery. Consider that a polite reminder to start doing your step-ups, squats and lunges. 

High-speed recovery

Here’s a sentence we thought we’d never write: a new paper* found that HIIT was superior to traditional rehabilitation programmes ‘for accelerated recovery from musculoskeletal injuries’. That’s right: high-intensity exercise trumped traditional rehab for injury recovery. Who knew? A total of 80 injured subjects were assigned to either six weeks of a HIIT programme or more traditional rehab. Both groups improved after six weeks. However, the HIIT group reported greater pain reduction and performance on several objective tests of muscle function. This led the researchers to conclude, ‘Incorporating [HIIT] into rehabilitation protocols may offer an efficient approach for expedited recovery and enhanced muscle function.’ 

This Girl Scouts CEO Plans to Run a Half Marathon on Every Continent

“Running plays an important role in my professional life as training for a race requires strategy, discipline, and accountability—so does leading an organization.” Reason for Running: I love how much running affects me mentally, physically, and emotionally! I love running by myself and with others.

Most Saturdays I can be found on a long run with my twin sister or my daughter (or both). It is our treasured time to catch up and the miles fly by!Growing up, I never played any sport aside from a short stint with soccer in middle school. I often joked that I would only run if a bear was chasing me and even then, it would depend on the size of the bear! As I was approaching 40, my husband said, “Wouldn’t it be fun to do a half marathon together.” I reluctantly agreed. 

I had zero running gear and only knew how far a run was by tracking the miles when I drove the same route in my car. He loves to tell the story that after a few weeks of my run/walk training, I came home elated that I had run from the school near our home to our neighborhood without walking or stopping. I was so proud of myself. Only much later did I realize that was less than a quarter of a mile!

Soon after, I crossed the finish line of that first race, signed up for my next, and have been running ever since—19 years! I used the Jeff Galloway training schedule for beginners to run that first half marathon. 

After that, for many years, I would run two half marathons in the spring and two in the fall and signed up for many 5Ks and 10Ks in between. The first few years, when my kids were young, most of my runs were local. As the years went by, I started combining my love of travel with my love of running. Some of my favorite United States races include the Oregon Wine Country Half Marathon and Nashville Rock n’ Roll.

In 2018, I joined the Seven Continent Club and have run half marathons in Australia, Iceland, Patagonia, Antarctica, and many in the States. I have Africa and Asia planned for 2025 and 2026. If all goes as planned, I’ll complete the seven continents when I turn 60.

After more than 70 half marathons, I decided to train for a full and since fall 2019, I have completed eight full marathons. 

A friend once told me that he sets three goals each year—one personal, one professional, and one health. I decided to do the same, and this habit is the reason for so many positive things I’ve done in my life, including earning my MBA, becoming a business owner, and saying yes to my husband when he suggested training for that first half marathon many years ago. 

In 2012, I joined Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri as their chief operating officer and then CEO. I am honored to now serve as the national CEO for Girl Scouts of the USA. Running plays an important role in my professional life as training for a race requires strategy, discipline, and accountability—so does leading an organization. I come up with some of my best ideas on long runs. I think my team rolls their eyes when I have a 20-miler—they probably wonder what ideas I might come back with.

I want our Girl Scouts to find what they enjoy most that best supports their mental, physical, and emotional health. Many of our Girl Scout councils sponsor their own run/walks. I love to see our girls introduced to running through these events.

I now run three to four times a week, cross-train two days a week, and have one day of rest. As soon as I finish one training schedule, I move to the next. 

Running has changed my life—the people I’ve met, the goals I’ve achieved, the places I’ve seen—all made possible because of that simple question: “Wouldn’t it be fun to do a half marathon together?” I know I am stronger physically, mentally, and emotionally because of running.These tips have made my running journey a success:

1. Go for just one mile

This habit has served me well so many times when I don’t really feel like going out—especially when it’s too hot, too cold, too windy, too hilly, too late, too early. Just tell yourself “I can run one mile!” It rarely ends up being only one mile!

2. Track your runs

With all the amazing apps out there, I still print my running schedule, I highlight each completed run. The feeling of accomplishment is the motivation for the next day. 

3. Support yourself

Positive self-talk is important. Whether it was the best run/race or not so good, own the fact that you showed up. I’m a personal fan of the sign I see at races that says, “Be proud! You’re out here!” And, when you fall off your schedule, don’t throw in the towel until the next week, the next month, or the next race—pick it up the next day. 

4. Know it’s never too late

Finally, there’s no time limit on when to begin! Pick your distance and find a training plan. There are fabulous training schedules and wonderful training groups out there. Do your research, choose what works for you, and just start.

Keira D'Amato wins Run for Women

Keira D'Amato of Richmond, Va. led from start to finish to win the 46th Delightful Run for Women on Saturday morning in Albany.

D'Amato, former American record-holder in the marathon and half-marathon, prevailed in a time of 15 minutes, 41 seconds on the 5-kilometer course that begins and ends on Washington Avenue next to the state Capitol.

D'Amato held off a late challenge from Amy Davis-Green of Madison, Wis., who came in second in 15:45, followed by Jessie Cardin of Sutton, Mass. in third at 15:51. Davis-Green and Cardin are teammates with the Hansons-Brooks Original Distance Project.

Freihofer’s Run for WomenTop finishers

1. Keira D’Amato, 15:41

2. Amy Davis-Green, 15:45

3. Jessie Cardin, 15:51

4. Anne-Marie Blaney, 15:57

5. Regan Rome, 16:39

6. Whitney Macon, 16:47

7. Emma Eastman, 16:54

8. Annmarie Tuxbury, 17:00

9. Kathryn Munks, 17:02

10. Amanda Chambers, 17:30

Masters division (40 & over)

1. Sascha Scott, 19:04

2. Meg Versteegen, 19:13

3. Margaret McMahon, 19:38

Double Kenyan victory at the Stockholm marathon

On Saturday, the classic Stockholm marathon ran for the 45th time - and then it was a double Kenyan victory.

Fredrick Kibii was first to finish on the men's side in 02.14.17 and on the women's side Marion Kibor finished in 02.31.46 to complete the double.

First Swede in the finish line and SM winner on the men's side was Ebba Tulu Chala, and SM gold on the women's side went to Carolina Wikström.

Brian Komen promises to deliver 1500m medal at Paris 2024 Olympics

In his bid to stop Norwegian and British dominance in the 1500m, Brian Komen has promised to deliver a medal for Kenya at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

African Games 1500m champion Brian Komen has promised to deliver a medal for Kenya if he makes the cut to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Komen, the latest 1500m runner to emerge from Kenya, has managed to cement his name and track and field fans cannot wait to see what the athlete is capable of as he gears up to take on the creme de la creme of track and field this season.

The Kip Keino Classic champion has been in great shape so far, crediting all his wins to training well and working hard. Many might wonder where he has been following the faulty performances from Team Kenya in the 1500m.

“I was in school, now I’m back and I’ve been training very hard and that’s why I’m here. I was studying at Egerton University pursuing a course in Microbiology," Komen said.

“When I feel like I want to go, I just decide to go all in. I feel like my body is doing okay and I’ve been training very hard. I can’t say I’m going to win a gold but God knows that. I’m going to fight for a medal, that’s my goal.

“I’m focusing on Paris and I want to win a medal and if I manage to win gold, that’s well and good. My coach used to run and he really motivates me."

The 25-year-old has been unbeaten in the 1500m so far this season, starting from the African Games where took gold before dominating the Kip Keino Classic.

He was also in action at the Diamond League Meeting in Doha, making his long-awaited debut, and managed to stun the world once again with his tactical run. Komen later stole the show at the National Championships, owing to the fact that it was his first time competing there.

He’s Running 900 Miles to Every Premier League Soccer Stadium for Suicide Prevention

When Matthew Smith was a child, he lost his brother to suicide. Now he’s running throughout England to raise money for mental health services in a region that has the highest rates of suicide in the entire country. 

Matthew Smith was only 10 years old when he lost his brother, Daniel O’Hare, to suicide. Daniel was 19 and had no history of mental health problems, nor had he shown any outward signs of his intention to end his life. His family was devastated by the sudden and unexpected loss, and they are still struggling to understand his choice. 

Now 29, Smith is an advocate for mental health, and he’s on a mission to run 900 miles to every Premier League stadium in England to raise money for the region’s services. The northeast region, where Smith lives, has the highest rate of suicides in the country, and he and his supporters are determined to change that. He plans to take on this ultrarunning challenge in his brother’s honor in August, and he has the goal of raising £135,000 ($171,882) and spreading awareness of suicide prevention. He told Chronicle Live that along the way, he’ll be delivering the message that “it’s okay to not be okay,” and that there is “always a way.” 

After losing Daniel in 2005, Smith and his younger brother and cousin started a nonprofit in his memory called If U Care Share, because they wanted to do something positive and prevent other families from going through the same kind of loss. They sold wristbands at soccer clubs that said “if u care share,” and raised over £50,000 ($63,655) for mental health charities.

In 2011, the charity was officially registered with three main objectives: prevention, intervention, and support for survivors of suicide loss. For more than a decade, If U Care Share has offered support to people who have lost loved ones to suicide and provided advice and assistance to people who are at risk of killing themselves. 

Two years ago, Smith ran 250 miles from the charity’s headquarters in northern England to Downing Street in London to hand deliver a letter asking the U.K. government to include suicide prevention in the Levelling Up White Paper, a moral, social, and economic program.

This latest initiative came about because of Smith and his If U Care Share colleagues’ love of soccer and longstanding partnerships with the Premier League, the League Football Education, and the Women’s Super League. 

“It’s no secret that suicide prevention and mental health services have struggled recently due to significant funding restrictions, so I can’t thank everyone enough for believing in the charity, our mission, and myself,” Smith told Chronicle Live. “The money raised at the launch event will not only enable the challenge to go ahead, it will also save lives, support communities, and prevent suicide in a region that needs our help more than ever.”

Have an Upcoming Race? You Don’t Need To Run the Full Distance During Your Training (Seriously)

I’d been her go-to person for running advice and positive reinforcement during her training block. She didn’t really need me— she was crushing her long runs and felt good about the progress she had made, so her frantic call was unexpected. I asked what was wrong.

“Well, I felt like I needed to do the full 13.1 miles,” she said. “So I did. Now my butt hurts.”

How long should long runs actually be when training for a race? Well, we'd talked about how most training plans didn’t go up to the full race distance and that it was by design. There was no need to go over 10 miles to have the fitness necessary to complete the half marathon.

Christine Conti, running coach and fitness specialist 

Katherine Campbell, CPT, DPT, physical therapist, personal trainer, and running coach 

So why did my friend go totally against her plan and all practical advice? Her reason: “Just to make sure I could.”

Christine Conti, a running coach and fitness specialist, is familiar with the need to instill confidence in runners throughout the training process and recognizes the fear first-time racers face.

“They're doing their training and they really believe that if they don't try it first, they'll never make it,” she says. “And we're told in life, ‘practice, practice, practice.’ You don't want the first time you do something to be the big show, right? But you really shouldn’t do it.”

When I think back to my first half marathon, I remember the doubt and fear. How can you know you can reach the finish line if your longest long run is only 10 miles?

Well, good news: There's proof you can finish a race without running the full distance first, so you don’t have to try it—and you can avoid a literal pain in the butt.

Why don’t training plans go the full race distance?

Contrary to popular belief, most training plans are designed to go just short of the full mileage of the race you're running, according to Katherine Campbell, CPT, DPT, a physical therapist, personal trainer, and running coach.

“Typically most general half marathon plans only go to 10 to 11 miles because they're made for beginners,” Campbell says. “As a beginner or even intermediate runner, you want to make sure you're recovering enough from your long runs where you can get the aerobic benefits without actually putting too much load through your musculoskeletal system to cause injury.”

This is the same reason your marathon training plan usually only goes up to a 20-mile long run—not the full 26.2 miles.

A more advanced half marathon training plan can go above 13 miles—sometimes up to 16 miles. But the thing is, many runners using this type of plan are faster than beginners who are sometimes running a double-digit-mile long run for the first time and should be conservative with their pace.

“Running faster paces would equal out to the same time on feet as most beginners running 10 to 11 miles,” Campbell says.

That’s the key: time on your feet. Especially when it comes to marathon training where slower runners could potentially be slogging through long runs for hours.

“Anything after a three-hour long run doesn't have a drastic aerobic benefit, but it does drastically increase your risk of injury,” Campbell says. “As a physical therapist and coach, I will usually cut runners off at about 3.5 hours as a peak long run. A typical ‘average’ pace is usually around a 10-minute mile, and 3.5 hours at that pace is usually 20 miles.”

Half marathoners could go up to 13 miles in under three hours, but every mile out there while you’re tired is a chance for your form to break down. Unless you have excelled in your base training and have already tackled seven miles for your long run, it’s not worth going above 10 or 11 miles for your longest long run.

What's the risk of running the full distance before the race?

The more you’re running on tired legs after a log training block, you might subject yourself to overtraining.

“Running a full distance before the race dramatically increases your risk for injury,” Campbell says.

In addition to sore and tired muscles, there are other systems in your body that go a little haywire following 26.2 miles. Your cardiovascular system is amped, your kidneys are working overtime to filter waste from your blood during and after your marathon, and your immune system weakens in the hours following such a long distance.

“There's so much happening on a physiological and musculoskeletal level that if you ran more than 26 miles before the race, you're risking not giving yourself enough time to recover to actually perform on race day,” she says.

You must tell your brain to stop doubting the structure of the plan, according to Conti.

“Beginners might look at these training plans without understanding the science behind it,” she says.

A well-made plan—meaning one made for you by a coach or designed by an expert—will bring you up to your physiological edge to help prepare your body for the aerobic challenge of a long distance and then back off just before race day.

What is ‘tapering’—and how will this strategy help you run your full race distance?

The point is you don’t want to be out on the road for too long lest you get hurt or sick. You might be wondering w

During the taper phase in half marathon and marathon training, your body recovers from the high demand of the training weeks before. By reducing training volume and intensity in the weeks leading up to the race, tapering alleviates accumulated fatigue, repairs muscle damage, and replenishes energy stores. Because you're racing on healed legs, you’re less likely to face injury.

“A nice taper two to three weeks before the race will make your legs fresh,” Campbell says. “Trust that the training, optimal recovery, and fresh legs will get you there.”

How to embrace the unknown of the last few miles

So you don’t want to get hurt. You don’t want to get sick. You’ve decided to follow your plan and have vowed not to go the full distance. But you’re still nervous. Mentally, how should you deal in the weeks leading up to the race?

It’s about trusting yourself and the training you’ve already done. As many old-school coaches will say, “The hay is in the barn.”

“I remind my clients that you should be looking at the amount of miles you run per week,” Campbell says. “You've trained your body to run the distance if you have been averaging over 26 miles per week for a marathon and 12 miles per week for a half marathon.”

If you can convince yourself that you’re physically prepared, you’re mind should settle down.

“For me, my first marathon was a bucket list item. I thought the people who ran these races were superhuman. I had no idea your body could actually run or perform for that amount of time without dying. But I trusted that if I followed the plan, I would do it.”

For her first half marathon, Conti never ran more than a nine-mile long run.

How to mentally preparing for the final stretch of your race

There are some tricks to help the last miles fly by. First, ask other runners about their experiences in the last couple miles of a race. For me, the last two miles of my first half marathon were exhilarating. I celebrated each step I took after the 11-mile mark because every step represented the farthest distance I had run in my life.

My first marathon was a little different. The last three miles were a total pain cave, but there was no freaking way I was going to give up. You’ll feel the same way.

Aside from sheer determination, here are other tactics to pull you to the finish:

1. Use the crowd

At big races, crowds will line the street leading up to the finish. Their cheering will create an electric atmosphere.

“A fun tip I like to give my runners is to have your friends and family scattered throughout the last few miles to give you that extra energy boost, too,” Campbell says.

2. Break up the distance

You might be doing this throughout the race, but it’s especially useful in the last few miles.

“It’s all mental,” Conti says. “Think about it like, ‘Oh my gosh, all I have is a 5K left. I've done this a million times.’ Or ‘I have six miles. That’s two 5Ks. That’s easy.” You're almost done. And if you have to give yourself some grace and walk a little bit, you're still going to make it. You're going to be fine.”

3. Repeat a mantra

Both Conti and Campbell say mantras are a proven way to keep your mind right as you go into the last miles of a race.

“I am all about mantras,” Campbell says. “Find one, practice it, and keep saying it.”

Campbell also suggests writing down one win each week throughout your entire training cycle.

“Read all of them and come up with three positive reasons before your race that remind you that you're prepared for the race,” she says.

Why the "Norwegian Method" Training Craze Is Here to Stay

In a highly anticipated race at the 2024 Prefontaine Classic, Jakob Ingebrigsten pitted his revolutionary "Norwegian method" of training against some of the best milers in the world.

The “Mile of the Century”—of the twentieth century, that is—was a duel between John Landy and Roger Bannister at the 1954 Empire Games in Victoria. The two men were, at the time, the only two sub-four-minute milers in the world: Bannister had beaten Landy to the punch by 46 days, but Landy was the reigning world record holder. Their end-of-season clash was as heavily anticipated as any heavyweight boxing duel. Landy led until the final bend, at which point he famously glanced over his left shoulder at precisely the moment that Bannister surged past on his right.

The mile of the current century, at least in terms of pre-race hype and intriguing storylines, took place on Saturday at the Prefontaine Classic track meet in Eugene. It was a gigantic multidimensional grudge match between Jakob Ingebrigsten, the blunt-speaking Norwegian wunderkind who won the 2021 Olympics at the tender age of 20 and whose training methods have sparked wholesale upheaval in the endurance world, and almost every runner who has beaten him or come close to it in recent years—most notably Josh Kerr, the Scotsman who upset him at last summer’s World Championships and has been engaged in an increasingly testy war of words with him ever since.

What gave the race an extra layer of significance, beyond the usual battle for personal supremacy, was that clash of training ideas. Ingebrigtsen is the foremost exponent of what has come to be known as the “Norwegian method” of endurance training. Its hallmark is carefully controlled workout intensities, pushing just hard enough to stimulate adaptation without incurring fatigue that would compromise the next workout. In Ingebrigtsen’s hands, that involves twice-a-week double threshold sessions: workouts like ten times a kilometer with one minute recovery in the morning and evening, with regular ear pricks to check lactate levels and keep the intensity in the right zone, on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

A similar approach has also taken Norwegians to the top of the podium in other sports like triathlon and cross-country skiing, and athletes from other countries have begun emulating it. Norwegian-style training is “the big, sexy thing,” as U.S. miler Hobbs Kessler put it. It might even be “the next step in the evolution of distance running training,” as a group of sports scientists suggested in an academic paper last year (which I wrote about here). It’s very hard to do controlled studies of entire training philosophies, as opposed to specific workouts. So the best litmus test, I suggested, would be clashes on the track leading up to the Paris Olympics. Saturday in Eugene was the first such test.

Sexy new things don’t stay sexy and new forever, and it’s fair to say that some of the shine of Norwegian training has worn off since last year. The most notable reputational hit was Kerr’s 1,500-meter win at last summer’s World Championships, kicking past Ingebrigtsen in the final lap after the Norwegian had led most of the race. One loss could be blamed on bad luck, but that made three times in a row: another Scottish runner, Jake Wightman, had outkicked Ingebrigtsen in strikingly similar fashion at the 2022 World Championships, and Ethiopian star Samuel Tefera did the same at the 2022 World Indoor Championships. That starts to look like a systemic flaw in the training approach. While Ingebrigtsen was carefully monitoring his moderate-intensity threshold intervals, Kerr and Wightman and Tefera were presumably ripping off all-out sprints—and they had a racing gear that he seemed to lack.

In Eugene, a rabbit led the field through a quick first half-mile. When he stepped off, it was Kenyan runner Abel Kipsang who pushed onward, with Ingebrigtsen following patiently behind. This was already a surprise: Ingebrigtsen is usually the one pushing the pace. Then, with a lap and a half still remaining, it was the fast finisher Kerr who surged into the lead and made an early bid for victory. Each man, it seemed, was playing the other’s game. The last lap ticked by in slow motion, Kerr unable to pull away and Ingebrigtsen unable to close the gap. That’s how it finished: Kerr in 3:45.34, Ingebrigtsen in 3:45.60, and then seven more men under the once-impregnable 3:50 barrier. In 11th place was Cam Myers, a 17-year-old from Australia, with a time of 3:50.15—two seconds faster than Ingebrigtsen himself ran at Pre as a 17-year-old in 2018.

It would be as foolish to give up on Norwegian training based on a few individual losses as it would be to anoint it the “next step” on the basis of a few individual wins. But if Ingebrigtsen keeps losing, that’s going to reinforce doubts about whether his approach is as effective for head-to-head racing as it is for time trials. There are plenty of caveats: for example, an Achilles injury disrupted Ingebrigtsen’s training for several months over the winter. But there are also other questions. What has happened to his older brothers Henrik and Filip? Both were world-class milers in their own right, but both have been struggling in recent years, as have other prominent Norwegian athletes like Olympic triathlon champion Kristian Blummenfeld, raising questions about the sustainability of the Norwegian approach.

And then there’s the fact that, despite all the hype about the mile, the real marquee event at Pre turned out to be the women’s 10,000 meters, where Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet became the first woman to dip under 29 minutes with a world-record clocking of 28:54.14. Kenyan runners (and their Ethiopian rivals) have been at the top for so long that it’s easy to take their dominance for granted. When I was in college in the 1990s, we were all fascinated by “the Kenyan Way.” That was the subtitle of Toby Tanser’s 1997 book, Train Hard, Win Easy. The secret, of course, was that there was no secret. There was a famous (and almost certainly apocryphal) anecdote about a Kenyan coach who was asked what separated his top runners from the merely good ones. All of them had grown up running to and from school each day, he explained; the champions also went home for lunch.

Part of the current fascination with the Norwegian training method is the suggestion that there is, in fact, a secret—a quantifiable formula, expressed in milimoles per liter of lactate in your blood, to optimize your training, rather than simply an admonition to work hard. But that’s a reductive view of what Ingebrigtsen and his Nordic peers are aiming for. The underlying philosophy of Norwegian training is that a harder workout isn’t always a better one, because it will take too long to recover from. This is hardly a new insight, but in the great merry-go-round of training fads, it was perhaps overdue for a resurgence.

In fact, the original Mile of the Century had a similar subtext. Bannister was the light-training amateur who ran on his lunch hour; Landy was a workout hero with “an insatiable appetite for interval running,” as Bannister wrote. “The great contrast in our training methods was not lost of the Press.” Bannister won the race, but it’s Landy’s training approach that proved to be more influential on subsequent generations. As Ingebrigtsen’s final showdown with his rivals in Paris looms, that’s worth remembering: even if he loses, and even if we decide that lactate meters are unnecessarily complicated, we might still have something to learn from his unorthodox training.

A champions diet! Sha'Carri Richardson reveals her favorite go to meal for breakfast

Sha'Carri Richardson has shared the best meal she prefers having for breakfast mostly on race day.

Reigning world 100m champion Sha’Carri Richardson has disclosed her go to breakfast meal when preparing for major races.

The world’s fastest woman in 2023 told Eating Well that she is certainly a foodie and she loves trying out different meals but she never goes back to eating what she doesn’t like.

Speaking of her typical breakfast, the American noted that it depends on timing but she spoke of her love affair with eggs on race day or any regular day.

She recently signed an ambassadorial deal with the Oikos Pro Drink and she seems to be loving it already since she emphasised that she on days when she doesn’t feel the need to have heavy breakfast, she usually goes for the drink.

“I'm a big foodie. I like to eat a little bit of everything when it comes to food. I like to try everything at once—no, I may not eat it again if I don't like it, but I'm very open to trying any type of food once before cancelling it out.

“I would say in the morning, it depends on timing and if I have time to get up and make something, but I definitely am a big fan of eggs. Eggs are something I really like to eat in the morning on race day or any regular day.

“And when I'm on the go and I don't want something too heavy starting the day, I definitely like my Oikos Pro Drink that contains 23 grams of protein.

“That is something convenient that I like to include. I'm able to drink it really quick and I do still feel like I'm putting the nutrients in my body that I can have going into practice on a day-to-day basis,” she said.

Richardson added that after training or a race, she usually prefers ice bathing or getting into a hot tub to decompress from the long day.

“I would say recovery has just been being attentive to doing my ice bathing or hot tub, as well as just decompressing from the day later on in the evening.

“It's something I like to do. I'll be talking to my family or getting in the pool doing some stretching and some abs. That’s how the day ends for me,” she said.

Speaking of her favourite snacks, the 24-year-old said: “I like dried fruits a lot, specifically dried mangoes, as well as peanuts and almonds. I keep it very light and straightforward when it comes to snacking.”

How to get back into speedwork after your half-marathon

Well, you’ve done it—you’ve completed a half-marathon! After a well-deserved few days or a week off, you’re probably already planning your next race. While it’s good to be enthusiastic, stepping back into speedwork after a half-marathon can be tricky. It’s crucial to ensure you’re doing the right workouts to avoid injury or overtraining.

Let your body recover 

After running a half-marathon, it’s essential to give your body adequate time to recover. The amount of recovery time varies among runners, but at least one or two days off all exercise is recommended, regardless of whether you are a beginner or a seasoned veteran. For runners coming off their first half, it could take at least a week to fully recover. Pay attention to any lingering soreness or fatigue. If you’re still feeling sore or overly tired, extend your recovery period for a few more days.

Ease back into things

The easiest way to get injured is by overdoing an activity while your body is still sore. When it’s time to begin running again, start with a gradual re-introduction. Begin with short, easy runs, maybe every other day, and slowly increase the distance and intensity. This is the best and safest way to regain your fitness so you can resume your regular weekly programming. If you feel you’re losing fitness but aren’t ready to start running yet, activities like swimming, cycling, brisk walking or yoga can help you build strength and endurance while aiding in recovery.

Before you begin your first couple of speed sessions post-race, you’ll want to have built your weekly mileage back up to around 40-50 per cent of your regular training load. For most runners, this can take two to four weeks. Doing this also builds up your aerobic endurance, providing a solid base for when you resume speedwork. After a week or so of running post-half-marathon, start incorporating strides into the end of your easy runs. Strides are short, controlled (20-30 seconds) bursts of speed that help re-introduce your legs to faster paces without the intensity of a full speed workout.

Start small

As tempting as it might be to immediately pick up where you left off with speed workouts, starting with shorter, interval-based sessions is the easiest and most effective way to re-introduce speedwork into your training. You can gradually increase the duration and intensity as you progress.

Here are some easy interval sessions to get your body acclimated to speedwork again.

five reps of 2 mins @ 10K pace with 90 seconds jog rest.

three reps of 1K @ half-marathon pace with two minutes rest

8-10 reps of 30 seconds on, 60 seconds jog. 

Is Beatrice Chebet Kenya's best bet for double gold at Paris Olympics?

With Olympic glory beckoning, is Beatrice Chebet Kenya's smart bet for double gold?

Two-time World cross country champion Beatrice Chebet is one of the Kenyan long-distance runners who are always known to show up when it matters and she stunned the whole world this past weekend with her world record.

Chebet, the world 5000m bronze medallist, competing in her second 10,000m event since she started her career, became the first woman in history to run under 29 minutes over the 25-lap race.

The 24-year-old stopped the clock at 28:54.14 to shatter Letesenbet Gidey’s world record time and automatically earn herself a spot in the women’s 10,000m team to the Paris 2024 Olympics where she has expressed interest in doubling in the 5000m and 10,000m.

After her world record feat at the Prefontaine Classic, the Diamond League Meeting in Eugene, Chebet said: “I came to run the 10,000m in order to get qualification and a great position for Paris because I want to double. I’m happy because it’s my first time to be on an Olympic team and with good health and hard work, I will medal again in Paris and that will be my favourite medal.”

The former world silver medallist will be making her debut at the Olympics and as far as things stand, she might just be the surprise winner in the two distances.

She has been in impeccable form this season, following her world record on the New Year’s Eve at the Cursa dels Nassos where she clocked an impressive 14:13 in the 5km road race.

The Commonwealth Games 5000m champion then proceeded to successfully defend her cross-country title in Belgrade, Serbia going up against a strong field that included world 10km record holder Agnes Jebet and Sirikwa Classic Cross-Country champion Emmaculate Anyango.

She opened her track season at the Diamond League Meeting in Doha, Qatar, flooring a strong Ethiopian contingent to win the women’s 5000m race. So far this season, it is evident that Chebet is a strong contender for the top prizes in Paris and no one is going to stop her.

Double world record holder Faith Kipyegon is yet to open her season following a slight injury setback and she might pose as Chebet’s closest challenger, but until then, the National Police Officer is in the right shape to carry the day in the city of love.

Timothy Cheruiyot shares key reason why he loves competing against Jakob Ingebrigtsen

Timothy Cheruiyot has explained why he loves running against his track rivals, singling out Jakob Ingebrigtsen as one of his favourite.

Former world 1500m champion Timothy Cheruiyot has opened up for his love competing against track rival Jakob Ingebrigtsen.

Cheruiyot and Ingebrigtsen were in action at the Diamond League Meeting in Oslo, where they went head-to-head to the finish line with the Norwegian middle-distance runner dramatically diving over the line to take the top prize.

The two-time world 5000m champion crossed the line in a world leading time of 3:29.74 ahead of Cheruiyot who came in close second in 3:29.77. Frenchman Azeddine Habz sealed the podium, clocking an astonishing season best time of 3:30.80 to cross the finish line.

Cheruiyot, the Olympic Games silver medallist, noted that he loves competing against talented athletes like Ingebrigtsen who usually push him to the limit. Going into Oslo, Cheruiyot had high expectations to win the race but expressed satisfaction with his second-place finish.

He has been out with an injury bout but is slowly coming back to competing and will certainly be a force to reckon with.

“Racing with my compatriot, Jakob - it makes me happy, he's a strong guy and he finished fast today. I'm glad to be here in Oslo for the second time, the track is amazing.

“I was expecting the win but I'm satisfied I managed to run under 3:30 today. Now, I'm going home to prepare for the Kenyan trials - I need to finish in the top three.

“For the last nine months, I've been injured so I need to focus on training more to improve my fitness ahead of Paris, where I hope to get another medal for my country,” Cheruiyot said.

He opened his season with a second-place finish at the Diamond League Meeting in Doha before doubling in the 1500m and 800m at the National Championships.

High school girls are clocking some very fast miles this season

Never before has a national high school record been broken in back-to-back races. 

Well, until Thursday May 30. 

Just 10 minutes separated two historic efforts at the mile distance between high school girls at the Festival of Miles in St. Louis, Missouri, with Virginia native Allie Zealand getting things started under the lights with a time of 4:30.38. 

However, it wasn't long before Ventura junior Sadie Engelhardt, whose own national record of 4:31.72 was broken by Zealand, got her own crack at it in the women's professional mile that followed. 

Roughly 10 minutes later. 

Engelhardt's patience was played to perfection, as she bided her time in the pack before working her way up over the last 200 meters and hitting for a 63-second final lap to score a new national record in 4:28.46. 

Her finish only paled Jenn Randall's winning time of 4:28.23.

Engelhardt's performance was just 0.21 seconds shy of Mary Cain's longstanding overall national record of 4:28.25, which was set indoors in 2013. 

Engelhardt put together laps of 68.9 over 409 meters, 68 seconds over the second 400 meter frame, 68.3 in the third quarter and 63.2 in the closing lap. 

Zealand, meanwhile, went 69.23, 68.94, 67.38 and 64.81. Cuthbertson's Charlotte Bell was second in 4:35.70 while Allison Ince was third in 4:35.96. 

Five girls finished under 4:40 and six more were under 4:50.

An amazing fast 5k in Oslo

OSLO, Norway (AP) — Hagos Gebrhiwet of Ethiopia ran the second-fastest 5,000 meters of all time in winning at the Diamond League meeting in Oslo on Thursday.

Gebrhiwet ran a final lap of 54.99 to finish in 12 minutes, 36.73 seconds — 1.37 seconds off the world record set by Olympic champion Joshua Cheptegei.

 Gebrhiwet's time is not only the second fastest time ever it was also a new national record for Ethiopia. New personal bests for the top eight finishers and new National records for Guatemala, Switzerland, Sweden, France and South Africa!

Also at the Bislett Games, home favorite Jakob Ingebrigtsen dived for the line to win the men's 1,500 just ahead of Timothy Cheruiyot in a world-leading 3 minutes, 29.74 seconds.

More details: Hagos Gebrhiwet produced the standout performance of the Bislett Games – and one of the biggest surprises of the year so far – when winning the men’s 5000m in 12:36.73 at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Oslo on Thursday (30).

It was one of three meeting records and five world leads set on an enthralling night of athletics action in the Norwegian capital, just two months away from the Paris Olympic Games.

Going into the men’s 5000m, many eyes were on world record-holder and Olympic champion Joshua Cheptegei, two-time world cross-country champion Jacob Kiplimo and last year’s Bislett Games winner Yomif Kejelcha. But Gebrhiwet – who produced the first sub-13-minute run of his career on this track as a teenager back in 2012 – ensured his name won’t be forgotten in the lead-up to the Olympics.

The early pace was strong but not spectacular as the field was paced through the first 1000m in 2:33.13 and 2000m in 5:07.05. Addisu Yihune maintained that tempo through 3000m, reached in 7:41.05, with all the big contenders still in contention.

Kejelcha took control soon after and started to wind up the pace. Gebrhiwet stayed close to his fellow Ethiopian with Ugandan duo Kiplimo and Cheptegei close behind as 4000m was reached in 10:11.86, the previous kilometre being covered in 2:30.

Cheptegei was unable to hold on for much longer and started to drift back. Kejelcha continued to drive the pace but the challenge from Gebrhiwet and Kiplimo wasn’t fading, despite the increase in pace. Gebrhiwet struck as the bell sounded and moved into the lead, kicking past his compatriot and pulling away with each stride.

With a final lap of 54.99, Gebrhiwet charged through the line in 12:36.73 to win by more than two seconds from Kejelcha (12.38.95) – the first time in history that two men have broken 12:40 in the same race.

Gebrhiwet’s winning time is just 1.37 seconds shy of the world record Cheptegei set in 2020 and moves him to second on the world all-time list, one place ahead of Kenenisa Bekele, whose Ethiopian record Gebrhiwet broke.

Kiplimo held on for third, setting a PB of 12:40.96, while Spain’s Thierry Ndikumwenayo (12:48.10) and Yihune (12:49.65) also finished inside 12:50.

It was just the second time in history that 13 men have broken 13 minutes. Along with Gebrhiwet, there were national records for Guatemala’s Luis Grijalva (12:50.58), Switzerland’s Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu (12:50.90), Sweden’s Andreas Almgren (12:50.94), France’s Jimmy Gressier (12:54.97) and South Africa’s Adriaan Wildschutt (12:56.67).

“I’m really happy with my time,” said Gebrhiwet, the world road 5km champion. “I set a PB when I first ran in Oslo, and now it’s even better. The conditions and the crowd were great. It was a very fast race and it wasn’t easy for me, but it went very well. I’ll now try to qualify for the Olympics in the 10,000m too.”

There were notable performances in two other endurance events in Oslo.

Australia’s Georgia Griffith continued her breakthrough to win the 3000m in an Oceanian record of 8:24.20. The field had been paced through 1000m in 2:50.34, then that pace was maintained through 2000m in 5:40.73.

The field became more strung out over the final kilometre as the pace increased. Griffith made a break in the closing stages and Ethiopia’s Likina Amebaw tried to come back, but her challenge was in vain as the Australian won in a meeting record of 8:24.20, 0.09 ahead of Amebaw in a race where the top six women finished inside 8:30.

In the closing event of the night, Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen was made to dive for the line to ensure a home victory for the Norwegian fans.

He controlled the pace in the second half, but still had 2019 world champion Timothy Cheruiyot for company on the final lap. The Kenyan challenged the Norwegian down the home straight and appeared to have timed his kick to perfection, but Ingebrigtsen collapsed over the line to get the verdict in a world-leading 3:29.74, 0.03 ahead of Cheruiyot. The first 11 finishers all set either season’s or personal bests.

Meet the 91 year-old competing in the Missoula Half Marathon

A few weeks ago, Missoula Marathon Director Trisha Drobek stopped by our offices to record a few on-air interviews regarding the upcoming race. Drobek provided some great advice on running the marathon that you can find below.

On a topic off-air, I mentioned to Drobek that I was running the Half Marathon (please hold your applause) with a good chance I'd finish dead last. Drobek chuckled and said I would be just fine at 28 compared to the 91-year-old competing in the race.

I HAD to track her down. Myrtle Miller at 91 years young is gearing up to participate in another Missoula Half Marathon. She began competing in the Half 12 years ago at the young age of 79 and has participated every year since, minus the COVID years.

"The year before I saw two of my friends doing that [participating in the Half Marathon] and I thought 'Oh I want to do that too'" said Miller. "I was closer to do this type of thing," Myrtle explained after she and her husband moved into town.

Miller won't be alone at this year's Missoula Half Marathon on June 30th. She'll be joined by her son Brian.

"My son's done it with me every year. He's a runner, in fact, he's running a 30K down in Idaho or someplace, but he's walked with me every year."

Some people will never compete in a race setting over their entire life but not Myrtle. She relishes the opportunity every spring to get back out there.

"It's just a goal I have each spring. I think 'Oh, I want to do this again,' so it's just kind of a goal, you know? I know the beginning of March we start training."

Myrtle is a pro at this point. She knows her training route and she knows what it will take to tackle the Half Marathon. This year Myrtle is looking to complete the the 13.1 miles in 4 hours and 30 minutes. 

"I think I did it in 4:15:00 last year, so I think it will be 4:30:00 this year. Looking back, I've been keeping track, looking back over the years each year I'm about 15 [minutes] to half an hour slower.